Summertime and the livin' is easy
So the First Day of Summer came and went yesterday and happily we had frost in the night. This guarantees that our summer will be superexcellent, in the same way that in modern American mythology the groundhog's shadow guarantees another dreary six weeks of winter. As everyone knows, this is foolproof.
It started out freezing cold like most First Days of Summer but bright and clear as seen from the window. That was enough to put us in a good mood. Actually I've noticed that Nicelanders are generally in excellent spirts on the First Day of Summer, which attests strongly to the power of suggestion ['yesterday it was winter, but now it's summer so you can be happy!']. [Although it may also be because it's a public holiday and the next day is a Friday and after that it's the weekend.] People wish each other 'Happy summer!' left and right and give each other presents, like EPI who gave me a Bonnie Raitt concert CD/DVD with a bunch of the same people who played the concert with her that we saw in Toronto last year. I, meanwhile, failed to get anybody a present because as everyone knows I'm really a foreigner despite my Nicelandic name and am not used to frivolities like presents on the First Day of Summer, nor indeed First Days of Summer, period.
Even my father came by in the afternoon bearing gifts - from Cuba, where he spent Easter. AAH got perfume bought in the Duty Free, YT got Cuban coffee and EPI got a cigar to smoke on New Year's Eve [the only time EPI smokes]. After he left, I headed downtown for an appointment and stopped by to check out the site of the big fire last Wednesday. It's pretty awful - like a big gash in the downtown, and two of the destroyed buildings had great historic value. Very sad. I just hope they have the sense to build something attractive in their place and not more of those godawful 70s style steel-and-concrete buildings they've slapped up hither and thither over the past few decades [like that hideous green-and-white monstrosity here].
Today we've had wind and miserable driving rain, although I'm sure the weather gods are just getting it out of their system now in anticipation of the excellent summer we're due to have. Our windows are getting a super-duper washing at this very moment. Temps are currently 6°C [43F] and sunrise was at 5:40 am, sunset at 9:15 pm.
It started out freezing cold like most First Days of Summer but bright and clear as seen from the window. That was enough to put us in a good mood. Actually I've noticed that Nicelanders are generally in excellent spirts on the First Day of Summer, which attests strongly to the power of suggestion ['yesterday it was winter, but now it's summer so you can be happy!']. [Although it may also be because it's a public holiday and the next day is a Friday and after that it's the weekend.] People wish each other 'Happy summer!' left and right and give each other presents, like EPI who gave me a Bonnie Raitt concert CD/DVD with a bunch of the same people who played the concert with her that we saw in Toronto last year. I, meanwhile, failed to get anybody a present because as everyone knows I'm really a foreigner despite my Nicelandic name and am not used to frivolities like presents on the First Day of Summer, nor indeed First Days of Summer, period.
Even my father came by in the afternoon bearing gifts - from Cuba, where he spent Easter. AAH got perfume bought in the Duty Free, YT got Cuban coffee and EPI got a cigar to smoke on New Year's Eve [the only time EPI smokes]. After he left, I headed downtown for an appointment and stopped by to check out the site of the big fire last Wednesday. It's pretty awful - like a big gash in the downtown, and two of the destroyed buildings had great historic value. Very sad. I just hope they have the sense to build something attractive in their place and not more of those godawful 70s style steel-and-concrete buildings they've slapped up hither and thither over the past few decades [like that hideous green-and-white monstrosity here].
Today we've had wind and miserable driving rain, although I'm sure the weather gods are just getting it out of their system now in anticipation of the excellent summer we're due to have. Our windows are getting a super-duper washing at this very moment. Temps are currently 6°C [43F] and sunrise was at 5:40 am, sunset at 9:15 pm.
Labels: Traditions
posted by Alda at 10:37 PM
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