Summer Daze

 Summer Daze

Well we finally have our Summer! I really miss those long, hazy days of a full three months of Summer. Back when seasons were seasons! The summers of the 80s and 90s where as kids and teens we would stay out all day, off on adventures and strolling back in for tea and a bath as the street lights came on. I spent a lot of time reading in the summer holidays too. Devouring books by daylight then reading with a torch under the covers!

I am a very nostalgic person and look back very fondly on all the seasons of my youth. But the summer is my fave to look back on with love. I do wear rose tinted glasses. But then I was born in the 70s, a kid in the 80s and a teen in the 90s so who can blame me? We grew up in a row of terraced houses with backings. There were always folk to 'lake out' with and so many places to roam free. I was lucky to have a big bro to follow around and my friends and I, along with their brothers, we all made a fab group to play cricket, rounders, football and loads more games. Mainly on the top car park of our local pub! We would come home all grubby, full of grass marks and nettled all over but so, so happy!

Where we lived, there were so many places to play. Some I think of now and laugh. Like the dog muck field! Full of those big, white flowers with a pungent smell. They grow near my mum's house now and take me back. Smells and fragrances do take you back and roses are the biggest memory. When I am on my dog walks and I 'stop and smell the roses', I am back there, the eight year old picking roses to make perfume with. Mum lovingly placing the jam jar of rotting rose petals on the kitchen window sill and saying how lovely it smelled. No comparison to her fave Chanel No 5 though! As I am writing this blog my lovely sis in law has turned up with a lovely vase of home grown roses that smell so nostalgic and gorgeous!

Flowers do hold so many memories. Another flower that is special to me is the sweet pea. My dear grandad grew and showed sweet peas and chrysanthemums. We loved spending time in his garden. Shelling peas and watching Allo Allo or Morecambe and Wise after an afternoon in the garden. I never wanted those days to end. I love this quote about August being the relaxing Sunday. You never want it to become Monday.

We played out for hours, took natural serotonin from the sun, kept fit from hours of running and bike riding and hardly watched much TV, making our own dramas instead. We had a fruit and veg shop at the top of our street and mum would give us each a Ben Shaws bottle and we would swap it for 5p, then pop to the newsagents on the corner for a 5p mix up. Or a 10p if we were lucky! Those white mice and pink mushrooms were my faves! 

I did appreciate these days but possibly not enough. I appreciate them a whole lot more now, on looking back. I am still friends with some of the original 'gang'. I mean, I married the boy next door! He got to see me at my worst. He even saw me dressed in my Brownie uniform! I loved going to the Brownies and Guides. Such a fab, community spirit and lots of fun! Camping, sports and making up shows on the little stage. 

Summer was about family too. We would all get together at Grandma and Grandad's, playing games in the garden till dusk set in and we'd fall asleep on the settee. We would all go to Cawthorne park, playing ball games and having picnics, being careful not to spread the blanket on the goose and duck poo! 

We would always spend time on the East coast, every summer. My wonderful dad loved travelling and would spontaneously take us on day trips to the East coast. Such excitement for a child, getting in the car and setting off to see the sea! We would wonder what adventure we would be having that day as we got into the Morris Minor, all excited, asking to eat the sandwiches mum had made by the time we got to the motorway! I get that from my dad and do have a wandering spirit. I am still to go on a Magical mystery tour but I will one of these days! One of my fave recent days out was travelling along the East coast, finding all the gorgeous bays such as Runswick Bay, Boggle Hole, Sandsend and Staithes. We went right up to Saltburn for fish and chips. Such a fab day! Adventure, in those days was a car ride away. Or as a reader, a page away!

We would also visit Blackpool, with our grandparents and it was brilliant! I still remember going to Blackpool Tower and being in awe of the ballroom. Grandma and grandad danced there and as I watched, I could imagine them much younger, the years rolling away with each dance step. I do love nostalgic reading and love books set in the 80s and 90s. Or books that remind me of family holidays. Ruth Hogan is an amazing author and her most recent one reminds me of visiting Blackpool Tower. This photo from her facebook page shows the ballroom with her new book. Cannot wait to read it!

Another lovely nostalgic book is The Seafront tearooms by Vanessa Greene, set in Scarborough and reminds me of childhood visits to the East coast. We loved going to the ice cream parlour on the front at South Bay and having ice cream sundaes.

Food is also very nostalgic. Seaside food makes me think of sugared donuts and those red dummies tied around your neck. They took ages to eat! Everybody brought rock back, the John Bull rock shop always teeming with people! My fave was aniseed rock and the pastel Edinburgh rock. Of course, when at the seaside, you have to have fish and chips. As do the seagulls! We still visit Filey now and eat fish and chips on the crescent, looking out to sea. 

There is something so satisfying about being near the sea. The sound of seagulls, the warmth of the sun and the soft breeze from the sea are all natural anti depressants. That bracing feeling as you walk along the beach, paddling your feet and looking out at the vastness of the sea. The comfort derived from watching the boats bobbing about and catching a glimpse of the lighthouse that has stood there for hundreds of years, quietly saving lives. I love to stand with my feet sinking into the wet sand and look out at the horizon whilst the wind turbines wave their hellos. Reminding us of how vast this Earth is and how we are a tiny part of it.

Growing up in the 80s was amazing and I loved our local shops, always full of sweets and 10p mix ups. They had those gorgeous orange pyramid ices too. And the ice cream van sold Screwballs with the bubblegum at the bottom! We would run over to the van and think we were cool ordering a Lager and Lime or Cider lolly! All the retro sweets are back in. Like Wham bars and Fruit Salads. We thought we were also cool when we could go to the local pub serving hatch, where the landlord opened the window and served us pop and crisps! 

As we got older it would be a sip of mum's Snowball or Babycham. I loved watching mum get ready for her dinner and dances with dad. She always made me think of Farrah Fawcett off Charlie's Angels when she had her disco dress and heels on, her hair curled and hairsprayed. I was so proud of her and longed to be a grown up too. Until gran and grandad came, laiden with treats and goodies, ready to babysit and spoil us! Then I was glad I was still a kid, settling down to watch Dukes of Hazzard or The Fall Guy or maybe The A Team. Mum would waft past with her freshly sprayed Chanel No 5 and tell us not to stay up too late. Of course not! 

As well as fab local shops, we had lovely parks. Our local Wilthorpe park was, and still is really lovely. We would walk home through the park, stopping at the swings and slides first. When I look back at the height of that slide. Wow! And the fact it was concrete you landed on! Happy summer memories though of the park. It had two swimming pools and we spent happy days running in and out of both pools, then walking up to the shops for a 5p ice pop. 

We enjoyed the freedom summer brings. The warm weather enabling you to be outdoors, in the fresh air. We also enjoyed the freedom of a lesser technological age. We took photos with our minds, not our phones. There were no reels or live feeds. But we lived more in the moment I suppose. Some of us had cameras for school trips and holidays but they were normally developed a week after and when they came out, hands were over faces! The pressure of social media was non existent. More postcards were written. Arguments were said face to face, rather via a keyboard. Yes, such simpler days.

I remember reading something a few years ago about the fact that children in the modern age hardly get the chance to be bored because they are constantly stimulated by technology. The article said though that children need to be bored, they need to have a break from the constant barrage of what to do next. By being bored, it enables them to think for themselves and create activities themselves. Which then reminds me of when we had power cuts and would sing songs by candle light. It stayed with me that. When I was younger, we would just lay on the grass at playtime, just staring up at the clouds, feeling the grass beneath our fingers and the sun on our faces, hearing the shouts from the football field, the train on its way to Wakefield. We would just lay there and just be. And be happy with this amount of stimulus. I would read for hours in our garden, laid down on the grass, barefoot. I would write for hours too. I know technology is everywhere now and we do need it but how good would it be to just stop, lay down on the grass and listen for that train or that football chant from years ago and just be for a bit? 

As I get older, I am craving a more simpler existence. I suppose most of us do. In a way, as we get older, we revert back to loving the more simpler times, with less drama and more contentment. I love the Swedish way of living the hygge way and finding what makes you comfortable. For me, give me a book, a cuppa and my dog. On wintery days, on the sofa and on summery days, in the garden. I love this book from TK Maxx.

Let me sit and listen to the birds chirping and the bees buzzing. I am happy to sit in my garden, watching the butterflies flutter by and land on the buddleia. Let me smell the wonderful lavendar whilst I read my beloved books and sip my chilled wine. Looking back on my lovely childhood, it is the little things that mattered. The little, heartfelt gestures from family and the small pleasures that added up, all made me happy.

One of my fave times of the day in Summer is as dusk is falling. I love the time of day where day starts to slow down and prepares for the evening in a lulling way. I love to watch the sun setting over the buildings and hills. One of my fave sunset photos is at Ingbirchworth where the sun sets behind the wind turbines. Although the camera never does it justice! 

All the seasons have special times and hold lovely memories. I love reading all year around, especially in summer, by the pool. I love looking at old books that still smell of sun lotion that I read as a teen! I also love reading in Autumn when I can light my candles, sip my tea and  read my books.

My favourite month is actually September and my favourite season is Autumn but I do love the change from Summer to Autumn and Septembers are usually sunny. I love putting my cardi on and having dog walks with a Pumpkin spiced latte. I love the gradual change of the leaves on the trees and all the colours as you walk around the park. Where I live, we have so many lovely places to visit and walk around in every season. It is lovely to go home then, put the kettle on and sit and read.