I was beginning to think Summer was going to last forever, but when the rains finally came on Thursday, they came with a vengeance.
Over the past few months I’ve been regularly checking the weather forecast. It seemed that every time rain was forecast a day or so in the future when the day actually came those clouds had been replaced by bright sunshine. This Thursday the Met Office were spot on.
Of course, people being people, there’s always something to complain about, and of course, some of those complaints were pretty valid too. Anyone with a conservatory would tell you that some days temperatures reached over 40 degrees making it almost impossible to stay at home. Gardeners would complain that their lawns had gone from lush green pastures to brown straw and stubble. Talking of pastures, farmers have regularly appeared on the news or ‘Countryfile’ telling us that if it didn’t rain soon then it could be a pretty dismal harvest.
It seems that the way we live here in Britain has some communal normal that is completely upended when nature doesn’t quite play its part. We are so used to talking about a typical British summer being a wash out that when it turns into heatwave after heatwave we almost crave our wellies and umbrellas.
Thursday morning’s light rain shower had me striding out, hat less and umbrella less, to walk the streets with the cool refreshing rain gently caressing my hairless bonce. That soon changed. By the afternoon as the sky turned black and the storm erupted over the bay I found myself battening down the hatches and hoping that the sun wasn’t too far away.
It’s not just the weather warning us that the seasons are changing. For me, this weekend marks the end of summer and the start of autumn. After so many days of sunshine it does feel a little churlish to complain that this Bank Holiday weekend will have storms and possible gales, but whatever the weather it really does start to bring an end to the School holidays. That means things go back to a different routine for so many families.
The last few weeks have seen family trips to various shoe shops and clothes stores to get the grandkids kitted out for the start of a new school year. Some back packs have also been upgraded or exchanged for the latest must have K Pop or Disney Character and the pencil cases have been refilled with crisp new pencils and sharpies of just about every colour.
Thinking back to my own school days I did have some new bits and bobs at the start of a new term but being the youngest of 3 boys in my family quite a bit of my ‘new kit’ had been handed down if not once, sometimes twice. The only thing I would try my best to make sure was brand new were my football boots, or togs as we used to call them. And I would need them a week or so before term started to make sure I had the time to break them in before the season started.
Even though my schooldays have long gone the start of September still marks the start of a new year. With such wonderful weather this summer getting down to work has not been easy. I have been trying to put together an autumn to do list but with the sun shining and the beaches we have on our doorstep I must admit I’m a little behind.
With our usual major Swansea concert this autumn I knew that I really ought have all of our plans in place before the Eclipse. The trouble is it’s hard to think cold dark November evenings when it’s 30 degrees in the shade and it’s light until 9 pm.
The one real blessing and joy of working this summer has been getting up early to film the latest video for the record ‘Our Town’. If like me you have been up at the crack of dawn this summer you will have noticed 2 things.
Firstly, with the schools shut the streets are eerily quiet compared with a normal school term day. Secondly, at that time of day the sun was warm and healing without getting angry and burning any bit of bare skin not covered in factor 30 as it often did by 11am. Those visits to the market, the city centre and the beaches have been for me some of the most memorable moments of the Summer of 26.
Before I move on I should say the video for ‘Our Town’ features Swansea Bay looking its absolute best. It has attracted reaction from all over the world including Antigua, Texas, Germany and Australia. So many Swansea Expats have been reminded of the beauty of the ‘Ugly Lovely Town’ they left behind.
I did have one complaint from a Swansea resident. It went like this…I’ve got a bone to pick with you…Why did you make that video showing Swansea looking so beautiful…everyone will want to come and live here now if we’re not careful!!!
And so I return to the start of autumn and the change in the seasons. For me it’s memories of the sun streaming through the school windows as we sit cross legged on the floor singing ‘We plough the fields and scatter’. Our school had family members from ‘Edwards the Bakers’ and we would always have a massive loaf of bread in the shape of a sheaf of corn as the centre piece. I mean, I would take in a couple of tins of baked beans and maybe some of my dad’s excess string bean harvest to give to those in need, but nothing compared to the bakers offering.
It won’t be long until we notice the nights drawing in and the shops will be full of tinsel and sleigh bells. Human beings have an extraordinary ability to forget some of the bad bits of the past and only remember the good times. Before long the struggles we faced with extreme heat will start to disappear and what will be left is the warm glowing memory of the summer of 26.
It was good, really good, but not as good at the Summer of 1976. Having said that 1976 has had longer to mature in my mind and of course I was a teenager with not a care in the world for that one.