Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Summer Lovin


Week Thirty – six: Sunday 3 – Saturday 9 June

What a week ... of beautiful weather. Classic summer days: bright, piercing, blue skies and blazing, bathing, sun. Life always feels, and is, so much better when it is warm and sunny.

I've a restless spirit, if not soul, and haven't laid down real roots anywhere over the last decade or more. Thoughts have filtered through my mind, on and off, over the last few months under the the theme of 'where next.' A few, glorious, hours spent on Gyllyingvase Beach last week with my wife and daughter, watching Kumali revel in, and with, the sea and amuse herself endlessly with, and in, the sand, acted as a clear, calm, comforting epiphany.

Falmouth specifically, Cornwall generally, isn't just as good a place as any to live, it's as good as, and a lot better than, most. And for a youngster, it offers a delightful privilege to grow with a readily available, always tangible, connection to a rugged and more raw natural environment.

Yes, it rains a lot in winter, but that's helps to make it green and lush in spring and summer. It's a trade off. It can be chilly, too, but it never gets overly cold. Yet in the summer, when the sky is clear and blue and the sun is hot and strong, the lesser weather days are distant memories. That's a more than favourable trade off.

Standing at the waters edge, working up the courage to dive in before lock-forward Joe Weir rugby tackled me in again, I watched Kumali so blissfully happy to be by the sea-side. At the same time a group of fifteen, or more, young teenage boys and girls came rushing into the water. It looked like a regular after school activity. It looked like they were all having a great time. Beats sitting on a park bench, or in front of msn, I guess.

It looks like it makes sense for Toni, Kumali and little old restless me to think about going nowhere else, for the time being anyway.

2 comments:

Joe bloggs said...

Technically a flanker, but I've played lock before. If you're laying down roots here, you better get used to that cold water, or invest in a good suit. A great week summed up very well.

Emily said...

Glad to hear you're not going anywhere.

We're not.

It's a shitty world out there, but I agree that this is one of the nicest places anyone can bring up a kid.
xx