Summer Twenty-18

Ahhhh summer. You absolute flipping beaut! You've been long, H O T, utterly glorious and I'm still finding it hard to believe you're officially over. 

I checked the calendar and today is officially the start of Autumn. Summer twenty-18 is done and dusted. Seeing as though I've had such an absolutely crackin' time I decided that I had to say a proper farewell - do it up right, you know? A few words, a whole heap of photos and so.many.memories! Please can we do it all over again in 2019? 

Can we though? 

May
The nights got lighter, someone turned up the thermostat and summer was ON! First thing I did was chop off even more of my hair. 

June
Eating and drinking every meal outside became the new norm. The pink wine was flowing, the skies were vividly blue, the freckles started to pop out and if I had to wear more than two items of clothing it was becoming a challenge. 

France
After what felt like forever (actual time: 5 years) we finally returned to France for a holiday. 16 days of absolute bliss and soaring temperatures. The hairy hound came with us for the ride. It took approximately 30 seconds for me to fall in love all over again and start plotting the retirement to a tiny French hamlet. 

The World Cup
For the first time since 1966, football almost came home and it was amazing! We were in France for most of the England matches but somehow Dave managed to find some internet to tether to so that we could listen and share the utter joy of the whole nation! United in that tantalising possibility that the shiny golden cup might actually fall into our grubby hands it was most definitely a summer of football! We listened to one of the games as we travelled back through the Tunnel and as they scored the first goal everyone in our carriage heard us cheer! Oh it was magical! 

The final England game was quite simply unbelievable. People cancelled everything so that they could be somewhere to watch it and we all sat glued to our seats, hiding behind the cushions, yelling, shouting, gasping out loud and literally biting nails off until the bitter, bitter end when it was very certain that it was no longer coming home. 

The next day at work was brutal. The tension while watching it had me so wound up that I couldn't get to sleep (I know, right?!) and then one of my much loved work colleagues was leaving and I was honestly bereft. I'm still not sure I'm over it, both the world cup and Anya leaving 😪

July
The hair changed again and I decided to add a cheeky fringe. Perfect timing for an extremely overheated office and a season of high humidity...

We spent a whole lot of time walking the dog just as the sun was coming down, and golden hour every single day was a breathtaking sight to behold...

I attended loads of random work events but I honestly didn't care, as long as there was the promise of blue skies, sunshine and a beer outside to go with it...

We definitely ate too many of these...

And I enjoyed a fantastic mini break in Newcastle with Debs and Kyle at FriendsFest! 

My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage - 50! We had a huge family weekend that involved lots and lots of food, bubbles and laughter. It was beyond lovely and I can't wait until we can all do it again soon!

August
By the time August appeared we were on a total roll and we just kept on going out! We had a fantastic weekend at SIRF, I worked at the Middlesbrough Mela (but it's one of my fave events so never seems like a chore) and I took my mam to the Bowes Museum for her birthday to see the Catwalking exhibition.

I was still only wearing two items of clothing and spending practically every minute outside! By this point it felt like it was going to be summer forever and I was overjoyed 😎

September 

More sun. More fun. We've been to the beach, we've eaten our body-weight in food on far too many occasions, I've been covered in powder paint at the Colour Run and shared 25 years of memories at our art college reunion! 

And now here we are. Day one of Autumn. I know it's all crunchy leaves, comfort food, hot chocolate and getting snuggly in layers, but it's also long. And last year it got bitterly cold so quickly and you absolutely could not only wear two layers cos you might have died from being frozen...but so it has to be. It's the way it works. Unless you move somewhere like LA and that's not realllly on the cards so...

Farewell Summer. I am absolutely going to miss you hun. But I've had a smile this wide for the entire time and for that I will forever be grateful... 

Feeling hot hot hot

Wow-ser! What a week! The UK has been hit by a heatwave and in true British fashion we have moaned about how hot it is. The poor weather people, they just can't win. I'll never forget that year they predicted a BBQ summer and it pretty much rained every single day for two months and there was almost a lynch mob being sent to the BBC...

Yep it's been hot. Super hot for us. Look, I have proof from my (filthy) car dashboard - yes that actually says 30 degrees. 30! 

The thing of it is, we're just not equipped for dealing with it cos it's so blummin' rare. We don't have air conditioned houses, some of us don't even have air conditioned cars (waaahhh), offices and places of work that are supposedly cool generally have one lousy fan wafting hot air back out at you, and inevitably some old dear falls over from not drinking enough water. We really need to get on board with that whole European thing and just shut up shop when it's too hot. Send everyone home for a siesta, and while you're at it, let staff know about the change in dress code so that they're not all frying in their socks and lace up shoes. 

I have kept the moaning to an absolute minimum...okay I've tried to keep the moaning to an absolute minimum. The library is fully glazed all the way round and is super stuffy. My solution: sack the shoes off and resort to wearing sandals, risk of hardback books dropping on toes be-damned! Oh and baggy pants, definitely the way forward. Gone are the strutty pants cos tight clothes = sweaty. And talking of sweaty, there's been a couple of times when I've sniffed myself this week wondering is it me that smells...? Nope. That would be the joys of working with the general public. 

As per the norm, we've enjoyed all our meals outside. The late night dog stroll in the cool of the evening has been lush. And we've sat outside on the bench until almost bed time reading our books and lazily chatting the evening away. I can't remember when I last switched the TV on. Ahhhh, happy days. This is how summer is supposed to be! Time to pop outside for that last morning cuppa on the bench before heading to work. See ya! 

Weekly favourites

Look at me, all mixing things up. I've decided to switch up my favourites and instead of the usual monthly round up, on a Wednesday I'll now be bringing you my weekly favourite(s). Mainly because it also starts with a 'W'. I know, I know, genius idea or what... As always, shout out any feedback below, because frankly, I always get ridiculously excited when someone comments. Ahem. 

So weekly favourite! I'm going to try really hard not be smug here but frankly it's been the absolutely gorgeous weather we have been having. Blue skies, sunny days, balmy evenings, stunning sunsets, what a bloomin' week! For anyone else who lives elsewhere in the UK please don't send the lynch mob to get me, I know, I know, you have been having endless rain, but bloody heckers, it's so rare for us to have nice weather compared to everywhere else that it has to be celebrated! 

When I was at work I practically ran to the coffee shop down the road at lunchtime as they have outdoor seating - win!

When I was at home, other than doing ALL the boring chores, I was outside at every single opportunity - win!

We ate our dinner outside every single night - ding ding ding, jackpot!

And then finally, after ambling home from rehearsals at theatre, staring up at the beautiful sunsets with my mouth wide open, I got home, cracked open an ice cold beer, and sat out on the bench until bedtime - sigh. What bliss!

It's bound to rain tomorrow. But until it does, I'll be enjoying the Summer and praying that it's here to stay!

Blue skies and fluffy white clouds from the bench of joy

So long, Summer

I know I say this every single year but seriously, how is it September already? The whole year just seems to have flown by in a swooshy whizzy kind of way and it's time for a new season already.

Summer is just magical. It's holidays and sunshine, walking barefoot and wearing minimal clothing, delicious ripe fruit and salads eaten outside in the last of the evening, long days and light nights, lazy weekends and BBQs with friends, rose wine and Pimms, ice cold lager with wedges of lime...I'm missing it already!

But there's all sorts of fab things to look forward to in Autumn as well. Soup season and one-pot casseroles, deep and mellow red wine, curling up in an armchair with a good book and a snuggly jumper, thick socks and scarves, pulling the boots out of the cupboard ready for another year, crispy leaves and crunchy mornings, weekend strolls in the park...I'm already excited.

What's your favourite thing about Autumn?