Well, the Rio Games are over, August is fading and the misty tinge of Autumn can be felt on the air here in the British Isles.
Kids will be desperate to enjoy the last fortnight of the School Summer Holidays and Mums and Dads will be just as desperate to have one last break away somewhere nice.
When I was a kid in the Sixties and early Seventies summer seemed to last forever. The idea of the endless summer was one of those bits of sacred kids' lore.
It seemed to stretch far into an ice-creamed future full of light, warmth and comics. Summers were so long that I forgot about time. I really didn't know what day it was and neither did my mates!
This endlessness had a lot to do with school being shut for 6 or 7 weeks for sure. That's nearly 2 months. That's nearly one-sixth of a year! Now that's significant!
Time, if measured at all, was divided by one big thing - going away on holiday with the family - and little things like Mum shouting me in from the garden for tea.
Even when having tea Summer was never far away as all the doors and windows were open in the house. It was so warm! I don't remember it ever being anything but warm during the summer when I was a nipper! Maybe it was all that Ready Brek I was scoffing, central heating for kids!
I hope today's kids enjoy an "endless summer". I'm sure they do. Kids are kids aren't they?
Did your summers last forever when you were children readers?
The summer holidays certainly seemed a heck of a lot longer when I was a kid than when I was a teacher!
ReplyDeleteYes, being an adult is completely different and teachers don't really get the whole summer off do they Kev.
DeleteI always did. I was very definite about never taking work home as a teacher. My colleagues could never work out how I managed it but I did for all 28 years!
DeleteYou did well there. 28 years teaching too! I don't know how you did it!
DeleteI always used to say about teaching that the hours were good but most of the minutes were rubbish!
ReplyDeleteSpammed again!
ReplyDeleteGiven that our summer vacations were nearly three months long, yes, they did seem to last forever. Looking back on it I wonder how I survived some of them :-)
ReplyDeleteThree months Ed! Wow! Now that's a holiday! I take it it was Autumn when you got back to School?
DeleteWhen I first started school in the beginning of Seventies, the summer break started 31st of May and lasted until the second week of September. That's 13 weeks altogether, so yes, it did seem like an eternity. (Today, the summer break has shrunk down to 9 1/2 weeks.) But I believe it all comes down to the fact that as a kid, you do not keep track of time. Equals eternity.
ReplyDeleteYou had a massive holiday as well Arto! 13 weeks! I'm moving to Finland!
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