Is this the summer view you have in mind for the weeks ahead? Now that school's have dragged themselves across the finishing line of the end of term, many will be hoping that the rainy weather of late may take a pause so that a few sunny, summer moments can be enjoyed.
There's a lot happening in the world right now so just to be able to take a moment of calm, go for a walk, sit in a park or on a beach if you can, does wonders for our well-being. There are days when I have definitely felt the need to shut out the noise, feel a little sunshine on my face and take a few deep breaths.
My children are all grown-up now so we are not tied to school holiday dates for taking some time away, yet I haven't forgotten the feelings attached to the start of the summer break. It's hard to forget after a long teaching career, when the exhaustion was mixed with anticipation of making a bit of time for myself and being able to spend some quality time with my own children.
When I think back further in time, to my own childhood though, the first day of the summer holidays meant possibilities... What could we do with the time? Would there be days out, or a week away at a seaside town - we didn't do holidays abroad, or bike rides and time to play with friends in the park, perhaps catching the bus to Wimbledon Common to look for Wombles or for a cinema treat with a box of Smarties to see the summer release? We would probably have commitments to meet up with family or friends - playing in their gardens, listening to grown-ups chatting on hot afternoons in Gran's flat as we looked out across the rooftops of London, or watching cine-films of their recent holidays whilst eating trifle and drinking from their soda-stream - oh the decadence!
As I said, my kids are adults now and yet as a family its still quite simple things that we return to for fun and laughter. Recently we had a holiday to Cornwall, six of us - my husband and I, both my children with their respective partners and our dog, Gizmo. Whilst we had the luxury of some treats whilst away, the highlights of the week included clifftop walks, ice-creams, playing card games, a quiz night that each of us had prepared a round of questions for and digging the biggest hole that the beach had seen for a while - probably.
With all this in mind, I thought I'd take this opportunity to showcase a nostalgic poem of mine that reflects upon the simple 'stuff of life' that forms some of my fondest memories - many of them associated with the school summer holidays. So whatever the weather for the next few weeks, I hope they offer you opportunities to make a few memories to keep and to maybe re-run in your head on rainy afternoons.
Cine-Film
The cine-film clicked through,
frame by frame,
a grainy image to conjure up a past.
A past full of jelly and ice-cream parties in the garden,
fancy dress made of tinfoil and crepe paper.
Donkey rides on the beach,
after buckets and spades
filled a day of sandy endeavours,
deckchairs down,
then off for a trampoline bounce,
swing boats and helter-skelter twirls.
Boys in short trousers and girls in long plaits,
cheering 'Punch and Judy' at the village fete,
Then, three, two, one...
jumping off in the sack race,
the mums jostling for position in the 'egg and spoon.'
A Christmas living room next,
crowded with three generations,
cards strung across the wall, smiles and glasses raised
and then, that's me -
bouncing on my Dad's knee,
Mum's beehive hair glamorous,
an uncle getting amorous,
then a fade to grey.
Swings at the park,
playing in the street until dark,
holiday camps,
zoo days,
row boats on the lake,
simple, silent movies of the times we had.
Echoes of the past,
reaching out to us now
places I have been.
faces,
some of which, I haven't seen,
others I'd forgotten had a youth,
captured in a moment,
a flickering moment
for a cine-Sunday afternoon.
Karen Honnor - 'Just Take Five: A Contemporary Poetry Collection' 2022
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