The Weekend and Summer

It's not that I do much, but I need it to snap back from the week and gather strength for what will come after Sunday. Lately, this is the daily tangle of sudden deadlines, ridiculous selfish requests from idle children passed off as lugubrious mobile-zombie teenagers, scaling Mt Marking and the seasonal onslaught of give-us-more-exercises-it's-nearly-exam-time-more-more-more!!

It is a breath. It is a respite, a time of quiet and a pint of courage - juice, mostly. And summer? It's pretty much an extended weekend that refreshes and restores, letting the faculties regroup. Revitalise? Rejuvenate? I wouldn't go that far - we're still on this side of eternity, aren't we? No, summer means a quiet suspension from work in its ordinary sense. To me, this taste of everlasting life lets me set aside my watch and freely revel in forgiving mornings, loose lunchtimes, all-day afternoons, endless evenings and noiseless nights that seep into new mornings ad infinitum. It is when my discipline turns from rancorous indifferent classrooms, some of them, to writing The Novel and making journals. Friends and family who were forgotten during the academic year. Reading that has gathered high and sulked, neglected in dust. Letters, emails, blog posts, shop inventories. Holidays. Oh, and visits to the dentist, optometrist and what-have-you health specialist. Yep, I'm looking forward to this time of R&R. Feels like I'm living for July again...