An ode to English Summers

Let me just say that for a non-native English Summers are an acquired taste.

I come from a country where Summer means a good few months of in-your-face bright blue skies, scorching temperatures and sunny days. You can easily plan a beach outing because in all likelihood the weather will be gorgeous whenever it is you are planning to go.

Now the weather in the UK is far from reliable. Light years away! And you won't get nearly as many sunny or properly hot days as you'd like. It's very likely that despite promises of a fair weather it will rain on your barbecue. And even if it's warm enough to leave the house in short sleeves, by the time you get to your destination you might wish you'd brought an extra layer or an umbrella. Music festivals mean mud, mud and more mud. There will be days, sometimes weeks where you won't see the sun. Some days you might be tempted to dig out a blanket to keep you cosy while you're watching telly.

Nonetheless I've grown to love Summer in the UK. Here's why:

1. It's almost never too hot to sleep with a duvet. Now I hate that feeling of sleeping without covers. Alfresco is simply not for me. When it comes to sleep I like to burrow into a nest of cosiness.
2. The odd properly rainy day is a great opportunity to have a lazy day in, or to enjoy a walk in the rain without all the cumbersome wintry layers of clothing.
3. It's cool enough for most crafts projects. Want to make sock puppets - go ahead! Feel that need to crochet a wooly blanket - be my guest! The weather is rarely too warm to handle fabrics and warm materials, so keep your needles close!
4. Cuddles. Because the weather is seldom really hot, you can carry on with your cuddling and hugging without feeling clammy all the time.
5. Pimms. I love Summer cocktails, but most of all I love a cheeky Pimms on a Sunday lunch!
6. The fact that the weather changes so quickly and so drastically makes you really appreciate the sunny days even more. Every sun ray is a gift and I've learned to enjoy it to the fullest.
7. The variety in weather is refreshing, even if it means being deprived from sunshine for several days in a row. You learn to enjoy other aspects of less favourable weather.
8. The eternal promise of a barbecue (and occasionally the real barbecue). Is it going to happen or will it literally rain on your parade? Even if it doesn't happen, the antecipation is half the fun. And if it all fails you and your friends can always end up in a pub having amazing food and a jug Pimms!
9. It's never too hot for coffee or tea. Enough said on this!
10. You learn that it's just weather. So what if you get wet? So what if it's a tad chilly for a bit? Are you really going to let a silly thing like a bit of rain keep you from going outside and explore your surroundings? Does it really matter what the sky looks like when you can be trekking the countryside and taking gorgeous pictures of all your adventures? 

Thankful Thursday # 22

I've learned to love Thrusday, and I have this seemingly whimsical challenge to thank for. So without further ado, here we go again!

1. My boyfriend. His holiday away showed me that my home isn't so much a place, but a person. I am so magnificiently lucky to have him in my life that I can't help but smile and hope I can show him the best of myself in return.
2. Crafts projects. There is something incredibly soothing in losing yourself in a project. In letting your fingers do their work with the needles and see something come of it. I use crafts as a way to help me keep my mind still. To practice mindfulness. Or to make the most of a slow-paced film or documentary.
3. Mild Summers. I've learned to enjoy English Summers by focusing on the small blessings that came with them. Mostly I enjoy temperatures that are cool enough to knit, to sleep with a light duvet, to keep your arms covered with a light cardigan. And a cheeky glass of Pimms on a Sunday lunch!
4. Not worrying about money. I'm not going to say I wouldn't love a fattier payslip, but I take great pleasure in the fact that I rarely count the days until payday and that I never seem to worry too much about my finances. I does help that I can get easily excited with cheap things, like a new brand of tea.
5. My tattoo. I love, love, love coming out of the shower every morning just so I can take a look at my left shoulder blade. I am counting the days until my beach holiday so I can display it proudly! Which in turn helps me keep my diet going when all I want is to nap after a nice big scoop of ice cream.
6. Finishing a workout. It fills me with pride every time I manage to finish a workout without cheating or cutting corners. It takes some persuasion, especially so early in the morning, but every time I finish strong I feel monumentally empowered. And that's why I do it. Because I know that once it's done there isn't a freshly baked croissant on my commute that's stronger than me.
7. Co-workers who lend you the shoes off their feet. I had a bit of a funny situation at work this week. In my morning hustle and bustle I forgot my work shoes at home and was left to face a day at the office in my bright pink trainers. Which is when I realised that I had a very important meeting that day. Luckily a colleague lent me her shoes for an hour so I could go to the meeting without looking like a lunatic.

The fun times of being temporarily single

My boyfriend and I do our holidays apart. To most people this sounds weird, but trust me, if you both have family abroad (even if both families live in the same city) this starts to make sense for a number of reasons. When I go on "holiday" (and time at home is never the same as a holiday abroad to a new country) I never get much rest. It's a constant pilgrimage of going from relative to relative and trying to catch up with old friends. So imagine this with both my family/friends and his in the mix.

Anyway, he's been away for a few days and people around me seem to want to pat me on the back because they believe I am lonely. But that's not the way I see it. I see this as an opportunity to have fun and to enjoy the little things I don't get to do when he's around.

Yes, I love my boyfriend deeply and I can't wait for him to come back, but hey!, let's be honest here; there's loads of things you don't get to do much when you share your space with someone else. Here's a few:

1. Singing in the shower in the morning (he's still asleep when I get up, so lots of noise would be a no no)
2. Watching films your other half wouldn't be caught dead watching. I watch rom-coms not so much because I really enjoy them, but mostly because I can!
3. Sleeping like a starfish. Seriously, having the bed all to myself is bliss!
4. Leaving your yarn everywhere. My living room looks like my gran moved in and decided to knit like there's no tomorrow. I make no apologies.
5. Less washing up to do.
6. Organising your time off however you want it and being able to change your mind at a moment's notice without it impacting anyone else.
7. Deciding what to want to wear that same day. Because I get up earlier than my better half I always leave my clothes ready the day before, so I'm enjoying the total freedom of not having another human being in the bedroom when I get up.
8. Planning your meals exactly to your specifications.
9. Making the bed in less than 10 seconds.
10. Not feeling guilty for being caught in a book for longer than you should. The new Harry Potter book came out a few days ago, I would be disappointed with myself if I managed to control myself...

The world awaits outside

The world is a playground. You know that when you're a kid, but somewhere along the way everyone forgets it.

That is from the Jim Carrey film Yes Man. And it got me thinking.

I wonder if this is true of me. Was there ever a time in my life when I thought the word was a playground? Something fun and exciting and not a sequence of death traps?

I don't think so. I think due to my childhood experiences I've always seen the world as a scary place, and so I closed myself to it. I put up walls and shut people out, even though I was desperate for attention and affection. I sat in my corner, very still, with books and films and dolls for company and I led a sheltered life, not because I was spoiled, but because I couldn't be persuaded to leave my comfort zone.

So what I'm doing now is not really a rediscovery of the good old thrilling times.

It's a brand new discovery.

A whole new world.

A series of wonderful adventures waiting to be lived.

And for once I'm not staying inside.

Tomato or no tomato, that is the question

Usually when write here and I present a problem I have its solution lined up and ready to jump onto a new paragraph, so this is a bit of an unusual post for me.

Last Summer I was on a diet when I went back home. In my endless pilgrimage to all my relatives and selected friends, I called on an elderly cousin for lunch. The day before she'd asked me what I wanted for lunch so I replied I'd love her famous breaded chicken fillets. 'What with? Chips or rice?', she asked again. And so I said I wanted neither, just the chicken and a sliced tomato as a side.

The following day I arrived at her house with a hearty appetite, only to be greeted by a tomatoless table. I found instead that the tomato had been merciless replaced by a big plate of chips placed right in front of my plate for my own convenience and the imminent death of my diet. When I politely asked about the tomato my cousin replied something like 'I heard you said tomato, but I know that deep down you wanted chips, so I made them especially just for you.'

The end of this story is not important, but I'm left pondering what could I have done.

What do you do when you are desperately fighting yourself to keep your diet going and your loved ones decide to sabotage you instead of supporting your decision? And they do this out of love, believing that pleasing you now is somehow better than helping you reach your long term goal. What do you do? Do you say no to the chips and sulk? Do you pick a fight with a relative you only get to see once or twice a year? Or do you eat them out of courtesy even though you didn't ask for them and they're actually bad for you?

I'm trying hard to keep my diet going and I know whatever weight I lose could easily be gained when I'm away on holiday. Heck, my lost weight may even bring friends to stay and make my thighs their new home! So I'm conscious of the traps ahead and I would like to avoid them.

The question is - how do you do it?