Farewell to spontaneous gelato, seaside swims, high temps and minimal clothing. The last remnants of summer linger on, but in our thoughts and calendars, the season of sun is officially over. And I couldn’t be happier.
When you live in a cold climate country, it’s blasphemy to wish for winter. You must be pining for the sun and savouring each beaming ray at all times! And although I do lavish in the moments that summer brings, I equally yearn for the icy, grey and miserable days. Not because I’m the White Witch, but because I’m Australian, and stinking hot weather isn’t a novelty to me as it is to others. Living in the Northern Hemisphere now means I can focus my attention on romanticising oversized woolly coats, crunchy leaves, freshly powdered snow, and guilt-free hibernation. And yes, I’ve done a winter in Sweden. I know this is not reality, but let me have my fun.
What I will miss about these golden days is the wild, unbridled joy that seems to spill from every cafe, bar, shop and apartment. It’s the transportable barbeques for sale, midsummer celebrations, pop-up gelato shops, pride parades and slinky, sleeveless dresses. It’s rooftop bars with sorbet skies, (dry!) music festivals, tinnies on the tube, kayaking in the archipelago and travelling through Europe with your best friends. It’s swimming. Oh, how I’ll miss the swimming (a communal heated pool just doesn’t hit the same as the broad, natural sea). I’ll miss all kinds of iced drinks: frozen margaritas, iced coffees, frappes and an overpriced Joe & The Juice.
It’s the feeling that these leisurely days will never end, that the woes of normal, mundane life are so distantly far away. There’s this hopeful reassurance that everything will be fine because the sun will most definitely come out tomorrow. It’s all these things and more. I will miss it like one might miss their bus. Disappointed, but consolable, for another one will come past soon again.
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