It's funny how my posts so far have all been triggered by the weather – being here must be rubbing off me. It's summer proper, and thankfully the weather has been warm for nearly two weeks now and it's simply gorgeous.
Plane spotting from my backyard.
Everyone around me is complaining about how hot it is, but it's great. I actually feel like I don't have quite enough weather appropriate clothes, given that I own a lot less casual summer clothes than office-suitable summer gear, the latter being completely useless given the place that I am currently working at. The only thing stopping me from buying more clothes is the (probably valid) fear that this weather will end all too quickly and abruptly.
To be honest, it can get a bit too warm here - the house has no fans and there's a lot less cloud cover – but rooms quickly cool down due to the strong breezes. That said, my colleagues all feel that the office is too warm (it's not) and turn the air-con on, chilling my arms and numbing my hands and necessitating my donning of a cardigan – it seems like regardless of where I go, I can never escape unnecessarily cold air-conditioning.
Summer brings about another seemingly strange phenomenon – the ceasing of all classes and courses at the local arts centre and other private teachers. My ballet teacher (who teaches from a church) is off for 2 months, and the Crescent Arts Centre sits empty for a similar (if not longer) period of time. It has meant that I'm having a fair amount of time to myself, but it also means that I'm gaining weight and losing flexibility and strength because I'm too lazy to exercise at home!
Showing off the gorgeous scenery with the Beaghmore Stone Circles
On the work front, things are as meh as usual. On good days I'm fine but on bad days I'm really bored, and today I spent most of the day trying to look busy. However, as luck would have it, 15 min before the end of my shift things started pouring in, and I couldn't leave till 20 min later than I was meant to. It hasn't been that great a fortnight, and that's already with me taking 1 day off last week in lieu of the May day holiday I was owed, and another off day tomorrow in lieu of last week's public holiday.
On a personal level, an article that was shared on Facebook today regarding how modern weddings are a waste of time and money evoked strong feelings. While I don't feel that things like marriage seminars or counselling are necessary (my personal view is that living together before marriage is not a bad way to find out if you want to do this for the rest of your life, but given that the article is written by a pastor he's not going to even suggest that as a viable option), the article brought up feelings that I had a while ago.
Marriage and weddings (both in the recent past and near future) are thick in the air this year, and the more that goes on regarding weddings – not marriage, mind you, but weddings – the more intensely I feel that 1) they're a bloody waste of time, effort and energy; 2) they're darn expensive, both for the couple and for their guests; and 3) that if my turn to get married comes around I'm going to wanna do something like a small ceremony with a big party after where everyone can just come, help themselves to a buffet spread of some sort, drink, dance and get wasted while having a good time.
I know that (3) is a lot more fantasy than reality, as the fact that I'll still want things like photos and videos to remember the day by (as well as to show friends and relatives who can't be present), but I think that having this ideal in mind will help keep things simple. Perhaps that and the reminder that the less money we spend on the wedding the more we'll have for our honeymoon and for feasting and enjoying life for the rest of our days together.
Wildflowers grown on the Hill of the O'Neills which the O'Neills I was with half-heartedly tried to reclaim.
