Where Did My Summers Go? In Six Drabbles

When I was six, I got six weeks' summer holiday to do whatever I wanted (and many things I didn't want like chores), but that was one week for every year of my life.

Every year I got older, and then at secondary school I got eight or nine weeks' summer holiday, so that was even more time to do what I wanted, ironically taking summer jobs to finance whatever I wanted to do, camping in the Lake District, rock and roll, buying records and record players and a guitar, and midnight meals in the Pennine Tower at Forton Services.

Then college finished and it was time to find a job. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but this was the nineteen seventies and things you didn't have to think about were getting a job, getting a car and getting a house, and I walked into a job as an office clerk. Life was easy, but then the long summer holidays were gone (although I got four weeks' holiday over the year), and my nine-week summer breaks were now a thing of the past.

Life had changed for me, and summers would be shorter and different for me.

I now started to find I had responsibilities. I had to be at work on time, and to get there, I had to buy a car, get a loan, and set up payments. If I wanted time off, I had to request it from my boss, so no just getting up, getting on my bike and going off to wherever I wanted, then coming home when it was getting dark. I could have requested a day off, but that would not have felt very summery to me.

This was growing up, and to be honest, I was not too enamoured.

I was no longer an underage drinker; I bought my first drink in a pub when I was fourteen. The day I turned 18, the Stanley Arms in Preston asked me for proof of age. I probably drank more in the summer, and because of summer jobs had more spare money.

Now I was driving a car rather than riding a bike, although in the seventies, drink driving was almost the norm rather than the exception, and once or twice I did that but luc,kily never caused an accident or did any damage, but drink driving is always a no-no.

The summers of my youth are not lost but full of memories. I am lucky that in my current situation, I can do a lot of things that I want, but I no longer have a bike. I have a garden that I need to mow and hedges I need to cut and that can only be done when the weather is nice. Part of summer is mowing the lawn, and feeding our visiting cat.

My summers are different, with another take on being carefree when I enjoy myself. As a kid, I didn't know how much summer would change.

As time goes by, climate change affects the weather, and it seems to me that traditional seasons seem to be merging into one; we can get snow in summer and sweltering temperatures in winter. Maybe it is a natural progression, or maybe it is caused by man's insistence on burning fossil fuels.

Although the summers are not what they used to be, there are still many ways to enjoy them. Blue skies, sunshine, rain, walking, and visiting places of beauty.

This summer will be different once more, and I am sure I will find lots of ways to enjoy myself.