life in the slow lane


It has been a week since schools finished for the summer. It seems much longer, the days are seemingly endless and yet pass in a tick. So far, we have not ventured far and we have barely used the car. 

Our mornings are slow. I spend an hour or so in bed reading a book and enjoying the coffee Richard made me before he left for work. The children pursue their various interests independently. Breakfast is eaten anytime anyone feels like it. There may be multiple small breakfasts. Sam eats his about 2pm. Later, I spend an hour or so doing housework. There is not a huge amount of mess because we are outside quite a lot of the time. There is of course always laundry. We walk Jack, go to the play park, play in the garden, watch a bit of telly, sew for a few minutes, pop out to the shops.The other day Annie and I nipped out to the supermarket for a quick shop. Halfway through the checkout, the tills stopped working. Every single one of them. We waited around for a bit, were offered chocolates to make the waiting sweeter, waited some more. Eventually, the shop was evacuated for health and safety reasons. I couldn't see any immediate risk to my health nor safety, the atmosphere was cheerful enough and there was no sign of rioting, or looting but we had no choice but to abandon our unpaid groceries.

I really rather like it like this. I feel ever so relaxed and I think everyone else is relaxed, too. Richard's work is slowing down because the academic year is finished. The other day we met him for a picnic on campus. James, Alistair, Jack and I walked there along the Kelvin and back. The photo above was taken just outside our workplace.

The weather has been so so. It is warm and muggy with the odd shower, mostly overcast. Still, the back door remains open and the windows, too. Today is apparently the hottest day recorded in the UK. It is amusing how the media hype the heat up. As if there was not otherwise enough to worry about in the world, for example the defaulting of Greece or the growing threat of IS to our lives. Maybe worrying about the weather is a displacement worry?

The next few days will be a little busier but not much so. Richard and Sam are going wild camping for one night and Annie is going to Fife with a friend for a couple of days. The little ones and I will continue with our routine, breaking it maybe to pop out to Nardini's on Byres Rd for an ice cream. On Saturday we'll be welcoming a Swiss teenage girl. She'll be staying with us for two weeks to get some exposure to the English language. She'll be returning with a thick Glasgwegian accent no doubt. I hope she doesn't find us dead boring. We have a few things planned to stave off boredom, just in case. 

How do you like your holidays? Lazy or active? I like both but ideally, the first week is lazy. Have a great midweek. Cx

Comments

  1. It's still too hot to do much of anything here, though lower 90's are better than upper 90's. Mac says we're going down the coast to St. Simon's Island to fish next week. Get fried in the sun is more like it, but I do like St. Simon's Island.

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  2. We are making the most of the good weather and clearing out the garden shed and the wood workshop, jobs that have been on the list for a long time and are weather dependant.

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  3. I love a bit of laziness. I like the whole thing of not needing to be up at a particular time, not needing to get dressed, not needing to get out. After a few days I get all achieving again but it is so good to just stop for a while.

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  4. It sounds wonderful to me. I'm laughing about the tills no longer working; when I was younger, I worked as a cashier in a grocery store and we had fairly frequent power outages in the store during storms. But they had a generator that could power the front end of the store where the cash registers were, and the area where the fridges and freezers were. They couldn't turn the lights on, though. So we kept working even in the dark. There was enough light from the windows at the front of the store to see what we were doing, but I bet we were in more danger with the registers working than you were with them not! :)

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  5. I forget that Scottish schools finish so much earlier than the English ones - but then you have to go back earlier than we do. Perhaps the supermarket follows the same health and safety rules that stop us from taking empty toilet roll tubes into schools for children to make models out of. It's all mad! Enjoy the sunshine while it lasts! xx

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  6. we have this thing where we have some sort of stop out/pub dinner/evening walk up a hill thing on the first night of their break up and then the holidays seem so long. We muse things like "it seems ages since we XXX doesn't it" "wow that seems a long time ago" it marks the start of our holiday and makes it feel long. I like busy and lazy - depends how much they are bickering!!! Jo x

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  7. Lazy hols for me! Ours sound very similar, lazy morning, breakfast only if or when you fancy it. We have 3 more weeks to wait though ...

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  8. It all sounds blissful, so glad you're having a good start to the summer hols. CJ xx

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  9. a lazy first week is the best way to start summer. x

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  10. Sounds perfect, I miss my schooldays, the summer seemed to last forever when you are young.

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  11. Our holidays were all busy busy, but these days I like relaxed! Sounds as though you have had a great start to the summer holidays! I hope they will be just as good all summer long!! xx

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  12. Your first week off sounds ideal to me. I do love to ditch the routine but by the end of the holidays I'm craving it again.

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  13. You summer sounds lovely. As a teacher, I have the same sort of rhythm (even though my own two are grown) and I adore the slower pace of summer. Enjoy your family!

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  14. Your summer holiday sounds wonderfully lazy and relaxed. I especially envy your hour in bed in the mornings spent reading with a coffee. I'd so love to have mornings like that-- maybe when the kids are a bit older. This will be our first ever school summer holiday and I'm really looking forward to not having to get up early, get everyone ready and get to school...Have a great weekend!

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  15. Our days follow a very similar pattern, and we all respond very well to it. Derek hasn't yet come home from work at 6.30 to find us all still in our pajamas, but it has been a close run thing sometimes........

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