Its hard to be enthused in the summer of South Australia. Its always hot, always bright and at night people start to act up when the oppressive heat of the day lets up but is equally far too hot for sleep. For very large people like myself Summer is not a fun time of year.
Summer makes the imperfections clear, makes the little inequalities, the distancing and heat more obvious, while tinging everything in it with its own effects. And it is this that really gets to me more than the heat. I always feel more excluded in Summer and for someone who values people and relationships this is a thing that will always ache. However it is also the time for planting autum crops and nurturing the social portion of my life for the winter court to come.
For this reason I have to look a little further to find the joy of the period. The first is obvious when you look at the fashions of the state at this time. The fashions are for summer heat and encourage skimpy and thin clothing, not a bad thing for a single guy. But over the last few years the strange sight of several hundred lycra clad lunatics cycling the hills and dales of the greater Barossa and Adelaide area and getting both burnt by the sun and walking bow legged after finding the hills far more significant than they ever expected, is the real thing that just makes me chuckle.
Its hard not to smile at the antics of the Tour down under with so many people loving the sun and the spectacle, and participating in something that brings a state together. But for large people like myself trying to find a bike that would even allow me to fit on its seat and for it not to go straight to places I don't like to think about is nearly impossible. So although I get to love the madness of it all I equally find myself excluded and even these events get tinged a little with the omnipresent distance and starkness of it all.
So here I am hiding in my room, curtains closed against the sun, and several hundred cyclists again prove that there are still some things to be enthused at. I will leave the room soon and then go to care for my garden knowing that the summer will not last forever and what I nurture in the ground, in my relationships and in myself will soon again grow.
Summer makes the imperfections clear, makes the little inequalities, the distancing and heat more obvious, while tinging everything in it with its own effects. And it is this that really gets to me more than the heat. I always feel more excluded in Summer and for someone who values people and relationships this is a thing that will always ache. However it is also the time for planting autum crops and nurturing the social portion of my life for the winter court to come.
For this reason I have to look a little further to find the joy of the period. The first is obvious when you look at the fashions of the state at this time. The fashions are for summer heat and encourage skimpy and thin clothing, not a bad thing for a single guy. But over the last few years the strange sight of several hundred lycra clad lunatics cycling the hills and dales of the greater Barossa and Adelaide area and getting both burnt by the sun and walking bow legged after finding the hills far more significant than they ever expected, is the real thing that just makes me chuckle.
Its hard not to smile at the antics of the Tour down under with so many people loving the sun and the spectacle, and participating in something that brings a state together. But for large people like myself trying to find a bike that would even allow me to fit on its seat and for it not to go straight to places I don't like to think about is nearly impossible. So although I get to love the madness of it all I equally find myself excluded and even these events get tinged a little with the omnipresent distance and starkness of it all.
So here I am hiding in my room, curtains closed against the sun, and several hundred cyclists again prove that there are still some things to be enthused at. I will leave the room soon and then go to care for my garden knowing that the summer will not last forever and what I nurture in the ground, in my relationships and in myself will soon again grow.
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