Where Did Our Summers Go?

Where Did Our Summers Go?

I will run that beach bar on a small Mediterranean island one day. After a wonderful summer break, feeling the warm drizzle on my face as I depart from the plane in Britain, I can't help but think, "Where did our summers go?"

Francis Lai's Hidden Gem

Unarguably, the finest musical two minutes from composer Francis Lai is also something of a hidden gem. Where Did Our Summers Go? [Amazon] is a song he composed for the soundtrack of the 1968 film La Lecon Particuliere.

French singer, Nicole Croisille, turns it into a scorching torch song, as well as making us all nostalgic (already) for our summer hols. It's about time it was rediscovered.

Oh So Grey Britannia

So, the Tweed Pig detachment is back on British soil. After a time spent in full sunshine, with real blue skies and heat and lives lived out of doors, it's quite a jolt to return to monochrome Britain. That is actual British greyness above, foreign chums, the photo has not been altered. If you live in California, try imagining living inside an opaque light bulb.

The photo was taken from Clevedon pier. Pier of the year 2013, no less. Worth a trip if you're of a melancholy bent.

Time to put the bright and flimsy clothes away and bring out the thick and tweedy. After all, there's no place like home. Is there?

Let's see if Wordsworth can convince us...

I Travelled Among Unknown Men

I travelled among unknown men,
In lands beyond the sea;
Nor, England! did I know till then
What love I bore to thee.

'Tis past, that melancholy dream!
Nor will I quit thy shore
A second time; for still I seem
To love thee more and more.

Among thy mountains did I feel
The joy of my desire;
And she I cherished turned her wheel
Beside an English fire.

Thy mornings showed, thy nights concealed,
The bowers where Lucy played;
And thine too is the last green field
That Lucy's eyes surveyed.

William Wordsworth