Summer

summertime

I’m off now from work for the summer. I work term time in a college library and so have the summer months off from work – roughly 6 weeks in total. Sounds idyllic doesn’t it?

It’s also my first year with the summer off. I started my new job at the college in January and previous to this I work all throughout the year; two days in and whilst I’m enjoying it I wish the time frame wasn’t so long. It already seems so far off.

The only way I can survive is to what I do best – and sort of plans my days/weeks. If I weren’t to do this then I think I’d go stir-crazy.

So I’m taking this opportunity to write again – feels like it been ages. Working on non-fiction has been great fun and now I have time to write some fiction again.

I’m also taking the opportunity to learn BSL – British Sign Language – granted I’m teaching myself through DVDs and tutorials but it’s for a personal thing not professional. My brother-in-law and nephews are deaf – and even though they can hear well enough for me to communicate – it’ll be nice to be able to talk better with them using some basic signs.

I also want to cook more – from scratch and try new things. Like most people I’m getting tired of cooking the same set of meals week in week out and so I’m wanting to try some new meals that I can incorporate into weekly/monthly evening meals, preferably ones that aren’t too complex, take too much time, nor are overly expensive.

I will do some baking. I’ll try not to do too much because whenever there’s home-baked goods in the house they are gone within about a day or two – we are that greedy with them.

I also want to get in better shape.

Oh, and of course, catch up with friends and family.

And really crack on with the housework.

And of course relax from time to time with a good pile of books.

So this summer off thing is a mixed blessing – yes I have time to do all the things that I’ve mentioned above – but I’ve only been able to make a list of what I want to do because I thought about it. I planned. If I hadn’t then day after day would go by and I would get nothing done, I’d be bored, I’d watch too much daytime TV or films, I’d eat because I was bored, and I would end up feeling sorry for myself.

But let’s stay positive – ‘I’ve got time to do the actual stuff I want to do!’ Great isn’t it?