The Yang is Rising
“Make Hay While the Sun shines!”
I do not want to make hay.
The intolerable heat is a tortuous pressure, enjoyed only by those who are much thinner and younger, and with way less responsibilities.
The heat rises in waves of singed frustration. Blocked roads back up with cars full of angry drivers; all thinking they should have been where they needed to be an hour ago. Bored teenagers in airless classrooms are forced to complete meaningless tasks to pass the time before the bell rings. Club Tropicana blares out of café radios. Hairdressers demand to know where you’re going on holiday this year.
Everyone loves Summer. Who doesn’t LOVE the sunshine? Isn’t it a lovely day! How could you possibly be miserable on a day like today?!
Blistering sand on overcrowded, shade-less beaches. Complaining tourists not used to queuing up for ice-cream, inwardly screaming while trying to enjoy their holiday. “I paid good money for my authentic experience” they’ll later post on Facebook.
Even the dark brings noise. The barking of dogs as their owners stay up late into the night drinking too much beer in their newly mowed gardens. “We simply must make best use of our new barbecue! I made a playlist for the occasion!”
Oh for those Tom Sawyer days when the Summer was truly a blissful time of freedom and making daisy chains. Popping tar bubbles in the road without fear of oncoming traffic, or tutting adults wittering on about health and safety. Climbing trees and telling your mum you were late back home because your watch stopped.
The hands of the clock and the years move by with a different tempo these days. The seasons themselves have aged and gone out of step. Summer is not feeling like his old self any more. Time, a luxury beyond your present means. Like the March Hare, under the watchful, yellow eye of the sun, Old Father Time marches to a beat I cannot keep pace with.
Holidays are a chance to do ALL THE THINGS. Chop chop! Have a break, have a Kit-Kat.
How I long for the return of the cool air; the smell of the wind in the trees and soothing patter of rain on the window. To read a real book and drink tea - the kind my grandad used to make when I was feeling poorly.
Thoughts for contemplation:
Do you consider yourself to be a Summer person? How does the sun on your skin make you feel?
Would your ideal holiday be in a hot or cold climate?
Do you have a favourite summer song? What foods do you enjoy eating at this time of year?
Does the heat cause problems for you? What tactics do you employ to combat the element of fire?
What are your childhood memories of Summer?
What feelings do the words and images in this post conjure up?
This article contains ideas and emotions experienced at the height of the busy tourist season in Newquay, Cornwall. It’s a time when yang and the energy of fire feel way out of balance and excessively high.
“Every August, up to a hundred thousand visitors flock to our laid-back coastal village. Snaking through the fume-choked bottle neck, they descend on the town like a drone of bees in search of honey, quadrupling the number of inhabitants overnight. The energy of the entire county is transformed as folks, looking to escape the thrum of the city, wend their way “Down South” to join the parade of fellow holiday-makers who are also hoping to do the same.”
Sarah Donoghue (Me!) Extract from the Herbalist’s Diary.
During this time the hospitality sector gears up for peak trade, meaning people are working long hard hours which drive them to the brink of exhaustion. This includes folks cleaning holiday homes, waiters working seven-day weeks, bar staff serving drinks to rowdy customers long into the night, and litter pickers removing poo bags and crisp packets from the usually clean beaches. Everywhere you go, patience is palpably thin.
Being as my Guardian Element is Water, (which quickly becomes frazzled by the overpowering energies of dryness and heat,) this is the time of year I dread the most.