Well, I kind of feel like I’ve gotten to a point where if I don’t have pictures, it’s not even worth posting. So, I’m here this morning to kick that notion. No pictures, no gimmicks–just some good old fashioned words on a page. I hope you won’t be too disappointed.
Summer has indeed finally made it’s way to Edinburgh. What does this mean for us? Well, it means a number of things. First of all, it means very few hours of darkness–something like three. That’s right, even going to bed around 11:30, we still have to wear our handy-dandy eye shades to block out the bit of light that is still creeping in through the window. Wondering what these fabulous eye-shades consist of? So glad you asked. I’ll just say, we did look into the possibility of getting black-out blinds for the window, but not only was this suggestion mocked as being a bit wimpy by the robust and hearty Scots we mentioned it to, but buying blinds wasn’t exactly in the budget. So, we resorted to something a little less conventional: stretchy cotton headbands! You know, the kind you (or your sister) used to make out of old tights back in the 80’s (or was that just my family)? That’s what we’ve got, only they’re not made out of tights. So, at night we pull out our headbands and secure them tightly around our heads so that they’re covering our eyes. And, voila! Instant darkness! If they manage to survive the night without sliding off our heads, they also serve to block out that light that’s creeping back in again around 3:30. (I know you’re really wishing you had a picture of this now.)
Another thing summer means for us is that I can now sit on the couch in my fourth storey flat and get a suntan. Who knew?! The windows are large and swing wide open and since we face south, the sun is beating down on me most of the day. I never expected that Scotland would be a place where I could get an indoor suntan!
Finally, on a much more mundane note, summer means that our clothes now only take about half a day to dry after they’ve been washed. In the winter months, we would have the same load of laundry strung all over the flat for several days at a time while we waited for it to dry. Now if we hang up a load in the morning, it’s crisp and dry by mid-afternoon. What a treat! Small as it is, the living room looks so much neater without laundry hanging from every protrusion that might serve as a peg (including lamps, chair backs, wall hangings, shelf corners, radiators, hot-water heaters, doorknobs, windowknobs…) not to mention the t.v.-cable clothes-line that permanently hangs about nine feet off the floor, fashioned by my ingenious husband. Sometimes it’s the little things.
bits 'n bobs 
Wow, I had no idea that Scotland had that much daylight through the summer months. I guess I always assumed their climate to be much like our own here in the NW.
Must admit, I was sad to see no pictures, but there is always the next post, right?
When I lived in Japan we had no drier (sp?). I remember thinking that was odd, but no one had them, so I remember hanging my clothes and the difference that summer made! Hows that baby doing?
Sounds like you have a nice little window to get sun! That sounds so nice. Glad that summer is so nice there…I too thought it was like the NW. Guess that’s why we have you educating us. Can’t wait to see the headband eye shades. I vote you catch Christopher right after waking or maybe still sleeping, just for memories sake so that you can remember what it was you did to get that dark nights sleep.
I had forgotten all about making our headbands out of old tights. Something tells me we were the only ones who did that. We used to tan in our rooms in Aix too. Did you do that?
Yes we did, Nicky!! I totally forgot about that. We did our fair share of walking around our drooping laundry at the fac too. Enjoy the daylight while you have it, Jack…remember it’s got to make up for the dark, cold, everlasting winters. 🙂
Haven’t heard from you for a long time! How about another post?