Indian Summer, please

Sunday, September 7, 2008 at 8:07pm

Picture the scene. There I was, half-way up a cliff path last weekend, practically wheezing. My hair was damp with light sweat or rain, perhaps even mist from the sea. I stood with my wife, surveying the view of the magnificent cliffs beyond the stony beach. The sea continuously smashing against the shore, foamy spray coating the shiny black rocks. Damn this rain, I thought. It was gorgeous the day before at Woolacombe, when we ate fish and chips on the beach, watching the surfers and the gulls in the late afternoon sunshine.

Sadly, the day we actually set aside for properly exploring the area was a washout. I thought I glimpsed a patch of blue sky, perhaps lost on the wrong day, way out to sea, but I blinked and missed it. I got out my camera (I can't leave the thing alone these days) to capture the scene, but decided against it and quickly 'sheaf-ed' it for fear of the rain getting into the mechanism and knackering my most prized possession. Anything to delay continuing the walk up the ridiculously steep walk up towards Lynton. I brushed my sodden hair away from my face and continued on. To think I moaned about the weather then. What the hell has happened to it?

Yesterday's paper showed scenes of massive waves dwarving a nearby train at Dawlish - not far from where I was in Lynmouth the week before - in relatively mild temperatures; other pictures showed flooding in South Wales. The headlines spoke of tragic deaths. Things seem to be getting worse. Where was the summer? It hasn't stopped raining all weekend. It's freezing ffs. I saw a fully-grown conker today, half buried in fallen leaves. I'm not ready for Autumn yet. I haven't even started my summer exercise program, and now we're planning for the Christmas party. When did time move this quickly? I could have sworn that when we were young, the long summer days playing British Bulldog across the 'mound' were twice as long, and far more regular. Is this what it gets like when you get older? Blink and you'll miss it? Screw this, I'm moving to LA.