June. One of my favorite months: the beginning of summer. The end of the school or university and sometimes, if you are lucky, a break from your job and the beginning of your holiday time.
The summer was lasting at least three months, but sometime started in May an ending in October-December (don’t get me wrong, it was chilly but you could wear short sleeves and no jacket). In Italy. In the South of Italy.
Now, with the global warming, the situation has worsened: “sweltrie” summer, iced winter and no middle seasons. So scary.
At least it was like that until I came in Scotland. Here I’ve experienced the shortest “simmer” of my life. Five days in total.
No, I’m joking. Six. Six and an half.
To be completely honest, the first “simmer” in Scotland for me never showed up: three whole months of rainy and cold weather. Yuppiee!
But (maybe because fo the global warming) every year summer got better. I’ve been two years and an half in Edinburgh and I’ve spent the last two summers in a very sunny, warm and sometimes hot weather. It’s an improvement indeed.
Recently I’ve discovered and explored the Craigmillar Park: it is simply amazing. And I’ve been there in two very hot and sunny days. It was like coming back in Italy.
Neverthless, I have to admit it, now in Italy it’s too hot and even in the shadow you can feel almost 40 degrees… and no any drift of wind, at all. So, I prefer the scottish “simmer” with no doubt 🙂
What I miss is the smell of the air of my city, Bitonto. You can smell the coming of summer. You can hear it when the robins are coming during the spring and stay a bit longer in the summer. I miss a lot their sound, much better than the seagulls we have here, in my opinion. I miss the sound of the city which is still lively even after midnight. People that are coming back from a pizzeria or a restaurant and are going to find a bar for an ice cream or a cornetto (croissant). After that, the evening (usually is already after midnight) is still young for them: so they jump in their car and go to the beach for a party or just a wee walk and maybe another ice cream (or shots, called “cicchetti”). It is almost 4-5 am and only now they start to think to go back home.
I remember some friends that stayed awake to see the rise of the sun on the beach and then laid on the shore or go to swim. I was never been able to stay awake for so long.
That said, I’ve imagine what the neighbourgh of Bibi, Scott (a random name, isn’t it?) can think about hot and scottish weather. Let’s take a look on the new Episode of Bibi in UK: an italian abroad. https://schiraldiart.com/Bibi%20in%20uk/
P.S. This is the link from where I found out about the scottish simmer and learn about more other intersting scottish words. I have to admit it, I love the scottish language and accent! https://www.scotslanguage.com/Weather_Blether_uid154/Summer
A scottish summer …I mean “Simmer”!
