Summer 2019: The Summer of Love

All of a sudden and yet again, the summer has come and almost gone. And yet again, I've become lax (read: non-existent) at the updating process. I'd like to say that life gets in the way and, to a degree, this is true. But the Google gods have also made the process of uploading pictures one step more onerous and it becomes easy to stay lazy. And in an epic teacher summer holidays, it becomes easy to watch the entire series of Gilmore Girls for the third, fourth, fifth time.

So here we are back in London after an epic summer of matrimonial adventures. Others, not mine. In the whole affair of being an International Person, the reunions are the cherry on top of what can sometimes be the experience of window shopping for cake. You get me: looks delicious, know it's delicious, but are separated by a pane of glass. 

This summer I got to eat the cake, see the friends and sweat in the Italian/Greek/Swedish sun in the process. The first adventure took us to Pisa for Clare's (Shanghai friend) multi-national Hen Do. Multinational in that friends flew from Manchester, London, Sweden, Vietnam and China to be there. It was not without its logistical dramas and its last minute drop outs. But ultimately, three days poolside was just what the doctor ordered. 

To make it more multinational, post-hen do, Gemma and I made our way up-continent, as one is able to do in Europe, weaving our way through Florence, Bologna, Verona and Munich before boarding a flight for Copenhagen, hiring a car, picking up Paul and crossing the bridge (that will break your bank account for years to come) into Sweden. There, we found ourselves in the tiny village of Rostaga for Clare and Roland's wedding. Adding one final level of internationalness, Clare, a Northern Englander, married Roland, a Hungarian, 18-months after they met in Malmo. Yep, I love it. Our journey ended in Copenhagen three days later when Paul and I made our way back to London. 

Two weeks later, my friend Gil (Taiwanese name: Kuan Yin) married her long-time love, George (Greek name: Giorgios) in a traditional Greek Orthodox ceremony in a seaside suburb of Athens. After lots of vigourous circle dancing and souvlaki, we then made our way to the delicious, delicious islands, taking in Naxos and Paros in the Cyclades for ten days of sun and sea. 

In between all of that, I've taken in the best of what British Rail has to offer and made my way to Whitstable, Deal, Bletchley, Arlesey. We've been fairly lucky in dodging heat delays, rain delays, wind delays in the process. 

It's been everything I could ask for in a summer. Which means the coming school year is going to hit me like a ton of bricks when the alarm goes off late next week. Sigh.