Enjoying a long, hot summer

The warm and sunny weather just seems to go on - and the end of it is not yet in sight! Well, WE don't complain!

It's been a long while since the summer here at the coast was so nice. The past few summers were not much, lots of clouds and bouts of rain. This recalls memories of the summer of 1976. Then it became warm in May, even hotter in June - and it rested well into September. I give remember we had to be very careful with water then. It was forbidden to use tapwater for the garden, so what we did was to collect the water when we rinsed fruit or vegetables before cooking, or collected the bath water in buckets. We then used this water to give some moisture to the plants we still had in those days (nowadays there is no garden anymore, too much upkeep).

In the hot summer of 1976 I was still at Uni, and it was torture to travel by train to Ghent to do my exams. Luckily the profs took compassion on us, and didn't make it too difficult on us! Some of them had their study in old marble halls. It was a blessing to enter those buildings, coming out of the leaden heat of the streets.

At home I studied down in the cellar: the coolest place in the house. Luckily we had lights there. I put my feet into a tile of cold water and then spend some hours with my books.

Nostalgia...