Column: Summer is over. Or not yet?

'Schools will start again soon, but I have the feeling that summer has yet to start', a friend sighed over her Italian cup of comfort. And I understood what she meant. Just a little while and the long summer vacation of the offspring will be over. But we haven't really had the feeling that normally comes with summer this year. I did have a nostalgic feeling when I looked outside at the gray cloudy skies: the summer looked a lot like those Dutch summers from my youth.

The weather in Italy

Weather. Basically a bit sad to talk about that in a column about your life in Italy. After all, we associate 'the weather as a subject' with a short, casual conversation with the baker or the cashier. Or by filling the silence in an otherwise nice conversation with the person next to you on the train because you don't want to dive into your book rudely. But this year was so different from usual that I can talk about it without being ashamed of it.

Just very weird

Because here with us, just like in the rest of Europe, it was just really weird. Rain fell in northern Italy. A lot of rain. And it was autumn cold. With occasional strong storms, including tornadoes. Instead of a cooling trip to the mountains to have a nice picnic, many families gathered around the lit fireplace in August to get a little warm.

Swimming plants

The plants in my Tuscan garden have learned to swim this year. In addition to the rainwater, they also had to store tap water for fifteen minutes every day during our holiday.

Other years this helped against the 'dried-out savanna effect' and our garden looked more or less okay when we returned. But this summer, when we got home, the garden looked more like a jungle and we had, so to speak, a need a machete to reach the garden shed.

Even our holiday in the sunny south was different than usual. No looking for shade and moving as little as possible during the day. We could do everything because of the pleasant temperatures. Even going to the beach all day long, without coming home exhausted. No reason to complain really.

late summer

Yet. We have not had the summer feeling that comes with a lot of heat, silence on the street and windows open at night so that the crickets sing you to sleep. Maybe it will come; the past few days seem to hold a promise of late summer. Lots of sun, clear blue skies and in the hottest part of the day it really is the hottest of the day. I like it, I missed it just like my girlfriend this year.