Summer, where have you gone ?

Summer's here already ? It's kinda snuck up and feels like it's soon going to be over ! With no summer music festivals to mark the start of summer (Glastonbury) or the end of Summer (Reading) my internal summer calendar is completley shot it seems.

Why have I not been attending my usual music pilgrimages, enjoying the all the pleasures of the outdoors (trees, grass, loud rock music and beers) ? No idea, but it seems an explosion of interest has kicked in for not just Glaston but all festivals. Personally, I think ebay is somewhat to blame - if you have 250 pounds spare, you can spend it on a couple of Reading tickets, safe in the knowledge you can pretty much double your investment witha quick ebay bid.

Which means these events are no longer priced at a "fair competitive rate" to the masses, but instead tickets go quite literally to the highest bidder. And the more I think about who that might be, the less I want to be at these festivals ! Indeed sources have confirmed a rise in the number of bottles of Chardonnay and a drop in Tesco Value strength lager this year. Don't these people have a Nora Jones concert to go to ? Bah...

So what I have been doing with our fairest of seasons ? Firstly, a spot of Espanola, as I enrolled on a 7 lessons course on basic Spanish to kinda keep the learning going. It's quite good, although a lot of commitment to do homework and learning. I keep my books in my "man bag" and revise on bus journies and whilst waiting for people in the evening, but I suspect I might drop the ball at least one week before the end. This course happens on Mondays, so the learning to cook project has been sorta sidelined for now...

After the course, I have two weeks booked off, but tragically no plans ! Anyone fancy a trip abroad - or for those already out there, anyone fancy showing off there house / town / country ?!? My idea pool so far contains visiting travel companions living around Europe, seeing Japan, going somewhere that speaks Spanish - Spain maybe ! Or maybe finding a hobby / learning course to do for one or two of the weeks.

Ideas and/or offers on a postcard... or an e-mail would do too :)
(I'm on holiday from Sept 10th to Sept 25th)