Seasons and Hobbits

A visual and visceral reminder that I am a Soutie is the change of seasons in the UK. I grew up in Durban where it was usually hot or very hot. Back when cigarette companies were the cell phone companies of advertising, the Gunston 500 (now the Ballito Pro) was a surfing competition held in the middle of winter. Seasons were defined by the Sport we did at school. Two seasons of Cricket to bookend the year, With Rugby as it cooled (slightly) and Athletics as it was warming up.

The UK seasons are much more defined. In the Winter, office dwellers can miss the sun completely if they don't come outside for lunch. It can rise after you get to work, and set before you leave. In the middle of Summer, people can still be knocking a ball around outside closing in on 10pm.

I now live with my right foot in the Cotswolds (my left foot in South Africa), which is basically the Shire from the Lord of the Rings. Hobbits love to garden and each season has its plants with an extended winter rest. The surrounding farms also change very distinctly with each season. The trees losing their leaves completely can change the views from bedroom windows, sometimes hiding neighbours (when the sun is out) and sometimes leaving that job to the dark.

On opposite sides of the rock, but sharing the sports of Cricket and Rugby... the annual internationals are a reminder that one person's summer is another person's winter. The year ending Northern Rugby tour always comes after a long season of battering up against the other former colonies. Then the favour is returned when fading Roses end their season up against fresh and bright-eyed Boks down South.

I like seasons. A time for rest, a time for focus. Periods of intensity, and periods of calm. Life tends to throw bucket loads at us sometimes. It can feel like too much. That is why a connected world is great. When a community can look after each other as our ups and downs cancel each other out.

As the seasons pass, the garden grows. Each new season building on the last. 

A little patch of home in the Shire