When it's 22C at 05:58 in late May, you know Summer's just around the corner!
Meaning, in combination with a humidity reading of only 37%, that the living's suddenly become easy.
Someone stated Spring would literally switch to Summer over the course of a single day here. They were right! We were just too busy to notice last year.
Anyways, I adore Summer: The endless sunny days; the azure-blue cloudless skies; the midday stillness and quiet; needing to only wear minimal clothing; and having to drink plenty of liquids.
Although Alice spoils the latter by stating that doesn't include alcohol. But still, it all combines to make this my favourite season of all.
Okay, it can f'sure get hot. Here in SE Sicily, it officially reached 48.8C last August! And, given climate change, it's very likely to reach that (at least) again.
Now is there such a thing as 'too hot'?
The answer is an obvious 'yes', of course, but if'n you're sensible, it's standable. I mentioned that quiet around midday? That's because sensible locals are indoors, with their blinds drawn, staying as cool as they can.
The midday riposo of two to three-plus hours many businesses and offices take here turns from minor annoyance into entirely understandable!
At its most extreme, stepping out into the sun can hit you like a wall of heat. And we experienced just that last year. At least four times over that Summer.
But we’re sensible … and it’s coming up watermelon season!
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| Damn hot...! |
Anyways, I adore Summer: The endless sunny days; the azure-blue cloudless skies; the midday stillness and quiet; needing to only wear minimal clothing; and having to drink plenty of liquids.
Although Alice spoils the latter by stating that doesn't include alcohol. But still, it all combines to make this my favourite season of all.
Okay, it can f'sure get hot. Here in SE Sicily, it officially reached 48.8C last August! And, given climate change, it's very likely to reach that (at least) again.
Now is there such a thing as 'too hot'?
The answer is an obvious 'yes', of course, but if'n you're sensible, it's standable. I mentioned that quiet around midday? That's because sensible locals are indoors, with their blinds drawn, staying as cool as they can.
The midday riposo of two to three-plus hours many businesses and offices take here turns from minor annoyance into entirely understandable!
At its most extreme, stepping out into the sun can hit you like a wall of heat. And we experienced just that last year. At least four times over that Summer.
But we’re sensible … and it’s coming up watermelon season!
Growing Season
Spring and early Summer here in Sicily means the growing season.
That and the re-appearance of the uber-fast, acrobatic Swifts from sub-Saharan Africa, of course.
However, along with the many and varied seasonal crops produced here for us to so enjoy dining upon, it's also time for weeds and other unwanted plants. Which, and naturally, also enjoy a revival at this time of year!
They're flowering, which okay can be a feast for the eyes, but they're not welcome in certain
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| The wall of a local school |
Now we've handled our particular situation by nuking 'em with weed killer. RIP weeds! But others aren't doing the same, and that's a real shame.
I'm not talking 'bout our fellow homeowners here, if'n they want plants growing in, on and about their buildings? Fill ya boots, as they say. That's entirely their prerogative.
No, what I'm talking about here are our local monuments and/or tourist attractions: The many churches; and both civic and privately-owned historic buildings.
The vast majority of which sport weeds. Growing from their roofs, window ledges, and cracks-and-crevices. There doesn’t appear to be a single one here without them!
I mean: There’s nothing more disconcerting than gazing up in wonder at a 300-plus year-old architectural masterpiece … and seeing a 2m fig tree growing from a rain spout 20m above your head … or maybe a cactus sprouting from its guttering or roof.
I know money’s tight, but surely something could be done?
Speaking the Lingo
Alice speaks fluent Italian, and is often praised for it.
Now she'll claim she isn't that fluent: That she still struggles with some concepts and technical terms? But if you can get a local bureaucrat onside; argue with delivery men; and explain exactly what's required to your builder?
Then you're 'fluent enough' yeah?
I have to say, some concepts in Italian drive me crazy!
Take gender now: Italian uses grammatical gender, even for the inanimate. For example, while a candle (candela) or an orange (arancia) are feminine; a chicken (pollo) or umbrella (ombrello) are masculine.
Then a moment (momento) is male; while an hour (ora) is female. At least those ‘a’ and ‘o’ endings help!
Then there are adjectives. Which are usually after the noun they modify, and agree with the nouns in gender and number.
For example, il vestito rosso means 'the red dress', but (literally) is written and said as 'the dress red'. And this becomes i vestiti rossi when it's 'dresses'.
And don't get me started on verbs! In English 'to say' in the present tense uses 'say' or 'says' ... but dire (to say) here is either dico, dici, dice, diciamo, dite or dicono!
On the up side, pronunciation is fairly easy, being phonetic more often than not.
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