Ok, I’m back. It was a close call, but I made it through.
In the future when I look back on the summer of 2014 I will remember 2 things: the sun and the water.
The sun
Up here we had the warmest summer in basically forever, with temperatures of around 30°C every single day. In north Sweden that is scorching hot. Any winds or clouds that might sweep past didn’t do anything to soften the heat.
There were reports of “tropical nights”, nights when the temperature never drops below 20°C.
It didn’t rain for weeks. Our lawn was all brown and crispy and didn’t grow at all, but on the other hand our strawberries were unusually sweet.
Needless to say, I almost perished. :sick: And almost killed every cheerful bastard raving about what a wonderful weather it was!
Fucking summer… thank god it’s short lived up here.
It’s been cold and rainy this whole week, and nobody is happier than me! ;)
The water
The mere idea of laying in the sun on a beach makes me panic, but I love swimming, and even just being around water makes the warmth seem a little less pressing. So, on a summer like this, the only reasonable activity is going swimming!
I don’t think I’ve spent this much time in and around water since I was a child. I’ve been swimming in lakes, rivers, and even the sea. Was really nice actually.
We also spent a whole day exploring the great rapids near where my dad lives, but I’ll post about that later. They deserve an entry of their own. :)
So that’s what I’ve been doing all summer: sweating and swimming.
What about you?
I am not a fan of the summer, I really love winter when it is a lot cooler (although, the Australian winter is not as cold as many places around the world.) Even though the heat was icky, at least it might have been nice to have been around the water. :D
I look forward to the next entry. :D
It was an unseasonable warm June and July here as well. August has gotten a bit cooler but still 20-25°C during the day and 15°C at night. I love the heat so I was not really complaining till I got sick about 2 weeks ago.
I understand what you mean though when you say “almost killed every cheerful bastard raving about what a wonderful weather it was!”
I can really relate as well to panicking at the idea of laying on the beach in the sun, I hate how I look in a bathing suit, I burn easily even with sunscreen on and can not tolerate the sun at all, however I too love to swim, there is something about gliding through the cool water on a hot day that is just so satisfying. Being so sick right now I don’t think I will get to go one last time before it gets too cool :(
Your images are lovely and made me smile. I would love to explore rapids, did you go in a raft? I can’t wait to hear about it.
Our lawn is kind of dying too :( On the plus side, we don’t have to mow it every week, haha. I can’t wait for the weather to get cooler though! We’re actually in the hottest part of summer and get 38C days :(
The photos look pretty! Those look like great places to swim :D I’ve been spending much of my summer just working and trying to stay indoors.
Well, 30 is pretty hot actually. Granted, Abu Dhabi is currently 37 and nighttimes don’t get below 30… but this is a strange land. I’ve gone to the pool every other day since I’ve been back because that’s the only way to go outside. Immediately get into a body of water to keep from drowning in sweat. Mostly we don’t step foot outside our air conditioned havens though.
I wish that I had spent more time in the sun and swimming at a beach. But I had to work a lot this summer. I only got to enjoy some of the nightlife. :(
Sounds like your summer was good. :) xo
My summer was spent staying in the air conditioner because our temperature stayed in the 100’s (F) and the nights stayed in the 70-80F range. This summer is the first summer that I wasn’t pruned up from staying in the water. A lot of cook-outs and every other night drinking sessions with the neighbors kept me fairly entertained though. Apparently I’m hilarious when drunk so the twitter stream ‘Things Drunk People Say’ handle: @verydrunkpeople was created lol I’m not too proud of it but I can’t help laugh at the same time. Gorgeous photos as usual :)
I’m one of those cheerful bastards. I think the summer should bring hot weather, otherwise it’s just a prolonged spring, or like autumn. I like the seasonal changes, and that includes having hot weather in the summer… which rarely happens in Sweden though, and I was delighted to have some real summer.
I didn’t get the opportunity to get a good swim this summer, however, not even during our holidays in Italy. Kinda weird. But we had some good barbecue nights.