All summer long

I have heard this song a few times on the radio and despite REALLY NOT BEING A FAN of 'Kid Rock' (and I mean how old is the guy - 40+?),  the song is very catchy and it really does get the whole feel of summer thing.  The video is full of bikini clad babes on boats at the beach which really doesn't do it for me and despite spending a few summers at American lakes I have yet to see loads of babes like this gyrating (?) on their boats...

A few things other than my dislike for Mr Rock spring to mind.

1.  It is a matter of weeks before I need to get bikini ready for California.  So I should stop eating crap (mainly white bread) and get my lazy ass down on my treadmill.

2.  I once offended someone from Alabama (there's a reference to Alabama in the song).  Yet again when someone asked me about my accent I said as a joke 'I'm from Alabama, I mean SOUTHERN Alabama' not knowing that one of the other mums was indeed from Southern Alabama.  Never mind.

3.  I think I had a very mundane upbringing - disfunctional certainly but nothing really wow at all...until I left home.  So my best summer memory would be

Germany - summer of 1990. 

I was an au-pair who had been in a town near Frankfurt for a year.  I was happy but a bit lonely and had had a few boyfriends during this time but nothing too serious.  I was to return to England that summer with a few weeks off before going up to Scotland and start a University course.  So I was pretty resigned to not meeting anyone 'special.'  But of course there's always a surprise in store.

During one of my weekends off I was wandering around the town, killing time (back then German stores closed a noon on a Saturday and there was hardly anything open Saturday afternoon or Sunday), window shopping and was heading to an ice-cream store.  Bought an ice cream and then wandered outside looking in the windows of the shops.  And was aware of a guy, also eating ice cream..who was looking at the shop windows on the other side of the pedestrian street.  I was watching him through the windows and he was watching me in the same way...and so it went until we both got to the end of the street - tirned around, caught each others eye and burst out laughing.

A walk in the park and we hit if off to say the least - mainly as there was nothing to lose I suppose.  At first he guessed I was French (?).  He was German, just finishing up his architecture degree - nothing much in common but there was a bond.  Quite electric actually. 

It was a whirlwind six weeks to say the least.  It started off very slowly as he had just finished a relationship with a girl who was heart broken and threatening to do terrible things to herself and he felt very guilty about it all.  So there was a lot to be careful about.  He was older than me - in many ways quite independent but still lived at home.  Having said that he had very very liberal parents.....

It was a summer of sexual learning on my part for sure - wild nights driving all over in the woods - music blaring away.  He had a Jeep with no roof - I remember that!  Lots of ice cream and deep talks about life....confiding in a way I never had before.  He was a great artist and he sketched me nude (in an arty way) - I bet I still have those drawings somewhere.  I also did this whilst a University too - live modelling - not as easy as you may think.

But Uli was great for me then - just what I needed - and I even talked about staying on there.  I didn't stay in the end - sobbed my way back to England (literally) and had many phone calls to him.  I saved up straight away to fly back to Frankfurt and surprise him - which I did - in a good way.... we did keep in touch (this was before e-mail) and I went back to Germany many times  and saw him each after that. It almost became like a competition when we were involved with other people to see if we could still meet up and have nothing happen (hey, we were young).  He broke my heart whilst I was at University but I STILL saw him whenever I went back - but it would never have really have stood the course of time....but it was still the making of a great summer memory!!

Now aged 37 (aarh) my summer is a great time too though in a very different way.  It almost feels as though summer is winding down here even though we are hitting temperatures of 100+  The shops are gearing up for back to school and my sheets with all the kids' activities is slimming down.  California is looming and straight after that the children are back to school.

Ironic as my friends' kids in UK aren't even out yet!!!