Finishing off the summer

This year, like the last one, the summer hasn't been very good in the UK, quite rainy and chilly sometimes. I know I'm used to Vitoria-Gasteiz in the north of Spain and the weather is usually warmer (not very good though). But I think the last two summers have been especially light. According to the people, 2006 was much warmer. June was ok but when you start to get ready to enjoy a long summer July and August come full of rain and temperatures under 20ºC. Anyway, complaining about the weather is always an easy topic to chat about and I don't do it very often because, come on, this is the UK, what did you expect? Besides, it doesn't matter how the weather is outside, I don't usually make the most of it. My life is quite similar in winter and in summer. Apart from the open air bbq's and parties people invite me, the only difference is the sunlight (much brighter and more lasting in summer of course) and the giggles of the children playing on the swings and meadow next to my window. I don't like children much but I must admit that it's nice to have that happy sound in the background and it helps me not to become a grumpy(er) guy. So I usually leave the window open until all they have gone. Oh, and another difference is that in summer I can show off my coolest T-shirts, some of them recently purchased in Camden Town Market and also in internet. Oh yes, and now that I watch through the window, in summer is not weird to see hot-air balloons, but that doesn't really change anything for me.

Well, sometimes I do something not very normal which is better to do in summer. Few weekends ago for example I went with some people from the company to play paintball. I hardly know most of them. I know who they are and where they work but can't really call them friends. Joe, one of the Cardiff Dragons, couldn't come and offered me his place because the thing was already paid so I accepted happily and there I went, with another 7 colleagues, among whom I met Gary, another Dragon. Once there, they made two big teams with all the people who were there: about 20 people each team. We spent the whole day and the £5 ticket included the use of the gun, the first 100 paintballs and the lunch (sausage sandwich and some crisps). I found it quite cheap although then you have to buy more paintballs for the rest of the day (100 paintballs last as short as your finger can pull the trigger 100 times, i.e. 60 seconds, hehe). They also give you a coveralls and a mask to protect your face. The marshals are serious but fun sometimes ("RESPECT THE WILDLIFE! If you see a rabbit, squirrel, bird... DON'T fire at it!! Unless it has a mask and a gun") and they organise different games for the whole day. It was a great fun to be honest. I spent a great day despite hardly knowing the rest of the people I went with (once there, anyone could be your friend or your enemy...) And the weather was lovely, by the way.

Apart from this, I have met some friends I hadn't seen for a long time. On the one hand, Juliette came back to Oxford for some conferences that the Burials Department of Oxford Archaeology organised. She stayed 4 days at my place and it was great to see her again and go out for dinner and some drinks with her and other people when she was free. I'd have liked her to stay a bit longer though. On the other hand, that same weekend I went to London to meet Oskar, one of my best friends. He came to the UK also for some conferences and visit some places but that Saturday he had a free day in London. Since he had been already in Oxford and he wasn't alone, but with other people I also know, I went to London to meet them and spent the day there. We didn't do anything special, just have lunch in a good place and wander around the shopping area to buy some gifts they had to get. It was great actually just for the sake of meeting him again right there, hardly 90 minutes away from my place. I hadn't met any of my "continental" friends since June.

As for the rest, things are much quieter now. I've spent a long time in the office and I think I'll stay still there except for some bits of fieldwork I may do in the next two weeks. Out of the job, my life is starting to look like a pensioner's life. I have finished teaching Spanish to one of the groups I had (those advanced, I still keep the beginners). I spend a lot of time at home trying to learn more about Ubuntu and that's all. Well, today I have done something I had never done before: as the day is being sunny, I cycled along the river for the sake of cycling. It may sound stupid but it's the truth. I cycle a lot but always to go from one place to another, as a transport. I don't really enjoy doing it, but it's cheap, comfortable, fast and friendly with the environment. However, this afternoon I felt like cycling a bit and I have gone along the footpath on the Thames-Isis' bank (I hadn't anything better to do). It was quite nice actually, I should have done it more often but I'm afraid I won't have many sunny days more from now on...

For the next weeks I don't expect anything important to happen. At the beginning of October I'll go to some gig and then I'll move to my new house in mid October. Oh, yes! I told you all that silly stuff and I forgot the most important: I have already found a place where to stay after Xavier's. I'll be sharing house with another 4 young persons, professionals and students. I'll make the 5th, all from different countries, even continents. The room is fairly small but the location is good, really close to shops and restaurants, and the people appeared to be very nice. Letting the time go until I move out, that's what I'm doing now.