Of summers gone by and the joys of childhood

I noticed the sun setting as i was putting up my new tent in the garden and promptly sped off on my bike to the best spot nearby to watch it from. Got there took a few snaps and left only to go back and do the same three more times! (meaning cycling halfway up a huge hill 3 times!) In the end i was getting some funny looks and really needed the loo so i didn't stay as long as i would have.

On my way home from work today I passed a few boys with a rather bedraggled bike in tow. 'Look! We found a bike in the river!' one of them announced proudly to me. There was another older lady there who they were also showing it off too and i didn't really know what to say so i just said 'wow!' and looked interested and went on my way.

It's funny to think though, that to them I'm just as much a 'grown up' as the other lady. I seem to have gone through a one way door into 'adulthood' and can't get back whether i like it or not, except maybe for brief day trips on a visitors pass, and even then i won't really be back. I'll be a visitor, an outsider or observer.

It's also funny to think how finding that muddy bike is the highlight of those boys day, week, probably the whole holidays. It'll become their treasure, their relic that will be the foundation for their games for so many days to come. They'll keep it their secret, show it off proudly to a selected few. They were already discussing what to do with it, to take it back to Dan's house or hide it there in the woods. I reckon they'll decide to hide it. Kids know what nosey adults are like when it comes to finders keepers.

I's almost sad in a way, thinking of summers gone by, knowing it'll never be the same again. I can still remember that start of the holidays feel, six weeks stretching out before you like a blank white canvas waiting for you to paint a summers worth of adventures on it...

And now what do i have? A couple weeks of work if i'm lucky... I really will have to do something exciting in my 2 University summer holidays before they really are taken away from me forever!