Heavenly Beverley : Goodbye July.

Saturday 30 July 2016

Goodbye July.

2016 is rushing past me at a rate of knots. And I am still struggling with the concept of dates past 2000. I really want to adopt the short, sharp version "twenty sixteen", rather than the long winded "two thousand and sixteen". Rather annoyingly, I still tend to use the extended term unless I actually think about what I am saying. Maybe I just need more time to get used to this new-fangled century!

I used to believe time was variable,depending on my enjoyment of the particular present. Back in the days of three school terms, the days seemed much longer and slower, compared with the speed that school holidays came and went. Waiting for birthdays, for weekends, for Christmas seemed interminable. Now, the whole system has sped up exponentially. Years are coming and going in a blink of an eye, often before I have become entirely comfortable with the current state of play.

Take this month for example. My birthday and our trip to Kalgoorlie only took up ten days of July, but I have no idea what happened to the rest of the thirty-one days. Even when we deliberately try and slow down time - have a slob day, take nanna naps or just stay at home together - the speed feels faster that it should.

I've turned fifty-five. Ye Gods. My body, energy levels, face and hair all tell me my age, but in my head, I still feel like the imaginative, gauche, sensitive klutz I've always been. Sometimes, it's a tremendous shock when I see myself in the mirror. Who is that random, saggy, rounded older woman staring back at me?

Age does have its own unique advantages. After seven years, I still surprise Michael, make him laugh (often in utter disbelief) and never run out of what to say to him. Or conversely, just sit with him, quietly, holding each other's hands. We both know that time is limited, so we are determined to snatch fun with both hands every chance we get. We laugh at every opportunity. We have extraordinary family and friends but we are also content in each other's company. Gone is the loneliness I used to experience in other relationships. Now forty-seven years seems an eminently sensible time to wait for the love of my life.

So, here we are, returned and refreshed from our holiday, back in the East End Gallery. We have had a variety of other artists, day-trippers and locals in the Gallery today and I have not had a single moment of boredom.This afternoon, sitting at my desk, time is passing about as slowly as is possible. And I am relishing the delight of my own semi-stillness, watching the wind in the trees, the scuttling grey clouds in the pale blue winter sky, the Red Vault's flags whipping around merrily and brightly.

Just as well I'm grabbing some down time. August is two days away and is already filling up. We are opening the Gallery on the next two Wednesdays to cater for groups visiting Beverley. The agricultural show is in three weeks. In the middle, we have to make a trip to Perth for yet another hospital appointment. Oh whoopee, the joys of ageing!

In concluding this post, I thought I might share the happy news that Christmas Day is only twenty-one weeks away. Before we know, "twenty seventeen" will be upon us and we'll start the ball rolling all over again.