Summer Solstice

Yesterday marked the first day of summer, also known as the Summer Solstice. It was the longest day of the year along with the shortest night. The sunset was at 9.33 last night. The sun stayed up and shone gloriously but I stayed in during my lunch break. Couldn’t afford another hay fever attack. But I’m glad along with most people that summer has finally arrived especially with the long winter we had.

As the sun spirals its longest dance,
Cleanse us
As nature shows bounty and fertility
Bless us
Let all things live with loving intent
And to fulfill their truest destiny

Wiccan blessing for Summer

Perhaps the most enduring modern ties with Summer Solstice were the Druids' celebration of the day as the "wedding of Heaven and Earth", resulting in the present day belief of a "lucky" wedding in June. I missed the party at Stonehenge and Avebury where thousands had gathered for the annual all-night party to welcome the first rays of the sun rise under a chilly sky over the Heel Stone at 0452 AM.

Then at  4 pm. my colleagues and I were invited to an open staff meeting at the Research Exchange. The meeting was to focus solely on the Pulse survey responses. Pulse is the University’s staff survey where we’d the ‘golden opportunity’ to share with the senior management team the way we feel about working here. The main aim was to improve working conditions for staff on campus by listening to and acting on their concerns. I attended the first session. Just want to get it over with.

What a let down. HR officer wanted volunteers to set up an action group to address any areas of concern. These then need to pass through the senior management team to be approved before actions could be taken. Why do we need another hurdle? It was supposed to be a 45 min meeting but it ended in just 15 minutes. A few questions were asked about confidentiality and anonymity. I guess people are not comfortable to voice their concern with the senior and extended management team about. Most people have better things to worry about especially with the emergency budget to be announced the next day.

I did a quick glance through the budget. VAT is to rise from 17.5% to 20% in January after Osborne unveiled the biggest package of tax increases and spending cuts in a generation. Education spending in England could be cut by as much as 25% over the next four years. My colleagues and I are watching this space very, very carefully…

But hold on. How clever these politicians are. They spin for days and weeks before the budget to tell us how awful it will be and then, when it's not quite so bad as anticipated we breathe a sigh of relief. But it was still very drastic. Osborne’s and Co. had defied the mainstream Keynesian view that cutting government spending at a time of relative economic weakness runs the risk of pushing the country into a double-dip recession. Even Obama reminded them. They have been warned.

JE popped in to say hello. I have not seen her for ages. She’d some errands to run and wanted to join me for lunch. We went for a walk to the lake and had a lovely picnic, sitting in the shade. We’d a lovely time catching up. She’s now working on her NVQ and she’d retired. Wow… We watched the natives cooling themselves in the lake. Wish I could join them.

After work, Babe wanted to check out the dragon flies outside the Digital Laboratory. We spotted 2 but they were busy guarding their stretch of water, chasing off each other and whizzing too fast for us to photograph. I also went to see how the ermine moth are getting on. Ooh, they have turned into cocoons. I spotted a communal web on the ground and brought it home with me. I hung it under the bushes in the garden and keeping my fingers-crossed that they will survived.

After a dinner of rice with tofu and home-grown pak-choi stir-fry sprinkled with beef serunding, I settled down to watch the football.  Argentina tangoed through their third straight game to top Group B and eliminated the Greek side. On the other channel, South Korea won a hard-fought draw with Nigeria to secure second place in the same group.

Tomorrow will be D Day for England. I’ll be wearing my football tee under my office clothes and listening via my earphone. Who knows, the university might let the staff watch it on the big screen in the Student Union. I hoped they’d set up one outside the Piazza. That would be so cool.

C’mmon England. The whole country is behind you. The Bishop of Croydon has penned another prayer for the English team.

God, who played the cosmos into being, please help England rediscover their legs, their eyes and their hunger: that they might run more clearly, pass more nearly and enjoy the game more dearly. Amen.