Don't get me wrong, I love a good salad. But there's a lot of bathing suit-induced pressure throughout summer to "eat light" and constantly fill your plate with an abundance of fresh greens. Now it's time for a change: add some heartier items into your dinners. Big hunks of meat. Kumara. Risottos and pastas and all things warming and carb-y. You know you want it. All of it.
No more insects
Mozzies. Sand flies. Unidentified airborne spider-like creatures. Throughout the summer months, these insects are the bane of my existence. I suspect many of you feel the same way. What is it about our skin that is so appealing to these bloodsuckers, while others sitting right beside us can go untouched for hours without a lather of warfare-grade chemical repellent? Thank goodness for the end of summer, when night time mooching with windows open no longer becomes a violent exercise in fly swatting and aloe rubbing.
There's still plenty of time for weekending
Think the end of summer is the end of holiday weekends? Think again. We still have a few long weekends to look forward to (Easter is in three weeks), and there is still many a weekend sojourn to be had with friends and family. Depending on where you are in the country, a lot of Kiwi waters are still warm enough for swimming, and a lot of campsites still buzzing with holidaymakers (particularly fun foreigners). If the weather fouls while you're weekending, it is never to early in the year to initiate the cold-weather joys of board games, red wine, and great conversation. Sounds nice already, doesn't it?
No more pit stains
Love the summer, hate the sweat that comes with it. It's exhausting trying to manage your sweat production over summer, particularly when you're rushing around town to meetings and know you're at that prickly point where back-sweat is inevitable if you walk any faster. It's now March, thankfully, and the armpit awareness months are over. Grey marle mania can begin again.
Clothes get better
Yes, it's lovely to wear shorts and light tops every day but if there's one thing to really criticise about summer, it's the lack of fashion. In truth, it's terribly hard to look chic when it's 30 degrees and the humidity's at 80 per cent. So as the summer ends, you can start to layer up and regain your sartorial senses. A light jacket here, a long-sleeved shirt there. Boom! All of a sudden it's time for a scarf and you can strut down the steps at Ponsonby Central like you're Olivia Palermo leaving Fashion Week.
Shoes. Way better shoes
Speaking of outfit improvements, for the next six months, shoe options get so much wider. Yes, you can still wear a strappy sandal. But you can also wear a boot without looking like Desert Storm Barbie. You can wear boat shoes or brogues. You can wear stripy socks, or go without. Whatever you want to put on your feet, now summer is gone you can get away with it.
Work gets easier
This certainly isn't true for all industries, but many office workers experience a bit of down time as the summer ends, the financial year closes, and the "big projects" for the 2015-16 year are yet to be wheeled out. If you're not one of the corporate managers shackled with the burden of future planning, use this time to take stock of your work life and enjoy leaving the office as soon as the clock ticks five.
The social media pressure is off
Have you noticed social media feeds are less full in recent weeks? It's because people have spent an entire summer trying to make their lives look all #RichKidsOfInstagram, and now they're tired of it. Before the onslaught of posts about Uggs and photos of pumpkin-spiced lattes, enjoy these post-summer, pre-winter weeks where you don't have to incessantly filter your life for the world.
You start to think about change
When the leaves start to fall, it reminds us all that we're growing up. It's time to think about how you've changed since last autumn, and what you want to do with your evenings (now they're darker and you're less keen for a mid-week boozer). Whether it be a Stitch 'n Bitch community or a part-time MBA, the end of summer can bring a whole lot of new opportunities if you go looking for them.
- nzherald.co.nz
