A Fly On The Wall, August 23, 2013

Summer is gone

Theatre is Coming

by Jim Murchison

@JimMurchison

I attended a launch of the Gladstone Theatre’s ambitious fourth season. It was done as a mock news broadcast and was a bit of unpolished fun. A few of the Gladstone regulars were about promoting their work and giving us a glimpse of what lies ahead very shortly in a season that kicks off with Noel Coward’s Private Lives very soon.

As much as I enjoy the fact that the theatre season for 2013-2014 will be in full swing very soon, I also know that as clearly as robins and flocks of redwing blackbirds are harbingers of spring, the launch of the theatrical season in Ottawa means that the summer is ending. I don’t like that one bit. I love summer. Barbecues and outdoor plays in the park, snorkelling and beachcombing on my annual P.E.I. vacation are the things I look forward to all year. I don’t indulge in any winter sports although I do watch some hockey games but I don’t skate to work on the canal. 

I love spring, fall and summer. I adamantly refuse to complain about the heat or the rain and only mention oppressive humidity in passing as an observation, like an old codger sitting on the porch at the General Store. “It ain’t the heat ya know, it’s the humidity!” (spits)

I have always liked the seasons in Canada but for some reason this summer went by much too quickly as everything goes by much too quickly as I age, with the possible exception of winter.