OPINION: Last Day of Summer

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date.
William Shakespeare. Sonnet 18

On Saturday I took the boys out for a drive to blow away the cobwebs and take advantage of the good weather. Leaving behind the rubbish-choked streets and passing by the gypsy-site on Albert Royds Street, we went through Smithy Bridge and on up to Hollingworth Lake.

The Lake is probably prettier now than I ever remember it. At odd times over the years it has looked shabby and neglected but yesterday people were out enjoying the sunshine on this last day of the school holidays, squeezing every last bit of pleasure out of the day.

People were sat outside the cafes drinking coffee or at the water’s edge with their children feeding the ducks. Out on the water, rowers were heaving away at the oars as the coxswain shouted his commands. It all seemed so idyllic.

We drove into Littleborough then followed the line of the canal through Walsden to Todmorden. For much of my early life, this very waterway was full of rusting prams and discarded bikes and it is so good to see the painted narrow-boats negotiating the locks once again.

At Todmorden, we left the canal and passed by the bustling market and on up through Cornholme, Portsmouth and Cliviger. We made a detour to Crown Point to see the Singing Ringing Tree that has now had its voice stilled before we dropped down into Water and over the top to Rawtenstall and Haslingden for ice creams at Winfields.

We came back through Edenfield and over Owd Bett’s before returning home where we used up the last of this year’s barbecue charcoal. We sat out in the sun, drinking cheap Pinot Grigio, eating overcooked meat followed by strawberries and cream.

Summer has been a short and pretty miserable affair this year. The rain has come down in stair-rods for much of August, doing little for my mood. And yet in these last few days before we see the boys off to start school once more in their new blazers, we have been treated to a much needed spell of good weather.

Few people would claim that Rochdale is the prettiest town on the planet, yet on a day like Saturday I realised once again that we are surrounded by beauty. Perhaps sometimes we take it for granted and fail to appreciate it.

Within a ten minute drive or a short walk there are wonderful weavers cottages, a lovely canal, walks for all ability ranges along towpaths or up steep crags. There are wildflowers in abundance and hills and valleys that take your breath away with their beauty.

Yes, I know that the council need to do much more to tidy up the town itself. Yes, I know that many of our residents need to take more care of their immediate environment and stop regarding the streets and thoroughfares as extensions to their rubbish-bins.

Perhaps part of the answer is to do what I did on this last day of summer. Take a walk or a drive through the places that provided a backdrop to your childhood. Look at the richness laid out in front of you. Breath in the pungent aroma of newly-cut grass and listen to the birdsong and the wind rustling through the leaves.

For things to really change for the better, you have to appreciate what you have and value the beauty that surrounds you.