（続き）
The music used for the slides was
Ashot Danielyan
Your Reality Is In Your Hands
SoundCloud
After the thunderstorm that passed before noon, it was hot and humid summer sunshine again.
If I was outside, would I have felt even the slightest drop in temperature? Inside the house, it's all uncomfortably hot, even with the air conditioning running.
The reason summer seems like an unbearable season is probably because I have forgotten what it was like to be a primary school child looking forward to summer holidays.
The wonderful thing about not having to go to school, not being taken anywhere, not having anything special to do, and having time to just relax and be at ease. The value of the summer holidays was that there was time to do nothing, in stark contrast to the agenda of parents and teachers to make it a meaningful holiday. If I wanted to, I could have spent all day in the library, or visiting a model shop or second-hand bookshop with the help of water from the water coolers here and there.
I have seen articles about people calling for shorter summer holidays than now because it is summer holidays, so food costs are higher and they can't take their children anywhere.
What can be improved by simply addressing the lamentations of parents without delving deeper into the mechanisms of economic deprivation?
Summer holidays are a dream time.
Old people who complain about the heat have no right to interrupt.
The schoolyard of a nearby primary school, which I view on my early morning walks, is always deserted, but when I look out over the summer holiday period, I envision the August light of long ago in the empty expanse.
昼前に通り過ぎていった雷雨の後は、また蒸し暑い夏の日差し。
外に居れば、僅かながらも気温の下降を感じたのだろうか。家の中では、エアコンを動かしていても、不快な暑さばかり。
夏が耐えがたい季節に思えてしまうのは、夏休みを楽しみにしていた小学生の心を忘れてしまっているからだろう。
どこへ連れて行ってもらうのでもなく、何か特別なことがあるわけでもないのに。学校へ行かないでよいということ、ただぼんやりして過ごすことのできる時間がある素晴らしさ。夏休みの価値は、親や教師が有意義な休みにしましょうというお題目とは全く食い違うように、何もしないで済む時間があることだった。その気になれば、一日中、図書館にいることも出来たし、あちらこちらのウオータークーラーの水を頼りに模型店や古本屋を巡ることも出来た。
夏休みだから食費が嵩む、どこへも連れていけないから、夏休みを今よりも短くという声があるとの記事を目にする。
経済的な困窮の仕組みに深く切れ込むこもうとせず、親の嘆きを取り上げるだけで、何が改善するのだろうか。
夏休みは夢の時間だ。
暑さに不平不満を募らせる年寄りに口を挟む資格はない。
早朝の散歩のときに眺める近所の小学校の校庭は、いつでも無人だが、夏休みの期間中に眺めると、誰もいない広がりの中に、遠い昔の八月の光が思い出される。
