FLAVOUR OF THE MONTH
July has a really great flavour.
So great that Mark Antony renamed the fifth month of the Roman year (Quintilis)
after his hero Julius Caesar.
Until the end of the eighteenth century it was pronounced like the girl’s
name - to rhyme with “newly” and “truly” (Wordsworth).
“Flavour of the month” normally means the newest fashion, which by next
month will be old hat, or just plain “boring”.
What
I mean by “flavour of the month” is the character each month takes from the
particular combination of season and events you get in the month.
My godfather always saw the year as divided into indoor months
(November to March) and outdoor or travelling months (April to October).
July is a very outdoor month; it is for picnics and seaside, cricket
and playing in streams. July is
very definitely a summer month, however hesitant summer has been about
asserting itself.
Raspberries are the best fruit.
It was always strawberries for my brother’s birthday in June and raspberries
for mine in July. Or are
raspberries only the best fruit because eaten on my birthday?
Of course it’s hard to beat a good peach, especially if you’ve grown
it yourself, and you might get that in July too.
In fact you could eat the two together.
The
really wonderful feature of July which leaves its flavour long after
childhood is past, is that it’s when school ends, not just the term, but the
whole year of school. The
holidays stretch out ahead of you.
The autumn term is so far away that it’s hardly imaginable.
For now there is an eternity of non-school, of freedom and delights.
Perhaps there are children who get bored with the summer holidays,
but I wasn’t one of them
In
fact this seventh month of our year has something of the blessed biblical
seventh day about it – Shabbat.
On the sixth day God saw all that he had made (including us) and saw that it
was, not just good, like the other days, but “very good”. And on the seventh day he rested.
Yes,
that’s it, July is heavenly.
Enjoy it.
Thomas Atthill
