I love Swifts.
To see the first Swifts at the end of April is so exciting. I look toward gray clouds and there it is. The first! It seems to almost drift through the sky, riding the invisible waves of the wind. It’s gone but I am happy it is here. More will be on the way.
The Past
When I was 19 I went to France for a year on the ERASMUS exchange scheme. A big year, for me. I met so many people (including my wife!) and experienced so many things. There are so many things that I could talk about.
It was also the first time I noticed Swifts. I lived on the fourth floor of a student apartment block in Tours, looking down upon a long street. Actually a pretty dull street to look at, if I am honest. But summer evenings meant a long street that Swifts would tear up and down, their high pitched calls the sound of summer. Of freedom. Of youth.
To a young mind, just beginning to explore what is all around, it was the sound of liberation.
Summer Evenings
Now, older, having seen more of the world, that sound. It is just so perfect. Still liberating. Sitting outside with a glass of wine and looking up. The sky looks huge. Whirling around, darting low and fast in it, the Swifts still give me the same joy, the same feeling of freedom, that they gave me thirty-one years ago.
They will be going soon, heading off on their seemingly continuous journey on the wing. Going south, following the warmth as the days start to get shorter. I will enjoy their presence as much as I can for the next couple of weeks. When they are gone, I will miss them.
And look forward to that moment when I see them again. Another summer.