This time of year

I can never decide whether I hate this time of year, or love it. On the plus side, it's great to see the weather get nice again (or in the case of Manchester, less-ugly). I love seeing everything burst into bloom, the return of green, and of course, it's always nice when girls abandon their bulky sweaters for T-shirts, sun-dresses and tank tops. This was even more pronounced back in Canada-when you've had five months of huge parkas, seeing a tank top again is like a gift from God.

The downside is that everybody leaves. This, of course, will change once out of university, but in the meantime, late spring is the point where I go from having a pile of people I can call at any moment for the purpose of evening sojourns, to having just a few. This always bums me out, and I hate that aspect of this time of year.

What bugs me even more is that it seems, to me, totally unnecessary. People scamper home so soon after the end of the school year, in order to spend the summer with their families and work summer jobs-invariably crappy, minimum-wage jobs. Now, I have nothing wrong with wanting to see your family, I totally get that. But why this perverse rush to sacrifice independence and work at a crappy job? I mean, you spend all year wanting to be able to spend time with your friends without the threat of classes and exams hanging over you, and when that opportunity presents itself, you run off? I have no doubt that there are crappy, low-aying jobs here you could get just as easily, and generally, most people are on year-long leases, so their houses/apartments are paid for over the summer anyway. Yes, you get free food and laundry at home, but at what cost? The loss of freedom to which you've grown accustomed? Is that really worth it?

I just wish more people stuck around, even if only for a few weeks. Summer shouldn't be so lonely.