In the Heat of Summer Sunshine

Time goes by, now I'm already back in Indonesia for good. I was tidying up hundreds of picture that were left untouched, when I realized that some of it are quite nice. I know that it's almost winter now but I feel that I don't want these pictures stay in my hard drive forever. I just had the busiest months (dissertation, viva presentation, packing, and moving out) before I went back home. Now that I have lots of time to breath and write, a little throwback to summer wouldn't hurt.

Summer means lavender blooming season! It's a time when you can go outside, enjoy the sunshine with your beloved ones, and take a pictures in the sea of purple. If you're around London, you can visit Mayfield Lavender Park which is still accessible by using the Underground and bus. The entrance fee is only 1 pound per person. 

This is me, decided to do an "OOTD" shot in the lavender field as a tribute to my best friends who gave me this silly t-shirt. That cute sling bag was made by my talented friend : @pudingsusucraft

Besides Mayfield, I visited another lavender field at Hitchin, a small village near Cambridge. The field here is more huge, compared to Mayfield. The entrance fee was 5 pounds per person, but we can pick and bring a bag-full of lavender home.

The main reason of why I went all the way to Hitchin was actually because of the sunflower!

Yeah! They have small sunflower garden just beside the lavender field. We can also pick the sunflower and bring it home for 50p each. 

I found this sunflower abandoned on the ground. I don't know why but it made me kinda sad :(

Unfortunately we came pretty late. We should've came weeks earlier when they were fully bloomed . Lots of people came and picked the sunflowers so we only saw the 'leftovers'. However, I was so happy that day cause I've been dreamed of sunflower fields for so long.

My room smelled good (because of the lavenders) and looked nice (cause I brought a sunflower home as well). One day I decided to draw a crappy self-portrait as a distraction from my dissertation.

Victoria Park. This was my favorite jogging track as it was really close to my flat. I remembered one day in June, when the heat-wave increased the temperature in London to 36 celcius degree, I was fasting, and I couldn't bear of being inside my room (well, English buildings are never made for hot weather, although they are always fully prepared for cold), I just walked to this park, searching for fresh air. I couldn't help myself for not being a little bit melancholic at that time, knowing that I would miss this park one day.

Everybody were laying down enjoying the sun, drinking beers, and talking with friends. I was alone, very thirsty (iftar was only 6 hours more), and hiding from the sunshine below the shades of the trees.

 I killed the times by reading this new Murakami book that I bought as a reward for surviving the eight exams.

Summer means rooftop cinema! We went to the one in Peckham in South East London and watched Star Wars : Rogue One.

London skyline and beautiful sunset, too bad I only had my phone camera. 

Turned out that we felt really cold that night. I know it's summer but the wind did not cooperate. We were shivering during the movie even thought we already had two layers of blanket with us. We decided to leave early in the middle of the movie as we could not bear the cold anymore. 

However, it was such a lovely night.