The class of 2013 at the university has graduated. The city quiets down after this. The streets are lined with old furniture, sacks of garbage and all those ill fated Walmart purchases that were only designed to withstand a school years worth of use before having to be discarded at the curbside.
    I imagine the binman groans and complains every year at this time when he anticipates overflowing dumpsters and broken bags of odorific garbage. Its the knowing that he is going to have to be the one to actually get out of his lorry and pick it all up. I can only suspect that the local homeless rejoice at this time when yards and back alleyways in the residential areas become littered with all those items that students did not wish to take home. I imagine grumpy landlords making constant trips to the bin, lamenting to the neighbors about perfectly good property left behind in the not so clean apartments ("Somebodies not gonna see that cleaning deposit!").
Oh well, theres a price to be paid for owning rental property.
    Summer will soon roll in on wheels of high condensation. The hum of air conditioners will be heard and then the festivals... Oh the festivals!  the 2013 Summer Writing Festival starts next month - I've registered, tuition is paid, I am prepped to fall headlong into academia! Wish me the best if you would, for the hallowed halls are fraught with peril... Can't wait!

My sump pump has turned my garden (backyard) into a
swamp! The rain is relentless! Sometimes when you own property, it seems you
spend a great deal of time learning how to shed water. Devising ways to direct
water away from your house, (on the dry days!). So you can stand at the window
in a deluge, fretting and hoping that your most recent attempt will thwart the infiltration. Non permeable roofs, gutters, downspouts and big, black plastic hoses... There has got to be a better way! 
    I always wondered why, back in the days of castle building, people would
build on top of a hill or pinnacle of rock. The history books say it was because
it was easier to defend your keep from the invading hordes of barbarians. Naw! I
think not, nobody wants to read about how it was easier to control water flow. Utilizing
gravity to send cascading torrents of water downward (upon your neighbors), away
from your abode. You always see, in those massive, elaborate photo books,
pictures of castles, backed by a serene blue sky with the white fluffy clouds
floating past, the placid lily pad filled mote, shimmering, but! its the after
picture... Ever see one during a thunderstorm? No! You know why? 
That’s not a mote! That’s the results of the sump
pump!