A dark lining to a silver cloud. (From Haringey Independent)

A dark lining to a silver cloud.

8:21pm Monday 16th June 2008

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It’s been a long time coming, but exams are over, for the summer at least. Those of us who have recently completed our GCSE’s aren’t obligated to return to school until September, which seems an age away. The prospective summer lies ahead of us almost indefinitely, and once the novelty of not having school wears off, one is susceptible to serious boredom.

Sleep during the day, party by night. Its fun for a while, but nobody can sustain the post-GCSE lifestyle for extended periods of time – I’m already knackered. Whether or not one enjoys school is irrelevant, as even for those of us who don’t, it provides structure and routine. Whether or not one revised all that much for their exams is equally as unimportant, as the idea of it hangs over the heads of the guilty like a sword of Damocles. To be suddenly liberated from the notion of rigid structure, and to be rid of all academic commitments for either the summer or forever, is bliss, but at the same time comes with associated risks.

What on earth can I do for 3 months? Although I could happily spend the while with friends, mucking about and being general nuisances, I need to do something a bit more substantial at some point because, and I’m sure many people would feel the same, I’m not used to the concept of complete freedom. For the past 2 years there has always been something better I should be doing, and now there isn’t. I don’t know how to deal with it.

Getting a job is a possibility, and a financially rewarding one, but then the decision to sacrifice vapid fun for worthwhile boredom puts me in a difficult position. While I relish having almost nothing to do, being able to surface after lunch and having the curfew lifted, I also miss the infrastructure that school provides, knowing what I have to do, and then deciding whether or not I do it. It’s what I’m used to.

If anybody has any ideas of how to spend this apparently exponential summer, please reply with them, because if I don’t get my act together soon, I will be climbing up the walls in no time.