I’ve always thought of the phrase “make hay while the sun shines” as a license to have fun while I can but I’m now wondering if I’ve got it all wrong.
Is making hay a fun activity or actually a back breaking grind? or at least I guess it was when the phrase originated. Now I suppose you just do it all driving around your paddock on a tractor (you’ll see my knowledge of pastoral life is scanty, in spite of having married into a farming family. )
I’m imagining now that annoying preachy Disney cricket, admonishing the ants that they have to put food by for winter, and not just spend summer lazing about and having a good time. This insight has turned my world upside down, I can tell you. I’m going to retire the phrase and replace it with “Have fun while you can!” which while less poetic and having rather sinister undertones, is certainly more accurate.