Walkin' About

Bon jour mes amis, c’est moi!! Did you miss me?! I scheme you probably did (poor things)… I did not mean to deprive you of my company for so long, but I've been recuperating from the never-ending flu (which now, finally, seems to have ended – aside from the occasional sniffle and cough of course)… so what’s new, you ask?! Well… nothing much really (come ON, give a girl a break okay!? I've been SICK!! I missed out on all the fun stuff).

I can tell you that it actually feels like spring!! I don’t know how long that’s gonna last though – I view this sudden warm weather with a great deal of cynicism… I know that as soon as I let my guard down, the cold weather will pounce again and I’ll be left feeling cheated and defeated! I DID go on a lovely walk during my lunch break yesterday and even though things still look damp and dead and muddy, there does SEEM to be a promise of something more in the air! You can just sense the eager anticipation of the buds waiting to burst into bloom and the eggs waiting to hatch… yeah I know, am starting to sound totally hackneyed, but I can’t help it… whaddya want?! Originality?! Go somewhere else then!

Anyway so I went for a walk along Kamo River… there were ducks everywhere and even a crane or two… as I admired the multi-coloured ducks and gaped, in awe, at the sentry-like cranes the same thought kept going round and round in my head… BIRD FLU… what if these ducks had it?! I mean there I was trying to feel all Julie Andrew-ish in the Sound of Music and all I could do was wonder where the hell those birds have been!? And was I stepping in their crap? Cos if I was how would I disinfect my shoes?! Must tell ya that brought my excursion to an abrupt halt! I couldn’t stomach the thought anymore and headed toward town instead! Not quite as fascinating or as entertaining as the ducks, but it was nice just to be out in the fragrant, fresh air! Aaah the joy of feeling the gentle warmth of the sun on my face again!! I do so miss the sun on the many days that it just does NOT make an appearance in Niigata – you forget that it’s there sometimes, hiding behind the constant mass of clouds!

On such clear days the snow-covered mountains look awesome!! And I feel able to appreciate winter from a distance then… if only all winter days were like this…warm, with the snow a comfortable (and tolerable) distance away! I so do NOT enjoy being in the thick of things (traipsing through blizzards, suffering in the sub-zero temperatures, having my pipes freeze and slipping on the ice covered roads to fall flat on m’arse!!). Ick! Nope, not for me! These warmer days remind me a bit of winter back in Jo-burg… crisp, with clear blue skies… now THIS is what winter is supposed to be like!!