Houkutuksia

Lieneekö onni vai epä-, että työpaikkani naapurissa sijaitsee pieni kahvilakonditoria. Siellä leipurit pyöräyttävät joka päivä tuoretta pullaa, jonka kanelinen tuoksu leijailee juuri sopivasti silityspöydän ääressä olevaan nenään (ainakin kuumina päivinä, jolloin ovea pidetään auki). Paljon ei ole tuoksuja, jotka voittaisivat vertailussa vastapaistetun nisun! Kertaakaan en ole vielä haksahtanut naapurin houkutuksiin, mutta viimeisenä työpäivänä aion.

Parvekepenkin suojissa varttuneet puluvauvat alkoivat eilen lentokoulun. Emo ei paljoa lapsiaan säästellyt, vaan tökki surutta nokittaen kaiteelta alas siipiään arastelevan aloittelijan. Kaipa tuo hengissä selvisi, kun pesässä tänään nököttää yhä kaksi lintua. Yksi tunti ei siis näemmä riitä, ja ainoa seuraus lentokoulusta onkin se, että nyt parvekkeella on kakkaa joka puolella. Ennen sitä oli vain pesässä. Siivota ei kuitenkaan saa, ennen kuin lapset ovat lentäneet pesästä ihan oikeasti! Siinäpä houkutus vastustettavaksi.

Sandwiches in the church park

Wow, reading back I can trace a hint of melancholy in my Spring. I have managed to pass the bend in the road and left the moroseness behind me, and even though I will have to put up with a month and a half at the dry cleaner's, I believe I will survive it because I won't have to work weekends.

I had mozzarella-and-pesto sandwiches and coffee in the church park today with miss P. There was an accordeon player belting out summery tunes and children running up and down the grassy slopes. Lovely! And just as we got up and went to buy ice cream for dessert it started raining so we went in. (The weather's been very unpredictable today. Quite like England.)

Around the bend

Anne Shirley thinks there is something wonderful waiting for her just around a bend in the road. I'm thinking along the same lines, although I'm fairly certain Anne is more positive in her expectations than I am. What if this summer is going to be the most wonderful I've ever had?

I moved to a new flat over the weekend, and that marked a definite up-turn in my mood. Not only was the whole moving-process nerve-wrecking, but there is so much more air and light in the new flat that I can't help feeling lighter myself! Also we've been blessed with so much sun lately that I feel like I've been soaking in it.

Rainy days and Mondays

They always do get me down. My summer job situation, which I thought was quite good two days ago, suffered inflation and is now as uncertain as ever, and this piece of bad news came with horrible, wet weather. (Well, we did glimpse the sun just before its setting, so we might get more lucky tomorrow as far as the weather's concerned.) I feel melancholy and rather hopeless, and it seems that I will be destitute soon and forced to throw my hands up.

On the positive note-- No, I can't think of anything positive just now. I must be downcast for a while.

Giving up coffee, day 19

Yesterday I was possibly most sorely tempted by coffee. My sister had her birthday on Friday, and yesterday we had some delicious chocolate cake in her honour. You know, the best coffee is always had with some chocolate cake... But I defeated the temptation!

Soon we're going to go and collect the keys to our new flat. I'm excited! I'm so looking forward to moving. Last night the Neighbours did their best to entertain us with a piece of family-fighting (again).

Skiing

The long-awaited, fondly thought-of mid-term break began last Saturday. I got up early, swallowed some oatmeal porridge, and bolted into the silent, snowy woods for a ski.



I hadn't been on skis for years, so at first I felt strange and unsteady. I was a bit disappointed in the absence of sunlight, but perhaps it was just as well: if it had been sunny, I probably would have gone snowblind in fifteen minutes.



I used to love skiing downhill, gathering speed and feeling the wind on my face. But, as I said, it had been a long time since I was last on skis...



... and as a result, I fell over twice. First time intentionally, because the speed was more than I had bargained for, second time un-, because...well, I think I simply lost faith and gave up. It was marvellous, though, and there was enough snow to guarantee a soft landing.



I had read on the news that a lone bear had woken up early and gone roaming about the woods. I didn't run into it, but what I did run into was a solitary hut, in the middle of nowhere... The abode of a mad recluse?



However, no recluse, mad or otherwise, intercepted me en route, and I made it back to my parents' house - the minute the sun showed its brilliant face. Our dog, Pella, was basking in the light and warmth, clearly not making much of darting around the forest on two wooden boards.



I left my skies out in the garden and went inside, rosy-cheeked and happy, to enjoy a large cup of hot chocolate. A morning well spent!

Winter sunlight

I still catch myself wondering at times: is this really true? Can we be blessed with such a glorious winter after the most wet and dismal autumn I can remember? And I look outside, pinch myself, and revel in the soft, white sight. It really is true!

Last Sunday we (my sister and I) went to enjoy the bounteuous sunlight sent to us from the high heavens - and beautiful it was!