Changing Seasons

From where I sit at my desk I can see the squirrel at the bottom of the garden scurrying around all morning collecting sustenance for the winter that he probably feels coming in his bones. On my walk this morning leaves rustled across the path in front of me and crunched under my feet. Tall oak trees leaned into each other as if bracing themselves for the loss of their scorched, end-of summer leaves. There is a nip in the air, the nights have become longer almost without our noticing it. But like a teenager with too much choice, the Cape Town weather seems to have not quite made up its mind. Yesterday the temperature was a scorching 28 degrees in spite of forecasts of an approaching cold front. And as anyone who lives here knows, the weather can be relied on to swing wildly from one extreme to the other for pretty much of the year.

That's why, on my first trip to Sweden, I marvelled at the clear distinction between seasons: leaving you in no doubt where you are and what to expect. This was early April and the locals were excited at the advent of spring. I have been to in January (-25 deg), Mauritius in December +(36 deg) and even Madrid in springtime (sunny mild days) – but this was the first time that I had been so far north and experienced the change of season so dramatically.

We stepped out in 2 degree, bright sunshine and clear blue sky - “A good day for a funeral!” as a British friend remarked. My African self was warmly wrapped up in a winter coat and boots. Bright yellow daffodils bravely pushed their faces up out of the cold, hard earth, heralding the spring.

daffodils in Mariefred - April 2008

This time when I go, I am looking forward to the bonfire held on the last day of April. All the leaves are gathered and set alight – bidding the winter farewell once and for all and making way for warmer weather. It occurs to me that we may be more affected by the weather than we think. As a Swedish friend has observed to me recently: the Swedish way is to gather all the information so that plans can be made;  in South Africa we tend to wait and see what happens.