Some oddservations (sic), as in “odd things I have found myself doing” as the winter solstice approaches. I blame it on two weeks extra to wait for “Daylight Saving” in this part of the planet.
Firstly, the cat alarm clock hasn't been working for the extra two weeks of summer, because the mornings are so jolly dark. Normally at daybreak, Tortie wakes us up by sitting on our heads and swiping anything not nailed to the bedside tables onto the floor.
As I try to throw her out for her morning constitutional, the expression on her face says “But it’s so dark outside Mummy”. So, for the last few mornings, the cat alarm hasn’t gone off. She’s had a winter lie in and so have her slaves. Lots of scurrying around and quick gulping of muesli and tea has resulted.
Then in my lunch break today, I found myself doing two winter pursuits – sewing patchwork and looking for something Russian to read. The former because it reminds me that I really do need to finish my quilt, and the latter because Russian literature reminds me of subzero temperatures in the part of E. Europe I used to live. It was where I ploughed my way through many classical Slavic writers, and somehow I associate them with short days, reading lamps near the sofa and the wood burning stove.
So, notwithstanding that we still have sunny days in the 20s, as far as I am concerned, Daylight Saving or not, IT’S WINTER, and Mr Chekov and I are going to enjoy it together.
I am disgusted at the recent Chinese actions in Tibet. I remember all too well the boycott of the Moscow Olympics. Now it seems that many countries who supposedly stand up for democracy are too lily livered to boycott again.
