10. On light

Dear Readers,

The clocks have changed and so we’re in daylight savings time or out of it, I don’t know which. It’s an outdated convention that I’ll be glad to see the end of but it does give us more time to see in the light of the evenings, in the hours after we step away from work and screens. I know not all of you are bound to the nine-to-five-plus and some of you can watch how the world of growing things does its thing at other times of day, but for me the grand auld stretch is well auld itself before I notice the changes.

So suddenly it’s spring and there are petals everywhere. I feel like I see it all in the same week. Magnolias first maybe, older than bees and just as beautiful, snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils, cherry blossoms. What a riot. I’m remembering now that two years ago we were all locked down and I was one of the people paying attention to the slow, small changes on my state-sanctioned morning walks. That was a good habit.

It’s a joy, now, to take a bus in the evening and see colour scattered against the grey brown brick palette of the city. And in us too. There’s a different step in the humans I’m meeting. More energy, more bustle. More bounce. Can you feel it? Sun lights our skins and even in the cold air there’s an irresistible something. Even though we know there’s a lot going wrong, we can feel the cycle, feel the change.

That’s enough of my waffle, time to write.

Yours sincerely,

Paul