I take a “constitutional” walk every day here in Athens,
usually on a helpfully municipalised tiled, but agreeably wooded, path skirting
a deep ravine, where once a river flowed to water the city centre and beyond. The
river has been culverted but the ravine survives, coping with excess water over
the winter. Today the birds were twittering cheerfully and I found myself
humming that happy song from Seven Brides
for Seven Brothers, to wit, Spring, Spring, Spring.
“Oh, the barnyard is
busy, in a regular tizzy,
And the obvious reason is because of the season,
Ma Nature’s lyrical, with her yearly miracle,
Spring, Spring, Spring!”
I suppose if I were more seriously-minded I should have
recalled La Primavera from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons but in fact my encore was
Sinatra’s
“You make me feel so young,
You make me feel so Spring has sprung!”
Whatever, although it is still quite chilly, Spring is in
the air. I will soon discard the heavy woolly cardigan which has been my inseparable
friend all winter and I will don my comfy boots and tidy up the much-neglected
garden. Here we have had freesias blooming for some weeks.
 |
| Freesias to uplift the spirits |
How much I loved the unchangeable progression in Britain
from those plucky snowdrops appearing even through almost frozen ground, then
carpets of crocuses, (introduced by those clever Dutch), on to the ubiquitous
daffodil – Spring finally confirmed – then primroses and other primulas,
supplemented by gorgeous tulips. Thereafter it was every man for himself and a
riot of colour. May it ever be thus!
Springtime is the annual moment for renewal. It is not
always happy. There are Spring tides (nothing much to do with the season), high
tides which are often damaging – goodness knows what happens to our
gravitational pull when there is a solar eclipse this week on 20 March.
Politically one remembers the Prague Spring in 1968 when Dubcek’s mild reforms
were snuffed out by Brezhnev’s tanks. The Arab Spring in 2011 saw off fetid
dictatorships in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen and shook up the rulers of
Algeria, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and Bahrain but it also gave birth to the horrendous
butchery of The Islamic State, not a pretty Spring flower.
Yet surely this Spring will bring good things - warmer
weather to lift our spirits and melt our hard hearts. Maybe, (pigs may fly!),
Herr Schaeuble will soon have a kind word for prostrate Greece; the British
electorate will choose a sensible government in May, I dare to hope Tory, but
anything as long as the wretched SNP is not empowered at Westminster.
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| Spring Renewal |
Far more important than all those political things is
personal renewal; for some benign serenity but for others new ambitions, new
projects, the refreshing of friendships and family connections to stimulate and
exhilarate. Most of us live well in a lovely world – make a difference,
participate and enjoy the company of our fellow humans!
Spring, Spring, Spring:
You make me feel so young:
SMD
17.03.15
Text Copyright © Sidney Donald 2015
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