Here I am again... The last two weeks have been really very busy. Partly because I was preoccupied with deciding about dates for my holiday at home (!), and then booking my flight tickets for August. Well done. And then partly because two of my colleagues have gone home for six weeks, and it means work, work, work for me.
Actually nothing very interesting has happened to me lately. It has been raining, of course. Most of the time the rain stops in late afternoon or evening. So one day I used this "pause" for going for a walk after my dinner. Spring is at its full here - trees, bushes, flowers are in their full bloom. The air was filled with wonderful flowery fragrances and with moisture. I was reminded that it's the same bloom at home as well. And yet, I can't compare the two. At home the May-blossom is "heavy" and suffocating, and causing me allergy. Here it is light, the air is clean, almost transparent. No trace of allergy. The birds were singing at the top of their voice. I felt the magic and sensed the presence of fairies as I walked besides the edge of the pine wood, admiring the small green shoots on the branches. I'd been watched...:-)
I also spent a lot of money lately. I went to Inverness again, and since it was of course raining, I spent my time shopping... I acquired a mobile phone; bought a book (again) called Alentejo Blue (it tells the stories of people's lives in a small rural Portuguese village - of course I had to buy it); the soundtrack of the movie "Music and Lyrics" (Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore), because it just cheers me up; and a pair of summer trousers (even though I'm starting to doubt summer will ever come here).
Well well, the Scottish pipe band is coming every Saturday to play on the square. Last time I was standing there, watching, listening... Everything else seemed to drift away. Only the sound of the pipes...
