I have just returned from a little holiday in Bristol, UK, and I have realised that I am living in the wrong place..
I am just too much of a bohemian to fit into this strict Zwingli Zurich society.
I just love the way anybody chats with you in the UK, just anyone, and you never feel crowded, even when you are.
The way the Zurich folk make so little time to socialize, or the way its practically impossible to have a conversation with any stranger,.. just doesnt suit me. I like to feel like WE ALL are in the same boat,- travelling on a similar journey,- all looking for happiness in some way.
So I guess I am on the lookout for a new home location now..
As I still have my two girls living with me, I need to make sure they get what they need..
and for the older one it looks like it has to be an art school, and the younger one a caring sweet primary school in any given English speaking country.
Can you recommend anywhere?
Its that time of year again, when the days get longer with gorgeous sunshine, birds chirping again, all creatures come out of their holes and get busy..
I love Spring.
Well, I love all the seasons really, but in Winter I get melancholy..- but thats another story.
I love opening the windows and letting the breeze in, seeing the bees buzzing again and the little snow drops and primroses blooming..
Our time in other countries and Japan means that we now have a curious mix of family traditions, including hanging the Koi no Bori. It is a pole or string with colourful flags in the shape of koi carp. In Japan they are many meters long and tall, and a glistening windmill at the top.
Ours is a little more modest. We just have the black "Grandfather", a blue little "Son" and a tiny pink "Grandson". Because thats what they represent, the family tree. The traditions and family values that are being passed on.
The celebration is called "Kodomo no Hi" (= childrens day).
But to me the Koi no Bori represents Spring, the ever repeating cycle of regrowth starting again..
Happy Spring to you!
I used to go to the gym once a week to try and keep fit. It was a great success,- I'd work out for not quite an hour, then hang out in the sauna and jaccuzzi for another hour, gazing absent mindedly into the tv screen overhead.. and then to top it off I'd go and eat a nice piece of cake in the cafeteria..- nothing like regular exercise. (!)
Well,- these fitness things just dont work for me. Its not that I dont like to move about,- I love riding, dancing, rowing, cycling, roller scating..ice scating,- well, I like it all, really. But when it comes to doing it regularly it just soon bores me.. So I end up doing something else instead.
Now I seem to have solved this problem. I have found a little house to live in with a big garden. I am heating with wood in Winter, and shunting all that wood around keeps me moving. Now that its Spring, I am already painting the garden furniture and soon I'll have to dig the veggie patches, trim the hedges, and then all the lawn mowing starts again.. Not to mention cleaning out the pond, turning the compost and spreading it out.
I have plans to build a patio, or move some of the large rocks that are placed here and there, and a few bushes too.. but frankly, for that I will get help.
So you see, I have found a way around my enertia problem, I tricked myself into having to exercise, by living in a home that demands much work. So even I will move about a bit now and again..
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