It Must Be April

It must be April when:

- I see my new neighbour across the street for the first time in three months. The previous family had moved out in December. In Canada you hardly venture out of your house in the winter months. Coming home after work you lie in the warm comfortable cocoon that is your home and venture out only infrequently. Even when you do, you step into your car and are off.

He was yelling at the kids next door, who had let their pet rabbit loose. Supposedly it had ventured into his garden and was eating his non-existent vegetables. He was a desi too, and this is what I heard:

"Bhut vhat if I had noooo vejetabhals? If I had? Your rabhit vud hav eat them!"

This guy is going to provide me with so much blogging material.

- The return of the 'Blue Girl'. I went jogging in the park on Sunday morning to warm up for a cricket game later in the day, and there she was. Dressed in what appeared to be a shorts made of spandex, and tight fitting t-shirt with a light jacket across her shoulders, a young woman from my street, also out to jog. It was obvious she had been exercising and keeping fit for the whole of winter, and was waiting for this day to show off her body. After reminding myself that only the first glance is forgiven and that first glance should probably last a lot less than 3 minutes, here is why I called her Blue. It may be April and the weather forecast may be 19C for the afternoon, but it was still morning and a chilly 4C. Her legs were cold. And blue. With her was the Ugliest Dog Ever. Is it backbiting if I criticize a dog behind its back?

- I get an email invitation to a BBQ. In May. Last time we planned it a month in advance. It rained so hard on the day we had to hold it indoors. Thank God for Rumpa Apu's huge house.

- The weather forecasters start to get it wrong. Back in the Middle East, anyone could be a weather forecaster.
Sat - Hot.
Sun - Hot.
Mon - Hot.
Tue - Hot.
Wed - You get the idea. Then the weather forecaster will announce Prayers for Rain would be held in two weeks. We would rejoice because it would be a declared school holiday.

Here, it's a bit harder to predict the weather. "A mix of sun and clouds with slight chance of precipitation in the afternoon and overnight cold leading to below freezing temperature and chance of flurries" probably covers all the bases for April.

Ah, April. The fickle month of glorious sunshine one day and ice pellets the next. Here's to the first beautiful weekend (read: hot). May such more beautiful weekends (read: more hot) be the recurring theme this summer (Amen).

Tags: April Winter Spring Canada