On And On

It seems autumn has arrived. The romantic idea of autumn conjures ideas of colourful trees, falling leaves, strolls in woods, fields and parks, warming autumn sunshine and the lead up to winter and what Americans call the ‘holiday season’.

I have to say I seldom experienced an autumn like this in the UK or Lowlands country. After a freak winter in Europe, which I happily did not experience and proper summer weather in July, elhamduliah, it’s back to that type of weather we are so familiar with in this corner of Europe and we secretly love to whine about; Wet, grey and windy. I have to admit I had kind of forgotten about this sort of weather. There is a lot of b*llocks to be said about Masr, but it’s ‘blessed’ with funky weather. Not every sunny day has to be enjoyed to the max ’cause it’s very likely that tomorrow will be sunny as well. In the 10 months I spend there I don’t think I have ever woken up in the dark even when I felt disciplined enough to do early morning yoga or studying. The skin problems I developed in my beloved London did not occur in Egypt which, I think, is due to a combination of sun, sea and the right degree of humidity. The vast majority of people in Egypt is fasting at the moment since it’s Ramadan. (Re)defining -or (re)finding- ones religious and/or spiritual self by eating nor drinking during daylight hours cannot be easy when the days are long and the temperature (in Alex) is around 35 degrees. But the point is the days are long(er) and sunnier and the temperature is around 35 degrees!

‘On an on it seems to go, but you don’t know what you got ’till it’s gone’. Last winter I was well aware of and grateful for the fact that Egypt -Alex that is- experienced an extremely mild (ca 20 degrees) winter with plenty of sunshine while the whole continent of Europe was freezing their arses off. Good weather, great, but I missed my freedom. Now those freedoms, which were lacking, are present and have become completely normal again and autumn has made its entrance I miss the sunshine and heat. Maybe it’s  high time I find myself a very good compromise. And while I have been whining the last 300 words the weather gods have granted us some sunshine. Elhamdulilah.