One minute it’s here… next minute it’s gone! Spring, my second favourite season! I get excited when I can start peeling layers of clothing off to slowly get ready for the hot summer days. Since moving to NZ the excitement has slightly – let’s say “changed”. While winter is not as long or as cold as it is in Switzerland it’s just a bit bleak with the lack of Christmas lights and carnival confetti.
For NZer’s the change of season usually happens at the start of the relevant month. The 1st of March, June, September and December mark the beginnings of the seasons. But I like to wait until the sun has traveled to it’s next mark (I am aware that the earth circles the sun) and so spring for me does not start until the sun reaches the equator on the 23rd of September. Maybe it’s just a me thing. Maybe it’s a Swiss thing. Maybe it’s a European thing. I remember visiting my sister in law in Italy one year in October. There was this short curly haired Kiwi waiting for us at the train station. Sandals on her feet and shorts on her legs she stood out in between all the Italians dressed in their winter clothes (because it was October you know. 20 degrees, but still October!) I guess you can’t blame the Italians with their gorgeous leather boots and fancy clothes. One has to showcase!
My husband and his friends were always amused by how Swiss followed their unwritten rules (any Swiss reading this will be in denial). Clothing being one of them. If it is 20 degrees at the beginning of March the fact that it’s March outweighs the temperature thing and boots and jackets are what society wears. Not skirts and shorts.
At the same time in Florida you find people dressing their hands up in socks to fight of the few chilly mornings. And the sock in flip-flop thing I believe might be the official winter boot for Floridians. Clever, inexpensive and easily adjustable should temperatures rise. These are both totally acceptable winter outfits. Yet during my high school year in the sunshine state my student planner was filled with not one but at least two pages of dress code rules. We were not allowed to wear pajamas (Pak n’Save stick man if you are reading this feel inspired, make your shops pj free!!!) Tummies had to be well hidden under clothing. Sweatbands (you know, for the sporty people) were a NO as they could suggest that you belong to a gang and so on. While in New Zealand kids go to school wearing uniforms and are even restricted in the size and style of earrings they accessorize with (I am not sure if it’s the same in every school…) Well that suddenly makes those unwritten Swiss laws seem crazy relaxed!
Anyway I believe I got a glimpse of spring the other day. I felt it. I even put sunscreen on! And you know, throwing my swissness overboard and completely ignoring the fact that after months of hiding under pants my legs are so pale they are borderline see through – I did it. I put on shorts. IN SEPTEMBER (and September translates to March in Switzerland!) If that does not make me quailify for an NZ passport..? And then bam! Just like the ever returning Monday morning winter came back in full nastiness. Cold, windy, rainy, yucky. So with legs still pale, shoulders free of sunburn and those happy feelings spring brings still in hiding I will patiently wait for the 23rd of this month, or actually make that Labour Day!
See you then spring.
A bientot
Andrea