February face

“Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what’s the matter? That you have such a February face so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?”

William Shakespeare

Two years back – just before the world went crazy (though of course a very strong case could be made that it had already done so back in 2016) The Girl and I were sorting through our summer clothes and beachware, deciding what to take on our upcoming cheeky winter sojourn to Zihuatanejo in Mexico during the College’s Reading Week.

I mention this because running away to Mexico is a very Canadian thing – an essential mechanism by which they survive the worst of the winter. The Girl had been doing just that for years prior to moving to the UK and indeed owns part of a timeshare in Mexico.

Come the pandemic many Canadians have suddenly been deprived of their essential vitamin D booster. Not all, of course. A good number have resolutely ignored the risks and made the pilgrimage anyway. Us old folk (me, rather than The Girl of course) tend to me somewhat more circumspect and are eschewing the delights of the sunny south in the interests of longer term health.

Unfortunately that means we have to stay home and endure that most tricksy of months – February.

This is the month that offers us Valentine’s day and slowly lengthening evenings, whilst also tempting us with occasional balmy days and hints of spring – only to snatch them away again with renewed wintery blasts.

It helps not at all to have so little to which we can look forward. This year has been even tougher than usual in that The Girl needed to have a tooth pulled (as I write this she has just come out of the dental surgery and I am about to convey her home). Dentists here apparently prescribe a single dose of Atavin for such circumstances (not something I ever encountered in the UK) and the results are… interesting! Anyway – I am sure that gentle readers would join me in wishing The Girl a speedy recovery.

It is thus with considerable pleasure that we anticipate the brief visit to Victoria next week of old friends from the UK. There is something about receiving guests from over the water that is redolent of normality – though of course our interactions will doubtless be executed with full mind to the essential protocols.

Should the gentle reader be ‘tutting’ at this point about the irresponsibility of international tourism in such times, rest assured that the visit is actually for business – specifically that involving an interview for possible employment! That in itself raises the delicious possibility of our circle of friends here in BC being enlarged by acquaintances renewed – which can never be a bad thing.

No matter what transpires it will be good to see them.