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February

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February face

February 8, 2022 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

“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.

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Back in harness

March 4, 2020 in Life as we know it | Permalink

“Happiness is not a horse, you cannot harness it.”

Russian Proverb

A glance at the postings to this journal containing the tag “February” will reveal but two entries – one on the subject of rugby (unsurprisingly) and one – from when we were still resident in the UK – which bemoans the grim nature of said month at a point at which I was obliged to travel a considerable distance to and from work in the dark each and every day.

This latter post contained this observation:

“February is definitely not my favourite month. To those who – like me – are struggling to rid themselves of their ‘winter overcoats’ in this post-Christmas period it will come as no surprise that February took its name from the Latin ‘februum’ – which means ‘purification’. The Roman purification ritual ‘Februa’ – a form of spring-cleaning for the body – was held on February 15 (full moon) in the old lunar Roman calendar. In my case there is still rather too much purification to be done, I fear.”

Well – the good news is that for this year February is done… over… gone! Here we are at the start of March, the blossom is starting to appear and there is a distinct whiff of spring in the air. “Hoo-bloomin’-rah for that”, I hear you exclaim. Given all of the other ills that currently beset the world a little hint of the positive can be no bad thing!

And, indeed, some things are looking up – and for that let us be grateful. The Girl is well on the way to full recovery from the sinus infection that did its best to take the shine off our recent Mexican sojourn – and has rejoined the world of work. My sniffles and snuffles have decided not to develop into a full-blown ‘thing‘ and if we are both fortunate neither of us will have passed anything unpleasant on to anyone else (washes hands yet again to strains of ‘Happy Birthday’! – not the Stevie Wonder version).

In other positive news The Chanteuse, the Studio and I have been reunited for the first time since last August and work of a musical variety has been carried out. She is still going through some tough times but hopefully this will prove at least a little bit therapeutic. It will hopefully also provide us shortly with some sparkly new tracks to upload to our Bandcamp site, to which the gentle reader could subscribe should he or she care to be notified when said new songs are available.

Anyway – for all our sakes let us hope that the spring is not long coming, that plagues and pestilence are taken on and defeated in short order, that those of all persuasions who would simply ravage this poor planet for their own selfish ends are taken outside and given a damned good thrashing – and that the rest of us get on with making the world a better, more peaceful and more pleasant place to live.

See you there!

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The ruffian’s game

February 3, 2019 in Flotsam and Jetsam | Permalink

Field Grass Rugby Sport Water Ball“Rugby is great. The players don’t wear helmets or padding; they just beat the living daylights out of each other and then go for a beer. I love that.”

Joe Theismann

Long term followers of these scribblings (and I know for a fact that some such there be) will not be surprised should one or more of the postings that will appear over the next six weeks take as its subject the very ‘ruffian’s game’ of the post title. Indeed, a brief scroll through the archive of this blog will reveal this to be something of a theme at this time of the year.

Now, this is at least in part because it is February – in the Northern Hemisphere! Nothing much else really happens in February except that we all sit tight and wait for the winter storms to blow themselves out – or at least to get bored enough of the whole winter business that they decide to kick back and to give spring a go.

I say that nothing much happens. The exception is of course – rugby!

This very weekend in Europe the 2019 Six Nations Championship has kicked off. Here in North America the 2019 Americas Rugby Championship has done likewise – though since this latter tournament includes Brazil, Chile, Uruguay and Argentina (2nds) there are at least some matches played in other than arctic conditions.

As if that weren’t excitement enough this year is Rugby World Cup year and all of the matches take on extra significance as pointers to how our favoured squads might perform in Japan come September and October.

So – how did the first weekend go?

Well, Wales and France – in Paris on Friday evening – both seemed reluctant to take the honours in the first game up. Wales were terrible in the first period – trailing at half time by 16 – 0. In the second half the French decided to help the Welsh out and gifted them a brace of tries. Wales finally squeaked through and narrowly won the match.

Scotland hosted Italy at Murrayfield and for the first seventy minutes did what was expected and ran in five tries. Unfortunately they then decided to take their collective feet off the pedal and allowed Italy to help themselves to three late scores. Scotland still won comfortably enough but – given that they next face pre-tournament favourites, Ireland – there is clearly much room for improvement.

Speaking of Ireland – their status as bookies favourites was a result of their stellar year last year, during which they won the Grand Slam and beat the fearsome All Blacks at home for the first time to elevate themselves to the number two slot in the world rankings. This weekend they faced England in Dublin (never an easy place to win away) with the visitors themselves having endured a difficult year in 2018. To everyone’s surprise England proved to have recovered their mojo. They not only beat the Irish but they gave them a serious schooling. It looks as though the championship might be more open than previously expected.

Sadly, though leading Uruguay in Montevideo by 17 – 13 to well past the eighty minute mark Canada yielded to the hosts’ pressure under the posts at the death and lost the game 20 -17. Let us hope that the Canadians have pulled their socks up by the time we see them in Langford later in the championship.

 

 

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Excepting February alone…

February 1, 2012 in Life in England | Permalink

“Why, what’s the matter, that you have such a February face, so full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?” – William Shakespeare, ‘Much ado About Nothing’

February is definitely not my favourite month.

To those who – like me – are struggling to rid themselves of their ‘winter overcoats’ in this post-Christmas period it will come as no surprise that February took its name from the Latin ‘februum’ – which means ‘purification’. The Roman purification ritual ‘Februa’ – a form of spring-cleaning for the body – was held on February 15 (full moon) in the old lunar Roman calendar. In my case there is still rather too much purification to be done before then, I fear.

I leave home at around 6:45 in the morning and don’t quit the office until somewhat after 5:30 in the afternoon. At this time of year this means starting both journeys in darkness. When it is also cold and wet and miserable – what the Scots would call ‘dreek!’ – I am not a happy bunny!

Since moving to Berkshire last September the quickest that I have done the commute to work is 55 minutes. The longest is something over 2 hours! The norm can be anything from an hour and a quarter to an hour and three quarters and varies by the day according to the vagaries of road works, accidents and what is described enigmatically as “sheer weight of traffic!”. My morning journey is a sleepy procession of three lanes of constantly flickering brake-lights, over-sized trucks and kamikaze motor-cyclists.

This latter reminds me of my first ever visit to Vancouver. Being so used to having bikes slaloming past the car on both sides – even at speed – it came as something of a surprise to see a group of Hell’s Angels queuing in the traffic for the Lion’s Gate bridge. Hell’s Angels queuing?! No British biker ever waits in traffic – Angel or not…

When Kickass Canada Girl goes back to Victoria in March she will be staying with dear friends on the Saanich peninsula. Her commute into central Victoria will take no more than 30 minutes and she will enjoy for much of the year the additional delight of the staggering panorama of the Olympic Mountains that so surprises the first-time visitor on cresting the hill at Royal Oak.

I could, of course, move nearer to town, but even in the current climate London rental prices are eye-watering and I don’t fancy spending the next two years living in something the size of a shoe box. So – with apologies to those who suffer the Colwood Crawl (whose journey has its own Facebook page!!) – I will simply embrace my victim-hood and look longingly across the Atlantic. The Girl is getting by far the better of this particular deal – though of course that is as it should be.

Ah well – two more winters……

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