The Feel Good Way

It was my son who drew my attention to it. Was that the landing gear that came out? About to land but still above a thick pack of clouds? Ouch! That did not look good!

In the car I kept my eyes closed as much as possible : after a long night, a long day was awaiting me, and of course I was trying not to notice the darkness in the middle of the day. But driving into the neighbourhood that used to be ours, in the forrest, the dark- and gloominess got me right back into reality.

The monotonous grey sky, the dark brown trees-without-leaves, the mud. Even the bushes and the grass looked dark green brownish. I felt like I got struck by a hammer.

The streets were full of pedestrians, going out for a nice sunday afternoon walk. We were stunned. These people must be desperate to go out for a walk in this weather, but the mud pools on both sides of the road proved that this is probably the first day without rain. And again I wondered how people can actually live in this disagreeable climate.

We immediately started our family visits. I dressed like an eskimo, we put the carheating on maximum and we left. Although it was really nice and warm inside the living rooms, I didn’t bother taking my coat off. I was frozen to the bones. It looked like my family had made a bet, how long until Katti complanes about the weather? They asked me what the weather in BA was like when we left, and I said that it was actually very nice and cool. When the figures 28-29-30 (degrees) start dancing in my head I decided not to tell them. They would not understand, that is not their idea of ‘cool’.

They just nod. And then I knew that if I would ask these Belgians to make a choice between -let’s make it easy- Belgium with Argentine climate or Belgium with Belgian climate, I just knew they would chose the latter. Again it is confirmed that it is just me who has a weird twist in her brain. In case I had forgotten : this is one of the reasons why I moved, and I am so happy I am only here temporary. Meanwhile I will just have to deal with the dark- and gloominess. But not for long. Thank God for this!