SPRING IS SPRUNG - OR IS IT?

Der spring is sprung

Der grass is riz

I wonder where dem boidies is?

Der little boids is on der wing.

Ain’t dat absoid?

Der little wings is on der boid!

I don’t remember where or when I first heard this little rhyme. It was a long, long time ago, that’s for sure. It still pops into my mind every time people start saying it must be spring again.

Funnily enough, it always pops into my mind in the unmistakably Bronx tones of Jimmy Durante. Perhaps it was in one of those happy, optimistic Hollywood musicals we used to love to watch.

Yesterday was Sunday, and judging by the frantic buzzing of a strimmer from the next-door property, the grass was riz enough to require determined action.

During the night, one particular boidie had clearly decided spring was sprung and that it was time to start pulling the female boids of his species – I speak, of course, of the little Lothario of the Corfu night, the Scops Owl.

But I was not convinced that spring had arrived, and you may call me an old misery if you wish, but the Greek TV forecasters seemed to agree with me and informed us that southerly winds were on the way – and when you live in Corfu you know what THAT means in winter –  rain and storms and beaches piled with debris and driftwood.

This weather, they promised gleefully, would be with us for the whole of the coming week.

At precisely 04.44 am this morning, the storm arrived, with a bright flash, a drum roll of thunder, an anguished yowl outside my bedroom window and one wet moggie seeking sanctuary.

You’ve got to hand it to those Greek weather-people.

I know this is the perfect time of year for walking -

-and planting trees (Kantounistas and the Department of the Environment, of the Municipality of Corfu)

 

 But however many photos you guys put up on Facebook, of pretty flowers and walks with dogs and whatnot – I’m waiting for the boid on the wing, the swallow, to tell me spring has truly arrived.

They will be back – in a week or so. Depend on it.

Meanwhile, here’s a little something to be going on with.

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.Thanks to Julie, Jo, Sue and Frosso for allowing me to use their lovely photos.