We drive out to our country place every weekend, pretty much. I’m feeling increasingly guilty about this for the CO2 we’re contributing and thinking we should have got a hybrid instead of the otherwise nice VW. However there’s no way to get there by public transport so the only option would be to sell up. Maybe some day we’ll live out there all the time…
Meanwhile it’s a much-needed antidote to city life. The air tastes good, about one car an hour passes by and every week you can see the seasons have moved on a little bit. The insect voices are different, the wild flowers are different, the angle and colour of the sun are different; what a difference a week makes! Two weeks ago there were hordes of small red dragonflies over a nearby rice paddy- a sign of Autumn even in the sweltering heat of mid-August. Last week the rice had turned golden – pretty much ready for harvest – and, as if someone had turned a switch, this delicious cool breeze began to blow, followed a couple of days later by rain, cloud and last Sunday evening out in the hills was quite chilly. Around 7:00 I heard a deer cry, which is something you usually get in October or November. (The mating call of the deer round here is quite eerie – more like the screech of a banshee than anything you would expect.)
Meanwhile, back in Nagoya a cricket is chirping softly outside, among the rubbish bins.
asazuke 