Southern Hemisphere Confusions Up North

Easter ... and already my mind has leapt ahead to ANZAC Day with the Kiwis and Australians in Ieper and Messine ... and on again, to May harassing Diede and Francien in the Netherlands, and on into July when we meet friends in Scotland. Coming from the Southern Hemisphere, living in the Northern Hemisphere, perhaps Easter is the only holiday where the weather is similar ... where it seems possible that it is actually Easter, rather than some Northern Hemisphere confusion. Christmas in winter is bizarre beyond words ... cherries and strawberries herald a Kiwi Christmas, blue skies and sunshine, long summer holidays and days at the beach or the river, time at the crib (South Island), bach (North Island), summer house (rest of the world). Christmas first became a non-event in Turkey, I taught conversation class to university students on my last Christmas Day in Turkey. Christmas in Belgium ... the ice, the snow, the misery ... it did occur to me that this is the Christmas portrayed on our christmas cards back home ... mmm, ties with old Mother England took some breaking. We still have snow scenes on christmas cards but change has been hovering in the air for some years now, Christine and Peter sent me my Santa in jandals and Bemuda shorts. Birthdays ... I was already a forgetful criminal but imagine, Dad's June birthday is suddenly in summer ... the unconscious mind plays more tricks than you know. I recall panicking in winter ... not in summer. Mostly I wander in Di World and take special care crossing the road ... how anyone manages to reverse into a carpark the way these wrong-sided-driving Europeans do, is beyond me. A face-saving comment, as learning Belgium's road rules is also beyond me ... Complaining ... no, just reflectiing noisily on the difference between north and south.