The first peach blossoms of the year are coruscant in my garden. They brought to mind Alfred, Lord Tennyson’s words:
In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.
We use words lightly without dwelling on their meaning, don’t we?
The word “coruscant”, for example, is known to millions of Star Wars fans as the name of the capital of the Galactic Empire. I doubt more than seven of them know the word as an adjective meaning glittering or sparkling derived from the Latin verb coruscare.
Similarly, we have been referring to the Arab Spring for the past two years without pausing to dwell on the fact that spring is a time of growth and renewal.
Do you know that spring for us in the southern hemisphere is a significantly different thing to that experienced by our brethren in the north?
For example, the Arctic regions in winter are joined to most of northern Europe and Asia and America by a land bridge of ice. This means that they have icy winds, which sweep over the north polar region through winter and spring. The northern polar jet stream streaks across their skies, almost 5 000 km long, a few hundred kilometres wide and 5 km tall. The north is also subject to reversing ocean currents in the Pacific.
For us in the south, we are cushioned from the iciness of the Antarctic winter by an obliging barrier called the Southern Ocean. The roaring 40s and 50s dissuade any south polar winds from creeping across that ocean barrier. The south polar jet stream stays over Antarctica, probably of use only to Qantas pilots hoping to save fuel from Johannesburg to Sydney. And, especially for those of us who live around Durban, the warm Mozambique and Agulhas currents keep us comfortable through the winter months.
It’s a good thing, really. The earth has an elliptical orbit, and our planet is closer to the sun during our summer than our winter – 5 million kilometres closer in fact. This means that we get almost 7 percent more solar energy in our summer than the northern hemisphere does in theirs.
But back to my garden where the first jasmine is also in full bloom; I have been sniffing those delicately because the bees have also noticed, and I do not want to inhale those by accident.
The jasmine needs the bees to spread pollen – another sign of spring. Chances are that many of you will develop an urge to sneeze as you read this. Spring pollen triggers allergies in many of us, generally resulting in sneezing and itchy noses, which many refer to as hay fever.
If you are one of those people, this might be a good time to get a vitamin B jab from your doctor – B12 has been shown to help downplay the effect of allergic reactions.
If you drive the road between Johannesburg and Durban this week, you will see the livestock grazing along the entire length, enjoying the warm weather ahead of the rains. The sluice gates at Midmar Dam are closed, but within the next few weeks, the first rains will cause the Umgeni to swell, filling the dam and allowing the gates to be opened. The trickle of water below Howick Falls will turn into a flood. Silt will flow into the Blue Lagoon at Durban, renewing the fertility of the surrounding wetlands.
When one considers that by the time you read these words, western powers might have already begun airstrikes upon Syria, it’s all too easy to be forgetful of the beauty around us.
Take some time off this week, get out into the countryside, drink in the wonder of nature renewing herself, and yes, smell the flowers.
The world can wait.