It won’t take a genius to know that we will have snow here in Edwardsville sooner than expected. It’s not in the forecasts yet, and no tv station is screaming for schools to prepare for a downpour, but from the feel of the weather this evening, from the descending fog and the moisture in the air, I am convinced beyond doubt that it will be any moment now. It feels like late December in Ibadan. It feels like Harmattan in Jos. It feels like that drizzling night at Eldoret, with the four of us in that campus residence, playing chess, taunting each other, finding all what we could to deal with our individual absences. It was cold then as it is now, only that now, there is no rain. Only a gradually freezing temperature with a damp feel, and the trees have all shed their leaves.
I think of the animals. The squirrels behind and around my apartment have been coming out more incessantly nowadays to shop for food. Even for them, it is only a matter of time before the freezing cold, and the outpouring of snow will send them to perpetual hibernation. The herd of deer that I see every other day on my way to the University will also have the environment to deal with. The forest is naked of leaves, and only thin branches and stems stand there. They would most likely have to move to a different environment, except of course the University authorities declare a hunting season – which is already long overdue by now anyway, and allow interested parties to take the animals down.
Fall will be packing up soon, and winter will be here. I can’t wait. Bring it on.
At two am on Sunday November 1st, time changed in America and everyone shifted their clocks an hour backwards, to deal with the late daylight that has 7ams looking like 6ams. Since about a week and half, I’d been noticing the fact that the day still looked very dark by 7am, and it always stayed dark until about half an hour later, so it was much of a relief to finally adjust with everybody else, and be able to get one more hour of sleep. For a change, I was also able to use the daylight saving switch button on my Nokia phone. Up until now, the function never meant anything to me other than “another American thing”. In Nigeria, we never had to change our clocks during particular seasons even though this same changes occur twice a year when the day gets shorter and the night gets longer. We didn’t change our clocks. We just adjusted ourselves to it. The changing the time part of the ritual here – I guess – is to make it “official” and generally uniform. It would be weird to get out at seven o’clock in the morning and never be able to find one’s way around because it’s still dark. But I can’t stop wondering: does Daylight Savings apply to the people of Alaska, the land of the midnight sun as well?
Considering how much you beat the living shit out of me while we were growing up, even for the filmsiest reasons, 😀 please consider this form of public greeting a mild recompense for all those fun times. Sorry, the plane ticket to Britain is beyond me at this moment, or I’d have come over to deliver these cards myself* ;). You’re my only brother after all – as far as I know (haha), and it would have been fun to catch up. But heck, have a blast with your family. I wish you the very best on this your special day. May the rest of your days be the best of your days!
