Musings on science and nature

The trees outside my window are all green now. Or pink, and swaying gently in the breeze (read: being thrust back and forth by the gale force winds we’ve been experiencing - but that doesn’t sound as romantic, does it). The changing of the seasons always feels good. Energising and cleansing. Like yes you did it you made it through this chapter, here’s a nice reward to see you onto your next one.

Winter turning to Spring now reminds me of lockdown. I wonder if it always will. When the hysteria was rife - clickbait and death tolls, counting and cleaning. But then it was Summer and we had all fallen into a familiar rhythm. Perhaps found a sense of peace, started baking, or experimenting with new crisp flavours. 

This year feels the same but different. There is no pandemic, but there is a communal shift happening. I can see it in my friends, have noticed it in my work, and have scrolled past it on TikTok (so it must be true). “My energy is so low” a friend complains to me over coffee. “I feel like I’m stuck, there’s no route forward” texts another. 

A balloon has been stuck in one of the trees outside my window for weeks now. It started life around Valentine’s Day as a red foil love heart, puffed up with helium. And now it’s just litter, spoiling my view. Every so often, my boyfriend and I will comment on it. “It’s still up there!” Like we are shocked that nature hasn’t found a way to remove the balloon itself. 

There’s a poetic link in there somewhere about how WE are like balloons STUCK in trees. But what I mean to say is that sometimes, we forget we are just natural beings, and maybe it isn’t always clear to us how to become unstuck. Perhaps it isn’t our fault that we became stuck to begin with. 

I’d love to know more about how shifting energies work. It may shock you to learn that I am by no means an expert, but it seems like an area we know little about from a human perspective. We understand what impact changing atmospheric pressure will have on clouds and rain, but what about on people and animals? Why is it that cows lie down before it rains? How come this April we all feel so blue? 

In the absence of these answers, I am self-medicating the only way I know how: Crying a lot. Admiring how my skin looks after I’ve cried. NYT Connections as soon as I wake up. Eggs for breakfast WITH toast. Telly on at 3 pm to catch the best quiz shows and 1 after-dinner sweet treat minimum. (I’m also trying to exercise as much as I can, but I almost left that out as I know how annoying that is to read when it’s the last thing you feel like doing.)

Is it working? That’s yet to be seen. If it is, I’ll probably publish a funny listicle or forget to write altogether next week - so you’ll be the first to know.