It’s the 1st day and week of spring in the southern hemisphere and all things bright, new and fresh are all up in the air. The long, sunny days and short, not-so-cold nights are finally upon us.

Gone are the days when wool jackets and vasco da gama’s were the order of the day. Gone too are the days when weather forecasters would use adjectives such as ‘bitterly cold’ or ‘below freezing’ as spring times send a huge shout-out our way!

But with all the positive energy in the air, allow me to share with you the seven things that I deem to constitute the downside to spring time. And as a slight disclaimer, I must admit, I am a huge fan of winter so do kindly pardon me.
1. It’s a reality check time.

In as much as there are talks of bright new coloured clothes, spring to me serves as a reality check. In the words of my good friend, “It’s time to take stock.”

The year is almost over and in just three months, we will be preparing our resolutions for 2018. So this must be a reflection time: ‘What have we achieved, what have we not achieved, what still needs to be done, what did we not do at all this year?’ These are some of the difficult and often uncomfortable questions that we must all make honest time for now. Thanks spring.

2. It’s spring cleaning time!

I remember my late grandmother waking us very early in the morning as we visited her one weekend “Wake Up! It’s time for all of you to help me spring clean this house!”

And this was thorough cleaning, which meant a lot of labour and time required. From clearing the dirt, dust and disasters behind the room dividers and underneath the bed to doing the ‘brass-o’ and re-organizing the kitchen cupboards, it’s serious work that all comes with the season. In the kitchen, this also meant that new newspaper pages had to be put in as protective basal layer for all the shelves. Alas. My mom has since carried over this tradition.

3. Change of season blues. 

One of the other reasons why I love winter is that, I am one of the lucky few, who just don’t get sick during this cold season.  How cool is that? Fast-forward to the change in season from winter to spring, I will be part of the unfortunate ones who will get hit by the flu bug soon. Is it due to the abundant pollen in the air and allergy thereof? But there is just something about this change of season that simply does not sit well with my system.

4. Changing of clothes.

I love winter because, I can repeat the same warm cotton T-shirt underneath or outer jacket for that matter, more than once over a week and no one will point it out. Obviously I would change and wash these accordingly but point is, winter makes laundry very manageable and takes the fuss away from the need to wear different T-shirts and jackets over a week. In spring, if I decide to repeat a T-shirt, it’s easily spotted and someone may point it out. This fuss over clothes to wear should just end, in my mind.

5. Closet clean-up.

This point carries on from the ‘spring cleaning’ section highlighted earlier but figuratively this time around. With the reflections that spring brings, this is the time where tough calls, talks and decisions need to be made like getting out of that relationship which hasn’t been good for you, getting rid of those friendships that have had little to no value to your life and starting over. Or you have been pondering on the need and urge to “do things differently?’ lately? If you need to forgive someone, do something different over that business venture you finally went for or if you have been waiting to take that career risk for a long time now and have been hesitant, these are conversations that you have to tackle. In as much as this may seem difficult, if it’s time, now is the right time.

6. Too much rain!

As an environmentalist myself, I understand the water cycle and the need for the natural system to balance itself out. Spring time often means event times to our social side of things: weddings, parties, out door outings to theme parks for instance are the order of the season. Spring means we need to always be careful over the behaviour of the skies when planning around these events. Make sure there is a Plan-B, usually a shelter for that garden wedding you have planned or when the game rides are closed at that theme park you visit. Rain is not all bad news as it is great news for our droughts so I must also learn to play along here.

7. Mosquitoes at night. 

Night times are ideally supposed to be peaceful times, winter, to some degree, guarantees that where these little rascals are concerned. Spring time means these minute sleep terrorists are on their way. As we now prepare stocking up on those mosquito mats, coils and repellents. Thanks a lot spring!

On the lighter side, happy spring season and all the best for the remainder of the year.