Glorious sudden spring has mutated into a freakish summer - we know it won't stay like this and at times it's hard to realise that this is April for godssake. There is this smell of hot dry tree bark which reminds me always of endless hot summers and insect bites.

The air is full of yellow dust covering the world inside and outside with a sticky layer. Brings me back to the Golden Desert in Rajasthan, only there it was fine sand, this here is pollen and it stings and sticks. We cough up yellow cake and our nostrils are dry and eyes hurt from it. The river is very low. The five drops of rain the night before last did nothing.

Yesterday the tall red haired guy from the bicycle shop without a second thought gave me a free loan of one of these snazzy e-bikes and so I have been cycling uphill, really steeply uphill for the first time since Sept. 09 and I sat on my bench up in the forest and felt pretty normal for a short while. I can have it until Tuesday morning which should give me enough time to get rid of the feeling that I am cheating. 

And there is this over eager woodpecker which - as I've read -  is normally a shy and wary bird but this one has an unusually loud call, a VERY noisy and loud series of 10-20 'klü' sounds which get slightly faster towards the end and fall slightly in pitch, but not in volume. He starts at 5:30 am and is busy with it throughout daylight hours. I think he is lovesick, looking for a mate, but maybe just defending his realm. But lovesick explains it to me better.