3mths after Spring Festival… comes Spring!

Ahh… I was starting to wonder if it would ever arrive.And it finally has – SPRING HAS SPRUNG!

Archie Comics was the source of my knowledge of what Spring was about, and I never quite saw it so distinctive until this year in North China. I’ve lived through various Spring seasons in Sydney, Shanghai, but to be honest – nothing quite like what Archie Comics made it out to be.
 

The first sign of Spring came in March this year – when the frozen Haihe海河 river starts glistening in the distance – meaning it’s starting to thaw. Then there’s more and more buzz all around you in the morning – less here from the insects crawling out of their hibernation, but from the sheer number of bikes starting to pile up behind traffic lights. Less and less wool, more and more skin. Starting from the noses, down to the mouths, to the ears, and then to the hands – it’s amazing how much difference one can begin to notice – the tangible human buzz coming out of deep winter.

Then the colours! Pink, green, orange, white – the buds start to reveal themselves one tree after another. Within days, you can already see the petals peeking from these buds. That’s how quickly nature unfolds with the change of season. And out with the black! You see floral prints on skirts, the morning colours stretching with the shadows, and banners, advertisements splashed all over the thickened newspapers. The laundrymats are also the first to receive their bountiful profits. One after another, each bursting at the seams with endless turnstiles of down-featured jackets. Again, you know that the city is coming alive again.

 
For me, the little elation comes from finally being able to tap on my iPhone without having struggle with the annoying procedure of gloves-on-gloves-off. WOOOHOOO! Small but important win.

And of course, Archie’s favourite lesson – Love at Springtime!

As the boots come off and the skirts come on, Mother Nature rouses the hungry hormones from their dormant state. It’s one thing to read about it from comics and books, but it’s another thing altogether to see it unfold before one’s eyes. Our friends seem to be enjoying the contagious season (maybe it’s the pollen?) of flirting. It’s actually kinda fun, assuming both sides are enjoying the little courtship…

Even Trixie wants a little male attention…

And that’s why birds do it, bees do it… even educated fleas do it. Let’s do it, let’s fall in love!