February

           

Regensburg is cold. Colder than I’ve ever known, yet bright. And I’m all overcome with my love for February - clearest skies, bright white snow underfoot and more cocoa than I’ve drunk in a long while. I’m being kept busy: new classes, old faces, museum trips, visitors from near and far, ‘Vormittags der persönlichen Entdeckung’, elevenses and afternoon tea, endless Kaffee und Kuchen appointments, the possibility of skating across the river, a renewed commitment to this language, my best friend now living beside the Danube (if five hours upstream), Walhalla bathed in the auburn light of the afternoon and two special birthdays on the horizon. 

Tears in my eyes (because it’s so cold) but contentment in my heart.