Ariane is off work this week, due to the school holidays, so I have to ride in on my own. As I spend less time just trying to keep up, and can ride at my own slightly less sweaty speed, I also pay more attention to the surroundings. The cold and very rainy spell has passed and it has dried up quickly. This morning it was particularly satisfying to see all the drainage channels full of yellow pollen. I do suffer from hayfever, so it was good to see that the rain really seems to have washed everything clean. I was probably imagining it, but the cool air in the forest smelled of fresh grass and leaves and seemed to be charged with oxygen. Well, the kind of oxygen that was nice to breathe in but didn’t make me go any faster.

We always get this yellow pollen in spring, mainly from the pine trees (especially spruce apparently). Different types produce more pollen every four to seven years. Occasionally you get a year where the different rhythms coincide and the yellow pollen is everywhere. I can remember the first summer I was here, 1992. You could actually see thermals releasing from the forest and carrying yellow dust columns into the sky. This year wasn’t quite so severe, but it was still nice to see it all washed away. From now on, clear air and no hayfever all the way through summer. It’s finally worth going the car wash too.

Apologies for the short one today – suddenly got really busy at work and no time to think.

Bis morgen!