Remember remember... Guy who?

Up until very recently one could have been forgiven for forgetting one was in the southern hemisphere where the seasons are back-to-front, as the weather has been quite variable and although it is actually spring it almost seemed like a very fine autumn but without the leaves rustling underfoot. Last week however things changed, practically overnight, as the temperature rocketed and we found ourselves completely overdressed. Changing one's wardrobe from winter to summer in one day is always a shock; doing so on 1 November seemed downright wrong. But the clocks have gone forward, the trees are in blossom and the air is visibly thick with pollen, so spring it is, whatever the calendar may say. Try as I might I found it hard to imagine bonfires being lit on Friday as the sun refused to set until the children's bedtime. I tried to explain to them that back in Britain all children their age would have been pulling on woollies to go out and watch the cold night sky glow and sparkle with fireworks but they gazed back at me blankly, totally unaware of who Guy Fawkes was and more intent on getting their hands on a bucket and spade for imminent trips to the seaside...