INCONSEQUENTIAL NOTE FROM BALI

SUNDAY 19TH SEPTEMBER, 2021

Loads of bee-eaters skimming overhead in an easterly direction. These are the Blue-tailed variety, returning to their Austral summer residence in the Lesser Sunda Isles, New Guinea and Queensland. I wonder where they’ve been – Hainan, Andamans, Mandalay – our wizard aerialists. They herald the changing of the seasons, as they have done for millions of years: in a few days will be the autumnal equinox in northern hemispherical terms, and astronomically speaking autumn begins now and ends at the winter solstice, Of course it’s the other way round here (though I see the similarities) and our days will now be getting longer – not a huge variation at eight degrees south, half an hour’s extra daylight maybe, Definitely more sunshine to run in, but we still seem to be in lockdown, though I’m informed that we’re all green now, whereas Java remains red. Still no tourists and the rumour is spreading amongst the Balinese, many of whose lives depend on tourism, that it is a deliberate ploy by the federal government to punish us for being so popular. Though this sounds somewhat hypothetical since most of the five star hotels are owned by Jakarta bigwigs or kleptocrats. Or so I am told.

Whatever, unseasonable weather we’ve been having lately. Definitely more rain than usual – rather like April showers, though the showers here tend to be heavier. Pak Landi, husband of Ibu Mariani who runs my local boozer, surprised me the other day by opening our conversation with a comment on the wetness – Balinese don’t usually do that like us lot. In Bali Hash I wrote – “The English climate can play odd tricks: it is its very unpredictability that is the basis of our conversational gambits and the source of our most common complaints,” Global warming or just a longer precipitational cycle than usual? They say CHICKEN SHIT (or is it GIZZARD?) has started another HASH – BALI HASH III – is this true? If so, ON ON chaps – lots of good checks, and beer of course. Oh and by the way, Bali Hash House Harriers II will be running again!!!!

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