In March, when winter wasn’t showing any sign of resignation, a joke circulated: “Those who survived 3 months of winter have got the fourth free of charge”.
I think it can now be added: “…and hay fever as a vernal freebie”. I’m very sorry for the tourists (not to mention citizens) who may be suffering from running noses and eyes, as well as coughs, headaches, and whatever else that comes with this lovely spring condition. I have spent nearly a fortnight indoors because of it, and I have never been more annoyed for the same reason. It really is dreadful this year, as everyone suspects, due to a quick and sharp change in weather.
My few recommendations:
- use your medication;
- stay inside, if you can help it;
- if you know what pollen you are allergic to, get together an avoidance plan;
- don’t get upset or wound up – being nervous will not help at all.
In-between the sufferings I was reading the collections of Arthur Rimbaud, Paul Verlain, Ossip Mandelstam, and the German Expressionists, and am currently on Luigi Pirandello (in Italian) and Jules Verne (in French). I tried Marcel Proust for my French reading, but after the attack on Symbolist and Expressionist poetry my brain evidently craved for something more legere, so I’m now on a tour du monde en 80 jours.