White wonderments!

During the past two days, snow has blanketed Matsue in a crystalline cover of white! The snow started flurrying on Wednesday afternoon whilst I perambulated about on my bicycle in the direction of the schoolhouse. At first it came down as violently as Gerry schrapnel in the form of hail. This proves a frightful obstacle for the amateur cyclist, who must grit one's teeth and pull down one's cloche as the nasty white balls ricochet in all directions, and always manage to get behind one's spectacles, triggering a catastrophe of run-ins with doddling elderfolk, parked cars, and bridges.*



But the hail soon passed, and was replaced with plump white snowflakes that drifted down with a whimsical silence, and smacked an icy kiss on one's lips when racing downhill on one's Yes We Can! On Thursday morn, after a hearty breakfast of rice and miso soup, I donned my purple gloomy-weather coat and fluffy beret and, clutching my camera-box, I tumbled out into the cold. Across the river I ambled, admiring pines laden with snow and road-side lanterns and statues enfolded in a kimono-wrap of frost. Japanese holly was topped with meringue-whipped snow. Everything looked so wickedly clean and sparkling!




*One has to keep an eye out for bridges in this treacherous weather. They always pop up and catch one unawares.