Subtle Changes

Last night as we walked home with our to-go pizza from Antonino’s Pizzeria we got a little wet in the rain, the first rain we have felt since we arrived in León in November. It lasted less than 30 minutes, but it was refreshing.  So refreshing that when we got up this morning and went into the garden, the fresh air felt a little chilly at 27 degrees centigrade.  Chilly at 27?  Good grief, that’s 80.5 fahrenheit.  We have begun to acclimate, and just in time.  They say April is the hottest month here in León.

Another subtle change is happening.  I did not notice it coming, but suddenly I saw it one morning this week as we walked to our Spanish school. When we rounded the corner and turned westward, it struck me that the pedestrians were no longer all walking on the south side of the street.  They were walking on both sides of the street.  As they always had done before, all the people were still walking in the shade of the buildings.  But now the shade is distributed almost evenly on both sides of the street.  Of course!  The spring equinox just occurred a couple of weeks ago, and the sun now appears virtually overhead, north of the equator for the first time since we moved to León.  Soon we’ll all be walking on the same side of the street again—the north side.