Seasons of Love

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

Five hundred twenty five thousand moments in Feej

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure

Measure a Year

In sweat stains

In hard rain

In screams at people

For drinking coffee

In welcomes

Farewells

In sunsets and booze

Five hundred twenty five thousand six hundred minutes

How do you measure

Measure a Year

Yes, fine. It hasn’t been a year. I was going to change the lyrics to three hundred and two thousand four hundred minutes, but it just didn’t have the same ring to it. I recommend you just deal with it. And with that out of the way, let’s dive right in. Seasons. In a place like Fiji, they don’t quite exist, so the song on which this post is based on is rather pertinent. I’ve been here seven months now, almost enough time for three seasons. Of course you’d never know: the maximum temperature in seven months has fluctuated all of 10 degrees. And whilst the year can technically be broken up into the dry season and wet season, Suva seems largely to be exempt from this contrast, opting instead to be soggy year round. I guess if I had to be totally honest, you could differentiate the seasons via the calculation of parts per million of mosquitoes and other airborne bite-inducing creatures in the atmosphere, but really, that’s just too much work. Instead, I’ve decided to devolve things (do I do anything else?) and proffer the Theory of Seasons using Food. Yep.

The Theory of Seasons using Food is simple enough, although hardly accurate. TSF splits the year into two uneven parts: the season of avocadoes and mangoes; and the season where we all wish there were avocadoes and mangoes. I arrived Feej-side just as the avocado season ended (and it didn’t end well, stupid avocado pears and their watery tastelessness), and the mangoes had long since stopped falling off the trees. Despite no real change in temperature, real seasons clearly turned, because over the last couple of weeks, avocadoes and mangoes have arrived in full force.

And. They. Are. Delicious.

If you’d asked me a month ago to write down the ten things I missed most, 80% of that list would have comprised food items. Largely within the realms of red meat and high-end dairy products, with a large space for all things Mexican (technically avocado makes up a significant portion of Mexican food, but let's ignore that fact for the time being). And then last weekend my world was turned upside down, when Housemate Emma picked up about 15 mangoes and several avocadoes. On a side note, Housemate Emma turned things further around yesterday when she became like the eighteenth person to leave Fiji, and more importantly, me. So the world is kind of skewed at a 320 degree angle right now. Or something. But it’s a skewed world with mangoes in it. And avocadoes. I honestly didn’t know how much I missed them until I destroyed one of each. And then two of each. And then I ran out of avocadoes, but I’m still going strong on the mangoes.

And there you have it. TSF. Theory of Seasons using Food. Way better than anything Rent could come up with.

It’s official. I only ever think of ‘humour’ involving lyrics when I’m walking places. For those not so musically-inclined, see the below video to get an idea what this post is based on. Special shout out this time goes to Steve Carell for leaving The Office, and to Housemate Emma for leaving my house, but being considerate enough both to buy avocadoes and mangoes, and to not laugh at me for shedding a tear. For Steve Carell, not her.