Sunday, July 10, 2011

Paradise is painful

Stepping out of the door this morning it struck one how intensely bright everything is. It hit about 4F (-15C) last night and this morning it shows. At 8.30am it is still cold and people are rugged up in jackets and hats. Not something you see in a sub-tropical state.

Everywhere one looks has the same blue motif. The sky is relentlessly bright blue for as far as the eye can see, unrelieved by a single cloud. Looking down at the beach the sea is like a deep blue pond, its surface unmarred by so much as a ripple. Even the island with its snow white beaches has the same blue cast.

Against all of this unrelenting blue the winter flowers and foliage are a sharp contrast in every shade of yellow, orange and red. They blaze like little flames in the dazzling light, nestled in deep tropical green leaves. Even the grass is part of a supporting cast in shades of yellow green that form neat rectangles cut by stretches of concrete. And the morning light bounces off all of the shiny, glossy surfaces to create a glittering effect.

It is all so intensely vibrant it hurts the eyes, sensibly tucked behind shades. The air going into warm lungs sears with a sharp pain and the sinuses are out in sympathy. They throb around the shades like a percussion instrument in time to the heart beat. It is all so bloody beautiful it hurts. 

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