‘Congratulations!!! Congratulations on the pregnancy. How many months are you?’

Gosh the dangers of mistranslation. I thought I was signing off my message to Silvia with a hug. Con un embrazo. But no, I should have said un abrazo. This is how rumours begin. However, I was flattered that she considered it a possibility for me, and a joy… (and delighted that her father’s op went well for the removal of ‘waterfalls’ from his eyes).

I am not with child but there’s certain pregnancy in the air, don’t you think? In spite of political blindness and folly, in spite of our collective dimness and selfishness, Spring is irrepressible …

‘What is all this juice and all this joy?

A strain of the earth’s sweet being…’

… and each morning, each moment, we have the chance to choose again, to make our corner a little greener, to write the stories in us, to create, to say yes, to love … to be pregnant with our own life — with our life.