After two days of the pollen count at 7.8, it has jumped up to 8.1 today.
It was good we spent the last of our energy yesterday on obtaining enough provisions to sustain us for a week.
The “bug” my husband caught is still plaguing him. The pollen typically doesn’t affect him much, but it might today since it is so high and he is unwell.
I slept for a remarkable number of hours again, and woke up very sick. My eyes are itching. Fortunately, we have remedies for that.
My husband reminded me that today is the Valentine day. This custom is not one we celebrate, but the locals here clearly feel it is very important to participate in.
When we went out for provisions yesterday, the entire marketplace was filled with items that the locals gift to each other on the Valentine day. Adults give these gifts to their significant other, and children give paper cards to their school mates.
As best we can tell, the Valentine day is a way to show someone you care about that you have wealth. Those who have wealth, but no one to bestow it on, often feel sad. It seems that the Valentine day is for people to show their relative status to others, based upon the total cost of the gifts they give out.
Inexplicably, people who do not receive gifts often feel sad, too. We haven’t figured out why this is so.
My husband, for amusement, used our printing machine to make me a Valentine day card. It is similar to what the locals give each other, and it made me laugh and laugh. I’ll have to find the energy to make a handcrafted Valentine day card for him later. Research shows that the locals used to make their cards by hand – but this custom has been replaced by mass marketed cards today.