Japan - lest we forget

It seems so wrong that, in the wake of Friday's horrendous disaster in Japan, the German media seem more interested in the safety of this country with regard to nuclear power stations. Every report I have heard in the last few days is focusing not on the immense challenge that now faces the Japanese, i.e. rebuilding their towns and villages, providing for homeless, sick, traumatised and bereaved people, recovering lost income, but on the lessons that can be learned from the explosions at the Fukushima plant. It is certainly important to capitalise on useful information arising from disastrous circumstances and to transform this into preventive measures for the future. Ignorance is most definitely not bliss in the case of nuclear fuel. I just feel it is too early to 'forget' the true nature of this natural catastrophe and what it means for the Japanese people.

On a lighter note, let me give you a teensy Bovinian update. The whole village is now ramping up for the next religious milestone, namely Easter. Little coloured eggs are hanging from little cute twigs and little eerie staring bunnies and chicks are parked in nooks and crannies wherever you look. At kindergarten, there is a sternly-written notice on the door - 'Parents please take note. For our Easter craft activities, we require six EMPTY and CLEAN whole eggshells PER CHILD.' This is definitely a job for CG - I don't know what it is about him, but he's got a gift when it comes to eggs. I always make the holes too big or break the shells in the process of trying to blow the damn stuff out.

There are still no cows to be seen on the pastures - morale in the barns must be at rock bottom by now. Bet it stinks, too. You might have noticed that I changed my profile picture in honour of the bovine (one of my favourite animals after the alpaca). I leave you with the words of William Topaz McGonagall, who, in his prime, was widely acclaimed as the worst poet in Britain:

The chicken is a noble beast

The cow is much forlorner

Standing in the morning rain

With a leg at every corner.

I've always liked this, which doesn't say much for my taste in poetry, does it?