Wednesday 21 March 2012

Shunbun no Hi: Terrace Garden

Having posted last year about Shunbun no Hi (spring equinox day in Japan), I thought I’d make it an annual tradition – a post to celebrate nature and living things.

These days the view from my office window is very different from the usual, because I am on a 3-month secondment to a client’s office at St. James’s. The buildings here are lower, older – some dating back to the 17th century. They have gabled roofs, chimney-pots, turrets, courtyards, wrought-iron spiral staircases. My favourite design feature, though, is a terrace garden at the back of the building next door. Victorian red-brick may be fetching enough in its own right, but there are few vistas which cannot be improved by a patch of greenery.


One afternoon a man appeared on this terrace, wearing a plum-coloured suit and holding a champagne glass. Carefully placing the glass on the parapet, he commenced to pace the terrace, declaiming to the winds and performing an incredible series of flamboyant gestures. He may have been an actor, or a madman.

Separated by a hundred yards and a plate-glass window, I sat at my desk, reviewing a non-disclosure agreement and making marks with a highlighter. I say this without exaggeration or undue fancifulness: it was like looking out into a different world.

5 comments:

Shrabasti Banerjee said...

:). Try to catch him in action ASAP!

Rara Avis said...

Eesh. Non disclosure agreements. Ki dukkher jibon.

Yay, we have a terrace garden! And I think ours is nicer than this, but that might just be nijer bari somporkito sentimentalism.

P.S. I might be turning into a robot. This is my third attempt with the WV.

Rara Avis said...

Oh ar amader barir terracer panchil tao exactly oirokom designer! With those ghorar moto dekhtey thingies. Except that they are blue or orange. (Sonsomoy dekhi boley thik colour ta money kortey parchhi na.)
And we have a HUGE colourful chhata.

P.S. Coincidentally, you always seem to update your blog on the days of my project submissions. Cheers me up besh.

The Reluctant Rebel said...

What? You mean you don't drink champagne and rant to the winds in the middle of the day? I though this was routine behaviour at law firms. You should switch firms.

Sroyon said...

@Shrabasti: I will keep my camera at the ready at all times.

@Raktima: Sorry, the WV really is becoming near-illegible.

@Saha: Ranting, yes. Champagne and plum-coloured suits, no.