Sunday, October 21, 2007

The lake is my reward

The lake is calmer today, but there are still waves. Yesterday in the bise, the rocks were hidden by the thrashing water, a far cry from the more normal mood which is so calm it looks as if it were possible to stroll across its surface to France. I recommend you don’t try.

Today, walking along the shore, was like walking by the sea with the sounds of crashing waves. White caps were all across the lake, but up close white birds bobbed on the water so at quick glance they looked like white caps themselves. The water, normally blue, varied from teal to Coke bottle green, depending on the flow of the currents.

The lake is 340 meters deep and fed by glaciers and the Rhone. Freddie Mercury’s ashes are said to be scattered in the Lake and Mary and Percy Shelley vacationed along the shore. Frankenstein was written along this lake and it inspired Lord Byron's poetry.

All these things I thought about as I walked along the shore bundled in hat, gloves and scarf. The temperature is a chilly 7° and doesn’t sound much warmer in Fahrenheit at 44°. The walk was my reward because I have caught up on all my paperwork, have all my bills ready to be paid when I go to the multimat (a bank machine where you transfer money to your creditors). It is a chore I’ve been postponing for a while, so now I can feel virtuous for the rest of the day.

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