It’s the season of bright blooms, birdsong … and pesky pollen

If there’s one thing that’ll ruin those warm, sunny days it’s allergies. And now there’s Covid-19, too

04 October 2020 - 17:19 By Sanet Oberholzer and staff reporters

The first bloom of jacarandas always transports me to my student days. In my first year at university my mother regaled me with the superstitions students harboured when she was a student. The belief is that you’ll pass your exams if a jacaranda bloom falls on your head. Others claimed you’ll pass one subject for every bloom that drops on your head. Either way, it became a game for one of my particularly crazy friends and myself. It was not at all surprising if one of us would jump up mid-sentence and do a quick shuffle to the left or right to catch a bloom mid-fall. Once a brown, wilted bloom dropped on my head and I wondered whether this was, in fact, a sign of BAD luck. We concluded that it wasn’t – it definitely counted...

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