A Sure Sign That Spring Is Coming

The 5:00 song is now the 5:30 song! Every evening at 5:00 a song plays over a huge loudspeaker on a hill in my neighborhood. It sounds something like the Sound of Music song ("The hills are alive..."), but it's in Japanese and it only lasts about 30 seconds. It's loud enough to hear clearly inside my house without windows open, and it's a signal that kids are supposed to go home for dinner. Most neighborhoods have a similar system (don't get me started on the bell that rings throughout the city at 8:00 AM on Saturdays -- time for calisthenics!) and it works. When all the kids are at my house playing and the song starts, they will stop mid-sentence and run -- run -- home. Anyway, last summer it played at 6:00 PM, and then it went to 5:00 during winter. Today is the first day it's gone to 5:30, which is a sure sign that good things are coming. I've noticed that it is staying lighter, later. Just in time to help shake the winter blahs! (And just in time to get those kids out of my house when they're driving me crazy!)