Why I’m probably a polar bear...(how unusual)

A couple of months before I left Egypt Y and I were driving around Zamalek (area in Cairo) in her car (as usual), talking about everything and nothing (as usual), trying to figure out whether we should go to X coffeeshop or Z coffeeshop (as usual). My phone rings (rather unusual), i hear it (slightly unusual) and answer it (completely unusual). It was S...panicking about something or the other (quite usual). If I recall correctly (it was over seven months ago so details may not be exact) Y and I tried to calm S down (as usual) but she would have none of it...in fact, I think she snapped at us (only usual when she’s really stressed)...come to think of it...she definitely did snap at us. We took it in our stride and I told her we would be over at her place as fast as Cairo traffic would allow. Y looked at me, I looked at Y
“We should go to see S, she’s stressed...and snappy...I don’t get it...I spoke to her before leaving my house and she sounded fine...happy even,” said I
“Oh you know S...she’s a polar bear,” replied Y
Now, I’m not sure whether it was the fact that Y’s reply was imbued with such confidence or the fact that I’ve known her for an amount of time which seems longer than what it actually is, but her answer was absolutely normal to me. OF COURSE (!) S is a polar bear. Why else would she be fine one moment and not so fine the next? Before, you start thinking that I’m taking strong medication or that my stay in Italy has officially eradicated the english language from my brain let me put your minds at ease. What Y meant, and what I immediately understood, was that S may be mildly bipolar (a diagnosis that was not based on any form of scientific evidence).
We arrived at S’ building, took the elevator (which, come to think of it, really reminds me of a huge mobile fridge—maybe it’s all this talk of polar bears..) reached her floor and rang the bell. Stressed, but far less snappy, S answered the door. We followed her to her room and I blurted out “Y, says you’re a polar bear”...
Months later, 9am, I’m walking to work. The sky is grey and gloomy. It’s drizzling and I feel as though I can’t breathe and when I do I think that my lungs might be freezing. It’s like an incredible sadness is wrapping itself around me, I don’t even bother opening the small umbrella in my hand because I’m convinced that the drizzle will cleanse away my melancholy. A couple of steps later, I feel happy...elated... I look around me and I see that the leaves are the colour that I like them to be, that I’m the only one walking in a semi-deserted town (for the Catholics today is the day of the Immaculate Conception* so at 9am everyone is sleeping), that I’m breathing fresh air. Does my mood swing make me a polar bear? Probably. Would I like to be one? In this weather...definitely...

















* not that of Jesus but that of the Virgin Mary who was conceived without original sin.