the 5 winds of languedoc

[pilvikki]

this is one breeeeezy place! seriously. on the highways they have wind socks and warnings in french, spanish and german. german? :shrug: experienced drivers of big rigs move over when you go to overtake them and it took us a while to figure out why, until we saw the wind blast one truck into the adjoining lane in a blink of an eye. poof! it just went from one lane and into the middle of the next lane. instant lane change. very nice that the space had been unoccupied.

:shock:

ok, perhaps slow down a bit here...

it usually blows at least a bit. when it doesn't, i'm out there standing in wonder at the stillness, the silence. it's like the world stopped.

and then it starts again. up to 80 km/h. there always is something that's clanking, slapping, howling. i want to go out and hunt down some corrugated metal crashing out there, but in that wind, do you really want to meddle with anything like that? yet it's the only time you'd know where exactly where the culprit is.

birds fly by sideways and on a really bad day - backwards. :shock: they ought to know better?

i've always wondered what this AMAZING AIR people rave about. oh, the light is SO different around these parts. i'm like, air is air, why would it be different, unless it's LA or similar, polluted into oblivion?

well, i found out that the air really is different. it's different because you constantly get a new batch from gods know where. any pollution gets sucked up and away and redistributed - somewhere else. LA perhaps. but when the wind has done with its job, you look across the valley and could almost read the licence plates off the cars in Montréal, some 5 km away. well, ok, i'd need my glasses...

i hate it when the wind relentlessly slams into the landscape day after day after, scaring the poor dog and slowly but steadily unscrewing something in my brain. but then it feels so good when it stops.

here's a map with the pre-wailing (yes, wailing) winds:


they don't call the wind Mariah


[ img ]

[Ice.Maiden]

Blimey - sounds like over here! : )

Interesting. In the usual way, "the air's different" means one of several things; either that it's fresher and less polluted, as in Languedoc (usually due to being on higher ground ... although hot air rises, taking with it a myriad of airborne pollutants, surely?); or, a reference's being made to humidity/ the area's a coastal one (when you can literally smell a sea breeze).

The pic's lovely, even though the sky looks pretty menacing.

All areas come into contact with prevailing winds from all directions, unless sheltered, but it looks as though nature's helped out there, by providing constantly changing winds which drive pollution away quickly. Trouble is, as you say, objects get battered in the process. I know just what you mean about birds flying sideways. They do up here as well, when they can't ride the air currents in the direction they want, but the "backwards" bit made me laugh! : )
Awww, a case of one flap forward and three back, is it?

[pilvikki]

Awww, a case of one flap forward and three back, is it?

yep, a bit like our lives, eh? :lol:

[Ice.Maiden]

You've got it! : )

[pilvikki]

[ img ]

[Ice.Maiden]

Mwhahaha!!! Aww, that's a lovely pic as well.