Category Archives: Weather

Hot And Humid in Summertime France

Ah yes — another installment of our adventures in ex-pat lifestyles.

Each glass of water slides down easily. Adding half of a lemon is rather refreshing, but truthfully, a quick dip in a cold swimming pool wouldn’t go amiss right now.

Don’t believe that little weather widget on the right side column because it is NEVER completely accurate — but it’s the best I can do since Yahoo removed their weather widgets which were actually quite reliable. Even the MSN weather forecast is quite wrong with their humidity index because the air is like suspended water globules right now.

Record-breaking heat is nothing new to my readers in Australia, the USA, and parts of Europe. But I haven’t felt humidity like this in quite a few years and it’s bringing back hot-and-sticky memories of a childhood in the South of the USA and hot-and-sticky memories of living for 18 months in Brisbane, Australia to blend with my hot-and-sticky present in the South of France. Oh my!

No matter how large their big houses might be, no one we know has air conditioning and, with the exception of the larger grocery stores, it seems to be a rarity here. We all cope through a variety of methods that are interestingly ‘retro’ after years of freezing-then-boiling as I came in and out of buildings and cars in Australia.

Keeping the heat out is the first step so I keep both sets of shutters all but closed in the daytime. The heavy old timber shutters block a vast amount of heat and then the roller-blinds that are right outside the double-glazed windows add another layer of heat blockage. I actually brought the shutters up quite a bit for the picture below so that you could clearly see the two layers of shutters.

Double shutters help to keep the heat out in the South of France

Yes, the rooms stay darkish all day long, but that’s certainly better than the bright and blistering sunlight! And yes, I can cope with that tiny square of light from each window. There is even a roller shutter over the French door to the back garden balcony and I moderate the amount of light on each side of the building as the hours pass.

The bedroom stays especially cool with both sets of shutters all but closed.

I’ve made it into a bit of a game so I don’t find it overly tedious — trying to see just how cool I can keep it indoors so Mark has a refreshing home to walk into at the end of the day after he’s been out in the heat on whatever building site he’s working on. The fan may not be as ice-cold as an air conditioner, but it is my friend and that’s all I have to say about that.

It may not be air conditioning, but it moves the cool air around JUST enough!

My pretty new red shopping trolley is thus far getting NO USE whatsoever because it’s too bl%!@y hot to wheel it down the charming streets of St. Girons right now. Ah well — it will be waiting when I need it.

Bright red shopping trolley awaiting a cooler day for adventures in St. Girons

All in all, sarong-on-body and water-in-hand, I am managing just fine. And thanks for asking!

P.S. Just to add a frisson of ‘How’s that?’ from the heavens, as I was ready to post this, the skies darkened, a rather noisy and fast-moving thunderstorm rolled through, the sun came BACK out, and now the wet streets are steaming below my front window. (groan!)

Unexpectedly Weird Weather

They have tornadoes? In FRANCE???

Who knew!

After a bright and sunny day, the skies got dark last night and rather greenish off in the distance but I didn’t pay any attention to it because, well, we’re in France for heaven’s sakes!

I might look at the skies a little differently from now on when it starts to rain.

This tornado touched down 45 minutes north of here in Toulouse. Here are the pictures of the storm.

Springtime In The Midi-Pyrenees In France

Yes, it may be a very soggy and gray April, but the trees are simply awash with blooms here in the Midi-Pyrenees. Shades of pink, white, purple, and yellow are right outside the window of our new house in the Ariege. But wait — what is that other thing lurking in the weather outside? Snow??? Rather a lot of snow???

View from bedroom window of spring in bloom

It began to rain quite hard a few days ago, then the rain turned to hail, and within an hour the mountains that ring our village were practically invisible. I was in the midst of editing photos and the idea of dashing into some warm clothes and driving up the mountains side did not, quite frankly, send a thrill of anticipation up my spine.

But Mark was quite keen to go and see the snow that was probably a mere half an hour from our doorstep, so with a kiss on his dear face, I watched (quite amused!) as he headed off for a wee adventure. And when he returned a mere hour later, he had very red cheeks and a huge smile on his face! He did mention when he saw these pictures that he wished he had not been wearing canvas shoes up there!

Mark's fresh footprints in the mid-April snow

Let me just mention one thing straight away — these are not black and white photos! These are the actual photos that Mark took with a small Lumix camera up on the mountain road. The colour palette is actually that grey, black, and white due to the lighting conditions as the snow was falling.

An April 'Winter Wonderland' in the Midi-Pyrenees of France

April snow half way up a mountaintop in the Midi-Pyrenees

We have a lovely little van — NOT a 4-wheel-drive vehicle. So I think he was bloody lucky to have gotten safely up and back down the mountain in that snowstorm. And Mark admitted that he had a few tense moments when he had to seek out a gravel edge to get traction.

Spring snowfall in the Midi-Pyrenees

Yes — we do live in the south of France now and we are less than an hour from the border of Spain! But (as we are learning from our growing circle of friends and acquaintances here in the Ariege), the Midi=Pyrenees has a most unpredictable spring season and as recently as two years ago, it snowed here during the second week of May. Ummmm — this was all rather unexpected!

Spring snowfall in the Midi-Pyrenees

If you look at those pictures from a few days ago in Mimizan and Samatan as we drove south from Normandy to this new region, it was quite hot and sunny. And has it been like that since we arrived in the south of France? Nope! We had to order a partial tank of heating oil this week because we had three straight nights of sub-or-right-at-zero temps. Sheesh!!!

I’ll send some more pictures this week so you can see the simply stunning region were we now live. It feels simply splendid here and we might actually be stopping permanently and resettling. Come back soon for more glimpses of life in the (ever-changing!) south of France!

Is Sydney Always Sunny?

Today’s photo might deflate those folks who live in colder, wetter climates worldwide and who have the mistaken notion that it is sunny in places like Sydney, Australia 99.9% of the time. Nope! They get some whopper thunderstorms. And the scene below is after a particularly wet day out dodging the rain and trying to take decent photos.

A Wet Walk Quayside in Sydney, Australia

Below Zero in Brehal, France

This may be the Normandy coast of France and yes, I know that our temperatures here are a few degrees warmer than they are at our friend Polly’s house 35 minutes inland from here. But the below zero temps we’re having are a shock to the body!!!

Oh my! It is below zero in Brehal, France!

Brrr!!! It is below zero and windy in Brehal, France!

Deborah is smiling in the sunshine in spite of the below zero temperatures in Brehal, France.

Each and every puddle in the road that is left over from last week’s rains is frozen solid and the pond at the end of the lane looks like a small skating rink.

Iced-over puddles in Brehal, France

We kept the walk with the dogs briefer than usual because every intake of breath was a bit painful. As you can see in the photos above, I was bundled to the eyeballs and underneath that heavy wool coat, long wool scarf, wool hat, and lined leather gloves that are visible, I had on lots of layers — leggings, a thick pair of baggy track pants, a long-sleeve thermal shirt, a turtleneck, a long-sleeve cashmere sweater. I was still freezing and my face ached!

Mark seemed fine as he wrangled with the spaniels, but he did admit that his face was feeling icy.

Mark walking the spaniels on the beach in winter in France.

I can’t even imagine sailing on a day that was so cold, but the sun was bright, the skies were clear, and this man with the red sailboat was dressed in waterproof sports clothing and he decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, the boat seems to have been hit by a wave and shoved onto the beach a bit too far up the beach from the preferred destination. So, after making certain that the small boat was firmly wedged against the sand and it wouldn’t float way, the sailor gave up and walked down the beach to get his truck and boat-trailer.

Walking away from a red sailboat to get the boat-trailer

Ah well — back to the sofa with a blanket around my legs while I edit photos!

Back in Blustery Brehal in Normandy

We’re back in Brehal, St. Martin de Brehal to be specific — right on the coast in Normandy. Having arrived back on one of the Brittany Ferries a few days ago, we’re happily re-ensconced at the beach. We love this beach house and it may be blustery and rain-battered most winter days, but we wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Wet and windy weather on the English Channel

The picture above was the weather outside my window on the ship on the day that we sailed back — and nothing has changed. Winters in Normandy are wet, wet, wet!

So is it any wonder that I was more than willing to push this button and go back inside whilst on the ship?

Press the button to go back inside

I had gone up on the decks to find out just where the lifeboats were on this ship. And after the shipwreck of the Costa Concordia last week off the coast of Italy, this picture below (which is not exposed correctly due to shadows) shows the FIRST THING that I looked at when we got into our cabin!

The all important evacuation route map on the back of the cabin door

Keep coming back for a series of Photo Of The Day posts from quite a LOT of places we have travelled in the last 14 months. I’m doing edit-and-upload sessions to my various agencies and I continue to come across wonderful slices of life in various European cities that aren’t necessarily commercial or sales-worthy, but they might be funny or poignant or simply an interesting angle on the world.

A Wanderful Life

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