Windy

Bit of a blow last night, which had me wandering around at half past one in the morning, securing all the outdoor furnishings which had decided to go walkabout. Mrs S kicked me out of bed with a sleepy; "Bill. Go and see what that noise is." Our fearless hound was cowering somewhere, and totally failed to accompany his master on this middle of the night chore. Our two beige plastic Adirondack sun chairs were making a hell of a racket as they grumbled across the decking like bizarre stop motion sail boats. I'm surprised the neighbours didn't complain. Although from some brief windblown curses from a neighbouring yard, I think they were having as much fun as I was. A set of bamboo wind chimes got shredded, but we were spared power cuts like on the mainland.

The weather seems to go like this, or so I've noticed in thirty years of outdoor activities like Motorcycling throughout the year and working outdoors in all English weathers. Never mind three years of foot patrol work.

If Spring is windy and wet you can expect a temperate to warm summer and a good growing season. If calmish, you can expect real heat followed by Winter snow. Maybe even crop wrecking Summer storms. Used to see the same kind of weather patterns in England, which, like Vancouver Island, has a mild temperate climate. An English windy Autumn meant a comparatively mild and wet Winter. A wet and windy Spring usually ran before a reasonably sunny Summer. An over warmish Spring generally presages a washout Summer. Rather like 2007, the year we left England. The climate shifts around paying no mind to activists and politicians, no matter what they say and do.

I know these observations are pretty generalised, and heavens to betsy haven't been peer reviewed. I mean gasp! The scandal of it all. Yet for me this vaguely folkloric principle works as a reasonable rule of thumb. Weather being the chaotic phantasm it so often is, perhaps that's all you can ever work with.