Cold as Ice

While you Kiwis and Australians have been sweltering in the heat (especially Auckland, with a heatwave of at least 20 degrees...) you might be pleased to know that we have been shivering in our shoes, literally. We do feel sorry for the Melbournites who are currently struggling with temperatures into the 40s and are having to deal with bush fires and destruction of property.

Last week on Thursday the snow started coming in and is still here. The last few nights have been bitterly cold at -8 or -10, with last night being our coldest since we arrived here, at -12 celcius. The sharp air cuts through your lungs and seems to bite hard. The ice wave of UK finally made its way down to south of France and caught us up in its grip.

street in the village

chemin du relais towards reservealong the Southe oaks retain their colour in the reserve

We have both been knocked out with the flu or a cold or something in between - lots of sniffling and not being able to breathe properly, hacking coughs, headaches and just feeling lousy. But, Wouter is a few days ahead of me and is well on the way to recovery. I am feeling much better too, so it's all good.

During the snowy weather we also got some sun, so Wouter took the opportunity to go out and take some photos. You can't tell from some pictures, but the snow was around a meter deep in places. According to Wouter he had to shake out his boots several times. As the snow starts to melt, icicles are formed and today we saw some which were at least a meter long. If snow has been compressed on the ground, walking can be dangerous if the compressed snow has turned icy so it's best to walk in softer snow.

view from the front window

snow drift on east of property

hope the broad beans make it through....

I think this looks like woolly mammoths climbing our hedge (we just saw Ice Age...)
and the tobacco plants look rather glum under the snow

Cassy has enjoyed the one walk I've made with him in four days (due to flu) - there were so many new smells to sniff out - he was almost in heaven. Although he later showed his true labrador traits when I felt sorry for some birds who could not find food, so made a melange of rolled oats, pumpkin seeds and breadcrumbs and bacon fat. Cassy made sure the birds didn't get a taste for this new cuisine as he found every single crumb. But he paid the price by having sore gums later on - having spent a lot of time with his snout in the icy snow.

The forecast for tomorrow is for up to +12 degrees so no doubt it will feel absolutely tropical!

Wind in the Willows

Last week Saturday 24th January it was blustery - I mean REALLY blustery.

Wouter already checked the meteo (weather) on the internet - alert rouge for us - we didn't know what it really meant but rouge means danger in any language. As I started to write this story I took some screen shots of the metvuw forecasts for the next 24 hours and it didn't look too good at all.

After one storm there was supposed to be another heading our way, which looked much worse than the first.

We closed all the shutters on the north and western sides of the house - amazing how much more protection they give against heat loss and preventing the treacherous wind coming in. Then the power went off - no surprise given the wind outside, so we just shrugged shoulders and decided to do some tiling by candlelight - this was a new experience for both of us. The power remained off, which was also no surprise but towards the end of the day I started to wonder how long it would continue.

Take a look at the weather pattern which was forecast for Saturday and beyond. We had no idea at that stage what was still to come, and looking at the forecast it seemed we would get storm number two shortly after. I guess you could compare it to a bad day in Wellington!

we're in there somewhere

storm number 2 which missed us

(still Saturday 24th) The power returned around 5:30pm and is still a bit shaky which reminds me of a couple of stories from both our childhoods.

Wouter grew up in Indonesia, and there they had no power at all. The ice man would call once a week in his truck to deliver a large block of ice for the ice-box to keep perishable foods cool. They used kerosene (lampu templek) lamps attached to the walls and oil filled tilly lamps or candles for lighting in the evenings.

By comparison I grew up with electricity - then, as much as now, we were quite dependent on it. I remember that the government introduced power saving which lasted a couple of winters but as I was so young I don't recall the reasons behind it all. Once a week on a Sunday afternoon for a few weeks between about 1pm and 5pm there would be power cuts (not 100% certain on the times but they were for 4 hours) - I also don't remember if they were country wide but guess they must have been.

In our house we would eat lunch (we called it 'dinner' because it was our main meal of the day) and then my mother would make a thermos, the fire would be stoked up, there would be blankets for us to wrap around ourselves if the small fire was insufficient (which it invariably was). For 4 hours we would all sit in our 'living room' and about half way would have a cup of tea - that marvellous British drink that seems to make everything better! If the world is falling in you can hear the British saying - let's have a cup of tea.... We would also sometimes have fire toast - that is, toast made on a fork over the open fire - just like caveman used to do.

I imagine our parents concerns were to keep us warm and free from danger during those times. For us it meant boredom as we were only allowed out of the room to use the toilet. I honestly can't remember what we did in those 4 hours, apart from tea and toast, but I guess we would sing as this is one thing we seemed to do everywhere!

our cypresses bending in the wind

Back to our tempestuous storm - we were without power for around 6 hours - more than 1.7 million people in this region had no power. The phone lines are still down after 24 hours. The storm raged through south of France and north of Spain - from Bordeaux to Perpignan - the highest wind reading was 184kph at Perpignan. Our neighbour had some roof tiles blown off and was out during the storm trying to rectify the situation. Our trees on the western boundary were bowing and bending - we thought it was marvellous that none of them broke.

Today it is absolutely glorious weather and we have been out surveying the damage - a few fallen trees around, but luckily not too much other visible damage. We met our mayor on the reserve this morning also surveying the area.

the reserve

wouldn't want to get in there

the flood was higher earlier in the day

beside the path we usually walk with Cassy

the day after - note the grass on the side still facing sideways

More updates - supermarkets and stores are running out of potable water - luckily and being a former girl guide (yes, folks!) a couple of weeks ago I suggested we get in a 5 litre bottle of still water and we already have some fizzy water - just in case. Luckily again we haven't had to use ours, but it just goes to show you never know when you will need those things.

Monday - Phone lines are still down, meaning no internet either. Heaps of transmitters are out, so we have had limited tv channels too - we don't mind as it's a good thing we have power at all. The weather is a bit blustery again today but not half as bad as Saturday.

Friday 30th Jan we have telephone and internet restored - I must say that we were both having withdrawal symptoms! For us the Internet is very important to keep up with our friends and family as well as daily news. We are very happy. But, there are still people in the area without power and phone and must be having an awful time because the weather has just turned cold - an easterly with Siberian-type wind (that is, wind with an icy blast to it) has just come in. We all look forward to a nice spring day with lambs leaping and daffodils flowering.....

Bonne Annee

When we first arrived in the area we asked around what the weather is like in winter - do we get snow? - and we were told that yes, we do get snow here but usually only once and it might last a day but it's a while since it fell in Cambieure..... So this is our third fall of snow since we arrived and this time it has stayed overnight.

last night

It started yesterday with an icy blast from the north - even in Marseille they have snow and by comparison we have a small dose. It was windy and felt like there were ice needles in the wind and the high for the day was -2.

The 'quelques flocons' forecast did arrive but as they were much smaller than the fall on Boxing Day so we decided to call them "floquettes". Now I understand why Innuits have about 37 different words for snow. The current fall started off as sticky snow, but today it seems it's powdery - can't easily make a snowball - but it does stick to your shoes when walking about.

early this morning

Since 1st January we have been checking our weather, temperatures and rainfall, having set up our own little weather station just like we did in NZ. With great interest as the temperature spread in Auckland, at least, is 25 to 30 degrees at the outside - if you consider the lowest temperatures we had there hovered around zero and the highs were late 20's. Here we've had very high 30's and even over 40 one day close by in Brezilhac. This morning Wouter checked the thermometer and it read -10. Although after yesterday's icy wind it doesn't feel that cold today.

By 1pm the temperature has reached zero degrees. I guess you could compare our winter weather to that of Alexandra or Lumsden.

Here are two links to BBC stories regarding the big freeze:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7817124.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7815773.stm

While our friends, family and colleagues are sweltering in the unusual heatwave hitting Auckland we are having cold snow.

It's interesting to note who and what moves around in the snow - easy to tell when it remains overnight by they tracks left behind. For example, we have birds, rabbits, dogs, cats and people.

birds

cat (Moulette?)

Cassy

rabbit

icicles on loquat

sparkles in the snow

Anyway,not complaining, as we look on this as all part of our experience. Cheers and Happy New Year, Bonne Annee, Gelukkig Nieuw Jaar, Blwyddyn Newydd Dda.

Snow in Pyrenees

The following story from BBC confirms the cooler weather we've been having:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7695975.stm

It will remain cool for the next few days, and if you take a look at the story on BBC you can see why. Luckily we had the plumbers checking our central heating today and tomorrow we get oil delivered, then we can start it up and warm our toes.

Meanwhile a lovely Cambieuse has loaned a hot water bottle (ah, bliss) much to my delight, so we'll be nice and toasty until my own one arrives.

Cassy very keen to sleep inside and I can't say I blame him. More stories again soon.