It’s one of those rare events , well around here, a completely still evening . No wind , or even gentle breeze to stir the leaves. The atmosphere has conspired to dampen out any errant sound . So miraculously there is just occasionally none at all . It’s is though we are the only ones left on this planet . Not so much a tranquillity, as an eeriness; fortunately only for a few long seconds . This is not a Covid lockdown moment.
Is that a blackbird leading the bird song ? Good we are not alone! This is normality, if a rarity . Spaced out in time and distance he is joined by other species . I suppose back in the UK I could have recognised them , or at least seen them on the occasional tree. From our terrace , it is forest all the way to, and over Les Albères . Little chance of actually seeing our choral background. The house sheltering us from village noises .
I can hear my mastication, consumption of the evening meal takes on an oratory significance. I have to stop, to appreciate that external stillness. Now there is a competition for sensory satisfaction . So at least I can slow down to appreciate each one in turn . I suspect that that glass of Mas Amiel 69 is going to win this race .
But this is no time for sloth , work to be done : evening watering of the potager. There is a something supremely satisfying listening to water on leaves ; knowing that it in turn should lead to something edible ; assuming that the myriad of allotment inhabitants don't get there first. At this point I should remind my loyal readership that this hosepipe only uses treated recycled water . Maybe the last rays of the sun would be generating, through our solar panels, the electricity to drive the pump. Green smugness .
The gate clunks to , feet on gravel , and a return in doors. Though not without appreciating a nip in the air . That canicule has abated , at least for this evening. No need for AC; ..oops , greenness slipping there. All in all , a most rewarding evening . Life in this part of France can be truly special……..
Midnight , awoken, startled by a crashing thunder and darkness interspersed with vivid flashes of lightning . Then the welcome sound of steady rain , enough to put out any fires started by that lightening. This all soon passed and I drift into slumber . 2am ; crash! heralding storm force winds. A rush to secure all windows and outside furniture under the blaze of all the security lighting , triggered by all this violent movement . It was as though we were under attack by a hoard of howling banshees. These ones must have been equipped with hair dryers as the temperature had shot up by 10C to 33C. I do hope there were no latent fires , the consequences would have been frightening.
4am, all that wind , heat and noise had gone ! Where did it come from , and where did it go ; I mused as tiredness overtook me . As the sun arose , stillness had returned . It was as though the night had never existed.
Ah, so it was a “heat burst”; a fortunately rare event that can follow decaying thunderstorms . Cap Bear,a local weather station recorded temperatures rising from 22C to 37 C in a few minutes, and wind gusting to 154 km/ hr. Some ‘ hair dryer’ !. See abstract for an explanation, well sort of .
Silence is golden
But my eyes still see
Silence is golden, golden
But my eyes still see! ( acknowledge to the Tremeloes )
“And in the naked light, I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never shared
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence” ( acknowledgement to Simon et al )
House in the forest?
