A Shared Obsession

It’s been quite wet here recently: 44mm of rain fell during one particularly moist 24-hour period last Thursday/Friday.

I write this not because I think you will have any particular interest in the climatic conditions in our part of the Limousin at the end of the second week in September. Rather, it’s because I am British and obsessed by the weather, unlike our French neighbours. Right? Wrong!

Before leaving the UK for France at the beginning of 2002, we believed that the weather was a peculiarly British obsession. In the UK we are always telling ourselves that we usually open any casual conversation with comments about the weather and that we are unusual in that. Certainly, nothing in our many holidays in France had led us to believe that French people are similarly obsessed. In retrospect, it seems likely that because most of our holidays were in southern France, we gained a false impression. After all, on the Côte d’Azur, other than “It’s turned out nice again,” there’s usually not much to say.

We were soon disabused of our misconception when we arrived here. Apart from the language difference, we could be anywhere in Britain when it comes to weather obsession. If casual encounters in the street don’t begin with a commentary of the weather, they soon get there. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, we get a lot of weather here. Summers are hot, winters are cold, very cold, (and long) and rainfall is quite high. Because ours is the first high ground – we’re at an altitude of 431 metres – the moist winds from the Atlantic encounter, we get about a metre (39 inches in old money: think ‘Manchester’) each year. So, generally there is plenty to talk about.

The second reason is the general uselessness of French weather forecasts. Meteo France, in common with much of the French establishment, appears not to recognise the existence of those parts of the country that are not (a) Paris, (b) the major towns like Lyon, Bordeaux and Marseilles or (c) the coast. Add to that the absence of forecasts for the period between midnight and 8 a.m. and the general incompetence of both the forecasters and TV weather presenters and you can imagine that whatever the weather is, it’s a bit of a surprise to everyone around here.

Well, it’s a lovely day so I’d better get out into the garden and do something productive. Of course, according to the Meteo France website it’s currently pouring outside. No wonder we talk about the weather a lot here!