Mistral - Ça m' énerve!
Spring is 3 – 4 weeks late this year in the Provence and the Mistral is tiresome. The wind was blowing fast and fierce the last couple of days. It is a steady, enervating, sharp, biting wind coming from the Northwest. It is called the "Mistral", the scourge of the Provence during Winter and early Spring. It is so sharp and twisting that people stay inside as much as they can. The sun is shining, the sky has an intense blue, but you definitely don't want to be outside. And you now what? Avignon is the capital of the Mistral. Nowhere does it blow with such ferocity as here. Well, may be in the Camargue it is worse.
The Mistral can blow for days and weeks and many people get a tiresome headache. Wind speeds of 75mhh with gusts up to 100mph are common. It rattles the tiled roofs of the villages and towns of the Provence. Trees are forever bent in the direction of the Mistral. My fellow Avignonnaise get irrate and moody. Huddling down to the street to the bakery there is only one comment: Ça m'énerve!
On the other side Provence needs the Mistral – it would be too perfect otherwise. And the days afterwards are rewarding to us all – clear blue skies, warm sun, flowers, happy faces on the street. Life is beautiful!
