People
often ask me what’s the weather like here in winter and it is hard not to sound
smug but the obvious answer is “Sunny”.
The Languedoc boasts over 300 days of sunshine per year and checking
that you have your sunglasses with you when you leave the house is as natural as
carrying an umbrella in the UK.
Talking
of rain; it doesn’t very much and when it does rain it seems to be during the
night – seriously! Having said that,
this year we have had a couple of very bad days of rainstorms where there were
flood alerts but occasions like this are very rare. You might notice when walking around the
towns that the drainpipes on buildings empty directly onto the pavements rather
than into drains – definitely not designed for practical use!
The
Mediterranean climate is very similar to the people who live here – gentle
& easy to live with. Winters are mild
and the summers are pleasantly warm – although there are exceptions. I have just looked up some ‘average’
temperatures and I see that January should be around 12 degrees (today it was
22 degrees on our terrace), and last August we had a ferocious heatwave where
temperatures hit the high thirties rather than the 28 degree average
temperature suggested.
The small
price we have to pay for this wonderful climate is that we occasionally have to
endure the Tramontane Wind. This is a
strong, chilly wind that comes from the North-West and can gust up to
100kmh. There seems to be no rhyme or
reason for why it starts and every elderly resident here has a different theory
on how long it will last (5 days is my longest experience) but one thing is for
sure – it blows away any threatening looking clouds in the winter and makes the
summer heat bearable.
Today
is January 5th and the sun has been shining all day and the sky is a
brilliant blue. We have been for a long walk on an almost deserted beach, had
lunch sitting outside at a restaurant, and relaxed on our terrace at home
soaking up the afternoon sunshine. How is the weather with you.....?! 
