Tarral – the north wind

The Occitan word for the wind that comes over the land, which means from the north where we are, is tarral and that’s what we have this week.  In summer it is pleasantly cooling, but in winter especially when it has come across mountains covered in snow, it can be bitingly cold.  It is a dry wind, though, unlike the marin which comes from the sea, because all the rain it has carried has already fallen on the mountains.  The bilingual street signs in the village usually have the same meaning in French and Occitan, but this one is different.  I don’t know how this narrow street got its French name as there are no mimosa trees in it.  The Occitan name seems much more appropriate today as the tarral blows along it.

Olive trees blowing in the wind, showing the silver undersides of their leaves, and in the background in the photo on the left the vines have lost almost all their leaves and are beginning to take on their sepia winter colour.