When we first arrived in France just over 10 years ago the climate was very pleasant with warm, even hot summers and mild winters. The first year in 2003 we had a 'canicule' (heatwave) which lasted for weeks when we saved all our washing water for the garden and spent lovely afternoons on the terrace under the parasol.
The winters were so warm we barely needed the heating on and our hot water bottles stayed in the cupboard! We hardly ever get frosts overnight, hence my comment in this journal page about sloe picking.
Since thore early balmy days everything has changed, the summers are cooler and wetter and the winters are much colder. We had snow for the first time in 2008 and last week another lot fell, although it didn't last more than 36 hours here, inland it has been quite severe.
Where we live on the top of a hill, exposed to the westerly wind, we always feel the gales first and have lost many branches from our mimosa tree which seems to be especially delicate. Fortunately we've had nothing as bad as the great storm of 1987 when many of our garden trees fell.
I started nature journalling a couple of years ago to try and record the weather and rainfall and to try and prove to Bob it doesn't rain every day. It's been interesting to look back and see that it has been dry from time to time but just lately he seems to be right!!
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