On Windy days

On Windy Days by Adrian Leighton

(Written during Storm Bert)

From the warmth of my sitting room and comfort of my armchair, the grey exterior through the window looks bleak. Not only is it raining but wind howls round our log stove chimney.There cannot be more of a contrast between the calm warm interior and the conditions a few metres away outside my window. Yes, we are experiencing one of those stormy weather conditions that we like to put a name to.

Yet what I feel and what I see share the same natural element – that of air. Air behaving in quite different ways separated by a thin sheet of glass or two.

The air in my room has been tamed and rests invisible seemingly untouching anything there, except me and the plants which inhabit my living space. Outside the air is wild, raw and uncontrollable. The trees stagger and bend straining on their roots to hold onto their place in the earth. The bird feeders in my garden are unvisited – the birds sheltering hungry in the bushes or seek less exposed place to find their daily feed. All that lives is hanging on until the air becomes more gentle.

The air in this fierce condition will result in damage and even death. Humans who have suffered will be reported on the news local or national, if felt significant. The rest of the natural world may go unreported except for trees whose roots succumbed. Yet there will be casauties such is the way of the natural world, right down to the smallest of living things. We may or may not mourn the loss, thankful that we have been able to survive cocooned in our artificial habitats.

But air, even in its windy form, is part of a bigger pattern of continual change. Where trees have fallen new growth can appear and fallen trees become a source of sustence and shelter for many living organisms. To those still standing, the swirling air has ripped off the last leaves so allowing the tree to enjoy its winter reat. Whilst broken boughs, no longer required, lightening the load for the tree to carry, lie abandoned among the leaves.

So when stillness returns again the natural world will continue its yearly progress from life to death to life and we as humans pick up the pieces of our damaged lives – fences, roofs or more drastic ill effects and with irritation seek to cast the blame for disruption to our planned activities. Yet air, one of the four essential elements for life – our life, remains in all its forms part of that great interconnected web of life.

So Hey Ho! Such is winter when frosty winds may moan