In an effort to quash some of the villagers’ more outlandish theories, Mayor Fernand and Couderc, the schoolmaster, reminded everyone that the previous winter, 1913, had been severe too. Long before the arrival of the lion tamer, people had been making dire predictions, swearing that the weather had gone mad. From January to March 1914, conditions had been appalling. Snowstorms had gone on until May. To refresh villagers’ memories, the mayor got out last year’s newspapers (having kept them to use as kindling), showing photos of tornadoes twisting the Roussillon vines. Almost all those newly replanted vines had been torn from the ground. In L’Illustré National he found the very image of the Promenade des Anglais in Nice that had made such an impression. It showed the storm-hit promenade and the shoreline littered with wrecked boats. The Baie des Anges, which they would never see, was on the front pages, battered by the elements, as if after a flood or a hurricane. Couderc reminded everyone that in the winter of 1913 all people could talk about was trains trapped in snow and the route between Marseille and Bordeaux being blocked for days. From November until spring came, the weather dominated the newspapers. Even in Lot and Tarn there hadn’t been such cold weather since the time of Napoleon III. This proved that the problematic weather was nothing at all to do with the German.

People tend to forget past catastrophes just as they fail to see new ones developing. Some women, when they saw those photos of frozen fountains and springs, told themselves that the harsh winter of the previous year had been a premonition of things to come. The icy beaches and vines bent under the weight of snow had not lied; they were foreshadowing a tragedy – proof that pessimists are always right. From now on, it would be wise to heed the old people, those who said that the roaring of the wild cats boded ill, and was causing the storms. It was time to listen and to take steps before the mayhem spilled over onto the villagers down below. They were living with a sword of Damocles hanging over them and the fear of it falling was a harder burden to bear than if it had actually dropped.

August 2017

August 2017