'The Santa Ana, which is named for one of the canyons it rushes through, is a foehn wind, like the foehn of Austria and Switzerland and the hamsin of Isreal. There are a number of persistent malevolent winds, perhaps the best known of which are the mistral of France and the Meditarranean sirocco, but a foehn wind has distinct characteristics: it occurs on the leeward slope of a mountain range and, although the air begins as a cold mass, it is warmed as it comes down the mountain and appears finally as a hot dry wind. Whenever and wherever a foehn blows, doctors hear about headaches and nausea and allergies, about "nervousness", about "depression". In Los Angeles some teachers do not attempt to conduct formal classes during a Santa Ana, because the children become unmanageable. In Switzerland the suicide rate goes up during the foehn, and in the courts of some Swiss cantons the wind is considered a mitigating circumstance for crime.'
Joan Didion, 'Los Angeles Notebook'
In Austria, 25-year-olds sleep badly, complain of headaches and show signs of restlessness.
The wild goose part of your pic puts me in mind of the Dark Dark Dark cover of Elephant Micah's "Wild Goose Chase," which we've been listening to in my household...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voprzAia9iY
Secondly- warm winds blowing in Maine, followed by bitter cold! Winter has its own mind now. But no depression, just curiosity and all sorts of different temperature walks.