A strange February

February is usually the longest, dreariest, greyest, most dismal month in Bordeaux. The skies stay resolutely sunless. It's rarely very cold but always chilly. It's a cheerless month.

To combat it I pay occasional trips to shops with brightly coloured clothes. My favourite was Desigual, a Catalan clothes designer whose neon creations used to fill a shop on the corner of rue Vital Carles and Rue Dijeaux. But they closed down. I wondered how I'd survive February without them and planned trips to sportwear shops or to Benetton instead.

I need not have feared. This February has been bright, sunny and warm. Sometimes over 20°C. Cloudless skies have filled our horizons. Flowers bloom. We seemed to have moved seamlessly from Autumn to spring without passing winter or needing to spend £200 on heating or warm woollens.

Seemed. This week is the winter school holidays, when people flee to the Pyrenees to go skiing. Imagine! All that warmth and beautiful snow, too. Meanwhile in Bordeaux it's cold, wet and grey. Winter's back.


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