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FUN WHILE IT LASTED
California Dreamin’
Southern California, where I lived for decades, has much in common with the Languedoc region of southern France, where I live now. The memories are sweet, but I’ll never return
Out of all the places in France I could have chosen, I ended up in the Languedoc region, an area with a climate that is much like southern California, where I lived for decades.
It’s not entirely accurate to say I chose the Languedoc; I chose a place to live that happened to be in the Languedoc. It was affordable and looked ok on the website. Thinking things through is not my strong suit. Would I have chosen it if I’d known that, next to Corsica, it’s the hottest part of France? Or the windiest?
Since California’s hot Santa Ana winds played havoc with my allergies, would I have chosen to live in a region where five different winds gust over the mountains or in from the east, bringing either heavy rain or heat? Take a wild guess.
As I write this, the Chestnut tree a few houses down is in full bloom, beautiful, but terrible for allergies. The winds are gusting and my eyes are streaming as I write. Exactly what they did when the Santa Ana’s blew.
