Windin'

 So.......after spending a glorious week with the girls and friends in London we took plane to RAF Gibraltar. The airport there goes by that name despite the absence of the RAF. The runway crosses the only road on to the peninsula and traffic stops whenever a plane lands. Anyway, stayed in a really nice hotel in la Linea and walked into Gib.

I digress momentarily to offer some insights into my hotel/motel rankings developed over years of watching our daughters row. They always stayed in the nice places while we stayed in what were once called "no tell motels". My ranking system is based on whether one can read a newspaper through a bath towel. The Bellair and Track and Turf in Camden NJ offer towels that are almost as opaque as a windshield. The places we stayed in Europe included towels that actually absorbed water and light. Maybe it's a European thing.

Anyway, we had wintered in Gib in '92/'93 when we realized that plans to do so in Marseille included the possibility of snow. The prevailing wind there is westerly blowing out of the Med. The current through the strait is easterly so coming and going by sailboat is often a problem. When the wind turns easterly it is called a Levanter and the result is shown here. Results in a dark and gloomy day there and bright sun a couple hundred yards away across the airport. A windrose painted on the wall of a ferry terminal shows the various winds and their names. Thus endeth the lesson for today.