Eastern Wind

An Eastern Wind blows across the fields today.

The prevailing wind is West here in the Glen, and though that can be nasty and cold, it is nothing compared to that which comes from the East.

In summer a shift in wind means one thing: Get the laundry off the line and head indoors to watch the storm clouds roll in.

Fall and spring bring torrential rain too.

But it is in Winter that the East Wind really gets its bite. Thin, icy pellets of snow swoosh across the sky, relentless and unstoppable. A warm scarf barely helps at all, and to venture out without a coat is absolute madness.

"There's an East Wind coming, Watson"
"I think not, Holmes. It is very warm."
"Good old Watson. You are the one fixed point in a changing age. There is an East Wind coming all the same...it will be cold and bitter...and a good many of us will wither before its blast..."
                -Conan Doyle, Sherlcok Holmes, His Last Bow

And in Lord of the Rings, nothing from the East is good:
"In Minas Tirith," said Aragorn, "they endure the East Wind, but they do not ask it for tidings."

Even the bible weighs in: Joseph interprets Pharoah's dream (and I can't see Pharoah as anything other than Elvis a la the musical version of the story) as ears of corn being destroyed by the East Wind, while in Exodus, the East Wind is summoned by Moses to bring the locusts that plague Egypt.

Yes, an eastern wind blows today. A sure sign that it is better to stay indoors beside the fire.