Nov 03
Hot October in the Mediterranean
2004 at 01.25 pm posted by Veerle Pieters
If you had to escape the gray weather and still enjoy the beauty of some summer sun, Ibiza wouldn’t have been a bad place in October since the folks of meteorological office just released figures that it was the hottest October since 1961.
Not only the hottest average temperatures for the month, at 22.4 degrees - 2.6 degrees above average, but also the second hottest October day ever, and hardly any rain! A high contrast with last year when all it seemed to do was rain and also very different from the record breaking hot summer of 2003.
Weathermen are blaming a plume of hot air from Africa which is dominating the Mediterranean for the beautiful Autumn weather, whilst the Spanish mainland is experiencing torrential downpours. (source: Ibiza-Spotlight.com)
Here in Belgium October wasn’t ground breaking just some of that lovely gray weather that gets your spirit down if it lasts too long. Combine this weather with the result of US elections and it’s all pretty depressing right now.
So let’s call it “war on ERROR-ism”
10served
1
Let’s hope the Americans get what they deserve, without us Europeans having to suffer ! Long live democracy :-(
2
@Raven: I personally feel sorry for all those other millions of people that are now seriously disappointed because they lost and because their hope of better times are buried for 4 long years unless a miracle happens and Bush becomes an inspirational leader (unlikely I know).
3
I would say bush is an inspirational leader ... look how he inspires loathing and discontent through out the world. ;) He’s really talented.
4
Hij veerle, vette site, weinig meisjes die zich bezighouden met dit soort van dingen en dan ook nog van België zijn. Ik vind de site echt heel netjes, zeker weer inspi opgedaan. CTRL - D
x
5
Being one of those US people that are dissapointed, there is a silver lining in the dark cloud. There are grassroot groups getting the people together, with more time and information, we’ll get america back on the right track, hopefully…
6
There are so many of us that are dissapointed with the outcome here. The elections, especially in Florida and Ohio, are a f-r-a-u-d and I wish our media had the guts to try and expose the collusion within the Republican party.
As a US citizen, I am concerned with what will happen with our country in the next 4 years. There are no checks and balances in our government and I see many obstacles ahead.
7
@tim, thanks, but lets make one thing clear ... inspiration = OK duplication = NOT OK ;-)
@cporto and Joe, all this made me realize, here in Europe (at least in Belgium) the media doesn’t paint a “rosy” picture of the situation. We get a neutral image of the US and the world. So all things are covered, even if the news is nasty and destructive for our country. The media has much less impact on politics, here it’s also impossible that there only 2 candidates for an election. I think the focus in the U.S. was too much on spreading fear around, instead of important issues like economics, social security etc. At least that is the idea that I got.
Even in Europe, most of the people are concerned since indirectly we are influenced by the decisions Bush takes. So I’m also concerned on what will come from all this.
8
I’m not that unhappy with the weather in Belgium. Actually I like it. :) It shows much variation, and every season has it’s own romantic imagery. The only thing now I moved from Antwerp to the coast is there’s a lot more wind here. Cycling next to open farmer fields where it has free playing ground tends to rise some verbal atrocities in me. But everything besides that, I see beauty in it.
About the US elections, I don’t know whether our media reports are well balanced. I haven’t seen much programs covering on the ideas of Kerry, nor Nader. Most things were on how bad Bushes ideas were. Though I think in general we aren’t that much attracted to Kerry’s either. What he had to say on important topics seemed to be less important for coverage. I really can’t say how much difference they would make rather than just a ‘shade’.
9
@ Koen: The season has his moments, like the many different color pallets that nature shows etc. What I wanted to say was that I don’t like too many gray days in a row. There has to be some sun in between to lift my spirit.
Also about our media I wasn’t talking about the elections but the news they air in general. On Canvas they spend some time on both candidates.
10
Hi Veerle,
I know the dust has settled on this post, but I’ve only found the time to repost my earlier comment (that somehow got lost in the ether last time). I wanted to thank you for reminding my of an absolutely lovely holiday I had in Formentara several years ago. My friends and I were lucky enough to be able to use one of their parents’ vacation home there. It was a wonderfule contrast from foggy Geneva, where I was living at the time.
Re the election: I haven’t seen much analysis of the city/country aspect of the vote. Here’s a great map that shows another view of what happened (free registration required): http://www.nytimes.com/pages/politics/campaign/ Take a look at the interactive feature at the top right of the page. It clearly shows that Democrats took the larrger cities (at least the major ones), even some in Texas. We forget how many people live in the country here in the US.
I saw the same dynamic in Switzerland, while living there. City liberals vs. country conservatives. The farm population was strong enough to keep Switzerland out of the UN for many years (and still out of the EU). I’m not familiar enough with Belgium to know if the same divide exists there, but I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that it does.
In fact, I believe this dichotomy is found worldwide. The more people mix in cities, the more tolerant they become. The less they mix, the less tolerant they need to be to survive and thrive.
If we look at the election results in this light, they don’t seem so bizarre. At least not to me.
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