What the wind brings

Last night and today marked a significant increase in winds here in Thessaloniki, which I have learned in my three years in Greece means the beginning of colder temperatures. The winds are intense, almost violent at times, and you can frequently hear the sound of things flying off balconies and whooshing onto the streets below. I actually love these intense winds - the air feels crisp, fresh and clean, and the temperature leads to a rise in the snuggle factor, which is always a good thing (except when the cats want to snuggle when we are at the computers, which makes it difficult to do anything).

One of our neighbors has windchimes. Now, I happen to be one of those people who love windchimes, I've always been envious of people who have the array of the very expensive chimes that range in tones and sound absolutely magical when the wind blows. But our neighbors have the cheap 5 euro windchimes they obviously bought at some tourist trap store on an island somewhere. The noise that emanates from this monstrosity sounds painfully like a damaged child's bicycle bell, one that might have been stepped on by a bully in the schoolyard. The sound is actually more pathetic than it is annoying, and thankfully it isn't loud enough to permeate when our doors are closed and the T.V. is on. Even so, I have to wonder if these people are tone deaf, or simply have no idea what real windchimes are supposed to sound like. Do they even enjoy the sound their windchimes produce? Do they think it sounds good? I suppose it could work under the same theory as people who like the music of Britney Spears or Justin Timberlake.

We have a set of nice windchimes, the ones you pay a little too much for that are completely resonant and rich in tonality. Unfortunately, because my husband and I are complete procrastinators, we have not yet gotten around to putting them up yet. But we will, eventually, and then our neighbors can hear what real windchimes sound like, and put theirs away in shame.