Wind Vanes

[poliphilo]

My friend Judy has been trying to source a wind vane for a video she's shooting- and finding it difficult to lay hands on one. I guess people mostly commission them for particular buildings. They're not the sort of thing you buy off the peg.

My parents had one made for this place that represents a horseman jumping a gate. It eventually fell off  the roof and is now in pieces. I haven't moved to have it put back. We're no longer a horse-owning or even particularly horsey family; that era is over.

I like vanes but I've never figured out how they work. When the arrow points north (say) does that mean the wind is blowing towards or from that direction? I've also never really figured out why anyone- outside of certain specialised occupations- sailors and cricketers for instance- would need to have that information.

Right now the wind is blowing from the north. I don't need a vane to tell me this; the drop in the temperature is enough.

I remember sitting in a classroom as a little kid- bent over an exercise book doing sums or drawing contour lines-  and every so often glancing up to see the vane spinning on a nearby summer house. Ah, to be out in that wind...

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

I'm a little surprised it's proving difficult to find such - I'd always vaguely thought they were the kind of thing you'd find readily in places selling all sorts of Stuff for Around the House.

On a merely practical level, I simply use online forecasts/weather info - it's worth keeping an eye on the wind, of course, lest one be lulled into thinking a sunny Autumn day might not require a coat, until you realise there's going to be a stiff breeze, right into the eyes as I look out primary bunspot. But WeatherPro on an iPad doesn't have quite the same visual cachet as a vane. =:)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I've never gone shopping for a vane. If I wanted one I think I'd begin by searching out the local blacksmith.