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

[charliemc.livejournal.com]

Marilyn and I own a whirly vane -- it's a piece of metal art that's a pole, with two spinning parts on it. We spent $500 to buy it years and years ago (back when we obviously had some 'spare' $$$ -- when the heck was THAT???). The guy who makes these doesn't do 'small' ones anymore like ours. He does HUGE versions that include a bunch of glass and so on and cost a TON more than our sum.

Half a tree fell on it at one point, bending it. So it doesn't quite spin like it used to. But when the wind is really high, we still get to watch it go! That happened a few days ago, actually. I still love the thing, even if it doesn't work that well.

If we ever move, we're digging the damn thing up and finding a way to transport it! I won't leave it behind.