Fog

If you’re like me, you might read “driving to the sun” and think I’m speaking of driving to Spain or to Southern France. This wasn’t the case today. Today, as I saw we were in the fog, or in a layer of cloud I decided that I would drive up to an island above the fog. The island, in this case was Pampigny.

You might say “but Pampigny is a village on a slope, not an island. You’re right, of course. Today though, it was an island. If you looked towards the Léman you saw low lying clouds until the Alps, and if you looked towards Neuchatel then you also saw clouds.

Yesterday morning I woke and looked out of a window and saw fog. For some, the reaction is “oh zut alors” as we think that we’re in for several weeks of being under the clouds, with the mountains as a weekend escape from a sun deprived time spent in fog.

An Indirect Walk

I took it as an opportunity. I could have walked from A to B last night. Instead I walked my usual walk. Along the way I looked for interesting photo opportunities. The fog was thick, and you could see water droplets floating in the air near lights.

Every so often I get in a car to walk somewhere different. For two or three days we have been in the fog. Yesterday the fog was so thick that when I was driving I decided to slow down. I wanted to be able to stop in half the visible distance.

When the wind is still, and fog forms, there is another advantage, if you get above it. The water on lakes is flat. It’s so flat that the lake becomes a mirror. This is great for photography.

The Foggiest idea, or a pun, after a walk this morning through Geneva on a foggy day. “The Jet D’eau will be off”, I thought. It was pumping out water at its usual rate but you’d find it hard to see. The grey/white fog, along with the white water, converged and became one.

On a day like today, the Jet D’eau is not the only thing that is hard to see. So are the mountains. If you try to see the other side of the lake you see nothing, just a blank canvas on which you could add anything. It’s also a time when you might be happy to go back indoors where it is nice and warm.