Huge, screaming "Westerlies" are blowing.

Here is what the weather chart looks like, as I write.
Most unusual. Lows south of the continent are linking up together, driving westerly winds directly across the country.

A far more normal pattern would be a low off the east coast, with a high somewhere in the Great Australian Bight, and winds flow from the high pressure cell to the low pressure cell.

But, while we often talk about the "August Winds" in Robertson, this is pretty exceptional. The wind was blowing early in the week, dropped a little on Wednesday, picked up again on Thursday, and today it has been howling. Last time I wrote exclusively about the "August Winds", was last year, on July 11 (ever so slightly un-seasonal, but self-consciously so).

Kim was going to come over here this morning, to give me a helping hand in the garden. But when we spoke in the morning, by phone, she commented that the wind would "blow the dog off the chain". A lovely piece of rural Australiana, that expression ***. Needless to say, we did not do the gardening (spraying). That's on hold for next week, now.

The winds are screaming outside the house. Fortunately, the trees have already been trimmed back, so little damage has occurred - the bulk of the wind damage having occurred already, several weeks ago. But it is hard to credit how unpleasant it is being out in the winds, even for a few minutes. Car doors slam shut, when you open them. Hats? Forget them. Put your head down and scurry for the door - and stay inside.

*** The following is an extract from a website for "Kang guru - Radio English" (a program apparently funded by AusAid, for people wishing to familiarise themselves with Aussie Spoken English.

"Please note: If you like idioms be sure to listen to KGRE. The radio program averages 10 ‘new’ idioms every month - a great way to learn them easily.

The first one - it is so windy it would blow the dog of a chain.

"Last night there was a terrible storm. The wind was so strong it would have blown the dog right off the chain".

Think about this! If a dog is chained up and the wind is so strong that it breaks the chain and the dog goes free then we know the wind must have been very strong. This is highly unlikely of course, but idioms do not always make too much sense."