My short story titled "Weather Reports" was recently published online at House Magazine (Salt Publishing) and as usual I'm blogging a few words about how the piece came to be written. There may be spoilers within.
"Weather Reports" is one of a series of stories I've written riffing off French New Wave cinema (my other stories published in this series include Mont Blanc, Betaville, Hiroshima Was Another Word For Love Then and The Good Men). In this story, my starting point is the 1964 Jacques Demy film, "The Umbrellas of Cherbourg", with a character – a TV weather girl – whose existence has been heavily influenced by the movie to such an extent that her life somewhat mirrors the film; although you don't need to know the film to appreciate the story.
Here's an extract:
When Marianne emerges from the offices of France Bleu Cotentin on Rue Alexandre Piedagnel she is almost blown off her feet. Rain batters the plastic yellow jacket she had plucked off the coat stand that morning, but rather foolishly – for a weather girl – she had forgotten her umbrella. Every characteristic in the port town is dimpled by raindrops: the foaming sea surface, the puddle-reflected buildings, sailors’ bare forearms, and an astonishing array of coloured fabric.
Marianne wishes she might burst into song: to detail this aspect purely and eloquently. Yet unlike the characters in her favourite film – Les Parapluies de Cherbourg – she has neither the voice nor the advantage of lipsynced dubbing. Instead she hurries silently, the wind threatening to sideswipe her legs, as she walks briskly from the radio station where she has delivered her broadcast - passing the umbrella shop that has appropriated the film’s name - and enters a café opposite the garage forecourt. From here, over a medium-sized bowl of coffee within which she dips her croissant, she indulges fantasies of love.
Regular readers of this blog will know I usually listen to music through headphones whilst writing, and this entire story was written whilst listening (perhaps unsurprisingly) to Michel Legrand's score for The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.
