wind gets in your eyes

Today as I battled the fierce North Atlantic wind on my 10-minute walk home from work, the mangled face of a balding, middle aged man kept forcing itself into my mind. This particular mangled face had been the front page spread in a national newspaper last week for being bodily thrown 10 meters by the wind in a nearby town. I didn't get the details of the accident, (for three days I thought the article was about gang violence in the Faroe Islands) but the summary has stuck with me. The wind here can be very, very strong. And as I clung to the fence beside the Lutheran church, the wind seeking to make me the next front page tragedy story, I thought, "It is not just being blown away that I have to worry about." I am also concerned that the Faroese keep their sheep, fishing boats and children tied down securely. If there is one thing worse than being helplessly thrown into the air, it is getting hit by a sheep doing the same. -a