Scirocco: the hot dry wind from the desert, also known elsewhere in the Mediterranean as Ghilbi, Jugo, and La Calima; Mistral: the hard winds from the north, said to drive Frenchmen mad by their relentlessness; the Meltemi, though springing from the same northern regions has a kinder demeanour, bringing clear air and relief from the summer heat. Zephyr is not only a breeze but a god. These are a very few of the winds considered so important they are named, and carry distinct personalities, myths, histories. So then, where are the names for the English winds? All I can think of are the Roaring forties and the Trade Winds, both of which have nothing to do with our own shores and were named by seamen far away from home. Sou’wester is not so much a name as a direction.

Have these old names been forgotten? And is this why there is also no word for the wind that collects rubbish in corners, and piles abandoned possessions in the farthest recesses of junk shops?