the weeks follow...

Yesterday was the opening of the cloud chase. The “Weeks” follow one another and are not alike. After that of the fish, now that of the clouds has just opened. Our attention was drawn to the sea depths. We must now contemplate the celestial spheres. Never had the operetta Up there thought that it would one day have such a burning topicality. Since yesterday, it's over. From now on, we should no longer be surprised to find people have a singular air: everyone is in the clouds. But perhaps all this seems, as it should be, quite nebulous to you? So I hasten to send you the explanations from the National Meteorological Office which is organizing this “Week”. We must not ignore, in fact, the theoretical and practical interest that a study of clouds presents. It is fundamental. To study clouds is to try to predict them. To plan for them is to plan for the time. Predicting the weather means knowing which one to choose, the cane or the umbrella, and it is also a service to air navigators.
To advance this study, it is, according to meteorological scientists, essential to apply a synoptic method, that is to say to determine "what is the appearance of the sky at the same moment over an immense area, like for example, that of Europe. However, to faithfully describe the appearance of the sky, nothing has yet been found better than the use of a photographic lens. The meteorologists of the various nations therefore decided to photograph the sky several times a day for a whole week that of the equinox, which is the most favorable for such an enterprise. In France, the Office called on all amateur and professional photographers. All these documents will be collected in Paris, rue de l'Université. Prizes, varying from 100 to 500 francs, will be awarded to the best entries. To these documents will be attached those which will have been collected in the various foreign offices. The counting is expected to last through the winter. So, yesterday morning, on this first day of autumn when the chilly sun smiled on the late summer, on this first day of autumn which came without us noticing, the hunt for the clouds began. It was perhaps less noticed than the opening of game hunting. What does it matter! At the National Meteorological Office, yesterday they declared themselves satisfied with the “getting started”. We hope that this vast “shooting”, which will allow the composition of a giant map of the sky, will be fertile in discoveries. Either. Let us therefore welcome the new “Week” which has just begun. Let us even salute it as an innovation. There will be a lot of “posing”, but no speeches.

Mn.