Roofs, ceilings & windows!
I'm not an engineer, constructor or scientist - but I love the rough texture, the colours and the lichens that come to life on these roofs after an Alpine thunderstorm.
Every stone has its history and when combined with hundreds of others to give shape and purpose, they tell a story of unity and support to each other.
We rarely see what's underneath these stones - but when we do, we can see a complex structure of wooden beams giving shape and strength to the whole roof. This reminds me that many of us play hidden roles, often unacknowledged and - let's be honest - sometimes forgotten about, in organisations and communities. Indeed it's not until one of the beams breaks or gives way, that, suddenly, all attention is given to them!
So much of these roofs are historic, in houses surrounded by mountains, as old as planet Earth itself. I wonder who has gazed out of these, now shuttured and closed, attic windows. What they have seen and what stories they have told. Weddings, funerals, parties, even passing armies.
Napoleon for example passed by the Swiss village of Bourg St Pierre in May 1800 on his way over the Grand St Bernard Pass, and it took until 1984 before French President Mitterand settled the bill for the vast quanties of wine (22,000 bottles), cheese, bread and meat that were consumed by the French general's army to sustain them on their way to Italy.
It's not always science papers that have the last word when we can learn so much from what these roofs, themselves, can tell us.
