The canicule is over, but the weather is still unseasonably warm. What the French government is calling a health and social catastrophe is linked to at least 14,802 deaths last month, mostly elderly people and women. That information was released Thursday by the national medical research institute Inserm in a report commissioned by the government. The report also revealed that the death toll was particularly high in the Centre region and in Ile-de-France (Surrounding Paris).
Despite the heatwave, the 9th World Athletics Championships took place at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis near Paris August 30
I was lucky to have been out of the country during the heatwave. But I returned last week to Paris, where there are usually only about six real weeks of summer (meaning normal summer temperatures and sunshine) that usually occur in July and August. Temperatures registered the same as in Miami the week of September 15. Last year, I think I was already wearing my sweaters and a fall jacket at this time.
Browsing Grands Magasins and the shops along the Champs Elysées, the winter collections were out with hardly a cotton tee shirt in site. The new winter coat section at Galleries LaFayette was virtually abandoned. Even the sales girls had left the area, as there didn't seem to be much to do. Like every other customer in the store that day, I had a hard time bringing myself to try on a sweater; a coat was unthinkable.
Divorce à la Française
Under French law, a couple, as long as they are married, are obliged to live in the same household until officially pronounced divorced by the court. As court dates can be few and far between depending on what time of year it is -for example, there are no court sessions in July or August - a divorcing couple may wait quite a long time to get a hearing before the judge who will then take about ten minutes to authorize them to live separately.
French Eye for the Bush Guy
It's no secret; George W. is not going to get Man of the Year award with many French citizens. Even so, the French assure me that they do not hold their American friends accountable for the "situation". They realize that we Américains have been duped along with the rest of the world over the Weapons of Mass Destruction debacle and a few other minor grievances.
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