Another article on Le Monde's front page, this time covering how the archaeological site of Olympia has been saved from the flames (while the Island of Euboea near Athens is burning).
You might be surprised that the fires in Greece are covered so prominently by a French newspaper (and by the other media as well, I hear people talking about it in the street). Truth is, I think French people are weirdly attached to Greece (even though we know so very little about it; it's quite far from us, after all). We keep claiming that it is the French who insisted that Greece be allowed to join the EU (EEC at this time) because they just couldn't conceive of an alliance of European countries without the very heart of it.
Indeed French people are supposed to be Grecophiles ever since the 18th century, when well-off young men, painters and writers (Flaubert), visited Greece as part of their grand tour to see the antique ruins. Of course they romanticized everything and didn't actually record in their sketches what they found but what they wanted to find. Flaubert was a bit disappointed to see that the inhabitants of Greece at the time were piss poor villagers speaking a Balkan dialect, and not really the noble descendants of the ancient Greeks.
I was walking through a post-apocalyptic scenery on my way to work this morning. Smoke and fog in the sky, strong smell of burn. I washed everything I was wearing when I came back home. The heat is unbearable too. Total hell.
@Cadet Stimpy It's a 10 minute walk after an hour of commute with public transport. 😄 Thankfully they managed to put the fires out, and the smoke subsided.
@Cadet Stimpy Sure, we have the metro. I drive to the metro station, take the metro, change to the overground train, then walk to the workplace. Then I come back home and collapse. 😄
It's actually 43 degrees, Mike! 😓 My mother can't stand air conditioning, so we only have electric fans. I have it on right now and it's recycling hot air...
43°C?! Shit!!! Mom hates AC?! That's unfortunate. Ah..., so you use convection heating to cool-off your dwelling? Better run that by Z. As a scientist, I believe he'll tell you that's not a good thermodynamic plan. 😄
When I lived in San Antonio, TX and rode my motorcycle in the Summer, it was like a giant hairdryer blowin' on me. It seemed as if the faster I went, the hotter it got, 'cause there was just really hot air blowin' on me even faster - ANTI-cooling effect. 😄
Another article on Le Monde's front page, this time covering how the archaeological site of Olympia has been saved from the flames (while the Island of Euboea near Athens is burning).
You might be surprised that the fires in Greece are covered so prominently by a French newspaper (and by the other media as well, I hear people talking about it in the street). Truth is, I think French people are weirdly attached to Greece (even though we know so very little about it; it's quite far from us, after all). We keep claiming that it is the French who insisted that Greece be allowed to join the EU (EEC at this time) because they just couldn't conceive of an alliance of European countries without the very heart of it.
I was walking through a post-apocalyptic scenery on my way to work this morning. Smoke and fog in the sky, strong smell of burn. I washed everything I was wearing when I came back home. The heat is unbearable too. Total hell.
On Le Monde's frontpage today: Athens' sky. The article's title is: "Athens, already crushed under heavy heat, awakes in the choking fumes of fires"
A hard time to start a demanding job. You truly have all my sympathy, Athena.
It's actually 43 degrees, Mike! 😓 My mother can't stand air conditioning, so we only have electric fans. I have it on right now and it's recycling hot air...