Paris
Sunday, July 17, 2005
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Today’s ozone
peaks in
Restaurant boat
on the
Lovely lights
adorn the entrance to a luxury hotel just off of the rue de Rivoli. |
Today is a
lovely day in Today I am a
writer in The weather
people said it would be 33C/92F today in It is true that
in the south of What is a
canicule, or heat wave, officially?
According to yesterday’s edition of Le Figaro, the weather experts at Météo Xavier
Bertrand, the “new” minister of health (appointed after the old one was fired
in the aftermath of the 2003 heat wave that claimed tens of thousands of
French lives), isn’t waiting for the canicule to arrive. He has already released 26 million euros
for the old people’s homes and the home health care agencies to use to
increase their supplies and workers in the event of a canicule. The health
officials warn that when there is a peak of ozone levels, old people, young
children, and asthmatics must take care.
Le Figaro reports, “In
France, one study done by the World Health Organization and the National
Health Watch Institute estimates that pollution in general, and due to ozone
most importantly, ‘is responsible for 30,000 anticipated deaths’ as reported
to the Minister of Ecology.” Now that is one
shocking figure. The article doesn’t
say over what period of time these deaths would occur. A year?
Five years? Who knows? I assume
they mean that these deaths would occur in The ozone is a
result of the heat cooking auto exhaust and oil-based paint fumes (nitrogen
dioxide, I believe?) into ozone. For
several years, three types of actions have been taken to deal with this
pollution problem. 1. Steps have been taken to help old people
and others at risk during heat waves.
2. Manufacturers are being
asked to promote and make more water-based paint and less oil-based paint. 3.
Drivers are being asked to slow down because driving slower creates
fewer emissions. Then there is another
request I don’t fully understand; it has to do with recuperating vapors when
trucks and cars fill up their gas tanks. These actions have already helped, supposedly,
because the major pollutants, including ozone, have been reduced by 20
percent in 5 years. However, those
figures might be revised due to the ozone peaks in 2003 and this year. We will get a report on this at the end of
the summer, according to Le Figaro. Enough of that
serious stuff. On to food. We dined at Le Bistro Champêtre last night
(107, rue Saint-Charles, Telephone 01-45-77-85-06). We should have stopped after our main
courses, because everything after that declined. The dessert, an apple tart with calvados
burned on it, was not good. Tom’s
decaf expresso took FOREVER to arrive.
If we hadn’t stayed for dessert, we could have taken a nice, long
after-dinner walk. But the
appetizer, 12 wonderful escargot cooked in garlic, butter and herbs, was
delightful. I had dorade and eggplant,
both of which were very good, even if the eggplant didn’t look good. Tom had a beef brochette with fries. Both were good. The prices are very reasonable at Le Bistro
Champêtre, and it is somewhat air conditioned. It is a large restaurant – a part of a
chain of 6 or so restos – so you don’t really have to reserve, but it isn’t a
bad idea. I had to come
to the rescue of a table of Americans next to us. The man at the table was desperately trying
to ask the waiter if he rode a motorcycle.
Why, I do not know. The
American man was speaking in English, not knowing any French, and his wife
knew very, very little French. The
three grown children each knew about three words in French. The waiter knows enough English to take
food orders, but no more. The American
man would not give up. He tried a
dozen words for motorcycle, and the waiter just looked confused. So I finally leaned over and said, “c’est
une moto.” The entire table thanked
me, and the waiter finally was able to answer that he drives a car, not a
moto. Bizarre moments. |
