The news in France continues to be dominated by la guerre en Ukraine¹the war in Ukraine and l’élection présidentielle²the presidential election but, if one looks, there are other interesting événements  insolites³interesting/surprising/unusual occurrences happening.

Photo CC0 Chait Goli from www.pexels.com

Growing up

Just over a year ago, I talked about how the Eiffel Tower was getting a make-over/new paint job ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games. Now the iconic monument has had another update.

Last Tuesday (le mardi 15 mars⁴Tuesday, March 15), thanks to a new digital radio antenna (antenne radio numérique) the tour is “growing” from her previous 324 meters height to 330 meters.

This latest addition to the tower – lifted to the top by helicopter … a first for the tower – will expand the digital radio coverage in Île-de-France.

And as M. Jean-François Martins reminds us in the video, this is completely in line with the history of the Tower whose very existence was saved in the early 1900 by the development of radio!

A sandstorm in France?

As the video below explains, last week also saw some strange “weather” in parts of France. A strong wind from North Africa carried sand and dust north from the Sahara desert to much of Spain and parts of the south, west, and even Parisian region of France.

The dust cloud dirtied cars, made for some difficult air quality situations, and as you can see here, to some spectacular⁵The word dingue in the post headline means crazy, insane, or nuts coucher de soleil⁶sun sets.

A charming Covid confinement?

Is it too early to enjoy Covid-inspired media? I wasn’t sure I was ready for it until I came across this charming movie on Netflix.

8, rue de l’Humanité (8 Humanity Street, or “Stuck Together” as it is known in English) follows the residents of one apartment building in Paris as they cope with being confinés ensemble⁷confined together in their immeuble⁸building during the early days of Covid.

As is all too often the case these days, les voisins⁹the neighbors ne se connaissent pas¹⁰don’t know each other but are forced to confront their differences – and what they have in common – as they cope.

And finally … an update

The news of the world can be overwhelming these days. It’s important to remember that part of why we learn other languages is so that we can connect with those who are different from us. I came across a new video today for one of the songs from one of my favorite French artists, Calogero, today, and I thought it was a good time to revisit this post from back in 2018.

We only have one home, and while we come from many different cultures, countries, languages, and beliefs, we’re all just one human race.

Pop and Politics

Miscellaneous March

• 1
  the war in Ukraine
• 2
  the presidential election
• 3
  interesting/surprising/unusual occurrences
• 4
  Tuesday, March 15
• 5
  The word dingue in the post headline means crazy, insane, or nuts
• 6
  sun sets
• 7
  confined together
• 8
  building
• 9
  the neighbors
• 10
  don’t know each other