France

     All good WAISers know geography and have a good atlas. I crisscrossed France for years, but when Martin Storey e-mailed us from Lubéron, I had to resort to mine. If you look at the map of France, you will see Provence in the lower right-hand corner. In the northwest corner of it is the old papal city of Avignon, where years ago I did research in the papal archives. It is on the Rhone, where the Durance flows in from the Alps, close to the Italian border. Just before reaching Avignon, the Durance makes a bow around the Lubéron mountains. Just south of it is Les Baux is, the place where bauxite, from which aluminum is made, was discovered. For some reason, Martin Storey is in the Lubéron mountains, but he does not say in what town; there probably is a village called Lubéron, but it is too small to be on my detailed map.
     Wait a minute. I pored over Michelin Map 84, which covers the area in great detail, and I am prepared to say that a town called Lubéron does not exist (which is what Queen Victoria said of Bolivia). Anyhow, for whatever reason, Martin Storey is there, one of the few places in France not enduring the misery of storm damage. Millions of French people will greet the new millennium without electricity, telephone or even heating, so WAISers be grateful if you greet it in comfort. In San Francisco's poshest hotel, a ticket to the New Year party costs $575, which proves that there is more insanity than justice in this world. Martin reports:
     "News from France. You may have seen or read that France has been devastated by a freak storm in the night of 25th December. Over 60 people died, few houses in the Paris region are left undamaged, Versailles is devastated, and one whole quarter of the population still has no electricity as I type. Of course, this does nothing to help the people trying to clean up the worst "black flood" France has known ever (in terms of sea bird casualties at least, worst than the Amoco Cadiz and the Torre Canyon). Most train traffic is stopped or reduced. Now that the winds have calmed down, the waters rise and many regions are flooded. I am writing from the Lubéron, where it is very cold but otherwise nice. It is in the lower right quadrant of the country, the only one spared by the storm."


     My comment: Noah in his ark. Martin loves flora and fauna. This leads me to wonder why Noah didn’t take two of every botanical species on board. And what about hay for the animals, or what did they eat? One another? That would have wrecked Noah's calculations. Problems Martin does not have.

Ronald Hilton - 12/30/99