Don Quijote

France is “thinking” about durable (this word is now simplified to green) energy, and although in high circles nuclear energy is also considered to be durable, the idea that wind energy might be a good alternative for fossil fuel and possibly nuclear energy wins slowly some ground.
Obviously, there are high circles and low circles. Whenever in France the high circles propose something, a considerable part of the low circles starts to protest.
The Burgundy region as well as the Saône-et-Loire department are “thinking” about wind farms, which are quite common in the Netherlands, but also in other parts of France and Europe. One condition for exploiting wind farms effectively is the presence of wind, one would think. And wind is exactly what Burgundy is lacking. Apart from the occasional autumn tempest there is hardly any wind, something that struck me as a very weird thing coming from a windy country like the Netherlands.

Anyway, feasibility studies were announced, and some sites were chosen, where possibly a wind park might be erected.
One of the “chosen” spots is a hill near the village of Saint-Ythaire. The moment this became known, half the population was up in arms, forming committees to fight the proposed wind turbines or éoliennes, as they are called here. The other half stayed put, in fear of upsetting the neighbours.
As said earlier, wind farms in the Netherlands are not uncommon, also not at the edge of towns or villages. There is hardly any opposition against them as far as I know; the occasional ornithologist is opposing them from a bird’s eye point of view, some people worry about the stroboscopic effect which might cause epileptic attacks, but horizon pollution and the influence of the whizzing of the wings hardly raises anybody’s concern.
The inhabitants of Saint-Ythaire however think differently. They have since decorated their village with signs warning against 5 turbines of 125 m each (too high, horizon pollution),

signs stating the “fact” that éoliennes are an ecological deception, signs saying that the efficiency will be insignificant (the only good argument I have heard so far) and statements that say that each of the proposed 5 éoliennes will require 1500 tons of concrete for its foundation (another argument that makes me think “what does this have to do with the price of beans?”).
Anyway, travelling through the Netherlands for a week, enjoying the continuous wind blowing there and feasting my eyes on the horizon pollution caused by wind turbines, I found a very nice alternative in Zoetermeer, the town I lived in for a long time. Smack in the middle of town there is an old, alternative wind mill, still working and in use for the fabrication of flour. I would not mind having one of them in my back garden...

Sans Virus!

Some time ago, when we went to the Intermarché in Cluny for our shopping, we found part of the parking area closed off for works. Recently the works were completed, and it appeared that they had built two covered parking places, both with an intercom facility. We had no idea what these parking places were for; our best guess was a facility to return a rented van (the Intermarché rents out vans) outside opening hours of the supermarket.
Today a big sign revealed that we had been completely wrong. The parking places were part of a new service Intermarché is offering: “Le DRIVEINtermarché”. The client orders his shopping via internet, and indicates when he comes to pick up his shopping. He passes by at the agreed hour, parks his car at the intercom and announces his arrival. Somebody from Intermarché then comes to the parking area and delivers the shopping.
When I read this and thought about it for a second, I realised that this concept had disaster written all over it. Inhabitants from the villages around here ordering their shopping through internet?

First of all they would miss out on an endless conversation at the till whilst unloading their shopping trolley, followed by digging in a bottomless handbag looking for the chequebook, after which a pen has to be found as well. Then the cheque has to be signed and handed over, after which the said piece of paper disappears in and reappears a number of times from a magic black box which happens to verify the cheque. This whole procedure which so far has lasted at least 10 minutes is concluded by the stowing away of the shopping followed by an in-depth conversation about the neighbour’s cat. No Burgundian would miss out on something like this, would he?
Secondly, and that does not go just for the locals here but for big parts of France, computer illiteracy and fear of computer viruses are rather high in France compared to the UK or the Netherlands.
To illustrate this: a number of our French friends, amongst whom also business people, only open emails if they come from someone they know. All notorious carriers of computer viruses, such as films, jokes, web links, etc. are opened without any hesitation as long as they know the sender. However, one potter who works around here received a request for some home made pottery from my daughter, who had been there once and had bought some stuff there and then. The request was binned without being opened, for the simple reason that she did not know the name of the sender!
Another illustration: in our favourite quiz show every so often one of the prizes is a PC. This is always announced as “ordinateur avec écran plat, SANS VIRUS!”. One even finds these adverts on the internet.

I really wonder if it is at all possible to buy a brand new computer from a French retailer which contains a virus.
Anyway, to cut a long story short: I do not give this service a long life; I am pretty sure that soon the two parking spaces are going to be used for the rental vans…

My profile

I was born and brought up in Delft, The Netherlands. Marriage and work brought me from place to place in the Netherlands: Maassluis, Zoetermeer, Amsterdam, Rotterdam. In 1982 I moved for work temporarily to Singapore for 6 months. Those 6 months turned out to be 3 years in the end. I still consider Singapore one of the best places I have lived and worked. I really enjoyed working there, and I still have many Singaporean friends. After having worked many years for design offices specialised in the petrochemical industry as a civil engineer, I decided it was time for a change. And the change had to be something dramatic, not just swapping civil for e.g. structural engineering! A number of things helped tremendously; bankruptcy of the company I had worked for for over 30 years, being employed by a compatitor which, at least that was what it seemed, was heading the same way, and last but not least a partner who was also fed up with her employer. And that was the start of a couple of years holidaying in France trying to find the place we would like to settle down in, a few weeks of intensive house hunting, and finally the move from the Netherlands to France.