Yesterday, I Wimped Out of the Fête de la Musique Celebration

I wasn’t alone. With more than a third of France under a red heat alert, across the country, musical celebrations of the summer solstice were cancelled or moved indoors

Even my heat-escaping garden hidey hole was too hot for comfort

After writing about all the fetes and festivals that liven French summers, I ended up skipping yesterday’s village Fête de la Musique celebration. I’d fully intended to go, made plans to meet friends, but as it came time to leave, I couldn’t drag myself out of the air-conditioned garret and down to the village square.

By seven, the outside oven had dropped to a relatively chilly 33C (95F). Not to play the feeble old crone card — exactly what I am doing — lately I’ve noticed that high temperatures don’t just make me uncomfortable, I start feeling lightheaded (spare the wisecracks, please). More so than usual, I mean.

And how’s this for a bit of irony? The Fête de la Musique was created in 1982 to encourage people to celebrate the summer solstice by gathering outside to listen to music performed in cities and villages throughout the country. Yesterday, the hottest June 21 on record, many venues were forced indoors or cancelled altogether.

Paris proceeded as planned, but deployed extra emergency personnel, expanded access to water and imposed some alcohol restrictions due to heat risks.

A continent away, from the cool interior of his Gold Leafed White House, the Would Be King insists rising temperatures are a left-wing hoax and, back (sort of ) on the European continent, the Man Who Would Be UK’s next PM (not Burnham) claims billions of pounds could be saved by scrapping Net Zero Stupid.

The interesting question, I’ve yet to hear anyone ask the MWWBUK’s next PM is this: If cutting Net Stupid Zero frees up money, where does the money for adaptation to increasingly hot weather come from? You know — UK schools, hospitals, public buildings, offices that never needed cooling down in chilly old Britain. What about that cost? Or maybe just remind them as Brits to keep stiff (not sweaty) upper lips.

If the French attitude to AC was once to sweat and bear it, politicians are now concerned that adaptation to rising temperatures isn’t happening fast enough. Today’s Le Monde reports that as the latest heat wave disrupts life in France, “adapting to climate change remains a blind spot ahead of the 2027 presidential election.”

But the people may have taken matters into their own hands. My local Intermarche, where even a few years ago, the only comfortable temperatures were along the frozen food aisles, now has AC throughout the store. IMHO, it’s none too soon.

Guardian UK

See this cheery forecast from Meteo France:

“Very high temperatures are setting in for the long term,” with a heatwave of “exceptional severity and duration” likely to break monthly and possibly all-time records.