French national disaster

The French region of Var this week suffered their worst flash flooding in almost 200 years. At least 25 people have died, and the animal count is much higher. President Sarkozy has declared a national disaster, and fittingly, it was the first headline reported on last night’s news. Each night when the headlines are over, some of those headlines are looked at in more detail. And last night, the first headline discussed in more detail was the other national disaster — France’s loss to Mexico in the World Cup. The news reader discussed it in depth with some photogenic hunk who played for France in the previous World Cup. Only when they had exhausted talking over each other, watching reruns of footballer Thierry Henry looking upset on the sidelines, and the French coach speaking slower French than I do at the press conference after their loss did the news reader move onto the flash flooding. Life loss through natural disaster? Pfft: let’s talk first about the football eh. Incidentally, the next in-depth story involved the President’s visit to London to mark the 70th anniversary of Charles de Gaulle’s momentous war-time speech urging the French to resist the Nazis. Allez les bleus!

To see just how severe the floods have been, check out the following news report (death toll already out of date).

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I'm a technical author, journalist and writer from Australia who has been living in Europe since 2000 and exploring the world from there. My passions are writing, snow sports and travel.

1 Comment on “French national disaster

  1. Yeah, this obsession with soccer is a bit much. So they lost, big deal. Get over it and move on. People dying in floods is infinitely more important than guys kicking a ball around a field. Though I suppose the same thing happens in the US, just not with soccer. Football, basketball, celebrities, reality idiots, scandals; all that is more important than the real news. It’s really quite sad.