 Chariot on arch in Jardin du Carrousel, near the Louvre.
Carvings on the Louvre, and below, exiting the Louvre, looking across the Passerelle des Arts, toward the Institute de France.
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Just
came across an item in Le Monde that explains French bureaucracy. It's entitled
"Le moulin sans eau." Seems there was this meunier (miller)--a sort of last of the Mohicans one (sorte de Mohican enfarine). Well, he recently gave up trying to make money by grinding wheat in his mill and decided to grind out kilowatts instead by removing the millstone and putting a microturbine in its place. The miller-electrician went through all the necessary application procedures, for while the national electric company has a monopoly on the distribution of current, it does not have one on the production of it. The man invested heavily in the scheme, expecting to make a profit, yes; but also for ecological reasons: better electricity from water than from nuclear fission. ("Dommage de laisser se perdre toute cette energie et cette eau-la.) (Sorry, no accent marks.) At first, it seemed the miller would succeed. After all, the mill had been operating continuously since the twelfth century, and he had inherited it from his father, who inherited it from his, who . . . . Then, voila, at the last minute a zealous functionary stepped in and did his job, demanding proof from the miller of his water rights ("droit d'eau"). Although the miller, during fifty years, was known as such, declared as such, reputed as such, and proprietaire as such, he could not produce written proof of his right to the water in his mill. Thus he became grist for the mill without water. Moral of this fable: "Tout est interdit. . . . On ne peut plus bouge dans ce pays." -- All is forbidden. One cannot budge in this country.
Did you know?: --Emile Zola failed his baccalaureate in 1859 because of a bad grade in French. |
