Weather eye

Lyon has enjoyed a week warmed by a brief été indien: temperatures in the mid-twenties and lovely sunshine (two days of cloud and rain apart). It's been a quiet week for me, less so for la bienheureuse at work. Plus ça change. On the family front, 21 weeks and still counting, tout va bien. Saturday we took advantage of the weather with a stroll along the river and back via the largest pedestrianised square in Europe, where there were displays linked to 'la semaine de la securité', mostly road safety with rolling car simulators and the like. Sunday was less sunny but we went for a walk in the park where the leaves are starting to turn and the dahlias in the botanical gardens are in full bloom.

Newspaper headlines over the past few days have been dominated by a mixture of stories: on the football field, the resurgence of les nouveaux Bleus, seemingly confirmed by two goals in the final few minutes against Roumania; on the political stage, the fifth nationwide demonstration against retirement reforms, backed by almost 70% of the French population, begins tomorrow with transport strikes ominously scheduled to continue indefinitely; and the human drama of the cave diver trapped by a rock fall in an underground river in the Ardèche for over a week. Rescue workers think & hope he's still alive but final confirmation and rescue remain elusive.