This week ahead in Paris, it’s going to be HOT.
Air conditioning is a luxury few can afford. Also, the buildings are so old, the idea of installing central air is nearly impossible. It’s just not a thing. So, we suffer collectively.
When I first moved here in 2022, I learned the terms for ‘heatwave’ - la canicule or vague de chaleur. And I just discovered there’s actually a difference between the two, even though they translate to the same thing.
According to Météo-France (the official weather service), a vague de chaleur is when the temperature is above 23.4 degrees Celsius (74.12F) for at least three days in a row, with one of those days reaching 25.3 Celsius (77.54F). I find this interesting because I don’t think those temperatures are particularly hot.
A canicule, on the other hand, is when there are at least 3 days of ‘very high temperatures’ during the day and night. Each French department, the equivalent to a province, has its own determination of exactly what temperature and duration qualifies as a canicule.
France began keeping heatwave records in 1947. 2022 was a particularly hot year, but before that, the worst year recorded was 2003. That August, France-Météo recorded two weeks of sustained high heat. As a result, the government came up with ‘Vigilance’, a sort of warning system for people to prepare for high temperatures.
This week I’m feeling lazy because of the heat. So, I’m sharing some fun old cartoons and illustrations depicting French life under a canicule. The cartoon below from the 19th century jokes that someday there’ll be an in-home theater that overheated citizens can watch from the bathtub (Netflix and soak?).
The illustration below from a 1911 edition of Le Petit Journal has the caption: ‘the misdeeds of the heat: a victim of sunstroke’.
These illustrations are from the 19th and early 20th centuries, when clothing styles had much more coverage than we have today. Imagine wearing a suit or a dress with stockings and a corset in the hot summer heat!
Below is a good example, from an 1884 newspaper showing someone watering the ground while folks are lined up to get drinks:
Then there’s this 1864 drawing from Journal Amusant (‘Funny Newspaper’) showing people suffering from the blazing force of la canicule.
I’ve lived in a lot of different places in the northern hemisphere, and I’ve learned that it’s impossible to avoid the heat of summer. In Beijing, a common sight was to see men pull their shirts up to expose their bellies. In Qatar, air conditioning is your friend because you’d die without it. As a kid in Maine, I grew up with a box fan running all night next to my bed with a wet washcloth handy to cool myself down. Remember those days?
In spite of all the sweating and at least two showers a day, I am very happy to be in Paris for the summer. There’s an energy about the city and the sun stays up late and to be honest, I don’t mind sweating it out… too much.
The first photo at jardin du Luxembourg illustrates the inequality between men and women. The man can be shirtless, but the woman has to be warm.
Those images are great finds!