Travel

The good, the bad and the ugali

Sitting at Malawi’s Kamuzu international airport in this year’s already singeing summer has me bored, constipated and wishing I was somewhere else. I’ve been dropped off an hour and half early and am finding it difficult to breathe. This has nothing to do with my premature arrival, but with a rather wild weekend in Nairobi a few days prior that will remain a story for another day. I’m on my way back home though, which is good.

The reason I’ve whipped my laptop out is really a mixture of envy, nostalgia and arrogance.

I’ve just been watching someone whom I think to be a Malawian on his way out of his country for the very first time.

Photo credit

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Wind energy industry in France

Long gone is the time when farmers used windmills to grind their grain and pump water.  They certainly didn’t know they could use the power of wind to generate electricity for the whole country. Many of the disused mills that have not been left to fall to ruins have been converted into houses, a fun way of protecting them and finding them a new lease of life.

Traditional windmills have been replaced by wind turbines to produce electricity by using wind which is a clean source of renewable energy!

The cherry on the cake is that wind is free! The only cost, and I know it is quite significant, is the erection of the turbines, but it is a medium term investment that is good for our planet!

Wind energy industry is in full expansion in France and you will notice more and more turbines as you travel through the country. Many ridges and hilltops or windy flat areas are crowned with turbines as municipalities invest for the future as they get tax reduction for doing so.

For example the Midi-Pyrénées Region and especially the Aveyron (south of France) have invested in renewable energy and already produce about 5% of national energy; this places the wind turbine production in 3rd place after nuclear and hydroelectric production.

The Aveyron windmill farm produces about 50MW and is currently the largest windmill farm in France.

French wind farming is run by Electricité de France and is rated third in Europe after Germany and the UK.

We have grown used to the turbines’ gigantic white silhouettes and I find that they often blend into their surroundings or at least don’t deface the landscape as long as they are not too many of them.

The last thing we want is hundreds of them lined up on our hills despite the fact that mass production considerably reduces the running costs; and wind farming has got many detractors as you can imagine!

They think that turbines are ugly and noisy and are a threat to the environment and wide life as many birds get caught in their blades. I agree with this but have to point out that electric cables have exactly the same disastrous effects.

I am neither in favour nor against wind farming; I just think that it is a brilliant concept as long as it is developed under strict control and respect the environment and the beauty of the landscape as France is the number one tourist destination.

The downside of wind farming, though, is that you need wind… and sometimes there is none!

 

Read more

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Laguiole, a prestigious folding Knife

The Laguiole knife, an object-tool whose reputation is second to none

Laguiole is the capital of cutlery in Aubrac, a region of central France. Most people think that knife manufacturing in Laguiole is an ancient tradition that has adapted and been mastered over the centuries! Surprisingly, it is not!

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The Bouquinistes-Book Sellers along the Seine River

Bouquinistes, a trade that goes back to the Middle-Ages and is unique to Paris

The story has it that a boat transporting loads of books sunk near Notre-Dame Cathedral.

The sailors swam ashore taking with them as many books as they could and sold them to the passersby to make up for the wages they had lost. They certainly found the sale lucrative enough to start making a regular living from it.

Since then, we are used to seeing the booksellers along the Seine and they have become one of the many iconic symbols of Paris.

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Shop signs, a tradition that goes back to the 13th century

In France shop signs served as house numbers until the French Revolution. The first signs appeared in the early 13th century and were coat of arms. Carved above the main entrance door, they indicated private houses or mansions.

Inns and hostels soon followed the example so that their provincial and foreign customers could find them easily. The use of signs increased during the 14th century to become common a century later when every house, inn, restaurant, hostel and shop had its own.

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From rural Mali to the world

Yaya Coulabaly is part of a group called Fasokan Segou which uses the Internet to connect with the world outside Mali. Here he tells us more about the project, and life in rural Mali.

Hello Yaya, thank you for taking the time of answering our questions. Can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?

Hello and first of all a big thank you to Eddie Avila from Rising Voices and Lucy Chatburn from PocketCultures for giving me the opportunity to talk of rural Mali and our blog.

My name is Yaya Coulibaly, I’m 27 and am agronomist (agricultural technician and engineer). I play football and love soft music as it allows me to work on my data without losing focus.

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