Pave: Future France Is The Past

Le jour 194 de Sarko

So much of what once worked for France is behind her. Absolute monarchy. The guillotine. The Maginot Line.* Mime.

Enterprising Frenchies naturally look to the past for a stunning future-France success.

HORSES PITCHED AS ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORT FOR FRANCE

PARIS November 21, 2007 (Reuters) - French towns worried about fuel prices, pollution and striking transport workers [and here and here and here and here] need look no further than the horse.

Horses are a possible alternative for vehicles such as school buses and refuse trucks, say groups eager to pick up on global concerns about eco-friendly transport.

Stephane de Veyrac, from the French National Stud Organization, at this week's annual conference of French mayors:

It's all about sustainable development and bringing some humanity back to today's monotonous, machine-driven jobs. It is a serious alternative -- horses are already in use in over 70 towns as replacements for gasoline- and diesel-powered service vehicles.

De Veyrac's group says it is the first in France to offer consulting on a wide range of horse-powered vehicles that could also haul bottles and aid street sweeping.

De Veyrac's group was founded by Louis XIV's Finance Minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert to supply war horses for military campaigns.

Yes. Well. [Pause.] As polluting as cars can be, they do not leave large mounds of crottins where they please. And in a horse-drawn France, what will become of the festive New Year's tradition of voiture brûlant?

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* The Maginot Line was a French series of co-ordinated hardened defenses built after WWI, trimming France's eastern border with Germany. The main purpose of the Line was to deter a massive direct attack by Germany or, failing that, to give the French time to mobilize. The Line was a great success. It lulled the French army command, politicians, and public into a sense of security, neutered the French army as an offensive tool, and prompted the Germans to gamble on the daring Sichelschnittplan through the Ardennes. The rest, as they say, is history.

PFFT (What is this?): Better living in the past 3 | Making France Al Gore friendly 3½ | Rayonnement français ½