I am reading a book by Kate Mosse, another novel set in the French Midi, mostly around Carcassonne. It combines a story of resistance fighters in the Second World War with the story of a search for a codex, a religious/magical text which will provide supernatural protection for the region. Provided you don’t get hung up on the supernatural element, it’s a good read.
It portrays the reality of being a resistance fighter, with the constant need to be vigilant, avoiding discovery and arrest. It also shows the misery of having loved ones arrested and shipped away to forced labour for the Nazis or worse. A good read!
Coincidentally, here is a link to an article about the Mauritshuis Museum in The Hague, where in 1944, and right under the noses of Nazi command, people were hiding in the attic of the museum to avoid forced labour conscription – Arbeitseinsatz – under which hundreds of thousands of men from the Nazi-occupied Netherlands were conscripted to work in Germany.
Still in the Netherlands here is a picture of the Dutch artist Boris Maas with his 2018 work The Urge to Sit Dry. The chair is perched on wooden blocks to lift it up to the height its needs be which uses wooden blocks to be to sit above predicted sea levels as the water rises because of global warming.
Meanwhile, across the pond, Mr Trump has been abandoning green policies in favour of climate-hostile ideas. Rather a short-term view of things!
Ed Miliband, the UK’s energy and net zero secretary has gone to Beijing to have talks with top Chinese officials, including discussions on green technology supply chains, coal and the critical minerals needed for clean energy. He said: “We can only keep future generations safe from climate change if all major emitters act. It is simply an act of negligence to today’s and future generations not to engage China on how it can play its part in taking action on climate.”
We all need to work together to save the planet.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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