Teacher fries egg in pan on hot French school playground floor
03 Jul 2025 03:03pm
Photo for illustration purposes only.
PARIS - A teacher in southern France fried an egg on the scorching hot school playground floor, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Local radio station France Bleu reported on Wednesday that the teacher placed a pan on the ground, waited half an hour, and then cracked an egg into it, which was cooked in no time.
A video shows the man measuring the temperature on the handle of the pan at the end of his experiment and stating that it is a good 80 degrees Celsius.
The teacher wanted to draw attention to how poorly equipped his secondary school in Quissac is for the heat. According to his calculations, there is only 60 to 80 square centimetres of shade per pupil in the playground.
"We have three concrete table tennis tables," he told France Bleu. "Sometimes the pupils take refuge under them to find some shade."
There were no classes at the school on Tuesday when the teacher conducted his experiment, due to the extremely hot weather. However, the children whose parents were unable to look after them were still on the premises, he said.
Some 2,200 schools across France were closed on Tuesday due to the extreme heat. In some places, temperatures exceeded 41 degrees Celsius. Around 100 schools across the country remained closed on Wednesday.
Many school buildings in France are not designed for high temperatures. This is partly because more than half of them were built before 1979, according to the broadcaster Public Sénat.
The government plans to renovate 40,000 schools and make them more energy-efficient by 2034. - BERNAMA
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Star
6 hours ago
- The Star
Wildfires in Spain signal growing climate risks for Europe, expert warns
MADRID, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The devastating wildfires sweeping across Spain this summer should serve as a warning to the rest of Europe about the rising dangers of climate change, a Barcelona-based climatologist said on Wednesday. "This is a warning to countries that have traditionally enjoyed temperate, cool summers... because these conditions of intense heat will increase in latitude and will reach these countries," Javier Martin-Vide, climatologist and professor of physical geography at the University of Barcelona, told Xinhua. According to Thursday's update from the European Forest Fire Information System, wildfires have scorched 403,171 hectares of land in Spain so far this year. Around 350,000 hectares were destroyed in just the past two weeks, coinciding with a severe heat wave that began in early August. Martin-Vide emphasized that climate models point to worsening conditions in the coming decades. "Adaptation is key to reducing the risk," he said, noting that temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius in central and northern Europe will pose serious challenges to societies less accustomed to extreme heat. He called for stronger prevention measures and better landscape management, highlighting the effects of rural depopulation. "The woods are not as clean as in the past, when there were cattle, sheep, goats grazing and eating the vegetation that now acts as the fuel that starts a forest fire," he explained. The climatologist urged innovative strategies, including the creation of "mosaic landscapes with forest areas interspersed with cultivated fields," to make land more defensible against blazes. He also pointed to adaptation already underway in agriculture, as olive and wine producers move production to higher altitudes, in search of more favorable climatic conditions to maintain both quality and output. Martin-Vide welcomed the Spanish government's plan to establish a nationwide pact on fire prevention, calling it "very necessary." Spain is enduring its worst summer for wildfires this century, with more than 20 major blazes still burning, mainly in the northwestern provinces of Orense, Zamora and Leon. The interior ministry said over 33,000 people have been evacuated, while four people, including three firefighters, have died.
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Madrid's poor neighbourhoods clamour for more trees to cool streets in deadly heatwaves
MADRID (Reuters) -As Madrid sweltered at the peak of one of Spain's longest-ever heatwaves, the temperature on a street in one of its poorest neighbourhoods - Puente de Vallecas - measured 41.4 degrees Celsius (106.5 Fahrenheit) by early afternoon. A few hundred metres down the street it was 38.6 C. The difference? One section of the street was treeless while the other was shaded by a row of leafy mulberries. According to scientific studies, trees can play a key role in mitigating the often-deadly effects of heatwaves and as temperatures in Spain rise as a result of global warming they may play a crucial role in helping to regulate temperatures. However, activist groups say that Madrid has been losing tree cover, particularly in some of its poorer neighbourhoods, and are pushing the mayor to plant more. 'The difference between having or not having trees on your street has an immediate impact on your health,' said Manuel Mercadal, a member of activist group Sustainable Vallekas, which has been measuring temperature differences on Vallecas's streets to raise awareness. San Diego, a part of Puente de Vallecas, registered some of the highest temperatures in Madrid, according to a Polytechnic University of Madrid study, which identified so-called "urban heat islands" where temperatures were as much as 8 C higher than in other parts of the city, such as parks. The heat is exacerbated by a lack of air conditioning because many households can't afford it, said Pablo Chivato, a coordinator of the neighbourhood association for Puente de Vallecas. More frequent heatwaves are taking their toll on elderly patients, especially those with underlying cardiac problems, said Antonio Cabrera, a family doctor at a primary care centre in La Elipa in southeastern Madrid. "Higher mortality rates were traditionally associated with winter in European countries. Nowadays, for people aged 80–90 with multiple health conditions, this is the time of year when many of them die," Cabrera said. TREE CLASHES As temperatures rise, trees have become a political issue. Madrid's Mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida has clashed with activists over trees since taking power in 2019, particularly over plans to cut down more than 1,000 trees for the extension of a metro line. Official data show that while the total number of trees has increased by 2.4% under Almeida's watch, that was mostly in the expanding middle-income districts in the city's east. All except one of the southern districts lost trees. Puente de Vallecas has lost 1,314 trees or 3% of its total tree cover since 2019. Some of the loss was caused by a heavy snowstorm in 2021 that killed 80,000 trees. But many are also felled as the city embarks on construction projects. The mayor's office didn't respond to a request for comment. Left-wing party Mas Madrid has pledged to plant 75,000 more trees so that the city has one tree every seven metres (23 feet). The law used to stipulate that felled trees must be replaced, but a recent reform means local councils in certain circumstances can create a fund into which to pay what it would have cost to plant new trees, said Lola Mendez of the environmental group Ecologists in Action. Almeida's office said it has planted nearly 40,000 trees in empty tree pits under a plan announced in 2022. Data published by the city in 2023 showed 1,318 trees were planted in Puente de Vallecas, but that 719 empty tree pits were covered over. The city hasn't published more recent data. Chivato said his neighbourhood association worked with the mayor's office to plant trees in 75% of empty tree pits in the Puente de Vallecas neighbourhood of San Diego. But many remain empty. (Reporting by Charlie Devereux and Michael Francis Gore; additional reporting by Antoine Demaison; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Britons spend 56 hours a year talking about weather, Met Office finds
LONDON, Aug. 19 (Xinhua) -- New research from Britain's Met Office on Tuesday revealed that Britons spend an average of 56.6 hours a year discussing the weather, underscoring the nation's enduring fascination with climate amid what may become one of the warmest summers on record. With two weeks still remaining, this summer is set to be among Britain's hottest, with both maximum and minimum temperatures well above average, Met Office data showed. The study, conducted during a season marked by four widespread heatwaves, found that the mean temperature in Britain from June 1 to Aug. 17 stood at 16.2 degrees Celsius, 1.5 degrees above the long-term average. This places the summer of 2025 on track to set new records. According to the survey, 60 percent of respondents identified weather as their favorite topic for everyday conversation, ranking ahead of news, family, and holidays. More than 98 percent said they engage in small talk at least once a week, while 30 percent initiate such exchanges daily. The research also found that 43 percent of participants often use weather to start a conversation, making it the most common icebreaker. While 22 percent said they enjoy weather-related discussions, the majority viewed them as a simple way to connect with family, friends, and colleagues. "Weather has always helped bring people together and this research underlines how talking about the weather is more than a curiosity, but a necessity for many people," said Alex Deakin, Met Office meteorologist and senior presenter. The Met Office said that as climate events grow increasingly consequential, Britons' habit of talking about the weather reflects both rising public concern over its impacts and the need to apply scientific knowledge to prepare for the future.
