Article for 2012 Jul 06
This article is not in a series.
2012
2012 Jul
Jul 06 Fri 
The river Dee may have been flowing faster than normal due to the extreme rainfall, but I’ve been more interested in the Seine. In preparation for creating maps for my time in Paris earlier this year, I have been tracing the river Seine, by which I mean drawing a line in Google Earth along what looks from the satellite imagery to be that French waterway, so that I can easily display its course on my maps.
In tracing the river I have passed numerous communes (French villages). In the Seine-et-Marne department, there’s one called La Tombe, which I think translates as “The Tomb”. What sort of people live there - undertakers? Does anyone in fact live there, or is it a ghost-town? (I later find out from France’s Office of National Statistics that there were 214 Latombiers in 2009 - and the population’s decreasing, to add to the amusement.)
A few miles downstream of La Tombe is the more romantic Champagne-sur-Seine. Champagne on the Seine, drinking it, I mean, does seem quite appealing, but I wouldn’t recommend it. You may end up in Seine. Or in jail, because there’s a slight possibility that the Seine is like the river Dee in that consuming alcoholic beverages while boating on the river is punishable by fines and/or prison sentences. Sorry to dampen your spirits.
And finally, north-west of the capital is the commune of Colombes. The lovely-dovely name doesn’t actually come from doves (les colombes in French). The etymology is uncertain, but the name probably derives from the Old French word “coulombes”, meaning “columns”, either referring to the stone monument that used to stand in the town or the structural supports for the Roman houses. Not only do columns support certain ceilings, but they also support those hypotheses about Colombes’ etymology. Neat work. But I’m still curious about the doves that surely live in Colombes. I’m imagining them saying (or rather, tweeting), “Nous sommes les colombes de Colombes”. Such a status-update would bring a new meaning to the phrase “pigeon post”.