A quick look at the weather and time for a happy ending

There has been a fair bit of furniture moving upstairs if the weather in France over the past month is anything to go by.

And as usual “la meteo” has been making the headlines here. Rain and yo-yo-ing temperatures in the north, near heatwave conditions in the south.

There was of course the “freak” tornado, which struck northern France last week, bringing devastation to the town of Hautmont, killing three and injuring 18 others. Another storm in the early hours of Wednesday morning in the centre of the country left two young girls dead at a summer camp, after a tree fell on the tent in which they had been allowed to sleep.

And all the while, there has been a series of babies being left in cars – the toll is now four, with two deaths and two last-minute rescues.

But among all the bad news, there has also been some good – although that’s not exactly how it was first reported by prime time news on the country’s main private channel, TF1.

On Thursday two-year-old Louis went missing from the home where he was holidaying with his parents in the village of Verclause in Drôme in the south of the country.

Apparently he was playing with his five-year-old brother and their dog in the garden and somehow when the parents weren’t paying attention Louis “went missing.”

The authorities were immediately informed, a local and national appeal for information on his whereabouts launched, and 160 police mobilised along with 60 additional military and dozens of volunteers to comb the local area looking for the young boy.

France has a system in place inspired by a similar one in the US where as soon as a young child is reported missing an amber alert goes out nationally.

Then the bombshell more than 24 hours later on TF1 at 8 o’clock on Friday evening – his body had been found.

And so now the investigation would switch from the search to the circumstances of his death.

Except it wouldn’t, because he wasn’t – dead that is. Instead, Louis was safe and sound back home with his family. He had been found under a tree, a little dehydrated and more than a little tired, but otherwise full of spirits.

So a happy ending for Louis and his family and a shame-faced apology from TF1.

But it also raises the issue of how these mistakes happen, how in the rush to get the news out there in these hyper-competitive days of multimedia, some of us are too willing to go with what we believe to be the truth, the facts, the story, without actually checking it out first or taking time to verify sources.