Apprehended for Walking in a Straight Line

Voltaire was a funny guy. He liked to poke fun of fashionable trends and ideas. But he was often taken in by the hype of his time, and this has made much of his work dated and quaint in retrospect. However, his novel, Candid, stands out as timeless satire, not least in our age of mass hysteria.

There's an episode in the book where our hero, Candide, decides to walk in a straight line through a German town. The consequence of this is that he's immediately apprehended, fined and thrown in jail. It's all quite funny. However, it's not so funny when something similar happens to ourselves.

We made the mistake this morning of driving directly down to the beach town of Foz to get some fresh air. We drove in a straight line, so to speak, and ended up apprehended by a group of six police officers. We were told that such liberties as a walk by the sea are strictly forbidden to anyone not living in Foz. The mere intent to go for such a walk was a punishable affair. However, the officers were in a generous mood. They let us go without having to pay our 800 euro fine. But if they ever saw us again, we would surely be fined and possibly even thrown in jail for our transgressions.

Clearly, not much has changed since Voltaire's time.

Voltaire

By Nicolas de Largillière - This file has been extracted from another file: Nicolas de Largillière, François-Marie Arouet dit Voltaire (vers 1724-1725) -001.jpg , Public Domain, Link