Today in 2021, the BBC reported on a very unusual happening: a farmer in Belgium accidentally redrew the country’s border with France.
The border between the two countries is about two hundred years old.
It was defined in a treaty that was written after Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo.
And it’s not just a straight line: it juts this way and that for 390 miles.
Throughout the border region, there are border stones, physical markers that show which side is France and which side is Belgium.
These weigh several hundred pounds each, so they’re not easy to move.
And yet, sometime likely in early 2021, a farmer in Belgium was out working in a field and decided the stone was in his tractor’s way.
So he dug it out and moved it about seven feet away.
And since this was a pretty remote spot, that might have been the end of it, except that there are groups of volunteers who walk along the border and make sure that the stones are where they’re supposed to be.
The technical term for this is perambulation, by the way.
Anyway, they noticed the stone was raised up higher than it typically would be, and when they checked its location, they realized it was in the wrong spot.
The farmer had made Belgium a tiny bit bigger, and France a tiny bit smaller!
Fortunately, the reaction on both sides of the border was more amusement than alarm.
They agreed to ask the farmer to put the stone back where it was supposed to be, and they agreed that there would be no border war.
Still, the world learned an important lesson: even borders that are set in stone aren’t always set in stone.
It’s National Orange Juice Day, and fans may head to Houston, Texas to hang out at The Orange Show.
It’s a 3,000 square foot art space founded by Dave McKissack, a postal worker who credited his good health and longevity to eating lots of oranges.
Belgian farmer accidentally moves French border (BBC)
The Orange Show is a folk art installation dedicated to a beloved citrus fruit (Boing Boing)
