AND HERE IS THE NEWS…

….a light look at the latest local news with Caroline Manson

Five Police in collision after car chase

When police in Perpignan spotted a driver using his mobile phone while at the wheel they indicated for him to pull over and started the arrest procedure.  The driver was having none of this and sped off in the direction of the D900.  At Rivesaltes he pretended to join the road but then made a u-turn and headed off driving against the traffic in the wrong direction.  After more than a kilometre of driving he took the Rivesaltes exit (again in the wrong sense) and at the roundabout he ran over a ‘stinger’ which had been placed by a second police car.  Despite his punctured tyres he continued onto the D12 and finally finished his crazy driving stunt by crashing head on into a police car.  Five officers were taken to hospital to be checked over but did not sustain serious injuries.  The driver was last seen running across the 4 lanes of the D900 and escaping into fields.

Mega Superyacht arrives in Port Vendres

One of the longest yachts in the world made its appearance at Port-Vendres this Saturday.  Estimated at 360 million dollars the Kismet is owned by an American billionaire called Shahid Khan, who is famous for being the owner of the Jacksonville Jaguars American football team, and also the English club Fulham FC.  The yacht will be staying in harbour for a few days if you fancy seeing how the other half (or 1°) live – you will be able to pick it out from all the other yachts by the fact it has a jaguar sculpture installed at the front (apart from the fact it is at least twice the size of any other ship in port).

Major drugs discovery by sniffer dog.

Customs officers were carrying out regular controls at the Le Boulou Péage on the A9 when their sniffer dog indicated that there may be something of interest inside a large refrigerated trailer in a truck on its way from Spain.  Despite the fact the goods had been very well concealed the officers discovered many cartons containing cannabis resin hidden in the pallet doors of the trailer.  The 495 kilos had a resale value of nearly 4 million euros and the driver was sentenced to 4 years in prison, a complete ban on entering French territory and a customs fine of 991,750 euros.

Eight thousand pink flamingos at Canet-en-Roussillon

The étangs along the coastline have always been known for attracting pink flamingoes, but sadly I have nearly always found that when I look for them they are either out of sight or on the other side.  This year it should be much easier to spot them as in the last few days more than 8000 flamingoes have arrived.  For many of them this is just a temporary break and they will fly off over the Mediterranean by the end of August but may others will spend the winter here in this Natura 2000 classified site.

Drones to replace fireworks at Argeles

Fireworks have always been the traditional spectacle to close summer events in towns and villages throughout the P-O but since this years catastrophic fires the prefecture has ordered a complete ban on fireworks (apart from those launched at sea) at least until the end of summer.  The Association of Merchants of Argeles central beach, the Mairie and private partners have joined forces to arrange the first drone show to appear in the region.  Three hundred drones, each featuring 6,000 pin-lights, will light up the skies for a 25 minute show which is said to be on the theme of ‘holidays’.  The show can be seen on Saturday 22nd August at 10.30pm at Argeles Port.

Traffic jams on A9 motorway

There are lots.  Every single day.  Ditto for the D900 Le Perthus road.  The general advice seems to be that unless you absolutely have to go to Spain it is better to wait until September.  We have everything here in the P-O – apart from cheap petrol and Barcelona/Girona airports.

Man drowns at Banyuls-sur-Mer

At around 10am last Wednesday morning an elderly man was taken ill while swimming off Central Beach at Banyuls-sur-Mer.  Witnesses managed to get him out of the water where he was immediately tended to by a fireman from Paris who just happened to be holidaying in the area.  Despite everyone’s best efforts the 89 year old man was declared dead at the scene.  Sadly this is the fifth fatal drowning in the department this summer, following the death of a man swimming at Canet just two days before.

And finally……

On Wednesday August 12th we will experience an eclipse of the sun – and as the next one is not due until September 3rd 2081 it is an event not to be missed.  Apparently the P-O offers one of France’s best views as the sun will be covered by ‘more than 99%’ and only Biarritz, Pau and Lourdes will do slightly better than that.  So I was particularly keen to read an article in the newspaper entitled “Eclipse of August 12: where to enjoy the show in the Pyrénées-Orientales”.  The advice given by Cyril Calvet, astronomer and organiser of the Tautavel Astronomy Festival is to “Avoid having obstacles such as trees, buildings and mountains” and ideally “take a little height on a promontory, a clear hill”.  So now you know.