AND HERE IS THE NEWS…….a light look at the latest local news with Caroline Manson
Thief steals 4000€ of fuel from Pompiers
On Tuesday a security guard at Saint-Charles called the police when he intercepted two potential thieves. They fled on foot and abandoned their car but despite the fact they had covered the licence plates with adhesive tape the police identified the owner and arrested him. In the car they had discovered a Fuel Credit Card belonging to the SDIS 66 Fire Brigade. This card had been stolen from a forest fire truck parked in front of the Argeles-Sur-Mer head-quarters, and over a period of three days had been used to pay for 4000€ worth of fuel from various petrol stations. The 22 year old man, from the traveller community, denied the charges, despite the fact he was seen by one of the petrol station owners, with some accomplices, making several round trips to fill cans of fuel. He has been released to face court shortly.
Maximum Fire Risk – two roads closed
For the first time this year the prefecture has declared the highest level of fire risk. 17 fires broke out on Friday, exacerbated by the high temperatures and the strong Tramontane wind. Apart from the usual safety measures (do not drive on the forest ‘chemins’, no barbecues in the open air, no use of machinery likely to create sparks) they have also taken the step of closing two roads to everybody – whether by motor vehicle, bike, on foot or on horseback. The two roads are:
The road from the Chateau de Périllos to Opoul-Perillos (from its junction with the RD9)
The Force Real road from its junction with the RD612.
Strikes at Barcelona Airport
Security staff at Barcelona Airport are planning ‘unlimited’ strikes, starting from August 10th. They are demanding better working conditions, such as a 10 minute break every hour. They are specifically targeting the busiest period and the busiest days, and work stoppages will take place between 4am and 7am, 9am to 11am and 4pm to 6pm every Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. A similar strike in the summer of 2017 caused chaos and after several weeks of delays the Spanish Civil Guard had to intervene.
Dangerous seas due to strong winds
Swimmers are once again being warned to be very careful when cooling off in the Mediterranean. Three holiday-makers nearly drowned during a period of a few hours over the weekend, because the Tramontane wind has made the sea dangerous. On Thursday evening a jet-ski pilot fell into the water at Canet-en-Roussillon and was unable to get back on. His colleagues onshore alerted the authorities that he was drifting out to sea, and the Dragon 66 helicopter was launched and the man was winched aboard, exhausted but unharmed. Shortly afterwards a distress signal was received from a sailboat off Le Barcarès, and rescue services had to tow it back to the port at very low speed. And finally on Friday afternoon a 28 year old bather found himself in great difficulty in the waves and currents at Saint-Cyprien, but luckily he was rescued by other swimmers in the water.
Catastrophic wine harvest predicted
The unprecedented drought conditions in the department has hit the vineyards very hard, and the 2400 winegrowers in the department are under no illusions about the forthcoming harvest, which typically starts very soon. They predict a reduction of between 30 – 50%, as apart from the fact the grapes are much smaller, many vines have been permanently lost due to the lack of irrigation. The owner of Domaine Dom Brial believes that this years harvest will only produce 40,000 hectolitres instead of the usual 70,000. Research is underway to try to find more resistant grape varieties but so far no variety meets all the criteria for taste, drought resistance and productivity.
Travellers set up camp on public park
More than 250 traveller caravans and 300 vehicles were illegally installed on Prade public park in Saint-Cyprien last weekend, causing a huge outcry among elected officials and local residents. This park features a lake, public footpaths and cycle paths and is a very popular spot for the locals, but became a no-go area for 2 days. On Tuesday morning the travellers left the park and travelled in convoy along the D914, causing a huge traffic jam, before finally arriving on private land between Corneilla and Villeneuve-de-la-Raho. A public meeting in protest about the damage and mess left at the park was held on Tuesday evening – with unconfirmed rumours about trees being felled and ducks from the lake being taken. The convoy had previously been settled in the Herault and the mayor of the municipality estimated the amount of damage they caused there at around 100,000 euros.
And finally ……
An excellent article in La Semaine du Roussillon explains that there have been 4 sightings of sharks near local beaches this summer; Port Bou, Le Barcares, Torreilles and Le Racou. According to ‘experts’ these are blue-skinned sharks and likely to be juveniles (around 2 metres long) as the adults are around 4 metres long and tend to remain in deeper waters. It is not known why they have come so close to the shoreline but they are perhaps attracted by the shoals of fish, then they become disoriented in the shallow water. On the occasion of each sighting, swimmers have been evacuated very quickly – not because they are in particular danger (apart from the risk of collision with a shark) but so that there is less movement and vibration in the water and they can find their way back to the open sea. The biggest danger, according to the head of the aquariology department at the Banyuls-sur-Mer observatory is ‘helpful’ people who think it is a good idea to take the shark by the tail in order to turn it and show it the right direction. This gives the shark every possibility to turn round and bite the good Samaritan on the arm. Just in case you meet a shark in the shallows and want to identify it before deciding whether to run away or not, the article explains that if the fin hits the water on both sides it will be a ‘bird fish’ (?), if there is only one fin and it goes up and down it is possibly a dolphin, but the blue-skinned shark has two fins, one dorsal and one on the tail, and it progresses by undulating like a snake.
