AND HERE IS THE NEWS…
….a quick glance at the latest local news with Caroline Manson
Police in stand-off with “potentially armed” man
Police were called to Canet-en-Roussillon on Friday when a man described as ‘unstable’ made virulent threats to municipal police officers and locked himself in his home. The man also mentioned the use of a firearm. Faced with this situation significant resources were mobilised including the municipal police, the gendarmes of the territorial brigade and the PSIG.The stand-off lasted several hours before the 55 year old man was finally arrested at 6pm.
Summer has arrived
The first heatwave of the summer hit the South of France last week and the Pyrénées-Orientales was (as almost usual) the hottest department. Perpignan itself was deemed to be the hottest municipality in France on Wednesday. Canet-en-Roussillon also recorded its hottest temperature in the month of May for over 60 years. As usual storms are predicted to bring this first heatwave to a close.
Man rescued after catamaran accident
A Spaniard sailing alone between Barcelona and Marseille got into difficulties late on Saturday night and had to call out the coastguard by triggering his geolocation beacon. A large unidentified object had hit his catamaran completely opening the right side. A sailboat offered to help but at two hours away was deemed to be too far so the SNSM of Canet-en-Roussillon sent out 5 volunteers and shortly after midnight found the man on a life-raft 28 kilometres off-shote. He was taken to hospital suffering from hypothermia but otherwise unscathed. His catamaran, on the other hand, sank.
Huge traffic jams on A9
Wednesday May 28th was not a good day to be on the A9. Apart from the heavy traffic arriving from Spain for Ascension Day, the border police were also carrying out one of their ‘surprise’ controls. To add to the joy a car caught fire shortly before arriving at the Le Boulou Toll. Nobody was injured but the cumulation of events caused 14km of traffic jams.
Youth arrested after dangerous car chase
Members of the BAC (anti-drug brigade) were patrolling a ‘sensitive neighbourhood’ in Perpignan when they spotted an individual they recognised, driving a car. He had been arrested the previous month for ‘refusing to comply’ so they decided to control the vehicle. The individual refused to comply again and set off at high speed in rush hour traffic. The police eventually managed to position their vehicle in front of his and step out to arrest him but he managed to manoeuvre the vehicle over the central reservation and in the direction of the officers, one of whom had to leap out of the way to avoid being hit. He opened fire in the direction of the vehicle but it was too late. They managed to track down the driver and passenger at their home address and after a difficult arrest involving punches, kicks, insults, and the help of many of the other residents (who were attempting to protect the driver), the man was finally taken into custody. He was sentenced to 4 years in prison.
New TGV destination from Perpignan Station
During July and August a new direct TGV line will connect Perpignan with Strasbourg. The first journey is scheduled for July 12 and there will only be one round trip per week. The journey time is 8 hours and fares are expected to be in the region of 100 – 150 euros for a one-way ticket. Towns on the route of this new line include Narbonne, Béziers, Sète, Montpellier, Nimes, Lyon, Besancon, Mulhouse and Colmar.
And finally ……
If it isn’t enough for you to marvel at the sight of the majestic Canigou in the distance, you can now have it on your plate every day. A silicone mould has been produced in which you can produce sweet or savoury dishes and when turned out leaves a perfect and tasty example of Mount Canigou in all its glory. For the moment only 400 moulds have been produced but apparently half have already been sold in pre-orders. They are available from Prades Tourist office at a price of 66 euros. I think I’ll just continue looking at the real thing from my window…