AND HERE IS THE NEWS…

….a quick glance at the latest local news with Caroline Manson

Winter draws on

It is officially ‘cold’ – on Friday the temperature did not exceed 7.3° making it the coldest November for twelve years.  Thirty centimetres of snow fell in the mountains and access to Andorra is limited, if not impossible this weekend.  Temperatures are not helped by the fact that the Tramontane wind is back in full force, with gusts of 80kmh.  On Saturday a Transavia flight from Paris to Perpignan had to be diverted to Montpellier as it was too dangerous to attempt a landing.  Temperatures are due to rise slightly at the beginning of the week but don’t put your jumpers away just yet as strong winds are returning at the end of the week to bring the temperatures back down to between 8° and 12° during the day.

Police officer dies in fatal accident

On Wednesday evening around 6pm the body of a cyclist was found at the side of the RD616A which bypasses Baho and Saint-Estève.  The man was identified as 55 year old Jacques Ghesquier, a member of the municipal police in Perpignan.  His electric bike was nearby and the victim was wearing a helmet but it is not yet known whether he was the victim of a collision with a vehicle or if his death was the result of an accidental fall.

Perpignan business suspected of running gold coin scam

The Société Numismatique & d’Investissement shop on Place Catalogne has closed its doors following a string of complaints that they were scamming investors.  The price of gold has soared in recent years, for example at the beginning of the year it was at 2,500€ per ounce and today it stands at 3,500€ – an increase of 40% since January.  Little wonder that people consider gold to be a ‘safe’ investment – and one such person ‘Sylvain’ decided to invest money that he was saving for his children in gold coins instead.  When the manager of the shop assured him that he would buy back the coins after one year and give him a guaranteed additional 20% profit, he took out a bank loan and invested 18,000€ (for 4 gold coins).  Unfortunately shortly afterwards, ‘Sylvain’ spotted that the shop had closed its doors and when he went to see another Gold specialist he was told that his coins were only worth a total of 3000€.  ‘Sylvain’ stuck a note on the closed shutters of the shop, asking if anybody else had been defrauded by the shop manager, and the prosecutors office in Perpignan is now dealing with 21 complaints.

Prisoners are streaming TV programmes

Prison officers, accompanied by a group of students in training and the sniffer dog team carried out a random but thorough search of three cells in Perpignan Prison last week.  Among the treasure trove recovered were 7 mobile phones, Sim cards, keys, USB cables, 350 grams of cannabis resin and two Amazon Firesticks to watch television with.  Officers were forced to intervene when one prisoner became agitated during the search, perhaps concerned at missing out on the final episodes of Breaking Bad on Netflix?

Tragic accident in Collioure tunnel

A serious traffic accident occurred on Tuesday at the southern exit of the Raxat Tunnel on the D914 when a car collided head on with a motorcycle.  The 49 year old biker was seriously injured and despite all efforts from firefighters and doctors, died in Perpignan Hospital after being helicoptered there.  The road was closed for several hours

And finally……

Work has just started on a 24 million euro extension to the building that houses all the Archives of the Pyrénées-Oriéntales, in the Moulin-a-Vent district of Perpignan.  The first stone was ceremoniously laid on 19th November at 2pm in front of an audience comprising civic dignitaries such as from the Conseil Generale and the Prefecture of the Pyrénées-Oriéntales.  In keeping with the ‘archive’ theme it was decided to bury a time-capsule.  Now I’m no expert in time-capsules but I’m old enough to remember when John Noakes buried one in the Blue Peter garden so I know that they usually contain items giving a snap-shot of life today.  So what, in their infinite wisdom, did the authorities decide to put in their time-capsule?  Just a document stating that “The first stone was ceremoniously laid on 19th November at 2pm in front of an audience comprising civic dignitaries such as from the Conseil Generale and the Prefecture of the Pyrénées-Oriéntales”.