If you head west on the D117 from the Catalan border town of Estagel, with the unforgettable 10th century fortress of Quéribus towering above you on your right, you soon come to Maury, the first village along this route in Le Fenouillèdes, or the Land of Fennel – or even Fenolheda in Occitan-speak. Le Fenouillèdes is part of Occitan Languedoc, whose inhabitants are rather scornfully referred to by Catalans as “les gabatx” or foreigners. Skirmishes between the “gabatx” of Maury and the youths of Estagel are still not unknown.
2 Fred Herbert – The play’s the thing 2 3 by Ellen Hall 3 In his big floppy “great writer’s hat” Fred Herbert has the scruffy, frenzied look of the mad, but irresistible drama teacher…
Sunday 1st June It has rained…..and rained…..and rained……..and is still raining! In general I don’t mind a drop of rain or two. It waters the land and gives me a good excuse to spend the…
Sunday 4th May A beautiful day in the P-O – blue skies, a few friendly, fluffy white clouds scudding by from time to time and a light breeze. Definitely ‘out in the garden’ weather and…
Donald Smith: The notion of nation 3 by Ellen Hall 3 Donald Smith breezed into a cafe in Collioure bearing a computer, a briefcase (containing Catalan homework) and a poster for the fires of Saint…
by Basil Howitt Here is a story no writer of political farce could ever make up! According to our great local rag L’Indépendant, “In the history of Perpignan, no election result can ever…
Friday 7th March Happy March! After some fabulous weather at the beginning of the month, we have now had several days of icy and violent gusts of wind rattling through our rafters and chilling our…
2 Jenny Grove: Redressing the Balance 2 3 by Ellen Hall 3 A delicate, oval-faced woman, Jenny does not look like a typical barrier-crashing militant. Nevertheless it was she who forced the Oxford Union to…
Happy New Year! I know it’s been a while since I last wrote but we spent Christmas in Paris chez les parents-in-law and I was banned from mentioning it as Olivier has this crazy notion that it is not a good idea to announce your holiday plans to the internet world, particularly when your address is plastered all over your website and magazine. I grudgingly accepted that he may have a valid point!
Basil Howitt’s report on the fraught and prolonged installation of WiFi in his remote village of Lansac in Le Fenouillèdes “France Télécom can wipe out its reported 70 billion euros of debt at a stroke…