Category: Current Affairs

WHEN the sun rises over a beautiful winter’s morning, without a cloud in the sky, the countryside near Villefranche du Périgord can be quite stunning.

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THE Telethon is a two-day charity event supported by television and radio across the whole of France.

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THE torrential rain that has hit the south east of France has fortunately not caused the same damage in the Dordogne and Lot regions.

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WINDMILLS are not common in this area of France but photographer Didier Veysset has one in his back garden.

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WALKING through the wood this afternoon I spotted a butterfly wing lying on the path.

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ARMISTICE Day is remembered with equal reverence in France as it is in the UK.

Villefranche du Périgord marked 11 November with a ceremony of touching simplicity outside its mairie, the town hall.

By late morning a small crowd had gathered close to the war memorial which is at the head of the village close to the post office.

Children were selling small badges, le Bleuet de France, worn in a similar fashion to the poppy in the UK.

Then the fire service arrived in their engine and two police officers also arrived in the gendarmerie car.

Two tricolores were then brought forward and walked to the war memorial where local school children had gathered to read out the names of the soldiers who had died in the two world wars.

There were ten children and each walked up to the microphone, read out 3 or 4 names and then went back to their classmates stood at the side of the square.

The local paper, Sud Ouest, led on the fact that there were only 36 surviving soldiers from the first world war in France, the youngest being 101 and the oldest 106.

It also highlighted an internet site that has been set up which can be searched and contains over 1.3 million names of French soldiers killed in the 1914-18 war.

The ceremony in Villefranche was brought to a close with a short speech and then the playing of the French national anthem.

What I thought was important was the part that the school children played, not only did they pay their respects, they also ensure that Armistice Day will always be marked.

IN a strange irony on Armistice Day, hunters and their dogs shattered the peace around my house.
I was at Jean Marc’s boulangerie collecting some old pieces of wood he had put to one side that I could use on the fire, when shots rang out across the valley.
Running up and down the road and through the woods at the back of the boulangerie were four hunters with their hounds in tow.
Although I wasn’t able to see what they were shooting at it was most probably a wild boar, or sanglier.
They were armed with high powered rifles and shot guns and they did not hold back in the pursuit of their prey – or concern for property.
“They just run through your land with their dogs,” Jean Marc said as one of the blokes fell over the electric fence he had put up.
I wondered if the boar is sold, but no, “they just eat it,” said Jean Marc.
Another volley of shots were let off as we all ducked behind the cars and buildings, the woods were that dense you were not sure which way they were shooting.
Then the dogs started howling and barking as the hunters scrambled off through the trees and splashed through the stream in hot pursuit.