MANY people in the Dordogne will have woken this morning to a centimetre or two of snow, as winter takes a bite before its time is up.
Here in Loubéjac the snow began falling late evening and by the morning a still, white blanket covered the ground, with few people out and about.
Temperatures are expected to stay around freezing for the rest of today and tomorrow, so the gritters have been out on the main roads (marked yellow on the map) although by the weekend rain is forecast to return.
FRENCH public holidays for 2018 are set to favour the workers over the bosses as many days off take place close to the weekend this year.
One advantage of the long weekends is that they should help boost tourism numbers especially if the weather plays nice and the sun shines.
It is also important to remember that businesses and many public offices will be closed on these days, so it will be important to plan ahead.
The public holidays in France are:
New Year on Monday January 1
Easter Monday on Monday April 2
Fête du Travail on Tuesday May 1
1945 Armistice on Tuesday May 8
Ascension on Thursday May 10
Pentecôte Monday on Monday May 21
Fête Nationale (Bastille Day) on Saturday July 14
Assomption on Wednesday August 15
Toussaint on Thursday November 1
1918 Armistice on Sunday November 11
Christmas Day on Tuesday December 25.
THE Dordogne authorities are to press local mayors to give a full address to homes and properties to help the emergency services and la poste locate buildings.
France Bleu Périgord reports that many corners of the Dordogne do not have a full address of a number and a name for the road, with the conseil départemental saying they will help local mairies with the project.
Besides the emergency services and la poste requiring addresses, more and more services such as internet access and even apps on mobile phones require detailed locations to work correctly.
Some areas of the Dordogne have already undertaken naming projects, often using the lieu-dit or other local names as the basis of a new a address, with finances made available to pay for road signs.
A STRIKING statue to one of The Cockleshell Heroes, who took part in a World War Two mission to blow up enemy ships in the port of Bordeaux, has been unveiled in his home town.
The bravery of Royal Marine James Conway is honoured with a permanent memorial in Stockport town centre, in north west England, and tells of how of the ten men on the mission only two returned.
The Royal Marines were tasked with canoeing around 130 kms up the Gironde estuary in December 1942, travelling by night and resting in the day, to attach limpet mines to Nazi ships in Bordeaux port.
Only two reached the port, others drowned or were caught, while James Conway was captured in France and subsequently executed aged just 20 years old.
Stockport councillor Kate Butler said: “James Conway’s role as one of the Cockleshell Heroes makes him a true Stockport and national hero. I’m delighted that he will be honoured with a lasting tribute in his hometown.”
Artist Luke Perry spent months researching the clothing that James would have worn at the time of the mission and meeting with and speaking to the family of James Conway in order to capture a near exact representation of him for the memorial.
Major General Martin Smith, CB, MBE, said: “The Royal Marines are honoured that on the 75th anniversary of James Conway’s death, Stockport is recognising one of its sons who bravely served in our Corps and gave his life in the service of his country.”
In 2011 The Frankton Memorial, named after the code name for the operation, was unveiled at the Pointe de Grave, at the mouth of the Gironde estuary made up of a series of bronze plaques on stone monoliths forming a tribute to the bravery of the Royal Marines and their heroic mission.
Photographs of the statue kindly provided by councillor Kate Butler.
SOLDIERS are to be deployed to tourist attractions and towns in the Dordogne as security measures are maintained as part of the Opération Sentinelle plan to protect against terrorist acts.
France Bleu Périgord reports that 33 military personnel from the 126ème Régiment d’infanterie de Brive will be on patrol during the Christmas period at larger markets such as Bergerac, Périgueux and Sarlat.
The soldiers are also expected to be on patrol at the popular Lascaux IV which has seen hundreds of thousands of visitors in its first year of operation.
The troops will be in place from 12 December until 29 December.
WITH overnight temperatures set to be around -5°C this weekend, the Dordogne authorities are ready to offer help and support to those most in need.
Around 100 emergency places will be made available in Périgueux, Bergerac and Sarlat providing homeless people a warm place to stay in the fight against the freezing conditions.
Regular patrols will also be undertaken to try and spot people in difficulty and offer support, with drop-in centres also open providing advice, warm drinks and something to eat.
A nationwide telephone number, 115, is also available that is able to provide advice on temporary homing options for those with no where to stay.
The Dordogne authorities have also warned that with the expected negative temperatures, road users should be properly prepared advising people to ensure windscreens are clear and that they drive slowly in poor conditions.
Also around 60 staff are ready to take to the roads with gritting crews prepared and salt stockpiled in depots.
ANIMAL rights groups including the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, One Voice and the League for the Protection of Birds (LPO) have called for a ban on the presence of animals in circuses in France.
Their demand comes after the death of an 18-month old circus tiger that was shot after it escaped onto the streets of Paris.
The tiger was killed by Bormann-Moreno circus manager Eric Bormann, who claimed that the locks on the animals cage had been tampered with, enabling the tiger to escape.
But animal rights groups say that enough is enough and that France should ban the presence of animals in circuses, following the lead of 13 other EU Member States including Belgium, Italy and Ireland.
In an interview with BFM TV Eric Bormann said he was grieved by the loss of his animal: “We lost a member of the family, I raised him at home,” he said.
He went on to say that using a tranquilliser gun was ruled out because of the time it takes for the sedatives to work.
ONE or two pyramidal orchids have popped up in Loubejac, hopefully the roadside verges won’t be cut for a wee while yet (click the image above to enlarge).
CENTRIST Emmanuel Macron has won the French presidency, but now faces the challenge of convincing around a third of the population he is up for the job.
He took 65.68% of the vote (20.2 million) to far-right National Front Le Pen’s 34.32%.
But with a voting population of 47.5 million, Le Pen saw 10.5 million back her, while those who didn’t vote broke through the 25% mark totalling 12 million, and blank or invalid votes came to four million.
Here in Loubéjac, 111 people voted in favour of Macron and 51 supported Le Pen (photo above), but afterwards in the small Café Associatif L’Ecole there was a feeling of trepidation as France stepped forward into the unknown.
Many believed that it was time for change, and that Macron provided hope and support remained strong for the EU.
But you also felt that it had to work this time and that it would take all parties to pull together to ensure that Le Pen and other far-right tendencies didn’t gain strength from the number of votes received, but also abstentions.
Macron and France now moves on to creating a parliament with the French legislative elections taking place on June 11 and June 18.
Full results of the presidential elections from communes across France are available here.
Related: First round – Loubejac, and France, steps into the unknown
FRANCE is in the final straight of the race to be the next president of the Cinquième République, as the second round vote takes place on Sunday.
And it is quite a race as this morning France is still wiping itself down after a fierce TV debate between centrist Emmanuel Macron and the the far-right Front National candidate Marine Le Pen.
A two-and-a-half hour debate on BFMTV saw the two trade insults, with Macron claiming Le Pen was a parasite on the political system, and Le Pen claiming France will be ruled by a woman from Monday – either her or Angela Merkel.
Overall the polls have barely budged since the first round vote on the 23 April, with Emmanuel Macron expected to receive around 60% of the vote to Le Pen’s 40%.
Macron supporters are fearful that a poor turnout, or people deciding to spoil their ballot papers, could see Le Pen gain victory, but at the moment voting numbers are expected to be near normal.
Here in the south of the Dordogne, the new posters featuring Macron and Le Pen are being glued to the presentation boards outside mairies before Sunday’s vote.
While at the salles des fêtes in Loubéjac, the Café Associatif L’Ecole wil be open on Sunday throughout the day and many will be there to witness the result of the commune’s vote from 19h, and the announcement of the overall winner an hour or so later.