Broome Rapes

Hi Val

 

You may have noticed that Broome Rapes are in full flower at the moment, especially alongside tracks on the Causse.

These are parasitic plants with no chlorophyll, relying on their host for nutrients.

According to a friend who is an expert, but has only seen the photo, this one is probably Orobanche Amethystea.

 

John

Brexit negociations under way

The formal negotiations began today in Brussels. The EU commission has set up a page in its website detailing what its position is, publishing documents transmitted to the UK and the other 27 members.
They can be downloaded as pdf files and read at leisure. For those of us committed enough here is a link
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/brexit-negotiations/negotiating-documents-article-50-negotiations-united-kingdom_en

Not such a big win as predicted

Odd these election results. Macron's party En Marche! has a convincing overall majority, with 350 of the 577 seats, but of the other parties only the Front National and La France Insoumise, the two extreme wings, increased their representation, to 8 and 27 respectively. The socialist party and their allies went down to 44 (having been the majority in the last government) and Les Republicains now have 137.  But given the dire warnings of Macron winning over 450 seats commentators are now saying the victory is not as big as expected, so some amount of re-balancing has taken place. Inevitably there are calls for a change to the electoral system by Le Pen and Melenchon to introduce some kind of proportionality. But the rate of abstention at over 50% is the main concern.
As noted elsewhere, Tarn and Garonne resisted the Macron onslaught by re-electing both its retiring members, one Socialist and one Parti Radical Gauche, whose Sylvia Pinel was a minister in the last government.

Other notable points are that there are over 220 women representatives, a record compared to 155 last time and only 178 members were re-elected. This will definitely be a new look assembly.
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Nous sommes le lundi dix neuf juin

The Mayor of Varen celebrating last night with victorious PS candidate for the first T&G "circonscription",  Valerie Rabault,

pictures by Nadyne Vern Frouillou

Pond lillies and fish need good home

Hello Val

Do hope you and Malc are well.  We have a pond in our garden with around 15-20 yellow, red and black fish.  The pond is becoming very overgrown with yellow irises and water lillies - very pretty - but as we have plenty of other jobs to do in the garden, we've decided to fill it in.  We'd like to give the fish away, obviously no charge and are very happy to give the lillies and irises away, too.

Contact details:

Yvonne Machin

Tel:  05 65 81 21 10

Mob:  06 23 20 58 00

email:  lesmachins@orange.fr

Would you please advertise the above for us.  It goes without saying that we will make a donation to one of your chosen charities.

Thank you.

Yvonne

Val says noncharge for rehoming pets

A great building

Readers will be familiar with this iconic building, originally called la Maison Seguier, a hunting lodge for the counts of Toulouse built in Cordes sur Ciel in 14th century. For over 30 years it was the restaurant of Yves Thuries, the local chocolatier and the first Michelin starred chef in the area.
In its heyday the restaurant welcomed many famous French politicians such as Mitterand and Pompidou as well as foreign dignitaries such as the Emperor of Japan and the Queen Mother.
Closed in 2010 as a result of a case of misrepresenting the origin of truffles (a charge later dropped) the restaurant remains in beautiful condition, ready to "open tomorrow" as M Thuries says. But he personally has no desire to resume there.
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Fatal air crash in Parisot

The small Tarn and Garonne village of Parisot was witness to an aeroplane crash yesterday. A light aircraft on a pleasure flight was forced to crash land in a nearby field, killing two of the occupants. Pompiers were alerted to the scene at about 18h (6pm) on Saturday, though the plane did not catch fire. More details at this link
https://www.radiototem.fr/index.php/infos/63-tarn-et-garonne/2265-tarn-et-garonne-un-ulm-s-ecrase-et-fait-deux-morts-a-parisot
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Nous sommes le dimanche dix huit juin

Our place is looking good and I have not even included the flower garden... but how much longer will we be able to keep up all the work looking after two houses and effictively three gardens? Two years ago we thought about selling and down sizing but changed our minds at the last moment. It is the most heavenly place to live this house in the sun but our time here is limited. 

I think it is this time of year we appreciate the beauty of the place but in our seventies find it increasingly difficult to keep up with all the gardening.

Certainly for now we enjoy the beautiful views and seeing the donkeys, kestrels, dogs and cats enjoying it with us.

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Democrats abroad

It did look incongruous, but..

Watching the preliminaries to the France v England football match the other night it did seem odd that the brass band of the Republican Guard (drawn mainly from gendarmes) was fronted by a uniformed officer playing an electric guitar.

Jean-Michel Mekil: photo Franck Fife/AFP

As a tribute to the dead and injured in the UK terrorist attacks and in the Stade de France where a similar attack was thwarted on the day of the Bataclan atrocity, the band played the Oasis song "Don't look back in anger". Jean-Michel Mekil usually plays the trombone in the band, but is a great fan of Oasis and U2. The image of the chief sergeant, with his glasses, throat microphone and ear piece and military uniform was so far from "rocker" that it seemed incongruous. But his playing and singing, backed by the full band struck the right note with the 80000 strong crowd (including Macron and May).
Now he has been invited to play with his heroes when Noel Gallagher  and Bono head the list at the Stade on 25/26 July.
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Nous sommes le samedi dix sept juin

A new Greek tragedy?

Not the recent payment of 8 billion euros from the European Central Bank to aid Greece's debt problem, but a call familiar to Britons - the return of Greek treasures to their rightful home. We have had the saga of the Elgin marbles which the British Museum claims are better preserved in London than they would be in Athens. But what would the Louvre be without the Venus de Milo?

Brought to France over 200 years ago the famous statue is one of the Louvre's greatest attractions, seen and photographed by hundreds of thousands of tourists each year. But the inhabitants of the Greek island of Milos would like her back. A petition has been launched hoping to gain enough support to force the Louvre to hand back the goddess. Some chance we reckon.
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Nous sommes le vendredi seize juin

Our baby kestrels are really growing, from fluffy bundles to getting their beautiful adult plummage.

They like to keep their nest clean and although at first the parents cleaned the nest, now the youngsters bring their backsides to the opening to project their pooh outside. Down the wall and onto the canoes stacked on the ground below! Easy enough to wash the canoes when they leave, probably in about a weeks time.

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L'Ozoze being refreshed

Hi Val

Your readers may have noticed that Restaurant L‘ô’Zone is closed.

The façade is being repainted while Fabienne takes a well-earned holiday in Corsica.

She will be reopening next Tuesday 20th June.

John

Philosophy today

Not a magazine title, but the first paper in the Baccalaureat exams which start today for over 700000 students. Last year's subjects included "Are our convictions founded on experiences?" Saying "yes" or "no" will not gain you any marks, but arguments put for either answer must be balanced by the opposite view - simply to defend a pre-conceived position is not enough.
It is a pity that more of us take real (or reported or imaginary) experiences and project them into general convictions. Simple logic:"the terrorist was a muslim, therefore muslims are terrorists". But wrong.
Good luck to all the young folk we have met in the last couple of years who will be scratching their heads today.
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The fruit shines with health at Laguepie

Nous sommes le jeudi quinze juin

Man scarves always popular in France but expect to see more men sporting scarves now.

Macron our President of " En Marche" here " En Velo"

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"Cousinade" explained

Last weekend Laguepie was littered with little orange arrows labelled "Cousinade", and pointing to the Escale Guepienne, a new name for the riverside complex previously used for colonies de vacance, the port nautique.
We and most of our compatriots had no idea what it meant. Was it to do with cooking? Perhaps sewing? No, it was more simple and heart-warming than that. A walk by the Aveyron revealed that people had come from far and wide to meet - their cousins. The family Roumiguieres were having a family get together and over 100 scions of the family, from 6 months old to 90 years young were there. What a great idea for the Pentecost weekend.
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Nous sommes le mercredi quatorze juin

Coming soon Martin's Jazz Band from Toulouse

​   ​

François	Trompette
Thierry	Trombone
Patrick	Soubasophone
Philippe	Banjo
Martine	Washboard
Deddy	Clarinette

 More info coming up

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Sad news of one of our own

So sad to read this news last night in the Depeche. This young brilliant young man our " sous prefect" in charge as one of his many duties of migrants, has taken his own life.

A young man of 34, married with 3 children, an exciting career ahead of him... why oh! why?

I met him when he came to welcome our refugees at Verfeil  and I heard with interest the great reports of him from the head of our CAO.Anais Rondeau.

Malc and I offer our condolences to his family and wish him peace in whatever life is beyond.

Florian Valat, secrétaire général de la préfecture de Tarn-et-Garonne ayant rang de sous-préfet de l’arrondissement de Montauban, s’est donné la mort ce matin à Paris.

Il était en poste à Montauban depuis le mois de mars dernier où il avait succédé à Jean-Michel Delvert nommé sous-préfet de La Flèche (Sarthe).

Le décès de ce haut fonctionnaire âgé de 34 ans, Parisien d’origine passé par l’ENA après avoir été inspecteur du travail dans le Bas-Rhin, a engendré une vive émotion en préfecture où cet homme, marié et père de trois jeunes enfants, était décrit comme une personnalité brillante et sympathique.

Dès sa prise de fonction à Montauban, Florian Valat s’était rapidement impliqué dans les gros dossiers tarn-et-garonnais où sa personnalité et son ouverture d’esprit en faisaient un interlocuteur respecté.

Avant sa nomination à Montauban, Florian Valat occupait depuis avril 2015 le poste de directeur adjoint de l’asile au sein de la Direction générale des étrangers en France, rattachée au ministère de l’Intérieur.