That date is being billed as the “ tide of the century” , not entirely accurate, but it has been enough for so many people to book into hotels close to Mont St Michel that all those hotels are now fully booked for that date.
Bizarre weather continues elsewhere. At Cagnes- sur- Mer in Provence the other day, gales blew down a 20 metre high mimosa tree on a caravan, without fortunately causing any injuries. Then last Monday, February 23, was the anniversary of the great earthquake that struck Provence and northern Italy in 1887. Provence gets regular smaller earthquakes, but this one was the big shaker.
The earthquake struck particularly hard in Menton, where much of the old town was badly damaged. It also caused chaos in Nice, where hundreds of wealthy tourists left their hotels, clad only in nightwear, to take trains out of the earthquake zone. The effects of the earthquake were much more serious in northern Italy, where up to around 5, 000 people were killed. This week also saw a 5.4 magnitude earthquake shake the ground in central Spain, including the Madrid area, but miraculously, it did little damage and caused no casualties.
A slightly more astonishing sight between midnight on Monday and 6 am on Tuesday saw at least five drones take to the skies over central Paris. The drones were seen to closely observe such sites as the US embassy and the Eiffel Tower, but at this stage, no- one knows whether the drones were being controlled by skilful amateurs or whether there were more sinister reasons.
Monday too saw a small plane come down near Lausanne in Switzerland, killing the pilot and the instructor onboard. The plane belonged to the aeroclub at Yverdon and it came down beside a canal near the aeroclub’ s base.
There has also been the regular litany of traffic accidents. In Nice last Saturday evening, a 78 year old man was badly injured when a bus that was reversing managed to run over him. It isn’t long since an elderly woman was killed on a pedestrian crossing on the Promenade des Anglais, when a car full of boy racers knocked here down. But of all the accidents in France over the past few days, surely the most tragic must have been that in Strasbourg at 01. 15 local time on Saturday morning.
A 20 year old woman, who wasn’ t under the influence of alcohol, was riding her bike along a city centre street when she decided to pedal along the tramway tracks. A tram came along, and even though it was travelling slowly, 20km per hour, it couldn’t stop in time. The young cyclist was pinned underneath the tram from where she was rescued, but not before she had lost both her arms. A tragic end indeed for something that had started out as a carefree night- time frolic.
Then there was the case of the man who is in hospital in Draguignan in the south of France, suffering from a brain tumour. When he came too after his operation, his first words apparently were “Radio Riviera”, as his wife reported to the Monaco- based station. It was, she admitted, a bizarre happening, but added that her husband had a wonderful sense of humour. It’d be a bit like someone coming too after an operation and shouting out “ Radio 4! “- really rather peculiar.
Added to all this is the grippe, or the flu, to which over two million people in France have now succumbed. It’ s become a real epidemic, so much so that hospitals have been struggling to cope with the emergency. At least, the people who’ve managed to stay healthy can console themselves with the thought that with the recent turn of events, including the weakening of the euro against other countries, which helps exporters, the French economy is showing some signs of growth. Some commentators even believe that France could show two per cent economic growth this year, a remarkable turnaround on its recent moribund state.
Someone who had a miraculous escape the other day was Arnaud Montebourg, who was the Minister for Industrial Renewal in the French government between May, 2012 and August, 2014. He was in New York to take part in a conference at Princeton University and was having breakfast with his companion, Aurélie Filipetti, at a noted Soho, New York, restaurant, Balthazar. A heavy decorative mirror fell off the wall and landed on their table; he was slightly injured, while his companion escaped injury. Montebourg has consistently failed to quell rumours that he might be a runner in the 2017 presidential elections.
I liked the story of Swiss artist Hans Enri, who turned 106 this week and who is still working daily in his studio. His artworks, including sculptures, have been widely commissioned over the years by such organisations as the United Nations. Hans was born and brought up in Lucerne and still lives there, with his studio beside his house. He puts his remarkable longevity and the fact that he can still do a regular day’ s work down to his lifelong habit of avoiding excess. As for Lucerne, it’ s a delightful city, one of the best in Switzerland; only Lugano and Locarno in the Italian- speaking part of the country, can hold a candle to it.
The USA Today newspaper came up with the results of a readers’ poll on their favourite resorts. The world leader was St Tropez, which seems rather bizarre. Did none of the people taking part in the poll see what the place is like in mid- summer, when the harbour is jam packed with the yachts of the super- rich? Admittedly, outside the main tourist season, when it isn’ t so busy, it is quite a delightful port town, but I think that naming it the world’ s top resort is stretching it a little.
But tourism in that part of France is about to get another boost. Plans have been announced for a major revamap of the two terminals at Nice/ Cote d’Azur airport, which will mean more retail outlets, more duty free and more places to eat.
On the international front, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, looks increasingly misguided. She was very naïve when she thought that Russia would fully abide by the terms of the eastern Ukraine ceasefire agreed recently in Minsk. Russia has few intentions of abiding by international agreements if they don’t suit its president and Ukraine is a classic example. Initially, too, the German government made a woeful misreading of the intentions of the new Greek government, which wants to adjust its bailout terms. Fortunately, though Merkel and her ministers now seem to be taking a more pragmatic approach.
In the UK, I really enjoyed the brilliant demolition job in the London Independent on the present day capabilities of the BBC’ s news presentations on both radio and television. It hit all the buttons exactly and pinpointed precisely why the BBC is losing its gold standard reputation for news reporting and presentation. Meanwhile, the row rumbles on about the way advertisers have apparently controlled the news agenda at the Daily Telegraph, both the newspaper and its website. Maybe at the top of the front page of the printed paper they should include the words “advertising feature” .
Elsewhere, I was amused by the typo in a report about a benefactor to the Tory Party. Her proper name is Mrs Swidler and she has just contributed £65, 000 to the cause. Only trouble was that her name came out as “Mrs Swindler” , which brings to mind the old adage of “ many a true word spoken in jest” .
Elsewhere in the UK, I couldn’t help but admire the photographic work of someone called ” Villager Jim” , who lives and works in the Peak district in Derbyshire. His photographs of the local landscapes and local animals are extraordinary for their creativity and one particular photo was very striking, also used in the London Times this week. It shows a black Labrador dog fast asleep on a settee, with its head resting on the arm of the settee. Brilliant! “Villager Jim” remains unnamed, at least outside the Peak District and he’s being compared to Banksy.
Over in Switzerland, the strength of the Swiss franc is causing all sorts of problems. Around 10 per cent of all Swiss hotels have closed in recent weeks, mainly small hotels in alpine regions, who suddenly found that their prices have become highly uncompetitive. Another side effect of the way the Swiss franc is going has been seen in the German-speaking parts of Switzerland. People have started ordering their pizzas from fast food outlets across the border in Germany and there have been many reports of vanloads of German-made pizzas crossing the border, a trade which the Swiss authorities are now trying to stop.
Here in Ireland, a rather bizarre anniversary has just been celebrated, the 30th anniversary of condoms going on sale legally in pharmacies. They were readily available before this date, from family planning associations, but the shenanigans associated with the plans to legalise the sale of condoms were absolutely bizarre, especially when they had been on sale for decades in many other western countries. These days of course, people in Ireland buy them not just in chemists, but other places too like pubs and nightclubs, without a second thought, which is how it should be.
Finally, to the ongoing protests against the incoming water charges in Ireland. Currently, a small group of protesters are languishing in prison for contempt of court, a situation that can only do the anti- water charge groups a power of good. One of those jailed protesters is a man called Derek Byrne and before he was sentenced, he was pictured wearing his cap bearing the slogan: “Je suis Derek” .