The measure was much needed, because rents for accommodation, mostly apartments, in Paris have soared by 42 per cent in the past 10 years. It’ s a move that has been widely welcomed by voters in the capital, but estate agents and landlords have protested vigorously against it. They would, wouldn’ t they? And President Hollande’ s dynamic move, right in the middle of the holiday season, is a conspicuous contrast with the utterly sluggish attitude of the present government in Dublin to dealing with exactly the same problem in the Irish capital.
There’ s been more welcome news in the past few days, that the holiday season this year has been good in terms of attracting overseas visitors, despite all the adverse events earlier this year. In the Alpes- Maritimes this month, August, it’s expected that hotel occupancy rates will be 90 per cent, just about as close to full houses as you can get.
All this, despite the rapid departure of the Saudi king and his vast entourage from the Provencal coast, where they had planned to spend three weeks. Instead, they lingered for a mere week, amid many public protests about a beach being closed off for them. They left in a hurry the other day, bound for Morocco. And no sooner had they left than Patrick Pelloux, an emergency services doctor and activist in Paris, pointed out that like many other nationalities, the Saudis have a huge unpaid bill with Paris hospitals. So far, they’ ve managed to run up a bill of €3. 7 million and Pelloux suggested that the least the Saudis could do now is pay their Parisian hospital bills.
It’ s a sign of a good tourism season, despite the Saudis, that the mega yachts are turning up on the south coast. The other day, a 134 metres long yacht called Serene, worth €330 million, and belonging to the Russian billionaire vodka maker Yuri Scheffler, docked in Nice port. The other day as well, the mega yacht belonging to the Emir of Qatar was seen moored in the harbour at Antibes.
But on a more down- to- earth note, the authorities in Cannes have started hosing down the beaches there after midnight, to clear away all the detritus and undesirables. Unless someone wants a free shower, they are strongly advised not to frequent the beaches in Cannes in the middle of the night. Of course, another way to get rained on for free is to go to one of the departments of the south- west that have been hit this week by torrential rain and massive storms, especially the Gironde, les Landes and Pyrénées- Atlantique.
Along with all the storm warnings, much of France is still enduring sticky temperatures, right up in the late 30s on the Cote d’ Azur. Still, it’ s not as bad as Iran, where temperatures have soared to 72 degrees C in the past few days.
In the middle of the holiday season, if you travel by TGV, as 100 million people do each year, you’ re much more likely to arrive on time. The only snag is that on TGV trains, French people are very loathe to talk to one another, so the carriages remain oases of calm. SNCF is trying to encourage more people to interact on the high speed trains, but I’d say that’ ll be easier said than done.
Summer being summer, of course, lots of people are spending lots of their holiday time stuck in traffic jams. Last Saturday was particularly bad, when the traffic coming home coincided with all the outgoing traffic to resorts, resulting in nationwide tailbacks nearly 900 km long. One photograph I saw saw showed 19 lines of cars queuing to get through a toll plaza on the A8 motorway in Alpes- Maritimes. And that’ s supposed to be holiday time?!
Traffic collisions have been much in the news, none so much as the accident in the town of Rohan in the Morbihan in Brittany. Last Saturday night, 14 teenagers were in a van being driven by a youngster who was under the influence. They were all aged between 15 and 17. Four of them were killed and all the others were injured, some very seriously.
More youthful trouble came in what has been described, obliquely, as the ‘ volatile’ town of Melun, which is 40 km south- east of the centre of Paris and is the prefecture of Seine- et- Marne. In Melun the other day, 22 children, some as young as five, ran riot and smashed up the Mézereaux kindergarten. When the gendarmes arrived, they were shocked at the amount of damage that had been done.
Adults, too, have been trashing things. In the Landes, there is absolute outrage at what happened the other day on the RD 746 road, which like so many others in rural France, is or rather was, lined with plane trees. Two aluminium hulls of two boats being taken by road to Sables d’ Olonne on the coast, found that their passage along the road was being blocked by some of the roadside trees. So the people in charge of the convoy without permission, simply hacked down 31 majestic plane trees, causing absolute outrage in the local community.
But these days, even the seagulls are taking things too far. The antics of seagulls have been getting lots of publicity in England over the past few days, but in Nice, too, they are an equal problem, swooping on food that tourists are eating, as well as market stalls. Not even the outdoor terraces of cafés are safe, so the city authorities are busy planning to sterilise the seagulls of Nice next year.
At least someone famous has taken drastic action after hearing of another onsalught against wild animals. Jane Birkin has long lent her good name to the very expensive handbags made by Hermes from crocodile skin, but now that she has discovered the cruel methods used to source that skin, she has demanded that her name be removed from the handbags. But the other day, one circumvention of the law was stopped off the coast of Corsica; the authorities found a Picasso painting, Head of a Young Woman, valued at around €25 million, on board a boat. It had been smuggled out of Spain, where the authorities had banned its export.
The other day it was revealed where the last public urinal is left in Paris. Once, these were an essential part of the Parisian streetscape but they’ ve all been swept away in the interests of modernity. The last one standing is in the boulevard Argo in the downmarket 13th in the east of the city. And if you’ re looking for something cheap to do during this holiday month, why not gone to the charming little town of Nogent- sur- Marne, just east of Paris. There, the Royal Palace cinema is celebrating the history of cinema by offering admission on all films, except for 3D ones, at the exceptional price of €7. 90.
Talking about pissing, this time, pissing on the viewing public, more interference has emerged at Canal+, the television channel now owned by Vincent Bolloré. The channel was going to air a programme about one of the well- known French banks, Credit Mutuel, and how it had been busy helping clients avoid paying their taxes. The channel owner stepped in and stopped the show, a bad precedent for media freedom in France.
Meanwhile, some sources say that the 2017 presidential election campaign is shaping up to be a contest between Alain Juppé and Marine Le Pen. It should be a fascinating contest and Marine Le Pen might yet cause a lot of consternation!
In international news, Gérard Depardieu has managed to get himself banned from the Ukraine for five years. He’ s a fine actor, but so many of his recent drink- inspired antics have been so absurd that many people find it hard to take him seriously any more as a good actor.
In the French island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean, what looks like wreckage from the Malaysian Airlines plane MH370, which disappeared 18 months ago, has turned up. Whether this will help finally solve this enduring aviation mystery, only time will tell. What has had much less publicity is the volcano on the island, the Piton de Fournaise, which is one of the most active in the world. It has just erupted and the lava flows down its sides are very spectacular.
In the UK, David Cameron, the British prime minister, doesn’ t remotely get Scotland, while in Scotland itself, the SNP bandwagon rolls on remorselessly. Also in the UK, much has been made of the death of legendary racing commentator, Peter O’ Sullevan, who was born in Kenmare, Co Kerry, 98 years ago. I always reckon that horse racing is about the most exciting sport you can watch,helped by an expert commentary, of which he was the absolute master. The sudden death of Cilla Black has also generated much comment. It was very strange watching the video of her at the BAFTA awards last year; one of her quips came when she said “ I might die next year” . Many a true word spoken in jest.
Also in the UK, Jeremy Clarkson and his pals have been making the headlines by inking a deal to do their motoring show with Amazon Prime. He took once last swipe at the BBC, saying that the move felt like going from a biplane to a spaceship.
Here in Ireland, one of the delights is getting into conversation with random strangers, people you know you are unlikely to meet again, which releases inhibitions all round! The other day, at a bus stop, a seemingly polite and well dressed middle aged man started talking with me about the weather. He then went on to recite a very funny scatalogical poem, of which the most memorable line was “ not as cold as the tip of an Eskimo’ s tool!"
There was also a gratifying account the other day of an 89 year old lady standing up for herself against one of the dreaded banks. This lady, who lives in Co Galway, had discovered a receipt left by her late husband, when he had deposited £1, 000 sterling with the Ulster Bank, a subsidiary of RBS, 40 years ago. At first, the bank refused to honour the deposit but after the 89 year old had a sit- in outside her local branch, and young relatives starting posting pictures on Facebook, the bank did an abrupt climb- down. The money has increased its value considerably over the past 40 years and is now it will be used help fund the education of the lady’ s grand daughter.
Just to end on a seasonal note, this month sees some spectacular festivals happening in France. From August 7 to 9, the Nuits des Étoiles is taking place, when around 400 star gazing events will take place around France. Also on August 7, the Inter Celtique festival starts in L’ Orient in Brittany, which is one of the six old Celtic nations. Between the jigs and the reels, it promises to be lively fun. The Festival du Cominges in the south of France has already started and runs right through August, a wonderful classic music event that’ s now in its 40th year.
More modern music is featured in the Fete du Bruit in Landereau in Brittany, which runs on August 7 and 8 and whose headline act is Snoop Dogg. In Paris at the end of this month, the 28th to the 30th., the Rock en Seine festival, as popular as ever, will return. It’ll be held in the Domaine Nationale de Saint- Cloud and will feature such acts as the Chemical Brothers and Tame Impala.