With the main holiday season getting under way, and everyone consulting Bison Futé to see just where all the traffic jams are, longer range weather forecasts have been made. Coastal regions seem set to get the best weather over the next two months, with Brittany and the Pays de la Loire seemingly set for plenty of sunshine. In fact, most coastal and inland areas should remain largely dry and sunny, although frequent storms are being forecast for this month in mountainous areas. August should see particularly high temperatures, although violent thunderstorms are being forecast for the south-west. This past weekend too has seen the start of the big summer traffic jams in Switzerland - there's a lot to be said for having holidays at home! But in France in particular, the ritual of getting stuck in immense traffic jams on the way to a seaside holiday is totally and completely unstoppable. In this case, French logic seems to fly out the window! But at least the air traffic controllers strike only lasted two days last week, instead of the planned six day stoppage. However, knowing what public sector unions in the French transport industry are like, there's more than a distinct possibility of more disruption over the peak summer months, so that the maximum number of people get inconvenienced.
However, the great Avignon festival is scheduled to open this Friday. The other day, technicians and other behind-the-scenes staff voted to stay at work, but there's still the threat of strike action by performers. Let’s hope this great cultural event somehow manages to get to the end of its 2014 programme without too much disruption.
The general news about the French economy isn't so good. During May, 24,800 more people became unemployed, adding to the 3.38 million already out of work. Reducing unemployment levels has been one of President Hollande's key aims, but like so many of his promises, this one has turned out to be as empty as the rest. In general terms, the French economy is almost static this year, with some current forecasts saying that growth will be a mere 0.7 per cent.
No wonder that a group of US economists predict that we're on the brink of another big stock market crash. They say that while stock markets have been roaring away, that rise has become increasingly divorced from the real statistics of world economies. Economic statistics in the US are billed as 'pathetic', while Japan has returned to recession and most eurozone countries are still mired in austerity and recession. The gap between stock market performances and economic reality is getting so wide that something has to give and one US economist, Robert Wiedemer, predicts that there will soon be a 90 per cent crash in stock market values. Prophets of doom always seem to have a field day in the US, but there could well be something in these gloomy predictions.
In France, meanwhile, the politicians and the administrators make things worse. Big increases are planned in the taxe de séjour in the Paris region, so that four and five star hotels will have to pay up to €10 tax a day on each guest. Three star hotels will have to pay up to €5. The extra money is destined, so it seems, for investment in public transport initiatives in the Paris region, but unsurprisingly, hotel owners and managers are up in arms. Paris gets something like 30 million visitors a year, so this planned tax hike could be most unwelcome news.
There are also plans in the air to ban plastic bags in France, as from 2016, a sensible means of cutting public litter, but it must be said that France is years behind Ireland, which put a tax on plastic bags years ago. It resulted in plastic bag usage being cut by about 90 per cent. Ireland was another pioneer, in the case of banning smoking in public places, including bars and restaurants, and again, it took years for France to catch up, very reluctantly.
On Sunday night,37 people had to be rescued from five cable cars that broke down in the Grenoble area; fortunately, there were no injuries. But since some of those travellers had to be rescued by helicopter, it must have been a pretty scary experience. Last night, in a seaside resort in south-east Ireland, a giant chairlift device broke down and people were stranded 60 metres in the air, but again, all were brought safely to earth.
There was also a nasty robbery last weekend at a top hotel in Normandy, the five start Ferme Saint-Siméon. An elderly American couple were staying there and last Saturday night, had dinner in nearby Deauville. They were followed back to the hotel by a gang of at least three robbers, who broke into their room, attacked them with teargas and then cut a $180,000 ring from the woman's finger.
Also on the legal front, Dominique Strass-Kahn, former md of the International Monetary Fund, better known for his sexual escapades, was successful in his legal case against a new sex club being opened in Belgium, right on the border with France. It was going to be called the DSK club, but that name can't now be used.
On the subject of sex, it's always guaranteed to pull the crowds in. Hundreds of people have been queuing in Nantes to see for themselves a peculiar flower called Titan's penis, which only comes to life once every 10 years. It's now in full bloom, living up to its name, and attracting crowds of sightseers. Sex, it seems, can be used to sell almost everything!
The story of all the UNESCO World Heritage sites in France in contrast received far less publicity. The latest addition to the list is the Grotte Chauvet in the Ardeche, which has the earliest known figurative drawings in France, going back about 36,000 years. The caves were only discovered in 1994 and have now been added to the UNESCO list. I remember vividly, many years ago, going to see the prehistoric paintings in the Lascaux caves in the Dordogne. They show mainly animals and are a mere 17,300 years old, but they were an astonishing sight for an impressionable teenager. Those caves have been on the UNESCO list since 1979, although they were closed to the public since 1963. Despite being closed for just over half a century, they are now badly affected by mould growth.
Also on the legal front, former president Nicolas Sarkozy and various associates have become embroiled in accusations of corruption dating back to his 2007 election victory. Such cases can be very long winded indeed and it's now beginning to look as if Sarkozy can be ruled out of the next presidential election in France, where many had hoped he would make a spectacular return to the presidential role and rescue France from the economic doldrums. Instead, it looks as if the way is being cleared for Marine Le Pen of the Front National.
There was another even stranger legal case the other day at Basillac in south-western France, where a 30 year old married woman, who worked in a school, was accused of bombarding a nine year old boy with love letters. She even wanted to run away with him and have his children! It turns out there was nothing wrong psychologically with the woman, although she has now lost her job. The boy's parents are outraged that the woman received nothing more than a caution and are now talking of moving away to remove the boy from her influence.
One recent development in France in the past few days has been surprisingly downplayed. The main separatist group in Corsica, the FLNC, which has been active since the 1970s, has unilaterally decided to lay down its arms. But Corsica has also seen a property boom in recent years, as criminal gangs have laundered their ill-gotten gains by buying property and land throughout Corsica. The hint of illegality and separatism is still strong in the air in Corsica, which is a beautiful and fascinating island, but still best seen with a note of caution essential packing.
The French state has also bestowed a rare honour on a distinguished Irish writer, John Banville, who has been created a knight in the Ordre des Arts et Lettres, for his services to literature. He's considered one of the most important English language novelists at work today and in his presentation speech, the French ambassador to Ireland said that France and Ireland have long had a strong artistic relationship.
In more general news, much has been made of David Cameron's unsuccessful bid to stop Jean-Claude Juncker becoming president of the EU Commission. Strangely enough the stories about Juncker's apparently excessive drinking, like his apparent fondness for lashings of cognac at breakfast, have gained little traction, especially in Europe. Will the end result be the UK leaving the EU? On present evidence, it seems all too likely, but these days, political events are so fast moving that it's impossible to predict accurately even a month ahead.
In the meantime, the Irish government has yet again disgraced itself by cutting funding to a group of handicapped people. All of a sudden, it has withdrawn all its funding for advocacy services provided by the Irish Deaf Society for thousands of people suffering hearing difficulties. Just like its opposite number in London, the present Irish government is adept at comforting its friends, like property speculators and millionaires, while making constant budget cuts affecting the most vulnerable in society. It just shows, the government minister who made this decision, Phil Hogan, the minister for the environment and local government, is all set to become Ireland's next EU commissioner. With decision making like that, he should be ideal for that doomed institution!
Just to conclude this week, with a BBC typo about the Glastonbury festival, which has just concluded amid its usual mud. A sub-title on the BBC News at Ten on Wednesday night last week should have warned people going to the festival to prepare for rain. Instead,it cautioned them to prepare for rape. What you might call par for the course with the present day BBC!