Contents of article "21. January 2007"
Tuesday 9th January
Friday 26th January
Tuesday 9th January
Vinça dam
Villeneuve de la Raho looks sad around the waterline
Happy New Year! Hic! The weather here continues to be absolutely fantastic - I’ve no doubt that we’re all going to pay for it this summer as there has been no snow in the mountains, and it is the melted snow that fills our reservoirs and water tables. You can see on these photos the barrage of Vinça near Prades and the lake of Villeneuve de la Raho - both of them are the lowest they have been for many years. Only 15 minutes from Perpignan centre (direction Porte d’Espagne/Barcelona) Villeneuve is used all year round for walkers and joggers and also provides the water necessary for the ’canadairs’ in case of forest fires so that could cause a whole bucketful of problems in the dry period if we don’t have rain soon. There is also a photo here of Mont Louis on New Year’s day - not a snowflake to be seen. Last year at the same time, we were snowballing in exactly the same place and getting all excited at the white slidey treats in store for us the further we went up the mountains. This time, everything was green and sunny (shouldn’t really complain about that!) and we were in short sleeves!
No snow in Mont Louis
Russian caviare
New year was brilliant. We spent it up in the mountains with the cousins and friends and had the most fantastic banquet of oysters, caviare, langouste, chapon...... I could go on for another line or two but I feel full again just talking about it. Each course was washed down with a pint or two of wine and as the midnight hour approached, I went into gobby mode and insisted that everybody do their very best imitation of each course - hence the lobster imitations! You should have seen the attempts to mime an oyster! (glub glub) Five o clock in the morning saw us attempting to plaggy bag down a ski slope created by snow cannon snow and not moving too far too fast. I did take some photos, but excess alcohol seems to have dulled my senses and all photos are blank - well white!
Imitating a lobster (like yer do!)
The sales have started in Perpignan and this Sunday the shops will be open all day. This is usually the time of year when I come home with a load of things that I don’t want and will never use, but have bought just because they were cheap. I must make an effort to control myself this time
You may have noticed some changes on the site - a new section of local news for example. Unfortunately, in amongst the changes, all my photos have started misbehaving and keep placing themselves in wierd positions on the page - it isn’t me who has lost all notion of page presentation, honest!
Friday 26th January
I have to admit, it is a little bit nippy at the moment! The Canigou has donned its white wooly hat and the world has turned to brown. There is still less snow than last year at this time, and we still haven’t had any rain (famous last words???) but it feels more like winter and we certainly need coats when we go out, compared to last week when we were seriously considering opening up the pool!!
Why haven’t I had much to say this month, a few people have enquired by e mail? Well, several reasons really. The first is that I have been working very hard on producing the new PO Life, out the first week in February I hope, and it has become a bit of an obsession. Anybody who tries to have a conversation with me without starting it off with ’PO LIFE’ isn’t even getting air time - my pea like brain failing to register sentences that don’t contain PO and life! The second reason is that I am a shy and retiring little flower and don’t like to draw undue attention to myself (yeah!) and the third and most serious reason is that I worry that I may be boring the pants off people with my sometines rather egotistical ramblings! When I first started this ’blog’, the point of it was to talk about life in the PO for those who were hoping to move here, or for those who love the region and want to see the changing seasons and goings-on, when they are unable to be here. However, I seem to end up talking about myself most of the time without even noticing. Do I need therapy? Does therapy exist? Can I be saved or am I a hopeless case, doomed to ramble on about myself for the rest of my life?
Anyway, back to PO Life, no I mean back to the Pyrenees-Orientales. There’s not much going on around here in the way of entertainment at the moment - festivals and bals are thin on the ground, giving everybody a chance to dry out and build up some alcohol resistance for the next wave of appalling excesses! The Roussillon is such a fabulous region - an all-season tourist attraction - but everything closes down out of season and it just doesn’t take advantage of its enormous potential. Restaurants and shops are closed, finding a café near the beach is a full time occupation (despite temperatures of 20° last week) and the amount of income that could be generated (and is much needed) is completely lost by the complete lack of motivation by local businesses out of season! Grrrrr! Eeee! It’s good for the soul to have a moan every now and then.
Incidentally, I have a friend who has just done up his maison de village in Le Boulou and is looking to sell it at a reasonable price without agents involved. If you’re interested, let me know - he’s looking at 40 grand less than it would cost in an agency! The Le Boulou byepass is going to make a big difference to traffic when it is finished (although it won’t really affect traffic going to Le Perthus - it will mainly involve traffic carrying on through to Céret/Amélie and the motorway) but beware! Delays are expected on the motorway just before the tolls into Spain, as they build the bye pass bridge under the A9. If you are coming from Perpignan towards le Boulou, you will see the building works on your right, about 5 km before Le Boulou.
Right, now, back to PO Life!! (only joking)
