Day 2454 (Monday) 26th February 2024

This is Monaco

These are pointus in Nice Old Port.

We got the promised rain yesterday, it started at 4pm and didn’t stop all night. It tried to clear up in the afternoon but didn’t quite succeed. 

What's happening in France this week? The Local France

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the French parliament via videolink in March. Photo by Adrian Wyld / POOL / AFP

From demonstrations and a strike, to speech from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky in the French parliament and the clocks changing, here's what is happening in France this week.

Monday

Health campaign - The French government launches a recruitment campaign for health workers to increase numbers, part of a wide-ranging consultation on the future of the country's health services.

Tuesday

Michelin Guide - it's the day that chefs both look forward to and dread, the publication of the new edition of the Michelin Guide, listing the country's best restaurants. This year's guide aims to celebrate the 'diversity and resilience' of French gastronomy.

Wednesday

Zelensky speech - Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will address the French Assemblée nationale via videolink. Although French president Emmanuel Macron has been at the forefront of efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict and speaks regularly to Zelensky by phone, the Ukrainian president has been critical of western countries for refusing to provide military support to enforce a no-fly zone over the Ukrainian skies.

Corsican unrest - a hearing will be held in the legal committee of the French parliament over the attempted murder of Corsican nationalist Yvan Colonna. The prison attack, which has left Colonna in a coma, has sparked weeks of violent protests on the island of Corsica, where a significant group are demanding either full independence from France or greater autonomy for the island.

Thursday

Pension protests - nine unions have joined a call for demonstrations over pension plans. Emmanuel Macron has announced that, if re-elected, he plans to raise the pension age from 62 to 65.

Friday

Paris transport strike - Employees of the Paris public transport network RATP are holding a one-day strike to protest at the cost-of-living crisis. The full strike timetable will be published on Thursday evening, but it's likely that buses, trams and the Metro will be significantly disrupted, along with some RER services.

Sunday

Clocks change - France moves into summer time and at 2am on Sunday the clocks move forward by one hour. Huw thinks this is wrong, the clocks change in March but I’ve kept it in, in case it’s right.

Memorial event - a memorial event will be held in Paris to mark 80 years since the first deportation of Jews to Nazi death camps during World War II.

9 of the quirkiest French news stories so far this year

First published: 24 March 2021 by Helen Parkinson  

This article is a few years old but amusing nonetheless…  

By Helen Parkinson

2021 in France has brought us Bordeaux wine from space, a man from Alsace who can predict the weather with onions, and much more…

1) There’s more in common between Mars and Dordogne than you might expect

A robot from NASA which has been exploring the Red Planet has discovered that both Mars and Dordogne share a special mineral, nontronite. Since the connection has been revealed, NASA has named some of Mars’ craters and rocks after villages in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine department.

2) A year after a cat went missing from his home in Germany, he was found across the border – and on the other side of the Rhine – in Alsace.

Mogli, a wayfaring kitty from the south-western German state of Baden-Württemberg, was discovered wandering in woods in Ribeauvillé, Haut-Rhin. After being taken to a local vet, he was able to be reunited with his astonished owner. How he crossed the river remains a mystery.

 

3) French donors can give blood amid the grand setting of the Fine Arts Museum of Dijon

A special blood donation centre has been set up at the city’s Musée des Beaux-Arts, where donors can admire works by the masters of the art world during their session.

4) A year after some wines and vines from Bordeaux were blasted into space, they’re soon to be tasted. 12 bottles and 320 vine canes launched on a SpaceX cargo craft came back down to Earth in January – more specifically, into the Atlantic Ocean – after a year in the ISS. After some scientific analysis, the wines are set to be sampled at a private tasting this month.

5) It’s been a record year for cheese consumption in France – but the biggest success story isn’t even French. With restaurants closed, French people have been enjoying more cheese than ever in 2020, according to new figures from FranceAgriMer–Kantar. Sales of raclette, the skiers’ favourite, were up by 12.2% and comté up by 8.2%. But it was mozzarella that won the hearts of the French last year, with sales up by a whopping 21.2%.

6) An Alsace retiree uses onions to predict the year’s weather forecast

With the help of a sprinkle of salt, Rémy Gullung has predicted that a humid spring, a mixed summer and a dry autumn is in store for France in 2021. On Christmas Eve, he cuts six onions in half, puts a bit of salt on them and leaves them for a few hours to see how much water each has given off, which helps him make his forecast. The pensioner has been using his unusual method since 2006 and he describes it as ‘more or less reliable’.

7) A French woman has been trying to prove she is not dead for three years.

Jeanne Pouchain, from Lyon, has been embroiled in a dispute with her former employer for a decade, and has been considered dead in the eyes of the state since 2017.

8) A French teenager had the police called on him by his parents for refusing to clear his dinner plate. The parents of a young man in Limoges resorted to an unusual method of disciplining their son after he refused to remove his dish from the table after dinner. The police later said: “It was rather a lack of authority than a police matter.”

9) A message in a bottle dating back to 1910 was discovered at an old leisure centre in Haute-Loire. Some lucky construction workers demolishing the leisure centre in Solignac-sur-Loire happened upon the old letter, dated 19 May 1910. The letter-writer had added “1910 année de la comète” – the passage of Halley’s Comet a few weeks earlier had caused quite the stir.