The Bugle Dordogne - Feb 2020

Wolf spotted along Dordogne border A wolf has been spotted for the first time in a century wandering along the Charente/ Dordogne border near Mareuil

>> Page 4

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Dordogne

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First departments return to 90 km/h

>> continued on page 9

Citizenship test: do you know France? pg 6

Ban on mass culling of male chicks - pg 10

The Bugle Business Directory - pg 15-18 Credit: Toad Hall Cottages

I

has turned out to be very unpopular, especially in rural areas,” president of the Loiret department Marc Gaudet said at the time. “I am therefore delighted that the State has placed the choice with local authorities who, due to their intimate knowledge of the area, are far better placed to decide on local matters.”

A series of - equally unpopular - road safety changes over recent decades have cut road deaths by a factor of six and numbers appear to have reduced further since the speed limit reduction and so, despite being popular with the general public, authorities who choose to raise the speed limit risk being blamed

Local architect redesigns Notre-Dame - pg 5

Malaysia returns 1,000 metric tonnes of plastic to France - pg 3

Haute-Marne has become the first department to roll back the government’s decision to lower the national speed limit from 90 km/h to 80 km/h, with others set to follow. n 2018, the government reduced the speed limit on the country’s national road network from 90 km/h down to 80 km/h. The change proved controversial from the outset with as much as 80% of the public against the move and many regional authorities vocal opponents ever since. In the face of growing backlash, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe responded by announcing in 2019 that local authorities would be free to set their own limits, including reverting back to 90 km/h if they wished.

A number of departments were quick to announce that they would roll back the changes. “This measure, decided from Paris without consultation,

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C H ÂT E AU L E S T E V É N I E

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Welcome to

The Bugle

T

he 31st January will be a difficult day for me. It is one of the happiest of my life as it is the date when, nine years ago, my second child was born in a hospital in Guéret, a few doors down from where her sister had been born two years earlier and where her brother would eventually scream 'bonjour' four years later. And while we will certainly be celebrating her ninth birthday with gusto, it will be with a touch of sadness that it falls on the same date that the UK will leave the EU... and she will officially become a 'foreigner' in the country of her birth.

My wife and I arrived in this country fifteen years ago as a young couple on an adventure. We would eventually marry in France, put down roots, launch businesses and have three children. All of this was possible because of the freedoms afforded to us by membership of the European Union. My children will not automatically have that luxury and this makes me sad.

I appreciate that many people reading this paper will be joyfully celebrating Britain's “Independence Day” as February dawns. I must admit I can't square

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that circle: being an expat in France whilst believing the UK should leave Europe. I do, however, absolutely respect your right to hold your opinion; the country voted and that is how democracy works. These are just my thoughts.

The last vestige of democratic power that I had has, unfortunately, gone. Having moved to Brussels in my early twenties before moving to France five years later, I no longer have the right to vote in the UK and, as a foreign national, neither do I have the right to vote in French national elections. I did have the right, however, to vote in my local elections in France and also to vote for my MEP. No longer.

The only thing I currently have a democratic right to vote on is what we have for dinner, and in the ultimate irony, I won't even have that on 31st January as our house runs a “dictatorship for a day” approach to birthdays: it will be my daughter who decides what we have for dinner on Brexit Day, leaving me completely disenfranchised!

As many expats have already done, I suspect that as a family we will quite likely apply for French nationality in the coming months. It is something I have thought about for many years, long before the referendum. One

www.chateau-lestevenie.com 06 48 62 23 73 extra reason for doing this now is to make life easier for my children, who will remain as “third country foreigners” until at least their sixteenth birthdays when they can begin the process of applying for citizenship.

My two eldest would make the perfect spies in any future crossChannel conflict as they could be parachuted into an English school tomorrow and, aside from conspicuously good handwriting, no one would know that they weren't 'native' Brits. But they are, to all intents and purposes, and by any measure other than parental heritage, French. Except they aren't.

They think in French, dream in French and have French birth certificates. But legally they are British because their parents are.

When we realised that it costs a not insignificant amount of money to register their births with the British authorities - but that it was not compulsory - we never did.

They hold British passports, but other than that do not exist on an administrative level in the UK. There are many very good reasons to apply for French citizenship, but doing so for administrative purposes, as some will probably now be forced to do, is surely the saddest. Much like the EU, France is very, very far from perfect... but, my wife aside (as she reads this!), there's no such thing as perfect. Looking from the outside in, the UK also has its fair share of problems. I've always argued that being patriotic means you love your country, but does not require you to hate the “others”. I am proudly British and I will always remain so, despite my current disappointment.

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email: mr-piano-man@hotmail.com But I also see all the good in France and am grateful for the opportunities it has offered me and my family. Were we to apply for French citizenship, I'm sure there would be a proud tear in my eye if it were granted.

People keep asking me what I think about Brexit, and whilst I used to get a bit ranty and polemical, these days I tend to simply reply... “Sad, it makes me sad”.

I didn't intend for this introspection to be quite so downbeat, so here's to brighter times ahead. Very soon, it will be done and dusted and we can focus on the future and what it will mean, practically, for all our lives. A new normal will emerge.

The British will always be drawn to living in France and whilst the two countries may not always see eye to eye, we have so much more in common than that which divides us.

Until next month!!

Steve Martindale, Editor

Siren: 510 312 341 or 849 657 135

CONTACT us Tel: 06 04 17 80 93 General: editor@thebugle.eu Advertising (EN): sales24@thebugle.eu Publicité (FR): publicite@thebugle.eu Subscriptions: subscriptions24@thebugle.eu

INSIDE this edition 3-11 French News 12 Bilingual 13-14 French Life 15-18 Directory 19-20 What’s On Copy deadline:

15th February for March’s print edition

FRENCH NEWS ♦ 3

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Malaysia returns French plastic Half of Dordogne

M

alaysia's environment minister has revealed that her country has returned 43 containers of plastic waste to France since late last year, and warned that the South East Asian nation would not become “the garbage dump of the world”. A total of 150 containers have been returned – representing 3,737 metric tonnes of unwanted waste - to 13 predominantly rich countries; France was the biggest offender, but 42 containers were also shipped to the UK. Many wealthy countries send their waste overseas because it is cheap, helps meet recycling targets and reduces domestic landfill.

The European Union is the largest exporter of plastic waste, with the US leading as the top exporter for a single country. Following China's decision in 2018 to ban the import of plastic, these shipments of rubbish have increasingly been redirected to other South East Asian countries like Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia.

communes now have no cash point

A These countries do not have the capacity to process as much plastic as China, however, and handling the waste has fast become a problem, leading to an increase in the number of containers being returned. A recent Greenpeace investigation found British recycling and household waste intended for reprocessing had been dumped openly at sites near the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur, increasing concerns that household rubbish was not always being processed

correctly.

“If people want to see us as the rubbish dump of the world, you can dream on,” Yeo Bee Yin, Malaysia's environment minister told reporters during inspection at a Penang port. “Enforcement action was taken on containers which contained plastic waste imported illegally,” she said, citing the Basel Convention, an international treaty designed to restrict movements of hazardous wastes between nations. ■

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s the world moves increasingly online, more and more people are choosing to pay by card, contactless, or via their mobile phone. The result has been a gradual decline in the use of cash, which has in turn led to a reduction in the number of cash points, especially in rural areas.

A recent report by the Banque de France has revealed that fewer than half of the population of the Dordogne live in a commune that has a cash point. The situation is a growing problem for small businesses that still rely on cash, especially from tourists.

One example is the hotel in Saint-Saud-Lacoussière, where guests have to make a 15 kilometre journey into Nontron to withdraw the euros they need

to pay for their morning coffee.

“Our guests don’t always have cash on them. Of course we take cheques, but we only take card payments from €15. If people don’t have a cheque book, we hold on to a piece of identity while they go to take out cash,” explained the hotel.

The banks themselves are reluctant to install new cash points and any village that applies for one needs to guarantee 3,000 withdrawals per month.

For many rural areas, this is not feasible outside of the peak summer months.

While alternative forms of online payments are becoming more and more common, small businesses in rural areas like the Dordogne do not always have the infrastructure or equipment to process them, meaning that for many, cash remains king. ■

4 ♦ FRENCH NEWS

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I

n the days after the Normandy landings, a local Nazi commander was informed that resistance fighters in Oradour-sur-Vayres were holding a German officer hostage.

On 10th June 1944, a German battalion sealed off the town of Oradour-sur-Glane - having confused it with their intended target of nearby Oradour-sur-Vayres - and ordered all the townspeople and passers-by to assemble in the village square, ostensibly to have their identity papers examined.

The men were then taken to a barn where a machine gun nest awaited. The women and children were led to the church, which was set alight. In a few short hours, 642 of the town’s inhabitants were dead, 207 of whom were children, with only a handful managing to escape.

The town was subsequently sealed off and preserved as a memorial; it has remained a centre of remembrance ever since. The modern day town was built later, a few hundred metres away.

The massacre was the largest atrocity committed against civilians in France by Nazi forces and became a powerful symbol of the war.

Many have campaigned over the years to ensure the massacre is never forgotten, and the handful of witnesses and survivors have always been key in this regard. Following the recent passing of one such witness, however, there now remains just one survivor to tell the story of the massacre.

Albert Valade, who died just before Christmas at the age of 89, was a 14-year-old boy on the day the Nazis came. He was a few kilometres outside the town watching his family's herd

when he heard the first shots and, before long, a huge plume of smoke coming from the village confirmed his worst fears. Albert campaigned for peace his entire life and never left the area.

Aged just 18, he was one of the first residents of modern day Oradour-sur-Glane, which he himself helped build. “For us, it was the most beautiful village in France,” he once said of the place he would never leave. In later life he wrote several books on the events of 1944.

His passing leaves 94-year-old Robert Hébras as the sole survivor of the massacre. Robert was one of 6 people who survived the initial massacre, playing dead under the bodies of friends and neighbours and only escaping at the last minute as fire engulfed the building they were in. Despite being wounded in the stomach and leg, Robert would go on to fight with the Resistance until the Nazis were finally driven out of France.

After the war, Robert would be a witness in the trials surrounding the massacre and go on to campaign for reconciliation between France, Germany and Austria. Despite his advancing years, he continues to play an active role in keeping alive the memories of that fateful day and still gives guided tours of the village.

A sign at the entrance to the memorial village urges visitors “souviens-toi” - “remember” and a plaque on the floor of the nearby museum reads: “Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it”. Thanks to the work of people like Albert Valade and Robert Hébras, the residents of Oradour-sur-Glane have indeed not been forgotten. ■

A

grey wolf has been spotted wandering through a ploughed field in the Charente, on the border with the Dordogne, the first such sighting in almost a century. The animal was filmed by a local woman as she was driving home near the village of Gurat, just to the west of Mareuil. This comes two months after a wolf was seen in the Charente-Maritime for the first time.

The sighting was subsequently confirmed by France’s biodiversity office l’Office français de la biodiversité (OFB), making it the first confirmed wolf presence in Charente since 1926. “He passed within two or three metres of the car,” the stunned local told the media. “At first I thought it was a big dog, but it looked a lot like a wolf. He was scared, you could tell he was scared.”

Grey wolves were hunted to extinction in the early 20th Century,

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The last witnesses of Wolf spotted along Dordogne border Oradour massacre

but have gradually been recolonising France since a mating pair crossed the Alps from Italy in 1993.

They have protected status in Europe and since returning have quickly spread across the south of the country and into the Massif Central, with wandering males travelling as far as the Somme in northern France.

Today there are more than 500 wolves in France, making it a “demographically viable” species, a milestone hailed by conservationists, but which farmers warn could see an exponential rise in attacks on their livestock. The most recent survey by the

OFB estimated there were 530 adult wolves in France in the winter of 2018/19, an increase of one hundred on the previous winter.

The sighting of a lone individual is “not surprising at all and is part of normal behaviour” for wolves, according to Yann de Beaulieu, head of OFB’s “big predator” unit in Nouvelle-Aquitaine.

“Autumn and winter usually mark a dispersion phase in which individual non-alpha wolves leave the pack of a given area to search for new territory. During their search individuals can travel up to 800 kilometres in six months.” ■

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FRENCH NEWS ♦ 5

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The expat architect redesigning Notre-Dame

O

Do you think the authorities will choose to faithfully restore the spire as it was before the fire?

Work on the original cathedral

the ridiculous suggestions that were being put forward online.

I'm just a one man band architect here in the Creuse, dealing with house renovations, barn conversions and the occasional new build. When I worked in the UK, however, it was for a practice that specialised in churches.

I telephoned my old boss to suggest it might be something that would interest him but he felt it would go to a French architect, so I decided to submit a design myself. I took a week out of my schedule, working day and night in front of the computer putting my design together.

Credit: Mike Day/DAYDEZIGNS

n 15th April last year, a devastating fire broke out at Notre-Dame Cathedral. As the world watched on, the inferno tore through the 12th century building, destroying the roof and causing its iconic spire to collapse. Over the course of the next few days and weeks, hundreds of millions of euros were donated to pay for the Gothic cathedral's reconstruction and attention soon turned to how the roof would be restored and what the skyline of Paris would look like in the future.

Whilst many donated money, one Nouvelle-Aquitaine expat preferred to contribute his experience. After seeing the building destroyed, architect Mike Day decided to use his skills to submit a design for the reconstruction of the roof. The Bugle got in touch with Mike to find out more about his ideas and what inspired him to get involved.

began in 1163 and it was added to many times over the centuries.

Major restoration on the cathedral started in 1843, led by two architects, Eugène Viollet-le-Duc and Jean-Baptiste-Antoine Lassus. In 1857, Lassus died, leaving Violletle-Duc to supervise the renovation on his own. The spire he designed was an addition to a building that was already nearly 700 years old, so I can't think that the new spire

should or will be rebuilt to look like Viollet-le-Duc's version.

What inspired you to submit a design for the reconstruction of Notre-Dame's spire?

Seeing the cathedral burn down live on TV was a shocking sight. I was prompted to design a new spire for the cathedral a week or so later after seeing all

What is different about your design?

My design is an amalgamation of the existing elements of the cathedral, including the spire that burnt down. I have taken into account the fragility of that which remains of the cathedral, so my design not only puts no additional stresses on the existing structure, but will also take some of the loads of the remaining structure. The

finished spire, constructed from metal and glass, would be illuminated at night from the interior, acting as a beacon over the Paris skyline.

So when does work on your design begin?!

I submitted a dossier with a letter describing my design and a dozen or so images to President Macron, the mayor of Paris, the Prime Minister and the Culture Minister, all of whom have acknowledged receipt and thanked me for the ideas. I later received a second letter from the Culture Ministry informing me that details of an international competition would be released shortly to collect design submissions, but as of today no details have been made available. So I guess, it's a case of wait and see!

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6 ♦ FRENCH NEWS

www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ FEBRUARY 2020

Do you have what it takes to become French?

S

ince plans for a Brexit referendum were first announced, the number of British expats seeking to take French nationality has risen tenfold and following Boris Johnson’s landslide win in December’s general election, the number of applications has again spiked. Whilst anyone can apply to become a French citizen, it can be a long and sometimes complicated process and not everyone is accepted.

There are strict conditions that must be met by successful applicants, including the length of time you have lived in France and how you generate your income. A moderate level of language is also required and applicants will be interviewed by a local official as part of the process. During this interview, you will also be questioned on your “knowledge of France’s history, culture and society”.

According to the French government’s

website, the purpose of the interview is to “verify, pursuant to Article 21-24 of the Civil Code, that the applicant has in particular sufficient knowledge of French history, culture and society”.

The government defines the level of knowledge expected “as corresponding to the fundamental elements relating to the great landmarks of the history of France, to the principles, symbols and institutions of the Republic, to the exercise of French citizenship and of France in Europe and in the world.”

In order to help you brush up your knowledge, the government has a useful handbook called the Livret du Citoyen.

But how well do you know France?

Would you need to draw up a lengthy revision plan, or could you sail through tomorrow? To see if you already have what it takes to become French, we have compiled a short quiz of questions you might be expected to answer below (answers on page 19):

Geography 1) How many regions are there in 'mainland' France? (Hint: this includes Corsica, but for a bonus point and a gold star, can you list them all?)

2) What are the 5 biggest cities in France by population?

3) What is the highest mountain in France (and Europe)?

Politics 4) The French parliament has an upper and lower house, but what are they called?

5) How many years do local mayors serve for?

6) What is the President's official residence?

History 7) In what year did the French Revolution begin?

8) Who led the Free French from London during the Nazi occupation?

9) How many French kings have been called Louis?

Culture 10) What is the motto of the French Republic?

11) Which of the following is it illegal to wear at school: the Islamic veil, the Jewish kippa or Christian crucifix 12) What is the name of the French National Anthem?

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Sarkozy facing corruption trial

F

ormer president Nicolas Sarkozy will face trial on charges of corruption and abuse of power later this year after losing a final bid at France's highest court to halt his prosecution. Sarkozy is accused of trying to bribe a magistrate by offering him a prestigious job in Monaco, in return for information about an ongoing criminal inquiry into his political party. The trial will start on 5 October 2020 and will last until 22 October, a Paris court said.

Since losing to the Socialist party’s François Hollande and leaving office, Sarkozy has fought a barrage of corruption and campaign financing allegations, all of which he rejects. The upcoming trial is the first of a number he could face over the coming years.

The magistrate he allegedly attempted to bribe, Gilbert Azibert, and Mr Sarkozy's lawyer, Thierry Herzog, also face trial. The case centres on conversations between Mr Azibert and Mr Herzog, which were taped by investigators looking into claims that Mr Sarkozy accepted illicit payments for his 2007 presidential campaign from the billionaire L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

Prosecutors allege that Sarkozy offered Mr Azibert the job in Monaco in return for information about the case. The investigation also revealed that the former president and his lawyer used mobile phones and fake names to communicate - with Mr Sarkozy going by the name Paul Bismuth.

Sarkozy is not the first former president to stand trial, but he is the first to face corruption charges. Jacques Chirac, who died last September, was put on trial in 2011, when he was found guilty of embezzlement and misuse of public funds during his time as mayor of Paris.

Last October, a court ruled Sarkozy must also stand trial for illicit campaign financing - a charge for which he risks a one-year jail term and a fine. In that case, for which a court date is yet to be set, it is alleged Sarkozy spent nearly €43 million on his failed 2012 re-election bid - almost double the legal limit of €22.5 million – by using fake invoices to an events company called Bygmalion. He has claimed he was unaware of the fraud by executives at the public relations firm Bygmalion, who are among 13 others being pursued in the case.

Sarkozy has also been charged over accusations he accepted millions of euros from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi towards his first presidential campaign in 2007. ■ Managing Editor: Steve Martindale Editor-in-Chief: Steve Martindale Registered Address: 19, route de Champagnac

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FRENCH NEWS ♦ 7

FEBRUARY 2020 ○ THE BUGLE ○ www.thebugle.eu

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Detached 3-bed stone house. Large living room, fireplace & open kitchen, 3 ensuites.

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Spacious 5 bedroom house plus playroom/ study of 35 m2 surrounded by a 3,700 m2 garden & pool. Plus a cottage with a kitchen / living room & bedroom. 15 min from Bergerac on the Dordogne River. DPE: C

B&B, renovated 18th century farm, 310 m2, Heated pool, garage, 3 large barns. Orchard, garden, 4.95 acres. Bright house with kitchen, 2 living rooms, 8 bedrooms and 6 bathrooms.

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Charming Périgourdine 130 m2,with a large stone barn on 1.5 ha of fields, ideal for horses!

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170 m2 3-bed stone farm house from 1871 on 1 acre. New roof and insulation, double glazing throughout. Countryside views, quiet neighborhood. 20 mins from Bergerac, close to village with all amenities. DPE: E

Riverside property: main house, guest house, + a small house to renovate. Pool and terraced area, garage & workshop. 3 acres of land with private access to the Dordogne River. 15 mins from Bergerac centre. DPE: G

Large stone house, 260 m², 2 km to Tremolat.

6 bedrooms (1 on ground floor), 3 bathrooms, 3 x wc, (62m²) living room, kitchen, pool 9x6, hanger, outbuildings, double glazing & oil central heating. 4,115m ² garden. DPE: Vierge

FURNISHED renovated Perigourdine with breathtaking views, 10 min from Perigueux.

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Taux d’honoraires 17,250 (7.5%) inclus à la charge de l’acquéreur

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8 ♦ FRENCH NEWS

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First department raises Tax authorities to trawl speed limit back to 90 km/h social media profiles

F

>> continued from pg 1 for any subsequent increase in serious accidents.

The Creuse is the latest department to take this chance and has unveiled plans to raise the speed limit to 90 km/h on 445 kilometres of the department’s secondary road network, around 10% of the total. The president of the conseil départemental de la Creuse, Valérie Simonet, made the announcement on France Bleu radio: “The road network has been greatly improved, and has benefitted from significant investment.

The roads affected by the proposed changes are wide and with clear road markings... it is a common sense proposition.”

The Creuse will not be the first department to roll back the changes, however. That honour goes to Haute-Marne in eastern France, which raised the speed limit on 200 kilometres of its network in January.

The departmental council made the decision to revert to the higher limit

without waiting for advice from the road safety commission, but council president Nicolas Lacroix said that he had submitted the necessary accident reports for the roads in question before making the change.

The decision has been criticised as being “populist” in a department that had a particularly active gilets jaunes movement, but the move was defended

by Mr Lacroix: “Here, your car is your life. If you lose your licence, you risk losing your job too. In this department, we did not see an improvement in accident rates since the drop to 80 km/h.”

With a number of departments planning similar changes, opponents and road safety campaigners are worried about the consequences of the speed limit varying so often on the road network. “We should keep a national standard. If one department is 80 km/h and the neighbouring department is at 90 km/h, this will quickly become unmanageable,” said Jean-Luc Chenut, departmental president of the Ille-etVilaine department. ■

irst included as part of a broader law on tax changes passed in December, the French government will now be able to trawl social media for evidence of tax avoidance, the constitutional court has ruled. Despite opposition from human rights' groups and the French data protection authority, customs and tax officials will be allowed to review users' online profiles, posts and pictures for evidence of undisclosed income.

increases the state's online surveillance powers. Opposing the changes, the country's data watchdog CNIL, known in Europe for being a staunch defender of privacy rights, said that while it recognised that the government's aims were legitimate, the new policy would pose risks for individual freedoms.

“An experiment without any goals is a joke,” said Arthur Messaud, a legal expert at French internet freedom advocacy group La Quadrature du Net.

In its ruling, the court acknowledged that users' privacy and freedom of expression could potentially be compromised and applied caveats to the legislation. It said authorities would have to ensure that password-protected content was off limits and that they would only be able to use public information pertaining to the person divulging it online. They also insisted that regulators would have to closely monitor how the data was being exploited.

The mass collection of data is part of a three-year online monitoring experiment by the French government and greatly

“We’re putting the cat among the pigeons by allowing the generalised monitoring of the internet for everything and anything.”

Budget Minister Gérald Darmanin has called the new rules “one more tool to fight fraud” and warned tax avoiders: “If you say you're not a fiscal resident in France and you keep posting pictures on Instagram from France, there might be an issue... I’d like to point out that there is nothing extraordinary here, other countries are already doing it, such as the United States or Britain since 2010 for example.” ■

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F

rance has announced it will outlaw the controversial but widespread practice of live-shredding male chicks, in a move cautiously welcomed by animal welfare activists. According to Agriculture Minister Didier Guillaume the ban will come in effect from the end of 2021. The minister also told reporters of plans to ban the castration of piglets without anaesthetic in a similar timeframe, another measure long urged by animal rights activists.

Egg production requires the hatching of millions of chicks every year, with the females sold to be raised and exploited by either individual farmers or commercial poultry farms. Although some male birds are bred for food, they produce no eggs and far less meat than female “broilers”. As a result it is not financially viable for producers to raise the male chicks which are usually killed at a very early age, either by grinding up or gassing.

Scientists have yet to come up with a way to effectively determine the sex of a chick that works on an industrial scale before hatching. Traditional technology requires a small hole to be made in the shell and a sample taken, which is an expensive process and following the ban, producers will face increasing costs to dispose of the unwanted male chicks. Campaigners

T

are hoping this will incentivise them to develop a method that works on a large scale.

France has become one of the first countries to implement such a ban. Switzerland banned chick shredding in September last year, though it is a rare practice among Swiss poultry farmers. The top administrative court in Germany, where 45 million male chicks are slaughtered every year, ruled in June last year that the slaughtering of male chicks could continue until a method is found to determine the sex of an embryo in the egg. ■

Concerns over online sick notes

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website offering to sign you off sick from work in just a few clicks has caused anger among the country's healthcare workers. The website issues arrêts maladies for up to three days for just €25, which it claims can be reimbursed, and has generated much attention since its launch in January.

After filling out an online questionnaire, patients suffering from “simple and common” ailments such as gastro, colds and migraines are offered an online consultation with a “doctor” via the website arretmaladie.fr. The platform has been created

by Dr Can Ansay, a German lawyer; a similar site has been operating in Germany since 2018.

“This site is an intolerable abuse of the system,” complained Dr Jean-Paul Hamon, president of the Fondation des médecins de France. “We have brought this up with the director of the Caisse nationale de l’assurance maladie, who assured me that his legal team was on hand to shut it down, but I am not sure if that is legally possible. As doctors we are very cautious with handing out work sick notes. We are witnessing a degradation of the function of physicians and if the authorities can not stop this, there is a risk of serious abuse.”

“This represents an inversion of the responsibility of

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proof,” said Jérôme Marty, president of a large doctor's union.

“It is now up to the patient to indicate the date of their arrêts maladies, with the doctor who signs it apparently free to backdate it... this is therefore fake and illegal! Furthermore, how can you know that the person you've spoken to is an actual doctor?”

Although legal proceedings against the site are planned, under current rules it would not appear to be illegal and employers are forced to recognise the sick notes and continue to pay their employees during their absence. ■

he unemployment rate in France has dropped to a ten-year low after plummeting by 3.3% in 2019.

The country now has 3.6 million jobseekers with the most recent figures showing an unemployment rate of 8.6 %, its lowest since the financial crisis began a decade ago. It is hoped that this may drop further to around 8.2% by the spring. Despite the encouraging numbers, however, France remains one of the OECD economically-developed countries with the highest rate of people without work.

“There is still plenty of progress that can be made. If we look at the European Union as a whole, the unemployment rate is 6.3%, and it is even 3% in Germany,” said Jean-Eudes du Mesnil, secretary-general of the employers’ union CPME. Those to have benefitted most from the recent increase in job opportunities appear to be the younger generation, with young jobseekers making up 2.2% of the 3.3% decrease. According to a study by recruitment consultancy Walters People, one third of students will now get a job before even graduating. “This fall is first and foremost down to company leaders who are looking to employ because their order books are full and because they are confident,” said Mr du Mesnil.

Work Minister Muriel Penicaud said: “The efforts we are making on apprenticeship and education and other areas are getting results; we must continue.”

President Emmanuel Macron pledged to lower the unemployment rate to 7% by spring 2022 during his election campaign. Reforms his government have so far introduced, such as a reduction in labour costs and social charges, have been cited as a reason for the recent rise in employment. ■

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A

n appeal court in Limoges has ordered a Limousin man to pay his brother and sister €52 million in compensation over the disputed sale of their late father's prized Ferrari. The car in question was a rare 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO, which was sold in 2004 to a Taiwanese businessman for €38 million, making it the world's most expensive car at the time.

The three siblings are the inheritors of the late Pierre Bardinon, a Creusois industrialist who made his fortune through the family's luxury leather business. A huge car fanatic, Pierre amassed an enviable collection of classic sports cars during his life, the crown jewel of which was the Ferrari 250 GTO which has been described as the Mona Lisa of sports cars. Only 36 were ever made, with just three racing models leaving the famous Maranello factory in 1964.

Pierre Bardinon was such an enthusiast, he even had a race-

track built on his private estate where celebrities like Johnny Hallyday would come to race the classic sports cars in his collection. The great Enzo Ferrari himself once said he had no need for a Ferrari museum as Bardinon had already created one.

Pierre's son, Patrick Bardinon, claimed that his father had given him the Ferrari in 1978 after feeling guilty that his son had almost died in a car crash after inheriting his love of fast cars. Pierre Bardinon died in 2012 and his wife soon after, leaving a fortune which exposed his heirs to hefty French inheritance taxes, forcing the sale of a number of cars.

Patrick's brother and sister disputed their brother's story over the ownership of the 250 GTO and despite winning a previous case at a Guéret court, the Limoges appeal court overturned the ruling and ordered Patrick to reimburse his siblings for the sale of the car, plus interest and penalties.

“My sister received payouts

© Brian Snelson (WikiCommons)

€38 million Ferrari at centre of court case

from my father her entire life, without ever working, and my brother got money when his businesses weren't doing well,” Patrick said before the appeal began. “I find it unseemly of them to challenge our father's decisions now.”

His brother's lawyers, however, claimed in court that Patrick “secretly removed the car from the collection one morning at dawn”.

According to lawyers, the exact number of cars which remain in the collection is “confiden-

tial”, but Pierre Bardinon's fortune is still estimated at between €250 million and €400 million euros. His collection has been placed in sequestration pending the court ruling while the siblings' fight over their inheritance continues. ■

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Greenwich - the centre of the world

M

ost countries consider themselves to be the centre of the world to a greater or lesser extent, but only one place can claim to officially hold that title - Greenwich in London. How Greenwich came to be the centre of the world and the location that everyone sets their watches by begins hundreds of years ago with Britain’s dominance of the waves.

For a long time, mariners could easily calculate how far north and south of the equator they were, but knowing their exact longitude - their relative position east and west - proved impossible. The key to knowing your longitude lies with accurately knowing the time: you can calculate the time where you are from the sun or stars, and if you also know the exact time at another fixed location, then you can accurately calculate how far east or west you are from that point.

The problem for mariners was that timepieces in the 17th century were large, delicate and inaccurate. Britain was a dominant seafaring nation and relied on its navy to maintain its influence across the world. The problem of longitude finally became critical when the Royal Navy lost 4 ships and 2,000 men after its fleet was unable to calculate its exact location following a storm and ran aground on the Scilly Isles. It remains one of the worst maritime disasters in British history.

So serious was the problem that the government offered 20,000 pounds over €3 million in today’s money! - to whoever could devise a method to accurately determine longitude.

This was finally solved in the middle of the 18th century by watchmaker John Harrison, who developed a timepiece accurate enough for Britain’s navy to know exactly where they were at all times. The location the navy chose as its “standard” meridian - zero degrees of longitude - was the Greenwich Observatory in east London, with all points on the globe either east or west of this “central” location.

As technology advanced, the notion of “time” became increasingly important and the concept of “time zones” was created. A big factor in this was the introduction of railways. Passengers from London travelling to Bristol would find that the “local time” when they arrived was 10 minutes different to that in London. When you consider that every station in between also set their own local time, this made catching trains a complicated business! The railway companies soon instructed all their stations to keep London time and before long it was always the same time across the whole of Britain.

In 1884, with the world needing a standard meridian, and with London having built an international reputation for the accuracy of its timekeeping, Greenwich was chosen to represent the centre of the world. Interestingly, despite the international agreement, France continued to show Paris as the meridian on all its maps and did not officially adopt London time until the First World War. ■

L

The Greenwich Royal Observatory - the centre of the world

Many thanks to local French teacher, Sophie Arsac, for the translation of this month's bilingual article. Why not get in touch with Sophie to see how she can help improve your French! See her advert below.

a plupart des pays ont plus ou moins le sentiment d’être le centre du monde mais un seul endroit peut officiellement revendiquer ce titre : c’est Greenwich à Londres. Afin d’en comprendre la raison et d’expliquer pourquoi nous réglons nos montres sur l’heure de Greenwich, il faut remonter quelques centaines d’années en arrière, lorsque la Grande-Bretagne dominait les mers.

Pendant longtemps, les marins pouvaient facilement calculer leur distance par rapport au nord ou au sud de l’équateur.

Par contre, il leur était impossible de déterminer leur longitude avec exactitude, c’est-à-dire leur position relative est-ouest, dont le calcul repose sur la connaissance précise de l’heure. L’observation des astres permet de déterminer l’heure locale et si vous connaissez l’heure exacte d’un autre endroit fixe, vous pouvez calculer avec précision la distance qui vous sépare de ce point.

Au 17ème siècle, les horloges étaient volumineuses, fragiles et peu fiables. La Grande-Bretagne dominait la navigation maritime et elle comptait sur sa flotte pour maintenir son influence au niveau mondial.

Il devint crucial de régler le problème de la longitude lorsque la Marine royale britannique perdit 4 navires et 2 000 hommes. Après une tempête, la flotte avait été incapable de calculer sa position exacte et s’était échouée sur les îles Scilly. Ce fut l’un des pires désastres maritimes de l’histoire britannique.

La gravité de la situation incita le gouvernement à proposer 20 000 livres (soit plus de 3 millions d’euros !) pour toute personne qui saurait inventer une méthode de calcul infaillible de la longitude.

John Harrison, horloger de son état, trouva la solution au milieu du 18ème siècle. Il conçut une horloge dont la précision était telle que la flotte put déterminer sa position exacte à tout moment. La Marine royale choisit de situer le méridien de référence (longitude zéro) à l’Observatoire de Greenwich, à l’est de Londres. Désormais, tous les autres points du globe seraient à l’est ou à l’ouest de cet emplacement central.

Avec l’avancée de la technologie et notamment l’invention du chemin de fer, la “notion de temps” devint de plus en plus importante et l’on créa le concept des « fuseaux horaires ». Les passagers qui se rendaient en train de Londres à Bristol constataient que « l’heure locale » différait de 10 minutes avec celle de Londres. Sachant que chaque gare sur le trajet fixait sa propre heure locale, c’était toute une affaire de prendre le train ! Les gares furent donc rapidement priées par les compagnies de chemin de fer de régler leur heure sur celle de Londres et bientôt, cette dernière fut identique dans toute la GrandeBretagne.

En 1884, le monde entier eut besoin d’un méridien de référence. Londres ayant acquis une réputation internationale quant à la fiabilité de sa gestion de l’heure, Greenwich fut choisi pour représenter le centre du monde. Il est intéressant de préciser que malgré cet accord international, la France continua à indiquer sur toutes ses cartes que Paris était le méridien et qu’elle n’adopta officiellement l’heure de Londres que lors de la première guerre mondiale. ■

FRENCH LIFE ♦ 13

FEBRUARY 2020 ○ THE BUGLE ○ www.thebugle.eu

The world is going nuts

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Pistachio or Almond Cake

by Julia Watson

ou might be confident that the only feast day of any concern during February is St Valentine’s Day, with its promise of chocolate, roses and, possibly, romance. But if you lived in the US, the 14th of February is only the start of it.

2nd February heralds the Big Game day, as in the Super Bowl, the championship game of the National Football League, that game where some music megastar performs during half time and loses track of their underwear or singing reputation. Almost incidentally, two football teams duke it out for the title of league champions. That’s followed two days later by Homemade Soup Day, which I’m guessing the Food & Drug Administration made up, or Heinz or Campbell sponsored.

10th February is Oatmeal Monday, the purpose of which may be to stoke you up with enough porridge to permit you to cope with the demands of Valentine’s Day. But I may be wrong.

Once Valentine’s Day is over and done with, there is Almond Day on the 16th, followed by the rival Pistachio Day on the 26th, then the double whammy finale on the 27th to wind up February of Chili Day - and Strawberry Day, in case you ever questioned whether Americans eat seasonally.

Of course, if you go into In Depth research, you’ll also discover that, along with other US national days in February allocated to Nutella, Chopsticks, Frozen Yogurt, Fettuccine Alfredo, Molasses Bars, Bagels and Lox, Pizza, and Chocolate Fondue, the whole of February itself is Berry Fresh Month, Celebration Of Chocolate Month, Great American Pies Month, National Canned Food Month, National Cherry Month, National Fiber Focus Month, National Fondue Month, National Grapefruit

Month, National Heart Healthy Month, National Hot Breakfast Month, National Snack Food Month, and National Potato Lovers Month.

And you still think how and what we eat is under the control of us consumers?

It’s enough to drive you nuts. So let this February column provide a focus on those. Almonds (whose day, remember, is the 16th) and Pistachios (the 26th) are the treats allotted to people on diets in need of something tempting that raises energy while not entirely ruining sensible eating behaviour. But only in small quantity. Nuts are high in calories - around 400 in 85 grams, which amounts to two handfuls of nuts absolute tops.

Strictly speaking, a nut is a fruit. The word ‘nut’ implies that the fruit lies inside a shell which doesn’t open unless forced.

Almonds are full of healthy fats, fibre and protein, magnesium and vitamin E. They can lower blood sugar levels, cholesterol and blood pressure. A few of them can also reduce hunger pangs, which is why they’re proposed by dieticians to encourage those on diets.

Pistachios have similar properties while also containing antioxidants, vitamin B6, and thiamine, and can promote gut, eye and blood vessel health.

Here’s a recipe for a moist cake in which you can use either almonds or pistachios, although pistachios will give it a more pronounced flavour. But where it reads ‘pistachios’, use almonds if you prefer. Stick a rose on the cake to celebrate Valentine’s Day with a slice, or bake it any day of February to mark the whole month.

Julia Watson has been a longtime Food Writer for newspapers and magazines in the US and the UK.

Ingredients:

200g plain flour 1 tsp baking powder

100g pistachios, chopped

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

200g golden caster sugar 150g butter, softened, plus extra for the tin

2 tsp vanilla extract 4 limes, zested and juiced

125g soured cream

200g icing sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp pistachios, thinly sliced

Heat the oven to 180C/ fan 160C/gas 4 and butter and line a 20cm x 10cm x 7cm 900g loaf tin with a long strip of baking paper.

Put the pistachios and sugar in a food processor and whizz until fine. Add the butter, soured cream, eggs, flour, baking powder, bicarb, vanilla extract and lime zest, and whizz until smooth. Scrape into the prepared tin and bake for 50-55 minutes or until a skewer poked into the centre comes out clean (if it browns too quickly, cover with a sheet of foil). Cool for 20 minutes in the tin, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the icing, mix enough lime juice into the icing sugar to make a drizzle-able icing. Spoon over the cake then finish with the pistachio slivers.

The epidemic that shaped a city

P

aris may be world-famous for architecture such as the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame or the Sacré-Coeur, and it is justifiably celebrated as a city of art and culture, but next time you visit this nation’s capital, why not take a trip to a museum that celebrates a human achievement that trumps all else in terms of the impact it had on quality of life, one which shaped the landscape of the Paris that we know today.

Beyond a small kiosk located at the Pont de l'Alma, not far from the Eiffel Tower, is Paris’ sewer museum.

Paris now has 2,100 kilometres of tunnels and has the capability of processing more than 2 million cubic metres of wastewater each day – but it was not always so.

For centuries Paris had grown with no street planning and, after the Revolution, Paris' population exploded in the early 1800s as people entered the city in search of jobs. Before long, the city’s population had doubled to 1 million people and had become a labyrinth of alleys and passages with hundreds of narrow, airless roads clogged with heavy wagons, carriages, horses and above all… people.

The majority of these sunless passages still, as in Medieval times, depended on streams running in gutters down the middle of the street to carry rain, the dregs of stagnant water, garbage, raw sewage and everything else besides to the nearest, hopelessly inadequate, underground sewer. These underground sewers in turn deposited their cargo into the river Seine, from where the population then took their drinking water. More than a quarter of the city's streets had no water conduits at all.

It is no wonder then that people started dying. In 1832, Paris’ Hôtel Dieu hospital began to receive a steady stream of patients. They had a wide range of symptoms including apoplexy, fever, chest pains, vomiting and headaches. Most of them were dead within a day or two and before long 19,000 people had died… of cholera.

The victims were said to look like corpses in the days before they died, and some had ice-cold tongues.

With hindsight, the cures of the day probably did little to arrest the spread of the disease: a hot bath infused with vinegar, salt and mustard, some lime tea and a sensible diet! “With these precautions, we need not worry about an epidemic,” an official declared with wild optimism in August 1832.

As the cholera swept through the city, there was little to be done, but when the outbreak was finally under control, Paris’ town planners did their best to make sure the disaster was not repeated.

“Cholera became an important factor in urban planning,” says historian Oleg Kobtzeff. “The idea of wider streets and sidewalks came as a result of cholera, as well as having a proper sewage system.”

Streets were widened, pavements were created, more and more sewers were buried and hygiene became the major factor in town planning. By 1870 the rebuilt city had the sunniest, most beautiful and functional streets ever seen, and the results were copied throughout the world. So good were the results, that many areas of Paris have not been altered to this day. In the older parts of of the capital, such as the Latin Quarter, it is still possible to see the grooved gutters, which used to carry the sewage,

running down the centre of the streets. Fortunately, these only carry rainwater nowadays.

It is safe to say that the Paris of today owes its broad and beautiful boulevards to a devastating outbreak of a deadly disease almost two centuries ago. ■

14 ♦ FRENCH LIFE

www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ FEBRUARY 2020

It’s time in the market – not timing the market – that reaps rewards - Blevins Franks One question financial advisers are often asked, is whether this this is a good or bad time to invest. The simple answer is that it is not so simple!

Generally, the most sensible approach is to invest for the long-term rather than wait on the side-lines for the ‘right time’.

the market on the best 20 and 30 days would have brought respective losses of £132 and £1,896.

While it may feel uncomfortable to stay invested when markets fluctuate, this discipline usually produces better returns over the longer term than chasing short-term gains.

The risks of trying to time the market

Investment performance: The bigger picture

It is impossible to accurately and consistently predict market movements.

At any time, external events, investor sentiment and even rumours can have a negative or positive impact, often unexpectedly and suddenly. Reacting to current conditions is usually too late, so to be successful, you would need to foresee both the best time to buy and to sell. Even experienced investors cannot get this right all the time.

Then there is the risk of missing out.

It is surprising what a difference certain days in a market cycle can make to returns. If, for example, you are not invested because you are waiting for share prices to stabilise after a period of volatility, you could miss benefiting from rebound days if the market suddenly rallies.

To illustrate this, if you had invested £10,000 in the FTSE All-Share index for the full ten-year period up to 31 December 2018, you would have earned a profit of £4,754 (excluding fees or charges). But if you missed the five best days, returns would fall to £3,764, and again to £2,081 if the ten best days were missed. Meanwhile, being out of

It is all too common – especially in the media – to remember the extreme market highs and lows without looking at the overall picture. Most will be aware of 1987’s ‘Black Monday’ global stock market crash, for example, without realising that investors in the FTSE All-share index actually realised a 4% return over the year.

There also tends to be a focus on share market performance, particularly in one key region, such as the FTSE100 in the UK or the S&P500 in the US. However, wise investors will never have all their interests in one asset class (e.g. equities) nor in one geographical region. So when we hear about shocks in one share market, this overplays the actual impact on most investors.

The importance of diversification Before investing, you need to ensure that your strategy is well diversified and suitable for your situation, risk appetite and goals. Even the most patient investor is unlikely to benefit from an ill-fitting portfolio that does not meet their needs or is overly concentrated in one area. And

yet many British expatriates tend to be over-invested in the market they know, making them highly vulnerable to the fortunes of UK assets and sterling.

The best strategy for minimising risk is to diversify by spreading investments across multiple, unrelated areas. This should include a range of different asset classes (shares, bonds, cash and ‘real’ assets such as property) as well as geographical regions and market sectors.

Diversification gives your portfolio the chance to produce positive returns over time without being vulnerable to any single area or stock under-performing.

Choosing an adviser who uses a dynamic ‘multi-manager’ approach can help increase diversification. By combining several carefully selected fund managers, this reduces reliance on any one manager making the right decisions in all market conditions.

Establishing a suitable investment approach When investing, it is crucial to carefully assess your situation, income requirements, goals and timeline alongside your appetite for risk. This is best done objectively by an experienced professional who can then build a diversified portfolio with the right balance of risk/return for your peace of mind. Your arrangements should also be structured as tax-efficiently as possible for your life in France. Talk to a locally based adviser with cross-border experience to make the most of available opportunities.

If today’s climate still makes you

The wines of Bergerac

T

he Fête de la Truffe in Sarlat each January is not only a most enjoyable extravaganza of the black truffles of the Périgord but of food and wine in general. The lovely old town of Sarlat does it very well, offering truffles in every form along with wine tastings, lessons in appreciating wine with various foods and so on.

There are stalls that offer truffles with foie gras; truffles blended with the yolks of hard boiled egg; a clear oxtail soup with truffles; truffles blended into mashed potatoes; a truffled brioche; truffle risottos; truffle chocolate; truffle blancmange and even truffle sushi (albeit with foie gras rather than fish). But if you want fish, there is truffled brandade de morue.

And then there is the brouillade, a particular favourite of mine. One could say it is merely scrambled eggs with truffles, which is rather like de La Rochefoucauld’s odious saying that love as it exists in today’s world is no more than the contact of two skins and two fantasies.

A brouillade requires eggs that have been in a sealed jar with truffles for a couple of days to absorb the flavour through their shell. They are then stirred with

by Martin Walker

butter, chopped truffles and a little milk over a very low heat until the moment the eggs are about to set. Then you add crème fraîche to stop the cooking, continue stirring and only then season with a little salt and pepper and then serve at once, topped with thin slices of truffles.

This is scrambled eggs and truffles that have been uplifted to heaven, prepared by saints, stirred by angels and infused with the holy spirit to the music of Bach.

If that is the menu in the afterlife, sign me up.

The good people of Sarlat even offer free booklets of all these recipes. And they take their wine seriously.

So upstairs in the splendid council chamber of the Hôtel de Ville, the mayor’s buffet this year offered the wines of Château Court les Mûts in the Saussignac, of which I have written in these pages before. Remarkable in having proved immune to the scourge of phylloxera, this vineyard still produces to my delight a wine whose grapes are pressed by human feet. I had some of their very good Bergerac Sec white wine with the tourain and a little of their wonderful Monbazillac with the foie gras.

Thus, fortified, I went down to try the street food and in one of the large marquees offering the various truffle dishes listed above, the wines of Château Poulvère were available. One of the largest vineyards in the Bergerac with more than a hundred hectares of vines, it is now run by the fourth generation of the family of Louis Borderie who began making wine here in 1923. Its lands and buildings were formerly attached to (and built at the same time as) the 16th century Château of Monbazillac, which perches atop the north-facing slope that holds most of the wines of Poulvère. They also have a dozen hectares in the Pécharmant.

Their 2015 Monbazillac, which was selling last year at 8.70 euros a bottle, is one of the best bargains I know, an excellent vin liquoreux for the price. The 2013 vintage of their Prestige brand of Monbazillac, which won a gold medal at Bordeaux, is an even better bargain at 13 euros. Their standard red, which won a silver medal in 2016, was 5.70 euros a bottle and their truly splendid Picata brand of red wine from 2016 was at 18.50 euros, and won a silver medal in Paris.

They are an inventive family

nervous, you could consider spreading the timing of your investments over a period by investing in tranches. The ‘pound (or euro/dollar) cost averaging’ approach can help smooth out volatility and potentially improve average returns over longer time periods.

British expatriates may also benefit from exploring investment structures that have a multi-currency facility to minimise exchange rate risk. This would allow you to invest, for example, in sterling now and then switch to euros as you wished, and choose the currency of withdrawals.

Ultimately, a long-term, diversified investment approach is vital to help protect and grow your capital, whatever the economic climate. While a ‘keep calm and stay invested’ approach usually gives the best overall results, make sure you still review your planning once a year, or sooner if your circumstances change, to continue meeting your longterm financial goals.. ■ All advice received from Blevins Franks is personalised and provided in writing. This article, however, should not be construed as providing any personalised taxation or investment advice.

Keep up to date on the financial issues that may affect you on the Blevins Franks news page at: www.blevinsfranks.com Tel: 05 53 63 49 19 Email: bergerac@blevinsfranks.com

at Poulvère and offer various aromatic wines in different flavours that range from pink grapefruit to white chocolate, rose petals to gingerbread, all at 7 euros a bottle. Some of our teenage guests adored them.

Continuing my tour of the stalls I came across a real discovery, a wine that was new to me, a Montravel from Chateau Moulin Garreau. I tasted their Montravel red, a really exceptionally good wine at 15 euros a bottle and began chatting with the couple who make it.

Laurence and Eric Faucheux are in their forties and new to wine making. They came to the area in 2015 after making their careers in the car trade in Paris, intent on making organic wine. Laurence’s family comes from the Jura where they made the famous vin de paille and Eric’s family are from Sauternes, so as they told me, they have ‘wine in their blood.’

Theirs is a small vineyard of ten hectares, eight for red wines and two for white. They make their wine in cement vats, which means a constant temperature and a little but welcome amount of oxygenation from the slightly porous cement.

Their red wine is made with 80% Merlot, 15% Cabernet Sauvignon and 5% Cabernet Franc.

Two or three times a day they pump the grape juice from the bottom of the vat up to top so it

seeps down through the cap, gaining more of the tannins and phenols that give the wine character.

When the first fermentation is complete, they draw off the wine and then press the cap again and later add the resulting juice to the wine. They only make 5,700 bottles of this excellent Montravel red, so get it while you can.

Their vineyard is at the western end of the Montravel appellation, on the eastern extension of the hills of St Emilion and Castillon.

This means they enjoy a more oceanic climate than most Bergerac wines, which was a challenge last year since they missed late rains that came to give the Pécharmant, so much further to the east, such a promising vintage of 2019.

And since their wine went so well with the various truffle dishes I was sampling, I’ll be following their future products with great interest. ■

Martin Walker, author of the best-selling ‘Bruno, chief of police’ novels, is a Grand Consul de la Vinée de Bergerac. Formerly a journalist, he spent 25 years as foreign correspondent for The Guardian and then became editor-in-chief of United Press International. He and his wife Julia have had a home in the Périgord since 1999 and one of his great hobbies is visiting the vineyards of Bergerac.

DIRECTORY ♦ 15

FEBRUARY 2020 ○ THE BUGLE ○ www.thebugle.eu

Business Directory

Your indispensable guide to finding local businesses & artisans CHARTERED STRUCTURAL ENGINEER

Auto Services MOTOR PARTS CHARENTE

Suppliers of Car & Van Spares & LHD headlights, anywhere in France JOHN SOWERSBY

+44 (0)7830 170761

motorptscharente@aol.com www.motorpartscharente.com

Building Services Architects/Surveyors At Masterplans.eu we can help guide you through your planning application in France.

From initial feasibility to completed dossiers.

We will compile all the relevant drawings and complete the necessary paperwork to ensure your application proceeds smoothly.

We are equally at home working with clients here in France or those living abroad.

Tel: 05 55 80 72 83 Mob: 06 33 07 29 72 Email: info@masterplans.eu www.masterplans.eu Siret: 790 016 984 00011

Pre-purchase & Structural Surveys.

Verbal & written reports.

Structural calculations & drawings.

Redevelopment ideas & solutions.

Tim Haw B.Eng C.Eng M.I.Struct.E

FR: 0033 (0)6 52 06 22 79 UK: 0044 (0)7448 466 662

Web: www.versineer.com Email: enquiries@versineer.com Siret: 498 843 051 00018

Architectural DRAWING SERVICE Renovating your French property?

New build?

Dossiers prepared Permis de Construire Déclarations Préalables

Tel: 05 53 52 36 05 lavieilleabbaye@orange.fr www.latuspeter-architecturaldrawings-24.com SIRET: 493 770 358 00015

Building Services Carpenters/Joiners Darren Piper

NEU DplG ARCHITECTURE

Building Services

P r o v i d i n g A L L architectural services

Qualified craftsman with over 20 years experience running his own business in the UK - Specializing in:

Member

of

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of

Architects

Very s m a l l t o v e ry b i g projects welcome P re-purcha s e as s i s t an c e Feel welcome to ask for a non-binding meeting 05 53 56 52 27 a@mon.archi 06 42 86 59 12 (www)mon.archi Based in Périgord vert 24340 Al l of Fra nce c ov e re d

Carpentry &

Building Services Electricians

Electrician

All types of electrical work New builds, renovations, rewires.

French registered Artisan with 10 year guarantee.

Working alongside registered: Masons, Plumbers, Painters, Tilers and Plaquistes.

UK scaffolding supplied and erected here in France Qualified and fully insured FREE no obligation quotes Call Ian on

All small works undertaken

Stonework, Traditional renderings in Lime, Doors and Windows, Dry line walls, Zinc work, Electrical wiring and interior finishes Based near Brantôme

E-mail : dn.charker@sfr.fr

Tel: 05 53 09 42 18 No Siret: 402 444 871 00030

Dan Dan the odd Job Man!

Contact: Dave Hirons

06 34 24 64 11

dhirons1992@gmail.com

Email: akbrunnstrom@yahoo.co.uk

www.lakesidebandb.net

siret: 810 344 820 00016

SIRET: 799 067 939 00014

siret: 831 746 193 00018

GMS Electrical

Chantilly Properties

Based near Belvès (24170).

06 85 85 51 01

40 years’ experience

French registered - French insured 10 year décennale insurance French consuel certificates obtained Any job, small or large Full re-wires, extra sockets, industrial/commericial installations...

Pool heat pumps, external lighting, emergency lighting, electric gates...

Contact Gary Sear:

05 53 08 94 90 06 84 27 79 67

garysear5@hotmail.com

Based near Les Eyzies de Tayac (24620) siren: 808 093 322

Your advert here

06 89 18 35 89

06 04 17 80 93

Siret: 847 651 072 00013

ANGLO SCAFFOLDING HIRE

CHARKER DAVID

Specialist in the renovation and restoration of period and contemporary buildings

Based near Bergerac General Maintenance - Shelving Woodwork and Carpentry Dry Walling - Small odd Jobs Garden Maintenance

All jobs considered.

 Decking (all shapes and designs)  Renovations, alterations & conversions  Kitchens  Bathrooms Roofs Based in Sigoulès and covering Eymet, Bergerac, Duras & surroundings FREE QUOTES

e: darren.piper@hotmail.com

Building Services General

or see

Property maintenance General repairs Kitchen Fitting Service Bathroom Fitting Dry lining/ Plasterboarding specialist

Tel: 05 53 58 07 99 Email: neilallcorn@orange.fr Siret: 792 389 561 00012

Tel: 06 78 67 02 91

sales24@thebugle.eu

06 04 17 80 93

Harlequin Developments est. 2007

All aspects of renovation and

refurbishment, big or small.

KP RENOVATIONS DORDOGNE Tiling, plumbing, decorating, flooring and plasterboarding.

Specialising in kitchens and bathrooms.

Based in the Sarlat/Belvès areas and covering the Southern Dordogne.

Tel: 05 53 30 28 84 or 06 37 32 19 94 Fully Registered SIRET: 522 951 318 00024 / 512 253 931 00012

Kitchens fitted and tiled Replacement doors and windows Parquet flooring Oak framed porches Plasterboard and Insulation Covering northern Dordogne

05.55.68.67.56 06.06.60.46.97

harlequindevelopments@live.com www.harlequindevelopments.com SIRET: 494.501.067.00016

CONTINUED NEXT PAGE...

Buying or selling small items...?

Check out our online Classifieds... updated daily!

www.thebugle.eu/classifieds.php

To place a Classified, simply email details of your item for sale to notices@thebugle.eu

16 ♦ DIRECTORY Building Services Plumbing & Heating

PLUMBING & HEATING ENGINEER - Installation, from kitchen taps to full central heating systems - Breakdown / Replacement boilers - Emergency plumbing repairs - Full analysed testing

M : 06 72 47 88 00 T: 05 53 20 64 02 E : wellers@orange.fr Registered Artisan - Siret No: 480 857 853 00018

Please mention The Bugle when responding to adverts

Building Services Sandblasting Sand and Blast We provide a fully operated

sandblasting

service for wood, stone and metal.

Perfect for stripping away years of grime or paint.

Contact us for a free quote, or see our website:

www.sandandblast.com

05 55 76 31 59 / 06 77 40 95 92 bobby@sandandblast.com steve@sandandblast.com SIRET: 812 727 253 00013

Can your business fill this space?

Give us a call or send us an email:

www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ FEBRUARY 2020

Computers, Internet & Satellites Stephen Wisedale

WiFi Anglais Solve your Internet, Wi-Fi and computer problems

Wi-Fi networks for homes, gîtes and small businesses. Outdoor Wi-Fi 4G Internet. Windows and MacOS.

www.wifianglais.com Email: hello@wifianglais.com Tel: 05 53 30 23 96 Mob: 07 78 52 20 46 Siret: 800 525 040 00013

CCTV

Protect your Home Free Estimates --------------------------------Contact either Lawrie: +44 7968 984888 Or Liam: 06 01 10 19 75 Email: LAsurveillancefr@gmail.com Siret: 880 473 525 00017

Satellite TV Solutions Sky / Freesat / French TV Installation and Re-alignment Internet Installation & Repairs inc. Satellite Broadband Fast, Friendly Service 60km radius of Ribérac Call Dave on:

06 04 17 72 05

dave@satellitetv.solutions www.satellitetv.solutions siret: 794 461 293 00019

sales24@thebugle.eu

sales24@thebugle.eu

06 04 17 80 93

06 04 17 80 93

Food & Drink The Dordogne Chippy

Traditional Fish & Chips in a town near you All venues are in the evening between 6pm & 8.30 pm Wednesday: Mauzac, Le Barrage Thursday: Eymet 1st & 3rd Friday: Lauzun 2nd Friday: Ste-Alvère Last Friday: Campagnac-lès-Quercy See our website for full details:

www.thedordognechippy.com 05 53 74 01 91 or 06 19 99 25 62 siret: 444 925 630 00014

Garden Services DMS gardening & cleaning services

Health & Beauty

Pest Control

FRENCH HEALTHCARE

Central France Pest Control

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW Access, guidance & support for the French healthcare system in the Dordogne Have everything explained by

02 48 60 83 72 / 06 74 33 02 38

(fully bilingual) Healthcare specialist: Carte Vitale and Mutuelle cover for individuals and businesses Free quote, direct contact Get in touch for more information or a free appointment: email: evelyne.drouin@axa.fr tel : 06 76 46 13 43

www.applicateur3d.com

EVELYNE DROUIN

Cabinet d’Ostéopathie Lederman UK Trained Osteopath

05.53.91.46.67

Now taking on new clients for 2020 for all your cleaning and gardening needs, including changeovers and key holding.

Reliable, trustworthy and experienced.

Areas 16/87/86/24 covered

41 rue du 26 mars 1944, 24600 RIBERAC

janinedisney@aol.com

Call for appointments

siret: 827 791 054 00014

Siren: 504 744 517

06 42 14 26 56

Please mention The Bugle when responding to adverts

Handholding & Language Services FRENCH LESSONS Via Skype

with a native French speaker Why commute? Long distance learning is the answer!

C’est simple, call Sophie...

06 61 56 47 17 scarolinea@yahoo.fr

Dératisation, Déinsectisation, Désinfection

Fully bilingual

Email: info@applicateur3d.com Curative and preventative rats, mice, moles, flies, woodworm, bed bugs, fleas, wasps, hornets

La Petite Barre, 18210 Bessais Le Fromental SIRET No. 498 544 741 00024

Pools & Spas Limousin Spas

The region's leading distributor of Spas, Swim spas, Saunas & Hot tubs

New for 2019

We are pleased to announce our new range of over 80 Spas, Swim spas, Hot tubs & Saunas from top European and U.S. manufacturers. *Platinum Spas* *Superior Spas* *Tuff Spas* *Zen Spas* *BeSpa* *Durasport* *Superior Saunas* *Baltic Hot tubs* *Baltic Saunas*

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Massage: Holistic + Hot Stone + Aromatherapy + Sports Clinical Hypnotherapy: + EMDR + NLP Fears, Phobias, Anxiety, Weight Control, Panic Attacks, Habit, Trauma PTSD, Smoking Cessation, Sport / Business Performance, Relaxation.

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sales24@thebugle.eu

06 04 17 80 93

Web: www.limousin-spas.com Email: sales@limousin-spas.com Tel: 05 55 63 26 20 Siret: 752 157 610 00011

Your advert here 06 04 17 80 93 CONTINUED NEXT PAGE...

Buying or selling small items...?

Check out our online Classifieds... updated daily!

www.thebugle.eu/classifieds.php

To place a Classified, simply email details of your item for sale to notices@thebugle.eu

NEDWA - North Eastern Dordogne Women’s Association Come along and meet us on Tuesday 18th February from 10:30 am to 12 noon at our next Coffee Morning at Chez Cathy, Place Marquis Jacques François de Hautefort, 24390 Hautefort.

Always be sure of a warm welcome, good company and genuine friendship. For more information and details of upcoming events, see:

www.nedwa.com

NEDWA is a dynamic, multi-national group of around 100 women of all ages... Whether you are retired and feel like meeting some friendly faces, work from home and want to network, or just need to get out and attend some good monthly events, NEDWA fills the gap. Activities include a book club, sewing circle, coffee mornings, walks, lunches, speakers on topics which relate to you and much more.

DIRECTORY ♦ 17

FEBRUARY 2020 ○ THE BUGLE ○ www.thebugle.eu

ADVERTORIAL

I’m invested in Euro denominated funds - so what? Rosemary Sheppard, International Financial Adviser

I

f you have investments in Euro denominated funds, the chances are you are not seeing the heady performance compared to funds invested in Sterling over the last few years. The degree of outperformance of Sterling over funds invested in Euros can be quite staggering. The problem seems to be that when looking into Euro funds to invest, it is our experience that there just is not the same choice of good performing funds; in fact, the choice is much

smaller. In addition, the higher charges relating to some Euro funds can erode the returns. We are now seeing UK discretionary fund managers offering their good performing funds in Euros, which is changing the landscape for Euro fund investors for the better.

This means that anyone invested in Euro denominated funds should have their portfolio reviewed. You may have French investments, in which case how have they performed over the last five years?

A managed fund with a well-known UK fund manager invested in Euros and available to UK Expat French residents has achieved an average 5.5% gross return per annum over the last 5 years. This fund is medium or balanced risk. The average annual returns for cautious risk investment with the same company has been 4.0% per annum gross return over

the last five years. How do your Euro funds compare? https://www. prudential-international.com/pdf/ PRUF479302.pdf It takes a lot of skill and due diligence to find good consistent performing funds in Euros, and we find that most expat investors would like to see the historical performance of a fund when considering investing. We ensure our investors understand that past performance cannot be relied upon for future performance; however, it is a good benchmark to assess in terms of a fund manager’s track record.

Indeed, we also look at many other factors when choosing investment funds. Our primary objective when advising individuals is we will only advise someone to invest in a fund management company that we have heard of, has been running for at least five years, passes our due

diligence and most importantly, it has to be regulated.

Now is a very good time to review your investment funds and let us have a look at how your portfolio is performing, take a closer look at charges and how the fund is regulated. So start with a consultation and have your investment fund questions answered. Call me now on 06 38 86 99 70, email: rosemary. sheppard@blacktowerfm.com or visit www.theblacktowergroup.com.

This article is based on the opinion of the financial adviser and author, and does not reflect the views of Blacktower. The above information was correct at the time of preparation and does not constitute investment advice and you should seek advice from a professional adviser before embarking on any financial planning activity.

Blacktower Financial Management Ltd is authorised and regulated in the UK by the Financial Conduct Authority. Blacktower Financial Management (Int) Ltd is licensed in Gibraltar by the Financial Services Commission (FSC) through whom we have a registered branch and passport for financial services in France. License number 00805B.

ADVERTORIAL

Houses on Internet: A Global Property Network

H

ouses on Internet – Global Property Services (hereafter referred to as “HOIGPS”) is the internet/marketing company that has been helping people sell their French property to buyers worldwide since 2009.

Richard Kroon, founder and director of the company: “In spite of Brexit, this year started off extremely well. We still see British buyers, but also many other nationalities, which is why our worldwide advertising is so important. Our marketing efforts are definitely paying off and guarantee a worldwide exposure of your property to buyers wherever they live.

“Last year was one of the most successful ever for HOI-GPS. We sold properties in the price range from €35,000 to €875,000 to people from 14 different

countries, like France, Australia, Belgium, Holland, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Denmark and South-Africa.

“The actual work all starts with the presentation of a property. If that’s not good enough, all other marketing efforts are useless. Our photographers usually take 150 to 200 photos of a house and in addition copy any good (summer) photos our clients may have themselves.

“About 50 to 60 of those photos are selected, enhanced and presented on the dedicated website we make for each property in English, French and Dutch.

“The texts don’t just describe the house, garden and outbuildings, but information about shopping, schools, airports and leisure is given too.

“When the website for the house is online, we first connect it to our main HOI-GPS websites which attract over 135,000 visitors from 35+ countries each month. Most of these people find us through Google and additional Google advertising.

“To reach an even larger audience, a summary of the presentation of the house is also placed on several other leading property websites. These adverts are also connected to the dedicated website of the house, making it all one big global property network.

“As the property market has become a global one, a prospective buyer can be on the other side of the world while the owner is in bed sleeping.

With our approach, the buyer does not have to wait and can see the entire property whenever

he wants, at the moment he is interested in it.”

For more information on HOIGPS or to market your property through them, visit their website. ■

Houses on Internet Global Property Services www.housesoninternet.com

+31 (0)6 41 20 73 69

ADVERTORIAL

“SolarVenti”- the solar solution to damp and humidity

A

simple solar energy system that runs on its own, even when you are not there! – And provides a free heat supplement in winter.

The Solarventi air panel was invented more than 20 years ago by Hans Jørgen Christensen, from Aidt Miljø, with the backing of the Danish government. He wanted to use the sun’s energy for airing and ventilation of the thousands of holiday homes on the West coast of Jutland, - houses that were left empty and unheated for long periods - houses with damp problems, mould and bad odours - houses that left their owners with discomfort, lots of work and expense. He wanted a system that would be safe, simple, without the need for radiators, water and/or mains electricity. Slowly but surely, the first Solarventi model came

together.

How it works The principle behind Solarventi is simple: a small, builtin, solar cell powers a 12V fan that is connected to an air vent, a control unit and an on/ off switch.

Whenever the sun shines, the air in the solar panel is heated and the fan, receiving power from the solar cell, introduces warm, dry air into your home at the rate of 20 to 100 cubic metres per hour.

The initial models were more than capable of keeping the cottages dry (and ventilated), even with the limited sunshine hours available in Denmark during the winter season. Since that time, the technology has really come along in leaps and bounds. Now, more than 20 years later, the 3rd and 4th generation Solarventi have exceed-

ed all expectations.

In Southern Europe, Solarventi is not only used for ventilation/dehumidification purposes; with far more winter sunshine hours, it also provides a substantial heating supplement. Several technical and governmental studies show that incoming air temperature can be increased by as much as 40°C. A DIY Solution?

The installation process is very straightforward and should only take two or three hours. All that is needed is a drill, hammer and chisel to make a hole in the wall. Roof installations are also possible. In fact, the Solarventi was originally designed to be a DIY product - in Scandinavia it still is.

There are no electrical or water connections and it can be safely left running, even when

the property is empty. Solarventi requires no maintenance - if the property is unoccupied during the hot summer months, then it can be left running at low speeds for ventilation and dehumidification purposes or simply switched off.

With a range of panel sizes, and the option for wall or roof mounting, Solarventi is suitable for all types of buildings, caravans or even boats!! Following the patenting of its design in 2001, Solarventi has only recently been actively commercialized. Over the last six years, Solarventi units have been installed in more than 24 countries and demand is increasing rapidly. From Greenland to Australia, Solarventi is finally getting the recognition it deserves. ■ Units start from €490 TTC.

SOLARVENTI - Available in the Dordogne From Harlequin Developments Mobile: 06 06 60 46 97

18 ♦ DIRECTORY Property Maintenance La Conciergerie Taking care of your home all year round providing you with a wintering service, managing your summer rentals or organising a happy holiday for you.

siret: 840 556 228 00010 - APE 9609Z

06 04 17 80 93 Support

Give us a call or send us an email:

SOS Help

01 46 21 46 46

06 04 17 80 93

www.soshelpline.org

bookstop English second-hand books Tea room Art exhibitions

09 51 45 57 49

bookstop24@gmail.com facebook.com/bookstop24 19 rue Victor Hugo, 24310 Brantôme

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anxious? stressed? feeling down? call us up!

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Retail & Commerce

Can your business fill this space?

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www.laconciergerie-housekeeping.com

24600 Villetoureix laconciergerie24@orange.fr Tel: 06 42 67 94 50

www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ FEBRUARY 2020

06 04 17 80 93 Transport, Removals & Storage

3 - 11pm daily Confidential & Non-profit

Smart Moves

Franklins Removals

For a fully insured, careful service

A family business offering a quality, professional service since 1985

FORTNIGHTLY SERVICES TO FRANCE FULL OR PART LOADS WELCOME WE COLLECT FROM ALL AREAS OF THE UK AND DELIVER TO ALL AREAS OF FRANCE Find us on Facebook: @smartmovesukfrance Please CALL or EMAIL Stephen

Contact Stephen or Ben: 0044 121 353 7263 sales@franklinsremovals.co.uk www.franklinsremovals.co.uk

Your advert here

smartmovers@hotmail.co.uk

+44 (0)1253 725 414

www.smartmovesremovals.co.uk

06 04 17 80 93

Man & Van Transport

Dementia Support Native English speaker.

Genuine/Reliable/Honest Local + Europe + UK runs Now also available for House/Barn clearances!

14m3 capacity 4.2m load length

Please contact Catriona:

English & French Spoken

Psychologist (MBPsS) looking for part-time work giving affordable care and respite to dementia sufferers in their own home / environment.

Local and European Removals

Périgord Noir, will travel up to 45 mins from 24170.

87150 Oradour-sur-Vayres

France to France, Spain, Portugal, Italy etc We Offer: Removals, Storage, House Clearance, also Car, Caravan, Plant Transport.

French Registered Business.

Local Friendly Service.

www.frenchvanman.eu

siret: 841 001 456 00018

Siret 530 213 644 00012

www.dordognestoragesolutions.com

catcool61@aol.com

09 82 12 69 73

+33 (0)6 73 96 38 39

Come sing with us!

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06 04 17 80 93 Please mention The Bugle when responding to adverts

Pretty Sparkle and her friends are waiting for you at Acorn Cat Rescue.

For its 2020 season, the choir “Cantabile d’Eymet” is looking for a number of extra choristers in all the voice sections. A good ear, a right voice and the desire to sing in a sympathetic atmosphere some jewels of English music of the 21st century - the “Requiem” and four “Songs of Sanctuary” by Karl Jenkins - are all we require, the administrative team of the choir will take care of the rest.

Like all Acorn cats, Sparkle is microchipped, vaccinated, de-parasited and sterilised.

Rehearsals are in French and English and take place in Eymet on Wednesday evenings from 8 pm to 10 pm.

www.associationacorn.com

For more information, please contact our English president - pippacogulot@gmail.com - or our French choirmaster on 06 43 10 63 52 or at the following address: lhopiteaumichele@gmail.com

Facebook & Instagram: Acorn Cat Rescue

Advertising in The Bugle Business Directory Advertising your business couldn’t be easier. Text only, boxed listings are available in our Business Directory from just €12.50/month.

Alternatively, why not spotlight your business with an Advertorial, available from 1/6 Page (€50 HT) up to Full Page (€300 HT).

Both Directory Adverts and Advertorials represent a cost effective way to put your brand in front of more than 30,000 pairs of eyes each month!!

For more information on any of our advertising options, please feel free to give us a call on 06 04 17 80 93 or send an email to sales24@thebugle.eu

6-Month Contract

12-Month Contract

Small b&w Directory Ad

€100

€150

Large b&w Directory Ad

€130

€195

Small Colour Directory Ad

€140

€210

Large Colour Directory Ad

€180

€270

All prices exclude TVA (20%)

Directory Advertising is available either in black and white or colour, and in either small (30 words max) or large (45 words max) format.

Directory adverts may only contain text (small logos may be allowed when supplied). The minimum contract length is 6 months.

Advertising is payable on publication. All prices are HT.

Large Directory Ad 46mm x 71mm (Actual Size) 45 words max Small Directory Ad 46mm x 46mm (Actual Size)

30 words max

WHAT’S ON ♦ 19

FEBRUARY 2020 ○ THE BUGLE ○ www.thebugle.eu

1) 13, this includes Corsica since 2019 (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, Brittany, Centre-Val de Loire, Corsica, Grand Est, Hauts-de-France, Île-de-France, Normandy, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Occitanie, Pays de la Loire, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur)

6) Élysée Palace

2) Paris, Marseille, Lyon, Toulouse and Nice

9) 16

3) Mont Blanc

10) Liberté, Fraternité, Égalité

4) Assemblée Nationale (the equivalent of Britain's House of Commons) and the Sénat (the equivalent of Britain's House of Lords)

11) All of them. Under France's strict Laïcité rules, no overtly religious symbols may be worn in public schools

5) 6 years

12) La Marseillaise

7) 1789 8) Général Charles de Gaulle

ADVERTS FROM €12.50 HT / MONTH SALES24@THEBUGLE.EU

06 04 17 80 93

To advertise in The Bugle Business Directory, call 06 04 17 80 93 or email sales24@thebugle.eu

Buying or Selling French Property?

Legal advice from English-speaking lawyers Also the #1 portal for property auctions

www.frenchpropertylawyer.fr

05 55 82 18 99

Worship services in English held throughout the Dordogne: Bertric Burée, Chancelade, Eymet Temple, Limeuil, Négrondes, Sainte Nathalène (near Sarlat).

All are welcome!!

Please visit our website for more information: www.churchinaquitaine.org Find us on Facebook: English Church Aquitaine

Buying or selling small items...?

Check out our online Classifieds... updated daily!

www.thebugle.eu/classifieds.php

To place a Classified, simply email details of your item for sale to notices@thebugle.eu

20 ♦ WHAT’S ON

www.thebugle.eu ○ THE BUGLE ○ FEBRUARY 2020

Salon du Bien-être et des Médecines douces Sat 8th & Sun 9th February

Music in the Dordogne sponsored by ARCADES Join us for concerts in the air conditioned new hall in Le Buisson, mostly of classical music, with top class French,

English, Russian and other international performers. Concert tickets cost €15 including wine in the interval.

All events are organised by volunteers and serve as a meeting ground for the French and international communities

7th edition of this Well-being and Complementary Medicine Fair. 30 exhibitors will be present offering massages, naturopathy, iridology, numerology, aromatherapy, feng shui, sophrology, hypnosis, magnetism, meditation, quantum therapy, geobiology, lithotherapy, Bach flower remedies, astrology, speciliast book sales...

14 conferences and workshops are planned for the two days (free and without reservation).

Mairie de Thénon. 10h-19h. Free entry.

of the Dordogne, including ACIP and La Tulipe.

Venue - Le Buisson de Cadouin, salle des fêtes, avenue Aquitaine

For more info, tel 06 31 61 81 68 or 05 53 23 86 22 or visit http://www.arcadesinfo.com/

Sunday 23rd February at 4 pm Recital by Mezzo Soprano Sophie Leleu and Pianist Masumi Fukaya

Programme: Nuit Resplendissante, Cinq Mars, Gounod; O ma lyre immortelle, Sapho, Gounod; L’air du Saule Otello, Rossini; Voi lo sapete, Cavagliera Rusticana, Mascagni; Casta Diva, Norma, Bellini; Un sospiro, Liszt; Clair de Lune Debussy; Nachtstuck, Schubert; Wie Raft ich auf in der Nacht, Unbewegthe laue luft, Brahms; Les chemins de l’amour, Poulenc; Les adieux de l’hotesse arabe, Bizet; Tes yeux bleus, Chabrier Mezzo-soprano, Sophie Leleu, began her artistic career by studying Dramatic Art at the Ecole Nationale du Val Maubuée in Noisiel and the Celtic harp with Didier Donon. She obtained her Bachelor degree with honours from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.

Sophie performs in Europe, Asia and the United States.

Born in Tokyo, pianist Masumi Fukaya began her musical studies at the age of five. She studied at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris and obtained a Master’s degree in vocal accompaniment, with unanimous honours. Since 2009, she has been performing regularly in France, mainly with singers at the Salle Pleyel, the Théâtre du Châtelet, the Musée d’Orsay, the Petit Palais and the Philharmonie de Paris, etc.

On 7th and 8th March, Sarlat once again celebrates its favourite animal.

With its noisy flocks of geese honking their way through the medieval town, countless stands offering regional produce, carcass soup (a local tradition) to warm visitors up, music from the bandas, workshops and demonstrations by farmers and artisans, and free entertainment for the children, there is something for everyone! Not to mention the great banquet.

Not to be missed, this gastronomic feast offers foie gras in abundance, prepared by the best sarladais chefs.

To reserve contact the Sarlat tourist office tel 05 53 31 45 45.

For more information about the festival visit www.sarlat-tourisme.com/festoie