here - Marseillan Historique

To benefit the Village
Dans l’intérèt du Village
December 2009
Roll on 2010
President’s word
Not meaning to wish our lives away,
but we shall be glad to get rid of 2009!
It has not been a good year. All across
the EU people tended to holiday in
their own country. So we had few
Anglophones until the end of season, but
a massive influx of French through the
school holidays.
Nevertheless we were able to make a
donation… unfortunately of only 250€
since the number of walkers was only
about 30% of previous years.
Through the ‘back-end’ it has been pretty
quiet as well… everybody is hoping that
things will pick up for Christmas.
Long-term the indications are favourable.
The Government is putting money into
the infrastructure, and thus creating work.
Above all the people are maintaining their
morale.
Our main occupation now, of course,
is with next year. Not a lot happens for
Marseillan Historique in the winter, although we are offering our
traditional Boxing & New Year’s Day
village walks.
We are working on a couple of other
ideas, but I can’t report on them until we
have we have worked them through.
Le mot de la Presidente
The new Carrefour Market has shot up
alongside the roundabout on the way to
Agde. This site is obviously going to become an important trading centre, with
other stores opening under the umbrella
and magnet that is Carrefour.
It is planned to open for Easter. In the
meantime the village Champion is actually a Carrefour Market in disguise.
It still carries the Champion brand, but the
products and loyalty points are Carrefour.
It is, we are told, the last Champion store
in France.
Merry Christmas
Patricia
Stop Press
A new Marseillan web site has come on
line.
http://www.ville-marseillan.fr.
No, we are not joking!
Some jobsworth has decided that flat
open country that is ideal for vines is also
perfect deer country!
The road between Marseillan and Mèze
now has deer warning signs at every
junction. Not that one could do much if a
deer leapt into the road. (About as much
value as the signs warning of potentially
falling branches!)
Sans vouloir souhaiter notre fin, mais
nous sommes soulagés que 2009 s’achève
enfin! Ce n’a pas été une bonne année.
A travers toute l’Europe, les gens ont eu
tendance à prendre leurs vacances dans
leur propre pays.
Nous avons donc accueilli peu
d’anglophones jusqu’ à la fin de la saison,
mais connu une forte affluence des français dues aux vacances scolaires.
Néanmoins nous avons pu faire une
donation… malheureusement seulement
250 euros ont pu être récoltés puisque le
nombre de <marcheurs> a été d’environ
30% par rapport à l’année passée.
Face à l’automne ça a été plutôt calme
quand même… Tout le monde espère que
les choses s’amélioreront à Noël.
A long terme, les signes sont encourageants. Le gouvernement investit dans l’Infrastructure, ce qui crée
de ce fait des emplois. Par-dessus
tout, les gens gardent le moral.
Notre priorité maintenant, c’est l’année
prochaine, i1 n’y a rien de spécialement
prévu pour l’association Marseillan Historique durant l’hiver, même si nous
offrons notre traditionnel chalet de noel
et notre balade du village à l’occasion de
la Nouvelle année.
Nous avons une ou deux autres
idées sur lesquelles nous travaillons
actuellement, mais je préfère ne pas
en parler pour le moment tant que
nous ne sommes pas certains de leur
viabilité.
Joyeux Noël
Patricia Worsam
(La traduction: Mme. Laeatitia Hadji)
To benefit the Village
Dans l’intérèt du Village
Renovation & Travel
With so much renovation being done on the cheap it is good to be able to report that at least one house
is maintaining its ancient charm.
Instead of demolition it has been supported and is being strengthened by the judicious use of modern materials.
We hope that others will follow this example.
Camping Cars
RVs, Mobile Homes, call them what you
will, they have this year finally overstepped the mark. At the beginning of the
season they were everywhere - except in
the sites who depend on them for their
livelihood.
So the Mairie stepped in. Access to unofficial parking spaces was blocked in one
concerted weekend effort.
Unfortunately the need for speed forced
some crude solutions.
This blockage at Maldormir is typical.
At first the chicane was so tight only Fiat
Unos could squeeze through. Then it was
opened - and large vans could access.
It finally settled with access for Peugeot
307s, but not the 407s!
Let us hope that over the winter proper
height barriers are put in place..
rue Emile Zola
The attempt to pedestranise rue Emile
Zola having failed it has now been laid
with tarmac. An improvement - but not an
enhancement to the charms of the ancient
village.
Village streets have now each acquired
an Occitan name le - Carrièra de la
Comuna Vièlha for Emile Zola- part of
the campaign to retain the ancient Oc as
a live language.
Christmas Village
Following last year’s success the
village centre is again being converted to a
Victorian Christmas Village.
This year with double the number of
kiosks and running for an extra week from the 12th December.
The Christmas lights are spectacular for a
small village. The Mairie, in particular, is
a blaze of silver.
Pézenas
Is now a one-way town. The system
is counter-clockwise and - would you
believe - cycle tracks have been added in
place of what was the second carriageway.
Pézenas to Béziers
This road was built as a triple carriageway
to allow passing in the centre lane.
Some five years ago it was decided that
three lanes were too dangerous. So for
alternate stretches of 2km it was made
two carriageway in one direction, and one
in the other.
Thus one could pass by waiting a maximum of 2km.
Now it has been changed again.
Thousands of litres of white paint have
been used to cross-hatch the centre lane.
So no passing is allowed in either direction for some 12km!
Recently we were behind a learner HGV
driver. The only car to pass made it on a
roundabout! Where it is, of course, dangerous and illegal.
Driving is becoming extremely frustrating… one wonders what the psychological (and physical?) effects of these
frustrations will be.
And also wonder at the sanity of the dogooders who are inflicting these stupidities upon us.
To benefit the Village
Dans l’intérèt du Village
Developments
Christmas Shopping
Agde’s new Travellers’ site.
There are many ghastly things happening
in the area as we suffer from the onset of
urbanisation. Perhaps inevitable when so
many new residents have to be accommodated at short notice - but not pleasant.
The extension of Sète has to be seen to
be believed. What was wild open dunes
is now a huge estate of residential boxes,
avenues and cul-du-sacs.
An esplanade runs behind the beach, and
all the beach cafes are gone.
Huge parking areas provide regulation
and control. You will enjoy yourselves but in sanitised safety.
Work on the Lido has been suspended lack of funds? - but will resume in the
new year.
We shall report again on this folly - for
the moment we shall just record that the
new ‘improved’ traffic flow caused journey time from Marseillan Ville to the
Plage to exceed 75 minutes! The previous
maximum at high season was around 20
minutes.
Marseillan’s new Travellers’ centre
opened in the summer. It is opposite to the
tip on the route to Agde.
All towns have to make provision but
Agde is constructing its centre in the vineyards only some 3km from Marseillan’s
facility.
Not only are they building this site they
are also - for our convenience - slashing
a major new road along the route of what
was a charming lane through the vines.
We also are to have yet more cycle tracks.
The ones we have so far have taken a third
of the road width, but are used only by a
few tourists in season.
As part of the traffic calming panic that
is sweeping France we also have speed
bumps at every possible location.
The road linking the Lido to the front has
22 speed bumps in 300 metres. 11 to warn
of the upcoming T junction at each end.
And they extend across the whole road so
they are unavoidable!
With the Spanish border less than
two hours down the autoroute thousands make the journey to stock
up on cheaper spirits, cigarettes,
tobacco,
petrol
and
diesel.
(No good sherry, surprisingly. But lots of
port and rioja.)
The border town of Perthus is a dusty,
ramshackle assortment of supermarkets,
cafes and bars. Absolutely nothing to
commend it to a visitor, except the opportunity to save money.
So is it really worth the effort of a twohour round trip at the start or end of
the day, plus the four hours on a busy
autoroute?
And there can be a delay of several hours
as the traffic filters through the border
control. Will the savings compensate even
for the 15€ fare, let alone the travel?
Contact
Before
During
We shall report on the ‘after’ in due course. For the moment we weep at the amount
of concrete and tarmac being deployed in this lovely region.
President: Patricia Worsam
Secretary: Nicolas Ghorra
Treasurer: Mike Worsam
BP29, 34340 Marseillan,
Hérault, France.
+33 4 67 77 38 64
marseillan.historique@orange.fr
www.marseillanhistorique.info
To benefit the Village
Dans l’intérèt du Village
Research Results
Marseillan’s Best & Worst features as seen by the respondents to our survey.
How to advertise the Village to the British.
Best Features
Worst Features
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the ancient French culture.
atmosphere, warm & friendly.
history & diversity.
walking the ancient streets.
uncommercialised.
mixing with the French.
calm, with all amenities.
pleasant evenings after day visitors
have gone.
the port and the Etang de Thau.
location - so easy to visit other places
of interest.
The French legal system operates very
differently from that of the UK. The
notaire is not the same as a British
solicitor. Nor is an avocat the same as
a barrister. Judges and magistrates are
trained professionals with clearly defined
roles.
A major basis of the French system is
agreement between the parties - the
notaire only makes the agreement legal.
So, in house purchasing, for example,
only one lawyer is involved. And he is
paid by the purchaser.
Finalising the agreement can take weeks,
but the deal is legally secure when an
agreement to sell and to buy has been
signed. Thus there is no need for each
party to be legally represented, nor can
there be any gazumping, or pulling out of
the deal.
In a high court - tribunal de grande instance (TGI) are:
* avocats (advocates),
* magistrats (judges - different to
British magistrates who preside in
lower courts),
* greffiers (clerks), and
* huissiers (ushers).
In the appeal court are the avoués, who
deal with procedural matters in appeals.
All of these have a white, pleated rabat
or bib (bavoir) at their throats. To the untrained eye, they all look alike and no-one
wears a wig.
plastic in the ancient village.
plastic church doors.
risk of losing unique identity.
risk of losing its ‘Frenchness’.
lack of tourist information in village.
no multi-lingual help from Mairie.
Would like
* excursions to pick up in Village as
well as the Plage.
* transport to Vias airport.
Legal Professionals
Both avocats and magistrats wear a piece
of cloth called an epitoge over their left
shoulder with ends tipped with ermine
(apart from Paris-based avocats). The
magistrat’s robe is faced in black silk and
he or she may wear a sash.
All the magistrats are paid public servants,
having received the same university legal
training as the avocats, but then gone on
to the Ecole Nationale de la Magistrature
in Bordeaux.
After law school they divide into two
streams juges du siege, who hear cases,
and juges d’instruction - investigation
judges - who do not sit in court.
Others work in the public prosecutor’s
department - known as the parquet from
the floor of the courts where they spend
so much time.
Avocats receive their two years’ training at one of the regional bar schools and
go straight into practice. Each TGI court
district has its own bar (barreau) and a
newly-arrived avocat must join the local
ordre des avocats.
Magistrats are now encouraged to specialise, but in many provincial TGIs, they
will be generalists. Their career pattern is
little-influenced by the number of their
judgments that are reversed on appeal and
they may only be removed after lengthy,
rare proceedings. Magistrats may transfer
to the bar and become avocats.
Key Findings to guide Marseillan’s
advertising
* the typical British visitor is mid 40s,
and above.
* Very few British bring children to
Marseillan Ville or Plage.
* Marseillan’s location is important as
it is so easy to visit places of interest.
* the absence of mosquitoes is a
welcome and major surprise.
* the French Health Service adds to
Marseillan’s feel-good factor.
* Sun, sea & sand are background,
pretty much taken for granted.
Although many avocats are specialists in
a particular field and many only handle
litigation, most are general practitioners
and do not only appear in court. They will
give general legal advice and draft both
simple and complex agreements, form
companies, advise on inheritance and succession law or assist in tax matters.
Avocats have sole rights of audience in
the TGI and the appeal courts, but a person may represent themselves in the commercial court, the labour tribunal (conseil
de prud’hommes), the TI or before the
juge de proximite. Union representatives
also have limited rights of audience in the
labour tribunals.
Notaires do not appear in court and will
generally only be involved in court work
when it comes to giving effect to a divorce
settlement or to valuing disputed property
or auctioning it off afterwards.
In rural areas they will - with the local
huissier - often be the only source of legal
advice and assistance if you are unable
or unwilling to travel to the nearest large
town or city.
Huissiers are similar to the British
Baliffs. They serve process or other
official notices on people, execute judgments on their property, seize their bank
accounts, evict them, etc.
With thanks to The French Paper
www.thefrenchpaper.com