Non, non et merde!

A demo today as part of the swiftly mounted campaign against a proposed hot bitumen factory a couple of hundred metres outside Ferrals, on a site surrounded by vines in a spot that almost every tourist will pass on the way to the Corbières. It managed to sneak through almost the whole planning process before there was really any public awareness, but luckily some very dynamic residents of Ferrals found out about it, read the plans in detail, and swiftly set up a collective to fight it. They've communicated really well and got plenty of media coverage. This demo was only announced a week ago, and there was a good turnout of 300-400 people, eleven tractors (extra), a grape harvesting machine, and the mayors of most of the neighbouring communes. There's been a public enquiry, which found against it, but that's only a recommendation -- we have to wait for the Préfet to give his final word. I think he would be foolish to provoke a crowd of very angry vignerons, but we shall see.

In the evening, a convivial apero at our friendly neighbourhood vigneron's. "I won't stay long," I said, and finally headed home at 11 pm after lots of chat and quite a few glasses of rosé. Oops. Just as well it's the last one for this year.