Snow outside Angers could lead to water rise later

The famous "angevine mildness", depicted by the french poet, Joachim du Bellay, when he returned to his native province from Rome in 1558, could be true in winter. While nearby administrative departments, like Indre-et-Loire, Sarthe, Mayenne and Ille-et-Vilaine, are under "orange alert", because of the risk of snow, Maine-et-Loire was, till now, no affected even if snow was predicted last december 17th.

But that doesn't mean Angers is unaffected. On sunday afternoon, in Saint-Laud railway station, many trains were delayed till two hours because of meteorological difficulties in the North of Maine-et-Loire. During days to come, Météo France doesn't foresee snow but only an overcast weather with temperatures ranging from 2 to 9 degrees, winds reaching 20km/h and rains. There is no snow till the end of the year. In the recent days, inhabitants only noticed a thin layer of snow in the early hours of saturday. The fire brigades recorded three losses of control without physical casualties.

The situation is so very different of a severe winter experienced in Angers and Maine-et-Loire. In 2009 for example 6 degrees under zero were recorded in Angers. The mildness yet noticed centuries ago comes from the double influence of the oceanic and continental climates, with rainy winters and scarce frosts. But every advantage has its reverse. In Anjou, it is the rivers, and especially Loire, floods. If Météo France does not forecast snow and does not foresee inundations, everyone knows snow uphill comes always downhill.

Angers streetcar line : it's now the turn of the stops

Station installation in cold, rain and darkness

The line of Angers street car is, step by step, taking its permanent aspect. After the railtracks have been covered by cobblestones, schist or lawn and brigthed up with boxes and bowers, it is time now for the equipment of the stations. During the night of december 19th, two teams of the JCDecaux company started to fit the elements of the 25 stops of line A linking Avrillé city to the La Roseraie disctrict of Angers.

Credit picture : Wikipedia

Unloaded from three lorries, metallic structures of the future shelters and roofs made of glass were carefully put together by teams of three persons each. The task was not easy because of the cold weather, the rain and the obscurity, even if the technicians wore little miners'lamp necessary to screw the elements at the Foch-Haras stop. The benches could come later because the stations have not to shelter the public before the opening of the line on at the end of next june.

Glass roof at Foch Haras station

About 35 000 passengers will daily use the streetcar which will run from 5.30 am to 0.30 am. The medium waiting time between two trains will not exceed 6 mn in rush hours. Recently the works were finally completed in Létanduère street and in downtown Avrillé, two places where inhabitants will have hardly withstood the lengh of the works. The train could go through Angers on next week for its tests.

Credit Picture : Angers Townhall

Townhall has already planned a advertising campaign about new rules for a harmonious coexistence between pedestrians, bikers, drivers and streetcar along the line.

"The monarch" was in Anjou

Once again, Anjou and English are associated in national, even international, press coverage. The British Medical Journal published - in English of course - on december 14th a study entitled "Multidisciplinary medical identification of a French king's head" written by a group of doctors from... France. They categorically identified it was Henri IV's head which was discovered by two editors in january 2010 in... Anjou.

 A retired tax collector, Jacques Bellanger, 84, bought (!) the relic in 1955 (at auctions!) and kept it since in the attic of his Anjou house. During 55 years, the head of "the monarch" (so qualified by the owner) was in a wooden case, itself put back on a shelf of a wardrobe. According to the BMJ, Henry IV's head has "a light brown colour, open mouth, and partially closed eyes. The preservation was excellent, with all soft tissues and internal organs well conserved". "The face is at the same time expressive and terrifying", told the French editors.


This is not the first "stay" of Henry IV in Anjou. The monarch was in Angers at the time he prepared the edit de Nantes. At that time, he was hosted in the Logis Barrault. He went also to Briollay for hunting. In order to get the confidence of the catholics, he went to Angers cathedral and he laid the first stone of the Capucins monastery.  The definitive version of the text was written in the Jacobins monastery. The Anjou province was twice the origin of the celebrity of Henry IV.

The bikers would not be welcome in Ralliement plaza and around

Credit picture Auva : tiny but dangerous 

 

 

 

If the pedestrians have yet recovered the core of the city, this is not the case for the cyclists. Apparently, no lanes dedicated to bikes have been drawn on the ground and the equipments to park the bikes are scarce in the streets near Ralliement square. So how will the cyclists do to cross the area and park their vehicles? Those could be sufficient to cause accidents.

No specific lanes for bikers

Presently, the only possibility the bikers have in Ralliement square is to tie the cycle to the guardrails of steps driving to the parking lots. That's a pity because those iron structures are styled. In Alsace street nothing indicates which side of the pavements is dedicated to pedestrians and cyclists. And there is no signal indicating the zone is accessible to each other. Moreover, the only surface which could not be slippery is the central one, covered with cobblestones. But the traks of the streetcar constitute for bikers a dreadful snare and could lead to severe accidents.

Equipments unavailble in Ralliement plaza

 The most careful behaviour for these would be to step down from the top of Alsace street till the bottom of Roë street. But there is no road sign to warn them to do so. The risks could be more important in Roë street because of the slope. Another difficulty is much devious. The new road surface of the Chaussée Saint Pierre has two levels, only distinct with a slight difference in height : one or two centimetres. That little difference of height could provoke falls.

The Arthurs' classes on stage

Credit pictures : Les Arthurs

The Arthurs, a theatre company, presented, on december 14th, the first results of its beginners course, organized every year, in front an audience of relatives and friends. Fourteen scenes excerpts from masterworks of Shakespeare, Molière, Sartre, Goldoni, some extracted from dramas ("Phèdre", "Huis clos") others from vaudeville ("La puce à l'oreille" or "Un fil à la patte"), some in alexandrines, others in prose, distracted the public a couple of hours in the little theatre of the company, located in David d'Angers street.

The students, all amateurs, mostly women, of different ages, began their classes on october and, after only two months, have already the ability to overcome stress and stage fright even if, from time to time, knowledge-gaps are visible. If the scenes presented variable degrees in difficulty, the lengh of the dialogues and the expressiveness they require, the trainee actors will continue in january their discovery of that art and will be confronted to new challenges.

"The goal is to give to everybody the resource to be sensitive with theatre, to gain self-confidence and of course to be at ease on a stage, with a text, a staging and the feelings we want to express", says the Arthurs who, presently, perform "Des cailloux plein les poches" at the Chanzy theatre.

A twinning of Angers with the Us city of Austin could be in sight

The arrival of Saint Edwards University in Angers could lead to another consequence : the twinning of Angers with the city of Austin, the capital of Texas. Local medias announced that a twinning committees had been set up on each side of the Atlantic ocean but no date is precised regarding the signature of an agreement.

Angers could be more interested than Austin by such a scheme given the difference of size between the two cities. Austin is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the fifteenth most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in the nation from 2000 to 2006. Its population sums 786,000. Created around 1830, Austin has since emerged as a center for technology and business. The Texas capital has a humid subtropical climate,  characterized by hot summers and mild winters (as Angers). Austin is known as a center for liberal politics in a generally conservative Texas.

 Among the Austin's largest employers, there are Dell, IBM, 3M or Apple Inc. Buildings that make up most of Austin's skyline are modest in height even it the city hosts some of the tallest condo towers in the state, topping one out at 56 floors and another at 44 floors. Angers could be then the only French city to be twinned with Austin.

The next local taxe increase already swallowed by some Angers inhabitants

If civism is a quality among citizens, an excess of civism could not deserve the same qualification. After a wise communication about the difficulties for Angers Loire Metropole to balance its budget, press and now press readers presented on december 12th the increase of local taxes in 2011 as something unavoidable.

For the reader, the transfer, from national state to local authorities of new tasks, particularly in the social area, is the origin of the present financial tensions. If that is worsening the local finances, the deficit has also local origins : the project of the authority to launch an ambitious housing scheme till 2012 with more than 2 500 homes in average per year, the cost of the first streetcar line which largely exceeded the planned amount and the duty of Angers Loire Metropole to refund the private local companies the local business taxe because its rate was illegal.

If the costly inauguration project of the streetcar had recently been withdraw by the mayor, readers of local press, whose some of them will have foot the bill, consider regrettably that the politicians have no way but to increase the taxes. Meanwhile a way has not been sufficiently worked out : the reduction of current expenses. The increase of taxes to fill a financial deficit only solve the result of the disease, not its origin. It's time cor local (as well as national) politicians to work on it.

Crowd in Angers downtown on sunday, a lively, but scarce, sight

The end of sunday afternoon in downtown of Angers on december 12th city illustrated, once again, that the city is much more lively when stores are opened. Even if those were almost all closed, the Alsace and Lenepveu streets, and of course the Ralliement plaza, were overcrowded. People were lining up to buy a glass of hot wine (mixed with cinnamon delicately sweetening the atmosphere and attracting new customers) or pastries bananas-shaped cooked in giant chip pans. And the few stores opened didn't seem to wait for shoppers.

Clearly, Angers inhabitants enjoy the ambiance of Christmas or New Year and would may be ready to spend money on others events. That kind of festivities would deserve a general understanding between stores owners who, may be, could get from town hall the necessary authorization to open up to five sundays per year as regulation allows it. Almost if they are food stores because, clearly, food in France remains closely linked with merry-making.

 While the open air terrazas of the cafes are clearly enjoyed by customers all year long, nothing was planned on Ralliement plaza to allow inhabitants drink their wine otherwise than walking... While all the Christmas huts were concentrated on a side of the plaza, a big tent would have been welcome on the other side. That would add money ... and fun.

A French-English expression will not anger some 11 000 Angers families

Credit Pictures Wikipedia

A new hybrid expression, at the same time English and French, appeared on december 10th in Angers city : the "triple play social" and about 11 000 households are going to use it. These families, tenants of the social housing local authority Angers Habitat, will have access to the programs of numerous tv channels, French and foreigner, a wired telephony and a two mega internet connection. And for only 3,69 € instead of 5,65 € per month! An unbeatable price compared to the fees paid - presently (because it could increase) - by the others customers (17 € et 29,90 € per month for a subscription to wired telephony and an illimited access to internet) which means a saving of 480 € per year.

For the instigator of such an offer, the advantages are... triple : it gives a new purchasing power to low income families (will they remember it when the rent will rise?), it contributes to the elimination of satellites dishes which, fixed to iron stays, defaced the fronts of the buildings of Angers Habitat (we'll see) and it reduces the "digital divide" between citizens.

With this implementation, Numericable, a British-American-Luxembourgian owned television operator, severely criticized in 2008 by the Angers consumers associations gets back in touch with the city townhall. And Angers inhabitants become more fluent in English !

The Angers department of an US university could register 400 students, a third American, in 2011

Credit Pictures : St. Edward's University

Angers, through the Western Catholic University, and the Maine-et-Loire, through the Bois-Robert Institute (the village of Bécon-les-Granits, west of Angers) welcome, since 2008, the french deparment of the american St. Edward's University established more than a century ago by Father Edward Sorin, of the Congregation of Holy Cross, which was founded in Western France.

Located Merlet de La Boulay street, St Edward's University could gather 250 to 300 students in 2011 in its Angers department and a third could be american students.  The educationnal programs should be dedicated, during a first step, to international business seminars and Apple Pro Application courses. St. Edward's University is twinned with the Bois-Robert Institute to offer a program for European students wishing to study at  St. Edward's in Austin (Texas,) to earn a bachelor's degree.


For St. Edwards, "Western France is an attractive, vibrant region and Angers is a central location convenient to many other French and European cities. Additionally, developing educational programs in Western France represents a “return to our French roots“".

Fifty seven years between two crimes leads to ligth years verdicts of the Angers criminal court

The murder of a husband committed by his wife,on december 10th 2005, convicted on december 8th by the criminal court of Angers to three years of prison, all with suspended sentence, illustrates the change of female condition in France, even if progress is yet possible. May be sixty years before, the verdict of the jury would not have be the same, even if the second case differs considerably.

On december 10th 1947, a horrible crime was carried out at Baugé, a little city at the East of the Anjou province. There, a woman killed - savagely - her husband while he was sleeping. The mobile of the crime was the love for her young assistant in the sale of coal. If the man was convicted to life imprisonment in Fontevraud, the guilty was sentenced by the criminal court of Angers to the death penalty in november 1948. The sentence was executed in the prison of Angers on april 21st 1949.

During the recent trial, the daily life of the woman was described and taken in account (she lived a drama because her husband was always drunk and violent). Those considerations apparently were not emphasized by the same jurisdiction 62 years before. Germaine Leloy was the last woman decapitated in France

English classes take off in Angers city and around

Picture credit : Institut municipal d'Angers

Learning English attracts people from Angers and the surroundings, according to the press coverage of december 8th. In Angers the town institute will create new classes on first days of 2011 because inhabitants are eager to learn English or to improve their ability in this language. But the trend is the same around Angers.

In La Meignanne, a charming village circling a little church, a former teacher in English has just launched her own business whose linguisitic ability is the product. Her idea came from wishes expressed by La Meignanne inhabitants to get initiated or boosted in English for their jobs or their holidays. The email adress is expressive of her goal "annie.yougetit@laposte.net".

At the town institute of Angers, some English classes were already free on saturdays. Some were designed for real beginners, others for persons having an experience in English and others for more experienced candidates. But apparently, that was not sufficient. The authority has yet decided this autumn 2010 to open eight new paying classes whose rates range from around 100 € till 300 € a year (while the number of attendees is limited). And apparently, that does'nt lead to a decrease of the demand.

The Angers castle royal home is going to rise from ashes

Credit Picture : Centre des monuments nationaux

Severely damaged by fire on the eve of 2009, the restoration works of the Angers castle have just started. The roof, the floors and the inner fittings are to change. The difficulty of the transformation consists in introducing modern equipments (like a lift or a heating system in the floors) and, at the same time, using the most possible, ancient techniques. For example, the walls will be made of freestone and schist assembled with lime and Loire sand.

Credit picture : wikipedia

The cost of the restoration amounts to 8.5 millions € and the ressources come from the state (the largest part, 7.5 millions), companies (among them the Credit agricole and Thyssen Krupp) and about 250 private individuals (these gathered 300 000 € and a subscription is going on at www.jesoutienslechateaudangers.fr). They will enable the authority in charge of the monument to organize within the royal home events like scenographic animations and to welcome disabled persons.

Presently roofed by a huge white tarpaulin till the end of the works, the royal home will be open to public at the next Heritage Days on october 2011. That part of the monument was build under the king Louis II, around 1410 ans will be later widened by King René of Anjou.

"In the huts of the night"

The prohibition of smoking in closed spaces in France a few years ago has allowed an unwaited but merry consequence : the animation of the streets. In down town Angers on december 6, the temperature was not exceeded 5° and the weather was rainy. Nevertheless, on a day traditionnaly more quiet because some stores are closed, customers were, by little groups, gathered in the covered terraces of the cafes.

The weak light diffused by these yellow, orange or blue tents attract the inhabitants, almost the youngs, and give them an intimate shelter to continue their daylife. Sometimes provided with a gas device for heating the atmosphere, they become the only animated area for pedestrians surrounded by the night.

Most of them are concentrated around the Ralliement square especially along the Saint-Laud street. Those open air cafes look even more attended than the inner rooms, as if the people needed to speak in the clouds of fog instead of smoke. Cleared out of the crowd of the weekend, these tiny islands of life give the surrounding streets of Angers downtown their flavour of the old days and their mystery, till the dawn to come.

The French mood auscultated in Segré by an Us newspaper : mistrust and melancholy

The website Angers Maville indicated on december 3rd that an american newspaper, the International Herald Tribune (Iht), sent a month ago an editor in Segré in order to publish an article dedicated to the opposition between two organizations regarding the election of Miss France. Untitled "A pageant icon turns back on Miss France", the article describes  the gathering in the Segré's exposition hall of "thousands" of persons who attended there the election of Miss Pays de Loire. But the topics the american newspaper talked with local spectators enlight the mood of some of the people of Maine-et-Loire.

Excerpt from IHT : Paris, Saint-Tropez
and...nothing else

One of the aspects of that mood is the divide between Paris and the rest of France : "The thousands who have turned out at her pageants this year also reflect a moral conservatism and regional pride that remain stronger in the French “provinces” — a term widely employed here to mean “everywhere but Paris” — than is often recognized", writes the Iht.

Another is the melancholy regarding the current state of the country compared to what it was years ago. "We came because Geneviève de Fontenay represents decorum, she represents the French society of yesterday, a bit. Things are always outdated for some people; for others they aren’t.", said a local retired who, resigned, considers : "This is France, it’s simple things".

The Ralliement square, Angers city heart, returns to life

After a two years break because of the construction of the trolley line, the Ralliement square finds again a purpose faithful with its name : the gathering of the people around a celebration. Christmas is the first, but the next editions of the Accroche-coeurs and the Music Day could take place there later.

Disembowelled in order to modernize the parking lot, the Ralliement square looked a long time like a storage area with construction equipment and materials. Encircled by wirefences, enlighted by skeletal pylons on night, the Ralliement square had an ugly face and was nothing more than a crater of smoke, noise and dust. Pratically inaccessible, the stores should have experienced a severe lost of revenues during these two years and, according to business circles, it is quite miraculous they are still alive.

The end of the construction work brought extension or creation of restaurants and probably other changes in the La Röe street. On the first saturday of december, Christmas tree (fixed on a unsightly block of concrete), merry-go-round, wooden small houses, tinsels and music attracted the Angers inhabitants as if they wanted merrily to take possession of their common property and to feel the heartbeat of their city.

The Angers real estate market of new homes is rising

The area of the former Desjardins garrison house

According to some banks of Angers city, 2010 could be a very good year in the distribution of credit, especially in real estate credit. Several surveys aout the interest rates show that these a decreasing towards 3,2%, a trough never recorded in France since the 2nd world war.

The Capucins plateau

That could be an explanation to the surge of constructions (and of the prices yet described in this blog) all over the city. On december 2nd, the Bouygues group announced it plans of new buildings in down town (Boisnet street and in the Saint-Serge district) but it had yet others projects underway. Several national companies are constructing buildings : Nexity or Bouwfonds Marignan. The local companies are involved in this movement (Maisons Castors d'Anjou, Alain Rousseau Comine). Regarding the prices, they are not under 150 000 euros for a small flat.

Credit pictures Angers city

Angers and the surroundings cities are encouraging the trend : the plan to build more than 2 500 homes per year during ten years. The real estate professionnal are afraid of such a rise. They notice some difficulties to rent the properties and many authorities in social housing point out a developpment of the vacancy.

The arrival of the Angers streetcar could not warm up Ralliement square according to inhabitants

The arrival of the Angers new streetcar in its central station on december 1st only pointed out critics from the population regarding the urban design of the site. In spite of the cold weather and the wind of the winter, the incompleteness of the transformation of the area, and its present vitality with the Christmas decorations, the Ralliement square looks impersonal and mineral for many inhabitants of Angers city. The flagstones and the cobblestones of the surface as well as the fronts of the buildings create a feeling of greyness and monotony for many people interviewed by local medias.

The involvment of Angers city in the redevelopment of several districts (La Roseraie, Belle-Beille, Grand-Pigeon and, to come, Monplaisir) as well as the complete transformation of the appearance and functions of Maine banks seems absent in the design of the Ralliement square. Apart the possibilities to plant trees and create flower beds, the area will probably have the same look along the seasons. And the white colour of the street car will not warm up the place.

Hopefully, two restaurants owners are creating new commercial surfaces which could bring animation all year long. The Ralliement square could remain a pleasant area, only with special events given the functionnal choices (parking and transport line) it has received for the years to come.

The streetcar of Angers on Ralliement square

The streetcar of Angers is in sight. For the first time, it showed its face on december 1st in Ralliement square. The freezy atmosphere was warmed up by the huts of the Christmas market, the merry-go-round and even a band dressed up in Christmas trees. So the arrival of the streetcar sounds like a fair for the shop owners along the line (almost in that part of the city) as well as the pedestrians.

If the shape and the colours of the trolley are quite familiar to the inhabitants, the interior will be, for many, a discovery. The green seats are striped of brown and red lines and the ceiling of the coaches is decorated with leaves giving the traveller the feeling of a quiet atmosphere. The inner space is organized along the train around a large corridor (almost the double of the buses) and seats are sometimes perpendicular, sometimes parallel to the direction of the line. Travellers will be able to circulate from a coach to another and take advantage, through large windows, of the views on Angers from the beginning, the end or the sides of the train.

The Foch boulevard offers now a new perspective. Litlle by little, the fences, the vehicles of the construction site and rubble disappear making room for the green and the slates surfaces of the line brighten up with box hedges and hornbeams. Probably because the line is not yet electrified, the two trains parked in Ralliement plazza were pulled by a lorry. So the inhabitants still have something to discover...

The future of the motorway, at the core of the Maine reconquest

The future of the road "scarface" along the Maine, was not evoked by the three architects selected on november 29th by the city council of Angers after a competition it launched last october about the redevelopment of the bank's river. Nevertheless, it will probably be at the center of their thoughts during the nine months to come. The mayor of Angers wants the present motorway to disappear. But nobody knows how : suppression or burying.

(Credit pictures Angers city)

Apparently, everybody agrees about the fact that the present situation cannot go on. Even with the new northern highway, the traffic has not vanished along the river and many inhabitants still continue to use the way. If that traffic doesn't slow down, the redevelopment of the bank is endangered because the cars and lorries will make the pedestrians run away. And the peaceful atmosphere along the Maine will only be a (costly) dream.

For that reason, the teams of architects will have to conceive a project easy to evolve over the years. But on one point, the city council looks determined : the urban scheme must be designed around the river. "All the cities, even the greatest like New York , are involved on a project centred around the water. And within twenty years many things will have changed", said Jean-Claude Antonini. First of all the cars, which could be electrical.