Like just about everyone else I used to devour programmes about moving abroad until, of course, we did, from then they have certainly lost their charm.
Now if they come up , and I have the ill luck to be around, I find myself dismayed by their lack of research in the areas to which they are sending people.
Two days ago I watched Jasmine Something or other in Place in the Sun mention, not once but several times, that Pyrennes Oriental was in the South East of France.
PO is very firmly in the South West of France but poor Jasmine was confused by the fact that oriental means east , how was she to know that they were referring to the Eastern Pyrenees ?
This did not of course stop her from pretending to be an expert on the area.
A small glance at an atlas would have sorted her problem.
Comments
Pat Neville
on February 15, 2011Martin,
Jasmine Something or other may have had a point alas about the PO being in the SE of France. French people regard and refer to Fance as a hexagon. This hexagon is divided in two by the Paris Meridain (now longitude 2°20′14.025″ east) which passes through Paris, further south near Carcassonne and on down to the west of Perpignan and most of the PO. Technically this means that most of the PO is in the SE region of France, even if it’s on the western marches. In Languedoc minds the SW region refers particularly to Aquitaine and also the Midi Pyrenees. Ask a Bordelais and the distinction couldn’t be more emphatic: Perpignan is absolutely not in the SW. Notions of Gascon v Occitan identities may also be superimposed upon the psychological topology known as Le Hexagon. In this topology Languedoc Roussillon, PACA and Rhone Alps regions make up le Sud Est (Auvergne may also be part of it – I’m not sure). Have a look at the small SNCF regional map on this page and you may get a better picture: http://www.ter-sncf.com/
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