Woman, 79, survives being trapped in ravine for three days
A 79-year old woman has miraculously survived after spending three days trapped in a ravine in the Ardèche without food or water.
While driving between her two homes in the department, the woman had an accident and drove 40 metres off the road into a ravine where she became trapped and unable to climb out.
A local French newspaper carried a photo of the scene on social media.
Her neighbours noticed she was missing and searched her usual driving route between the two homes and spotted damage caused by a car veering off the road.
They contacted the police who visited the scene and found the woman trapped inside the ravine.
“I quickly went down, despite the brambles, with a first aid kit and some water. I found the woman sitting there, completely dehydrated, barely able to speak,” said an officer who arrived at the scene.
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“But she looked relatively unharmed when she got out," added Patrick Marcoux, deputy mayor of Dunière, where the woman’s main home is.
Aside from hunger and thirst, she had only a few bruises but was sent to hospital for further checks.
"After such a fall of between 40 and 50 metres, it is extraordinary that she came out like this,” added the deputy mayor.
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Normandy village offers free school supplies to secondary pupils
A commune in Normandy has voted to offer free school supplies for all children entering CM2 (France’s first year of secondary school) to help battle social inequalities for a second year running.
Thèreval commune will pay for the supplies of all 31 children affected in September this year.
Councillors hope the €2,500 will help ease the financial pressure on families and the burden on the two schools in the area.
“"It's a form of recognition for our two schools, which have supported the children and helped them to develop their qualities," said Gilles Quinquenel, the mayor of Thèreval.
“It's also a helping hand for the parents, who will not have to pay for these supplies for the second year running,” he added.
Equipment covered includes papers, pens, notebooks, binders, and the Thèreval parents’ association chipped in to help purchase calculators as well.
The mayor also told the children “to have confidence in themselves and in their future,” for when they start the next chapter of their lives after the summer break.
Read more: France: Using teddy bears to ease children's hospital fears
Woman grows 1.8 tonnes of food on city-centre rooftops
A woman from the southern city of Toulouse has transformed the city’s rooftops, using them to grow almost two tonnes of fruit, vegetables and herbs.
Magalie Rosso’s innovative system uses aeroponics to make use of what she dubs “unused but available surfaces” for growing food, installing columns on empty rooftops of the city.
You can see how it works below.
Starting the project in 2022, it has the added side-benefit of decarbonising the city centre, alongside providing cheap and extremely local produce.
It is the first farm of its kind in the Occitanie region and she hopes to grow the service by placing others on the roofs of local companies, government buildings and more associations.
Aeroponics allows the food to be grown vertically, providing higher yields and using no pesticides.
Because the company uses a closed-circuit watering system for their columns, they use up to 90% less water than traditional farming methods.
Currently, the produce is mostly sold to local restaurants, allowing them to minimise their CO² footprint in the search for top quality ingredients, and provide customers with a truly Toulousian eating experience.
Miss Rosso wants to see the columns expanded across all of France.
Top brands agree to lower prices of thousands of items
Over half of France’s biggest food producers have agreed to cut prices to help with the rising cost of living in the country.
Thirty-nine of the 75 biggest brands present in France have agreed to the deal, which will see prices fall on average between 5% and 7% for selected products.
Suppliers like Bonduelle and Mars Petcare (dog and cat food providers) will cut prices on some items by 10% and others like Haribo by 7.5%.
Other companies – such as Danone and Coca-Cola – will run offers such as ‘buy-two-get-one-free’ for certain products, effectively providing a discount.
Products such as pasta, oils, and bread should also see prices fall, thanks to the decreased cost of the raw materials necessary to make the products.
The price drops will only apply for products where the cost of the raw materials has also fallen so not all producers have agreed to cut prices.
Read also: Beware of bulk-buy ‘deals’ in French supermarkets
Marseille man wins two Lotto prizes after cashier mistake
A 60-year old man from Marseille has won €2million from playing his usual ‘lucky numbers’ – but he also got an extra €130,000 thanks to a mistake from the cashier.
The lucky numbers – dates of births of friends and family members – helped him win the first rank prize of €2million but a misunderstanding with the cashier also netted him the second rank prize (€133,418).
When asking his cashier to fill out his ticket, they accidentally filled in a number ‘2’ instead of a ‘3’ on one of the rows.
Noticing the mistake on the way home, the Marseille man re-did his ticket online – which granted him the main winnings – but he also managed to pick up the additional winnings from the cashier’s mistake, which helped another set of numbers come in.
The man said he was in the process of “buying a nice house” with the winnings but he will continue his day job as a self-employed retailer.
“I don't know how to do anything with my days. The only thing that's going to change is that on the days when I'm really lazy, I'll give myself a day off," he said.
"Life is going to stay the same but with a well-filled wallet!”
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