in Vendée, he has been collecting more than 1,500 issues of the local newspaper for 30 years

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It is “his diary”as he likes to call it.

And no one can take this expression away from him, since here it is more than thirty years that Pierre Soleilhavoup has been a faithful reader, and subscriber to Sand Journal. Even more unusual, he didn't throw away a single number and today has just over 1,500.

“It’s proof of my attachment to the city,” he explains, smiling.

Thunderbolt

It is also, behind it, the story of a lover of Sables-d'Olonne, living near Bordeaux, but continuing to live vicariously as a Sablais, thanks to “his diary”.

In 1967, Pierre's cousin arrived in the seaside town to benefit from the therapeutic virtues of the sea air. The beginning of everything.

“I spent the summer with them. Two and a half months of vacation in Les Sables-d'Olonne. So many memories until I was 16-17,” he recalls, moved.

Quickly, it's love at first sight. For the warmth of its inhabitants, for the sea…

“I love all sides of Les Sables. The walks we took in the evening, I remember the sardinette evenings, the one at the ocean café…”

So much so that he is going to buy a house there, to spend all his summers.

Because yes, from this moment, holidays necessarily rhyme with Sables-d’Olonne.

“A free weekend? We're coming here! Want to go away for a few days? we come here! » describes Pierre with mischief.

A passion that he will later pass on to his children.

Living through the newspaper

And in the middle of this sandy love story, appears your favorite newspaper.

“It was my cousin's mother who subscribed to Sand Journalsince 1983. So I was already leafing through it at that time “, he recalls.

Other choices were available to him for information, but it was this one and no other that pleased him.

” I have always preferred it Sand Journal, for local information, events, sports. I read everything! »

Here, tastes are divided between “the West” and the JDS. For Pierre, the question never arose. Already a regular for several years, he subscribe for the first time on 1^is July 1994and will never leave him. Well, yes, a little prank, when he forgot, once, to renew his subscription. “When I arrived at the Vendée Globe village, I took it over straight away! »

A fact which may be surprising, since Pierre lives near Bordeaux the rest of the year.

He could, like many, have bought only at newsstands when he returned to Vendée. But he was not of this opinion.

“When I’m with my newspaper, I’m in Les Sables. Every week, it's my bubble. »

His moment of pleasure to stay, despite the distance, on the outskirts of this city that he loves so much. Especially since he doesn't really have subscriptions for other magazines, and doesn't buy the local newspaper near him.

He's not interested. He doesn't want to miss anything about Les Sables. He follows the evolution of his hometown from a distance: politics, works, store openings and closings, etc.

During all these years, nothing escaped him. He knows all the details and gossip. Perhaps sometimes even better than the Sablais themselves!

Collection of Headlines

All these numbers, he kept them preciously, in a room above his garage.

A unique collection, which today allows us to retrace, week by week, the evolution of Sand Journal.

“I experienced the transition to color,” he explains with a laugh.

It is true that seeing the oldest editions, in a larger format and with very tight writing, one feels a bit like a dinosaur.

Au remember certain sections also, like the one about the weather in Les Sables last week. “At least she had the advantage of always being fair!” »

And among all these pages, there are of course some that have marked him more than others.

« Headlines on the SNSM drama », replies Pierre without an ounce of hesitation. “It sat on my desk for several weeks. It is thanks to these heroes that the sea is beautiful. » Or the edition on the storm Xynthia, with this photo of a boat impaled on a mooring keel. Without forgetting the Vendée Globe, of which he didn't miss a single beat.

Today, Pierre Soleilhavoup continues to come very regularly to the capital of the Côte de Lumière.

You will have understood, the love story is not over, with his city and his newspaper, to which he is still a subscriber after all these years. ” It is my whole story with Les Sables-d’Olonne. »

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