“We will miss you every day,” Carmen wrote, in black felt-tip pen over a big red heart.
For nothing in the world, Quevauvillers would not have missed the last news of the child of the country, Jean-Pierre Pernaut, who said goodbye to 1 pm this Friday.
For the occasion, the mayor opened this Friday the village hall of this village in the Somme to 1150 inhabitants.
About thirty of them met there to watch this latest newspaper on a giant screen.
A moment which will mark the history of television and which particularly touches the hearts of them, who have always known the Pernauts.
On a large screen, they stuck their photos of their Jean-Pierre, on the benches of the school of the town, or at his beginnings on television.
A package of articles that Courrier Picard devoted to him during his 45-year career completes the picture.
And above a desk, a blue suit was donned to the figure of JPP.
VIDEO. Jean-Pierre Pernaut's native village moved to tears for his last diary
“Ahhhhh, we did some stupid things together!
»Remembers Paul, the son of the village butcher, a friend of the Pernaut family, who has also just celebrated his 70th birthday.
"In elementary school, I was punished because of him because we had emptied our inkwell on the neighboring office," he adds, smiling.
“He was a good looking guy who liked to take the microphone when there was a party.
All the girls circled around him, ”says Marie-Paule, of the same age.
"He was very simple, very pleasant, he said hello to everyone without making a difference," recalls Carmen, the family pharmacy preparer, when the son was starting his career as a journalist.
"Yes, I'm sad, it's a hell of a turning point"
The hubbub of memories stops when Sébastien Hembert, TF1 correspondent in the North for 20 years, enters with a good surprise: there will be a duplex from “Quevau” at the start of the 13 Hours.
Everyone will be able to applaud live, as a thank you.
It is Paul who is chosen on the air to speak on behalf of all.
After the live, everyone sits two meters apart to respect the barrier gestures.
They burst out laughing when they hear Dany Boon speak in ch'ti, or when, in a micro-sidewalk, an inhabitant of the neighboring Aisne describes the presenter as "rude fellow".
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The attention wears off and the chatter increases as the 13 Hours moves away from Picardy.
But a fly no longer flies when Pernaut says his last words, tremolos in his voice.
Sébastien Hembert, the reporter for TF1, cannot hold back a tear.
“Yes, I'm sad, it's a hell of a turn.
And I don't think we really realize it.
Marie-Sophie Lacarrau is very courageous, because it is hard to take over ”.
"I know he remembers us"
Carmen is still emotional.
It is when he mentioned his mother "who in thirty years has never missed a newspaper", that Jean-Pierre fell in love.
And it touched him a lot.
But Carmen has not yet entered into “Pernostalgia”: “I don't think I realize yet that I won't see him again every noon,” she admits.
Sébastien Hembert, the TF1 reporter, cannot hold back a tear when Jean-Pierre Pernaut says goodbye./LP/Aurélie Ladet
Paul is happy that his childhood friends were there.
"Of course we occupy less space in his life than the people he has worked with for 40 years and who have a thousand anecdotes, but I know he remembers us", he adds, not worried about the news. life of his old friend.
“I have been retired since 2004, it's really not bad.
I am very happy for him, he will continue to work, but also to enjoy the important things in life ”, he concludes, opening the champagne with only one hope: that Jean-Pierre Pernaut will quickly come back to“ Quevau ”. .
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The mayor says he is ready to baptize the village hall after his name to give the star journalist the opportunity to travel from Paris.
