Enthusiasm for normality is gaining the upper hand here in France
The scene was certainly convivial, maybe even idyllic. This last weekend, we were in Anduze, a small, bright-eyed town in the Cévenol foothills. Through Saturday and Sunday, the main park had been colonised by the annual fair of Cévennes wines and food. But especially wines. (You need to try these; they include some inexpensive crackers.) The southern French sun raised temperatures way above 30°C, so shade was vital.
Fortunately, it was to hand, under the trees, and the parasols of the 25 wine-makers sharing their produce with all comers. Over the two days, there were perhaps 2,000 visitors exercising the exceptional French talent for tasting food and drink, and then tasting a little bit more. Granted, this being 2020, the producer stands were further apart than usual. The men and women behind them wore visors – “truly annoying” said the fellow from the Sainte Octime vineyard – proffered hand-gel and generally aspired to responsibility.
Visitors began with masks and social distancing concerns – but many then let sociability get the better of them. It is, anyway, difficult to taste wine while wearing a mask. Reticence remained but became diluted by the occasion. Enthusiasm for normality gained the upper hand. As the fair’s organiser said: “We put in place everything, absolutely all the precautions, asked of us by the local authorities. Then we simply hoped that everyone would have a good time.”
As they did. Or seemed to do. At least, I did – reassured by the fact that it seems that catching this virus outdoors would qualify as exceptional. Anyway, everything seemed so damned cheery that one couldn’t quite hear the background buzz emanating from elsewhere in France – let alone pay attention to the latest, quarantine-imposing somersaults of the British government. Though these latter remain inaudible, the French government will keep worrying us, once we come down from festivities. Then also telling us not to worry. These are hard times to negotiate, the thrust to return to recognisable, pre-Covid life paralleled by thrust telling us to watch our steps. Or else.
As health minister Olivier Véran said: “We aren’t speaking of a second wave but it’s certain that, in the recent days, we have seen the number of positive cases rising when the number had been decreasing for 13 weeks.” It isn’t clear to what extent this is a result of increased screening – from 200,000 tests a week to the present 500,000, all free – rather than a true increase in cases. But one more uncertainty is as unlikely to embarrass the French authorities as it would the British government.
In similar vein, new PM Jean Castex has said that “above all”, France must try to avoid a second national lockdown – but local lockdowns might become relevant. Some are already in place in, say, the Breton département of Morbihan, where the beach at Quiberon – the St Tropez of Brittany – is off limits from 9pm to 7am. This cramps the style of party animals who gathered there when the bars shut. A cluster of 54 cases has shown up, as has another in the county of Mayenne – in Loire valley country – where a limit of 10 has now been re-imposed on social gatherings. People from Mayenne travelling elsewhere in France for their holidays have, incidentally, been altering their registration plates (which still indicate the department of origin) after some had their cars vandalised by yobs fearful of the virus.
With all this going on, it is perhaps not surprising that few in France – even in the tourist industry – have spent much time worrying whether the renewed quarantine imposed by Mr Johnson’s government on people returning from Spain will extend to include France. Apart from anything else, French authorities have their own restrictions in place concerning those arriving from 16 “red zone” countries. These include the US, South Africa, Brazil and Kuwait. No-one from any of these lands is allowed in unless a French resident and even then must undergo testing at the airport. There’s 14-day quarantine for the positives.
So, no – the French aren’t presently panic-stricken about possible limitations on Britons travelling to France. This is partly, as mentioned, because there’s so much going on in their own country that it’s difficult to hear what’s happening in London and partly because more French people are holidaying in their own country (according to one poll, 86% as opposed to 75% in 2019) so taking up the slack left by foreigners.
It is also – thirdly and more immediately, because British people haven’t, through July, rolled back into France in sufficient numbers for their “withdrawal” now to appear significant. As Olivier Occelli, director of tourism in Bordeaux, told the Telegraph: “Up to now, we haven’t noticed the return of Britons to our city in the visitor statistics. As we’ve no idea how many Britons planned to visit, it’s difficult to say how renewed quarantine measures would affect us.”
Over in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alps region, tourism boss Lionel Flasseur had the same message. “Of course, we’d take it on the chin if things became harder for our British customers – but the impact on our general economy for what’s left of the holiday season would probably be weak.” He would, he said, be a lot more worried if any such restrictions persisted into the winter season – notably in the Alps – “because the British are our number one foreign customers”.
There we are. In sum, the French are already pretty much resigned to doing without us this summer – so another round of quarantine imposition, while a damned nuisance for British holidaymakers, is, as it were, already factored in to the 2020 equation. For summer. Winter would be different, as would any such restrictions carried over to 2021. Apart from anything else, they wouldn’t mind a 2021 return of the British tourists who usually endow the Anduze wine fair with an international element. As I discovered on Sunday, and however hard I tried, I really can’t do it on my own.
