Day three on home lockdown but how fortunate I am to have a home in the first place.
In yesterday's post I mentioned the "papers" one currently needs in France in order to go outside. Allow me to expound on that. The government has issued a fiche (sheet) that all people outdoors must have on them. It must be signed and dated and one of the five boxes on it must be ticked. Each box represents a different reason for déplacement and are as follows: Going to and from work if you cannot work from home (this must also be accompanied by a letter from your employer stating this is in fact true), going to the store for necessary items (I deem sushi to be incredibly necessary and who's to tell me any different?), going out for health reasons—doctor, pharmacy etc., going out for family reasons—assisting the vulnerable or dropping kids at childcare, and for going out close to home for exercising and walking the dog.
Working from home.
Val and I, being the honest upstanding citizens that we are, dutifully filled out our paperwork yesterday evening and took our first sojourn outside to stretch our legs after a day spent in front of our computers. There is a network of trails just behind our apartment so we headed up there to scope out life on planet COVID. We were not, however, greeted with a post-apocalyptic barren wasteland but with warm sunshine and lots of people. Joggers jogged, kids laughed, parents strolled, and dogs sniffed about and did dog stuff. I have run these trails for years, but to me it looks suspiciously like everyone suddenly became a jogger since noon on Monday. It seems that as the police patrol the streets to monitor the lock down, the trails and forest areas will be havens for clandestine meetings and black market toilet paper dealings.
Legally outside.
All in all, people seem unfazed, unhurried, and unencumbered. Today will be a day of conference calls, but I do hope to begin a list of things to do on lockdown and post suggestions tomorrow.
In the meantime, wash those hands!