Love in the Time of CoronaVirus

When the COVID 19 crisis erupted in January, it was clear that our journey might be altered radically. We made the decision to continue to move forward until we couldn’t move forward any longer.

And so it was, after a week in England with friends, we arrived in Granville on March 12th – right on schedule! We had planned to spend a few days with our friends Armelle and Philippe before heading to Portugal and Spain and back to France for the end of our year. Those were the plans, although we knew at this point that moving forward was becoming unlikely.

We met Philippe and Armelle when we did a home exchange with them some 15 years ago. So we love Granville and are very familiar with this little town and its amenities! And we have had quite a few visits with the two of them in the years since. They met us in Paris for Donna’s Umptieth Birthday in 2008 (you do the math). We met in London when we went to the UK while Ben was studying in Dublin. They have stayed with us in Oakland at least twice while on US sojourns. Philippe and Armelle welcomed us warmly and let us know immediately that we were welcome to stay as long as necessary. And then the French lockdown was announced!

All shops, restaurants, bars and cafés are closed – if you can even imagine that being the case in France! Only groceries, boulangers, gas stations and tabacs are open. Our friend Théo in St. Rémy, is a plumber, but he can only work in “cas d’urgence “ – emergency situations. The banks are open, but Philippe and Armelle’s son-in-law, who is a banker, says that half his staff works from home one week and the other half goes in and they will flip the following week. Today they announced that pleasure boating will not be permitted! No sailing out of Granville for the moment! It’s dry dock season in the sailboat harbor so Philippe’s boat is out of the water and won’t go in until the lock-down is lifted! And, of course, to the great dismay of the French, no kissing! The typical 2, 3 or 4 kiss greeting is forbidden! Pas de bises! (And no-one ever heard of 1 bis here anyway.)

People who circulate must be able to justify their movement. Anyone in France can only leave their homes for certain so-called “essential” reasons: travel between home and work (if teleworking is not compulsory), purchases of first necessity (food, sanitary), travel for health reasons, travel to take care of family members or to assist vulnerable persons or care for children and/or brief travel outside for physical activity–alone–or care of pets. To leave your home for one of these reasons, you must have the French Attestation certificate, above, that specifies your identity, your place of residence and the reason for your trip. If you leave without the certificate, you risk being fined between 38€ and 135€!

All that said, we are so happy to be in a comfortable and safe spot! Philippe and Armelle own a building overlooking the pleasure harbor in Granville. They live in the apartment on the top two floors and they have 2 rental units on the bottom two floors. We are in the one bedroom apartment on the rez de chausée – ground floor.

Granville is a lovely little town of 13,000 inhabitants. The primary industry is fishing with tourism coming in a close second. It was founded by a vassal of William the conqueror on land held by the Vikings in the 11th century. Situated on the edge of the English Channel at the top of the Bay of Mont St. Michel, it became a seaside resort in the 19th century, frequented by the elite of Europe and equipped with a casino, a golf course and a horse racing track. Christian Dior was born here in 1905 and his lovely home is now a small museum.

Clockwise from top left: 1. Dry dock season in the sailboat harbor. Philippe’s boat is out of the water and won’t go in until the lock- down is lifted! 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.

So, our days are beginning to develop a rhythm. At present we have lunch and dinner with our generous hosts. So far, Armelle has done most of the heavy lifting, as Donna spent 3 days in bed with a cold. But Donna is beginning to do some of the cooking and of course we always take an offering – flowers, wine, dessert. Philippe is an eager English speaker and Armelle understands quite a bit and often corrects his grammar. So Philippe and Donna go back and forth in English and French – translating for the partners – so everyone is in on the conversation! LuLu wanders from person to person, looking for a lap!

We can take our constitutionals each day, and getting out for some exercise in the sea air, as the weather warms a bit, is a delight! Grocery shopping always makes Donna happy, so she is content to “faire les courses” – do the shopping. No other shopping to be done other than leche-vitrines – literally “lick the windows” (window shopping)!

Plans are in the works to add posts about some of the lovely places we visited in Provence, as well as our amazing and exhausting month in Paris. We have good wi-fi here, so that’s a plus! Watch this space!

For now, we are thinking we will be here for at least a month, probably longer. At this point, nearly 10 months into the trip, we are missing our friends and family, but Benjamin keeps in touch and he is encouraging us to stay as well. We will be watching what happens in the US with the virus, but we certainly feel safe here. And going through two airports to get home seems like a dangerous risk at this point! Granville is a small town with a good hospital, so that’s a comfort. We may be the only tourists in town at present, so that’s an advantage also – fewer strangers coming in from more affected areas.

Let us know how YOU are doing in this crazy time! We are thinking of you all!

Gros bisous! (From a safe distance of course!)

Sam, Donna and LuLu

March 19, 2020