{"id":631,"date":"2020-04-25T10:24:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-25T08:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/?p=631"},"modified":"2020-04-25T10:24:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-25T08:24:08","slug":"lockdown-france-this-is-not-a-drill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/lockdown-france-this-is-not-a-drill\/","title":{"rendered":"Lockdown France \u2013 This is not a Drill!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rumours had been flying.  President Macron was to make a speech to the nation on Thursday 12th<\/sup> March, 8pm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier that day we\u2019d been talking to our second eldest son, who lives in Montpellier 3 \u00bd hours from our home in the countryside SW of Toulouse.\u00a0 It was his 26th<\/sup> Birthday and he was home alone.\u00a0 We put him on speaker phone and chatted over lunch. \u00a0The main topic was of course the spread of the Coronavirus.\u00a0 We speculated on what Macron might announce later that evening and how it may affect us all.\u00a0 I was trying to persuade him to come home.\u00a0 He lives in a small apartment on the 3rd<\/sup> floor in the city. I thought he\u2019d be much safer with us. He was reluctant to leave his home. He was in between jobs having just recovered from some major surgery last year, but his partner had work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Not a bad place to spend lockdown in France…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

He told us he was meeting up with friends the next day.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry Mum, we\u2019re all being careful, we\u2019ve stopped doing \u2018la bise\u2019\u201d (the double and sometimes triple kisses of greeting in France). My stomach lurched\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How could I not worry? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

People at risk, the elderly and those with previous medical conditions, had already been told to start self-isolating.\u00a0 My son falls into this category.\u00a0 He had a lifesaving liver transplant in 2017, so is immunosuppressed and has also had surgery on both his lungs. He can not get this virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Later that evening, as we finished our dinner, we temporarily broke our \u2018no phones at the dinner table\u2019 rule and put France 24 live in English on speakerphone to hear Macron\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStarting Monday, all nurseries, schools and universities will be closed<\/strong><\/a>\u201d.\u00a0 It was a drastic measure but a necessary one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The final day of school<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was in two minds whether to let them go to school for the final day, but I felt they would need to get instructions on how it was going to work being schooled from home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My youngest son aged 14 was doing a stage that week (work experience) in a local computer shop.  He went to work on the Friday morning, for his last day.  \u201cBe careful, keep your distance from everyone and wash your hands\u201d, I warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I drove our friend who was staying with us, to Carcassonne airport to get a flight back to the UK for the weekend. The roads to the airport were eerily quiet for the time of day.  The airport too and in the caf\u00e9 where we stopped for a coffee before his flight, the staff had gloves on and were spraying the tables and chairs each time someone left their place.  I had become highly aware of not touching anything \u2013 it was rumoured that the virus could stay on metals and plastics for several hours, maybe even days. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is not a drill!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I got home, youngest son wasn\u2019t there.\u00a0 He\u2019d decided to go off on his bike to see his friend after he\u2019d finished work, despite hearing rumours that there were several cases of the virus in our local town.\u00a0 I was livid.\u00a0 What was he thinking of? Half an hour later he called me and before he even had chance to speak I launched into a tirade of questions, without waiting for the answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat are you thinking of? How can you just go off with a friend?  Do you understand what\u2019s going on?  Come home immediately.  This is not a drill! \u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut, Muuum\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCOME HOME!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re being a bit over the top aren\u2019t you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNO I\u2019M NOT, COME HOME NOW!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u2019t believe it.  How could he be so thoughtless?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He came home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst Mum!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I picked our 12-year-old daughter up from the bus stop.  \u201cHow was your last day\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was really weird.  Everyone is talking about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDid the teachers tell you how school is going to work from now on?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo, not really\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great! What a wasted, potentially dangerous day that was!  On reflection how could the teachers have had any more idea of how schooling from home would work?  They had only been told the day before that schools were closing.  How could they prepare for this?  How could anyone prepare for this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next morning, I was in the bedroom sorting some washing when my daughter burst into the room holding her phone…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan Coralie come over for the weekend please Mum?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked her incredulously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh why not, it\u2019s so unfair\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat don\u2019t you understand?  This is serious.  They don\u2019t close the schools for no reason.  You have to stay home and that means not mixing with ANYONE else\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut I saw her yesterday, she\u2019s still seeing other friends.  Why can\u2019t I?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBecause this is serious.  No one should be seeing anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hate you.  You\u2019re the worst Mum!\u201d, she slammed the door and stomped off to her bedroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I sighed.  This was going to be hard.  It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve been called \u201cthe worst Mum\u201d and it probably won\u2019t be the last.  It\u2019s a tough job being a parent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s only a few friends\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there was my middle son\u2019s reaction.  He was approaching 18, surely he would understand the situation a bit more.  He\u2019s such a sensible boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMum, can you drop me off at my friends tonight, just for one night.  It\u2019s his 18th<\/sup> and I\u2019ve promised I\u2019d go.  It\u2019s only three of us and we were together at school yesterday anyway.  It can\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m sorry, but no, you can\u2019t go.  We have to stop seeing anyone, we just can\u2019t take the risk\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRisk, what risk?  You are being ridiculous Mum.  It\u2019s just a couple of friends.  We won\u2019t see anyone else. It can\u2019t do any harm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook, we don\u2019t know who has the virus.  We\u2019re hoping to bring your brother here next week.  We have to make sure that there is no chance whatsoever of the virus being here already.  What if we brought him here to be safe, and one of us had it already and passed it onto him?  How would you feel if it was you?  It\u2019s just not worth the risk.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He scowled at me and went to his room, mumbling something I probably didn\u2019t want to hear under his breath.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Monday 16th<\/sup> (my eldest son\u2019s 30th birthday) it became evident that lockdown was about to be enforced. Rumours were circulating that a 6-week lockdown had been discussed in official offices.  We were concerned that our son would be trapped in Montpellier and we wouldn\u2019t be able to travel to get him.  I called him in the morning to try and persuade him it was time for him to leave. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry Mum, you don\u2019t need to persuade me, we\u2019ve decided to come. I\u2019m collecting my medication from the pharmacy after lunch and I\u2019ve started packing\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was so relieved.\u00a0 So, our eldest son (who came back to live with us in January), put aside any birthday celebrations and set off just after lunch for the 7 hour round trip to pick up his brother, his partner and their cat.\u00a0 They arrived back in time for dinner and to hear the live announcement from Macron.\u00a0 As of lunchtime the following day, France was in lockdown for at least two weeks<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it began, nine of us in lockdown, for how long? Nobody knew\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019d like to hear more about life in lockdown France you can follow me on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter <\/a>and Instagram <\/a>or subscribe to my newsletter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can also find out more about family life if France in my book “What have we got Toulouse? A family moving to France<\/a>“. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other posts on this topic:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

COVID-19<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thieves Oil Essential Oil Blend – Homemade recipes<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The rumours had been flying.  President Macron was to make a speech to the nation on Thursday 12th March, 8pm.  Earlier that day we\u2019d been talking to our second eldest son, who lives in Montpellier…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7,12,13],"tags":[22,23,38,41,44],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amotherinfrance.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}