The chestnuts are in blossom along the banks of the Marne. But a poster tells us we can’t get to close. We aren’t allowed to walk along the riverbank, thanks to a decree by the local préfet that has also closed all parks and gardens.
There are several levels of paths along the river, however. And some people have to walk along the highest level to reach their homes. Apparently, it was closed off earlier in the week but it isn’t any more.
The prefecture seems to have been seized by an access of liberalism in the last couple of days. It has lifted the ban on jogging during the daytime, except for towns that border on the Bois de Vincennes.
So, for unexplained reasons, the poor residents of Joinville-le-Pont, Fontenay-sous-Bois and other such desirable addresses can’t take their exercise between the hours of 10.00am and 7.00pm, while we Campinois can. I’m not gloating, really.
France comes 19th in the league table of Covid-19 testing, lower even than the US but, surprise! surprise!, higher than the UK.
It’s one thing that the country was poorly prepared so far as supplies of both tests and masks were concerned. That’s in part the fault of previous governments. It’s another that the Macronites misled the public about their value so as to cover up these failings.
And there seems to have been a sort of post-colonial arrogance in Europe’s failure to learn from the Asian experience, not to mention the man one US left-winger has dubbed “the raging id of US imperialism”.
Will they have learnt from South Korea, Taiwan and, for that matter, China before the second wave, if it comes, or the next epidemic, which appears certain to take place thanks to our continuing light-minded disruption of nature?
France’s Covid-19 death toll now officially stands at 19,323, of which 642 in the last 24 hours. 30,639 people are in hospital, down for the fourth day running, by 551, while admissions to intensive care were also down, for the 10th day, by 194, to 5,833. 35,983 people have been discharged from hospital, 1,563 yesterday.
