Travels with Forty Roses: Ending Week 7

Today is Sunday and I write this looking out at the park across the canal that we cannot enter. The trellises are loaded with roses where I would simply love to go and cut a bouquet. But , although I see a guy across there has just done so and actually filled a bucket with them I will forgo. The park has been contentious with the marina office and rightly so. All parks are closed across Paris and if there is one thing Parisians love it is their lovely parks. Usually a sunny day this time of year finds scores of families under gorgeous flowering, towering chestnut trees chatting, picnicking, and just enjoying the spaces. To have that all denied on top of our severe lockdown is pretty trying. However, people are respectful and abiding by the rules along with more and more masks appearing as purchase of these are now possible at pharmacies and grocery stores across the city. But back to the park, or our park as we like to claim. It is part of the Port de Plaisance which is an enclosed & gated location right now. One side of the canal is green trees, paths, rose arches, flower beds a children’s playground and park benches. We have lilacs, wisteria, flowering crab trees and all sorts of greenery. We must stay out as the street above can look down over the wall and it is not deemed fair to other Parisians that we should have access to a park when they do not. So we are outlawed. Not to say that some have not attempted quick forays onto the paths as the foliage comes out fully and the blossoms beckon. As they apparently did today with my neighbour across the way, who from here on in will be known as the Rose Thief.

May 11, 2020 some restrictions will be lifted. New cases are diminishing each day as are hospitalizations, so the hope is that we can strictly manage social distancing, careful hygiene and masking to avoid a resurgence. Travel will be possible within departments within France for trips of 100 km or less, people who are working at home will continue to do so, crèches and elementary schools will open but with restricted numbers via alternate days to keep classes small, shops may open but masks will be necessary and only a certain number of customers will be permitted to enter at a time. Many other aspects surround the opening up relative to work place safety and Metro travel where riders will also follow social distancing, and compulsory masking. How that will actually work is yet to be seen. It is a day we look forward to yet fear. No one in this marina is under any delusion that the world, regardless of “opening up”, is changed. We cannot indulge in mystical thing about the novel coronavirus. It is with us until there is a vaccine and worldwide inoculations have been completed. In reality that may take a minimum of 2 -3 years. There is a French expression fitting après 11 Mai: avoir peur donc être en sécurité.