Should I escape
isolation in rural France and enter Isolation in my apartment on QA Hill in
Seattle? Donald says, “Come home now or plan to stay away indefinitely.” I’ve
seen on CNN the marvelous planning made for American’s re-entry at JFK.
Why come back?
Safety would be the first reason. My own home in a rural French village is probably
as safe as my apartment in a Co-op in Seattle with 45 other residents, many of
whom are older like me. There are the same
logistical problems in Seattle that there are in the Medoc region. But I am
more secluded from access to the virus here than there.
A second
factor in returning is the journey itself.
Two long and one short plane flights present their own problems with
recycled air with perhaps a virus carrier or two, in the mix of passengers. Add
to that, the chaos of three airport experiences in Paris, Chicago and Seattle
and you don’t have a reason to choose that way to spend 2-3 days. If the SST had
ever flown from Paris to Seattle it might seem like a positive option.
What’s
positive about staying here? : My own
Home and miles of backroads to walk in the spring. Just yesterday I saw the first buds on the
grape vines, so spring is almost here. Food is easy to get in small shops
within a 5 kilometres radius. It is 18-20 degrees C and now we are having sunshine. The Carrefore Market is like the Ballard Market
and has everything, even toilet paper. It is 6.5 kilometres away, closer than COSTCO to my apartment.
Isolation is
the biggest problem for me. I can’t see
you or talk to you, but time and space are intellectual concepts. If I were home, I couldn’t visit you or hug my
daughter and her husband or my granddaughter which means there is no difference
between being 6-8 miles away in Seattle and being 5154 miles in Bordeaux. The platforms
on the internet like What’s App shrink the distance dramatically. I remember when I went to Ghana in 1961. A
letter took at least 2 weeks to make a one way trip.
Getting sick
is a subject that one must think about since this is an infectious disease epidemic.
The French health care system is at least equal to ours. My biggest handicap is my lack of facility in
French. I’m getting better. I’m about up to a refugee level who has been
stranded in a country for 6 months. Necessity is the mother of invention. I
have two good French friends, Corrinne and Guy, who guide me and fill in the
gaps.
The other
day Corrinne called and said, “Don’t go shopping. I’m going so give me your list and I’ll do it
for you.” Almost simultaneously, Guy
arrived with the form I need to have in my pocket if I leave the house. It spells out what I am out of the house to
do. With friends like them I will
survive.
This a surreal time for the world. All the givens are up for grabs. I feel lucky to have relatively good options. Two of my Democratic friends have already died in Seattle, both over 65. That's in a town with the best health care system and practitioners. Keep safe, wash your hands and I'll be back soon.
