I came to
France to escape distractions, so I could work on a book that has been in my
head for a long time. As I arrived here, the COVID19 virus emerged in Wuhan,
China on the Yangtze River. I visited there
in 1982 when Seattle went to China to establish a sister city relationship with
Chongqing. The eruption of the virus seemed a long way away then and now.
38 Years
later, I'm sitting in Civrac-en-Medoc, population less than 1000. Yesterday they had
the municipal elections in every town in France. If your town is more than 1000
voters you can vote a straight ticket by selecting a list. Couqueques has more
than 1000 voters and so their election was called by 7:15 pm. My candidate and good friend, Guy Durand St.
Omer won. In Queyrac with more than a 1000 voter, my
good friend and restaurant owner Myriame Roure knew by 7:45 she lost 450-215.
But in
Civrac with 450 voters, voter can select from all lists so every candidates’s
votes must be counted. I live next to
the Community hall where all this was going on so I stuck my head in. 135
people were still there at 10:00 Pm when I went home to bed. The paper today
says the result are not in yet.
On Saturday
night I ate dinner in Myriame’s restaurant and she had just seen on TV that all
restaurants in France will be closed on Monday(today). She was more devastated by losing her
business than losing an election. She
hoped it would only be for two weeks. It
will be very hard after that.
I have an
Irish friend who has been bugging me to see his friend, also a psychiatrist in
Bordeaux. Today I succumbed and called
Michael in Bordeaux. He is involved in
the medical system in the University and told me, “Stay where you are. Stay at
home. The president will make a big announcement tonight. The whole country is going to be locked down
for probably 45 days. People can go out to get food but otherwise social
isolation is the order of the day.”
I brought 8 books
with me to read but I’m down to my last two.
I hope Amazon can deliver some in 2 weeks as promised. Who knows.
Reading has
always been my place of solace since childhood. Today I’m starting a book
called “A Gentleman in Moscow.” It is the tale of a man who is sentenced by the
Bolsheviks to stay inside the Metropole Hotel under, essentially, house arrest.
It struck me
as I started to read, that this my life unfolding in front of my eyes. I have been in France now for six weeks and
there is no end in sight. I’m safe and I
have food and money and toilet paper. I speak very poor French and I’m an
American epidemic Refugee. My president
has excluded me and then took it back, but I’d have problems moving in France
due to the Quarantine. I thought what a wonderful blog topic.
So that’s my
plan, God. Have a laugh!!!
