Streets and transport deserted at nightfall, iron curtains obscuring the entrance to restaurants, theaters or cinema which, this week again, received customers.
Since midnight this Friday, and for the next few weeks, the eight metropolises as well as the entire Île-de-France region, affected by a night curfew, will have the air of confined areas from dusk.
Some have come to terms with the idea, but for others, the party will continue.
For these students or young workers, there is no question of suspending these social interactions to which the executive wants to temporarily end, which sees it as too great a source of contamination with the coronavirus.
"I take it as a ban on living"
For Coline, a 22-year-old student at the Sorbonne, continuing to see her friends during this period is almost a question of survival.
“I cried during Macron's announcements… I don't see anyone at university anymore because all my classes are online, my dance class which ends at 10 pm will be canceled and if in addition we can no longer go out on evening ... I take it as a ban on living.
"
VIDEO. Covid-19: curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m. in Ile-de-France and in 8 metropolises, from Saturday
So with her roommate, the young woman, far from being an inveterate party girl, made a decision for the next few weeks: “We're going to have small evenings at home.
We are going to restrict the number of guests so that we are five or six, we will be able to accommodate them and we will give priority to parties with the neighbors, so that they can go home.
"
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The big Halloween party planned in their apartment in Seine-Saint-Denis with about twenty guests will thus turn into a party for six.
“We didn't want to put people outside in the middle of the night, because we don't necessarily want to party until 6 am”, comments Coline.
The student, who on the other hand refuses to go out to others and relies on “trusted” guests, is aware of this: “These evenings will mainly be to keep the link.
"
“You stay and sleep there!
"
Maëva, a sociology student in Rouen, turns 18 this Saturday evening.
No question of canceling such an event for the young woman whose city went, almost without warning, from the status of enhanced alert zone, to city under confinement.
Normally, "several of my friends would have gone home," she confides, but there, all of them - there will be 15 - will stay with Maëva until the end of the curfew, in the early hours of the morning.
However, she has chosen not to mix her family with her friends, as initially planned, and is already planning a similar party at the end of the month.
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"There, I think it's going to be clandestine parties all night long until 6 o'clock in the apartments, or dormitory parties, where you stay and sleep there!"
», Also laughs Max, Parisian trader of 30 years.
He also intends to maintain social ties during this period.
"I am rarely at home in the evening so there it will be hard ..." But he intends to respect the rules and not go home in the middle of the night, because of the fine of 135 euros incurred, even if the forces of the order "will not come knocking on every door".
Visio aperitifs and brunches
In addition to the planned big comeback of "visio aperitifs, as in March" (these aperitifs each celebrated at home, by webcam, which were quite successful during confinement), the young man, who works every Saturday, is betting on a another strategy to be able to continue to feast during this curfew: "We will refer to the Sunday lunch meals in restaurants or with friends and take advantage of them during the day!"
I think we will find alternatives to the nightlife ”.
With an undeniable advantage: “You sleep early on Sunday evening like that!
"
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“Brunch is the new Saturday night!
"(Brunch is the new Saturday night)," People will meet differently.
It will be the return of the Saturday afternoon booms ”… On social networks, the possibility of brunches and afternoon events as new party grounds, amused a lot.
“Because of the curfew with my friends, we came up with a new concept: a brunch that would last into the afternoon, but with all the characteristics of an evening.
Yes, so we would drink in the daytime ”, laughs in particular a young Internet user.
"The fact of withdrawing all social life is too much"
For others, like Chloe (loan name), the tone is less playful.
This curfew was “the last straw”, which pushed her to temporarily leave her town, for lack of being able to maintain sufficient social ties with those close to her.
This 23-year-old self-entrepreneur, who has nevertheless spent her confinement in her small apartment in Montpellier, has chosen to temporarily extricate herself there within two weeks.
“There, withdrawing all social life is too much, I prefer to go back to my parents.
The latter live in Nancy and are not affected by these night confinement measures.
“In Nancy, I have the opportunity to have a more important social life because more freedom, and I have as many friends in the two cities so I don't have any problems moving from one city to another. the other, ”says Chloe.
Until then, Montpelliéraine plans to continue to see its relatives and "to party at the beginning of the afternoon, to return each home at 9 pm".
But she already fears loneliness.
"As long as the curfew is not applied, we do not yet realize, but after a week it will be already difficult to live ..."