" Finally !
»« Ah, that's cool!
»Sitting quietly smoking cigarettes on the banks of the Canal Saint-Martin, in the 10th arrondissement of Paris, Johanna and Anaïs sigh of relief.
Respectively French and English teachers, aged 28 and 32, they do not hide their weariness tinged with annoyance vis-à-vis health restrictions.
“In college, we get half coughed on by students.
And when leaving: bam, curfew, we can't even go shopping or unwind after work, ”plague Johanna, particularly upset.
So on May 19, the two comrades visualize very well where they will be: "on the terrace of our HQ, a bar in Jaurès, where it was the tradition to drink shots after school", they explain in chorus.
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But their spontaneous movement of joy is followed by words where bitterness points. "It will be a little less worse, but not the panacea, with this curfew again… we agree that it is a cosmetic measure to give the impression of doing something? »Asks Anaïs. However, the two young women do not doubt the planned schedule. "When a specific date is announced by Macron, we can be sure that he will go to the end whatever happens, even if it is chaos", Judge Johanna, in a burst of mocking laughter.
A certainty that does not share Gina, Arthur and Elaine, who taste the tranquility of this Thursday afternoon, observing ducklings frolic in the water a little further.
“We have been told so many things for months!
The reopening of the culture was supposed to be in January, then in March, so how to be sure that this well respected calendar takes place?
»Gina asks.
One thing is certain, however: if the museums reopen on May 19, the young executive in insurance will rush there to "free her mind".
"The epidemic is likely to start again"
On Instagram, she watches with envy her London friends drinking shots in the pubs, and considers joining them in England to "have a normal life, walk with my friends, go shopping, and go to restaurants ..." 'her, Arthur does not judge the desire for freedom of his friend, but considers the premature reopening in France.
"It would be great if everything reopens, but it's too early, when we look at the figures for contamination, resuscitation, the epidemic may start again," he fears.
So there was no question for this 19-year-old computer student to rush into bars on May 19, or even into a cinema.
"I will continue to watch films at home, anyway I am rather a homebody", he justifies.
Philippe has only one hurry: to be able to travel freely again.
LP / Olivier Arandel
But for those who have a passion for elsewhere, time is stretching. On the other side, Philippe is savoring the pale and rare rays of the sun while leafing through a copy of Géo magazine. The beautiful landscapes on glossy paper are so many snapshots of this now inaccessible other end of the world. And the travel prospects are what this 66-year-old driver for tourists, forced to short-time working, is most lacking.
For us, he lists the impossible departures: "harvesting olives from friends in Italy, going to see the mother of my late wife in Japan, getting involved in my humanitarian association in Madagascar". The timetable for deconfinement? Little mattered to him. He will still take advantage of the lifting of traffic restrictions on May 3 to cross France to visit his cousins near Avignon. "Because I no longer have too many friends in Paris, and I feel a little lonely there," he confesses.
