Four days (was all it took)

Saturday evening, 14 March. We were sitting in a lovely farm restaurant in the middle of the Pyrenees. Official guidance was to stay away from public areas if you were elderly or had health problems, but otherwise wash your hands a lot and don't hug and kiss people. Rumours were circulating that more stringent rules were to follow as the numbers of those infected with Covid 19 increased dramatically and hospital services began to struggle. The Spanish border was closing and the schools had closed on the 13th. Some restaurants had also closed down voluntarily.

The meal was good traditional mountain food.The wine was plentiful, the company was fun; definitely a restaurant to remember.  Then someone mentioned 'the last supper' as in, this will be the last meal out for a while. We asked the waitress, and yes, the order had been announced at 8.00 pm that all restaurants, pubs, bars and clubs were to be shut from midnight. (The restaurant did say that they would be breaking that instruction for the following lunchtime as they had a booking of 50 people and they hadn't received anything in writing! That's France!) We ordered a round of cognac to finish off the meal and us, and feeling slightly shell shocked and disconcerted wondered what this would mean for us, our families and our businesses. It was a bit like an out of body experience and hard to comprehend.

On Sunday we walked in the hills, just up to the snow line for the dogs to play. The ski village was still open but for the last time, as people did their final run, packed up and left. It was also election day for the French local elections so the town halls were busy with people coming in and out to vote, and the Maires sitting anxiously to see if they were going to be re-elected. Up until this year we had been able to vote in these elections, but after the UK left the EU we lost that right, so we hadn't been too bothered about staying at home that weekend. People were standing around, talking, wondering.

Fortunately we had bought some food for Sunday night and had planned to eat in.. Cars were being packed up, shutters shut. Rumour was strong that France would be following Spain in ordering everyone to stay at home. No details were provided, but it became clear that from Tuesday we would be not be allowed to leave the house. We considered staying down in the Pyrenees a bit longer but didn't dwell long on that idea, as a small apartment is not as easy to be confined in as our own house, even though the views are beautiful.

On Sunday afternoon we had a stroll through the village. It is an old mountain village with mostly hill farmers and tourists. The holiday makers were packing up their cars.whilst the farmers checked on their sheep and cows. We remarked that for the older inhabitants the shut down would barely be noticed in the rhythm of their lives, lives that had gone on unchanged by modern ways, providing of course, no one had brought the virus to their doorstep. On the way out for our walk we passed an old stone village house where a row of hens were cuddled up sleeping on the front doorstep, looking like they had been there for centuries. When we returned an hour or so later, an elderly woman was in the doorway, feeding the chickens with a bowl of corn. She waved and smiled at us as we walked by with the dogs.

Monday morning we got up, tidied and locked up the apartment and left for home. I wanted to get a few bits from the supermarket on the way back, mainly fresh things, but the supermarkets had queues or empty shelves. Everyone was rushing around trying to get their last jobs done. Eventually I found a few bits in a supermarket near home; a ready made pizza for the evening, some cheese and milk. And then we were home...

Tuesday at noon the order to remain at home came into force. People in the UK call it a 'lockdown' but it isn't really that. We are instructed to stay at home and only go out for essential shopping, walking the dog or for a short walk to exercise, for medical needs or essential work, if you can't work from home. To go out you need to print off and sign a form ticking one of the four categories and if asked you have to show it to the police. And although I haven't seem them, the police are apparently out in force stopping and checking people to see if they are obeying the laws.

So four days..  that is how quick your life can change. And yes, I know all the reasons for it, good, honourable reasons, to save lives, to protect those more vulnerable and to spare the health professionals the ordeal of having to decide who lives and dies. I support it wholeheartedly, but nevertheless it is shocking to see how quickly and easily we can lose what we have and how much we have taken that freedom for granted without question.