The QuaranTEENS

Recently mister Macron decided to take off the lockdown, we are now able to go 100 Kilometres around our homes without permission. I don’t know if I’m supposed to be happy about it or not. I’m happy to see my friends again and play basketball again that’s sure. But I don’t think that this country or any country at all is ready to face COVID again and ending the lockdown is without any doubt going to provoke a second wave of COVID cases. That’s my opinion in any case, given that French people are not showing the most responsible behaviour against this virus. Going out without vital reason, meeting with friends during the lockdown, etc. Indeed, I think that this irresponsible decision of the government represents perfectly the irresponsible behaviour of its people. In conclusion even after all the danger that this end of lockdown represents, I’m still a little bit happy because I can meet with my homies again, and it’s been a long long time. We can also assume that this end of lockdown is the first step to coming back to school and coming back to my favourites classes beyond all: English classes.

It is already more one week that the end of lockdown has begun. Many of the stores have opened since May 11 (like Zara, Mango etc).   I saw on twitter the video that there were line up at the entrance of Zara in Bordeaux and in Paris but people respected the distances.

There are many people who have criticized but I think that ‘is a good sign because for everyone the confinement was difficult and we need we to clear our brains in addition, during sales there are much longer lines up. As soon as people follow the rules, there is nothing WRONG. Public transport has started to circulate more recently but nevertheless it does not circulate 100% as before, in addition with “peak hours” it is difficult to circulate freely. But nevertheless, now we can go out more freely and without certification, even if we cannot go more than 100km from our home. Shopping centres will also open (the Beaugrenelle centre has already been open today except the cinema and the), as do small museums. Some restaurants take out.

We are slowly starting to recover, and I hope we will succeed.

This week was really intense for me I went to Chinon with my parents by car to see my sister Alice. She was locked down with a friend of hers called Alix in the countryside in a family castle. I didn’t see her for 9 weeks and it was really hard to not cry in front of her because my mum did. We spent three days in this castle, it was really peaceful to be in the countryside I did so many activities like bicycle in the fields. Now I have sunburns but it’s a bad for a good because after that I’ll be tanned and believe it or not it’s really hard for me to be tanned😅😂 

It has been a few days that we’re not anymore in containment. So we can now go out to do whatever we want except all activities or places where there is plenty of people.I went out a bit because it’s good for our health. If you stay at home every time during a too long time, you become crazy. When I went out I respected the security rules by wearing a mask, and staying not too close from the others.

However, I was surprised about the number of people who don’t even give a little little bit importance for the virus. I saw old people meet their friends with no mask, hugging, kissing on the cheek, shaking hands etc, while they are the most exposed to the risks of coronavirus. That’s unbelievable…

Even if we may go out, I don’t find a lot of things to do because mostly everything is closed. So when I go out it is mainly to get some fresh air while respecting the safety rules. However, I miss too much going to bars, restaurants and even more fast foods with my friends. I have a lot of five guys, mc donald’s or stake & shake planned. We’re just waiting for the end of the virus and the opening.

After several weeks without a long walk, I had to stimulate my legs. That’s why my father and I decided to go for a walk on the banks of the Seine not far from my house. We didn’t meet many people except people fishing or small groups of children playing with each other. At the beginning, after walking for 30 minutes, I had small pains in my joints, but they quickly went away. This walk did me a lot of good, both physically and morally, by clearing my mind. In the end, we walked for more than 3 hours.

Then, in the days that followed I accompanied my mother by walking 1 hour for the outward journey and 1 hour for the return journey to be able to go to the station because my mother had to get these tickets refunded. In the end, they told her to do a walk on the Internet, a walk that wasn’t much used for the main purpose, but it wasn’t a refusal to go out for a bit. However, I noticed the difference in the abundance of people, there was a lot more in places that are already busy bases, but I was not shocked, I expected it, it’s normal it’s necessary to resume little by little the “normal” life. The only thing that surprised me was the people who do not respect the fact that some parks are closed, they have appropriated lawns that are intended as a base for works of art in memory of dead people.

Since the post-quarantine, I have often gone for strolls. It gave me real pleasures to get some fresh air and to discover again the city of Paris. In the first days of post-quarantine, I thought there would be a lot of people outside but finally not so much. People were rather in car than on the streets. Then I went to the docks and I began to see a lot of people walking around or running. I was surprised to see that police was still present in the entire city. However exit certificate was no more need and police controls have consequently stopped. On the first week-end of the post-quarantine, I went to Fontainebleau. There were a lot of people to walk in the forest.

Since the beginning of the post-quarantine, I have found that each person stayed at home but during this first week-end my opinion changed a little bit. Nevertheless I find that the post-quarantine is globally well respected. Most of people wear masks outside and teenagers as well. I think mask is a good thing for confined spaces. It is also a reassuring measure for old or weak persons.

Last Thursday, I read an article in Le Figaro’ newspaper and Michel Blanquer was saying that he wanted that each student go back at school at least once before the end of May. In this article, we could also find the point of view of doctors and they were not in favor of reopening schools because children are, in short, healthy carriers and can very easily contaminate teachers and other employees. Will we go back to school before summer holidays? The answer should come in a few weeks . . .

I didn’t think the end of confinement would happen like this.
In fact, when I went outside I saw that people were going out a lot .
The end of containment does not mean the end of the virus and I find that people are not aware of this enough.
Even if people are wearing masks, there are many situations where we are very close and there is a possibility of contamination.

I went out a few times to celebrate the end of the containment with my girl friends who had missed me. We go outside and we talk using a mask for sure ! As we are in a risk zone, the parks are closed, so we decided to settle on a square: place of victories. One of my favorite places.

I don’t get out that much, but I enjoy going out when I feel like it.

Since the confinement is over, we can see outside a lot of people. People without mask or any other protection. The end of lockdown caused a feeling of liberty but we can’t think like this. Indeed, the virus is here, the virus is everywhere around us.  

I understand that staying at home is complicated especially now with the good weather. However, we need to measure the consequences of our actions, we need to understand that go out every day can harm us, harm others, the most fragile. We can’t be selfish!  

While waiting for a vaccine, we have to be strong and stay optimist.  

See you next week!  

EIGHTH WEEK

This week ended with good news : the end of quarentine. We won’t be able to have the same life as before but we can slowly regain our freedom in hopes to achieve a new normal. Starting with, no more travel certificates. 

If people respect the barrier gestures, we should be able to reopen restaurants within a month. It would be a step in fixing the country’s economy. In the meantime I enjoy making various different salads which I find enjoyable.

I made masks with my father’s partner for my family.  Now I know how to use the sewing machine.

Monday, I went to see my best friend who was coming back from the countryside.  It did me a lot of good to see her again while respecting the distances.

Finally my boyfriend came home and we ordered sushi it was great.  I missed him a lot ! 

After several weeks of quarantine, it’s officially the end of lockdown. I was waiting for this for a long time. They’re still restrictions but we can finally go out without an authorization within 100km. Hopefully there will not be another phase of containment anytime soon. Right now, there is a big problem with masks. A lot of town halls has received and distributed “masks” which was not of good quality. But, at least, there giving those away for free. Some schools are opening for young people, but it’s not the same as before, they are very careful and they take a lot of security measures. We are slowly regaining our lives like they were before this whole quarantine thing started.