On Thursday I went on a day trip to the beach. The newspapers were predicting a third confinement and I wanted to breath a little before it started. Today came the announcement and .... nothing much at all. Frontiers firmly closed to non-EU, and tests needed for intra-EU travel, but otherwise very little. Schools stay open, we can travel throughout France without specifying a reason. The only new restriction is that 'centres commercials' of greater than 20,000 sq.metres must close. How big is that, you wonder. Well, mathematicians will realise it is a space 200m x 100m, pretty big (3 soccer pitches if you are unfamiliar with the metric system). I thought about the massive hypermarket in the nearest city of Perpignan, big enough for at least two jumbo jets to my mind. Googling showed that it is only 11,000 sq.m. Trivialist that I am, I looked around the Internet and found that this is what will have to close in France - the four biggest Ikeas, one Leroy Merlin home improvements store, and 5 large hypermarkets. All of these are located in France's largest cities, so presumably the clientele will just find alternatives and mix together just as animatedly as before, though in smaller spaces! I have confidence in the people managing the pandemic here, but if I had known all this before Thursday, iI wouldn't have gone for a walk on the beach, I'd have gone shopping !
"Trivialist that I am...." That made me chuckle a good bit! I'm the same way. The irony is not lost on me with the title--at least someone is experiencing joy in the shot!
@bob65 I prefer to think of them as trips taken to further my appreciation of Spanish culture. But no, no more cheap booze for a while ! Our local newspaper had a front page story today about the stampede of French smokers desperate to get their cheap cigs before the frontier closed.
