Wealthy French urbanites are fleeing to second homes in rural areas — potentially bringing coronavirus with them
Escape from cities in times of plague or revolution is an old French tradition. From the aristocracy in the Middle Ages to thein the 19th century, it has been common for “the elites to protect themselves” from disease, riot or revolution by having bolt-holes in the country, according to the French sociologist and student of French country life, Jean Viard.
Now, under the strict confinement rules applied from Tuesday at midday, with fines of €135 for disobedience, French people can no longer just get in their cars or catch trains or buses to escape the cities. “The running joke here is that the virus caught the train at Montparnasse,” said Agnès Le Brun, the mayor of Morlaix in Brittany. “It decided to have a little stay in the countryside.”
André: “Quarantine is always for other people … They’re bringing their surfboards and other beach toys as if confinement is not for them. Lamentable indiscipline.” “I feel no resentment from local people here,” she said. “But then again almost everyone in the village is a member of the family or has worked for us … We are not invaders. We are not different from them. We wear wellington boots like they do … We have a swimming pool but it’s hidden away.”
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