Just Escaped French Quarantine

I have just returned from a lovely, if rather hot, holiday in France with the French family, visiting family in Le Havre in Northern France where our relatives are Doctors at the Hospital, and then down to Lacanau Océan with family from Paris (all the French family have had Covid-19 and recovered). We then went back home via a little place in the Loire Valley outside Saumur - a beautiful area with fairytale French Chateaux everywhere you look.

As soon as we heard that Brits returning from Belgium and Spain would be subject to 15 day quarantine on returning, we knew it was a matter of time before the same applied to France. Thankfully we returned a couple of days before the announcement. We undertook voluntary tests anyway which proved negative for Covid-19. What a shambles that was - we booked tests two hours in advance, turned up with two young children, and there was a placard saying tests cancelled. A school teacher approached us (without mask) to say it is A level results day at the centre, and he’d dealt with more Covid-19 appointments than he had students. We then rebooked to an alternative site and the Sat Nav address took us to a dirt track half a mile away from the testing venue, with lots of other lost looking drivers doing U-Turns.

Whilst in France, it was busy most places and seemed back to normal, but people were respecting social distancing, and wearing masks in all shops, petrol stations, and even in restaurants, apart from whilst seated. Staff in shops and restaurants, and cafés were wearing masks all the time, even in the 35 degree heat.

It was a bit shocking to return to the UK. Fewer people seem to be wearing masks, and it doesn’t seem to be being taken as seriously as in France. As an example, we went into Pizza Express with the children, the waiters and kitchen staff wandered around with no masks and no visors. They brought us a glass with lipstick on, and three other grubby looking glasses. The facilities were filthy.

I think I might head back to France, it is safer there (although a bit too hot)!