The day of the race. Two men in day glo yellow jackets arrive at the crossroads. They have red and green paddles to direct traffic. The village doesn't have much traffic at the best of times. On a Sunday morning it has none. The men in the day glo jackets look suitably bored. They greet Sophie with a degree of enthusiasm that indicates we're the only living things they've seen in the last fifteen minutes.
On the village green a man and woman of a certain age put out water bottles on a trestle table. The man is sent back to the car to get his beanie hat. ' It's chilly out of the sun and I don't want you catching a cold' says the woman. The man saunters off in sullen silence. Shortly after the runners arrive. This seems to be quite a serious race. Flashes of shockingly coloured lycra hurtle through the village and down the ox track. There must be all of two hundred of them but they're evenly spaced out. Sophie stands intrigued and immovable until - in the space of ten or so minutes - the last has gone.
On a day in which there were 32,000 new cases holding the race still strikes Angus as being an odd thing to happen. Not a threat to the village or the villagers but there must have been a lot of 'mingling' in the car park and at the start line.
This morning Sophie and her master are the first customers at the greengrocers. Fresh figs ,,,,,
.... and Australian oranges make their debut on the counters. There must be some sort of northern hemisphere orange shortage as I don't think I've ever seen Australian oranges on sale before.
At the drive thru bakers they're out of croissants. Instead we get a pain au raisin. Sophie has the end of the spiral with the currants carefully picked out. She sits on the ground while Angus perches on the tailgate. No pandemic is going to halt this dog and masters Monday morning routine.
9 comments:
Sold out of croissants? I wouldn't think that would be allowed in France. The pain au raisin looks a little busy with all that sugar (?) on top - they tend to be far more austere in Japan. I hope that the runners, and the race administrators, will all be fine - it looks like the people in your photos were wearing masks, but I can't be sure. We are still doing pretty well with the numbers in Tokyo, despite the weather's cooling off. Can this really be the secret - wear masks, don't shout at ball games and keep a bit of distance from those around you? Fingers crossed.
Mmm, those figs look good. But a pain of raisin is, in my book, no substitute for a high scoring croissant. With the ongoing resurgence of Covid in France (as well as the UK and much of Europe) I was surprised to learn last week the the historian brother of my friend in Tacoma has just arrived in France, from the USA, for a nine month study break.
It seems crazy to have a race when Covud is surging. At least life for you at the farmhouse can carry on mostly as normal.
Figs so late?
There is a spread of citrus canker that makes the fruit sour. The worst is in Florida, but it's also in other countries. Maybe Australia is spared?
Running is probably less risky than some other sports, like football. No touching needed; training can be solo. Now they have RFID readers at the start and finish so you can really spread out the participants. Has the Tour de France ever passed through your region? It went by our house twice--the crowds started gathering about six hours early, then the sponsor parade came through, and then, in under 2 minutes, the cyclists.
Hari OM
I think pretty much every form of race has been cancelled over this way and we don't even have those same levels of infection (though they are defo rising...) Hope all the plastic bottles were gathered up by the certain-age-couple/organiseres?
Hmm.. if they are side by side, my choice is more often likely to be the pain au raisin, to be honest! YAM xx
It does seem irresponsible to hold the race at a time like this, but perhaps the social distancing was well thought out beforehand? It sounds as though you and Sophie were the only ones there to cheer the runners on, Angus.
I see from a recent chart that both French and UK infections are rising alarmingly and Italy's more slowly. At long last, in Spain, it seems to have stalled slightly, though for how long is anyone's guess. Here in Valencia region we have had, from the beginning, the lowest number of cases and deaths in the whole country, and hopefully it will stay that way.
don't forget the hand washing...
Ohhh, that looks really tasty!
I'd wondered with all the restrictions in your corner of the world, that there wouldn't be any runners at all. I hope all involved in the event stay healthy. I think the beautiful oranges would go a long way to insure that.
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