"The national sport of France"

I heard my favourite new French phrase this week, when I was invited to partake: breakfast Rosé.

D’accord.

We had it along with this lovely sweet/savoury slice, a version of a snack taken into the fields in the early mornings back in the day, called, tourte de blettes, consisting of rum-soaked sultanas, pine nuts, fruit peel, but mainly, Swiss chard. There’s a recipe here if you want to try it.

While we were sitting in the old town eating this, we could hear a protest off in a square or on a side street somewhere, and the local person we were with referred to protesting as the national sport of France, and I must admit, since we have been here, we have come across our fair share.

I mentioned the anti-vax protest near Noah’s the other day, but we have seen many others, and they seem to be mostly about matters to do with Covid.

I couldn’t get a decent shot of this one (below)—they waved me off—but as we walked home through Place Garibaldi, there was the remains of this one, which was also in objection to the pass sanitaire.

The evening before, in Place Massena, which isn’t far from Garibaldi, there was this, which had the cops out in force, though as you can see from the second photo, they were having a lovely time chatting to the blonde woman.

It’s hard to say, but the anti-vax/pass sanitaire thing, despite the protests, does seem to be a very marginal view, and you are much more likely to see scenes like this, pop-up testing stations in public squares.

I suspect these people are all tourists getting a rapid antigen result so they can eat at one of the nearby restaurants.

As I’ve said a few times, it will be increasingly difficult to live outside the requirements of compliance, of having a pass, or a test always available, which, in practical terms is best handled by having the appropriate app on your phone.

My issue is not with the idea of having to be vaccinated, or with the idea of regular testing—both of which I support—but we need to watch carefully the way compliance is policed, the financial and social costs associated with it, and to make sure the most vulnerable are not only protected from exposure but from the inevitable costs associated with participation in an “opened up” world.

The risk of abuse is high.

Btw, even McDonalds requires the pass sanitaire.