In case you’re already counting down the days to May 11th when President Macron announced France would “start reopening schools”, today the country has 762 new deaths in the past 24 hours, for a total of 15,729 Covid-19 victims. On the positive side, the total number of patients on life support has gone down for the sixth day in a row. After a warm weekend a cold wind arrived in Paris yesterday, so it’s once again a bit too chilly to keep the windows open, but the sun in still shining.
Amazon France Delivery Limited to Essentials
Are you waiting for delivery of some fun new toy to distract you under lockdown from Amazon.fr? You might not get it at all now. Today the judicial court of Nanterre ruled that Amazon France will have to limit its sales and delivery activity to so-called “essential” goods – food, medical and hygiene items – starting within the next 24 hours (they will have to pay a fine of 1 million euros per day of delay in the application of this decision). This forced slowdown, lasting one month, is meant to protect the health of workers in its six French warehouses. “Unless you are dressed as a cosmonaut, it is impossible, with current Amazon staff, to respect social distances in a warehouse,” said the workers’ union representative to Le Parisien.
Paris Saint-Germain Declared National Handball Champions
After winning 17 of the 18 matches of the season before its premature ending due to the coronavirus, Paris’s local handball team was crowned 2020 Handball Champions de France. They also have won the last 50 home games in a row! The French really, really like handball (they have the most Olympic medals in the sport), even though it sounds like they’re saying “And Ball”. Have no idea what handball is? Watch highlights of the last match of the season from early March here:
French Civil Servants Accept the #HandStandTshirtChallenge
Speaking of unpronounceable “H” words, the men and women of France’s fire departments, military and law enforcement agencies have been posting videos doing the handstand t-shirt challenge. They’re clearly not recruited for their video presentation skills, but they obviously have no problem putting on a t-shirt while upside down in a handstand (they make it look a LOT easier than it is!):
- Gendarmes
- Pompiers de Paris
- Marins Pompiers de Marseille
- Pompiers of Northern France (Dunkerque, Roubaix, Maubeuge)
- Pompiers de l’Oise
- Sécurité Civile
- Armée de Terre (what sort of weird hybrid tank things are they leaning against?)
- Police Officers of the Brigade Anti-Criminalité de l’Essonne (at the beginning of this clip from BFM TV)
Don’t Be a Snitch
French police have reported that up to 70% of the calls they’re receiving on their “17” emergency number are denunciations of neighbors not respecting the confinement rules. The mayor of the 20th arrondissement had to assign a special unit of officers to deal with all of the calls and photos taken from windows by angry locals. While it’s important to observe the rules for everyone’s health, the police need the phone lines to stay free for real emergencies, especially in Paris where burglaries have been on the rise since there are so many empty apartments at the moment.
Keep an eye on your onions, be safe! -Heather
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