Les Jardins de l'Ars and Coronavirus



Our neighbouring building sites are all but finished. Portakabins have been removed. Rubble has been cleared. We now seem to be in a new phase of breaking up old tarmacadamed surfaces and preparing for the earth-moving that will produce the eventual gardens. All very fascinating, of course.

Meanwhile one church in Bordeaux has been closed for two weeks after one of its attendees was infected with covid-19 on a visit to France's principal mega-church in Mulhouse. There's been a little outbreak associated with a conference held at Mulhouse and so this person became Bordeaux' second covid-19 case and their Bordeaux church held online services yesterday.

So despite the fact that Bordeaux is twinned with the city of Wuhan, and despite the large number of Chinese students from Wuhan here in Bordeaux, so far we have not had a cluster of cases and life continues as normal with only a restriction on handshakes, hugs and kisses to notice. For us handwashing has become prayerful as reciting the Lord's prayer gives the right timing for a thorough hand wash. I have enjoyed reciting in English, French and Welsh and I think I'll revise it in Spanish, too.

The French news observes with amusement the panic buying of toilet-rolls. French people panic buy pasta when the madness strikes, but so far our supermarket shelves are well stocked with penne, spaghetti, farfalle and rigatoni.


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