Can they ban “La vie en rose”?
“You will be reunited. You will feel their touch again. You will be able to hold them. You will cry tears of joy. We fight on for this.” #LoveIsNotTourism Sarah Taylor @mrs_sarah_tea
“This time will end.This separation will end. This pandemic isn’t for forever.”
When will separation end?
What will happen to us in 2021? Nobody knows. All I know is that day of October 2020 when I had to leave you and take the Eurostar back to Paris, when you drove me to the regional train station and kissed goodbye, we were very close to fall in love.The miracle had happened. After 9 months of texting, vidéo chats and virtual visiting of our gardens, we met in real life, touching at last. You, the cynical, the sceptical, the non-romantic, the typical fear-of-commitment man, the fierce Irish rebel, allowed yourself to be happy and admit :« We are happy together, it’s that simple ». And hot sexy lines were exchanged as soon as I was back and safe in Paris with lots of XXX xxxx
K -We had a great time Love xxx
Où tu? Ahh in the shower, Ooh la la xxxxxxxx
You left your knickers Ooh La La I
I miss u really do. Xxxxxxx.
J -I miss you too! My phone stayed at the english hour…I am eating scones and lemon cake for breakfast …I had a lovely séjour and I didn’t even put on any weight …probably the exercise ..
Instant Intimacy
What we experienced in that “meeting at last” was Instant Intimacy. Intimacy having breakfast together, reading the Telegraph, escaping to the sea for a walk under the cliffs, Fish and Chips on the beach, or even going to Tesco to buy me cheese cake and a ridiculous giant pumpkin. Even when you watched a rugby match I could feel intimacy. And most of all instant intimacy of our bodies. Something magnetic going from you to me and me to you, a magic fluid running across your king size bed. I had borrowed a pair of your pyjamas, we instantly felt playful and free. I was inspired by you and always will be. I made a promise to myself : I will invent thousands of ways matching love and and sex so that you never get tired of me, of us. I will never find another man with such a delicate and subtle approach to my body. Instant pleasure. And you were not going to find a woman you would desire night and day so naturally « I warm up so easily » you whispered. And indeed I was determined to play the French courtisane, seduce you month after month for the rest of my life to keep you in that lovely state.
After we met in real life, our relationship could grow. Ten days, a short and successful break in our Covid life had made us close forever. Because of what we go through, we learn to know each other. To “love” we add friendship, companionship, support, sometimes fight but most of the time FUN. The apps were still there and you loved to try them all. Skype and What’s App, then Facebook Messenger. And Zoom. And of course texting and long mails since the love of words was one of our most precious link. And we were sure to meet again since the Queen had said so.
Travel ban torture
Travel ban is the torture invented by our leaders to try to kill the Virus. It did not stop the virus but it killed hundreds of thousands of people’s life and happiness. Laws and restrictions killed what is essential for a human being : meeting someone you want to spend your life with, you want to sleep with and wake up with. Closing borders — but the virus knows no border — of what used to be the Global world. Complex and changing rules were edicted as laws, keeping people prisoners in their own country or forbidding them to come back home. Mothers not allowed to see their children, husbands and wives apart, fiancés with engagement rings not being able to marry, weddings cancelled. And of course, last but not least, unmarried people into a love relationship.
We were one of these unfortunate bi-national couples, we had started our relationship end of January 2020, just 15 days before the Coronavirus first rumor. Things were so simple then. Cheap flights between UK and France. I had checked the best pubs around your place. You were dreaming of walking along the Seine in Paris.
The virus was alive and well, finding new ways to reproduce itself, as a monster in science-fiction films suddenly turning in a hideous new creature when you thought you had killed the beast. All parts of England seemed to be invaded. I was checking The Guardian UK and the BBC everyday. The news was bad.
Lonely Christmas
Christmas is a very special time for British people. I love to be in England at that time the year. I like the stores and the lights and the songs. But in December 2020, England imposed family « bubbles ». « Christmas bubbles, support bubbles and childcare bubbles are all different things and have their own specific rules. An inventive panoply of crazy new rules. We agreed that I could come in December to visit but a last minute lockdown rule made it impossible. People discovered with just a few hours notice the lockdown. The entire UK population was rushing into the train stations to visit their family before the fatal hour of the lockdown. People were crowded in the trains, with no distancing possible, the cure was worse than the disease. An incredible chaos was taking place at St Pancras Eurostar terminal Most of all regional trains were suppressed since it is tradition to work on the railways at that time the year as you wrote to me.We talked a lot. On December 2020 10 European countries had closed the border with UK.
Christmas Day had become « Bubble day » with people only allowed to meet in a prescribed number. You advised me not to visit at this critical time. You were happy to spend Christmas with your family. You sent me picture of OUR Christmas tree you wanted us to share online. You called me on Christmas Day midnight. The worst Christmas of my life.
New Year’s Eve, a lockdown and no hug
Then you invited me for New Year’s Eve and your birthday in January
K You and I should spend New Year over here any time from 28th December until after my birthday in January. This will be a nice comfortable long break for you.- J So, should I jump and join you? The New Year in France is going to be terrible with more restrictions, couvre feu., bars and cafés closed..What would the situation in the UK, pubs open? Lockdown means having to make decisions all the time and it is exhausting as a BBC article pointed.
Once more I took my Eurostar ticket and got prepared. But January 1st was also the first day for Brexit and more complications at the border. And most if all the virus seemed to know an explosion in England. I was so sad when I wrote to you to cancel my trip. I hastily accepted a last minute invitation to spend December 31 at Saint-Malo. You messaged me : “Happy New Year at the British Time 00:00” And I messaged you back “In good company with friends and champagne, Happy New Year from France !”On Facebook you write about our missed New Years Eve. « It would have been a blast !»’.
We were now on the “Would have been mode”, reviewing what could have been and what was stolen from us. Are we going to live forever in the frustrating mode “it would have been” or are we going to LIVE AGAIN ? But something happened, unexpected, when you returned to our cosy hideway, that would lead you to to discouragement and perhaps despair. Once more restrictions and rules interfered in our story.
Janique Laudouar (to be followed) You can read the first part of the story Touching at last
