How the city dwellers rediscover their neighborhood during the August holidays

The sun barely points to its nose. Marie-Christine* opens the eyelids. Even summer is an update. The chirping of the merles of the cradles for a few seconds.

What happiness! The day starts gently. The rest of the year, the purring of engines, the click of the doors or the horns bring it out of bed. But now in the middle of the summer, motorists sulk their daily routine. Many took the road towards a beach covered with parasols and towels, a majestic castle and its well -kept secrets or the mountain to hike. History to evacuate all the accumulated stress. Even noise trucks make less noise! It must be said that there are fewer to empty. “There is a vacation air,” savor the septuagenarian, getting up with an excellent mood.

In these first days of August, Life turns slowdown in the Labisette district, in the heart of this city of 150,000 souls in the west of France. Here, we find the local “rue de la Paix”: 4,385 euros/m2, against 3,200 euros elsewhere in the town. And for good reason, we are a stone’s throw from the majestic Gothic cathedral which is the pride of the city.

Generally, everyone meets in the small central square, bordered by shops and, above all, two school groups. From September to June, nearly 1,500 students revolve here. The inhabitants even avoid going to buy their traditional wand during the lunch break, because in front of the bakery which offers a student menu, a long queue stretches, animated by joyful laughs. But these days, no teenage voice resonates in the place. The baker can chat at leisure with her regulars. Neighboring traders – the other bakery, the PMU bar or the grocery store – have kept their curtain lowered. The activity is reduced, so much so that customers who have come by car can park easily. Unthinkable in school time, when effervescence punctuates the days. At the start of the morning, a peaceful and warm village atmosphere seizes Labisette.

Widowed for over twenty years, Marie-Christine no longer likes to make and undo her suitcases … With the song of birds, the holidays invite themselves to her house. And then, you have to pour the croquettes well to your old cat, 18 all the same! But above all, the retiree has no more fixed schedules. His two gym lessons, Tuesday and Thursday, are interrupted in July-August. And no need to immerse yourself in the church accounts, parish activities are paused. The parish priest was absent for two months, returned to Burkina Faso to spend time with his loved ones. So on Sunday, Marie-Christine goes to another parish, where the priests provide a bearing. Here again, that does not pose a problem for her, she comes out rather invigorated. “All the parishioners find themselves in the same place. There are even thirties who come with their children. They spend time with their family in their childhood home, ”enthuses this believer.

Not everyone lives His August month on the same tempo. A few streets from there, Géraldine, a magistrate close to retirement, must go to court every day. If no audience is scheduled during this hollow period, there are still emergencies to manage, like people placed in police custody during the night. Yes, thieves and criminals do not take leave … Géraldine lives these summer weeks alone at home. Her husband left to lounge in their house by the sea. She joins him from time to time, on weekends. But this season in Labisette remains rather pleasant. “I look at the streets differently, as if I immersed myself in a novel by JMG Le Clézio,” she smiles, quoting one of her favorite authors.

While Géraldine Takes the pile of files on her desktop, Elizabeth quietly passes the portal of the retirement home by pushing her walker, which she only uses as a precaution. Direction the market, less than ten minutes on foot. Maybe twenty for her, but whatever! His vitality makes his 91 spring forget. Between the stalls, this former brasserie manager crosses all the “faithful”, those who do not leave. Market gardeners in particular, always there. “Hello, are you okay?” She said all the time, her face radiant. Here it strolls in search of a little pleasure. Why not a bouquet of flowers? – It’s pretty, the flowers.

Taken in a discussion with the saleswoman, her “friend”, she sends a kiss in the distance to a passerby that greets her. It must be said that it is very appreciated. Even in the middle of the summer, she does not feel loneliness. Better still, she gives herself to heart. The day before, during her weekly swimming pool session, she went up at the top of the slide and went down the slope! “Chiche? »Had launched a neighbor’s room of the residence. The opportunity was tempting, no child was in sight that day-rare for a vacation afternoon. “My granddaughters still scolded me on the phone. It is true that I could have hurt myself and, at my age, it would be the beginning of the end … “says Elizabeth. At the start of the school year, she will have so much to tell her “little darling”. One will come back from India, the other from Morocco.

Ensure on isolated elderly people

For the elderly more isolated, the local antenna of the little brothers of the poor watches over sixty people, summer and winter. The president of the association, a volunteer and just retired, remains to visit them, make a game or a walk.

If loneliness does not hug Labisette summer visitors, it is because the essential places remain accessible. Like the pharmacy, the nerve center of the square, open all summer. Behind his counter, Mathieu, assistant pharmacist, often hears the same sentence: “I am annoyed, my doctor is on vacation for two or three weeks and I no longer have drugs for my tension … How will I do? “Don’t panic, he takes the time to find a solution. During this period, the pharmacy has half as many patients. The opportunity also to sort the paperwork, put away the basement, make an inventory.

Five minutes away from there, It is depot. Tristan, beard of three days and marked eyes, walks his garage, quickly passing from one car to another. The hoods are all wide open, some bone bumper. Only a Van Combi, a slightly curved roof, seems like new. At his sight, customers embarked in California in the 1960s, the decade Peace and Love. In thirty-four years of activity, Tristan, he only took only a week of leave. Summer too, he has to wake up at 6 am. Its garage repairs between twenty and thirty vehicles per day like the rest of the year and the phone does not stop ringing. But the public is different. Because, if its loyal customers have anticipated the revision of their vehicle or the repair of their air conditioning, you have to go to the rescue of cars that have broken down to the trip of the holidays and transported to the city by the convenience stores.

The Tristan garage is one of the few open in the sector. He even keeps a mechanic available to take care of emergencies and allow drivers to leave as quickly as possible. “One day, I lent a car to a couple who came back from Brittany to go home to the Alps!” They had hurt me, ”he recalls. Since then, the mountain dwellers and the city dweller have stayed in contact and regularly give new news.

At the park next door too, we meet different. Tourists wander there, cap on their heads and leaflets from the tourist office in hand. English here, Spaniards there, and even Asians. It must be said that the garden, looking like Versailles, is worth the detour with its cone trees and elegant statues. “In summer, there are especially fewer incivility,” notes Sébastien, municipal employee with green spaces. We are fed up with cyclists who roll on plants and dogs that trample the flowers. “Here, here is Marie-Christine admiring a flowery alley in yellow gradient before the tide of Augustians comes to jostle her tranquility. “And to say that they will be sad to come back from vacation …” she mumbles, leaving.

*The first names and the toponym have been modified.