Thursday, 2nd April
The sun is out again, shining with a vengeance.
As the children and I head to the basketball pitch for some fresh air, we see a car with a shattered window. On the driver’s side, there is a sticker featuring the nurse’s caduceus and a scrap of paper with a phone number scribbled on it. A woman passing by at the same time as us calls the number. A young woman’s head pops out of a window above us answering the call. It’s her car.
She knows it has been vandalised. She is a nurse, she explains, but she is in self-isolation because she has suspected Covid-19 and cannot go to the police to make a statement. Her bag was stolen, containing all her equipment including masks and hydro-alcoholic gel. The lady calling her says she knows someone and will help. I have read on social media that this is not uncommon, as thieves hope to find valuable masks and other material in health personnel’s vehicles.
It beggars belief.
The sound of the ball bouncing seems to mingle increasingly with the ambulance sirens. As I mentioned earlier, we live very near the Croix Rousse hospital, one of the largest in Lyon, so we are used to the sirens. But bizarrely, the silence since lockdown makes them sound louder.