Our broker met us on board CoP as we were lifting floorboards, looking in the bilges, opening cupboards and inspecting the flexiteak decks. Our first impressions were even better than we were expecting. The layout, space and quality of fittings were excellent and we tried to contain our excitement as we continued to explore above and below deck. While there were areas that needed attention we felt none of them were unsurmountable.
We left CoP with a sense that we had found our benchmark – now all the other boats we had arranged to view needed to meet the standard set by her.
We spent the rest of the afternoon and the next morning looking at boats – a Freedom, Najad, Swan and Oyster 42. I really liked the Oyster 42 but the owners had just accepted an offer on her so she was out of contention.
We met the brother of a good friend for lunch in a pub by the water in Lymington. Mike and Ali had met while both participating in the Clipper round the world challenge. Mike now does repairs and preparation work for Clipper and both were keen to hear about our plans as we were keen to hear of their experiences living on and racing a boat around the world.
On returning to London we dropped off our hire car at Shepherds Bush and made our way through rush hour buses to meet friends, Tina and Andy, in a Chiswick pub. Along the way we bumped into a security guard who had helped us with directions the previous day and here we were, wearing the same clothes, pulling the same cases with the same determined and slightly anxious looks on our faces. He gave us a quizzical nod as we strode past and must’ve wondered whether we were still lost or just odd – (almost certainly the latter!).
Tina and Andy had managed to get hold of the key for Jocs’ apartment. Jocs is another family member who was holidaying with her partner, Dave, in Mexico. Jocs’ 13 year old daughter, Bella, had been in the flat to put clean sheets on the bed so we were able to drop into bed when we arrived – exhausted from the drive and still suffering the effects of jetlag.
We woke up early on Friday morning and scoured the news. The only news was about the spread of Covid19 (Coronavirus) and the different ways countries were handling the pandemic. As more and more cases were being reported in Europe each day we started to understand how this could derail our plans unless we acted fast. We felt we had little choice but to continue as planned until we were told, or forced to stop. With no income and time ticking, we needed to continue our search for the perfect boat, regardless of whether we may believe we had already seen her. It would be foolhardy to dismiss the other boats we had spent months researching when we knew there were good options for us to look at in France, but was it crazy to head to France when the Covid19 situation was worsening daily? Knowing what we know now, we would not make the same decision, but at the time the information was so sketchy so “boxing on” seemed the right thing to do.
Fortunately, my sister lives in Paris so we talked to her about what would happen if France/UK locked down while we were there and made loose arrangements if that situation arose. We felt a false sense of security as we boarded our EasyJet flight to Marseille on Monday afternoon. London was still busy with the tubes, trains and buses not noticeable less crowded. There was only one moment of concern when Steve was delayed at the boarding gate when an airline staff member questioned whether someone travelling on a New Zealand passport was allowed to enter France. He attempted to make a phone call to check, but no-one answered and, with me telling him it was fine, of course a kiwi can board the flight, he handed back Steve’s passport and let us through!
Marseille was warm with clear blue skies which was a welcome temperature difference to London which was still experiencing winter temperatures and gloomy skies! We collected a hire car, which only I was authorised to drive. It takes a while to retrain your brain into driving on the right side of the road and changing gears with your right hand – well it took my tired brain a while. I think the car hire company staff must’ve watched us slowly leave the car park and wondered whether they had unleashed a lethal weapon onto the Marseille streets!
We arrived in Marseille city centre and were surprised how busy it was. The streets were full of cars and people were milling around, however no restaurants, bars, shops or cafes were open. France had started a lockdown of businesses to try and contain the spread of the virus. Our apartment was on the 4th floor of a five floored building overlooking an historic square which would normally be bristling with activity in the many restaurants that spilled onto the paved piazza. The square was silent with the only people walking through usually wearing a face mask.
We had left the car in an underground car park and walked to the apartment carrying our bags. As we came close to the old port, a number of vans pulled up and, what looked like, an army of heavily armed, burly men wearing a dark blue padded uniform, jumped out and started patrolling the streets.
It was hard for us to get an update on what was happening and we received mixed messages on whether the city/country was in lock down or not. Having no definite confirmation one way or the other, we decided to continue with our planned meetings at Port Napoleon Marina, about a one hour drive from Marseille.
Port Napoleon is located off a long straight road, splattered with roundabouts. The turning to the marina is easy to miss (I did), and then another long straight road which felt like it was leading us into a deserted backwater of truckyards rather than a large marina.
We met with two brokers, Sam and Philippe, who showed us the boats we were particularly keen to see. Philippe was extremely knowledgeable and, in between him taking urgent family calls, he passed on a lot of information about the boats he was showing us and the process around buying in France. He also explained that the country was in lockdown from mid-day – it was now 1.00pm. Alarmed, we discussed where that left us. Philippe calmly told us not to worry that, as long as we had the correct paperwork we would be fine, and he would give us the correct form. Armed with this, we set off back to Marseille, happy that we had achieved what we set out to do!
We returned the car to the airport and caught a bus into the city. The city was deserted with more cars than people moving around and police questioning drivers as they drove through the centre. They didn’t take much notice of us as we passed by with a baguette in our hand and headed to the apartment, which is where we stayed for the rest of the night, not daring to venture outside again onto the empty streets.
The next morning we left early to walk to the train station in plenty of time to catch the fast train to Paris. On the way we waited to cross the road and a small car, packed with four burly men, drew to a halt in front of us. The driver, dressed in casual clothes, identified himself as the police and asked us where we were going. In my rather broken French I explained we were going to the train station to catch a train to Paris. He looked at us quizzically and, probably realising it was useless asking us too much more, said as he drove away, “Don’t stay too long on the street”. We were still not sure if they really were police or just vigilantes but we walked quickly to the station, only stopping to buy bread and croissants for the journey as we had been told the buffet car would be closed. The train station was quiet and, due to a surprising lack of chairs, we perched ourselves on some tables, well away from anyone else. There seemed to be no trains arriving or leaving in the hour we waited for the platform number to be displayed on the large board. While we waited, several uniformed and muscled police officers walked past and stopped people at random to ask for papers. They were closely followed by a small brigade of very serious looking soldiers in army fatigues carrying large machine guns as they walked through the station. It was very intimidating but showed the seriousness of the situation.
We were relieved to get on the train and found our reserved seats on the top deck of the express train to Paris. The train was full and, although passengers did try not to sit together, it was impossible in our carriage.
My sister, Judy, met us at Gare de Lyon. It was wonderful to see her at the gate but we were not able to hug or touch one another (particularly in public), so hopefully the excitement of seeing her showed on our faces. Judy led us through the deserted metro and trolley bus back to her house in the 20th arrondissement in NE Paris. It was great to see Jean-Paul when we arrived and be able to introduce him to Steve by the banging of forearms together!
We had a good sleep and woke to a warm morning with clear skies. We decided the best thing for us to do was to return to London as soon as possible, in case the UK closed their borders to foreign nationals. Although I have a UK passport, Steve doesn’t so it would have caused a whole lot of other issues if he was refused entry!
We booked an EasyJet flight leaving Paris for Gatwick at 4pm but decided to give ourselves plenty of time to get to the airport, just in case of any travel issues on the metro and train. Judy walked us to Porte de Bagnotlet Metro station and made sure we bought the correct tickets. With excellent directions in our hand, we said goodbye to Judy after a visit that was far too short, so she could return home to conform with the country lockdown.
All the stations and trains were eerily quiet and we arrived at Charles de Galle airport about 40 minutes later. The airport was deserted. We had no luggage to check in so we continued through security to wait the 2hrs for our flight to leave. On checking the departure board it showed our flight was delayed 30 minutes. In the departure area we headed towards our gate – a comfortable looking lounge caught our eye and, thinking this would be a perfect place to wait, we made ourselves at home entertaining ourselves doing cryptic crossword puzzles. Time passed quickly …. A little too quickly, and the next time we looked at our watch, we realised there was not much time to get to the gate as the flight was due to leave in 30 minutes. It soon became apparent we had not heard any announcements while enjoying the comfortable lounge.
When we started walking, it became clear the gate was not as close as we had originally thought and we still had to clear through passport control – easy for me, but a little longer for Steve. Once through we started running – the gate lounge was in front of us but deserted apart from two EasyJet staff. We announced our arrival and they informed us we had missed the flight – even though it was displayed as delayed, “It had left early” the man informed us with a “couldn’t care less” shrug!
I have to say, how we handled this news was a credit to us both! Our initial disbelieve, self-flagellation and despair soon turned into action and planning our next move! We stuck together and worked through it as a team. It would’ve been easy to blame each other, get angry at EasyJet and dissolve into a quivering puddle on the floor but there was no point. If we wanted to apportion blame, we need look no further than ourselves, so it was best to just get on with it and find out what our options were going forward.
We booked a later flight, leaving in just under two hours, and waited beside the gate – we weren’t going to make the same mistake again!
Back in London, life was very different. The airport was busy, the train, station and streets were full of people. It was such a contrast to France, I found it difficult to comprehend. We were all supposed to be fighting this virus together, but there appeared to be a huge difference between countries and how the Governments were choosing to react to it. Instead of acting early and avoiding a huge spike in illness and death, the UK Government seemed to have taken the route to delay taking significant action until the number of those infected has increased. Here we were in London where all shops, cafes and pubs were open, public transport packed and roads still very busy.
Paul and Wendy, were now out of isolation and warmly welcomed us into their comfortable home in Acton. Gradually London closed down. First the pubs, cafes, restaurants and entertainment centres; next libraries and leisure centres; then all shops except supermarkets, chemists and banks and eventually a complete lockdown to prevent movement.
Prior to the lockdown, we had considered our options. We considered returning to NZ but with no home, jobs or place to self-isolate, we ruled this out. We had hoped to head to Cornwall and spend the lockdown with my sister Bea and her family, but with pleas from the Cornish communities to stop a further huge influx of people who had headed to Cornwall, we felt we would be adding to the problem. Our only option was to stay with Paul and Wendy – great for us, but how would they feel?
Fortunately they were in agreement and continued to be welcoming and fantastic company – hopefully they’ll feel the same in three weeks time!