Wednesday is market day in la Flèche in the Sarthe department, just over the border from us and a mere 18 kilometres on the roads (a bit less as the crow flies, but not much). It is the best market for miles around and I have been using it every week for the last 15 years. During confinement, that was actually a bit dodgy, and I was probably lucky I wasn't caught by the Evil Gendarme. The ones that I met, who checked my attestation getting into the market, were always fine and charming. But a friend knows people who were fined and sent home without getting their goodies, so yes, I reckon I was lucky.
With deconfinement, it wasn't totally clear how the market was going to work, but it was certainly going to happen. When I got there this morning, the clothes, shoes, kitchen goods and live chicken stands were all set up facing le Loir. If you wanted the good stuff - food, flowers, plants - you had to join the queue (again), as numbers in the inner square where that bit of the market was, were still tightly controlled.
The big difference going in this week, was that if you didn't have a face mask on or with you, you were given one (and possibly a sharp talking to). Fortunately I had mine, so once numbers allowed, I was let in to shop until I dropped, or couldn't carry anything else. I was able to get all that I wanted (or could remember - total fail on bananas) - butter, milk, yoghurts, rice puddings, cakes, cheese, fish, salads, vegetables, black pudding (the real French boudin type - yummy), paté, bacon, and gossip. What bliss!
Some stall holders weren't finding it as easy as you might expect. You would think that with an enclosed space and newly found freedom, people would take the time to look at all the stalls. It appears not! My friend Brigitte took the following two photos - she sells beautiful cut flowers, and this was her first week back at the market. She found she was on the side of the square less visited, with few passing by.
As a contrast, she took a photo of the "main drag" through the centre of the square, with rather more people. It is particularly sad for her as at each end of her row, there were big stands selling plants, but people went round the back of her to get to them. Both fishmongers were on the main drag, as well as the coffee bean stand.
The bloke that sells yoghurts was on the other side of the main drag, and was also having a slow time of it - again his first day back. I heard him discussing the challenges of positioning with either a journalist or local councillor, so there may be changes next week. It is very hard for these small producers as the markets are their main route for selling to the public, and they really do need people to come back to them. As the Yoghurt Man said, it was like trying to rebuild the business from scratch - the 10 years he had already spent on the markets seemed to be forgotten by many.
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