Berfrois

Voted, Ran, Isolated

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Bunker under the Milky Way, Edmundo Sáez, Wikimedia Commons (cc)

From London Review of Books:

On the dot of noon yesterday, we received text messages from the government telling us to observe the ‘strict rules’ laid down by the president of the republic. To leave our house, we now have to travel with a form, which we’ve downloaded from the government website. We’ve already printed off ten. For each outing we must fill in a copy, identifying ourselves and explaining why we’ve ventured into public space: shopping for clothes is no longer OK; buying basics from authorised outlets is fine; taking exercise – walking, jogging – is admissible, but gyms are out; going to a bar would be unacceptable, but in any case the bars are shut; working when you can’t function usefully from home is permissible; it’s fine to visit an elderly relative or a doctor, or baby-sit for your daughter. You will not be sanctioned if the police find you walking your dog, provided you’ve printed off the form and ticked the right box. In the cities they are already patrolling empty public spaces from vagabond incursions.

“Into the Bunker”, Jeremy Harding, London Review of Books