I can understand people wanting a holiday especially if they have been working all year but the risk of having it cancelled or cut short would have persuaded me to have a ‘staycation’ just this once.
What’s interesting to me about this question is that we’ve just cancelled a planned visit to the UK, on the grounds that it is unlikely to be safe. There is just no comparison. I looked at the figures on Friday with some of our guests that would be caught in the quarantine:
Our Dept. Cotes d’Armor is bigger than almost all English counties in area but smaller than almost all in population, making comparison hard, but here are the statistics they showed me:
Cornwall (similar population to Cotes d’Armor) - over 200 people have died from coronavirus
Cornwall+Devon (similar area to Cotes d’Armor) - nearly 600 have died
Cotes d’Armor - the deaths total is… 39. Zero last week - and only 7 people are actually in hospital now with coronavirus (actually zero deaths this month, and only 1 in July).
I know where I’d rather be on holiday!
I then checked the Johns Hopkins figures - in the whole of France (about twice the size of the UK) 84 people died of coronavirus last week - compared with nearly 300 in the UK.
So our answer to your question about what is wrong with holidays in the UK Bajen is - too risky!
Can I have a pair of your rosey-tinted specs Peter? Paris is 4 times more dense than London! I love Paris, and we were there from 2001 - 2010 but compared to London it is stifling.
As for your other mirages…Our local population here in France are not known for style or elegance! But the hair dye market does well in the far too black range.
French customer service is what it is, but no way would I call it respectful…given that the main response to any query is that “it’s not my responsibility”. And very sadly obesity among French children is fast catching up with other overweight countries, at around 18%. And only last week the fat and dishevelled adolescents in the village overturned all the bins at 1am because they had drunk too much.
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Surely the infection rates are more relevant than deaths Geof, they are rising rapidly here overall compared to the UK.
We had very detailed discussions (in another SF thread) on the unreliability of the cases data for international comparisons Timothy - the broad conclusion of which was that only the actual deaths figure (indeed only really the excess deaths figure) could be relied on.
I think the infection rates are rising in France as we are testing more… and more, now… and thus finding those infections in folk who had no idea they were ill… and (possibly) have been going around infecting others… aaargh…
Once people get the message, take things seriously , and stop partying around etc… perhaps the testing will start to show a drop in infections … we can but live in hope…
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Much of the infection spread here is happening in the workplace rather than people partying.
Fair enough… around here it is also folk disregarding etc … and refusing to believe there is a problem… beggars belief, but there it is…
Ah well…
You have to get infected to die Geof. Here in 17 confirmed cases are increasing because of the mass influx of tourists from Paris etc where the infection rates are rocketing so I expect that deaths will also likely rise from the amazingly low level they are at now.
Luckily I have found people going above and beyond in some situations. Whilst bureaucracy has been extremely slow and frustrating at times people have been super friendly and kind. I have not seen hordes of fat adolescents either 
I get your remark about the coal black dyed hair.
It is usually in woman who are wearing the most inappropriate clothing as well.
they obviously don’t realise that it makes them look older, not younger.
I don’t know if this is a genetic thing, but I have seen the same phenomenon in UK.
I am sorry that you have such a disturbing problem in your village.
What were their parents doing allowing them out at that time?
You may be surprised about the death rates. Summer/sunshine/vit D will help recovery rates. Also, the virus now seems to be affecting a younger population and so perhaps they are less likely to die.
When the gendarmes turned up the next morning the parents said they had been at home with them all evening! Despite the Mayor having chased them off the football field where they were lighting a bonfire.
Apples don’t fall far from the tree.
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Regarding the slight tiff earlier in the thread I think if people took advantage of the ‘quote’ feature which works very well it would:
a/ make threads more readable - sometimes I get so muddled with people replying to things from days earlier and on a large thread difficult to go back and find
b/ help reduce misunderstandings.
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You are right if it is a long thread, but if you respond to a comment by “Reply” then a link to the specific comment you are responding to is shown in the top right corner so it is easy to track. Regardless of that my question to the OP did not warrant the vitriolic response it got even if she was in a muddle.
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I only figured that out today 
- I thought it just showed who you were replying to then realised if I clicked on it I could see what they had written! Oops sorry!
When my family and I returned from a short trip to Barcelona around March 12th this year back to our home in a small French village we took the decision to self isolate. This was before Macron had mandated it and Boris was still talking about herd immunity.
My point being: WE TOOK RESPONSIBiLITY. We didn’t wait to be “ordered” to do something - neither did we rush anywhere in an effort to circumvent government advice.
What I have witnessed (in multiple countries) throughout the last few months are countless cases of stupidity, selfishness, callousness and childish (sorry children) mentalities.
We self-isolated because we love our community and could not for one moment allow any risk of being a vector for the virus into our village. We considered OTHERS before our own convenience (not virtue signaling here - we lead a pretty isolated life at the best of times!)
So frankly, I find any discussion on how to get ‘round mandated self isolation to be wrongheaded and plain idiotic. It’s hard not to become defeatist and resigned to this virus just running its course.
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I started self isolating on 26th February. I found myself in the queue at our Brico behind someone I know, this is what I wrote on my blog …
I begin to listen to their conversation. They are talking about Coronavirus - isn’t everyone - when Monsieur P cheerfully informs the cashier that his son’s family has just flown back from Venice and voluntarily are now in self-isolation for 14 days.
I’m grateful that all we did was exchange smiles and greetings from a distance. However he did touch the cashier’s hand, and the cashier touched my cash card. I wash my hands thoroughly when I get home. It may seem unnecessary, but I’ve decided to avoid our photo club meetings for two weeks and no Alexander classes.
Needless to say, there’s been no photo club meeting or Alexander class since!
The challenge is that in those early days it was all something novel and dramatic. So getting people to act responsibly was easier. Now - people are tired of it. And that makes compliance much harder.
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I am in quarantine. Although I arrived back in the UK from France a day before the deadline I had entered France from Spain and quarantine is required. The contrast between France, Spain and the UK is interesting. The Spanish town (inhabitants 1500) had had no diagnosed cases of Covid 19 and 95%+ - young and old - wore masks in public (Spanish and ex-pats). The town provide residents with two masks a month. As I travelled back through France I observed that less than 20% wore masks. The young were less likely to wear masks and their neat appearance evidenced recent visit to the barbers. There was still handshaking and cheek kissing. Because I am in quarantine my observations in the UKare restricted to news items on the TV, but mask wearing appears much less than Spain.
I suspect that social lifestyle is the pre-dominant factor in diffusion of the virus. Close proximity - high incidence of diagnosis , isolation - low numbers. The young ( in France, Spain and the UK ) particularly do not understand the risks. Selfishly, I am in quarantine because I (and my spouse) are vulnerable and we do not want to contract the virus. I understand a family unit with children has demands that make social distancing difficult, stressful, but with modern media the environment is very different to the Spanish Flue after the Great War. And the TV companies have found films and programs even your grandparents had forgotten, including “I’m alright Jack”
In the UK online shopping for groceries was initially difficult, but the major retailers have worked hard and local authorities are sensitive to profiteering. Local news daily shares how individuals and organizations have risen to the challenges of social distancing to provide support. Secondary spikes are more difficult to manage, but should be reminding all of us that ultimately we are responsible for our own health. Authority guidelines are just that, guidelines. Individual commonsense delivers collective wellbeing.
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I agree John. However it’s not always that simple. My frustration is that in our current situation others are also responsible for my own health.
And unfortunately many seem not to recognise that fact. Hence, guidelines are not that useful and mandatory requirements are much to be preferred.