This is Morange, 50 kilometres from Metz and just under half way I reckon to Sarrebourg, my destination. This morning’s ride was nice; rolling countryside, the odd little climb to keep me awake, a mixture of sun and cloud to heat me up but then cool me down and some increasingly attractive towns and villages to cycle through.
I’ve paused here for lunch. Not a bad little town. Look at all the cars and the shops; there is everything that your average Frenchman may require on his life. The bunting is presumably here from the 14th July. But hang on, there is something missing. It’s the thing that is missing from most places I pass; that most vital of ingredient to make a place a community: people.
How do places like this survive in France? In Britain, everything would have been shut down years ago. I know it is between 12 and 2 but even still, the cafe down the road is just as quiet. Answers on a postcard to George Osbourne, 11 Downing Street, London.