Beginning of July 2020, and after months of lockdown, followed by timid bits of return to normal life, I decided to travel north and visit the villages I had seen for the last time in January.
I was in touch with two families in particular: one split across France and Bragança area; and the other reunited because of the effects of the sanitary crisis on employment (the oldest son was abroad, and his workplace closed, forcing him to go back to Bragança’s region). For the first family, the summer is the time the grand-children come to the grand-parents, and this for the entire holiday period. We talked by messenger for a while, and they told me they would try to travel south and to cross the border the same night I travelled north.
After a night in the village, early morning, the grand-parents and myself were anxiously waiting for the message saying that they had effectively crossed.
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