- Due to the coronavirus epidemic, ski resorts closed the slopes abruptly on March 15.
- Several seasonal workers found themselves out of work overnight.
- A dozen of them are trapped in motorhomes in the Jura ... without the possibility of leaving.
In Lamoura (Jura),
There is still snow. But large strips of grass now streak the ski slopes. "Anyway, we no longer even have the right to go for a walk ...", laments Ludwig, watching his snowboard dry out on the tarmac. Confinement requires, this seasonal worker has been stuck with a dozen friends and colleagues for a week in the parking lot of the Lamoura station, at the foot of the Jura mountains.
Aged 20 to 30 years, they have taken the habit, for four years, to spend the winter in this family resort perched at 1,154 meters above sea level. Each time, they put their camper vans and caravans in the ski lift parking lot and work at the ski rental shop or at the nearby snack bar. “We had to work until March 31. But suddenly everything was closed. First the restaurant on the 14. Then the slopes on the 15th, explains Cyriaque. And we didn't have time to leave before Macron's announcements on containment… ”
The mayor wants them to leave, the gendarmes not ...
Since then, the group of friends has been in an ubiquitous situation: they cannot move their vehicles but neither have the right to stay in the parking lot. "The mayor tells us that we have to leave. But if we move to settle elsewhere, we will be lined up by the gendarmes, ”thinks Cyriaque whose dreadlocks point under the cap.
Questioned by 20 Minutes , the national gendarmerie confirms the analysis. “We don't have any special lifts but with the early closure, it would not be surprising if seasonal workers were blocked in the ski resorts. On our scale, we cannot let them circulate. The only solution is that they obtain a prefectoral exemption via the town hall to be able to leave. Contacted about this, the mayor of Lamoura, Francis Leseur, did not wish to answer our questions.
The neighbor provides them with water but does not want to meet them
No doubt because the pressure is mounting among the rare inhabitants of this small town close to the Swiss border. "Some neighbors complained because we were having coffee in the sun, outside in the parking lot," says Loïc, pointing to a few houses located on the other side of the road. But we don't watch what they do in their garden, we! They have to understand that our caravans are like apartments on wheels… ”
Except that they do not have all the amenities. If electricity is supplied by solar panels, water remains a scarce commodity. "Fortunately, the restaurant manager is helping us," says Ludwig. But with all the precautions: we put the cans in front of her door, she puts on gloves, fills them and leaves them in the same place. But she doesn't want to meet us for fear of catching the virus ... "
Beer and fresh and shuffleboard
They don't seem worried. “We have been living together for four months. If one of us has corona, we all have it! Laughs Loïc. No reason therefore to take particular distances to occupy yourself. While Prune embarks on a big spring cleaning, the boys tinker with the caravans. And between two, they meet to play Breton shuffleboard in the parking lot. A block of ice keeps the beers cool while the two cats adopted by the community - Mimoule and Willy - bask in the Jura sun.
"I moved the truck so that it was due south and especially that the neighbors no longer see us," Cyriaque says. We have the supermarket a little higher. Frankly, we are fine. If we have to stay there for two months, we have something to keep… ”The mayor will be happy.
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- Covid 19
- Coronavirus
- Containment
- Society
- Ski
- Franche-Comté