Nothing can come between the French and their daily bread. And the same goes, it turns out, for Germans just across the border: residents of Lauterbach in western Germany have found a novel way to get around international travel restrictions and pick up fresh French baguettes. They’re meeting a baker from a neighbouring French town at the frontier – and one has even used a fishing rod to reel over that sweet, sweet bread.
To ensure her German customers can still stock up on fresh pain and pâtisserie, Myriam Jansem-Boualit, from Carling in north-eastern France, is taking orders by phone and will meet at the border crossing near her shop for deliveries. ‘There used to be a lot of Germans who came here to buy bread,’ she told Agence France-Presse. ‘They don’t dare come any more because there are checks. So what I can do now is bring the bread to them.’
One of her regulars, Hartmut Fey, took it upon himself to maintain social distancing with the help of a fishing rod. ‘We’ve been buying our baguettes and bread here in France for decades,’ he said. ‘It has to do with tradition.’
Grenze zu? Angel Dein Baguette in Frankreich 🇫🇷 unter Einhaltung der Abstandsregeln (Quelle: Marina u. Hartmut Fey) pic.twitter.com/pAa980E2O4
— ZDF Landesstudio Saarland (@ZDFsaarland) April 15, 2020
If only we could fashion some fishing tackle to stretch across a continent or two…
Things to do at home?
Catch a hit play from London’s National Theatre