January 1 without Covid in Mers-les-Bains, it looks more like costumes all over the beach, music coming out of the speakers and especially several dozen brave braving the cold, in the air and in the water to bathe in the English Channel. Corn as in 2021, there will be no new year bath in the seaside town of the Picardy coast. Blame it on the fifth wave of Covid-19 which is hitting France hard at the end of the year.
– Florent Vautier
“The conviviality between spectators and bathers cannot do without a hot drink and a moment of conviviality”, explains Jean-Gabriel Rolleri, deputy mayor of Mers-les-Bains in charge of culture. Everything was planned to warm up the atmosphere, with Annie Cordy’s “Tata Yoyo” opening the music and Clara Luciani at the end. Rather than implementing drastic sanitary measures, the city therefore preferred to cancel the bath. for the second year in a row. “We prefer not to do rather than to do things that would be mediocre”, adds the deputy.
Disappointed residents, vacationers and traders
But on the dike of the sister city, the time is still disappointment. Marie, who comes every year from Reims with her companion and her two children, “would have liked to show them this tradition”. Especially since she doesn’t understand the cancellation “while the beach is wide enough”. Disappointed, Philippe, who has lived a few kilometers from Seas for ten years, is also. “It’s true that it’s quite spectacular to see that”, explains the one who has never taken the plunge to bathe in water that is only around 9 degrees. “But hey, we understand, because of the health situation.”
The cancellation of the January 1st bath is also a heartbreak for the traders of the town. In particular for the bar-hotel-restaurant Le Bellevue, located just in front of the beach and where swimmers and spectators warm up with a hot drink every year. “We had last minute cancellations”, confirms Lassad, the manager. “It’s going to be a little sad, but hey you have to deal with “, adds Bruno, a waiter. Because of the Covid, only 30% of rooms are full at this establishment. Saturday morning, a few swimmers, individually, may go swimming to still respect the tradition.