Series“The roundabout, a French passion” (5/6). Nearly thirty roundabouts are still regularly occupied, such as that of Mude, in Deux-Sèvres. A place that has become a “reconstruction zone” for its occupants.
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Roundabouts are his thing. All week, he investigates them at the wheel of his truck. As he criss-crosses France, where they are countless, he knows a lot. He can’t take it anymore. But he is not resentful. On weekends, he goes back. To occupy them. At 53, Gérald is not only a truck driver: he is also a “yellow vest”. He joined the movement at the start of the revolt, on November 17, 2018. Currently, every Saturday, he can be found on the Mude roundabout (Deux-Sèvres), at the south-west exit of Niort, towards La Rochelle, on the outskirts of Bessines, the exact opposite of La Crèche, where he cribs.
La Mude is a parenthesis on the road to the sea and the Poitevin marshes. Between the city and its commercial, industrial or craft areas. Here join the D811, the D611, the rue des Charmes, which leads to Bessines, the rue des Iris, which leads, among other things, to the primary health insurance fund of Deux-Sèvres, and an unnamed narrow lane , almost clandestine service of the Lidl. On the central island, a dense grove that is more like maquis than undergrowth. We think we can see silver birches and golden privets there. Maybe charcoals. Offshore, a not very busy cycle path. Gerald is at home here.
By his side, there is Karen, his wife, 42, a housewife. She suffers from dyspraxia, an irreversible motor development disorder. Unseen disability. Sometimes one of their four boys accompanies them. On the spot, they find friends, of which we will only know the first name. Gilles, known as Gilou, 70 years old, retired from La Poste. And then Jean-Claude, 77, a former employee of France Telecom, who is the husband of Martine, nicknamed “Granny pot-au-feu” because all winter she stuck to the stove to warm up her friends around -point. Patoche is there too, like Fabien, Marcel, Fred or Valou. Nath no longer comes because she has moved. Pollux is dead.
“We settled in February 2019, after going through the roundabout of L’Acclameur, the theater in the east of Niort, and that of the Noz store, in Chauray, to the north-west. It’s a strategic place.” explains Gerald. The road to La Rochelle is one of the busiest axes of the agglomeration. Every Saturday, there is a flood of those who leave for the weekend on the Atlantic coast (the ocean is 60 kilometers away) or who come to do their shopping in the nearby commercial area (about thirty brands). They don’t go to the seaside and stock up elsewhere, where it’s even cheaper.
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