This time, the drop of water fell on the forehead. At the feet, a small puddle. With more than 35° in the air, well, it’s not unpleasant. On the sidewalks of Marseille, the scene is repeated under each building or almost, suggesting that the air conditioners are running at full capacity. The air conditioning, an argument in itself for choosing an activity. “Our criterion for the afternoon was an air-conditioned place,” explains Myriam, a tourist who came from Paris with her husband and their nine-month-old child. In terms of air conditioning, it was the Mucem, its exhibition on the Roma and its primer on motherhood. An oasis of freshness reached at the end of a painful walk along the Old Port, on which the architect had no idea of planting a tree there. I often think about what this natural cove might have been like when it was still lined with pines and even more about what this heart of Marseille would be like today if there were trees. But from the Quai Rive-Neuve to the Quai du Port, it is a furnace that only the shade of the Quai des Belges interrupts. A furnace which Audrey and her daughter Morgane visibly accommodate, eating a fast-food burger in the sun on a picnic table set up by the town hall. “We are women from the south. The dodger we know how to do, a little sunscreen and after eating we will go swimming ”.
At the nearby summer market, the fuss seller has put away his frying oil to get out the ice cream. And all around the port, the restaurateurs are not at the party: “It’s not a good season, in fact it’s not a season at all”, mutters Eric from the bar-restaurant of the town hall. “In ten years here, it’s not even far from being the worst with that of 2016, when the Nice attack had plunged tourism”. He now hopes for a Rugby World Cup effect for a prosperous late season. An observation shared by Yann, waiter at Bouchon Provençal. But for Yann, this gloomy season is more to put on the back “riots. Tourists did not come until July 15. And then there, between the inflation and the heat wave, it forms a whole,” he says, gulping down a honey goat’s cheese toast before the service. The menu of the day offers, among other things, ravioli served with a stew. Higher up, a neighborhood restaurant offers andouillette. Not really the dishes you would dream of when it’s over 30° in the shade. “But my faith, customers want that and often ask to eat in the room which is air-conditioned”. And, as everyone knows, customers are king.
Swimming at four in the morning
On the terraces of the Cours Estienne d’Orve, slightly set back from the port, the misters are running at full capacity. This square, slightly set back from the port, did not receive the intelligence either to see trees planted there. “Without the foggers, I don’t work”, admits a restaurateur who observes: “with the heat, customers go out in the evening to eat a little later, so inevitably, that reduces the service time. But the heat wave, overall, nobody complains too much here. “It would still be the height of boasting all year round the sun to end up complaining when it’s hot,” says Olivier, a Marseillais who, at 3 p.m., is not having his first digestive from a bar. overlooking the Catalans beach. This will remain open every night, while the heat wave lasts. A measure taken by the municipality for all its beaches which is neither hot nor cold for the bar server: “Apart from glasses of water to serve, requests for pee-toilets and telephones to recharge, I don’t mind . Finally, yes, personally I like it and it allows me to go for a swim at four in the morning, just before closing time”.
At night, there are still around fifty of them enjoying this beach in downtown Marseille. Groups of friends, young couples in love, families, the population is a reflection of the city. Pascaline, installed with her seven-year-old child and her husband, came by bus “to refresh herself after eating”. She finds it “normal for the city to get involved during the peaks of heat and leave its beaches open at night”. Placed on a towel, Anna and Mathieu did not know that the beach was going to remain open: “Oh well, we thought we had to leave. So much the better “. This young couple in their twenties are local regulars. “It’s a bit like a meeting place”, explains Anna, who comes out of the water noticing: “normally, when we bathe in the evening we are a little cold and quickly want to get dressed. But there, no, nickel ”. On the beach, a security guard patrols, flashlight in hand and orange armband on his bicep. “Everything is going well, it’s quiet there”, appreciates the young man in a ranger and dressed all in black, before recovering himself, dropping a cloud of smoke from his electronic cigarette: “Finally, sometimes, there are madness. It’s still Marseille anyway. The other day [samedi]there’s a guy he took out a machete and stabbed the police horse for a phone anyway. Midnight is approaching and, in the water, a dozen swimmers are casting shadows in the glow of the lights on the terrace of the very select Cercle des nageurs and its two private swimming pools.
“36°, it’s gnognote”
Swimming pools to which the Marseillais will not have access. The town hall has however made municipal swimming pools free during the heat wave. What delight some, and disappoint others when it comes time to get out of the water. In front of the Saint-Charles swimming pool, a kid whines with anger for this reason. “We’ll be back later,” his mother tries to calm him down. It is 2 p.m., and the pool closes for an hour, the time to allow the agents to clean the pool and have a bite to eat. But Anne-Marie, her two sisters and their seven children have planned everything. Residents of neighboring Belle-de-Mai, they decided to spend the day there and installed their little ones in a row on the sidewalk for a distribution of homemade tuna-egg-mayonnaise sandwiches. “Gaved from the sea”, after a summer of going there too often, these Marseillaises are very happy to be at the swimming pool.
Like them, Marie and Joanna wait in front of the pool gate, smoking a joint. Both are tourists, Marie lives in Valencia, Spain. And for her, “36° is gnognote”. Her friend from Metz finds the heat more bearable here, “where there is a bit of air”. The two thirty-somethings confess that they prefer the swimming pool to the sea: “At the beach in Marseille, you’re never quiet. You can be heavily hit on, you don’t dare go into the water all together so as not to take your eyes off your business, ”experienced Joanna. An opportunity that she would not have had anyway this Monday on the beach of Huveaune, temporarily closed in the morning due to pollution certainly come from the river which flows into it. An urban river that carries a lot of waste and that has led the people of Marseille to nickname the beach near its mouth “peeling beach”.
As night falls once again without taking the temperatures with it, life continues on the streets of the city. Walkers walk on the road, scooters roll on the sidewalks and air conditioners drip.