French TV film crew Stephane Jacques (foreground) and Quentin Wardavoir learned of the Paris tragedies by text message.
French TV film crew Stephane Jacques and Quentin Wardavoir just had to carry on with the job at the Central Hawke's Bay A&P Show, worried about the safety of family and friends in the bombings and shootings at home in Paris.
The pair were starting their filming for a 20-minute
segment on shearing when they learned of the tragedy in a text message from France.
Mr Wardavoir's wife, Clementine, was safe but confined to their apartment a few hundred metres from La Belle Equipe, a restaurant on La Rue Charonne, a shooting scene. "She could hear the shooting from our home," said Mr Wardavoir. "Then she could hear all the police and the fire emergency.
"Then the police, and the politicians, told everyone they have to stay at home, don't go out, don't move," he said.
Mr Wardavoir knew of the cafe but hadn't been there, but he had been to one small concert at Bataclan Theatre, the heavy-metal and rock concert venue where the mass-shooting and grenading of hostages on Boulevard Voltaire took place.
