Rural Life

Day 5 of deconfinement diary - health and shopping

A couple of weeks into lockdown, we had the annual reminder that someone's jabs were due.  I phoned the vet to see what could be done, and they said it would be alright if lockdown was lifted by mid-May, but jabs were not considered essential cat healthcare, so we would have to wait.  As soon as we knew that May 11 was Deconfinement Day I was back on to the vets, and got an appointment for this morning.  It has to be mornings and just after breakfast, or Nibbles KNOWS and hides.  I've had to phone up and admit to having lost her more than once!

People don't understand that the vetinary surgery is a risky place it appears - I was let in, to wait with Nibbles to be called for her appointment, but lots of people turned up on spec it seemed to me, and couldn't understand why the door was locked and people were only allowed in one at a time!  Anyway, I have to report that the vet pronounced Nibbles very fit for her age (13), with a nice consistent weight over time, and administered the booster with little fuss.  I think she understood the word Nibbles, as she went for her backside rather than the usual neck.  Since we got home, Nibbles has been sulking.

My other outing today was to collect pork and an organic chicken from a local farm, that does direct sales.  It is excellent, as there is a menu of stuff to buy on their website, and every 3 weeks or so I get an e-mail asking if I would like to order.  Their sausages and merguez are brilliant, and the shoulder roast joints very yummy.  They also sell pasta from a local organic beef farm (there is a reason for that) and eggs and chickens from another local producer.  All the products come from within an 8 mile radius of our house, which is great for keeping food miles down.

Normally we go into a room with a bank of industry grade refrigerators, but current arrangements for social distancing mean a table outdoors, a plexiglass barrier, a box for posting exact money and cheques, an extended opening time and a strict one at a time regime.  It works well, but it is sad not to be able to interact with other clients as before.

Yesterday I got the last of the spuds in - a relief I must say.  There are now 44 potatoes growing away - 20 are actually up and about, the others won't be for a while yet.  I have 4 gaps in the weed suppressant mat that I will be putting some of my butternut squash seedlings in tomorrow, as we are now past the Saintes Glaces.

And another cat photo to finish - Clause decided he would look a bit more sensible than normal for his selfie yesterday.  He is also getting heavier I swear, even though he is shedding fur as quick as he can.

Day 4 of deconfinement diary - personal grooming

When lockdown was announced, a massive wail went up from ladies all over France - no hairdressers and no beauticians!  O M G!!!  What were we ladies to do?  Our hairdressers sent out dire warnings about trimming fringes, home colouring and DIY hair cuts - wait they said, it will all be OK, and we will have more to work with, to make you look beautiful.  The two tone hair look was accepted for once.  Similarly for beauticians - they sent out advice and a long list of DO NOT DO THIS AT HOME, as well as DO TRY THIS AT HOME strictures, and many started to get their products ordered on line and made available at Drive pick up points.

With deconfinement however, life can get back to normal - or sort of normal anyway.  In the interests of this blog, and more importantly for my own peace of mind, I had an appointment today at the beauticians.  The rules are strict - arrive on time, not early; wear a facemask; bring the minimum into the place with you; use the gel at the entrance on your hands on arrival.  Once installed in your treatment room, it was also clear that the nice soft coverings had been removed and paper towels cover the treatment bed.  When you have to remove your facemask, you have to remain silent until you put your mask back on.  When I booked my next appointment, Noemie said that I would need to follow the same rules again.  "It's sad," she said, "but I can't see it changing for a while."  In faultless French of course.

There is an option for a voluntary contribution to the extra costs of maintaining strict hygiene, as they try to avoid increasing prices - I added a few coins to the pot.  We are all in this together after all.

The outward face of the house is looking rather splendid at the moment, as I have tended that rather than my own façade.  The geraniums I got from Aldi last year made it through the winter, and a bit of TLC meant they are blooming fit to bust.

The canna lilies, lemon verbena and vine are also looking very lush just now, although it will be a few months before the cannas flower.

The climbing rose that John pruned a bit late now has flowers.

And I am very pleased with my semper vivum drainpipe planters.

Day 3 of Deconfinement Diary - well that's what my brother said I should call it!

Wednesday is market day in la Flèche in the Sarthe department, just over the border from us and a mere 18 kilometres on the roads (a bit less as the crow flies, but not much).  It is the best market for miles around and I have been using it every week for the last 15 years.  During confinement, that was actually a bit dodgy, and I was probably lucky I wasn't caught by the Evil Gendarme.  The ones that I met, who checked my attestation getting into the market, were always fine and charming.  But a friend knows people who were fined and sent home without getting their goodies, so yes, I reckon I was lucky.

With deconfinement, it wasn't totally clear how the market was going to work, but it was certainly going to happen.  When I got there this morning, the clothes, shoes, kitchen goods and live chicken stands were all set up facing le Loir.  If you wanted the good stuff - food, flowers, plants - you had to join the queue (again), as numbers in the inner square where that bit of the market was, were still tightly controlled.

The big difference going in this week, was that if you didn't have a face mask on or with you, you were given one (and possibly a sharp talking to).  Fortunately I had mine, so once numbers allowed, I was let in to shop until I dropped, or couldn't carry anything else.  I was able to get all that I wanted (or could remember - total fail on bananas) - butter, milk, yoghurts, rice puddings, cakes, cheese, fish, salads, vegetables, black pudding (the real French boudin type - yummy), paté, bacon, and gossip.  What bliss!

Some stall holders weren't finding it as easy as you might expect.  You would think that with an enclosed space and newly found freedom, people would take the time to look at all the stalls.  It appears not!  My friend Brigitte took the following two photos - she sells beautiful cut flowers, and this was her first week back at the market.  She found she was on the side of the square less visited, with few passing by.

As a contrast, she took a photo of the "main drag" through the centre of the square, with rather more people.  It is particularly sad for her as at each end of her row, there were big stands selling plants, but people went round the back of her to get to them.  Both fishmongers were on the main drag, as well as the coffee bean stand.

The bloke that sells yoghurts was on the other side of the main drag, and was also having a slow time of it - again his first day back.  I heard him discussing the challenges of positioning with either a journalist or local councillor, so there may be changes next week.  It is very hard for these small producers as the markets are their main route for selling to the public, and they really do need people to come back to them.  As the Yoghurt Man said, it was like trying to rebuild the business from scratch - the 10 years he had already spent on the markets seemed to be forgotten by many.

 

Day 2 of (limited) freedom - a new normal

As I was putting the seedlings into a sheltered spot yesterday evening, to protect them from the cold temperatures overnight (fortunately no frost), I noticed a lovely effect on the heron that stands under our birch tree.  A ray of sunlight was hitting its chest and with the vivid greens of the new leaves, it was all very lovely.

Today, although still colder than it has been (thanks to that pesky east wind), has been sunny and bright and we could do things.  John has been gardening all day.  This morning I ventured into the metropolis to get my prescription filled and to get the fixings for the gazebo cover (remember that?).  There were more people around than I've seen for ages other than at markets, with a mix of wearing and not wearing masks.  The pharmacy wasn't so bad, but the shop where I got my fixings was very much in newly opened mode.  There was hydroalcoholic gel as you went in and they wanted people to take a basket too - I think I was the only one that did.

The lady in the haberdashery department can be a bit dour, but was delighted to be working, delighted to talk to people (at a distance), and also seemed pleased to not be asked for elastic and bits for making face masks.  When I explained what I was doing (she was surprised to be asked for 6 metres of Velcro), she was even more enthusiastic - it was a good shopping experience.

This afternoon I was able to get down to more spud planting, although I did have helpers.  As the first 20 are well up, I need to press on with this.  I got 10 planted today, and worked out where to rob some wider weed suppressant mat from, as the only stuff we found since lockdown started was 90cm wide, which only takes 1 row of spuds.

Once that was done, I went on a bee orchid hunt.  They are getting going in the wildflower meadow but are well hidden among the clover and the other wild flowers.  They will doubtless become boring over the next few weeks.

Tomorrow is market day, with many restrictions lifted.  It will be nice to see some stall holders that have not been allowed in up to now, as well as keeping the faith with those who have kept us fed over the 55 days of lockdown.  It will also be nice NOT to worry about being stopped and fined on the way there or back, as some have been.  I was lucky it appears.

 

Day 1 of (limited) freedom - not that I've noticed any real difference

Freedom!  Well sort of, anyway.

The weather to greet our new found freedoms was vile this morning - rain, blustery easterly winds and cold.  So while our boulangerie was open again on Mondays (they had been closed during lockdown on Mondays), it wasn't an unconfined joy walking up there, even if I didn't have an attestation.  But actually I did notice some differences - slightly more cars out and about and the barber at the top of the road was open and cutting hair.  But my plans to be out and about planting spuds and going for a walk in the One Acre Wood were confounded by 25mm of rain in 18 hours and a nasty wind that makes going into woodland a tad foolish.  However as the screen grab below shows, from here on in, it is due to get better.

The main excitement of the day was provided by Zola, when she brought in a sparrow.  We thought she had a lizard, so didn't bother chasing her.  It was only when I went upstairs to carry on working and saw her staring at the curtains, that I realised something more was afoot.  Our bedroom windows are large and it is a long way down.  The sparrow was unharmed, so it was a matter of getting the timing absolutely right to let the bird out, and close the window before Zola launched herself out of the window in pursuit.  Fortunately I succeeded.  

Otherwise, the news is full of how people are coping with going back to work and concerns about public transport.  Small pockets of infection are cropping up which should serve to keep people focussed on the key messages of social distancing, hand washing and keeping safe.  We are still waiting for our free face masks, but the 7th May copy of Private Eye finally turned up, saving us from an old but previously unread copy from February 2016.  There was a spoof in there of Johnson working out which way to jump over Brexit and which would give him the better chance of becoming PM.  Some things shouldn't be joked about.

With better weather, I should have more interesting things to report tomorrow, when I go out and about to see what freedom tastes like!

 

Day 55 of lockdown - not long to go!

From 00:01, the strict lockdown is over, from tomorrow I can go this far if I want to!

And I won't have to fill in an attestation either!  Joy unconfined!  Except it isn't that easy, is it?  The virus is still out there, we still have to social-distance, we need to have a facemask around in case we need it and we need to be very careful.  I'm not sure that we need to be alert (your country needs lerts…), but we mustn't forget and we must be vigilant.  For me, the pleasure will not be having to worry each time I leave the house as to whether my journey is necessary or should be justified.  The number of imaginary conversations I have had in my head in case of being stopped by the gendarmes!  But normal things can happen, like visits to the vet, the hairdresser, even to family within the magic circle!

Today has been a tad annoying.  I wanted to carry on planting potatoes as the first lot are up and taunting me, but as soon as I got to where they need to be planted, the heavens opened and it rained solidly for 30 minutes.  It eased off for long enough for me to pop out and pick a couple of kilos of broad beans and then started up again, until I got home.  This afternoon has been hot and sticky, so I happily potted on a bunch of seedlings and prepared a raised bed for something (not decided what) while we wait for the next batch of storms.  There are red alerts for rain and flooding further south.

I thought I would use up a few pictures that I have taken for the lockdown blog but haven't used, even if they are rather nice.  So here is my mass of red hot pokers - a rather rampant variety that we brought over from Worcester, and have moved around a bit.  This is probably still not the best place for them.

Did you know that lobelia overwinter if it doesn't get too frosty and you don't chuck them out as soon as they start to fade?  I think this lot are from last year, but could be from 2 years ago, and still going strong!  They also self-seed.

Despite the hedgehog, the proliferation of snails, slugs and chickens in our garden means that growing strawberries in the ground is never very successful, so we have them in hanging baskets.  We have a few Mariguettes (best tasting ever, but hard to get hold of the plants), the infamous Korona variety that we bought just before lockdown and this unknown variety that we got from Aldi last year, that has unusual pink flowers.  Can't remember what the fruit are like, but they are pretty!

Anyway, this is the last episode of Lockdown Blog, but as reactions on Facebook seemed to be that I should continue with this entertainment, a new series will start tomorrow.  All I've got to do is think up a snappy name for it...

Release diaries?  Waiting for the 2nd Wave?  Freedom blog?  Wait and see!

Day 54 of lockdown - much nicer things than yesterday!

Thank you to those who shared their anger, sorrow or amazement at yesterday's key story, and as a reward, I will be relentlessly upbeat today.

Yesterday was Victory in Europe Day, while today celebrates Europe, and I stopped at our local war memorial on the way home from the market to pay my respects to the fallen.  This area was in Occupied France, with a fairly heavy Gestapo presence at one of the local chateaux, and work camps not so far away.  There are a couple of isolated memorials, one in the local woods for a Resistance man and one in the woods for two British airmen, shot down a couple of days before D-Day.  In November, local airmen go and put poppies on that memorial.  This is our village's fine tribute.

After writing yesterday's blog, we set ourselves up outside in the garden for Friday night beer o'clock with Chinon and Tunbridge Wells.  We were charmed to be joined by a garden resident we don't see very often, but are always very pleased to see.  I do ensure that there is water available, and leave this one to find their own snacks of snails and slugs.  Everybody say "aaaaah", and no, I don't know what that pale line in the spines is, but it was on the real life hedgehog and it isn't a trick of the camera.

This morning I was checking over the seedlings and met this fine fellow stuck in one of the plastic modules, so I helped him out with a bit of vegetable material and hopefully he has gone off on his way.  He was so beautiful though!  And while they don't show on the photo, he had little copper effect bits on the edge of his carapace.

It took the blasted post snails only 2 nights to completely eat the label I put on the post box to tell the local council how many face masks we would need.  So today I had another go at putting a 2 on the box, this time using copper tape, as they don't like the electric charge up 'em.  I hope this works!

Finally, this afternoon I was potting on tomato seedlings and John was working out a way to fix the garden bench that collapsed under him (it is nearly 20 years old and the joints gave out, nothing to do with confinement ounces, which John has avoided anyway, as he works so hard).  We had to stop after a while as the rumbling got to such a level that we knew it was time to go in.  After 10mm rain was dumped on us, we've been inside for a bit, but now the rest of the tomatoes are calling to me.  Here is the lightening map for what went on in the skies around us.

 

Day 53 of lockdown - a sad and worrying day

Actually the day started well - John put in a sterling morning's work on the extra space needed for the potato bed, while I mowed the lawn, so we used the fine part of the day well.  I also had a bit of a go through one of the raised beds, removing self-seeded tomato plants - one of the dangers of home made compost, as nothing kills tomato seeds.  Something else that doesn't disappear in the compost bin is the outer layer of teabags - you can see what gets left behind here.  We are not pretentious with using loose leaf tea, we are helping our soil!

This afternoon was less interesting weather-wise, so I decided that the 7½ pounds of (mostly) stoned cherries I had been hoarding for a year or two finally ought to be turned into jam, lots of jam.  Cherry jam is a bit of a pain, and I refuse to pay the extra for jam sugar (inner tight-fisted peasant coming out there), so I add a handful of frozen blackcurrants to the mix to provide pectin.  It is still not the hardest set jam but it is lovely in tarts and on brioche!  Here it is cooking away.

None of that is sad or worrying I hear you say, and you'd be right.  While I was fighting the good fight with the cherry jam, there was a murder in the road outside our house.  Our neighbour's cat, who gave birth a couple of days ago, was outside, as were her owner and another neighbour.  She was sniffing around on the road, when a brown car came round the bend at the bottom of the road on two wheels, drove at speed (despite the 50km speed limit and approaching junction at the road, swerved and deliberately hit and killed the cat before speeding off through a stop junction, presumably to see how many more the b@st@rd could kill as he sped through the centre of the village.  Neither of us saw it, but John got a blow by blow description from our neighbours, who are naturally very upset and shocked.  John ended up cleaning the road.  Our girls are going to get the road safety lecture this evening, although they will likely ignore us.

Sometimes people are awful shits.

Day 52 of lockdown - a little bit of everything

I think I said yesterday that I had to leave a note on the post box about how many face masks we might need?  Well overnight some peckish little monopod decided that my sticker was exactly what it wanted for dinner - look at the state of this!

It's been a funny day, with a GP appointment, a visit to the supermarket (cat food and rice still in short supply, but plain packaged flour in huge bins!), little work, nice weather and zero motivation.  So I thought I had better make good on my promise of making ice cream, not least as I had bought half a litre of best, unpasteurised, direct from the cow, cream yesterday.  Here it is churning away, and if you spot any little black dots, those are vanilla seeds from pods I brought back from Guadeloupe.

The slow stages of making ice cream were also a good excuse to watch the government announcements on easing of lockdown from Monday next week (staring the Man from le Havre).  Some of it had already been mooted, but the new map was revealed without the amber bit - Centre Val de Loire has gone green for those who are interested.  It was nice in the supermarket (there is a point to this surprising statement) in that I saw a number of chums I've not seen since lockdown started.  One is pretty vociferous against the Government, and I had had a bit of a hit back at her on social media about something she'd posted, so it was good to discuss the issues face to face and not while swearing at the intermittent nature of WiFi and the problems of autocorrect on the phone.  She is normally pretty strongly for the unions and the far left, so I was surprised when she said that they were also useless and incoherent - her anger was at the amount of perceived lying that was going on - about PPE, about bonuses to health care staff (her daughter in law had not yet received hers), and about the state of the health service in general.  But when we got onto the school issue, she said that she was really pleased that her grandson would be able to go to school half a day or a day a week from next week, as she felt he was becoming afraid of the world outside his house and garden.  The little darling (he is rather cute) is only 4!

Anyway, for most of my readers, this photo of the TV screen is the one that will interest you.

Borders closed for the moment, no restrictions on travelling up to 100km as the crow flies from home (carry a justification of your home address with you however), while beaches and lakes will only open if the local mayor can convince the Préfet that they have measures in place to ensure social distancing is maintained.  Still no bars or restaurants can open unless for takeaway.  They also exhort those that are vulnerable to stay home and confined as much as possible, but it will be personal choice.

In that vein, I had to speak sharply to these two (Poirot and Zola) about setting a good example on social distancing.  This is not good, although it is rather cute.

Given their size, this is rather better, and still rather cute.

Day 51 of lockdown - a little tirade about face masks

With some lockdown restrictions lifting on Monday 11th May here in the Green Zone of France, there is a rush to ensure everyone has at least one face mask to their name.  I am very grateful that our local councillors will be doing the rounds over the next few days, popping them in our post boxes (I've had to leave a number on the letter box so they know how many to leave!).  And yet...

Well for a start, there is this conundrum for those of us who wear glasses.

I gather wiping the inside of your glasses with shaving foam helps.

But practical issues of steaming up aside, I have a whole bunch of issues with face masks.

Disposable ones - after all the hassle we have been having over the past years about reducing waste, reuse, recycle etc, suddenly people are using disposable face masks that have to be put in the main garbage, and some are using several a day.  That's not going to help the planet, is it?

Washable ones - except you "have" to wash them on a 30 minute, 65°C wash with detergent, no softener, but you can put them in with other stuff you are washing.  Hmm - so my washing machine is a bit old and doesn't have a 30 minute cycle, I don't wash anything at 65°C, and certainly nothing with elastic, which doesn't like that sort of temperature, and a full 2 hour cycle for our 3 (or 5 after our delivery) face masks?  Plus anything else we want to shrink of course.  Plus the cost of the electricity to power heating the water that much.  So that annoys me.

Then there is the politics, with a small p, of wearing a face mask.  The people I've had issues with over social distancing, or keeping a decent amount away from me, are those wearing masks who seem to think it makes them suddenly cleaner than clean and able to get up close and personal.  Think people who crane past you to see what is available from the fish monger, or little old ladies who want to get to the cashier more quickly so get up close and personal.  I remonstrated with one this morning, and she asked me if I had the virus to be so concerned.  As her mask only covered her mouth, me pointing out that I didn't know about me, but I certainly didn't know about her went over her head.

I am waiting to see how easy it is to have a hair wash, cut and blow dry while wearing a face mask, or indeed my visit to the beautician....

And of course the reason for wearing one, is if you have symptoms, you keep them to yourself, it doesn't stop you from picking up the virus from others, as it doesn't include eye cover.  Aaaargh.

Moving swiftly on, here is a pretty flower from bulbs I planted last autumn and I've lost the list of what they might be.  They were a nice surprise this afternoon.