Déjà vu

Berger & Wyse today

 As I write, most of you will be only too aware of the tit-for-tat quarantines and lockdowns on both sides of the Channel.  This time it seems infections are being spread through younger people, as impatience overcomes caution.  But of course, it is only a minority that needs to behave carelessly for infection to spread.  Anyway, I'm no expert and there is little point in wringing our hands over lost outings or lost money - we are far better off than most others in riding out this crisis as we shall be in future ones.  I have been thinking about the life we expected this year and what changed - no trip to the Caucasus, no visits from family members or trips to see them, but on the plus side the addition of two lovely little dogs to our household, some jobs done which might not have been, excellent outings to find wine.  And the unexpected bonus of keeping our musical trip to the Val du Séran which we expected until the last minute would be cancelled.

So here are a few recent clips from my daily jottings.  Seeing this report in the Guardian, I don’t understand ‘tit-for-tat’ diplomacy - if there are good reasons to restrict travel in both directions, no problem, and the label ‘I’ll show you mine if you show me yours’ is an easy if childish journalistic trick, but I fear governments (in France as well as England) are playing to the gallery when they retaliate like this. The Dutch are creditably refusing to play this tit for tat game as I write.

I read even more than usual at present, and one of the most fascinating articles I've come across is (in French) from Le Monde, about the restoration work on Notre Dame in Paris, as the scaffolding (all 40,000 poles) begins to be dismantled. The organ (the biggest, one of three in the cathedral) had to be completely dismantled and cleaned, not because it was damaged but because it was covered in lead dust from the fire. The headline refers to the Mikado of scaffolding - Mikado is the name the French give to our game pick-a stix, which is a good indication of the process of undoing the heaps of scaffold poles without causing further damage to the building!

I'm using newspaper cartoons this time as illustrations - this says that God is multi-religious, but now he is so fed up with humanity that he is thinking of becoming an atheist

Our life recently has been varied recently by visits to friends and by wine outings ( see the wine blog soon for more on these), but we have also continued to see some of our friends from the conversation group we usually have on Tuesdays, meeting in a small and carefully distanced group in one or other of our houses.  Mary and I are fortunate to have each other at least for company, but it is good to see others all the same, and for those of our friends who live alone such occasional contacts are even more vital.

To finish, a reminder of the Royal family which keeps popping up in the news!