As I write, A 9 pm curfew has just been announced in Montpellier among 9 cities across France. These days the structure of an ordinary day - dog walking, meals, a bit of regular tv of an evening, even sorting out the rubbish and remembering to take the relevant pills - is a welcome kind of normality.
But being too far ahead of the news is dodgy because lots of detail takes days to work out so ‘curfew 2100-0600 in Montpellier for a month from Saturday’ leaves questions to which nobody has yet worked out the answers. As far as I can see it does not (yet) apply to Lunel, and we don’t go out much in the evenings anyway, but it leaves a sense of uncertainty.
What I do see is that France is starting to resemble the UK in at least 2 ways, both local protests over central diktats, first local leaders lamenting catastrophic effects of lockdowns on local businesses, and crowds of maskless people defying restrictions. Perhaps my reaction, wanting to stay in and bury myself under the duvet, is exactly what the politicians and epidemiologists want....
I keep looking for things to brighten the day and lighten the mood. The first this time is a piece of Purcell, arranged and sung by the Kings Singers. Do listen. Music for a while is something I need very day.
Regular readers know I have health problems which are really quite minor in the greater scheme of things. But An English friend has enhanced my knowledge. Since she used to take amitriptyline for jaw pain, I now know what TMJ - Temporomandibular joint dysfunction - is, and realise I’ve had a mild form for years, causing me not to be able to close my teeth correctly (well, it at least prevents grinding ) and very occasionally pain. But try explaining to a French dentist why it’s taking you a while to ‘open wide’ or indeed to close the mouth to check bite - difficult enough to speak clearly in your own language when in the dentist’s chair! Incidentally, in French this is syndrome algo-dysfonctionnel de l'appareil manducateur (SADAM), not of course to be confused with Iraqi dictators or similar.
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| Our Facebook photo group has 'orange' as the theme this week, and I could nor resist sharing this one posted by Richard Hall |
I am constantly upset and shocked by the inhumanity of the UK Home Office. I have just discovered there is someone with the title “the Home Office’s clandestine channel threat commander”. This is about people, refugees, unwisely risking their lives to get to the UK. Provide them with safe routes and a fair, timely asylum system and they would not cross the Channel in, for God’s sake, rubber dinghies. There are bigger threats everywhere than them, including the people smugglers who profit at their expense.
Keeping the mood light, a joke I read recently:
"Two young boys walked into a pharmacy one day, picked out up box of tampons and proceeded to the checkout.
The pharmacist at the counter asked the older boy, 'Son, how old are you?' 'Eight', the boy replied.
‘Do you know what these are used for?' ‘Not exactly, but they aren't for me. They're for him. He's my brother. He's four.’
"Oh, really?" the pharmacist replied. "Yes." the boy said. "We saw on TV that if you use these, you would be able to swim, play tennis and ride a bike. Right now, he can't do any of those”.
Discovering French life and language never stops for us - we are keen followers of cycling on tv, and regret that the only coverage of the Giro d'Italia is on French tv, with poor commentary. Roll on the Spanish Vuelta next week when ITV4 returns with David Millar and co. Meanwhile we have learned a new French word twist, vélo-rution (French preference for revolution is well-known) for the rapid change toward bikes instead of cars for urban travel. Not everyone is happy with cycle tracks in towns, which of course slow down other traffic and sometimes lead from nowhere to nowhere.
And so to Mary's knitting. She is just starting a Fair Isle jumper for our niece, and the wool arrived this week
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