The lockdown here in France was extended by another
4 weeks to 11th May following a speech by President Macron on TV. Like
Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland he makes a good leadership display, contrasting sharply with
the UK and, even more so, the USA.
Macron has given a relatively clear way forward and
details are announced already, for schools, colleges and lycées, and old
peoples homes to accept visits from family to their residents, which will
save a lot of anguish. Borders may remain closed long term, particularly to non-Shengen
countries.
For the time being all any of us as individuals can
do is abide by the social distancing rules, look after ourselves and each
other, do our best to keep our immune system working as well as possible and
keep physically strong. Good nutrition with real food, some supplements – Vitamins
C, D, B1, zinc and a few others are gaining recognition in this regard – keep exercising
to maintain as much physical and mental strength as possible. And reduce if you’re
overweight or obese. Obesity looks like it will be the commonest factor in the
death count everywhere. Other underlying health issues, age and BAME appear to
be secondary but contributory to this.
Our own bizarre life is becoming depressingly normalised.
There were a few moans and groans around us about a month-long extension to its
oddness over here, but a common feeling is ‘we’ve done a month, so we can do
another month’. On a personal basis that is true for many people. But for a
bigger ‘many’, real hardship is kicking in. Many people cannot work and earn an
income when they cannot be in contact with other people, so they can’t pay
their bills. Those that lose a regular income may not be able to make it up
afterwards and government help is not universal or easy to get. Self-employed
people in small service roles are in particular difficulty financially. Some
people are getting clinical depression and other mental health issues through
the inability to work and to socialise, which continues to be close to
impossible, and we and others are missing it more and more.
This is a growing situation as many people have had
enough of isolation and won’t tolerate it for very much longer, so there is an
increasing risk of the rules being increasingly broken regardless of the threat
of fines or the increased danger of passing on infection. As the government visibly
starts to relax the lockdown people may, hopefully, feel more positive even
though relaxation might create a new wave of infections. That will put the
number of ICU cases and deaths back up, so then the government might re-impose some
rules or they may just let it run as long as hospitals, particularly ICUs, can cope
with the numbers.
At home, the potager is showing many of the veggies
planted there, and its progress provides a developing topic for conversation by
phone or over the fences. Talking about it being time to earth up the potatoes becomes
highlight of the day. Potatoes, onions, sweetcorn, peas and beans are all
showing their heads and our annual watering task has commenced (though paused
for a few rainy days since). Our well has been providing copious amounts of
water following the rains over the winter. We’ve done lots on the garden more
generally, and it is looking tidier than usual, which is nice but there’s only
us to see it. Our sheep are not keeping their grass mowed sufficiently so I’m
still mowing some of their space as well as the rest that they don’t have the
run of. However the early warm weather has brought forward the day that they
need shearing by some weeks so a new task is to find a shearer.
Getting on with jobs around the place is slowing
down a bit as we run out of materials and search out places we can get stuff
delivered from. As a result we’re getting down to some tasks which are low on
the priorities, not because we’ve done all the others. We’ve even removed the huge wood pile we had
in our hangar since the demolition of the grange some years ago! That has enabled another job, to rebuild a
shed that our builder demolished, and enable us to pass some wood on to others.The shed rebuild will, of course, require other materials as well, of course, so it won't be completed very soon!
We’re still doing a supermarket shop in person once
a week and don’t feel that we’re in danger ourselves or being a danger to
others by doing so. There are access and distancing controls in place, and very
few cases in our département. Only
a few products are in short supply and in general we have no hardship in that
respect. We have not increased our stock of anything to a high level and we’ve
seen no sign of panic-buying anywhere. Getting rid of waste is slightly more
difficult. We can take bin waste to the village containers, usually when we’re
on a shopping trip, but we are expected to keep glass for recycling at home
until the lockdown is lifted. We already have a big bin full of bottles, and
we’re not the biggest drinkers in our community. Another month or more may get
quite embarrassing! Bonfires are banned now but some of the dechetteries,
including ours, are opening by appointment. Unfortunately we are without a
means of taking a trailer-full there at present.
Ordering stuff remotely for delivery is more difficult.
Amazon was still working but their own delivery times had gone out and
reliability of deliveries is much lower, but what else would one expect. A
French court effectively shut down Amazon’s five French depots for a week or so
until the firm deep-cleans & disinfects them, and put in place better means
to protect their workers, under threat of a fine of a million euros per offence
per day! Meanwhile the business is enjoying a bumper pandemic regardless, and Bezos is coining it personally, but the firm is
not paying its way socially in the countries in which it operates, through its
taxes. Their ‘marketplace’ providers are still accepting orders but their deliveries,
where not through Amazon’s French warehouses, are subject to longer lead times.
Some supermarkets, DIY stores and builders merchants are accepting orders for collection
or for delivery of certain products and we know of a few people who are reliant
on this. But it’s not necessarily next-day.
Keep safe, everyone.