Lockdown !

We’ve been in lockdown for two weeks now, to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus COVID 19. We have to stay at home and can only go out individually, for a limited number of specifically permitted reasons, and not for anything else, under threat of fines and even imprisonment. We have to complete a French government certificate for every single trip out that we make, for inspection, and such things as shopping must be done as infrequently as possible and by only one person.

Only shops selling ‘essentials’ are open. We have seen no signs of panic buying and the shops that are open seem well stocked. Petrol and diesel prices have plummeted but no-one is buying much as we aren’t allowed to do any journeys. President Macron’s and Prime Minister Philippe’s speeches and announcements all along have been conducted in a strong, direct, positive manner making things very clear and giving confidence. Unlike in the US and in the UK until the last day or two.

The number of cases and the number of deaths here in France as a whole is the third  highest in Europe, but our region and department have lower than average numbers. France is a week or so ahead of the UK, Italy and Spain on the deaths timeline; the cases and deaths are running at about double the UK's rate but only a quarter to a half of Italy and Spain's numbers. However there are marked differences between the countries of the number of tests being undertaken, so there are not really comparable measures of case numbers.

The Chinese authorities, having taken very strong measures to close down movement and contact, now appear to be coming out of their crisis. Indeed they're sending medical supplies to Europe and elsewhere and are displaying greater world leadership on this crisis than the USA, which has hitherto always aimed to hold that position. Most European countries took nothing like as positive action as early as they should have with the result that many are suffering worse than China. Italy has been devastated and Spain has pretty nearly caught up with Italy now. France took a strong stance two weeks ago – a bit late but much more firm than most others, so is experiencing a slower build-up of deaths - trying to flatten the curve, though for most of Europe it still looks close to exponential growth. It's not a true exponential, of course, as it will flatten out at some point, but we need to see an inflection in the numbers before we can estimate when that will be.

Here in south-west France we are little affected other than locally coping with the lockdown. We are not aware yet of any cases nearby nor any deaths in our vicinity, but everyone here is abiding by the rules, so far as we can tell, to keep it that way. We can’t go helping anyone or having anyone here to help us, so most contact is by phone, message and Facebook. We can't go out for the day. One neighbour passes by the front of our housewith his dog, daily. We see another three sets in their respective back gardens, to speak with at a safe distance. Only one couple of British second-home owners here have stayed rather than going home to the UK. They are happy to stay here for the duration. All the other Brits here are residents and most are staying long term.

Our region, Nouvelle Aquitaine, is able to take cases from elsewhere in France - mostly the east and north - that are much harder hit, with a train full of serious cases just arrived in Bordeaux. 

We’ve lost a few events that we had planned, but it's best to minimise risk, we believe. Brittany Ferries have been their usual reasonable selves moving a booking back by six months; the course I was booked for, similarly. Ryanair, of course, were full of difficulties getting things done. They’ve promised a refund within 7 days but are now saying there’s a delay. Surprise, surprise!

So we’ve got lots of time on our hands.  I’ve got some more work done on the big stone wall but will run out of sand for mortar before I can finish it. Building supplies don't count as essentials (so most builders are out of work even though many of them are singletons who could work alone on their jobs if they could get supplies). And I’ve been doing some more fencing for the sheep, cutting up wood, cutting grass and trying to keep our pool cover from blowing away in the winds as the makers can’t come back to refix it until the crisis is over. Jeanne has been doing more work on the potager, which is now looking perfect, with most of the ground full of seeds for the season’s vegetables. But there’s space for tomatoes, courgettes, squash etc when and if we can buy seedlings from the garden centres.

The weather has been fine but has taken a turn back to wintry conditions with a bitter north wind today and snow forecast for tomorrow, whilst most of the spring flowers have finished and summer ones are budding.

The French government have announced a further two weeks of lockdown and increased fines for non-compliance, and we suspect there’ll be at least one more 2 week extension.

Keep helping to flatten the curve. Stay safe, everyone.

Well, what a year already! We’re only three months in and the world has changed. We started to get bookings organised now for the spring and summer, some for us going off, some for visitors here. Everything has stopped due to the coronavirus COVID 19 (CV). It built up over a few months from its first public awareness in China late in November last year to become a dangerous pandemic in the last few weeks. The week before last France introduced severe restrictions on travel and conducting daily life, by law, which have curtailed most things with no real end in sight, as the results of the virus worsen amongst the world’s population. 

I (Rhys) had booked a course in the UK at a farm about lambing sheep next weekend. We’re planning to have our ewes ‘served’ this autumn / winter to increase our flock next year, and I thought I’d better learn how to deal with the births. Jeanne’s sister Christine and her husband were going to fly over while I was away to keep her company. All cancelled due to the CV with remarkable if not unexpected differences between the various suppliers. 

We had booked a few days away in April for an friend's event and decided to bring in house-sitters to look after our place while we were away, partly just for security of the place, but mostly to look after the animals at home rather than sending Dusty to a cattery and having assorted friends and relatives looking after the others. We advertised on Trustedhousesitters.com and got a huge response, and had to curtail responses after a very short time. Several applicants looked ideal and we went through a sifting process, eventually settling on a couple from Australia who we FaceTimed with who were to spend three months in Europe and a week with us would have suited well. One of them made it to Europe, to Spain, to do the Camino de Santiago de Compostella pilgrimage, when Spain shut down and he had to get home quickly. The event for our trip away was cancelled and we’ll be staying home on our own. However, we may try using house-sitters again when (if!) the world gets back to normal.

On a happier note, we were delighted to meet and spend the day with a newly-found cousin, Geoff, who lives in America but was visiting Bordeaux as part of a series of work-related meetings he had around Europe. He managed to get home after the US banned flights from most of Europe but just before they were closed from the UK.

Dusty, our cat, was not well for a week or two, refusing to eat or drink any of her usual foods and moping about the house much more than usual. The vet ran blood tests that did not show anything abnormal and she picked up after a few weeks, and is now eating like a horse again. She’s only about 6½ years old so shouldn’t have any ageing issues yet. She does tend to hunt and often eats the small wild animals around us – mostly voles, sometimes mice and, in the summer, lizards.

So we’ve been getting back up to speed with some of the work on the property – the last of the renovations and some maintenance. We’ve had to rebuild one of our shower rooms when the floor suffered a partial collapse and the builder managed to finish the day before the CV restrictions came fully into force in France. He was to continue to other work on the roofs but the builders suppliers are all closed so we can’t get materials. But I’ve been able to do some other work, including continuing with the big wall and putting up extra fencing for the sheep, who need some fresh pasture. But we need more sheep as our five aren’t keeping up with the grass growth on the one they've got, even through the winter.

Jeanne has been doing sterling work on the potager, planting potatoes, onions, beans, peas and lots more. The hens are in full lay, so we’re getting up to ten eggs a day from them, but we’re struggling to give away the excess because of the contact restrictions in force. 

Earlier in the year Jeanne bought a new car, a left-hand drive to match mine, as it was becoming difficult to keep swapping RHD / LHD between them. She’s very happy with it but we kept her old one on for a while as it had a tow-bar and we need to use the trailer regularly. Anyway, we put it up for sale a week or so before the lockdown here, onto a local ‘cars etc for sale’ page in our area on Facebook. We got 46 responses in a couple of days from French people who had seen it elsewhere – apparently Facebook itself copies adverts on to their own Marketplace page, and do an automatic translation, which doesn’t translate RHD! So almost all the responses were from people who expected a LHD car. Explaining this got rid of most of the responses, though there a few cheeky ones who wanted a further huge price reduction. One lady sounded very keen to have it, we showed it to her she had a drive, still wanted it, gave us the money we asked for and we completed the sale very quickly and easily. Then we had to do the admin. In France the seller has to report the sale on a gouvernement website in considerable detail and is then given a code number to pass to the buyer. The buyer then has to go on the same website (with their own credentials) and, using the code number, re-register the car to themselves. Our French language lessons didn’t really equip us to do this, but we managed it just before the travel and contact restrictions came into force.

Stay safe, everyone.