Day 45 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Market Day in Another Time

Salut nos amis! (Hi our Friends!) The holding pattern continues. We feel like time has stopped - except that we do spend hours online and have done a lot of organizing around the house. If there weren't meals to prepare and eat, it might truly feel like an endless wait. But, time does pass and we are working through these last two weeks and dreaming about life after Quarantine.

  

The bridges and the ford across the Massane

Day 45 - Wow - 45 days? Yes, it does feel like April has had that many days and then I

Market Day

remember that the lock-down began in March. This has been the longest April of my life but thankfully I have spent it with Y, my French partner. We have a wonderful life together - even when we are restricted to the house and the streets around it. Yes, we miss the travel, the windsurfing, the cafes and outings. Ski season was cut short. Most of all, we miss the market in our village! 

But, hey, we are alive. We are healthy. And if we've been exposed to the virus, then we haven't infected anyone else because we're at home. It's okay and we know how lucky we are. If I described Day 45, it would be dull. So... let's take another route and I will share this part of the world with you. There was a time when I lived alone and wrote my novels and blogs for Yahoo from a small village just a few kilometers from here. I'll set the WAY-BACK machine and we'll jump into that writer woman's past. I'd love for you to come along - be my friend in make-believe once again and I'll share the village of Argelès-sur-Mer that I loved just as much then as now. 

One Market Day a few years in the Past: 

It's a morning like most days for me in the south of France. I live on my own in a small Catalan village where I am known as "La Dame Américaine" (The American Lady.)  I woke up early

The little store in my village

and walked to the "Little Store," as I call the épicerie in my small village. I seated myself in the side room where Thierry, the proprietor, has set up a table, two tall chairs and installed an espresso machine. Here, between the magazines and fruit juice bottles, I chat with my neighbors and when I tell Thierry I plan to take my friend to market day in Argelès-sur-Mer. He smiles and gives me a wink. He says, "Ah la! Argelers de la Marenda, to use its Catalan name, is superb!  But, I do not think it will be time for the bathing suits just yet.”  I agree, knowing that when you get here, you and I will enjoy ourselves without going to the beach. The spring is beautiful here. I finish writing quickly so I can be "chez-moi" (at home) when you arrive.

 At last, you ring the door! Hurrah! I'll tell you where we off to - the long sandy beaches of Argelès-sur-Mer are only a part of why it's famous.  In summer it seems like the whole world comes here for a vacation. It is lively in every season and the twice-weekly street market fills the main

There are many festivals in Argelès

streets with color and commerce. February’s Mardi-Gras parade is always fabulous.  In March an agricultural fair takes place and there is also an "American Festival." I kid you not! The summer months welcome visitors with weekly celebrations and fireworks on the beach. In autumn, a procession of Giants honors the town saints followed by a an amazing demonstration of human fireworks that culminate in a bonfire.  September is also the month of the Catalan “Aplec” (gathering) to celebrate the grape harvest and any time of the year, you are likely to see “La Sardane” - the Catalan dance done in traditional costumes or everyday clothes. I could go on, but then we'd never get there. Today, it's market day. The car is out front – so let’s go!

 Argelès-sur-Mer is the town I stayed in when I first came to visit France. Restaurants,

Catalan Human Towers!

bakeries, street cafés and all the commodities there make it a great base for exploring the ‘Côte Vermeille’ (the Vermilion Coast). I think you will love it! Oh good, we’ve arrived. I hope you can help me find a parking spot! It's never easy on market day. Superb! You have good eyes. Yes, we can park here by the Mairie’s, you have found the last place - overlooked by others because it is a bit small. But in my Smart, it's easy. Yes, the Mairie's is the Mayor’s Office, a delightful building you will want to photograph.

We walk across the footbridge over “La Massane” a small watercourse that descends from the Albères and cuts through the town on its way to the sea. As we cross the bridge, you remark on the pretty set of stone-cut bridges for cars.  Then you realize that there is also a ford beneath

Human fireworks!

the first bridge when one car takes the low road and splashes across the sparkling stream.  The cry of seagulls reminds us how close we are to the Mediterranean.  Now we walk into the town and the road is busy with stalls and commerce for it’s market day.

The Rue de la République climbs gently until we reach the impressive church.  It's almost

Traditional Catalan Dress and Dance

impossible to get through the crowds at the moment, but look over to the left and voila! My favorite café, “Le Noisette” (the hazelnut). What do you think? Does the menu tempt you? It's a great place to have a simple inexpensive meal. Ah, yes, the daily special is a really good value for money. I agree, let's come back and eat here once we've enjoyed all of the market! Just a minute and I'll make us a reservation with Amandine, the proprietress, for lunch.

Lovely corner café!

     We have friends visiting later in the year and we’re recommending l’Hostelet right here on la rue de la République.  Turn around, yes, see it there, with the pretty wooden shutters of olive green?  It’s a classic guest-house with the ambiance of a ritzy hotel. Best of all, it is in the heart of the town. It is charming, intimate and exclusive for it has just five spacious well-appointed rooms - every one of them with a view, a gorgeous modern bathroom and classy décor. And, even better! They host a sidewalk cafe behind the hotel in the Place de République. It's called Côté Place. Lets' go and see if there is a free table. It's a popular place. Many say, the best coffee in town is served here. I love their espresso. We'll sit in the sunshine and enjoy watching the barter at the stalls that surround the plaza. 

Luckily, we find a place and that's not easy! So many friends love to meet up here. With coffee done, we take a long walk around the village. The stalls line the main street and curl on around

Friends meeting at the café on market day

the back street. It takes a while and eventually, we find that we've made a circle and are in the place de la république once more. The church bell rings the Mid-day bell and I am definitively ready to eat.

We wander back to the café and take our reserved seats on the sidewalk. It's lovely and warm in the sunshine next to the flower boxes outside.  On the church steps across from us, children are playing. We peruse the menu and make our choices.  Around us, many of the French are

Lovely Sign

eating a hearty lunch, of two or more courses.  For them this is the main meal of the day and dinner is simply a light “repas”.  We enjoy our lunch.  I definitely say yes to lemon sorbet for dessert and how can you resist that chocolate gateau?  Well, we could stay here all day, soaking up the sunshine and watching the world go by but I think you might like seeing the seaside part of town.

We pay Sandrine, our waitress, and wave goodbye to Amandine who calls out, "À bientôt!" (See you soon!) 

 How I wish we could say that would be the case. We can hope, can't we. You and I wandered back down the rue de la république and it's so quiet now! All the stalls have packed up and been carted away. The street cleaners have removed almost every sign that it was a Market day. The only thing left are the empty wooden or cardboard boxes from the produce

Dessert!

that are neatly stacked at a few locations waiting for the recycle truck to come by and remove them later.  The car is still in the shade, thank goodness! We get in, roll down the windows ait’s time to head home.   We turn inland and the mountain Canigou stands like a compass leading us back to my French village.  It’s been another lovely day with you, my friend,  thank you for spending the day with us and visiting Argelès-sur-mer!

There - that was fun! I enjoyed remembering my life in the days before the virus. And you know what? I believe we will have days like those again. It may never be exactly like it was, but I know we will find a way to control this epidemic. I hear you. It's hard to live with the uncertainty and stress of

The Place de la République sleeps - waiting for our return

not being able to plan the future. Right now, we are waiting out the storm. The future will arrive and in time, we will walk in the sunshine again. Courage! We will make it through this.

À demain, les amis! (Until tomorrow, friends!)
Link to Day 46

Day 44 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Franglais

Bonjour les amis! (Hello friends!) We are in a holding pattern now. The day when the quarantine is lifted creeps nearer. It will all depend on the numbers. And there is nothing more any of us can do besides follow the rules and see what happens. So, in the meantime, with life being very much the same everyday, A hash over of the day will be dull. So instead, I'll write about two of my favorite subjects - language and love.

Plage Nord (North Beach) Argelès sur Mer, our village

Day 44 -  The seventh week of French 'confinement' continues. We wake up and it's sunny. At the breakfast table, my partner and I have a typical conversation while doing our morning Facebook posts. It's typical because although carried out in French it has a bit of English thrown in just to get ourselves totally confused. The English is usually mine but sometimes he switches over thinking it will help. Sometimes it does, sometimes it's so unexpected that I'm left trying to figure out a French word I've never heard only to realize it isn't French. It's English with an accent that I have come to love with all my heart.  We laugh about our Franglais a lot. I pour the coffee and he asks a question in French.

"C'est quel film ou le mec se reveille et c'est toujours le meme jour?" (Which film is it where the guy wakes up and it's always the same day?) I have to think for a minute and then I say

Y's post on FB about
the days of quarantine
seeming to be the same

tentatively, "Groundhog Day?" He shakes his head, "Non." He goes on to say, it's that's guy who is also in  "Chasseurs de Fantômes" (Hunters of ghosts) he thinks for a second and adds, "SOS Fantômes." So now I'm sure because I know that's the French title for "Ghostbusters." "You mean Bill Murray, don't you?" I ask and he says, "Oui." "It's definitely Groundhog Day!"  Non, he says again, thinks and then says, "C'est Un Jour Sans Fin."  I look it up and sure enough - that is the French title, "A day without End." I say to him,

"I suppose it's because you don't celebrate Groundhog's Day in France." "C'est quoi?" (What's that?) I explain and he is now as confused about the movie title as I am about most French things every day of my life now. So good, we start the day even and he makes his post about how every day under quarantine seems to be the same day.

We have all been living in a topsy-turvy world for the last two months and it matches the state of my mind. For the last sixteen years, I've lived in France full-time. I love it. But I still think in English. At least, I am fairly sure I do. I arrived here in 2003 and I had high school and university French. It was nowhere near enough. Even when I was ten years into my retirement here, I can vouch for being misunderstood and misunderstanding a lot! I know it's my

On our daily walk it seems
we are very much alone!

American accent that causes a lot of problems. Our two languages may share the same letters and a lot of the same words, but the emphasis and pronunciation makes them foreign to each other. (For those of the correct age bracket - just think of when Peter Sellers wishes Goldie Hawn "Happiness all your life.")

A little bit of language is a dangerous thing. I remember how smug I felt when a French friend told me a story many years ago about an English friend who asked if he would like "Leemon" in his tea instead of "Citron." But I am just as guilty of trying to Frenchie-fy a word to communicate with my partner and it causes him no end of amusement.We met over a year ago and right from the start we both thought the language difference would be a complication. Fortunately, I was fairly fluent in everyday conversation and even have a certificate from the French government to prove it!  We decided to take a chance and began to date. 

During the months that passed, we have had confusions over language on a daily basis. Take the time I made one of my favorite sweet and sour chinese dishes for dinner and he pronounced "C'est pas terrible." Now, although it wasn't praise, I thought he was saying it

Hirondelles (small swallows) seen
from my village window

wasn't bad. We ate in silence and he looked grim. It wasn't for several minutes that I realized he hated it and that this phrase actually means the equivalence to "It is terrible," in English. Great...

I didn’t make that dish again. Then at another point I said, "De faire mon premiere livre a été un boulou formidable." By which I meant the work had been a bit frightening.  But Y said, "Tu t'es amuse." (You had fun.) And I suddenly remembered that to the French "formidable" means "Great!" 

French is a Romance language and English is basically Germanic. They do share some commonalities being influenced by - LATIN. Yeah, and I didn't study Latin when I had the chance. Happy I chose to study French. Phew! So why is it so tough?

Well, maybe part of it is because some words are "vrais amis" (true friends) that is to say true cognates. These are words that look or sound the same in the two languages and have the same or almost the same meaning and usage. These are words like "salade" though that can mean just lettuce so be careful when ordering in a French restaurant - you probably want to go for a

Close up of  hirondelles

"salade composée - as in mixed.  Other words are simple and direct like "Parking," "chic," "brunette," "blonde."  

"Faux amis" are false cognates - as in words that sound or look the same in the two languages but don't mean the same things or are used very differently.

I continue to forget that "Souvenir" doesn't mean something I've bought to remember an event and is actually the verb "to remember" so I keep trying to use this "false friend » in the wrong way. And then I sometimes say, "Je memoire." instead of "Je me souviens" for "I remember."  (Oh how I detest these reflexive verbs!) My partner gives me a funny smile and says, "J'ai te compris." (I understood you.) I often think how much like a child I must speak!

But when Y says, "Attention!" he's telling me to "Watch out!" And charmingly once said, "Clock out!” to me in an attempt to use English. It did get my "attention." While a crayon is the French word for a pencil and I sorta know that, I invariably ask him for a pencil. I forget to

Our daily walk in solitude

say "argent" for money and end up saying "monnaie" which just means small change. The "bibliothèque" is the library and a "libraire" is a bookstore. It does get very confusing sometimes. But at least my charming partner is still finding my confusion "adorable." Ah... another true friend word!  However, bras in French are not underclothes but arms. You can imagine the conversation in which that got confused?  Non, moi non plus. (No, me neither) Moving on...

I think we're getting there. This morning we were talking about which soaps I preferred and I said, "Les savons qui sent comme bois - le santal." (The soaps that smell like wood - sandalwood.) And I said, "Tu sais les savons?" (You know the soaps?) To which he made a joke "Nous savons que ces sont savons." And I laughed! Because I caught the pun. He had said, "We know that they are soaps." But the words "Savons" meant both "to know" and "Soaps." Yes! I was happy for hours afterwards at my little triumph.

The 44th day of quarantine went by like nearly all the others. There was the long walk for exercise. There was a good lunch, reading, music, TV, and a stellar omelet made by yours truly. (Yeah, I'm getting the hang of this cooking lark too!) It was time to write to you and share some of our joy. And now I have.  one last thing never do what I did. Don't call your french boyfriend "Spécial" We were eating out one day in Perpignan and I said to Y, "Tu es vraiment spécial, mon amour." He put down his fork and knife and looked at me with concern. Then he laughed and told me he knew I didn't mean it. I had to talk it through with him and use other words. Eventually I understood the mistake I had made. (When you describe a person as 'special' it means handicapped, as in mentally.)

Language is a gift. With it we can paint pictures in the minds of people far away. With words you tell me you are thinking of us and we promise you this. We are thinking of you too. And sometimes it’s in Franglais.

The festival  held at the Palace of the Kings of Majorca is
held once a year to welcome newcomers to our region

Tu me manque - I got that one down. You are missing from me. But at least with words, we are all still in contact with each other until this time of confinement it over. May it be soon! A demain, les amis!  (Until tomorrow, friends!)

Link to Day 45

Day 43 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Dispatches #4 - Citizenship and Discipline

As we look two weeks into the future, we are hopeful. There are some good things to meditate on. Soon, we will be free to leave the house. There are restrictions that will seem hard. But there is hope. And that is more important than anything else. Well, except maybe being disciplined. It seems that this and good citizenship may be the most important things of all!

In the hills, the villages are more isolated.
Perhaps they will have more freedom than the cities.

Day 43 - We got up earlier! Yes, at last. It may only have been forty minutes, but it feels like a victory. I set the alarm a little earlier than yesterday. I told my French partner, Y, that if he

the 11th of May. We must be ready
reads the headline.

wanted to sleep in the next morning it was fine. But I needed to call the bank and I hoped that if I was early, I might get through. Happily, I slept straight through the night as if the stress of this difficult time was nothing. I would like to think that it's the effect of embracing hope instead of fear. I honestly don't know.  Which sounds like the label we should stick on this whole pandemic affair, "They honestly didn't know."

I don't remember turning over in the night. There just came a moment when I was aware of the daylight from the skylight in the hall. I drifted toward consciousness and told myself that I would just take a peek at the alarm to see the time. I worked to open my eyes

Pinion trees that lead to the beaches

and moved just a little bit. Then I heard Y say, "Il et dix minutes après neuf... environs" (It's around ten minutes after nine.) So, instead of the alarm waking us, we were awake half an hour before it

 was set to ring. That was nice! And as we rose, we both talked about the awaited the televised announcement that would happen late in the afternoon as regarded the end of quarantine. Y said, "They won't keep the beaches closed, do you think?" I said exactly what I thought, "I honestly don't know."  We went downstairs. The cat was glad to see us.


I tried calling the bank and got the recorded message, "There is no one to take your call." Normal. It has been that way for a month now. So, we read the news, ate breakfast, then skipped exercise... bet you weren't expecting that! Every now and then I take a vacation from work outs. Today was that day. 

Then I called the bank again. This time, the front desk answered and said my counselor would call me back. I decided to work on a new set of songs on my guitar and then the piano. I played for another hour and no, the bank had not called. Normal.

We had lunch and then came the thing we both had put off for a bit. Filing taxes. Yep. French income tax. It's fairly easy for me to do mine because I make no money here and I already filed my American taxes. All I had to do was report the same numbers to the French government. (Turned into Euros, of course.) I still hate doing it. Y has a better reason for using les "mots bleu" (blue words - in other words, swearing!)  He has to learn the new online system and that's never fun. In fact, I'm pretty sure that a show of hands would find we all agree that doing taxes is never fun. 

Fortunately, we got to take a break when the Prime Minister's speech began in the late afternoon. It was he who told us all about the de-confinement to come. He reminded us that as we open up life again, we must continue to stay a meter from other

Perhaps we can picnic on the hills

people in public. In situations where that was impossible, we must wear a mask. Also, we must wear masks when we take public transport. But - the masks are not going to be obligatory at all times at least not yet. Small children in school won't wear one but older kids will. The plan says that on the 11th of May, the stores will be open. School will resume but with only 15 in a room for the primary grades. No gatherings of people in huge numbers. Large malls may have to remain closed. The big museums, the cinemas, and theaters are going to have to wait as well. They will decide as we go along based on what happens. They are hoping to relaunch the economy without relaunching the epidemic. Open air markets and small museums may open again but we are to be careful about getting to close to one another. It's going to be very tricky.

There will be cries of disappointment as team sports are still forbidden - and that includes "le football' (soccer). The professional sports season is cancelled until at least 2021. We may practice solitary sports and are allowed to go father than the kilometer from home. The catch is we are confined to our department for now unless it is to go to work. But still that is a whole lot of wonderful space!  Then he warned us - there will be color-coding of areas based on how dense the infection is. Some communities may open sooner or stay quarantined for longer than others. Restaurants, bars, and cafes are going to have to wait at least another month. If the second wave hits hard, we may return to confinement. It will be up to the people to work hard to avoid the spread of the virus. No going back to "Life as Before."

Near the end of the declaration, he said the words, we both dreaded but expected, "The beaches will remain closed. The vacations will have to wait." I could  see the pain in my partner's eyes. "We can still go hiking,"

A treatment that might work

I told him and outlined a plan to take a picnic up into the foothills. Those who know me, know, this is not my thing at all. But it will be better to get out and get some sunshine.  And I know he loves it. And - I love him. I'm already looking at some recipes for a pot pie. 

The Prime Minister told us they are not trying to make a list of rules and clamp the population into a prescribed plan. He said that the only way we can get through this relaunch to start life again is for people to show good Citizenship and Discipline. Wow. I mean that just makes so much sense. And I hope that the French people can do it. I would be less hopeful if I were in some other places where people are not willing to sacrifice some of their freedoms in order to save the lives of others or even just work together for their own safety. 

And the French? Can they do it? Will they live up to their idea of "Fraternité?" (Brotherhood?)  To quote myself, "I honestly don't know." Will it work? We will see. It's time now to turn off the news, have a cup of tea, and write to you.  The day has been a mix of sunshine and showers. It seems that so is the plan that is being unveiled.

To end with some good news - since the start of this month, there has been an anti-inflammatory drug - tocilzumab - has being tested on 49 patients who were ill with the virus. And it appears to be working! Other studies are concluding the same thing. It calms the cytokine storm that causes a person's immune system to attack the organs instead of the virus. The patients were able to breath again without a ventilator and go home after 14 days. It's a start! And it is looking hopeful. And hope is powerful medicine all on its on. 

And so, dear friends, there is the possibility that the wave of illness that has swept our planet is

The beaches will remain empty for the time being.

calming. We aren't there yet, but we are beginning to see the possibility of beating it. It's still flooding the world, but we have built some barriers against the tide with our social distancing and discipline.  We have built arks in the form of communities working together. That's the citizenship. And most of all -  we have lifelines to cling onto - and they are made of hope.

A demain, les amis! (Until tomorrow, friends!)
Link to Day 44

Day 42 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Harbinger?

You'd think that with this turbulent weather, we'd be sad today, but no! We may even dance in the rain if the stormy sky opens! And we think the skies will clear soon - that's how optimistic we feel. Yes, the news is good. And best of all - you are here to share it with us. There are good omens- harbingers of better times come. The signs are there, if we  look for them.

View of Perpignan - perhaps we can shop in the city next month!

 Day 42 - The alarm played the soft guitar notes of one of my favorite songs and I woke up smiling. Y was still sleeping - or pretending to - so I rolled up the shutters and looked out. The sky was grey. But I was still smiling.

Maternité Suisse in Elne last April

It might not have been  sunny, but at least it wasn't raining. "Réveilles toi, mon amour!" I said. (Wake up, my love!) He blinked against the daylight and snuggled back into the pillow with the remark that as I had set my alarm five minutes earlier than the day before, he still had five more minutes. Whatever. I kept smiling.


Why? Not only because the warmth of the dreary morning told me the cold of winter had finally made its exit. It was because the last thing I'd read before going to bed was that we'd had 612 new cases of Covid-19 yesterday in France and 242 deaths. I know, it's still grim and the worldwide number of recorded cases is now more than 3,000,000. But the daily report of a drop in new cases and deaths here is really good news. The number is half of what it was four days ago. May this be the harbinger of things to come! In medieval times, a harbinger was someone who ran ahead of the troops or the royal company to find lodgings and alert the population to look sharp! These days we use it to mean an omen or an indication of what is to come. Hopefully, the peak has passed and there is every chance we are on track for de-confinement two weeks from today.

So, with a heart brimming with hope, I went to the other side of the house and opened the shutters. The cloudy sky was filled with dozens of large hirondelles, those lovely brown barn swallows, swooping and soaring in a way that echoed the happiness I felt. It seemed that spring

A lone hirondelle top right

had finally arrived. I tried to capture the scene with my phone camera but the best I could manage was one bird in a single frame of the many pictures I took. They fly seriously fast! 

It is common in Europe and other northern countries to rejoice at the return of these fair-weather visitors and the French saying is, "Une hirondelle ne fait pas le printemps." (One swallow does not make the Springtime - just as we say in English, "One swallow does not make a Summer.") And I know it is a proverb to remind us to be prudent. We should not draw conclusions based on a single piece of evidence. That the numbers have fallen during the week is only one sign. There are bound to be ups and downs in the numbers during the days to come.  The last four days both the numbers have fallen. For us to be let out of confinement, the trend must continue for the next two weeks. But it still gives us hope!

In my village, I always see the smaller hirondelles - house swallows - from my terrace at the

I've been keeping track
And for the last four days
the numbers have fallen.

start of April. I love to wake in the morning and hear the chirping conversations from their little mud nests beneath the eves of the village houses. Some years, I have even heard the flocks arrive as the sounds of their tiny cries wash across the rooftops like a wave of joy.  I do know that they are the harbingers of the warm months to come.

This spring, I don't know if they arrived in my village from their winter homes in Africa on schedule or if they were late. That's because I decided to "Shelter in Place" with the man that I love, my French partner, Y. So instead of being confined in a tiny village with almost no amenities, I chose to stay with him in Argelès-sur-mer. Here the streets are wider, there is a pharmacy, a doctor's office, a creamery (which sells cheese and eggs), and a couple of épiceries (small grocery stores), as well as several bakeries that have been open during this time. It has made it easier to feel at ease with the idea of not going out as we used to do.

We ate breakfast and the first email I read said the hardware store was opening today. TODAY! Well, that is wonderful news. We took an "exercise" walk around the village and delighted in

The wisteria is even prettier in real life!

the blue sky when it peeped through. The flowers are getting more and more beautiful. The river has begun to return to it's normal level. The barriers on the ford are down and I saw a car drive across in triumph. Well, it seemed like triumph to me. The driver probably just thought, "Très bien, pas besoin de faire le tour du village juste pour traverser la rivière." (very good, no need to drive all the way around the village just to cross the river.)

 Tuesday night we will learn if things are going to schedule and I'll let you know on Wednesday what we hear. Meanwhile, I'm smiling a lot more than I have for a while. And that is because we are filled with hope. The hope that the light at the end of the tunnel is not going to be the harbinger of a train wreck of the second wave coming our way. Just kidding... well, you know.

And so, on day 42, we feel hopeful. I'm a fan of Douglas Adams who explained to us quite eloquently in the four volumes of his famous trilogy THHGTTG, that 42 was the answer to Life, the Universe, and Everything. By the way - the book turned 42 in March - perhaps another good sign. And so, as

It's April - the vineyards are leafing out.

we write to you, dear friends, we send you good news. It seems the tide has turned. We will all hope that soon, the good news is reported from your corner of the world as well. 

A demain, nos amis! (Until tomorrow, our friends!)

Link to Day 43

Day 41 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Stormy Weather

Salut, chers amis, (Hi dear friends!) The weather is trying to decide if it's going to be nice or naughty in the south of France. It must be taking its cue from the news reports, though for every good one we see there are five frightening ones. We rely on a tourist-based economy here along the Med. There is a real fear that this is the year there will be no summer, no matter how hot and sunny it gets.

Normally Tourists flock to the long sunny beaches.

Day 41 - It was a sunny morning and almost too warm for the long sleeved tee shirt I was wearing. My partner, Y, demanded, "N'as-tu pas chaud dans ces vêtements?" (Aren't those clothes too hot for you?" "Nope!" I said, "I'm loving this." And I was. We had mid-morning coffee on the terrace and looked out toward the distant snowy mountain of Canigou. Before long, we decided it was going to be too hot for a lunch in the sun. 

Sometime between coming in to fix a stir-fry for our midday meal and making tea to enjoy

After a sunny morning, clouds gather again!

afterwards there had been a change in the weather. A few clouds gathered and although the sun still shone, we heard the distant thunder somewhere along the chain of the Pyrenees Mountains. The slanting lines from the clouds to the top of Canigou told us it was already raining there.  That snow will soon be just a memory, I suppose.

The weather reminds me of the daily news. Some good, some bad. One report I read early in the morning was very encouraging. On the island of La Reunion, researchers are testing a nano-particle spray that is charged with anti-viral molecules. The patient inhales them and the lungs are coated with these particles. The molecules fight the Corona-virus 19 from within. That sounds really promising as a treatment. We'll see what the results are in time. Time. Everything takes so long - except for the speed at which this horrible virus moves.

Gloomy news. Time to go airplane mode.

The next story was about how difficult it will be to develop a vaccine for CV-19 when scientists have not been able to do so for any of the other Corona viruses. That was a downer.  But like the changing weather, the last paragraph said that they might be able to develop a weak vaccine. Like those we've created for the flu,  it won't be very effective but might keep the virus from killing people.

Then I read the third story in the local news. It talked about the devastating effect the lock-down was having on the economy of our little village. Argelès-sur-Mer has a population of about 10,500 people and is referred to on television and the internet as "la Capitale Européenne du camping" Yep - it's just what you think it means, The Camping Capitol of Europe. With 53 campgrounds in and around the village, you can understand how it got the name.

By this time of year, the campgrounds are normally 50% occupied and when summer arrives

Normally, the beaches are getting
ready for the summer visitors.

there are few vacancies. During the whole summer season, the population swells to over 150,000! I can vouch for the fact that finding a parking spot on market days can seem like an impossible task. Even Hercules would rather divert the river Massane than attempt it. There are times when so many campers are walking in our little streets on their way to the beach, I can't go the low speed limit and have to resort to stop and go until some of them grudgingly move to the sidewalk. (I've been tempted to stop and nudge, but so far I have resisted!)

But the tourists are more important to us than they are ever irritating. They are the lifeblood of the restaurants, cafes, boutiques, museums, beauty parlors, barber shops, and sporting goods stores in Argeles. Of course there are businesses that supply the locals with everyday goods and services, but I

The lintel at St. Genis de Fountains
The preservation of sites like this
depends on the donations of visitors.

am sure they also rely on that injection of over 280 million Euros per year that our visitors spend over the course of a year. Since the middle of March, the village has been closed for business. People are not allowed to travel farther than a kilometer from their place of confinement. The tourist sites all around here are also closed. The only commercial places open are the bakeries, butchers, and épiceries d'alimentation (read food stores like greengrocers and supermarkets). It's getting grim. I look out the window and see that the sky is as grey as my thoughts.

And that's when I hear Y exclaim, "Merde!" I'll be right back.

Okay - we've shut every door and window to the house. Yes, it is raining. How fitting. But I will

The cathedral at Elne - it survived
the previous plagues. They
kept the faith. We will too.

not let it get me down, not yet! Given time, it will stop. And that is the hope we must hold in our minds and hearts. With time, we can find a way to beat this or at least make it less deadly. The sun will shine. Hang on and we hope that the village  and the whole world survives not only the rain of the infection, but the storm that is ravaging the economy. I have faith that it will.  We humans are tenacious. We are innovative. Things will get better. But it's going to take time and I hate to say this - it may be a very long time. 

So, keep safe - the confinement is getting us all a little bit down. Hopefully it will lift in May and we can find the sun again. But there's always going to be a bit of rain. So, when it comes, we'll continue to follow the guidelines and

Pre-virus - so no mask. But you know I'll be wearing one
when I am out in public until told it's safe to leave it at home.

think of these inconveniences as like wearing a raincoat (read mask) and carrying an umbrella (social distancing so the microbe won't fall on you).  We can get through this - together!

A demain, les amis! (Until tomorrow, friends!)
Link to Day 42

Day 40 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: A Quarantine of Days

Salut les amis! (Hi friends!)
Have you ever had one of those days where all you did was sort through things? That was our day. It felt like we did nothing, but then again, we do know exactly where everything we own is - for the moment! And that's actually quite a lot, when you think about it. 

A winery coop by the village river  - will there be tastings in the fall?

Day 40 - this is a special day. We woke up a little earlier - yes - because I set an alarm. It's time

A neighbor showing solidarity

to start getting back on track for normal life - well - life after quarantine. In fact, my French partner, Y, said, "C'est le Quarantième jour de la Quarantaine." (It's the fortieth day of the quarantine.) I nodded sleepily as he opened the shutters. Sunshine. Excellent, nice weather at last - a good omen.  

Quarante is French for forty. Gee, it's a bit like quarantine. Yep, there is a reason. I learned this from Maria.The writer My neighbor, DL Nelson, introduced us online last month. Maria is an American who lives in Spain and blogs about her village life. Like us, she and her family are under a quarantine which began two days before ours. So as I read her blog about their Day 40, she taught me about the word Quarantine. It came from the Italian word 'Quaranta' which means - hold your breath - forty. Yep. 


It turns out that an old method of keeping people suspected of carrying infection apart from the healthy was to "quarantine" them for forty days. Cool. Oh, you can let your breath out again,

The fire department - no, that's
no longer the wagon that
comes to the rescue!

sorry! Maria taught me lots of other things about quarantines and some other interesting facts associated with the 40 days concept in history.  I think you might enjoy reading her blog too - It's called "Chronicles of the Virus" and here is a link so you can check out her Day 40 post: "Quarantines Old and New."

By the way, if you wish to read her take on the previous days, the way to see a list of blogs is to click on the overall title.  I'll bet you already knew that. Like if you wanted to read earlier blogs of mine (Going back to 2015!) you can click on the main title of my Blogs "Shared Scribblings." You would then see them all listed. Not that there are many. I used to be very lazy about blogging. On the day they announced the quarantine, I vowed that I would write one every day. Little did I realize it was going to go on for so long! But, writing is all about discipline and I'm working on it.

Our fortieth day as a couple bound by quarantine began quietly.  The routine of breakfast, social exchange, news, and exercise went as usual. Lunch had three courses, as usual, and finished with coffee.  Today's meal included a fabulously simple veggie dish that's going into my next eBook -Taste the South of France. I will share

A really quick vegetable dish

it with you. Thick slice courgettes (zucchini for my American friends) and arrange the  one layer in a casserole dish. Add a quarter inch of water. Microwave 5 minutes at 900 watts. Remove from oven and drain off most of the water. Pinch of salt, grindings of black pepper, sprinkling of herbes de Provence, topped with grated French cheese and a few dabs of unsalted butter. Then set it under the oven's grill and watch until the cheese is golden and bubbly. EAT! Yummy!  Coffee on the terrace was divine and I thought I was going to write to you when: change-of-plan!

Y announced he needed to find the running clothes a family member left here before the lock-down began. I knew my own part of the wardrobe was a bit disorganized. Okay - really disorganized! So I went up and did my part. It's fairly tidy now and I found my missing camera tripod!  (Along with travel documents and several books) As a result the whole afternoon disappeared and we now know what is in every drawer, hanger, cupboard, box, and cubby in the entire house. 

It will be great to ride bikes once again.
Glad I don't have one like this!

And, um hum, you guessed it, we did not find the running clothes. As the French saying goes, "Mystères et boule du gomme" (mystery and gumball.) No, seriously, people say this. And the funny thing is, nobody quite knows why. There are theories that it came from a Jules Verne book and the word gumball refers to a crystal ball when it is all swirly with mysteries. But that's as close as anyone can guess! Oh well. I do love the French language. It's quirky. And at least there is no mystery now about what is in my wardrobe. And at least Day 40 of the quarantine passed by in a flash!

So, dear friends. The end is closer than the beginning of this strange time in confinement. We are thinking positive. Forty days. Then another few weeks. If the numbers continue to fall or at least

View a cross the vines toward the Albères and Spain

stabilize, then life should slowly re-emerge from this cocoon. The time spent in solitude will have brought forth a new sense of joy in being set free. And one nice thing about it is - you have gone on the journey with us. 

A demain, les amis! (Until tomorrow, friends!)
Link to Day 41

Day 39 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: When Quarantine Ends

Bonjour nos amis! Ca va? (Hello our friends! How are you?) 
We hope you are staying safe and getting through this. And Hope really is in the air in spite of all the scary statistics being bandied on TV. We are a few weeks away from a planned re-opening of business and life in France. Each day we are told that because we've stayed home there will be room in the hospitals to deal with the inevitable spike in cases as we do so. But will we ever return to normal life? With luck, at least the latest treatments will prove effective and mean better chances of survival.

When Quarantine began the fields were bare.

Day 39 - The sun woke us again and it was late. It feels like we have come unhinged from the clock. Quarantine has rearranged life. Not only ours, everybody's life, I mean. Then I think of

Our village

those health workers who are working overtime. They look stressed and tired. There are beautiful stories on the news of the people providing them with hotel rooms free of charge and others who are cooking them meals. And here we sit, locked into our village, so lucky to be safe. I feel guilty that we are doing nothing to help. I know, I know, we are doing our part. But if feels really feeble.

Our new routine went without a hitch: breakfast - long and lazy, emails answered, friend's posts shared, with the cat sleeping beneath the table except when she got stroppy and wanted us to do something to entertain her. In that she was disappointed. The final exercise video in the Easy Core Challenge was filmed.  We talked about what to do next time.

Y, my French partner, has become a great filmmaker. He askes, "Quand puis-je m'attendre à mon cachet?" I look perplexed and ask, "Quoi?" (what?) "Cachet d'aritiste," he adds, which still leaves me in the dark. He

The last of the series - and not a
minute too soon - she's gone folks!

looks at me as if I am five. "Money," he says in English. I laugh, "Oh! Yes! I will pay you when I earn any," I say, "So that's probably never, mon amour." I look it up and a cachet is kinda like an official stamp. I guess asking 'when can I expect my artist's stamp?' means  the royalties from our fantastic YouTube production! Yeah, I'm giggling as I write that.

Lunch was great and we watched the midday reports on TV.  The news was all about the approaching de-confinement. It was mostly good news but a bit contradictory at times. Like these soundbites:

 Tests are ongoing to see if nicotine patches will help health workers avoid becoming infected with the virus - Wow - mon cheri, quick go buy us a pack of cigarettes, it's time to take up smoking!

 Oh wait a minute - also in the news: Smokers are more prone to get the severe form of this virus and more likely to die than non-smokers. Cheri, never mind. We aren't going to start smoking.

 The country will open in May, Liberation at last! Normal life will start again. Also in the news:

No impromptu wine tasting I suppose.

masks will be distributed starting in May. A mask is mandatory in public from May 4th.  Restaurants and cafés will remain closed until at the very earliest June and maybe not even then. So... not normal life as we know it then, is it?

All week we have heard a variety of scenarios for how France will come out of quarantine. Many people will continue to "tele-travail" - work from home via the internet. There is a planned "chommage-partial" (meaning planned unemployment with enough benefits to survive the interim period.) All Cult meeting places will remain closed. What? You ask. We

perhaps picnics will be okay?

have special places for cults in France? Oh yes. They are called meeting halls, temple, chapels, churches, and such. This country actually believes in separation of church and state. There is no difference between the places where Muslims, Christians, Jewish people, Hare Krishna devotees or The Order of the Solar Temple followers meet.  I agree. To make any distinction is to say that one person's faith is more valid than another's. You should have a right to choose but for now, practice what you preach at home. Until a vaccine is found or an immunity proved, we must not congregate in large numbers in confined places.

The big question is how to reopen the schools. It's tricky!  Parents are being told they can decide to keep their children at home if they prefer. One plan calls for 15 kids to a class, all masked, and for the

what about harvest times?

slightly older kids with different teachers for each subject, it will be the instructors who change rooms instead of the kids moving for the next class. That's going to be tough on everybody. We think buses will stick with having passengers board by the middle doors to avoid infecting the drivers. There is a lot to be ironed out!

Even on the day of de-confinement, public transport is going to be restricted with trains only carrying people to work and back. And the proposal is to allow only professional travel throughout the country. No jumping in the car to travel outside the "Territoire: (territory) you live in for a while until we see what happens. For example, we would be allowed to travel around Occitanie, which a collection of 13 departments in the south of France - or  as I

Will the workers come from Spain
or Morocco as usual?

call it "The fun south west by the Med."

Macron has told us it will be slow. We may end up doing a stop-and-go with a series of shorter quarantine periods to keep the waves of infection low. There may be several waves until a vaccine is found or an immunity builds. A proposal bandied around at the start was to open up by regions, but that has been axed in favor of everyone together. That sounds way more French to me. I love these guys and not just the one who is "mon mec" (my guy.) The word "Fraternité" for brotherhood can be easily exchanged for another word we use here in France to describe how things are done.  This is a word that is very close to my heart.  It is "Ensemble" - TOGETHER.

And that, nos amis, is how we are going to move into the future. Quarantine is still on, but a day is coming soon when we will be out and about. And when we get beyond that inevitable second wave (or even third or fourth) we will look back at this time and know, dear friends, that we went through it together. Now, we're going out on the terrace to dream of days to come.

A demain, cher amis! (Until tomrrow, dear friends!) Link to Day 40

For the moment, life is still in Quarantine