Day 30 - SkyLines from the French Lock-down: Le Chat (the cat)

Salut à tous! (Hi Everyone!)  Have you ever had that feeling animals know exactly what you are thinking? Our cat appears to be psychic. She knows just how to make us crazy. Well, more crazy than we already were and certainly more crazy than the 30 days of quarantine in France has made us! Oui - aussi fou que ça! (Yes - as crazy as that!)

The cat make my exercise challenge even more challenging!

Day 30 - Oh my, I didn't really think we'd still be doing this quarantine a month later. I exaggerate. I think I was hoping we wouldn't be under lock-down for 30+ days. I knew in my heart that the initial two weeks was never going to be enough since getting a whole country to agree to quarantine themselves is like stacking marbles.  As my French partner, Y, has said on more than one occasion, "Les Français sont ingérable!" (The French people are unmanageable!) My dad told me that when we were stationed in France he discovered this about the French: The only laws that they obeyed were the laws of Nature. As in Gravity, you know? 

Speaking of unmanageable, there is a definite first world problem with quarantine. Not being able to go to our "Coiffeuse" (hair dresser) for a haircut. We are getting shaggy. And Y had me worried there for three weeks.  I was pretty sure he'd decided to join the Viking challenge. He stopped shaving.  Every day he was more scruffy looking. I said, "C'est ton visage,

The only one who
doesn't need a haircut

mon amour, mais s'embrasser n'est pas génial." (Yeah, it's your face but kissing is not great.) Thankfully, one morning, I saw my handsome man's face looking radiantly bare once again. Phew! Thank goodness, Viking challenge - not met. Here is what one English newspaper predicts some famous international footballers will look with beards by the end of quarantine. 

I love his hair getting longer every day. It reminds me of the "Romantic Poets" look. He hates it. My own untrimmed hairdo is driving me crazy too (not as much as the cat, but I'll get to that in a moment.) In our house, we’ll be hippies before this is over because I’m definitely not taking the "Be the hair stylist in your family" challenge. Y was bored one afternoon and counted how many hair dressers there are listed in the Argelès sur Mer area. It seems there are about twenty-five! If we all decide to get a haircut when this is over, we may have to get in line. That's about 440 folks for every stylist.

 And then there is the cat.  She's discovered that having us here all day every day is very convenient. As in, she can beg for attention all the time. More than once, we have yelled,

"Touch that leather couch and die!" She knows exactly what she's doing. Getting attention.  As she runs away, she stops and gives us the "What? What's the big deal?" look. She's getting plenty of practice.  Darnit.

 Today I thought I was getting out of the house.  I was all ready to go to the post office to pick up the package I couldn’t collect yesterday. Then, shock and surprise!  The mailman rode up on his motorcycle and delivered said package. Well, I was only a little bit disappointed because from our balcony I could see at least seven people in line outside the post office in the street below. They stood six feet apart waiting to enter one at a time.  And it had begun to rain, so I got over the let down and opened the package. Would it be the new cat toy?  No, it was just the silicon kitchen bags we ordered five weeks ago. Nuts. 

The cat likes toys that move.  I downloaded some cat games onto the tablet, but they only interest her for a few seconds and then she goes looking for trouble to keep herself busy. So I bought her a wind-up mouse and she loves it. As long as it moves. And that means I have to stay

Just try to ignore me!

involved.  Each time it winds down, she's back getting in the way.  Y was having a cup of coffee and suddenly said, "Hey! She attacked me!" I looked and she was pulling at the leg of his jeans trying to get him to wind up the aforementioned mouse. He abstained. I did my best for a while.  But the floor is low and hard. My knees said that this is getting to be too much floor time with the cat. Thus, some days ago, I ordered a toy that is supposed to be autonomous. (Self directing). The two day delivery is a thing of past dreams. It will probably arrive when the quarantine is finished at the rate the post moves now.  But I get it. We're all shopping online and that includes the health workers. They get priority shipping and I say right on to that!

Today's cat story - CAT ON THE MAT.  Yes.  Seriously.  The tribe, as I call the friends back in

This is cat yoga

the states, suggested that I should make some new exercise videos to help everyone pass some time at home.  I talked it over with a few of them and decided just some easy stretches and one challenge to strengthen the core would be enough. My partner said, sure, he'd film. Turns out, he's got a creative film-maker’s soul. His technique of turning the image at key moments is great.

We had fun doing it, but guess who stole the show?  Oh yeah, the cat.  She watched from the terrace until I was down on the mat and hey - presto!  She was on the mat.  Under foot, under back, and under my head.  Oh well.  She's cute. (And she knows it.) For those of you not in the tribe, you can still see the video on YouTube of Day 1. It's not much but it helps us pass the time under lock-down.

It only interests for a few seconds

So that was our morning and the fun went on into the afternoon. But I'm not getting this blog written as quickly as I'd like to because there is a cat pestering me now to play with her.  I know. We all need the distraction now more than ever before. And with luck the new cat toy will arrive in a few weeks and that wind up mouse will disappear. Probably never to be found. (By the cat anyway. I'm thinking top of the wardrobe.)

It's time to start planning a challenge exercise for tomorrow... Y is already thinking about what he might do to make the filming more artistic. And what can I add for the challenge part? Maybe lunges around my furry buddy.  I can see it now - she can help to make it into a kamikaze move.  I'll let you know.  Now, where is that mouse?  Asking for a feline friend.

Sorry.  I'm getting obsessed with that mouse.  Just like the cat.  Oh well, there are many ways to spend a lock-down. Chasing the toy mouse is at least not adding any calories to the waistline. We all

Me: Get off the mat! Cat: Yawn...

need to have a hobby as we stay at home and stay safe. Good news here - the number of people in intensive care has dropped for the sixth day in a row.  That's down to people doing the right thing and sheltering in place.  We can do this, you and me and Y, and yes, the CAT.  We can do it together!

À demain, chers amis! (Until tomorrow, dear friends!)
Link to Day 31