The view from my window

The view from my window
The view from my window

Sunday 5 April 2020

An interesting social experiment!

Lockdown day 20 looks pretty much like every other day in lockdown so far, except for the exciting bit where I get to chose the day I go grocery shopping. I like to change it up a bit so sometimes I go on a Thursday and other times on a Friday - you know, just to keep things real!! Anyway this week I went on Friday and timed it to leave home about noon because I knew there would be hardly anyone at the shops. One thing that still holds true is if you want to invade France you do it at lunchtime! And again things really aren't bad at all, I got everything I wanted and people are still very much respecting the social distancing, probably because the police are out and about and the fines will hurt! That being said, quite a few people have masks on (the store provides plastic gloves) but I don't have one - unless I can find the one I bought ages ago when I intended to paint the kitchen (before my new floor was laid - remember those lofty aims)? Failing that when I "inherited" all my ex-husband's stuff when I ended up emptying his rental after his move back to the States, I did find an unopened pack of Fruit of the Loom undies so I'm wondering if I can just put a pair of those over my head and brazen it out! I did think about taking a photo and sending it to my kids but then thought the better of it because with social media nowadays who knows where that photo could end up!

In Sweden they have still not gone into lockdown and are relying on people's common sense (which may or may not be all that common) to do the right thing and not behave like idiots. So bars, restaurants, schools and so on are still open, with their chief epidemiologist stating that they believe relying on "herd immunity" is the only way to beat this thing. He then went on to criticize the UK's handling of the crisis because they "switched tracks" mid-way though, starting off going with the "herd immunity" plan and then switching to lockdown. In his opinion the UK were going to get the worst of all worlds by doing that. I think he might be right actually but either way I guess someone will be proved right and someone will come up short, but only time will tell which is which!

A friend set up a zoom chat between a few of us retired colleagues on Friday and it was pretty nice, although my computer did keep freezing quite a bit. Either way it was nice to chat with them all. Then Jordan sent me a video of their cat on their lovely balcony (a godsend for them at the moment) being taunted by the birds. He told me that as from tomorrow he is on chômage technique, which is basically being laid off because of the pandemic even though they've got tons of work. They've done all the outside work they can do so they have to lay him off until lockdown is lifted. He told me he should still get 80% of his salary though, so that's a relief. I didn't say anything but in the UK people have to have been on board with the company on 28 February in order to qualify for this kind of payment and that's exactly when Jordan switched jobs. Apparently that doesn't apply in France so I'm relieved for them, although I can always help out if they are hurting. I told him now would be a good time to learn to cook but he said he and a neighbour are thinking of building a permanent BBQ in the park at the back of their house. When I queried how they were going to do this he said they can easily keep their distance and the park is actually private property belonging to their apartments so they can do this with no worries. Then I told him that it was a shame he couldn't come over here as I had a dripping shower and quite a bit of work I could give him. He told me that as a plumber, if the leak was serious and damaging structure, he was allowed to come out, but I told him I'd wait and see how it develops as I don't want to risk him getting into trouble since it's really not that serious (as yet).

Other than that I'm easily keeping myself occupied (or not, depending on the mood). I started doing the wasgij puzzle and it's going to take me forever but I'm quite enjoying it. My Italian teacher sent me more homework and I could always get back to reading about the French revolution in case there is ever a chance of something moving forward on my request for French citizenship. I'm ridiculously excited to see the seedlings I planted are going rampant and am going to go repot some of them already as the weather is so glorious right now. And I'm absolutely loving the Carl Hiassen book I mentioned previously. Frankly any man who can get the phrase "Apparently I murdered a man with a frozen lizard" into a narrative gets my vote hands down. So with that I'll love you and leave you. Off to shower (so as not to frighten the natives) and then attack that bloody whirlygig with a pair of underpants on my head!




17 comments:

  1. I've decided to venture out today as well. We want fresh stuff and will be flexible with what's available and a fast in and out. I don't have a mask- might see if I can find one in the garage from any old house jobs, but will use a scarf folded as some videos suggest. We had a extended family video call, and one today with Hubs side. We'll Facetime with our son and daughter too.

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    1. Shopping here really is ok - you can get everything - it's just the social distancing that's weird. If you can't find a scarf I could always send you a pair of underpants!

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    2. Haha! I think I'm good! I found some all cotton cloth napkins, and hair pony's. It was awkward to use in the store, and I realize it doesn't help that much, but 10% is better than 0 right?

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  2. "people's common sense"
    If more of us had common sense, to stay away from people when we're sick, or they're sick, this isolation thing might be unnecessary.
    But you have "those" people, like the woman I saw online being questioned as she left church, saying she wouldn't get sick because, and I quote, "I'm covered in Jesus' blood."
    Uncommon sense.

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    1. Oh dear lord that's scary stuff. And sadly I think there may be a few mass (pardon the pun) outbreaks in churches with people like this lady. Sad isn't it.

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  3. Maybe today is the day I'll make some masks. I wish I thought they did any good. I suppose the theory is to protect those around you.
    Glad to hear that you're keeping your sense of humor- THE most important thing, I do believe.
    So are the Swedes treating the people who have the virus or are they just letting them drop where they may, thus keeping the hospitals free for the regular run of sickness and injury?
    Ooh boy. Maybe they have the right idea.

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    1. The Swedes obviously have their cases but as of today they still have capacity in ICU. Again it will be interesting to see which countries got it right won't it.

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  4. I am so glad you love Carl Hiassen. When I run out of books I am going to order one on my Amazon Fire Kindle app(I still have plenty of real books and prefer to read that way, I had stocked up on reading thinking I'd be hauling them to Mexico). I am going to try and make 2 masks out of an old tshirt and some sewing elastic Mom had in her sewing stash (she hasn't sewn in 20 years but in this case hoarding is good). She had some material but none that hubby would agree to go out in - think hearts and roses.

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    1. Hearts, roses and knicker elastic would probably do him in! And yes I'm enjoying Hiassen's humour. A fortuitous find in the book exchange in town, particularly since it is in English!

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  5. I went shopping last Thursday and to be honest it was fine. Our local supermarket is a small one and its been very well organised from the start of this. I only went because my mum needed some stuff so I thought I might as well top up too. I could go at least two weeks without shopping if I had to but my mum shops daily normally and cannot for the life of her plan a week in advance! However, so far its been ok.
    I do love a Wasjig. We have several in the attic and I keep threatening to dig one out but not so far. I'm not really settling to anything yet, however the weather was much nicer here today and I got a lot done in the garden so I'm pleased with that. Good luck with the whirlygig!! xx

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    1. Hey I got the whirlygig fixed (and no knickers on my head, can you believe it). I think if you've got a garden AND there's good weather you're pretty set, but I pity those that don't. I'm looking at making masks too this week as my neighbour was asking if I had any spare material (ha, is the Pope a catholic?)!

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  6. 28th February cut off in UK is, I think, because with payment capable of being backdated to beginning of March, the Chancellor didn't want to risk anybody cheating and effectively being taken on by a "friend" just to be laid off immediately for a furlough payment. In France is a) everybody more honest or b) the Government less cynical?

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    1. I doubt that anyone is more or less honest/cynical but so far Jordan has been ok. He worked the full month of March and got paid normally anyway AND he signed his contract before end February, but yes it is indeed a friend. It's where he did his 4 year apprenticeship but the cut-off date hasn't come into it. In any case, I doubt there is any such thing as an unemployed plumber (well I certainly hope not).

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  7. I am a Carl Haissen fan also, though my next book will be The Floating Feldmans.
    I'm limiting my exposure to other humans to Mom and her sitters when I go to her house. I am both thankful and not so thankful that we had found no nursing home before this began. I may have to have a hospital bed delivered here and have her stay with me because of some issues with her sitters. They are wonderful sitters but a couple of things have changed and I may need to reassess using a couple of them. Mom's safety and health is my primary concern and one's son is being released from jail (prison, not sure which) and going to live at her house. Since we know Covid 19 is spreading through jails like wildfire, if things continue as planned I will have to let her and her daughter go.

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    1. Oh my what a situation. But you're right, thank goodness you didn't find a nursing home earlier. That would have me worried sick. My sister and her husband had my mom at their home for as long as they possibly could and she was really well taken care of, but it was incredibly hard work and stressful for them. Good luck.

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  8. "Apparently I murdered a guy with a frozen lizard!" What a great line.
    I stopped off at the supermarket on the way home from work and there was no problem... except for the paper products. Also, if your husband left behind an athletic supporters, I've seen where you can use those as masks, not that I'd really want to be walking around with a jock strap on my face.

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    1. That line made me laugh out loud - among many other daft things he wrote. And actually I made a few masks yesterday so I'll pass on the jock strap, but thanks for the tip!

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