Guess what!

Remember my saying a couple of posts ago how I'd spent a few days helping out with Charlie when he was cranky as hell and Jen was exhausted? Well I was cried on, dribbled on, puked on and pooped on but eventually we got there, although not before Jen had taken him to the doctor's who confirmed rhino-pharangitis (or whatever that is in English). Jen kept blasting saline solution up his nose (much to his disgust), thereby managing to prevent him from getting gunk on his chest and in about four days he was over it. Well Sunday night I got a message from Jen to say that they'd just received notification from the crèche saying they would be closed this week as one of the babies in Charlie's group has covid! Needless to say Jordan, Jen and the babe got tested Monday morning and all three of them came up positive! So it was off to the test centre for me and guess what - I showed up positive too (and Jen's mom, as it turns out). So yeah, there you have it, all five of us got covid via Charlie/the crèche, all the while thinking we had just contracted colds! But I'm happy to say, it's been perfectly fine. Seriously, in all our cases, it has been nothing to write home about! While I know that's not the case for many people, we've just sailed through with what I can only describe as a seasonal cold!

I've mentioned before that I don't really mix anyway so I've never been too worried about catching it, but then of course I'd never be in circumstances where I'd be that close to anyone other than the babe! Thankfully, other than going between their house and my house I didn't go anywhere last week so I never unknowingly infected anyone else either. It started with a very low-grade, all-encompassing headache, which I put down to having my bedroom too hot, and then a bunged up nose and that was it for the duration! Oh I had a bit of an ache in the back, which I put down to not going to yoga for three weeks and, in retrospect, I realize I was probably tireder than usual and had lost my appetite, but it was nothing to make me suspect covid! When I told my sister her first reaction was "well if you'd got the jab you probably wouldn't have caught it" (nope, I don't believe even a jabbed individual would be safe getting vomited on by an infected person), and then she tried "well it wouldn't have been so bad" (what, less bad than a bunged up nose?), so in the end I told her to let it be. She made her choice, I made mine and I'm good with it - but that still doesn't explain how my triple-jabbed neighbours have all come down with covid either does it (nothing to do with me, thankfully). So there you have it, hopefully one and done as far as we are concerned! It also means we will all now get the ubiquitous pass sanitaire, which is only available to people who have been triple-jabbed or who have recovered from covid! It won't make an awful lot of difference to my life anyway as I have no intention of going out night-clubbing, but it will be nice to be able to sit on a café terrace for a coffee, something we unjabbed have been banned from doing for the past however many months!

I have to say that the French securité sociale (the medical system) kicked in very quickly and efficiently after my positive test as I was bombarded with messages telling me what to do and asking if I needed financial help, medical help, assistance with my living arrangements or food shopping and so on (all of which was a "no thank you", of course), and then today I got a call asking for more details of my movements and who I had had contact with. I told the young woman that I was fine and that she didn't need to contact Jordan and Jen as we were all aware and had all tested positive, but she told me she had to call them for recording purposes so that was fine too!

Now while I may not have chosen to get the jab, I have been following quite a few online doctors/experts who have been giving advice on what to do if you get sick. Here I have to say Dr. Eric Berg is just wonderful (although not the only one) and as each doctor gave their recommendations I looked up the product they were recommending and put it into my online Amazon basket. Not that I ordered everything of course, but I accumulated what I thought were the most helpful videos/recommendations and watched how you go about making sure you can clear mucus from your airways (not that it happened in my case anyway) and so on. But the most common recommendations seemed to be for Vitamin C, D3, Zinc, K2, Quercetin, Glutathion and NAC (N-acetyl-L-cystein), which, I understand is kept on hand by many doctors in the case, most commonly of Tylenol and/or alcohol poisoning. Basically it's a potent anti-oxidant and detox (or at least that's my understanding). So a few weeks ago I dumped everything out of my Amazon basket except those things and luckily for me I had them all on hand when covid caught me out and started taking them as soon as I was confirmed. Maybe they helped, maybe they didn't, but I have to say none of us have been any sicker than a regular cold, except that it maybe lasted a bit longer than a seasonal cold would by a couple of days!

Anyway, we're all over it now and can come out of self-isolation as from tomorrow. Now André's peeved because he said if he realized that was all it was going to be he would rather have caught it and got it over with, but then he would throw a wobbly if he ever thought Charlie was going to spit up on him so maybe he'll never catch it!

While I didn't need anything (another reason I'm eternally grateful that I keep a well-stocked pantry), André (who has repeatedly tested negative) did a bit of running around for Jordan and Jen. He was telling me that he stopped in at the pharmacy for them the other day and was flirting up a storm with a pretty assistant when Jordan called him and asked him to buy some diarrhea medication (I guess that was one of Jordan's side effects) - which kinda put the kibosh on André's flirting!

Oh, another bit of juicy news is that France's vile Prime-Minister, Jean Castex, has just tested positive for covid also! This is the guy who has been banging the gavel about how we needed to be strict about obeying the guidelines and if we didn't there would be stiff penalties to pay. The same Jean Castex who categorically stated in July that if you were double-vaxed it was impossible to catch or transmit covid (WRONG), so the guy is either lying about his vaccine status (which is what I believe) or he doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground when it comes to listening to medical advice. More to the point, Mr. "We all have to follow the guidelines or there will be consequences" was filmed at a recent Mayor's Congress fraternizing with mayors from all over France, not wearing a mask and shaking hands with everyone! He then travelled to Brussels where he met his Belgian counterpart just one day before being declared covid-positive and the French media are having a field day!

Castex and the French Minister of the Interior at the
recent Mayors' Congress!

When questioned about this behaviour, Gabriel Attal, France's chihuahua in chief official spokesman said it was just "a human lapse of judgement". Such "human lapse of judgement" would get you or I a €135 fine but then I suppose the rules only apply to the little people, don't they! Do as I say, not as I do!

And finally, around lunchtime there was a knock at my door so I leaned out my window and told the elderly gent that I wouldn't open my door as I had covid but could I help him. Turns out he was from our village Mairie bringing Christmas baskets to all the "elderly" people in the village (and yeah, he'd got the wrong address - he was looking for Mme Mugnier). Normally they have a Christmas lunch for everyone in the village over the age of 65 and since it was cancelled yet again this year they were distributing hampers instead. But I thought it was sweet of him to stop back a couple of minutes later and ask if I needed any help. I don't, of course, but it was nice to know someone cared enough to ask! So stay safe everyone and happy Thanksgiving to my friends in the U.S.!