Posted on

Confined

Here in France we’re confined since midday on Tuesday. At the end of last week the government introduced a series of softer measures – closing schools and non-food shops etc. – in an attempt to limit the spread of Covid-19 but the rising number of cases and scenes of people enjoying the sunshine in huge numbers on Sunday as if nothing was wrong in the world led to further, much more severe restrictions being announced by President Macron on Monday evening.

Since Tuesday there are only five valid reasons for being outside of our homes:

  • Going to and from work, for those who have to go to work (a letter from the employer justifying this is required)
  • Shopping for foodstuffs and basic necessities
  • Essential healthcare (for example, non-emergency dentistry is not a valid reason)
  • Taking care of vulnerable people (housebound/handicapped/elderly etc.) and unavoidable family reasons (the typical example being the shuttling of children between separated parents with shared custody)
  • Leg-stretching and dog-walking in the immediate vicinity of one’s home

Every time we go out we have to fill in and carry with us a form justifying our being outside. The police are on the streets, on the roads and at motorway toll booths checking why people are moving around. If you don’t have your form or your presence outside is unjustified (for example if you are too far from home for what you are claiming to be doing) you can be fined 135 € (rising to 375 € if you don’t pay promptly).

Just to make this clearer, here are some typical routine activities that are currently prohibited:

  • Seeing your boy/girlfriend if you don’t live together
  • Going round to a friend’s house for a beer
  • Visiting your neighbour (unless they are vulnerable and need help)
  • Visiting people in hospital, in prison and in retirement and nursing homes
  • Escaping to to your second home, your parents’ house etc.
  • Going to a funeral
  • Getting married
  • Moving home (a number of people seem to consider this a perfectly reasonable thing to do at the moment)
  • Going on holiday
  • Going for a walk in the park (most parks are closed anyway)
  • Having a kick-about with your mates

Generally people seem to be respecting the rules and the streets are pretty much empty with a few exceptions. One thing that struck me right away was a sudden increase in the number of joggers in this country (and people have been suggesting on antisocial networks that you just need to slip on a tracksuit and jog a few metres to justify being outside for hours). It appears the authorities have cottoned onto this and I expect we’ll see this abuse of the leg-stretching rule being clamped down on now. Yeah, I know this must be a tough time for Parisians living in 15m² apartments who in normal circumstances would never eat a meal at home but they should spare a thought for the homeless and for those abused kids for whom school is the only place where they feel safe.

Posted on

Yesterday I learned…

Or do I mean learnt? I’m originally British so it ought to be learnt, and I’m sure it used to be, but some time in the last few decades I seem to have moved across the pond, linguistically speaking. Hang on a minute… in fact I think I say learnt but write learned. A ghastly mishmash which I’m now going to try to eliminate! Likewise for dreamt and spelt.

Anyway, back to the point. Yesterday I learnt that dogs (bitches, strictly) can suffer from phantom pregnancies and that it’s even a fairly common occurrence. This turned out to be the explanation for our French bulldog’s slightly wacky behaviour for the last week or so, including refusing to eat, being even more cuddly than usual and guarding her toys from her playmate (they’re her babies, according to the vet). She’s also producing milk, which we hadn’t noticed.

She’s going to be neutered at the start of next month which will put an end to what can be a recurrent problem. Meanwhile, she has medication to stop the milk and we have to change her habits in order to distract her from her non-existent offspring!

Posted on

Today’s highlight: counting sheep

No, really. We have sheep and at the start of every year we have to tell the local Chamber of Agriculture how many we have.

I actually didn’t need to count them as I know we only have five. But I did, just to make sure. That said, with Storm Ciara blowing a gale outside at present I won’t be surprised if we have fewer in the morning. I may be mentally counting sheep tonight to try to sleep through it…

Posted on

Brexit: a sad day

So, Brexit day is upon us. At 23:00 GMT today, the UK will leave the European Union after 47 years within. Whilst I’m (still) vehemently opposed to Brexit, a part of me wants to see this whole ghastly business behind us. British society is more fractured today than I have ever known and I can only hope that people will start to come together now that the waiting is over, but I have my doubts. The BBC has an article about how people will be marking the day and I find pretty distasteful the idea of the leavers celebrating while millions of people lose rights they have had since birth.

There should be little or no effect for me personally as I have both British and French nationalities and I have few financial ties to the UK (although the value of my future private and state pensions from the UK is a mild cause for concern) but I am concerned about the effects on family and friends. I don’t doubt that the UK will weather this storm, but at what cost?

I’m curious to see how I will feel about my native country in the coming months; for the last few my sentiments have been pretty negative and I have been saying I won’t bother renewing my British passport when it expires next year (as an expat this is an expensive process).

Today would also have been my dad’s 87th birthday and I’ve been wondering how he would have felt about Brexit. He was a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative and would have rallied against EU red tape but I don’t remember him as a vociferous Eurosceptic. I think that as someone who experienced WW2 and it’s aftermath as a child, he was profoundly attached to the idea of European cooperation as a force for peace and, whatever the failings of the current model, would have believed the UK was better off as a member of the EU.

Miss you, Dad.