As of today we are allowed out for an hour a day within a kilometre of home. We must also carry a certificate showing where we live and at what time we've left the front door.
Dog and master head off to the drive thru bakers.
The young woman at the sliding window takes our order and then pushes our purchases at us. She is wearing not one but two masks.We then repair to the car park where we raise the tailgate and share a pain au raisin and coffee.
Deliveries are still taking place at The Rickety Old Farmhouse. This morning a pair of new Wellington Boots arrive. The old ones, which were bought when Angus still lived on an island, have rotted away. These French replacements are a little more stylish than British Wellington Boots.
As we watch the traffic driving past it becomes clear that this frenetic activity is because people think this may well be their last day to do Christmas shopping. At least a hundred people enter the electronics store as we're sharing our viennoiserie. The sleepy little market town is as busy as Rodeo Drive on a Saturday.
The prices surprised me : https://www.sothebys.com/en/marketplace/sneakers
Norwegians playing Warlock : https://youtu.be/OdibDKnp7Mc?list=RDOdibDKnp7Mc&t=80
The graphics in this El Pais article are about as clear as they could be: https://english.elpais.com/society/2020-10-28/a-room-a-bar-and-a-class-how-the-coronavirus-is-spread-through-the-air.html
18 comments:
It sounds as though folks in your area are anticipating a long and serious lockdown - I wonder, will deliverymen be allowed through? That would help, although I suppose it is the availability of deliverymen that encourages people to overspend on things like vintage sneakers when they could be stashing cash away. Although the old Nike track spikes were pretty cool. The El Pais article is terrific and might be persuasive to even the most blockheaded mask skeptic. There was an article today noting that Taiwan has now gone 200 days without a single case. In Tokyo, we've gone above 200 new cases the past two days, and we have one new case in my office, but in general things remain pretty stable.
Also, I was amazed to learn that Aigle boots are French. They are very popular here, and I've always just assumed they were English. Hunter is also very popular here, happy to have confirmed just now that they are in fact based in Scotland.
The graphics on indoor Covid transmission are indeed excellent.
Time to practice croissant making skills? (In my long ago school days in Nottingham, an overambitious cookery teacher once had us trying to make croissants from scratch. On the whole, not a success!)
Aigle headquarters and factory shop are not far from where I live. Everyone here buys their products at half price during their braderie. They employ about 500 people in the small rural town where they are based, so are a very welcome entity.
Fancy boots. You might get laughed at if you turned up at a farm here in NZ wearing such footwear. We tend to go for the more rural Redbands.
We feel for you heading into lockdown. Especially with miss Sophie being trapped closer to home.
I have those very wellies, bought in an E Leclerc supermarket in Brittany in 1998. Still going strong you'll be glad to hear. I lament my eventually demised Ross "Shooter" (unhappy name that you wouldn't get away with now but which was fine back then when they were aimed at the pheasant shooting market) wellies, bought in the village fishing tackle shop in 1981 and which lasted, incredibly, though to 2015. The replacement pair of eye-waveringly expensive for a basic product Hunter wellies lasted 3 years.
Bon courage for the latest confinement. As you probably know, we have 4 levels of restrictions in Scotland just now. Moray is in the second bottom (no areas are in the most relaxed level), thanks to having no major town.
Those are very stylish wellies, Angus! You and Sophie will cut quite a dash when you wear them on your walks down to fish for minnows. That's if the stream is less than 1 km away of course! Presume the new mayor will be issuing the certificates, and you won't have to drive all the way to Toulouse to get one?
We are waiting for lockdown to reach here, too, but so far life seems almost normal, apart from people wearing masks, and a nod to social distancing. Seeing people sitting outdoors in cafés, enjoying the sunshine, others strolling along beside the beach (Inca and I included) or swimming in the sea, it's difficult to remember that there's the pandemic waiting to pounce. The Spanish are a very sociable race, and distancing must be frustrating for them, there was always lots of physical contact when they met.
I must say again, what great front entry doors and of course, Miss Sophie adds so much to the charm. The wee sign made me laugh out loud. I too appreciate the Covid transmission graphics and will be sharing the link with others.
I stupidly opted to not mail in my vote and so must turn up in person at the polls next Tuesday. I hope and pray all will be well organized and ventilated! However, I'd crawl over broken glass before considering not voting in this election. Ps: Really liking the new boots.
Hari OM
Fabulous article on COVID - thanks for that. Oh, and just in case The Font feels bakerish... &*<> YAM xx
Depending on which state you're in, you can take it to the election clerk/county clerk in person early or put it in an official drop box.
I suspected a new lockdown was coming and stocked up last week. Will put off shopping as long as possible now. I did pop by Cultura to get some erasable pens for filling out my permission slip. I intend to use the same one over and over and just change the date. The traffic was horrible and I couldn't believe the number of Parisian vehicles. The lights were on at the undeclared gîte next door; probably more Parisians.
I'm told the traffic exodus out of the 7eme last night was positively biblical in scale. An exodus en masse. Certainly all the rental houses not already let to Spaniards and Dutch suddenly have silver Mercedes with 75 plates parked in front of them.
Brought to The Fonts attention.
The Aigle boots are much lighter and more rubbery than the faithful old Hunters.
If only people could see the graphics and understand the importance of ventilation. Of course in a Dundee high rise ventilation may be academic in the depths of a North Sea gale.
Thankfully the diva has a large garden to run around and today is warm and sunny so we are outside with her.
Moray is a good place to be. Interestingly, I thought St.Andrews would be at the epicentre of the outbreak but it's been remarkably well handled so far.
We can now print the attestations on line. I have been round handing out copies to all the village octogenarians - under the prompting of Madame Bay who hasn't quite got the hang of the computer printer. She got 6 copies as she has a habit of 'mislaying' them.
I will need to get used to them. They would go wonderfully with a kilt but trousers need to be carefully aligned if you want to avoid the boots buckling in all sorts of strange places.
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