A new week. There is a solitary workman here laying the stone slabs for the pergola floor. He hopes to be finished with the grouting today and will start on the metal framework for the pergola tomorrow.
The temperature has fallen. Last week it was in the teens. This morning a bracing two degrees. A hint of frost on exposed parts of the lawn. Sophie's coat is growing an inch a week so she can sit in the morning sunshine , oblivious to the chill, watching the stone being laid. For some reason she completely ignores this workman. By contrast the morose lads elicit her concrete shredding bark.
Infection rates seem to be falling in France. A couple of weeks ago there were 80 thousand confirmed infections every day. Now it's down to the low 20 k's. The President faces a difficult choice. If he keeps the lockdown in place through Christmas infection rates will be kept low but it will kill the economy. If he removes the lockdown the economy will recover but infection rates will rise again. We're betting they'll allow the shops to re-open but keep restaurants and cafes closed.
In case we're allowed back to the greengrocers we've invested , thanks to Amazon, in these new masks. They come with a replacement filter that can 99.99% deal with the virus. You wouldn't want to wear them for more than 10 minutes but that's long enough to do a whistle stop tour of the fresh fruit counters. For longer outdoor walks , in town, we'll revert to the standard blue masks which make talking easier. Blue outdoors, black indoors.
7 comments:
The puppies in the Orvis advert certainly look happy. The employees of the Orvis shop in Banchory, which I noticed yesterday has closed for good, perhaps less do.
For some retailers, possibly most of them, clicks rather than bricks will be the way forward. What this does to the high streets is dire.
You're right about the balancing act between lockdown lowering infection rates versus economic consequences. I was thinking about your post mentioning restaurant closures in France. Here in South Africa a few good local restaurants have embarked on producing frozen versions of their dishes. This has been a great success, as well as home deliveries with the necessary precautions. In order to support staff, voucher schemes have been introduced and we've redeemed some of them now that restaurants are operational.
Hari OM
Thanks for the puppies, Angus; all such is needed to balance the mind at the moment... if am long absent from comments, it's due to "watch and wait" in father's final days... YAM xx
Special times. Stay strong. Know there are many hearts and minds thinking of you.
Best wishes to Yam at a difficult time. Agree about the puppies and dogs in general. Every Monday, the Japan Times features one animal from Animal Rescue Kansai, a wonderful organization founded by an Englishwoman named Elizabeth Oliver - today's potential adoptee was a 6-year old dog named Harris who has epilepsy but is doing fine with medication and looks and sounds like a lovely fellow. My daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy about two years ago. She is also doing fine, and in a perfect world, she would love to welcome Harris as a fellow traveler. Unfortunately, I don't think either Cherry or our neighbors would like the idea of a second dog.
Virus vs. bacteria. Sorry.
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