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mint

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Everything posted by mint

  1. mint

    55+

    Id, we have had lots of bénévoles; the delay was firstly due to the extra kerfuffle about signed consent, ONLY starting in the EHPADS where, not to put too fine a point on it, the inhabitants are not all best placed to answer questions and sign stuff and predominantly there were not enough vaccine doses. In the Dordogne, for over 2 months, we only had 5 centres and getting a RV was next to impossible.  Gradually during March, they doubled the centres to 10 and things started moving.  Then, the MTs, nurses and others got involved giving the AZ and we are now getting a good rhythm going. The centre I went to (and will go again tomorrow) is mainly staffed by bénévoles, including a doctor who's volunteering from his retirement.  Wonderful, patient people, full of smiles and good humour and even an English speaker helping all the anglophones fill in their questionaires. Yes, mistakes were undoubtedly made but they seem to be doing everything they can now to straighten out the situation and reach the government's targets.
  2. mint

    55+

    You youngsters are always soooo impatient....[:)]
  3. I have so enjoyed reading all your responses. Now having researched your various suggestions, I think a crossbill does come closest.  It is the right size but it seems to prefer this very tall acacia tree but we don't have pines in the immediate area. Other thing is, it is a lone bird, have never seen its mate or even its male friends!  It does love to sing but I have only seen it very briefly today so couldn't say I could memorise its song.  I shall put the camera next to the binoculars but I am not hopeful of getting a picture. One last observation is that it is very brilliantly red; its head and all its underside.  We can't see its upper side or wings too well so don't know the colour of those bits of the bird.  As for the beak, I can't really say if it's crossed or not, the angle and line of sight does not permit me to be sure.
  4. I am giving you advance notification of this evening's concert from Chambord.  Not sure when it's available on replay but it's a period you will like[:D] [url]https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/086913-000-A/500-ans-de-musique-au-chateau-de-chambord/[/url]
  5. Catalpa, won't be able to produce a photo.  The bird is on the highest branch of an acacia some distance from the house and can only be seen with powerful binoculars. It must be rare around here because it's the first time OH and I have seen such a bird.  Plus, we have not seen a second.  We have heard it singing and it looks so odd, being so red.  As far as I can tell, it matches the description.  Can't see its beak but its tail is relatively long as described.
  6. We have seen one of these on a high tree near our house for about 3 days.  There it sits, singing for all it's worth and it looks so beautiful with its lovely bright colour. Has anybody else noticed one of these? [url]https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/House_Finch/id[/url] Edit:  you can click on the "sounds" tab in the link and listen to its song[:D]
  7. Interesting and relevant.  Thank you very much FM and pomme[:)]
  8. Bravo, GG, giving us such a useful link[:D] That really is a nifty little tool; can't bear the thought of any of that precious liquid going to waste. When I went for my jab, it was in a centre that had only been opened for 4 days and the doctor told me they'd already had a number of no-shows.  Surely there can't be that number of people who have sudden events in their lockdown lives that prevent them from keeping such an important RV; without having even the couple of minutes required to cancel?
  9. It's good that people who feel strongly about the choice of vaccine (such as sid here) can have a say as to what is injected into their bodies. I'd rather that than people turning away because they don't want the one on offer. For myself, I didn't really mind which one, only that I was desperate to have one.  As it happened, it was the Pfizer but any of the others would equally have felt like winning the lottery after the weeks and weeks of trying for an appointment.
  10. Yes, I do realise that, for most of us, the vaccine we choose is the one we are offered.  But for those concerned about having a choice, here is an article to explain how to go about it: [url]https://www.lefigaro.fr/sciences/covid-19-peut-on-choisir-le-vaccin-qu-on-recoit-20210406[/url]
  11. This time for a change, I am not posting in "Norman's thread".  This is because this is a film, and in English, and with Helen Mirren, and is a true story, and is a mixture of weepy and happy ending[:D] And, for Norman, the music is very good too.....[:)] [url]https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/098736-000-A/la-femme-au-tableau/[/url]
  12. I don't know if my comment would be relevant in the case of this house and, if it is not, please just ignore it, Lori. A brief look at the map shows me that the house is quite near a supermarket.  It's probably worthwhile to check out on delivery routes to the supermarket.  Years ago, a friend bought a house near Cognac in a residential area.  However, they soon discovered that supermarket deliveries would thunder past their house every morning from about 5 am. I have noticed that in France many "zones of activities" seem to be mixed; for example, residential cheek by jowl with light industrial and lorry parks and commercial outlets practically in the midst of housing estates.
  13. [quote user="Lehaut"]Why would anyone print them anyway if you have a phone?[/quote] I don't have a smartphone and I don't want one at the present time.  I suspect that most adults in France do not have one either.  We are country folk here and, even those like my neighbours, who have smartphones only use them for making and receiving calls.
  14. Now they tell us, after millions of pieces of paper have been made from thousands of trees cut down and hundreds of printer cartridges have ended up in rubbish amenity sites.... [url]https://www.sudouest.fr/justice/confinement-l-attestation-officielle-etait-non-obligatoire-selon-le-conseil-d-etat-1343061.php[/url]
  15. [quote user="NormanH"]Good innit? [:P] [/quote] Yeah, more than good, brilliantly funny and hard-hitting and I am sure I myself have met many expats during my time here in France[:D]
  16. Thanks, Judith.  I want to go to a Super U which is more than 10 km away so I'll just take my attestation.
  17. For example, does anyone here live more than 10 km from food shops?  If, say, there is nothing but a little épicerie near where you live, can you drive to a grand surface which is more than 10 km away? Thank you Catalpa for your "radius" interactive map.  I looked up our village and realise that 10 km makes a miniscule circle.  I will hardly be able to join my walking group as even the rassemblement point is more than 10 km from my house[:'(] I was really looking forward to a summer of walking (only 6 in a group and split the people into smaller units if more than 6) but it now seems I shall have to think again. Can someone also confirm that it's OK to have one last throw of the dice, as it were, tomorrow....can go more than 10 km but must be back home by 19.00 and then, from midnight, no more going anywhere outside your tiny dot of a circle? PS Would love to see my little circle on a full map of France, should press home the point that I am entirely ignorable.
  18. Courage, Lori, I do believe that the vax prog is now getting into gear.  I think it's a real start this time, after all that coughing and choking and cutting out like an old bagnole so far. This morning, I have an email from a friend who, after trying for months and trying at different venues, has now obtained RVs for her and husband. Come April, things should definitely get off first gear if not quite into full throttle; the Johnson vax of only a single dose has absolutely got to speed things up. Just keep doing all the things you have been doing so far and keep well and you will be shocked and delighted when you get your vaccines[:D]
  19. Apparently, snakes have very bad eyesight but very good hearing and, of course, can feel vibrations with their bodies. When I was walking my dog in the woods, I used to stamp around and jump up and down when I was near a snakey patch of ground!
  20. I am terrified of snakes; even the word "snakes" gives me the shivers. Our first house was in a more rural area than this one.  Used to find couleuves all over the place.  They'd hibernate on top of the ride-on mower's engine and could be anywhere in the woods at the back of the house. An elderly French neighbour told us all about the different types.  He said couleuves were "pas aggresives" but I found that they would rear up at you and looked damned aggresive.  The really nasty ones were the little black asps; he said you could be in real trouble if you got bitten by one of those.  He also gave us a tip to never put our hand into the wood pile for logs without first checking to see if there were snakes sheltering there. No snakes that I have seen in our present garden but I do occasionally see them when I am out walking.
  21. I wouldn't say not much hope for Lori or anyone else, Judith.  There are large variations not only from area to area but I have found also from centre to centre in the same area! It's truly astonishing and unbelievable but perfectly true.  I know many that do not qualify on the basis of their age but they seem to have got vaccinated well before OH though thankfully he's now had his first. We only got our RVs through sheer luck, you could say fluke.  My RV was for the next day, so obviously a cancellation.  I was talking to one of our elderly conseillers and he knew of people in their 40s driving all the way here from Bordeaux (2 hour drive) and had vaccinations in our local market town.  And yet we had to drive over half an hour to another town to get ours! No planning, no rhyme or reason, depends who you talk to, depends on if your luck is in, depends on your willingness to haunt the sante.fr site day after day and at different times of the day and night, depends on if you believe in miracles, maybe on how hard you pray.....in other words, who the hell knows?
  22. Yes, Catalpa, I was waiting for the latest to be confirmed before printing anything.  But I have bought a new toner, partly for this purpose! My surgeon's sec rang me this afternoon to cancel my op scheduled for 8th April, citing the effects of the new covid regulations,  so I cannot see any other reasons I would have for needing the attestation.  Instead, I did have to do some phone calls (sigh, me and phones...) cancelled the VSL and cancelled the PCR appointment. NOT sorry about the PCR appointment as I loathe the test but very sorry about everything else.  I don't disagree with the decision though, must be other people more in need of medical services than I am. 
  23. [quote user="anotherbanana"]What I can’t understand is why France hasnt got plants making the vaccine under licence, or is the problem that the raw material is difficult to make reliably so production of that rema8 s in the hands of Ox/ Pfizer etc. I see that a huge load of J and J vaccine was dumped yesterday because the ingredients were messed up. Back to the garden![/quote] Well, Macron did say that he was going to get 3 plants here in France producing the Pfizer.  Said they had all the requisite licences, also that they would be ready end of March, beginning of April. Now it's beginning of April and he has said nothing further about the new plants.....not that I believed him, I was waiting to see if it actually happened. As a bit of further info, Pfizer has now said they could produce the vax by themselves, without help from Biontech.  Said they'd learned how to do it and said they hoped to speed up production and increase supply.
  24. Forgive me, I haven't had the time to listen to your links.  Everything is disturbed in my mind and not much in the way of peace and solitude to do the music justice. So that particular delight is yet to come[:)] Just looking for an Andras Schiff CD of the Well-tempered Clavier to take with me to hospital on Wednesday.  Alas my CD collection is like my book collection, never could find something when I want it, largely because there is such lack of space in our present house that I am obliged to put things here and there wherever I can fit it in. However, here is a clip of Schiff talking about Bach's music and his understanding of it; an erudite affair, full of humour and thoroughly enjoyable. [url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdzLWKuo0YA[/url] 
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