idun

I don't mind the lyonnais, the mountain folk didn't like them, but I used to go through fairly regularly as my friends still do and we found them OK. This is after all, speak as we find. Incomers to my old french village used to say that they found the villagers very cold and unfriendly, but I didn't.

Just as fast?? Now there's the rub really, because the older I get, the faster time seems to go. I have no idea why that is, but for me, my OH and my friends, we all feel the same way. Even in lockdown the days are just flying by too. I am pretty sure that in my younger days this is not how it felt.

Well obviously people die of other than the coronovirus, but at the moment those inflated figures are usually it. Yes, the figures caught up. I couldn't understand why they had not done it earlier to be honest. That was why I questioned the figures a few weeks ago on here. I had imagined that they would be running parallel. Also GB is a little island, as a general rule we are all living in closer proximity than many in France do, so that the figures are now higher did not surprise me. I think that the second wave, or it restarting is going to be the thing, isn't it. And we cannot all be in lockdown for ever either can we. We will  just have to learn to live differently, very differently until there is a vaccine won't we.

Ah yes, those scroll years, too often starting at 2020 for something that is for an adult and not a new born. I too have to scroll back and back.

Personally I can think of far worse people than the parisiens in France. My experience was that the folk of Antibes were horrible, rude, aggressive and we never found anyone I could say something half pleasant about. Maybe they cheer up for the proper tourists in summer, because I was there for the Toussaint holiday. Who knows, I shall never ever go back. Now in Nice, folk couldn't have been nicer. Geographically so close to Antibes and yet so far away.[blink] I have been to Paris, apart from one waiter, who would have fit in well in Fawlty Towers, people have been fine with me. And even the waiter in question left me smiling with his rudeness.

ROFL Well ALBF, YOU have me there, huge smile on my face.......... I quite happily call myself old, or say 'us oldies', but ELDERLY............. never ever thought I would be in that bracket until I was 90 IF I ever get that far!!! thanks for amusing me, I am seriously considering changing my name to 'idun the elder'![Www]

ALBF I think this depends, in our case, as to how old one is, with regards to catching this and our desire for others to simply bloody well behave themselves and act responsibly. I am in a high risk group, in my late 60's and taking tablets that can play havoc with my immune system.I simply do not want to catch it. Chacun pour soi, mon oeil, behave or be fined very very heavily. That is exactly how I feel about it, or simply no fine, just bring back the pillory, out of the EU and why not. I really don't care, what happens to these feckless idiots who risk others lives. Also, I have friends who's children work in hospitals, their families are worried sick about them, because these workers have young families and the risk of catching this, appears to be very high. And some of their colleagues have caught it, OK most will be OK, but it is a very nasty virus and there is not doubt about it, it kills.

As we have to transfer back regularly I always use the rate we get rather than what the government says. THEY, the tax folk do not have to mess around getting the best exchange rates and pay charges do they. In fairness I cannot think of a better way of doing it. As it happens, it is often not that much out, but I do not feel inclined to pay taxes on money we have not received, that would be just plain wrong.

Ah no  surely amber is darker? Yes mint, with regards to fruit, then a lemon is yellow, but in clothing/accessorie terms, I would say that lemon was usually classed as pale yellow. RE these maps, I can only think that this is all going to be very complicated. My son lives in one department and works in another. IF they are dealt with in different ways, surely it will get very complicated when they start on the pathway to come out of the lockdown. Daresay it will all get sorted eventually.

I haven't had anything specific, just basic gourmandise.. yes, gluttony.... and I have to stop it! IF I had a magnum it would be white chocolate. I never got away with the other types of chocolate ones.  I do like an old fashioned choc ice though, much prefer them. So as maybe you can gather, I am afraid that I have put on weight during this time. Probably lack of excersize and too many goodies that are too available at home. [Www] Must add, we did have a treat last night though ate a tub of Ben and Jerry's Caramel chew chew between us. It was scrumptious.

But mint,  would you call that colour 'orange'?? I too have orange in my wardrobe, I also have yellows and lemons too. In fact, at the moment I have plenty of citrusy things thinking about it. I used to wear too much black, but for all I mainly accessorize  with black I have lots and lots  of bright colours in my wardrobe these days.

Judith, I think that I would go onto the account part and tell them that the order had not arrived. I have had a few orders in the last few weeks that have been late. Sometimes when I have gone to actually report it, there was a note on the account with a new delivery date on, sometimes not. When I have reported, I have been asked to wait another couple of weeks and, touch wood, everything has eventually turned up. But I would always report it anyway.

Is it my screen, or 'me' but isn't that 'orange' actually yellow in colour?[8-)]

I wonder if it is the same thing as in the UK with flour, that only commercial sized bags were being bagged initially for bakeries and not the smaller ones for individuals. As I was so literally thrilled with my purchases yesterday and told a few friends, they told me that not only Morrisons supermarkets, but other food shops were now selling flour in bags which they had made up themselves. So obviously commercial people can get these big bags and then bag it themselves. Some I may add, are being a big greedy about the amount they charge, others are not, Morrisons supermarket was not. Hope the pain in your shoulder is easing off Lori!

I am pleased you asked Loiseau, because I was wondering too.[:D]

Well, this year I wouldn't have expected any association to be able to fund raise selling muguets. Mint did say that her neighbour usually left her some though. I have never had any muguets, other than those I have bought. Felt as if I had to, just like buying the factures or sapeur pompiers calenders. It isn't as if I didn't have things left on my doorstep though,  bags of various fruits and vegetables, sometimes so much that I would wonder what on earth I was going to do with it all. I repaid these offerings with cake, pastries or bread. So again, didn't associations sell these to fund raise, in ye olde 'normal' times.

Leave them for you. People would give them to our association and the kids would sell them to raise funds. It was certainly worth doing. Does this not happen in other parts of France?

I went shopping today and what joy........ I bought some wholemeal flour and white bread flour and best of all, some fresh yeast. The happiness I felt when I saw the yeast on the shelf, well, priceless. How quickly we will all go back to taking things for granted, I do not know, but I hope that I will continue to be so appreciative.

Well, not quite, most young people I know reckon that there would be s od all in pensions left for them, so maybe there will. Yes, I think that pensions will go down. At least us old folk should know how to tighten our belts and live not only frugally but well. And if we don't well, we had a life time to learn and silly us if we didn't.

OH, so the game of 'life' plays itself out, one has a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke with not taking the aspirin...... or keeps the immune system at maximum. Not a very good game is it![:(]

[quote user="mint"]Ugh.....I sure ain't going to Croatia.  What if there were a sudden second wave and I couldn't get back home to France and am stuck in Croatia for 4 months!!!  Doesn't bear thinking about..... There is an English couple in our village (quite new to our village) who spent winter in Portugal and cannot now come home.  Their house and garden are beginning to look abandoned and very neglected. [/quote] [Www] As my single neighbour said, 'imagine if anyone'd had a one night stand and ended up with this person for lockdown'. In all honesty, I thought that anyone who wanted to get home had been allowed to get home. I know a lot of people who were away and got home and literally from all over the world, including Doctors, who were needed here. I am sure that these people will have a tale to tell about it, but everyone I know  managed and I would suspect that the majority of people managed, even it it was 'difficult' or a rather more 'interesting' route than they would normally have taken.

When you say 'local' what do you mean? You only need to fill in a tax form in France for those three months, and then one in the UK from April and if it is for self assessment, then you need to register and do it on line by January 2021. I never leave ours to the last minute though, if I need help the phone lines are far too busy towards the end. I don't think you have to do a declaration for 2018/2019 unless you are rich as you income for one month will probably less than the annual allowance. We moved back on the last day of February and I called HMRC and they said not to bother for  a month's income, but did note the call. Re the french tax office, if you usually do it online, then do it online. If you don't then why don't you email the french tax office in France and ask them to send a paper return to you in the UK. Not a bad time to leave France, March, as I doubt you will be liable to pay tax in France for those  three months.

I find this interesting, as last week, they were saying that in some patients. doctors had found that corvid19 seemed to have 'thickened' the blood. So wouldn't aspirin 'thin' it??? OH takes one of those tiny doses of aspirin every day, prescribed and no one has told him not to. This is all very very confusing. Cannot wait for a test to see if we have had it or not, which would be a start, and then to find out if immunity actually did build up against it.

Norman, you have been missed, especially at this time, and with you usually posting quite regularly. Hope all is well with you.

I thought that using a scarf etc's goal was to protect others from us, that is what I have always heard. They also keep saying that people who wear masks often misuse them and touch them and don't take them off properly either. Same with using gloves. And that sort of makes sense to me too. So what will happen if we are all supposed to wear masks, will we be lulled into a false sense of security? I haven't used anything as yet.