idun

Well maybe some will be thrown away. But today reminded me of Toussaint where flower carrying is the norm as I have seen a LOT of people carrying bunches of flowers around town.

 Soon won't be any flowers either....... apparently Mother's Day here tomorrow!

Thanks for the links cajal. The first says it is not taking new orders. Both helas are not quite in our neck of the woods, the NE of England, covers quite an area. No yeast available either today. And the pubs and restaurants are closing from midnight so we went to a favourite restaurant tonight and left a very very good tip, as the staff will need the money. All we can do now it try and help others as best we can. Just is what it is.

Yes,  a friend told me that all the fruit and veg had gone in Sainsburys, where as here, Morrisons and Asda had plenty. I never knew anyone in France who baked their own bread and friends have never mentioned starting it since I left. So, who is buying this flour and what on earth are they doing with it. I do realise that they can look recipes up on the internet, but with bread, unless one waits weeks to make a sour dough, yeast is required. I bought my yeast, just need the flour to make my bread and pizzas up now.

Where have all the flours gone? Long time passing Where have all the flours gone? Long time ago Where have all the flours gone? Girls have picked them every one When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn Well not that long ago, ie the last week........ and where is all the bloody flour? I bake! I bake scones, pastries, cakes, breads of all sorts. I bake. I use flour. I do not know anyone who bakes as much as me, and most of my friends just don't. As there are so few of us who 'bake' where has the flour gone and what on earth are people doing with it apart fromhoarding it. Would they know how to bake? This is not the only thing that I simply do not get. It is also very strange as to which supermarkets have empty shelves and with which items.  In general where I live, I seem to be able to buy most things apart from flour and long life milk (if I wanted it, which I don't as there is plenty of fresh milk) and yet not that far away, there are supermarkets which have been 'emptied' of so much. All very very odd, this current human behaviour, which I just don't understand. There again with me living so long en campagne in France, I always have a well stocked larder and well stocked freezers, just what I am used to. Is there a flour shortage in France too, because in France hardly any one I knew baked.

You are not kidding NH. I do so wish that criminals were 'punished' properly these days, but they are not.

From what I used to see, dumping kids on mamy and papy for the  vacances was usual. In the Alpes, the lyonnais were not well thought of rather than the parisiens.  There was an expectation that the parisiens would act in a certain way, and the lyonnais would act like they 'knew' the mountains and usually didn't, so considered very arrogant by the savoyards at least. So obvious in the olde days with their 69 number on their cars.

Oh I agree, and I remember well being sur la cote years ago and an american saying 'these frenchies will eat ANYTHING'. He had heard us speaking english and made the comment as we were all passing a stall that sold sea urchins. My friend is a good and kind woman, but she was really on her high horse about this. Fact is that two of her children are ill both with the same condition and at very high risk if they catch this.

I have never used my old uk licence since I found it again and will not give it up either, like me it's a bit of a relic now.

I have just spoken to a friend in France and got an earful about the chinese eating ne porter quoi and that was why it was their fault and we should not be suffering because of their complete contempt for nature. What with eating just about anything along with chinese medicine ...... you name it, it was mentioned. As I had not seen anything about this and wondered why she was so upset. Although I have to say that certain practices, like bear bile and rhino horn etc etc truly make my blood boil. This link should be live and if it is down to the poor poor pangolin, then I feel truly deflated and disgusted.  Nature fighting back..... I used to wonder when it would, so maybe it is. https://www.lepoint.fr/sciences-nature/coronavirus-chinois-la-maladie-transmise-a-l-homme-a-cause-du-pangolin-07-02-2020-2361694_1924.php  

Nothing will ever be the same again. No one knows how long this will last.  And if we get over it, we'll just have to adjust to how things are. Shares, we have never had money for such things, so won't be buying any now, even in funeral parlours.

 Actually a friend yesterday was not so 'kind' she said she wondered how many martial murders would be committed. We did have a good laugh yesterday and most of the humour quite 'black'. And why not!

I am not so sure that it said that all those years ago when I exchanged mine...... and my old licence hasn't got a photo on it either. No idea if that would in any way be valid. When I exchanged from french to UK licence when we moved back, I used my french licence to do it. AND I am pretty sure that some things on my french licence were not transferred.

I took the kids to Disney in Florida and we went to a theatre to see the Muppet Show, Statler and Waldorf were BRILLIANT! Well folks I woke up and I am still in this unreal reality. [:(]

[quote user="woolybanana"]Germany said to be shutting the frontier with France tomorrow.[/quote] This made me think of  the brexit debacle and all the talk of borders and how they no longer existed in europe and the UK shouldn't have been reinstalling them ....... well, in this almost dystopian world, they have soon been put up again and how quickly. Amazing innit. Tonight on CNN there is a debate between Biden and Sanders,   they remind me of the two old codgers on the balcony on the Muppet Show and  earlier septuagenarian Trump was on saying that all of this will just go away, like magic.  And I wonder if his test result fake news I really do wonder. Nothing seems to make any sense........ ..........will I wake up in the morning and all this has been a rather surreal dream......  or is it just a very very strange world we live in at the moment.

I have never seen a hose next to a turkish toilet. In theory they are 'clean' things but as it would seem that most folk cannot aim any bodily functions into the hole in the floor, they aren't just dreadful they are a thousand times worse than disgusting.

[quote user="woolybanana"]Buttock bumps![/quote] I'd have someone over if I tried that little lark. I do elbow bumps at the moment or a silly little wave, or blow a kiss, depending on the circumstances and most certainly who it is[Www] good to see you betty[:D][kiss]

Yes a bucket next to the toilet if there is no toilet paper and using alternatives. Had to do that on a tall ship I was on, and friends who have holidayed in Turkey and I think Greece had to do the same. Life is a changing. Been to lunch at friends and they were saying that their son's girlfriend, not english, could not understand all the joking about it all. Seemed very odd to her. And we swopped jokes we had seen right through the meal and had a really good laugh.

As they are now saying that over 70's will be quarantined in the UK soon, I am wondering how good friends both over 80, will cope as one of them has early onset either dementia or alzheimers. Already there are problems, but keeping their OH in when they get difficult and want to do what they want to do including going out will be a big problem. Well, won't people just watch the tv. At least these days there are endless options of series to binge on.

Great to see you back Lori![kiss][kiss]

wooly said:remember, in France people say NON first, then try to find a fix for what you want or need. I am glad that it works like that for you wooly, because I, all too often got the NON followed by ca n'existe pas, or just NON or they did nothing at all and needed pushing to do something. I have done the full repertoire of complaining, from being nasty to being nice. It would depend on who it was as to how it worked. Very rarely did I not get satisfaction in the end. And now  I can only remember twice in 27 years when I got incredibly excellent customer service and once was because they had really cocked up and I could not convince them that they had got it all wrong.

And so did I NH, accepted it warts and all. Otherwise I would have left rather quickly. As I have always said, upon retirement our plan was to return home and we have.

On either sky or bbc news today, they were interviewing a journalist in Paris, I think, and he said that people seemed to have been ignoring some of the recommendations that have been made thus far. Cannot remember the term he used, but it was along the lines of them being 'very naughty' about it. So we shall all see. Frankly this is all so odd, I keep thinking that I am actually dreaming and shall wake up and all will be as it was. Nothing will be though will it. I was out today, had a wander round two local towns and did a little shopping, apart from pasta, well bog standard pasta, spinach pasta was easily available though[Www]. All the other shelves were as full as usual. We ate out tonight. There were plenty of people  out and about today and tonight.

Hard or soft 'th's' are still 'th's' and she did use the 'th' sound, I heard her and often. She would speak in spannish to her kids too, as she would take them to see family, who did not speak french, so they had to learn. And the spannish 'th' hard or soft is far closer to the way most of us speak english than say, our lovely irish friends  who always say 'tree' for 'three' etc, our irish friends don't seem to bother with a 'th' sound at all.[Www]

Have yet to talk to my son and friends,but no one is answering today. The phones are working aren't they.