Lori

Thank you Judith. Husband just got his by a fluke.  He checks the sante.fr site periodically throughout each day.  Yesterday ONE showed up for 15h00 today and he grabbed it.  And, it happens to be at one of the vaccination centers that is walkable from where we live.  It also gave him his second appointment for first week of May.  I presume he got it through a cancellation by someone else. Today's headlines say many more doses will be delivered this week and next.  We shall see.

Always happy to hear all the view points.  We love France and we always have.  I've always been aware of the negatives.  I remember posting about them many times when we lived in Bédoin.  So, we know no place is perfect.  Don't get me started on the U.S.  We have no legal right to live in the U.K. and I don't think we would want to anyway.  We are happy here, just not in this part of  'here.' Thank you Judith for the offer to show us around if we visit.  We do plan to visit as we'd really like to see the area.  Even if you just pointed us to some towns to see on our visit, that would be most helpful.  I will post as soon as I know when we will visit. Husband got an appointment for his first vaccine !!!!!!  Today at 15h00.  Moderna.  Thrilled for him.  I keep trying but haven't been lucky so far.  I will walk with him to the vaccination center and wait outside.  I'm pretty sure there will be no 'extras' but I'll be there anyway. As soon as we are both fully vaccinated, we will make our trip South to have a look around.  Not sure when that will be, but hopefully soon.  Found several homes for sale in the Carcassonne area that seemed to offer a lot for the money.  Sadly, I have never really liked Carcassonne.  Perhaps I need to give it another look. It is extremely hard to find a house anywhere in the Vaucluse (not mitoyenne) under 250,000€.  Unless of course, it is missing a roof and a couple of walls..

Thank you ALBF.  I appreciate any and all advice. We still are focused on moving back to the department we lived in for 14 years (the Vaucluse). We know it very well and are aware of its positives and negatives also. We are just teetering on whether to rent or buy and looking around, out of curiosity to see where you might be able to get more house for your money.  All this knowing that cheaper house prices are cheaper for a reason.  Takes time and research to figure out the various reasons. As of today, we are leaning towards purchasing something. We would never stay where we are as the weather, for us, is terrible. The cost is enormous here and it is extremely over populated.  It has its benefits, but the negatives are weighing heavily over the positives.  We wanted to give it a try and we have.  Just not for us. The thought of going North of here (and staying in France) is just out of the question.  Not too much area north of here anyway.

Yes Norman, I did look at your link and near as I can tell, your link shows the house in the RI3 (dotted red) zone.  Nomoss's link shows the house in the blue zone. The house is located just above where the Naval splits.  So, way too close for comfort for me.  The maps are really very helpful. I wonder how many people actually care about this type of thing.  Having owned a few homes over the years, we are very aware of property slopes, any nearby water, unusual weather patterns (flood zones, fire zones, hurricanes/tornado, earthquakes, etc.), any nearby commercial issues, such as sewage / water treatment plants, dechetteries, garbage dumps, etc.  Of course, you can't escape everything, but we do take note of the level of all these things. The flood zone risk for this particular house seems to by higher than we would would like. It seems such a nice house, I'm sure someone will come along who is less concerned.  But, it MIGHT explain the price, which after a good bit of research in the same department/area seems like a good one. Thank you all.

Thanks for all this info.  Mint, that is always something I look at.  In this case, the house looks sandwiched enough between other properties and off the road enough that it shouldn't be too bad. For whatever reason (unknown), I cannot get that CD of the zones to open for me Nomoss.  Just stays on a blank screen. I did find this site which is somewhat helpful.  https://www.georisques.gouv.fr/mes-risques/connaitre-les-risques-pres-de-chez-moi/rapport?form-adresse=true&isCadastre=false&ign=false&codeInsee=11190&lon=2.648098&lat=43.251265&CGU-adresse=on&adresse=8+Chemin+de+Laval%2C+11700+La+Redorte#details_cat_nat I guess it is all a bit of a study project at this point as we cannot move until we have been vaccinated.  And, this house will be long gone by then.  We will keep an eye on the area though.

You guys are amazing !  What eagle eyes you have Cajal.  Yes, that is the house !  Looks awfully close to the Ruisseau de Naval to me, but I know so little about the area, other than what you folks have told me - which is kinda scary.  So, between Argent Double and Ruisseau de Naval (being much closer to Naval). That youtube video would scare the heck out of anyone !  If this area is known for flood zones, we would have to look elsewhere. I think I can look up the address, since I now have it (thank you Cajal) to see if it is listed as being in a flood zone.  That, of course, would make it a deal breaker for us.  It could also explain the price, but then that could be for many other reasons too.

[quote user="anotherbanana"]A solution to the unused dose problem: https://www.lesoir.be/364514/article/2021-04-03/vaccination-des-bancs-de-reserve-mis-en-place-pour-les-doses-non-attribuees[/quote] That's great for the Belgians.  Makes much more sense than telling people to go hang out at vaccinations locations in the hope that there MIGHT be some no shows to allow for extra doses. The Army centers are a good idea too.  They need more than just those noted in the link (perhaps not just Army). I mean there are several very large Hospitals within walking distance to us.  They have expansive outdoor grounds where I would think tents could be set up to administer vaccines.  Haven't seen or heard of that happening here.  I've seen the roaming vans that go from town to town, but haven't even seen that in these parts for a while and they don't have the capacity of a large tent or tens set up at a hospital.

Thank you Catalpa.  It is so nice to read something encouraging for a change.  I do hope his statistics prove right.

Thank you Norman.  I have received a very informative note from the poster I presume you are referring to.  I am about to reply to him in a minute. We have never liked Carcassonne, but I admit it has been many years since we were last there.  Just never did appeal to us, nor did la cité.  What an awful thing they did to that area.  My opinion only of course. I don't know Beziers or Narbonne well.  Have only driven through or around Narbonne and never been to Beziers.  It is good to know what these places are like as we have wondered about them.  We have discounted Nimes as we know it suffers so many problems.  I know there are likely a few decent suburbs of Nimes, but since we don't know which ones they are, we just took a pass on the whole thing.  Plus, even if they are decent now, the problems seem to great that I could see them extending into what might be decent now, corrupting it. Do you see Beziers in the same way we see Nimes?  Narbonne also? If we were already down South, we would definitely drive over to have a look at the house I linked as it just looks a bit too good to be true.  There is always a reason, but having not visited it, we don't know what the reason is. This is such a helpful forum.  I always get such wonderful help here.  Thank you all !

Interesting Ken.  I certainly don't attempt to kill them.  I just didn't enjoy trying to get them OUT of the house once they were in. We eventually had screens put on the windows to lessen the presence of wildlife in the house.

Came across this house.  Does anyone know this area?  Curious.  Will do a bit of research, but if anyone is familiar with the area, can you say if this is a normal price for this type of house?  And what is the area like? If it was located in the Vaucluse, you'd have to add around 100,000€ to the price tag. https://immo-minervois.com/biens/?ref=R1868

I never really liked bats in my house.  They too can carry disease and their droppings can transmit disease.  They like to make house behind volets.  I once closed my bedroom volet only to find about a dozen all tucked in with mounds of poop on the window ledge.  We did not have window screens, so this was just not good. As for spiders, most of ours were Wolf spiders.  There were dozens of them nearly all the time.  I found one in the upper corner of a wall in our dining room once.  It looked huge, much bigger than the usual ones.  Just couldn't have it next to me dining table.  I sprayed it.  All kinds of baby spiders dropped off and fell on the floor.  So, that was why it looked so big.  I counted 95 tiny spiders.  Chastise me if you like, but I'm pretty sure there were plenty of other spiders in the house that I never saw living along side me and the family.  Had to see a doctor once for a bite that was presumed (by the doctor) to be a spider bite.  I just don't like them living in my house with me. Loire are extremely destructive and can be very hard to get rid of.  We had loads of neighbors that had them.  Somehow, we never did. Some Summers, I'd count about 80 wasps hovering and taking dips in the pool.  Mostly when we were in drought conditions.  I got stung 3 times and that was enough for me.  I felt it was dangerous for children around the pool too. I don't like to kill things, but I do have my limits.

[quote user="Ken"]Unlimited travel for the weekend! Presumably the virus is taking the weekend off whilst stuffing itself with chocolate!![/quote] Laughable isn't it !!  Not.

We had tons of them when we lived in the Vaucluse. I always kept bottles of the wasp spray on hand.  We also found them under the hood of our car and inside our car too.  And dozens of them always hovering around the pool. I would spray around the entry doors and any windows that I liked to open.  I was told to cut a 1.5 litre plastic water bottle in half and put about half a jar of cheap sweet jam in it, mix in a couple of cups of water and place it around 3 meters from the area that seems to be attracing them.  When they go in to eat the stuff, they get wet and get stuck in and die.  Now, I know there will be a bunch of folks who wouldn't want to do this, but we often had hornets around our pool and it was just downright dangerous.  So, that is where we did this.  It did help. As for the car, I would always look to see if there were any obvious wasps hovering around the car.  If so, I'd get the spray (it sprays from a far distance) and spray them.  Then, use the garden hose on full nozzle to spray the nest away. Hate them.  However, I must say that we had far more spiders, scorpions and bats in the house than wasps/hornets...  Those were always a challenge, especially the bats. I'm not much help.  Good luck !

Sorry to hear your story Idun.  I do hope, like Catalpa, your son kept a scanned copy of his Titre.  That is always the first thing we do when we get a new Titre (or any other formal document). I know it may not suffice for some Gendarmes, but it is better than nothing. Why they wouldn't issue a récépissé is anyone's guess.  It is his right to have one (as you know).  We have always been issued a récépissé and told to always keep it with us until the permanent card arrives.  How can he even prove he left his card/dossier with them?  Does he have a dossier number or anything?  I hope he has the woman's name. I can imagine how frustrated you (and he) would be.  I'm not sure I would have left my card without it.  Would have asked to speak to someone else who could explain why it wasn't being issued and/or not given them my only titre.  I do realize that could have caused an issue, but I probably would have done it.

Thank you. Again, I agree with both of you for the most  part.  I guess we'll see how it goes.

I agree with both of you Judith and Mint.  I was not planning to attempt to find an appointment until mid April.  Maybe we'll have some more doses by then. Round here, there ARE appointments, just not near us.  We do not have a car, so would need to use public transport to get to far off vaccine centers.  We are not yet willing to do that. There are actually 3 centers that are within walking distance to us, but appointments are hard to get.  Husband checks throughout the day, each day as he is eligible.  I don't bother.

Yes, certainly good to be alive, the alternative would not be nice. We had a few snakes show up when we lived in SE France.  It was mostly wild boar that were always about.  Up here, it is mostly rats.  I think I'd rather have the snakes. These days, when we walk in the huge parc, I am always looking for snakes.  Nothing so far.  Lots of birds lately.

[quote user="anotherbanana"] Eye of newt or toe of frog or something!?[/quote] Who knows really ! But, I do love your sense of humour.  Truly.  It is especially nice when you (me) are so sick of this crap and your mood has dropped to the lowest possible level.  You have to laugh.  When all is so not funny, you simply have to laugh.

Thank you all.  Betise - I had no idea.  So, that would mean that since I turn 60 in 2021, I would be eligible to attempt to get an appointment as of 16 April. I do hope that is correct.

So, here is the new calendar.  Obviously based on the EU/France actually getting some doses delivered - and God knows when or if that will happen. https://www.bfmtv.com/sante/infographie-age-profession-decouvrez-le-nouveau-calendrier-de-la-campagne-de-vaccination_AN-202103310486.html So, what about people who turn 60 in 2021, but not before 16 April (no comorbidities).  Does that person have to wait until the 15 May to make an appointment for the 50-59 group?  I presume the answer is yes, but it would be nice if that was clarified.

I get your drift Cajal and agree with you. So, 'bout 60,000 cases in France yesterday.  The U.S. had 'bout 69,000.  I seem to have been right about Macron's decision making since the first true confinement.  I said he'd never do it again and he has made that clear.  I honestly don't think it would matter how many dying people are lined up in the streets around hospitals OR how many non-Covid patients die because of his decisions.  He doesn't care and can't  be made to. I have to say though that whatever dream world Macron is living in, I see a lot of other people around me who seem to live in the same strange place, seemingly with the same lack of concern.

Right, he did pretty much exactly what I thought he would do.  Extend the school break and that's it. Nice.

Congrats Wooly ! No appointments available here either and you all know where we are.  If you meddle with the site, you can often pull up AZ appointments FAR from where we live, but usually by the time you try to book them, they are gone.  Some Pfizer or Moderna appointments can be seen if you are in the medical provider category.  I'm not yet eligible, so I just wait. We do have our prescriptions for the Pfizer or Moderna vaccine from our MT.  So, at least we've got that..

Yes, we just returned from out outdoor walk.  Weather is exceptional as it was yesterday too.  Huge swaths of people out and about in the park and on the streets.  Vast amount of picnicking people in the park (all over the place).  90% of adults (not eating) had no masks in sight.  I hope they are holding a special place in Hell for those who refuse to mask / distance. P.S.  At this point, seeing people wearing a mask anywhere here (except Auchan) is now a rare thing.  And it is required in all outdoor/indoor public places and clearly  noted all over the parc...