Lori

Thanks Marie for posting.  I'm glad you were able to get vaccinated.  I hope you will have no further side effects.  Please keep us posted.

Great Wooly !  Do let us know if you feel side effects.

Congratulations Cajal !  Will you please come back to let us know what, if any, side effects you have? Thank you.

I do love reading your stories Wooly.  So much. We too had stories from our time down South.  And, we were forever hearing about so many other tall stories. Our neighbors had non constructible plots surrounding our home/lot. They were farmers, so it was classed as agricultural land. And they did continue to farm a portion of it.  They  had managed to convince the town to allow two sections to be plotted off with one going to their daughter (and her family) and the other to Madame's brother. So, those two families built their own homes on the two adjacent plots. They had already sectioned off and sold the home/plot we bought after Monsieur's parents passed away.  We actually bought it from the person they sold it to after it was legally sectioned off (forget the French term for that). Then, of course, more family needs arrived and they wanted to renovate a crumbling down portion of Madame and Monsieur's original family home.  They only lived in a small section as the rest was delapidated and falling apart.  Couldn't get planning permits; too many other permits had been granted for the entire property/land.  Caused a huge uproar with the Maire (yes he too had been there for donkeys years).  So, they attempted to do work without permits.  Crazy, but yes, oh so common. And, of course there is always that one house that manages to get completely built with no permits given and goes into years of court suits before it is finally ordered to be torn down.

Close to home here.  They still can't get this right. https://www.europe1.fr/societe/cest-inacceptable-le-coup-de-gueule-dun-medecin-contre-la-logistique-de-vaccination-4029671

We wait like everyone in our age group.  Not happily as we too see that, at the current pace, this is going to take a LONG time. I looked back at the French gouv site to see how  many deaths were noted (due to covid) in the months of December, January and February.  I realize their numbers may or may not be totally accurate, but that's about all I have to go by.  It was just a curiosity thing. So, I found that in December, there were 11,901 deaths noted, divide by 31 for a daily average of 383,9.  In January there were 11,425 deaths noted, divide by 31 for a daily average of 368,5.  In February there were 10,371, divide by 28 for a daily average of 370,3. Granted, I am no mathematicien, but if we continue with an average of 300 deaths per day, there are 300 days left of this year.  That's 90,000 deaths.  And, based on the deaths over the last 3 months, 300 is a low figure.

I understand your point ALBF.  For us, as of the announcement yesterday, we are supposed to qualify for vaccines as of April.  Over 50 with no comorbidities.  Yet, no appointment slots are open yet.  I presume they are going to wait until April to open up appointments.  Perhaps because they don't yet have enough vaccines to give us all and don't know if they will. And why oh why is the EU sending vaccines to Australia for God's sake???

That's great Wooly !  I'm pleased for you.

Of course there is talk of it happening here too Wooly.  I still have my doubts that they will do it. Even if they do, I do not believe a weekend curfew will change the numbers we are seeing each day.  I'm also not sure it would be enforced as nothing is in the town in which I live. If you want to slow down the numbers and reduce the surge in hospital admissions, to me, the only thing you can do is bring back a total lockdown for at least one month.  Even that won't work for very long if they can't get us vaccinated.  If they could get a large number of us vaccinated during the full lockdown, that might help.  Yet, in this morning's news, various Mayors and Doctors in France were expressing their anger on the delay of the roll out and doubts that all adults who want the vaccination will have it by end of Summer. Earlier, I said to OH, they had better do something soon because as soon as we start seeing regular sunny days and 18-20 degree temperatures they will have to bring in the tanks to stop people from breaking the rules in large numbers. Even our delivery guys no longer wear masks.

Congratulations Nick.  I presume this means you will not get a second vaccine? Was this the Pfizer vaccine?

[quote user="Ken"]Often things are said and I can't help but feel often it is just a PR exercise. Yes, Chemists may be able to give the vaccine but do they have it to give! That is more to the point thanks to Mr. Macron!![/quote] Precisely, you can't give what you don't have.

I don't have one, our microwave is the traditional style.  However, I've used a few in vacation rentals over the years.  I never really cared for them, but perhaps some of the newer models are better. My complaint was/is when using the 'bake' selection, nothing ever browned.  It did cook, but never browned.  Like a piece of chicken with skin; the skin never browned or got crunchy.  I never tried anything like cookies or cakes.  Not sure how well that would work.

[quote user="betise"]I think recent studies suggest that when you lose fat, you breathe 80% of it out.[/quote] I was amazed when I read that too !

Yep, same here.  Had a lovely walk in the parc.

[quote user="anotherbanana"]The girl was first going to go to the gendarmes then wanted to be put in a foyer d’acceuil. Dont think they can force her to return home.[/quote] If her circumstances at home were as she stated, she should have no problem getting placed in a foyer d'acceuil.  Although in many places in France, there are waiting lists for such places. Our daughter's best friend was placed in one (different reasons) after we moved from France.  Prior to that, she stayed mainly with us.  It took a long time to get placed in the foyer, but she eventually did and was there for a few years.

Oh my, Oh my my my ! It could have gone so many different ways. What would I do?  Well, I don't live where you live, so I have no idea what the area is like or what types of "things" go on around there.  I think that kind of knowledge can make a big difference in how we react to things such as this. The only place I have ever lived where someone could walk up to my front door and ring the bell was in the U.S.  Things like this are known to happen there (stranger ringing bell or knocking on door) and it was rarely ever legit.  So, I would not have answered the door, particularly not at that hour.  Far too risky. Where we live now, we have an Interphone and it gets rung rather frequently by teenagers, then they run off.  It has a camera, so we can see who is there and speak to them.  If it was a girl, alone in the middle of the night, I would speak to her via the Interphone to see what was going on.  From there, if she told me that story, I'd offer to make a call for her, but could not bring her in the house.  However, I must say that I'd be very hesitant to be a part of calling a 31 year old to pick up a 17 year old.  Is 16 still the age of majority in France or is it not?  What if the truth is not quite what she told you? Oh and if she wanted to go to the Gendarmes, then they are who I would have offered to call for her.

Thanks Mint, I did see that.  Based on the fiasco we've seen so far, I figure end of May for the J&J arrival is highly doubtful.  Even if it does arrive (and I hope it does), if they can't roll out more than 100,000 doses for the entire EU, it will take a lot longer than end of May to get things moving.  And, if the EU can't figure out how to use the vaccinations they have or get, then it will be a lot longer than that... Sorry, fed up.

Mint - can you not have grocery supplies delivered to your home?  I don't like shopping online, but it has been a life saver (maybe quite literally) during the Pandemic.  Sounds like you deserve a treat to eat.  Since restaurants are a no go, can you order supplies in and include ingredients for something special to put together?  Whatever your favorite indulgence might be?

Congratulations Wooly.  OH swears by oatmeal.  He would have it nearly every morning during the time we were trying to lose weight.  He ended up losing 25 kilos.  It took about a 15 months, which I thought was very fast.  He is still a big oatmeal fan.  He prefers the 5 cereales ones that are a bit thicker than the regular ones. I am not a breakfast eater.  Just can't eat until noon or later, so never really got into the oatmeal idea.  However, I did get into the fresh veggie soup idea also mentioned here.  Yes, so easy and so healthy.  Took me a year and a half to lose 20 kilos.  And yes, I made sure to take about 2 kilos more than I planned off so I could eat more comfortably.  It has worked for me so far. Combine an oatmeal breakfast with a fresh vegetable soup dinner and you'll be at 20 kilos before you know.

I wondered that too Idun.  I mean he had to know before he went back what to expect.  If he was trying to prove to the world who made the attempt on his life (like we all didn't know), well, that may well cost him his life, since they didn't get him on the first go.

This is incredibly interesting and very frightening. May not be surprising to many of us, but the details and dates are very interesting.  I wonder if we will ever know the truth. https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2021/02/asia/china-wuhan-covid-truthtellers-intl-hnk-dst/

Ahhh, nice thoughts. Definitely want to dress up and go out to a restaurant.  Since we moved during the Pandemic, we have not been able to try any of the restaurants in town.  I have no idea which ones will survive, but we can't wait to give them a try. I'd like to be able to get on a bus (it is mostly bus transport that I use locally) without worrying it might kill me ! I really need a professional haircut.  The salons are open here and I see plenty of people in them, but that would be a huge reason I would not enter one, until I've been vaccinated.  Husband has been cutting my hair. It may sound silly, but I hate shopping online (and that is all we do).  I truly enjoy going to a shopping mall or an hypermarché to wander around and see what looks good/fresh, etc.  I really do miss that. And like Idun, I've been wearing the same few clothing items over the last year.  Great for reducing the amount of laundry that gets done, but I'd like to pick up a few new items and have a place to wear them ! As to vacation; we do want to go South for a visit to make sure that is where we wish to move to after this location.  I'm not sure when we will feel comfortable doing that.  OH would very much like to go visit his parents (they are in their 80's), but that requires an int'l flight.  He has said that after he is vaccinated and has waited the recommended weeks for best antibodies, he will go visit them.  They, and the extended family have all been fully vaccinated. OH also is very anxious to play tennis again.  Many of the clubs are still open for outside playing.  Private clubs that are rather expensive to join.  I have no idea if that is against the current rules or not, but we see them playing outdoors.  Assume the indoor courts are closed.  The tennis club for this town is literally a five minute walk from here and there are gorgeous clay courts in the park beside our house.  Yet the ones in the park remain closed and locked.  Only the private club has players playing outside.  He misses that a lot.  He'd normally play every other day and in leagues too.

I'm with ya Mint.  There is only so much we can do and we must look after our mental health too.  Too much worry is very bad for us. We will get there at some point.

[quote user="Ken"] I read this morning that France and Germany are now desperately trying to convince people that the AZ vaccine is good for all age groups. Germany is still sitting on over a million unused doses because of this fiasco. [/quote] Yes, I read that too.  Shameful isn't it.  I'd happily take the AZ vaccine if I could.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  So, why are they sitting on more than a million doses?  If I don't fall into the age requirement or comorbidity category (and I don't), I'm not eligible for a vaccine.  So, does that mean they'll just leave those million doses to rot/expire?   Probably.

Touchée my friend touchée !!