mint

Thank you for all your messages. What I will do is put the things I want in my panier and wait till after the weekend to see what new announcement there might be before payment. I suppose "essential" means different things to different people?[:D]

Does anyone know whether they are now delivering other goods than essentials?

Lori, here's all the lowdown on it[:)] [url]https://www.doctissimo.fr/sante/epidemie/coronavirus-chinois/tests-serologiques-covid-19[/url] Thanks for that, Norman; very useful to know.

Thank you, Judith.  Certainly a great sense of relief.  Now I feel ready for the next stage of déconfinement![:)]

Lori, I feel exactly like you.  We didn't come to France until both our cats had died and could be buried together. Lost our dog in 2017 and talking about her can still bring tears. Now there are 2 cats that we feed but I do not want to own them and they are not allowed in all the rooms.  They seem to have other places that they "visit" as they are not always hungry.

Pomme, I have completed it![:D]

Norman, thank you so much for that link.  I am deeply troubled and it was good to see that bastions of church and state have spoken out. I have rung the friends I mentioned in an earlier post.  They are just so ill and frail but they are brave and shoulder their burdens with complete resignation because they see that as the right thing to do. It's so utterly wrong to talk about right and left in political terms.  This is about right and wrong.

The C of E hasn't been called the Tory party at prayer for nothing but just look at this quote: Philip Mounstephen, the bishop of Truro, said: “In this country, government and the rule of law depend largely and rightly on the principle of consent. But that depends in turn on the consistency, integrity & impartiality of govt and the application of the law. That is now hugely strained. A moment of real and serious concern.” I don't know who in this forum is "concerned" and who thinks "well, so what".  As I have explained I feel anger and pain at one and the same time.  But, not on account of myself.  What the UK government does or doesn't do affect me only marginally but there are so many stories out there about people who have made the most heroic and selfless efforts in their bid to protect others and we hear this about a PM protecting his aide in the most obnoxious manner. On the BBC news this morning, one of the presenters read out an email from 2 parents who both had the virus and who had 3 small children, 2 of whom were disabled.  Their family were 65 miles away and they elected to stay put and muddle through because they didn't want to infect others.  Their selflessness compared to the attitude of Cummings and of Johnson is stark indeed. So, what's happened to proportionality and fairness?  Surely those who were instrumental in making the rules should follow them themselves?  Yes, others have broken the rules but the rule-makers certainly are proportionally more culpable when they break the rules that they impose on everyone else?

Oh, Alan, I just can't laugh at this affair because I am so cross for dear friends who have followed all the rules and this would feel like a slap in the face to many people. There are 2 particular friends that are in my mind this evening and they are both in their 80s with several undelying health problems between them.  They have conscientiously self-isolated since the beginning after instructions that they must do this for 3 months.  TBH, I don't know how either can continue much longer although they are putting a very brave face on it. They recently had news of the birth of their first great grandson and have yet to see him in the flesh.  I just feel so very sad for all the people who have had to struggle with so much during these dreadful months.

Pomme, I can't thank you enough.  I fully appreciate that you have taken time to write such a clear and full reply.

Well Boris, being incapable of letting go of his security blanket, has backed Cummings.  Unbelievable?  You'd think so but why be surprised?  Anyone staying alert (isn't that the latest slogan?) could have foretold this. Just relieved that I hadn't been following Boris' lockdown rules[:D] I must say I'd be more inclined to obey rules that apply right across the board to everybody, WITHOUT exception.

Nearly there, folks, so please help with missing box.  Which box, svp, for bank and national interest savings? Thank you

[quote user="minnie"]I so agree Mint. We normally walk 4 or 5 kms daily and have done for more than 10 years..I photocopied the form, including our signature, so all I had to do was date and time really. I felt a real sense of freedom when we didn't have to do that any more.....strange really. However we managed to do loads in the garden during lockdown without wondering if anyone was going to call![/quote] Oh, minnie, I too loved that sense of freedom even though, here in our little village, we mostly have gardens and open spaces.  Yes, it was strange, to have that "real sense of freedom" as you have so aptly called it[:D] It was raining here all that day.  But I just HAD to go out twice and walked a little way, much less than 1 km but, no paperwork and no fear of being challenged........bliss......

Yes, minnie, I remember that.  Well over 70 thousand attended each day over the 3 days.  I have read that there were several cases with postcodes near Cheltenham. Also, to abandon testing around March 12.....sheer lunacy!  Plus open frontiers to people coming in from all round the world, untested, untracked, unquarantined. Then the lockdown was nothing like ours.  To begin with, people could exercise outdoors for as long as they liked and a ridiculously low fine like 30 quid if you flouted the rules. I can't tell you how difficult I found going outdoors for only 1 hour and only 1 km from the house.  By week 4, I was feeling quite depressed.  I had to keep reminding myself that we were at least all alive and that staying in was a small price to pay.

Excellent post PaulT[:)]  Thank you.

Of course, he didn't make all the decisions but as the Prime Minister (first among equals) he has to shoulder the burden and take the responsibility. That's what happens in most organisations.  Anything goes wrong and it's the boss what cops it, right?

Haven't done a body count this evening as I just HAD to out for a walk as the countryside looks absolutely ravishing.  Hope it's a better one than yesterday's.....I fear the war might last the summer long and that the casualties might tote up considerably!

Cheers!

Please excuse me for interrupting, Chessie.  Judith, I sent you a PM.

Sorry for not letting anyone else get a word in edgewise but Norman, please just cast your eye over this: [url]https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/may/19/uk-coronavirus-live-latest-updates[/url]

Whilst no fan of Boris (far from it), I have to be fair and admit that, in this instance, most countries in the West had acted wrongly and in utter ignorance. Moreover, whether through arrogance or sheer disregard of facts, we thought we had the "science" and took no advice or observation of how some Asian countries like Taiwan and South Korea were dealing with the crisis and dealing with it well enough to limit deaths and kept their economies going. BTW, I heard Macron in his speech where he apologised to his nation and, again last night, giving honest reasons but not excuses for his mistakes. Would at least be something if Johnson and his government would have the humility to say, sorry, we messed up.  Even this afternoon, I heard Hancock blame, first of all the virus and then PPE providers for the 10 000+ deaths in old peoples' homes and other care establishments.  Just where does the buck passing stop?

ET, I'd done what you did but never, alas, on your huge scale.  I used to put the cash transfers into instant access savings accounts. OH and I still have, and use, the 2 beautiful stainless steel Seiko watches I got from taking out a new card.  They were near top of the range and were admired when we took them into a jeweller's recently to have the bracelets shortened and new batteries put in. BTW both OH and I have lost weight in old age and my wrist is now the size of that of a scrawny child's......oh dear!

Yes, they are beautiful looking things; the mature ones have an irridescent shine to their shells.  I could imagine them looking stunning set in gold earrings[:-))] It's open warfare here:  Mint against Japanese beetles[:D]  So far the score is one all; I grasped a wasp by mistake (didn't have my reading glasses on) and the pain is really bad and the thumb is twice the size of the other one!  So the beetles are using camouflage weapons!  Well, I have promised them a real fight. OH probably suffers the most; he'd always remove unwanted creepy crawlies with extreme care and send them off elsewhere.  I remember when we had a mouse problem in our previous house and he'd set up "humane" traps charged with cheese and goodies.  And, in the morning, we'd find all the bait gone and no mice!  I don't think he likes me gloating whenever I've scored a hit and even took to showing off the biggest beetle I have caught so far......a good centimetre in length![:D] Pip, did you notice if it was just the pink roses they attacked?  I haven't found any of the blighters in the red rosiers but always in the pink ones.

Than you, Judith, you dear kind lady[:)]  You have hit the nail on the head and exposed my total lack of relationship with "les chiffres"[:P].  Calculators?  Yes, funny how they give me different results all the time[8-)] For a short while, I had a temporary job, sitting next to an accountancy clerk.  Tap, tap, tap next to me whilst I was still squinting at the column of figures in dismay.  Then, I did what I noticed her doing.  She'd run a ruler down the column so that she would only read one figure at a time.  Genius!  I thought, now why didn't I think to do that?[:-))] However, more or less, I have hidden my almost total lack of figure-nous in all the various jobs I have had in my life.  And, believe me, I have survived in environments where bar and pie charts, scattergrams, moving averages, mean this and that (and that goes for the bosses too!), co sines and parellelograms of forces were everyday norms. But worry not, I'll get there, possibly by the end of next week, when I'll celebrate with the champagne that someone kindly gave us for Christmas.  You'll see when I'll return in triumph to the forum, bathed in self-satisfaction!!!

Nomoss, I meant I HAVEN'T forgotten the Christmas bonus because you said don't forget the Christmas bonus.  See, I haven't forgotten that you said don't forget[:D]