mint

For once, an article in the Daily Mail on this subject that is readable, interesting and credible[:P] [url]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-8235287/DOMINIC-LAWSON-No-coronavirus-lockdown-cure-ISNT-worse-disease.html[/url]

Yes, I do understand that completely.  I met a woman in the French class I was attending years ago and she told me she was living in Vienna and had recently relocated to the Dordogne. Talk about jaw-dropping; I think mine dropped a metre and I was rendered speechless.....! About Daniel Hope, I believe that I might have met him once when he was with the St Martin in the Fields Orchestra.

Norman, this is very enjoyable: [url]https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/097217-000-A/best-of-hope-home/[/url] An interlude to lift the spirits during confinement and you don't have to be any sort of music buff to enjoy this, so do try and watch, everyone else[:)]

Thank you, Norman.  Fascinating...... indeed I have used many of those words without realising; eg frais de livraison, etc. I was also thinking of puits and poids but then, on reflection, I realise that they are singular nouns just that I was confusing the "s" ending with the English plural.......aaahhhhh (cry of despair!)

So, is arrhes one of those words described in dictionaries as nfpl?  You know like toilettes (the loo and not having a wash) and retrouvailles? Can anyone think of other words like these that are always in the plural?

Lori, it sounds a bit of a faff but an osteopath that was treating OH years ago suggested using a hot-and-cold treatment.  So, ice pack for say 10 minutes then a hot pack, then cold, then hot. No harm in trying?

Yes, you are right but it makes the word look even stranger.  I have listened to how it is said so can pronounce it even if not spell it[:)] OTOH, at least I can spell "think"[:P]

Bonjour.....et me voilà![:)] Hope you are all keeping well and virus free.  I managed to keep myself super busy for the first 3 weeks of le confinement but I must admit it is now getting extremely tedious. It depresses me to look in my diary and note all the dates for various things that have been cancelled.  Plus, I have walked all of the periphery of our village practically everyday.  I can identify the barks of every single dog in the village, I swear.....grr.... Furthermore, we have had to cancel our proposed visit to Cauterets and it was something that I have been looking forward to for ages.  Still, one positive is that I learned a new French word when our leader and organiser wrote to say he had informed the proprietor of the gite but asked her to keep the arrches.  Strange word that, don't you agree?

GG, you'll have to get yourself one of those rattles that you spin round and round in your hand and that they take to football matches[:)] Don't be outdone by bongo drums......!

So, Lori, we can expect hundreds of thousands to die from the coronavirus in the US then?[:'(]

Yes, GG, I couldn't get her story out of my head.  I thought about what a relatively easy time I had in comparison.  All those RVs made for me by kindly unseen, unknown people and the VSL that ferried me back and forth over months. Somtimes you read an account like that and it leaves you shaken and humbled and, of course, impotent ultimately.

Wow, Lori, that is truly impressive. Just for interest, you might like to have a glance at this post from an American lady on a cancer forum that I am a member of.  It was posted yesterday.  I never cease to be horrified and shocked at what some people have to go through with their worry about their medical treatment ON TOP OF their cancer[6]  It is truly a dreadful, dreadful dilemma... So here it is, my biggest fear of my entire life, come to fruition right before my eyes. I was diagnosed in March, with TNBC as well as her2+ tumors. The TNBC HAS spread to my lymph node, but no where distant. TNBC is what killed both my mom and my grandma. I always knew this is what would get me, I had a plan of action, it didn't include treatment (or even diagnosis) when the cancer came.. But then I met my husband. So when I found the lump.. my instinct was to continue with my plan of inaction, but I realized how devastated I would be if he knew he had some thing killing him and chose to pretend nothing was wrong. So we discussed it. I got diagnosed, the irony is that the lump I found is the her2+ tumor.. its 2x as big as that TNBC, but the TNBC is already in my lymph node. It's so insidious. I call my her2+ cancer my 'good cancer' now. Sooo my oncologist told me chemo. Now. Like last week. Covid or not. But my insurance company decided to fk me over, they've opened a ' pre-existing condition investigation' which freezes all my benefits, and could take "some time" to complete under normal non covid circumstances. So the hosp is now considering me self pay- so they want 1/2 the cost of chemo up front to start (35k.. is  50% of the self pay discounted rate of 70k) and so that's where it stands.. I can wait out but who knows how long they can drag this out, or to hire a lawyer (but courts are closed) , or try to come up with a way to finance this. Or I guess they will refer me to the state hospital, get whatever random Dr, but they will start treatment and I'll just owe the money, this is all so flipping crazy. And I'm terrified.

Hi GG, I am delighted that you are enjoying yourself and I like that poem a lot.  You are making me feel nostalgic! Id, I thought the cold wind had gone.  Our cold wind went a few days ago and we now have winds that are warm, even in the shade. Problem with this lockdown is I am losing sense of the days and weeks and I have to look at my diary everyday to know what I am supposed to be doing.  But, of course, there is nothing in the diary safe recordings of my weight daily and my blood pressure about fortnightly. On my daily walks, I barely see anyone to say bonjour to and that is only when I am still within the village.  Once I leave the village behind, I am literally on my own.  My only companion is the cuckoo who has been there for about 3 weeks and he seems to be stalking me!  Or perhaps it's me who is stalking him as I know where he hangs out and I walk right by his tree[:)]

Thanks for coming back Lori.  Yes, that sounds excellent and so glad you are happy, after all the kerfuffle with sending your documents. Now you have this lovely doctor, you won't want to leave Paris!

I am going back to the original title of the thread. Today is one of those golden days when you are just glad to be alive.  The sun shines, the breeze is sweet and gentle, the changes of nature are all around us.  It is the sort of day that encourages irrational hope.  It's 28° on our veranda so a bit too warm for comfort.  I have just taken a walk around the garden (apologies for the gardenless) and smelt the roses, noted that the cowslips are just about over the top but the irises are blooming in all their showiness. Wishing everyone continued good health and bon courage for more confinement.  I am told that emailing people, the French now sign off with bon confinement!

Well, they don't call that the second Italian national anthem for nothing.  Always très émouvant.  Perhaps someone would suggest that they sing one of the well-known Neapolitan songs to cheer up spirits.

Thanks guys.  Have altered note to Monday night for watching Macron.  Yes, that makes sense as it will be just before the present restrictions reach the period prévue.

Thanks, betise.  Have made a note to watch tomorrow evening.

Id, this article says some of the things that your first link says: [url]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8199477/Swedish-hospitals-stop-prescribing-chloroquine-coronavirus-patients-adverse-effects.html[/url] I do wonder if Trump's personal "interest" in one of the companies producing the drug would go some way to explaining why he is so enthusiastic about it?

It seems that now the mayors of some major cities like Paris, Nice and Bordeaux have made new rules and I am becoming a bit overloaded with the different instructions. For example, in Paris, you can no longer "faire le jogging" between 19.00 and (I think) 10.00 hours.  I hear vague reports of confinement rules being made stricter but can't find out what these stricter rules are for all of France. The nearest grande ville to us is Bordeaux though that is in the neighbouring department and the mayor there is giving out reusable cloth masks to the Bordelais. In my own little village, the mairie has 2 piles of the 2 types of attestations in boxes outside that anyone can help themselves to. In the Dordogne as a whole, we have had 4 deaths since 1 March, 3 of whom were from a home for Alzheimer patients.  So, maybe we are "behind" other areas and there are at the moment no new rules. If anyone has seen or heard anything on new rules, could you please tell us what they are, svp?

Since NormanH posted an article in French about this drug, there has been a bit more background information and particularly about why Trump is.....er.....trumpetting it! This article is wordy, so you will need to read with patience and a willingness to evaluate what is undoubtedly a piece of writing that deals with a subject we don't normally glance over having a coffee. I found it very interesting. [url]https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/06/hydroxychloroquine-trump-coronavirus-drug[/url]

Nm, last time I tried sterilised milk in the UK, it was dire.  Sort of thin with no flavour to it whatsoever.  Must be the "old" sterilised milk, as you have pointed out. Idun, to be honest I can't taste the difference between UHT, fresh but pasteurised and fresh straight from the farm untreated. As we have aged, I have stopped the farm milk and cheese made from lait cru, mainly because of my OH's advanced age![:)] Then, since I had 2 bouts of norovirus one recent winter and the chemo, I have stopped using those things for myself as well. Eh bien, the things we have to do or deny ourselves merely to stay alive!!!

NickP, have you considered something like this little outfit for bin day next week? [url]https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-8192901/Amanda-Holden-takes-bin-style-sizzles-shimmering-fuchsia-evening-gown.html[/url] Don't forget to post a picture so we can all admire your style, stp!

I love that!  So French (as opposed to so British).....so it's sterilised AND had Ultra Heat Treatment?  Nm, perhaps it's the safest milk on the planet now with this virus about? [:)]

Nm, are you talking about STERILISED milk or UHT long life?  We have used the UHT long life for all of our time in France. I did miss fresh but, after I refused the pay the price (don't know about present prices to compare) and refused to keep going to the supermarket just for milk, I settled down and got used to the UHT demi écrémé. Now the sterilised stuff is a different matter altogether and, if that was the only milk available, I think I'd just have to do without altogether.