French Bandit

Have you seen this French Bandit? She was last seen at the grocery store...

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Latest coronavirus numbers in France (see here):
Coronavirus Cases: 44,550
Deaths: 3,024
Recovered: 7,927

Life on a Balcony

Life on a Balcony...
... starts with applauding the health workers, moves on to community music, and, yes, must include sunsets!

Drive-Through Groceries

Last week, I spent hours slogging through the website for Auchan Drive, one of our local drive-through grocery stores. It took so long mainly because *everyone and his dog* was doing the same thing! By the time I got an order in, they were out of everything fresh - I loaded up on heavy and long-lasting items instead.

So, I got my appointment for picking up my groceries - a week's delay - and went this morning. Here's how it went.

First off, we're in confinement, and the rules for each town are somewhat different - no one knows all of them. It's been published that you can go outside alone, with your attestation. You can exercise within 2 kilometers of your home, but no farther. You can go shopping, but "not too far"... A friend confirmed that the police warned him that Balaruc was too far from Sète (11 km). Well, Auchan Drive is 5 km away from home, but still in Sète. No one stopped me, so who knows if this distance is ok...

I put my bags in the trunk, and my cart in the back seat, and drove off. Finding Auchan wasn't too difficult - good signs, and it has its own roundpoint. First stop, the electronic kiosk.

The kiosk is the only place on the whole trip that is not contactless. You can swipe your Auchan card past the reader, but then you have to use the touchscreen and credit card keypad to complete your checkout and get your receipt. OK, I had my pack of bleach-wipes with me. What I should have done was immediately wipe my hands and cards after finishing there. But, it was my first time, and so I didn't know whether there would be further contact. Also, I had two orders to pick up, and so I had to go through the entire process twice :-(

At the end, the screen tells you which numbered slot to park in. I drove there, unlocked the trunk, and the fellow (covered head to toe in protective gear) scanned the barcode on my receipt, opened the trunk, and loaded in my groceries. He didn't put them in the bags (I had wondered about that), but was very careful to arrange the items so they didn't clank around, and didn't break my eggs. When he was done, he said so - I wiped down my hands and car, and drove back home.

Back at chez moi, I loaded all those loose items into my cart (man, was that heavy!), swiped my bleach-wipe along the trunk handle, and got everything all inside. Done!

Self-Isolating

The last time I was outside our apartment was last week - we both went to a group lunch on Wednesday

Then I went for a doctor's appointment at the hospital on Thursday, and Rick voted on Sunday.

On that same weekend, our Prime Minister called for social distancing, and the internet provided all sorts of information about how long the coronavirus survives on surfaces.

We also got illustrations on how social distancing works to contain the spread of the virus

So many people were not paying attention, that Macron and our Minister of the Interior added appeals to our citizenship, our solidarity.

(for me, for you, for us, I'm staying home)

Unfortunately, the new rules for self-isolating, for confining yourself to home, and for limiting the number of people in one place, caused a bottleneck at the supermarket entrance. Tuesday morning, the crowd waiting to get into the market was waaay too bunched up. A little later, they had gotten a little more organized, but still, it was not someplace I wanted to be!

Fortunately, even with the limited supplies, our Coronavirus War doesn't come with the sorts of rationing seen during WWII...

1 week supply for 1 person

We did start rationing our fresh vegetables - normally, we get some at every meal, and we cut out one per day.

We spent an enormous amount of time slogging through the Auchan Drive (drive-through groceries) website. It was overloaded, and just couldn't keep up. We eventually got an order made, but couldn't get an appointment to pick it up until Monday! And, there were no veggies or milk (or many other things) available, at all! The next day, we set up another trip, this time for Wednesday. After 3 years in France with nothing but fresh vegetables, we will be reminded, next week, just what frozen green beans and broccoli are like...

Given that the objective is to go out as little as possible, to stay home as long as possible, our approach is to eke out our supplies, and hope that the supermarkets settle down and restock.
Today, I tested that theory. I filled in my attestation, and drove off.

The attestation - fill in your name, birthdate, and address, check off the reason you're out, sign and date it, and carry it and your ID with you. Yesterday, French police gave out over 4,000 tickets, of 135€ minimum.

My shopping results? FANTASTIC!
I got there in the middle of lunchtime, and there was no line at all! Even better, the shelves were nearly fully stocked! It was such a relief. I decided against buying UHT milk (I've had enough, thank you), and kept myself from loading up on anything else (well, not much anyway). All throughout the store, people were calm and friendly, making sure to keep their distance from one another. At the check out, the counter between the clerk and customers had a new plexiglass barrier, to help enforce the distances. When I left, I was directed to go out a different way (avoiding the people coming in the entrance). As I was leaving at 2:15, there was a short line starting, but nothing at all like the mess on Tuesday morning!

So, today's (late) lunch was a sandwich, on a *fresh* baguette! Miam, miam!

Cancelling in the Era of Coronavirus

My chore for the day was to cancel a few appointments, as we're avoiding all non-essential contacts these days.
I had just started a kiné (physical therapy) series, which now falls into that category. I called, having my French all laid out in advance - not needed; the secretary responded immediately, saying that the office was closed.
Well, that was the easy one! I next called the hospital, which has a blood test lab, to figure out how to get my results sent instead of having to pick them up (in person!). I also haven't paid for them yet, but France isn't so concerned about that timetable 🎉. Anyway, I called the main line, understood the voice tree (amazingly!), and got connected to the lab. Hmm. I was told to see a private clinic. But I've already given the blood, I need to get the results. (??) Ah! The lab is closed now (it's now only for hospitalized patients). Sooo... My next step is to call my doctor (in a few days), and see what he can do. For that matter, my appointment with him may very well be cancelled or (hopefully) turned into a phone call.
The last item was to contact my foot doctor, also at the hospital, and see if they could simply get my foot scan results directly from the lab there. I called the main line again, asked for my doctor, and got the message - his office is closed!
The real message is that here, in the Era of Coronavirus, all these loose ends related to non-urgent, routine care, remain loose.
And that's OK.

UPDATE: Turns out, I wouldn't have been able to go inside tomorrow anyway - Midi-Libre news

One Week in Corona-Ville

One Week in Corona-Ville

An awful lot changed in just one week, here in Sète...

• On Monday, my English conversation workshop met as usual, and, as usual, we voted to continue next week.
• Tuesday, I went to the hospital lab for my annual check of a whole lotta blood tests (the nurse managed to hold all the tubes in one hand, but just barely). I went to physical therapy (for a nodule on my foot) that afternoon. I got groceries, and cooked for our Wednesday outing. Later, I heard the news that the Escale, scheduled for mid-April, was now cancelled. Then, the WHO announced that the coronavirus had become a pandemic.
• Wednesday, my French/English group met for our monthly potluck. There was quite a bit of discussion about the economic havoc to come, between the cancelled Escale and the foreseen reduction in cruise ships coming to port. After a short discussion about whether to meet in April, we left it at "probably," but we would talk about it again the week before.
• Thursday, I went back to the hospital, this time for a scan of my foot. My nodule is 3mm X 10mm, and on the edge of the tendon (much better than being in the middle). We arranged to have friends over for dinner next week. That night, I heard the news that Sète had had its first coronavirus case confirmed - I had been at the hospital at the same time. Macron addressed the nation, closing schools, and urging us to reduce our social contacts. 2,876 confirmed cases
• Friday, I had a very poor night's sleep, so cancelled my morning physical therapy, but scheduled another for next Tuesday. I wrote to my English workshop group, suggesting we stop, and all agreed. Gatherings of over 100 people are banned. 
• Saturday, our Prime Minister announced the closure of cafes, shops, restaurants, nightclubs, and cinemas. We cancelled dinner with our friends. I, like many, signed up for drive-through groceries. I haven't tried it out yet.
• Sunday, Rick walked to his polling place and voted. France, a country of 63.5 million people, has reported more than 4,400 confirmed cases.

So, what's on the agenda for next week? Basically, stay home as much as possible. Tomorrow, I will have to call the hospital and see what I can do instead of going in - I need to get my blood test and foot scan results, ask about physical therapy, and arrange to pay for my tests. Since all non-urgent surgeries and consultations are delayed, I expect that my appointment next month to assess progress will be delayed. Likewise, I'll call and cancel my physical therapy appointments, and ask about what I can do at home instead (although I have a pretty good idea).

We have to periodically assess our need for groceries, and put that off for as long as possible. We decided that the need would be driven by veggies rather than bread, which will now be a treat (unbelievable approach here in France!). The goal is to reduce our frequency of physically interacting with others. I expect to have some fairly strange meals on the day or two before shopping trips!

Meanwhile, social networks are producing some amusing new words!

• vacations spent at home became stay-cations, which are now Corona-cations
• all this self-isolation is expected to produce a baby boom - those born 9 months from now will be known as The Coronials

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France's coronavirus timeline so far:

• 1st case in France, January 24
• 2 1/2 weeks in the hospital is usual
• end February, several cases derived from Italy, including Montpellier, our nearest large city
• pandemic announced March 10
• if we succeed at flattening our curve, we could be tailing off at the end of June (that's my estimate)

Pollen Update

I was a little suspicious of the results of yesterday's pollen report:
1) websites are notorious for bugs
2) "alder" is alphabetically the first tree on the list, so was likely taken as the default
3) it's definitely cypress pollen season (we've been "red zoned" for weeks)
 So, I did some checking. Obviously, I couldn't check the website code, but I did check typical pollen counts for Sète by type and time of year.

Here's alder (Sète area is yellow)

And here's cypress (Sète area is red)

I suspect that our ferocious wind blowing through the apartment yesterday brought in an extra dose of cypress pollen...
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Typical Pollen Counts

Alder Pollen

Today, my eyes (and nose, and sinuses) told me that I am allergic to Alder pollen...

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Air quality in Sète