Lock down again

On Wednesday evening, M. Macron announced new anti-Covid measures. Basically, we are back in lockdown…

We can only go out for essential reasons – shopping locally, exercising, medical reasons or helping vulnerable people – and for those we must take an attestation to show.

Restaurants, bars and non-essential shops are closed

There is a 7 pm curfew. After that, you need an attestation to show you are going home from work. Essential working is allowed, but otherwise work from home.

BUT, different to last time, schools remain open, with stricter hygiene protocols in place. Which means I’ll still be “allowed out” on Fridays, to teach at Ecole St Marc, but otherwise I’m taking my lessons online. Mr FD has been working from home for 8 weeks already, so that’s set to continue.

We’re not really happy about it, but to be honest, what else can be done? Numbers of cases, and numbers of deaths, in France have been rising fairly rapidly – 47,637 new cases in the last 24 hours, and an R rate of 1.4. There has been lots of criticism, but I think that this is the only way of getting the numbers down – left to their own devices, it appears people start to forget how dangerous this virus is, and start socially mixing again, or refusing to wear masks. I’ve certainly become a bit more blasé about it all – we no longer wipe down all our shopping as it comes into the house, and I often forget to wash my hands on re-entry (despite our notices. We’ve become blind to them now!)

Of course there was the previously seen panic buying on Thursday – I went to the supermarket because it was weekly shop day. Others were there to stock up on food and toilet paper (because these things all disappeared during the last confinement. Sarcasm alert.) – I couldn’t go down the pasta/rice aisle there were so many trollies crammed into a small space!

Toilet rolls were being taken out of the hands of the shelf stackers, as they tried to put them on the shelves. It was mayhem.

Of course, we feel sorry for the hotel/restaurant next door. They opened two weeks before the first lockdown, and having had a reasonable summer, I think they were hoping for business in the run-up to Christmas. A five course Hallowe’en meal was advertised – we had already booked to go, with Friends Cathy & Richard, but that has now been cancelled. So we went yesterday evening, before the 7 pm curfew came into place: pizza and chocolate tart. Very nice! The restaurant will be doing takeaway food, as they did during the last confinement, so we will try to support them as much as possible.

So, that’s where we are. It’s going to be reviewed in 2 weeks, to see if any changes need to be made, but it’s likely to last all November, and probably into December. We have already given up on the probability of getting to see the Mums at Christmas, so it’s another just-the-two-of-us Christmas Day. Which is not a bad thing…just not what we’d hoped for!

What about you, Gentle Readers – are you locked in, locked down – or just fed up?!

An extremely tasty meal!

I’m getting a new phone for my birthday – Mr FD has chosen it (I wouldn’t know what to look for!) and organised the delivery etc. This has become necessary as my old phone (it’s about 6 years old) has become exceedingly temperamental, and refuses to do certain things. And the battery drains very quickly, and recharges very slowly, so it was decided it was About Time.

So today Mr FD kindly spent the time to download the photos on my phone onto a USB key. I’ve just been looking at them and thought I could share some with you…

When we went away for a long weekend to the Ardeche region, we stayed in a pleasant B&B – this was shortly after confinement had finished and we thought we were choosing somewhere quiet. I suppose it was, relatively speaking, but we both felt uncomfortable at the dining table for breakfast, as there was no attempt to social distance, and we were rather too close to our neighbours to feel happy. Still, no harm done!

One evening we went to a restaurant in a farm-auberge, which had been recommended. We had a wonderful meal! There was no choice, so if you were vegetarian, hard luck! But we were perfectly happy with the meal!

(Could I just say now that I HATE this new WordPress dashboard! It is nowhere near as intuitive as the old one and I don’t know how to resize the photos. I assume this will be enormous, by the look of it on the dashboard page. As will all the other photos.) Anyway…

Planche aperitif – which was a sliver of dried ham, and a rolled up little wrap-type-thing

Mise en bouche – tartare of veal – I forgot to take a photo of this!

Cheese mousse with a tomato coulis

Trout gravadlaxe

Gigot of lamb, ptato gratin, courgettes However, when the waitress arrived she apologised, saying they had run out of lamb. Instead we were offered guinea fowl – I remembered to take a photo halfway through eating it!

Cheese plate – I chose fromage blanc, which came with a jelly-type-thing made of something but I can’t remember what!! It was very nice

Chocolate myrtille crumble – again, I was halfway through eating before I remembered to take a photo!!

You might think that after that we would be stuffed to the gunnels, but actually, as all the servings were quite small, we felt well fed, but not groaning! We also had walked the kilometre or so from the B&B to the restaurant, so that helped with digestion as well.

But the most surprising thing was when we arrived, we saw a notice saying “No payment by bank card” We didn’t have enough cash, nor did we have our cheque book with us. Dissappointed, Mr FD sent me into the restaurant to explain that we would have to cancel our reservation because we didn’t have the wherewithal to pay.

“Don’t worry”, said the waitress; “You can bring us the money tomorrow.”

“We don’t have time – we’re going home tomorrow.”

“No problem. Send us a cheque when you get home…”

So, they trusted us to pay a 100€ bill by cheque at a later date!! Which, I hasten to add, we did! But I don’t think there are that many restaurants that would do that! And, according to the owner of the B&B, it’s a reasonably frequent occurrence!

Book Review: Into the Unbounded Night (3.5*)

Sorry to bring you another review immediately after the last one, but while inspecting my Net Galley “shelf” I discovered that I had read this book, but not reviewed it, so I thought I rreally ought to post the review as soon as I could!

INTO THE UNBOUNDED NIGHT

by MITCHELL JAMES KAPLAN (Pub Date 01 Sep 2020)

Proud of being both a Twenty-five Reviews or More reviewer on Net Galley…

and a Top Reviewer, (which means 3 or more of my reviews have been added to any NetGalley title details page by a publisher ) I was sent this book, free of charge, by Net Galley. This is in return for an honest review. So here it is.

The Net Galley blurb reads: When her village in Albion is sacked by the Roman general Vespasian, young Aislin is left without home and family. Determined to exact revenge, she travels to Rome, a sprawling city of wealth, decadence, and power. A “barbarian” in a “civilized” world, Aislin struggles to comprehend Roman ways. From a precarious hand-to-mouth existence on the streets, she becomes the mistress of a wealthy senator, but their child Faolan is born with a disability that renders him unworthy of life in the eyes of his father and other Romans. Imprisoned for her efforts to topple the Roman regime, Aislin learns of an alternate philosophy from her cellmate, the Judean known today as the apostle St. Paul. As the capital burns in the Great Fire of 64 AD, he bequeaths to her a mission that will take her to Jerusalem. There, Yohanan, son of Zakkai, has been striving to preserve the tradition of Hillel against the Zealots who advocate for a war of independence. Responding to the Judeans’ revolt, the Romans—again under the leadership of Vespasian—besiege Jerusalem, destroying the Second Temple and with it, the brand of Judean monotheism it represents. Yohanan takes on the mission of preserving what can be preserved, and of reinventing what must be reinvented.

I find it quite hard to say what I thought of this book. I found it quite a slow book, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but from time to time, I was picking it up with a heavy heart, rather than eagerly; it was hard going at times. The prose was beautifully written at times, and the characters were well delineated and credible.

As the lives of the main characters became interwoven, it was interesting to imagine what was going to happen next; however, I think I agree with another reviewer who wrote “

As a reader I felt that I was skirting over the surface of their lives rather than being drawn into them.

Maybe this was the problem with the book. I was never really drawn into the story; I felt like an impartial observer, instead of becoming more emotionally involved. I wasn’t eager to turn over a page to find out what happened, because I was wrapped up in the action, but rather just to continue reading what was a well written book.

Basically, while there isn’t really anything to criticise, I didn’t find there is very much to enthuse about either!

A solid 3.5 stars, rounded up because it’s better written than other books I have given only 3 stars to!

Book Review: Still Life (4.5*)

As well as being a Twenty-five Reviews or More reviewer on Net Galley…

… I’m also a Top Reviewer, which means 3 or more of my reviews have been added to any NetGalley title details page by a publisher (I bet it wasn’t for any of my 1 star reviews!!)

So, in return for a free e-copy, I give my honest opinion of:

STILL LIFE, by VAL McDERMID

The Net Galley blurb reads:

When a lobster fisherman discovers a dead body in Scotland’s Firth of Forth, Karen is called into investigate. She quickly discovers that the case will require untangling a complicated web—including a historic disappearance, art forgery, and secret identities—that seems to orbit around a painting copyist who can mimic anyone from Holbein to Hockney. Meanwhile, a traffic crash leads to the discovery of a skeleton in a suburban garage. Needless to say, Karen has her plate full. Meanwhile, the man responsible for the death of the love of her life is being released from prison, reopening old wounds just as she was getting back on her feet.

Tightly plotted and intensely gripping, Still Life is Val McDermid at her best, and new and longtime readers alike will delight in the latest addition to this superior series.

Pub Date 06 Oct 2020

I have to declare right now that I am a Val McDermid fan. I have loved all her books (except one, which I have lined up for another read) although I am less keen now on the Wire in the Blood series than I was. There was a time when I devoured the entire series one after another!

And so when I saw I could request a Val McDermid book on NetGalley I was utterly delighted. I received an unedited version, and so there were lots of type setting errors. Usually these would drive me crazy, but not this time; this was a Val McDermid book!!

I found this to be as good as her other books. Karen Pirie is a detective I like, and I find the fact that the cases are historic crimes really interesting. In this book, Karen Pirie’s investigation becomes involved in a current crime, and also outside of Police Scotland’s jurisdiction. The way the two stories are interwoven is good, and it was interesting too how a new “sidekick” is introduced.

As always with McDermid, the writing is good: not too effusive, but descriptive enough. She makes the characters believable, and sympathetic, and their interaction with each other is credible. Some might suggest that McDermid’s politics has crept into the plots too much – there is mention (not very supportively!) of Brexit, and (more supportively!) of Scottish independence. As I agree, broadly speaking, it wasn’t too intrusive; for others, it might be more of a turn off.

I have given this 4.5 stars on my blog, just because a book has to be totally engrossing for me to give it 5 stars. However, for Net Galley, which does not “do” half stars, this is definitely being upgraded to 5!

Good News for Christ Church

You might remember that we have been without a Priest since March 2019 – our Rector moved away to Rome, and so we started the process to find a new Priest-in-Charge. The problem is that we are a small congregation, with not much money to throw around, so we really need someone who can accept a smaller salary, and perhaps work in a bi-vocational capacity. Someone who spoke French would be great, so we really weren’t asking for much…

Covid helped put things back a bit, but we knew we could take our time: the diocese (the Episcopal Church in Europe) supported us, by providing two good bridging priests, who came down from Paris to give us communion, in the weeks they didn’t come, I was able to preside using already consecrated elements (and what a privilege that was). They also helped the Search committee, and supported us financially too. We are lucky enough to have a group of people willing to step up to the mark, so during lockdown, a core group of 4 of us took it in turns to lead services via Zoom, to preach, to host… And so, although the process was long, we knew God was providing every step of the way.

A couple of weeks ago Vestry (like Church Council) was able to announce that the Revd Dr Susan Carter will be joining us. She’s from East Lansing, Michigan, USA., and her arrival will depend (of course!) on all the requirements based around Covid, visas and everything else that France will want.

It would seem that God has been preparing her (and us!) for this role for a long time – she lived not far from Clermont when she was younger so she speaks French, she has bi-vocational experience, she has just retired from her job as a professor, her spouse, Linda, is also a priest (not sure what that will mean…) she is adventurous – having been part of the first women’s team to walk to the North Pole. I think the Search committee have made a great choice.

When it is published next week, I will give a link to the Convocation newsletter, so you can read more about her. But we are already getting excited about the next steps in Christ Church’s journey of faith.

I’ve seen that face somewhere before…

You may not recognise me…or perhaps you have a vague recollection of me…! Yes, I’ve been absent for a bit. I have been quite busy teaching, although I have had plenty of time to loll about catching up on “Queer Eye” too, so I’m not sure why I haven’t been blogging!

I think I’ve felt a bit tired and involved in other “stuff” to have much time for me – teaching at the school is great (mostly) and I am becoming gradually less exhausted at the end of each day, but it takes a lot of time. Not only the 5 hours that I’m paid not very much for, but the planning, for which I’m paid nothing! The company provide a planning schedule, and resources, so theoretically one can almost just go in and teach without giving it much thought; but being an experienced teacher, I won’t just leave it at that…I have to make more resources, different worksheets, extra activities….which takes up time! Of course, if the company &/or the school keep me on next year, I’ll have a lot of the stuff put by to use again, but until then I’m making extra work for myself. Still, I enjoy doing it, so at least that’s something!

On other teaching, work has dried up from the two language schools, but I’m hoping that as companies look at their budgets at the end of the year, they’ll realise that there’s still money for training (one can dream…) Also I have one student who is thinking about getting a small group of her friends’ children together for a lesson on Wednesday afternoon. So things aren’t going too badly. I like having time on Wednesday afternoon to dpo the shopping between students – especially as Mr FD is still working from home (and fed up of it!) so he can’t do the shopping while he’s in Roanne.

I’ve also had sermons to prepare, cleaning to do, and friends to see (very occasionally!)

I won’t be blogging in the next few days though…I should have been going to Nice from Wednesday to Sunday for the Convocation of the Episcopal Church in Europe: a train trip down, a nice hotel, a sociable time interspersed with business, some nice meals out…But of course, with Covid, and the fact that Nice (like a lot of France) is a “hot spot”, the Convention in Real Life has been cancelled. Instead I’m going to be stuck in front of a computer for hours on end… Thursday 18h-20.30; Friday 9.00-13.00, and 15.00-18.00; Saturday 9.00-12.00 and 13.00-16.30. Huzzah, she says in insincere tones. I can’t wait.

It will still be interesting, I’m sure, but without the social side and the getting together with people that we only see very occasionally from other parishes in Germany, or Italy, or Belgium, it will seem strangely flat. Still, nothing to be done.

Don’t worry

I’m fine.

Just busy/ knackered / not motivated to blog.

I think I’ll be back in a bit.