Lockdown conditions in France

[CroissantsAtDawn]

Ive seen lots of threads with people worrying about lockdown.and how they would cope/ it would be enforced.

Last night, following the President's announcement I received a text message from the government confirming the lockdown for 15 days and linking to a site with details.

From 12 today we are only allowed out to go to work if work from home isnt possible, buy groceries, see a doctor, help elderly/vulnerable family in need (with reminder about barrier actions), to let a dog do its business or for individual physical activity close to home.

Each time you need a paper dated and signed explaining why you are out. Infringements are fined 38-135 euros. The paper can be downloaded and printed, shown on your phone or just hand written.

100 000 police and army personnel are being deployed to enforce the conditions.

No mention of how children can exercise. Just that parks etc are closed and there should be no family or friends gathering.

We are going to test going out early for run with 1 DC each and hope that is allowed in "individual activity". If its not I ll stand on the doorstep and watch them run up and down the road (2 highly active boys living in a flat....)

Nice to see the thread carrying on.

I went for a walk yesterday round the commercial area of our arrondissement, having stuck to the quieter residential streets to date... I can report that- for now at least - our essential shopping needsare being met thanks to the fromageries, thé boulangeries, bio shops, the artisanal coffee roasters, the very posh butchers and traiteurs are all open! Lockdown French style.

@missclimpson

I think we are actually eating more indulgent meals atm! More time to cook, less eating out, trying to use up what’s in the freezer etc. We had a lovely Macsween haggis with whisky and mushroom sauce last night: not something I’d usually attempt on a busy Wednesday night - we are usually running the kids from one activity to the next at that time!

That sounds nice @Watchagotcha. Yes we are finding all sorts of things at the bottom of the freezer. Tomorrow I am doing a lentil and aubergine stew with spices and pomegranate molasses. I forgot to buy the pomegranate molasses on our last trip to England, can't get it round here, so ordered a bottle from Amazon last month. Phew.
Did anyone else hear the church bells last night? So lovely.

Wow - all your culinary endeavours are putting me to shame! I'm afraid that we are eating pretty much the same meals we always eat on rotation. Which is to say quick and easy evening meals mostly. We are both working from home but if anything are busier than usual so don't have a lot of time.

I'm also a bit worried about ingredients so we are keeping things simple with stuff that can easily be replaced with store cupboard ingredients. So things like lettuce and vinaigrette, tomato salad, frozen spinach and then a grilled meat from the freezer.

Yes we're cooking the same meals as usual. Our brains are too fried to think of new things

DH regularly spends 10 hours a day on the phone and is exhausted with it. But he's trying to save the business which supplies meals to hospitals but also restaurants, canteens, schools etc so trying to juggle a lot of changes. Increase production to hospitals and save a lot of perishable goods from going to waste...as well as juggling 1000s of employees.

It makes a huge difference if you are working from home as well as juggling school age kids. I only do 15 hrs a week, and a lot of that is generated by the school being open (school administration). So I have a lot of spare time. If we were both working at DHs pace (teacher) we’d be living out if Picards

Nothing wrong with Picards! Their Italian style pizza is particularly good.

It snowed in Provence last night...

My cupboard is full of tinned tomatoes and chickpeas and I'm running out of new ideas.

Yes please eat from Picards, DH supplies them some stuff (made in France!)

Seriously I find Picards rather good for some stuff. I was against frozen food but it coverted me (their gougeres are very popular here!)

Easy meal I discovered as a student in France: ratatouille (homemade) with lardons, crushed chillies and rice.

Or boursin, lardons and leeks served with pasta.

Picard are good for frozen veg (incl chopped onions) and fruit, if you've room in your freezer. And frozen pastry/bread/rolls.
I went to the baker's today, as I'm trying to support local shops. I heard someone sneeze loudly in the atelier, followed by the boss shouting "ton coude, merde!", which made me think I might give them a miss from now on...

lol I’m not dissing Picard at all! I agree their Italian pizza is the only frozen one that tastes like pizza :-) I was just trying to reassure those that don’t have time to come up with gourmet meals that easy options are fine too.

@AuldAlliance

Re. snow...We had fondue two nights ago!! Another dinner unearthed from the freezer - we should have waited as temps have gone right down, despite the sunshine. DH is complaining as I swapped us all to summer duvets last week!

That sounds delicious @CroissantsAtDawn.
I remember when I was a child in the fifties we had family staying with us who cooked spaghetti and marmite every night. My grandmother was horrified.
(This is in contravention of the Mumsnet opinion that spaghetti was never seen in the UK until about 1985). 😂

I put all my boots away in storage as it was 20° last week.
Lots of people here very worried now about harvests after the cold snap.

Yes we like the pain au chocolat and croissants from Picards. I did do the bakery once but decided better to just get everything from Picard when Im in there anyway. And Im limiting stuff like that cos its bulky and not very nutritious. So its a case of buy 1 bag and feast the next morning

Its cold but beautiful sun in Paris.

My friend in the Vercors (near Grenoble) woke to over 10cm of snow this morning... they had raclette for lunch!

It is cold and sunny here in the Vendée but it has been a very long time since we have seen snow. I was working in the garden in my t-shirt yesterday, this afternoon I will need my fleece.

Mmm raclette... as I say our fromageries are still open!

The wind is very cold here in Brittany today, but the sun is shining We are one of the least affected regions of the virus at the moment, it is awful to see what is going on in the Grand Est and Ille de France.
I thought I'd made my last tartiflette a couple of weeks ago but looking at the temperatures forecast for the week-end I don't think so.
Some good things have come out of the confinement - fewer car trips for nothing, managing a weekly rather than several times a week trip to the local supermarket. I'm glad there is no aggressive panic buying at mine as there seems to still be in the UK.
DH and I are working from home, DS (13) and DD (19) don't have enough school and Fac work to do but there are plenty of jobs to occupy them.

I think Macron is against the opinion of the scientists and doctors at the moment who want to tighten up confinement regarding exercise. I hope he stays like that. I would go mad (so would my border collie) without my daily run (where I cross nobody!)

DD has very little school work to do which is worrying as she's in Terminale. She's really stressing over the OIB exams and whether they'll get back to school in May.

It's freezing here in Pays de Gex today. It was -1 this morning

Local casino yesterday. Shelves are empty of all charcuterie, lardons etc. No flour, loo roll, A4 printer paper. No square bread, no butter. There is fresh meat and veg.

All in all there was little chance of a full shop. Still enough wine for the meantime.

Anyone been to Lidl ? How is their restocking?

My DB now has the virus in the UK but they were incredibly cavalier so I'm not surprised. I'm more worried about those they'll have infected in the West Country on their multi-family last minute short break. The utter stupidity is difficult to believe.

Our local Leclerc (Haut Rhin, so tons of cases) is fully stocked, no shortages. Everything is constantly cleaned and disinfected, many people wearing gloves and masks, everybody keeping their distance.

But yes working from home with small children is ..interesting. ONe would think that oh I'll have all the time now to clean the basement and redecorate, but what it really means is that you do childcare and homeschooling during the day and work when they're in bed..

MadameF I'm keeping my fingers crossed as well, it makes a massive difference if you can just go out for a run, and I also never meet anybody.

Yes. We don't have time to do any extra jobs. Last weekend we just played lots of board and card games as a family to make up for all the tension and shouting during the week as we tried to juggle everything

Maybe we'll do a deep clean at some point in the next 4-6 weeks...DH has already done the windows. Can't see us doing more than that. Fortunately I donated loads of old clothes just before lockdown.

Our local franprix (Paris, very residential area) had pretty empty shelves today. DH got the last loaf of bread and there were several other things out of stock. We normally do a big hypermarche shop once or twice a month then weekends just buy meat and fruit and veg, not from the little supermarkets.

For terminale I'd focus on revision and practice exam papers from the internet. If nothing else, it'll help her be calm and feel more prepared.

@NonUrinatInVentum As far as anyone knows for sure, there is no decision as yet on the bac (and hence for the OIB) so it would be fair that the teachers aren't speculating or telling you anything that isn't decided or official...I don't think they know any more than we do!
www.letudiant.fr/bac/les-modalites-du-bac-2020-seront-precisees-d-ici-10-jours.html
But generally for students all over France it is horribly unsettling

JOURNAL DE CONFINEMENT

JOUR 1

Mercredi 18 mars. Premier jour à quatre à la maison. Journée ensoleillée, les enfants ont pu profiter du jardin. Pas encore de nouvelles de la maîtresse, j'imagine qu'il faut le temps de s'organiser. Ce midi, apéritif en famille, jeux l'après-midi ; Mathilde avait fait un gâteau au chocolat pour le goûter. Petit air de vacances !

JOUR 2

Jeudi 19 mars. Première tonte de l'année ! J'adore l'odeur de l'herbe coupée. Les arbres sont en bourgeons, les tulipes sortent de terre, les premiers jours de printemps sont toujours agréables !
Foot avec les enfants qui ont fini par se disputer, comme toujours. La vie s'organise tranquillement.

JOUR 3

Vendredi 20 mars. Les premiers devoirs sont tombés pour Mathis : révisions sur les divisions. Surtout rester calme...
Léa fait des dessins pour papa et maman. Trop mignon.

JOUR 5

Dimanche 22 mars. Le jardin est au carré, on dirait Versailles ! Comme quoi il y a toujours du bon à prendre ! Mathilde a les mains dans la farine la moitié du temps : gare aux kilos en trop !
Léa a épuisé la moitié du stock de pages blanches, c'est moche pour la planète.
Côté divisions, on rame...

JOUR 7

Mercredi 25 mars. Si Mathis me demande encore une fois ce qu'est un dividende, je lui fais manger son cahier !
Léa a enfoncé toutes les pointes de feutres et chouine à longueur de journée.
Mathilde s'est lancée dans la confection d'un gâteau roumain à la purée de marrons et aux pruneaux. Est-ce vraiment une bonne idée ? Le temps commence à sembler long.

JOUR 10

Samedi 28 mars. Je crois que mon fils est con, j'ai abandonné la division. On a une semaine de retard sur le travail envoyé par la maîtresse. J'ai vomi le gâteau aux marrons.

JOUR 11

Dimanche 29 mars. La caisse à outil est nickel, j'ai rangé mes clefs plates par ordre de grandeur, les marteaux par ordre croissant de poids. J'ai trié tout ce qui pouvait se trier dans la maison : clous, vis, boutons, punaises (par couleurs), slips.. Je commence à voir flou.

JOUR 14

Mercredi 1er avril. On continue sur le passé simple. La décence m'oblige à me taire. ..

JOUR 15
Je rédige une lettre à l'attention du pape pour faire canoniser la maîtresse de mon fils. J'ai envie d'écouter Céline Dion en passant l'aspirateur dans le garage. Je crois que ça va pas le faire.

JOUR 16

Vendredi 3 avril. « Les enfants prenâmes le goûter sur la terrasse ». Bon c'est fois-ci c'est clair, Mathis n'aura pas non plus le prix Nobel de littérature... J'ai envie d'épouser sa maîtresse...je crois que je commence à délirer...
Léa regarde la télé H 24.
Mathilde a commencé une pièce montée à cinq étages. Je le sens pas trop. J'ai déjà pris cinq kilos...

JOUR 17

Samedi 4 avril. Je crois que j'ai chopé un Gilles de la Tourette avec ce putain de passé simple de merde !
La pièce montée s'est cassé la gueule.
J'ai des hallucinations, les dessins de ma fille me parlent !

JOUR 18

Dimanche 5 avril. Pour la première fois de ma vie, j'ai prié Dieu...

JOUR 19

J'ai bouffé la page du livre de conjugaison. Problème réglé...

JOUR 20

Passé la journée à chercher le chien, on l'a perdu !

JOUR 21

Merde, c'est vrai, on n'a pas de chien ! J'attaque ma cinquième bière de la journée.
Léa ressemble à un lapin qui aurait attrapé la Myxomatose.

JOUR 30

36 mars. Je suis sûr d'avoir vu passer la maîtresse de Mathis dans la pâture derrière chez nous : elle promenait son Bescherelle en laisse.
Je vais reprendre un ricard …

JOUR 31

J'ai les dents qui grattent, je transpire des yeux. Je me rends compte que mon slip est à l'envers. Comme je le porte au-dessus mon pyjama, j'ai l'air encore plus con.

JOUR 32

An 3020 après ma belle-mère. Plus de farine dans les magasins, Mathilde est prostrée sur une chaise dans la cuisine, elle fait la conversation au four.
Mathis essaye de diviser le passé simple. Léa bave devant la télévision. Les stocks de Ricard sont épuisés. Au secours...

JOUR 40

37 avril 2028. Oh putain on a remonté le temps ! Il se passe des trucs bizarres... Il y a une dame dans ma cuisine qui pleure en regardant le four, je ne sais pas du tout qui c'est. Et cette petite assise dans le coin qui regarde en ricanant, elle me file je jetons. De toute façon je ne sais plus comment je m'appelle. Je ne sais même plus pourquoi j'écris. C'est la fin...

JOUR 50

Il s'est passé quelque chose. Il y a des gens partout, on entend « c'est fini ! », « C'est fini ! », « Plus de confinement ! ». Je ne sais pas ce qu'il se passe. Je sors pour voir. Je m'y reprends à trois fois avant de savoir enfin passer la baie vitrée. Je respire à pleins poumons. Je tombe dans les pommes. Direction les urgences.

JOUR 60

Vendredi 15 mai. Reprise du travail depuis une semaine. Mathilde, Mathis et Léa vont bien. La vie a repris son cours normal, si ce n'est que j'ai du cholestérol, du diabète, des troubles de la personnalité (mon double ne parle qu'au passé simple et cherche à diviser tout ce qu'il peut, c'est un peu pénible...) Mais bon nous en sommes sortis vivants ! Rendez-vous demain chez la psy, 15h30...