Life in Lockdown - Almost Two Weeks! (Revisited)

OK we're gonna try this again. Now the video link goes to YouTube, which does work!

Virus or no virus, it's still Spring! And within our allotted 1 km from home we found these incredible tulips.

Some random thoughts and impressions—I feel a bit distracted.

We’ve kinda fallen off the map, blogwise. We’ve all been blindsided by this Cornonavirus and its consequences, and still don’t know what to make of it. I feel like we’ve been on a forced vacation—in spite of all the things we could be doing, it’s, like, vacation! I think I’ll just sit here and stare out the window…  Really. Every time I sit down to write, nothing happens. So Paula is doing this one, I’m just commenting.

Looks like we are in for the long haul, at least till the end of April. Whether you read any news or not the reality is that the Covid virus is here and it’s not going away any time soon. Not to be dramatic but the world as we knew it—is no longer. The future—who knows!

So what are we doing? Life either seems to be going really, really fast or really, really slow depending on mood and time of day.

There are some wonderful, amusing and touching moments as we travel inside and outside our apartment.

(Yeah, even the French can be funny in a crisis.)

 We live on the 7^th floor of an apartment complex. Being in a city is very different from living in the ‘burbs; we’re much closer to our neighbors, for one thing, and there’s more of a sense of “we’re all in this together.” Every night at 8 PM (20:00) there is 3-4 minutes of clapping, drumming, shouting, whistling, cheering for all the people who are on the front lines with this—medical personnel, grocery store clerks, delivery drivers, pharmacies, long and short haul truck drivers, food producers. 

If you don't see the video link, click here to go directly to YouTube

Every morning at 6AM a delivery truck comes to re-stock the grocery store right below our building. It used to annoy us; now we say: yeah!! More re-stocking! Full store shelves!

Entrance to The Mall. All that's open now is the pharmacy and a large supermarket. Guards ensure there's not too many people inside, and lines on the ground keep people well spaced.

We are spending time doing Zoom, Skype and FaceTime calls, checking in with family and friends. We’ve even started doing Netflix Party movie nights (but only in the same time zone). It’s pretty cool—each person signs in to watch a movie at the same time and you can chat and stop the movie to make popcorn or go to the bathroom.

Things are pretty calm here in France. The stay-at-home and social distancing is being taken very seriously. Every time we step into the street we are required to have a paper with us, our “attestation,” stating our name and address and why we are out and about (work, grocery shopping, doctor visit, family care, exercise). Yes, we can go out and walk around, but only for one hour a day, and no more than one kilometer (about 2/3 mile) from home. 

After watching what happened in China (very strict) to Italy and Spain (not strict at first) and seeing the difference in outcomes it seems pretty clear that the tough-at-first approach, although difficult, is the most effective for “flattening the curve.” Here is a link to a great article—The Hammer and the Dance—that explains why isolation is so important.

More great moments even in the seriousness of it all:

 I went to the Asian store to get Thai spices (it’s within 1 km of our place!) and the owner was playing fabulous 30s jazz on a record player – so we spent a few moments dancing in the aisles, a careful 6 feet apart.

I’m getting good at pressing the elevators buttons with my elbow

I’ve started taking photos of our meals, arranging them artistically (for me) and giving them fancy French menu descriptions. I keep threatening to post them on Instagram.

Déjeuner sur le balcon (aka Lockdown Lunch):
Salade grecque et chèvre feuilleté épinard avec vin rosé 

            Neighbors are creative. A street near us had people hanging from their apartments with one guy on his balcony calling out numbers. Balcony Bingo, we learned this was called.

            The quiet is really astounding. Few cars, people, everything closed and shuttered. A bit like Christmas Eve when everyone is inside somewhere.

We’ve been watching this huge tree we can see from our balcony get more and more green as its leaves come out. Now I don’t see that very often in California. (Another “feature” of living in the city: that tree has become our main contact with nature!)

Our Tree, seen from Our Balcony. What a difference in two weeks!

The couple one floor down sing and practice piano each day at 6 PM. First 30 minutes of opera scales (thankfully he's not a soprano), then 30 minutes of show tunes. As we sit here sipping our gin & tonics is almost like being in a piano bar. All we need is some mindless conversation in the background...

We feel blessed. We are not sick, are warm and dry, have plenty to eat, enjoy each other’s company and have lots of distractions. What are we missing? A bit of nature. We can’t drive anywhere even if we had a car and the major gardens and green spaces are closed. (Ah, what I wouldn’t give for a few weeds to pull!) We do go out for walks most days but this is a city after all.

Stay safe, don't worry.

Sending safe-distance kisses from France.