We arrived home from Provence yesterday, on the day that France imposed stringent movement restrictions (known by many as a “lockdown”). We did not quite get home in time for the midday curfew, so we had our movement certificate duly filled in.
There was a major lack of food in the house, given that we emptied all cupboards and turned off the freezer before leaving on our long winter trip at the end of October. We had no choice but to call at the supermarket once we neared home. We went to Carrefour in Bellac, which was practically empty and was wonderful to shop in. Not that there was very much in there to be buying, but I did manage to fill a trolley with sufficient to see us through a couple of weeks. Our needs are not great but overall, I should have liked to have bought far more in the way of fresh vegetables. And eggs. They had NO eggs!
Gendarmes arrived in store as we were checking out. They just hung around at the service desk though and did not appear to be asking to see papers. There were motorcycle cops on the N147 at the roundabout but they were not stopping any traffic for checks. We made it home, unhindered.
Today is therefore our first full day of confinement. The duration is initially set at 15 days, I think, but it is difficult to believe that the period will not be extended.
The Crooked Man walked the Crooked Dog this morning as we are not permitted to go out together. Nell may do well for walking out of this state of affairs as in order to get a sensible amount of exercise in for ourselves, we will alternate morning and evening duties. Normally Nell has a shorter evening walk but will perhaps now get the full circuit in twice a day.
Some very welcome sunshine today is making the situation seem less bleak than it might. Thankfully we have no need of a fire today, as stocks of wood are running low and obviously the chances of getting some delivered are not good at all.
There are other welcome signs of Spring. My herb pots are showing signs of life and the peach tree next door has started to blossom. The weeds are growing too – quite madly. We have work to do to keep us occupied whilst confined to barracks. Not entirely sure whether I ought to fill in a certificate to pull those weeds out front (because the kerbside part of the garden frontage is deemed Public, I believe – we can’t erect a fence on it etc), or indeed to hang the washing out (as I go around the outside of the house via the chemin). Strictly speaking, I think that I perhaps should but it would be a very awkward gendarme that would ask to see one, surely?
The Crooked Man has been struggling with our water system as we came home to much-reduced water pressure – insufficient to run the bath that we had been looking forward to. He is making as many incremental improvements as he can, which mainly involves knocking on pipes and descaling as many bits as possible. It is keeping him out of trouble. I, on the other hand, have not been able to get on with post-holiday laundry tasks whilst the water pipes have been under investigation and so I have been making lists of fridge and freezer goods and attempting to put some sensible meal plans together based on death dates of the items I managed to secure yesterday. Later, I hope to make some plans and lists of things to keep my mind and body active during our incarceration. You may at the very least expect more blogging activity than of late; here, at Woolgathering and also much catching up on our travels at Two Snails. I refuse to be reduced to slumping in front of Netflix!