Blog Archives
Half off
Shopping at 50% off
To get things rolling again after the 2-month lockdown because of the coronavirus, the city of Carcassonne is in the midst of implementing a 7-point plan that covers much of the activity in town. Schools reopened last month although parents initially had the option of keeping their children at home and using a multitude of online resources to continue their education. That’s an important consideration since those same parents who are able to work from home are encouraged to do so. City Hall is again welcoming guests and all other public services should be back in place by the end of June. Associations, that already play a vital role in the daily lives of citizens and were especially helpful during the pandemic, will receive additional support. One initiative that caught our eye is aimed at getting people back into the small shops that line the streets both up in the walled Cité and down in the main town where we live. All this past week (and into next) it’s been possible to use half-price vouchers in all of those stores. Read the rest of this entry
Colorful Carcassonne
Art deco former city hall
Although the summer tourist season may have been delayed this year, it’s now in full swing. In a symbolic gesture yesterday the city “opened” the main pedestrian shopping street by opening hundreds of colorful umbrellas and unfurling equally bright sails above the main driving thoroughfare. Half of the millions of visitors that come here annually to marvel at Europe’s largest walled fortress live in Spain. While France will fully reopen its borders to international tourists tomorrow, our neighbor just to the south will probably wait until the end of the month. That will give restaurants, bars, hotels, and shops just enough time to get used to masks, distancing, and other procedures put in place to keep everyone healthy. In the meantime, here’s a preview of what will be awaiting them. Read the rest of this entry
Read my lips
Bill models one of the masks he made for us
And we were doing so well. Long before we had any plans of living in France we were watching French movies with the English subtitles turned on so that we could understand what was being said. That was a compromise since the real reason we were renting these films was for the scenery, be it the Eiffel Tower, Medieval castles, or fields of lavender in full bloom; all were really just inspiration for our next vacation. It’s a challenge, however, to read the dialog and try to take in all of the beautiful landscapes sharing the same screen. Then we moved here with access to 100 TV channels broadcast in French with only a few offering some programs subtitled in English but all having the option of displaying the spoken text on the screen for the deaf or hard of hearing. If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em so that became our next step in comprehending what was going on. At least we could match up the words we were hearing with those across the bottom of the screen. Read the rest of this entry
On your mark, get set…
Looking forward to walks along the Canal
Tomorrow is the big day when France begins a gradual emergence from nearly 8 weeks of lock down in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus. According to government reports, it’s been a successful effort in saving over 60,000 lives and preventing 85% of the infections that would have occurred had there not been a stay-at-home order. Most businesses have been closed but shops that sell food, medications, wine, and/or cigarettes did not have to hang the “fermé” sign on their doors. Delivery services sprang up overnight so we were even able to keep the wine rack full without stepping out the door. When the rules were being written about which shops would be allowed to begin welcoming customers first, guess who made it to the top of the list: hair salons and barber shops. After two months without haircuts and coloring, we gotta look good! Read the rest of this entry
Yes, Virginia, there is an Easter Bunny!
Easter chocolates
French folklore says that church bells are silent on Good Friday because they’ve flown off to Rome to see the Pope. When they return on Easter morning they are filled with chocolates that they drop to all of the children eagerly waiting below. Public health travel restrictions this year canceled all of those flights so Plan B(unny) went into effect to ensure that we would all have our goodie-filled baskets today. Our young neighbor went door-to-door, socially distant of course, with an order form from one of the local artisanal chocolate makers who agreed to share the profits with the school system to support extracurricular activities.
The title for today’s post is an adaptation from an 1897 editorial by publisher Francis Church who was answering a question from 8-year-old Virginia about Santa Claus: “He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist…how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus.” For safety purposes, we may be temporarily staying home, but with that plateful of chocolates you see above, it’s definitely not dreary. Happy Easter!
Until further notice
Daffodils in our courtyard
We’ve seen those words “until further notice” or to be precise it’s been the French phrase jusqu’à nouvel ordre many times during the past two weeks as new measures have been announced in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus. The first affected us immediately since it was to close down all schools all across the country. That meant my weekly French classes were canceled as were the English classes where I volunteer that take place in the same building; therefore, in the spirit of Shakespeare, neither a student nor a teacher be. Accompanying that official decree were suggestions about keeping your distance from others, not shaking hands, avoiding gatherings of any kind, etc. but the concept of not being convivial seemed totally foreign. Read the rest of this entry
Retiring overseas
Chambord castle
Our friend Larry tipped us off to an article that appeared in the Wall Street Journal that addressed the topic of retiring abroad. The newspaper contacted about a dozen of their previous contributors who had written pieces about moving from the US and settling elsewhere in the world. Because most of those original articles were so optimistic about this big change in life the editors were especially interested to see if that initial enthusiasm continued years later ranging in time from 4 years to 14 years in residence. Some discussion suggestions were provided such as what’s changed since you’ve moved and what advice do you have for others considering living outside the country, but to get things rolling they asked everyone, “How did your decision to retire overseas turn out?” Read the rest of this entry
