After two weeks of lockdown, in France, we are slowly getting used to the idea that this situation will last for a few more weeks. It has already been unofficially 45 days, but it is better to send such a message to the people in small pieces. And so we go into lockdown for another two weeks on Monday, keeping in touch with the outside world via social media. Now that it has been discovered that the virus sticks to paper and your shoe soles for 24 hours, we also avoid the supermarket, even though everyone outside is standing in line neatly two meters apart to be allowed to shop for 20 minutes.
It is faster to do the shopping online and pick it up by car. We order online at the Géant Casino Drive a trunk full of food and necessary women’s things such as sanitary towels, cleaning wipes and shampoos. I say goodbye and au-revoir to the family semi-dramatically and sit in the car wearing garden gloves and a scarf over my mouth as if I’m going to rob a bank and not want to leave fingerprints. On the way, I am stopped by the CRS police who look closely at my self-completed declaration and passport. Once at the supermarket, I see a long line in front of Casino Drive and there is little movement after ten minutes. Just like with the security guard who is talking for ten minutes with a mask on every car. Finally, I can open my window. “Do you have a pick-up time at 7 PM? Sorry, but that time has been canceled because we ran out of groceries. This line of people is from 5 pm so you better go. ” After a telephone consultation with Jo, I decided to go to the supermarket after all. There is a strange atmosphere that is partly caused by the empty shelves and people who look curiously at the contents of your cart. Lettuce suddenly costs 3 euros and all neat oranges have disappeared. That does not look good.
I throw everything in the caddy as soon as possible and walk back and forth feverishly. I’m getting warmer, I wouldn’t have contracted Corona, would I? I would prefer to take off my gloves and scarf, but I may be jumped by the virus. So I breathe slowly and finally join the long queue in front of one of the two cash registers that are open. People wear dust masks like face masks or deliberately wear nothing at all. Everyone looks at each other like a kind of zombie; almost emotionless. When it is my turn to pay, it turns out that I forgot to weigh the fruit. Normally you say “leave it” only now I thought “fuck it, I must have some fresh food for my ladies”. Through an honor hedge of piercing eyes and mumbling behind dust caps, I quickly walk to the vegetable department and weigh the bags. Seven euros for 6 loose oranges? And five euros for ten tomatoes? I take it anyway, no one knows if the supermarket will have something in stock next week. It looks like war, although my mother as a girl ate flower bulbs that were cooked on the stove during the WW2 in Amsterdam. Hopefully, it won’t get that far here.
With the proud feeling of a survivor and a car full of groceries on my way home, I get clear instructions from Jo in her new position as Chief Disinfectants and Dirty Virus Extermination: “Put the groceries upstairs, but undress completely in the garage and throw your clothes in the washing machine. Turn the machine on at 90 degrees. Also, leave your shoes in the garage; you could be walking in with the virus! ” And so I walk in naked while Jo cleans all the groceries with disinfectant gel. It can’t get much crazier than now. Fortunately, Jo can do many things at the same time and 20 minutes later we sit at the table with the reward of my supermarket adventure; fresh salmon with tomato salad and pasta.
Few people are really ill at the Cote d’Azur, and there are only a few patients at the ICU. We read that Corona patients are flown to Nice from the north of France, but otherwise, life is quiet here and the sun is shining. The streets have been disinfected and the sea seems bluer than ever. Via Amazon, I order a football goal of 3 x 2 meters for Fé who has finally discovered her football talent. I stand on target and get blue hands from the many power shots that are fired at me. It’s a great time to do odd jobs; the garden is receiving unprecedented attention and the garage has never been so tidy. We sleep longer than usual and are in a kind of retreat with a lot of sports and a lot of music, with son Tom from the Netherlands sending us something new: 8D music; delicious to listen to with earplugs in. The girls maintain their social contacts with online card games and video conferencing. Until well after midnight we hear them laugh and talk. There are even special Apéro apps to toast life with friends via the screen.
On Netflix, Jo and I are hooked on the exciting series Colony; a viewing tip from Juul making an effort to check out everything Netflix has in stock from her Cannes apartment.
The work continues at half power; we are still writing content and customers for a sunny home in France or Ibiza want to come over, but are not yet allowed to enter the country. By the way, this crisis can last extra long for the Netherlands as there is still no real lockdown and everyone still goes to the hardware store or the garden center. Or visiting each other. Uche Uche. We will know in a month whether this is a good strategy. At worst, the Netherlands stays in a real lockdown while France expects to be open again for the summer.
In any case, this crisis time gives everyone space for self-reflection: is my job so much fun, do I live well here and wouldn’t I want to do something else? This is perhaps the time to see your life differently and change things. Others plummet into depression, aided by frighteners like Robert Jensen who see a big plot (but no solutions). I partly agree with that; the media attention is indeed unprecedented, while the flu alone claims more lives every year. Still, with the last flu epidemic in 2018, not many people were in IC, so this Kung Flu is a lot more deadly. How deadly we do not know and the government prefers not to measure it. And there is bound to be a link between the immensely bad radiation from the 5G network that is being forced upon you as “the fastest solution for all your Internet needs.” Rich northern Italy and Padova, in particular, is full of these 5G masts, just like Wuhan, which is the first Chinese 5G test area. Viruses are sensitive to vibrations and resonances can be found in various scientific publications, so it could just be related even if the official media is trying to contradict this. Because 5G is cash and control of everything you do.
All this information does not make us happy, so let me finish with a positive initiative that will be held this week. Remember the wildfires in Australia and that the whole world went into meditation together at one point (some call this prayer). The next day there were heavy showers that had not been predicted. Strengthened that positive thoughts can change not only your own world but also the world around you, there is another positive thoughts moment this week. We are not naive, but we do set the alarm on the night of April 4 to 5 at 4.45 am and put twenty minutes of our positive energy in the thought that the Coronavirus disappears. “Don’t bet it, don’t get it”! And as a reward, we will see the sunrise, which is always a great moment. More information can be found on this Youtube Ascension Timeline.
From the South French lockdown, we wish you a lot of health, peace, and wisdom!
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