Descartes..."I think therefore I wear"

Proceed with caution...

So the first day of extended freedom and we get this!

Maybe it is nature's way of saying 'proceed with caution'

We need this rain...

 

The current wet spell we are experiencing does not do a great deal for our moral during our confinement but as Scots we know more than most that it is what gives us the greens of summer. Yesterday's 'freedom walk' under a grey sky was made bearable by these 'greens' on the valley of the Creuse

A rose is still a rose...

In these difficult times...from the display on our neighbour's wall on Rue and Route du Grand Pressigny here in Barrou 

Creeping back to 'normality'

It was good to see the village had been out cutting the grass along the river  here in Barrou on our 'freedom walk', getting things a little like 'back to normal'. 

  

In spite of our current situation it is always good to return to our  'place of confinement'.

A better day...

I had to do the 'big shop' yesterday which meant going over to Intermarche in Yzeures-sur-Creuse. Thanks to advice from a friend we had done our shopping on-line so I was just going to pick up, which made for a slightly less stressful experience. There was one little hiccup however, you had to pay by cheque or cash which I thought they were discouraging - a bit confused, I had to go along to the bank and lift cash before returning to the store and a very helpful store lady. As suspected we did not get all we asked for and there was a little confusion over one item but was so much better than trailing around the store. What made the experience even better was the fact that Bricomarche was open...joy of joys! Managed to pick up some items to allow for the progress of more little projects!

Later we took our 'freedom walk' around the village and as we passed one of our neighbour's garden we caught the scent of this beautiful rose bush. I had to go back and take a pic...can you smell it?

Ah now I hear you asking how did they get in the vase? When I returned to take the photo my neighbour was in the garden so I asked if it was ok to do so. Not only did she say yes but insisted that I should cut a bunch for Pauline and promptly produced a set of secateurs to allow me to do it - how kind ! 

We had spent the afternoon tidying the courtyard of the cottage so ended the day having aperos and dinner alfresco 

So all in all a better day - oh and by the way did I say Brico had re-opened? 😁

Freedom walk interrupted...

We have taken to using our daily,hourly, walk to pop into Clare's for any shopping we need . En-route yesterday we were met by a couple of  Gendarmes who were stopping traffic at the junction at the road to Lesigny and checking that they had their necessary paperwork. We were also stopped and had to show our own attestations. I really don't have a problem with this as controls are necessary during this difficult time...but it did feel surreal! I do wonder how they can cover small villages like Barrou and can only imagine they must have some rota system in place so we may not see them again for some  time! One disconcerting aspect of being stopped was that the female Gendarme who stopped us had no PPE at all and we had to be at arm's length to show our parerwork!

Yesterday's bit of freedom...

We are finding our daily walk invaluable as a means of stopping us go stir crazy - only problem is that in Barrou we are not spoilt for routes we can take because of the distance restrictions but then we could be in an apartment block somewhere so mustn't grumble!

Experiencing ‘herd immunity'

Pauline and I were out for our allowable 1 hour a day walk yesterday, as we walked passed the farm behind the church in the village we noticed these cows ignoring the advice of self-distancing and they appeared to be adopting the UK's 'herd immunity' strategy!