So this week was the beginning of the end of confinement. Primary schools reopened (for three class levels out of five) on a voluntary basis, we no longer need a filled-out form to be allowed to leave the house (for one hour within a 1km radius and yes, the police were checking and dishing out fines) and we can actually travel anywhere now up to 100km within the French borders. The beaches reopened (with rules - one way directions on the promenade and not allowed to sit or lay on the beach) and I think, from what I hear, many of the shops in town reopened too. As I write, I can hear people at the newly reopened market, just opposite our house (with restrictions and just food stalls). But it's all been so busy everywhere, we still haven't been anywhere more than before !
Sunday 10th May - Nothing much going on today. Some marking, some catching up on Netflix, some talking to my parents and Sophie on video chat, ... Someone pointed out to me that that is what confinement has been all about for weeks now, but I've been working every day, so it's still nice to have a lazy weekend !
Monday - The teachers went back to primary school today to get everything ready for the pupils. It will be Pierre's turn tomorrow - eeek ! I used up the leftovers from the roast chicken in a Yellow Rice & Chicken dish which was rather tasty. I do like throwing turmeric in rice to make it look nice and yellow. I'll share the recipe as soon as I get a chance.
Tuesday - We set the alarm, for the first time in absolutely ages, then set off for school. Each class had a different time to start and Pierre's level were the last, going in from 8.40-8.50. This worked perfectly as I had to be back home and logged into a video conference at 9am. This had replaced our meeting at school, as our reopening has been put back (as we're still in a red zone). I listened to the headmaster and learnt about what will change when we go back. The pupils will stay in one classroom per class and the teachers will have to move around, so we need to make sure we have everything we need from our classrooms before we go back. We're still not sure how many pupils will go back to school but are assuming we'll do 2 days per half class per week. Focus is on welcoming pupils back into a school environment and dealing with any issues, rather than worrying too much about the content of what we teach (as there's only a month until the holidays by the time we go back ... if we go back). I made some quick cakes to welcome Pierre home from school !
Wednesday - You might think these look familiar, and you'd be right. I posted a photo of these same cookies last week, but Pierre wanted to make more ! I'd run out of soft brown sugar so tried them with banana sugar and they worked perfectly. This is the third batch of these cookies that we've made in about the last two weeks !
Thursday - A boring day of marking and emailing pupils to check they're all doing ok. At bedtime, went to let the dog out and - woohoo ! - the clock tower opposite our house was all lit up again ! Just before confinement started, the tourist office (in the building that the tower is attached to) appeared to close down - all the posters, the sign with opening times above the door, the big plastic banner on the clock tower, everything just disappeared. At the same time, the clock tower was switched off so the windows and figurines weren't lit up and the bells stopped chiming. Well, apparently, now it's back - but the bells still aren't chiming. Hmmm !
Friday - After chatting to Pierre, he'd mentioned that he preferred being at home with me to going to school and, as I'd signed him back up as I was supposed to be heading back to school, I emailed his teacher to say that, if she was in agreement, we'd go back to homeschooling for two weeks while I'm still off. There were only 5 people in his half-class anyway so about 50% of the pupils had gone back. We'll see how things go from here. Juliette also got some post - all the paperwork for her change of schools, from collège to lycée, as she's 15. I didn't take any photos, so you can have a shot of our dinner - Chinese chicken with cashews. Pretty tasty.
Saturday - Today was the day - the beach was opened and our local market was reopened, on the big car park just opposite our house. We were inside the restricted access zone (with a policeman only letting a set number of people in, when others had already left). I looked at the big queue, wondered whether I was supposed to go and join the end, then skipped over the grass verge and just did my shopping - oops ! For once, I could buy all the fruit and veg that they haven't had at the local Lidl or that I couldn't carry home, along with everything else we needed. All the summer fruit was there - I ended up filling up my bag with everything I could see : melons, watermelon, round courgettes, red pepper (still really expensive but slightly cheaper than at Lidl), oranges, peaches and nectarines, strawberries, cherry tomatoes, new potatoes, cherries, apricots, ... For lunch, we had melon, sausages with new potatoes, then a giant fruit salad. I've never seen the kids so excited about eating fruit !
