Still in Lockdown

Hello, again! Sorry to be so long in posting, but honestly not a whole lot has changed in our daily lives. We are still enjoying our beautiful park, cooking good food, drinking good wine, reading, writing, doing chores and watching the days pass by. Steven is working on his photography tutorials, either taking online classes or creating tutorials for his YouTube channel. I’ve finally started watching Gilmore Girls, something that has been on my list for years, only to discover it’s like watching a very long Hallmark Channel movie and that the main character, Lorelai, is relentlessly irritating. Oh well, it passes the time.

Lockdown weeks nine and ten came and went and we are now well into week 11. We have spent this time with a little more freedom than we’ve previously had and we took advantage of it. As you may recall, we had been limited to outings of just a one kilometer radius from our home, but that changed to 100 kilometers on May 11. Also, some businesses began to open and things begin to look a bit more normal, if you squint.

We could not wait to get out on our bikes so, of course, it rained for the first couple of days of our newly granted freedom. When we finally did get out for a long ride, we perhaps went a little too far, so eager were we. We packed a picnic lunch and took off for Saint Julien du Sault, the little village where we lived for a month upon our arrival in France last year. It was about 35 miles round-trip, which was far enough given we hadn’t been on our bikes for a while. We found a riding path along the Yonne River, which was lovely, but we apparently missed a turn and found ourselves bushwhacking through the bramble instead of cycling easily along a paved road. Of course, all I could think about were ticks and snakes. Eeek! We managed to find our way out without calling for help, but it was touch and go for a while. On the return trip we found the proper path and have enjoyed riding it a few times since.

We ventured further afield to the Carrefour grocery store. It was a nice break from the Lidl we can walk to, but while there we lost the keys to Bijou. Those keys are on a keychain with a big red gorilla, so it’s hard to lose, yet somehow we did. We rode home, unloaded the groceries and headed right back out. Steven was directed to the security desk in Carrefour and luckily they had them. The gorilla’s name is Felicia, by the way. I didn’t name her, she came with a purse I bought last year and didn’t like. I gave the purse to my Mom but kept Felicia.

We have also found a lovely bike trail along the river that runs through the town of Sens. This is a beautiful time of year, flowers are blooming and birds are singing. The sun is shining most of the time and the temperatures are ideal for us, mostly in the low 70s. There are a couple of dozen Mute Swans along the shores of the river, including a family of five. The babies are so adorable, but the parents can be quite aggressive if they feel threatened. So we take photos from a reasonable distance.

Not long after the rules of lockdown were eased the maintenance crew showed up and mowed our grass. Wow, what a difference! The place looks so beautiful! That’s the good news. The bad news is that last Thursday was a “Bank” Holiday and all of a sudden the camping cars came rolling in! It was like an invasion! We must have had 14 rigs here and that sure felt different to us. We have had so much privacy that to suddenly have scads of people about was a bit unnerving. They all went home after the holiday, but since then we have had at least two additional rigs here each night. We are anticipating busy weekends. Still, we have the best spot and no one can really get too close to us.

I don’t know why they call it a “bank” holiday, except maybe because the banks are closed? It was a religious holiday, so I’m not sure what the bank has to do with it. The French get loads of paid vacation. In addition to 11 bank holidays, they also get FIVE (!!) weeks of paid vacation time, which I guess a lot of them take in August since the country kind of shuts down. You have to wonder if that will still happen this year, but everyone we’ve talked to says absolutely yes. The French do not take their time off lightly. Good for them, I say.

As it is the middle of the week right now we are alone in the park. We had our first month here alone, then Jean Marc came and stayed. Sadly, a couple of days ago he had a terrible accident and is now in the hospital. At least that’s where we think he is. We can’t figure out how it happened, but somehow, from inside his rig, he took a header through his passenger side window and shattered it. He got pretty busted up, too. We didn’t know anything about it until the cops and the ambulance showed up, 11 first responders in all, and took Jean Marc out on a stretcher. He’s elderly and stays to himself most of the time. He had to have tripped, but it must have been a pretty violent fall to shatter the window! His rig is still here, but he is not. So it’s just us now, with the police occasionally driving through to check on his camping car. (Update: right after I wrote that a group of seven rigs rolled in!)

I am nearly three weeks into a Whole30, which is 30 days of whole foods, no dairy, grains or alcohol. I figured I’d better do something to counteract all the extra treats I’ve been indulging in since we got locked down. It’s so easy to just snack my way through the day and then I start feeling bad. I have tons of energy now and feel great, so I am really glad I decided to do this thing now. It’s easier while we are sitting still than when we are traveling, that’s for sure.

Speaking of traveling, guess what? We have a departure date!!! As of June 2 the 100 km limit will go away and we can travel freely anywhere within France. Other countries have indicated they will open borders for travel within the EU on June 15. We are not ready to rush out the second travel is allowed in France, but as soon as the border with Germany opens, we’re outta here! With complete optimism we have scheduled an appointment at the Hymer Center in Stuttgart for June 19 to have a couple of things done to Bijou. After that, well, we’re not sure. It really will depend on exactly which countries have decided to open their borders for travel. We have a Plan A and a Plan B, so we’ll decide once we have that information. Either way, it won’t be long until we’re once again on the move! Glory!

And finally, I went to the hairdresser. I couldn’t stand it any more! I haven’t had a cut and color since January! Well, I did have a half-assed color in Morocco that I did myself, but for all intents and purposes, it’s been January since anything good has been done to my hair! I had about three inches cut off and wow, I feel so much better! I was definitely nervous going in, but I was met at the door with hand sanitizer, mask and gloves. Everyone stayed masked up the whole time, so I hope that was good enough. If not, I guess we’ll have to come up with a Plan C.

UP NEXT: Preparing for Departure!

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