Day 22: Sunday 05 April 2020
It was a sad day today. Serge’s shop closed its doors for the last time this season. I got there early, hoping there would still be some baguettes left on the rack. Valentin has anticipated the demand and was loading freshly baked, (still warm) bread onto the shelving. Like many others, I took three. One for today, one for the freezer, and one to hide somewhere so that I could find it again in a few days time and make ‘pain perdu’, bread and butter pudding. I love the way the French call it lost bread pudding. I also treated myself to a last croissant, well two actually. I could forgive myself being a little greedy today.
One of my good friends, neighbour and very talented chef, Matt Gojevic has started an online sourdough bread making course on his MattyGCooks Facebook page. I was chatting to Valentin about this and asking his advice on what flour to use. Valentin doesn’t actually make sourdough bread himself because it is very labour intensive and takes two days to make. His advice was very welcome though, as was his generous gift of some organic flour to get me going. Making my own bread with all the herbs and seeds I can harvest off the mountain this summer, will be a welcome distraction during a summer of lockdown.
Day 23: Monday 06 April 2020
Just heard on our family WhatsApp group that my (not so) little brother Huggy has been taken off all his consultant rheumatology work to be in charge of a Covid ward. Don’t think he’s looking after Boris though! They are currently trying to get the PPE to fit properly, but if it were me, I’d be walking round like Darth Vader. This is going to be something that touches every family and undoubtedly, will sadly leave a few scars behind.
OMG! Boris has been placed in intensive care. Just when you think things couldn’t get any more crazy . . .
This afternoon, three gendarmes skinned up the mountain looking for people to tell off and fine. They are clamping down and further restricting the rules, telling us we are no longer permitted on the snow or into the forest.
Also, a couple got into trouble for not having their papers with them when taking their rubbish to a communal bin 150m from where they live. They got away with a verbal ticking off, but I wonder what would have happened if they had been stopped on the way back home after disposing of the proof of their journey!
Day 24: Tuesday 07 April 2020
France tightens its lockdown restrictions. Paris has introduced a new confinement order forbidding outdoor sport and exercise between 10am and 7pm. In some cities such as Nice, masks are being distributed to all ‘citoyens’ and it will be obligatory to wear them when outside.
It’s normally running club night on Tuesdays, but as we know, that’s all been scratched out of our diaries until further notice. Our coach, Rémi, still provides us with our training programme for the evening sortie, but it’s just not the same blasting out your ‘fractionné’ training on your own. ‘Fractionné’ means splits, and tonight we are supposed to do two lots of 8 x 30 second uphill sprints, with 30 seconds rest in-between. Oh, it is so much easier with your mates around!
To make matters worse, we have just found out that all national trail races in France have been cancelled until the end of July. Local and regional races are as yet unaffected, but they’ll probably follow suit. Not only do I want to run with my mates, but I want the fun of racing in competitions!
Day 25: Wednesday 08 April 2020
I found the baguette I hid on Sunday and made the ‘pain perdu’, lost bread pudding, that I had promised myself. It struck me as strange how they call it lost bread when they’ve just found it, it isn’t lost anymore! And even stranger because where we have a ‘lost property box’ in English, the French have an ‘objets trouvés’, found objects, box. Both work I guess, it just depends which way you look at it. Anyway, the flaked almonds I also found whilst looking for my lost baguette also came in handy for the bread and butter pudding. It was a heavenly treat!
Day 26: Thursday 09 April 2020
There is a big debate going on over here about who can, who can’t, who should and who shouldn’t be going out to work. Construction workers are allowed to go to work, but must obey the social distancing rules. Yeah right, I can just imagine them having their elevenses sat in a ten metre radius circle to respect their social distancing obligations. That said, the guys dangling off buildings on climbers’ ropes as they sand and paint the woodwork in Sainte Foy are certainly hitting their distance quotas. It’s an impressive sight.
There is no scaffolding to be seen, and why would you bother with scaffolding when climbing and rope work is so much more fun! Ok, it’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s certainly their ‘tasse de thé’ !
Day 27: Friday 10 April 2020
One of the benefits of a lockdown is that you are given time to do things you might not otherwise do. One friend told me that she doesn’t want the lockdown to end before June because she has got too many jobs to do, and she won’t have finished them all before the end of May!
For me, it’s been the opportunity to research things on my ‘Must look up when I’ve got some time’ list. There are some brilliant documentaries on BBC World Service and how else would I find time to listen to them if I wasn’t confined to the limits of my balcony? This is definitely the online age.
Day 28: Saturday 11 April 2020
There is fantastic ‘bubblage’ (made up word) in my sourdough starter. Another great benefit of enforced lockdown is having enough time and patience to dedicate to growing and nurturing things which grow slowly. Growing a naturally occurring yeast in bread flour is one of these things, but feeding my starter dough is a mini highlight to my day.
Today should have been the last weekend of the ski season in Sainte Foy, so I flicked through my photos to see what I was missing, and came across this one of us experimenting with the two metre rule before social distancing became fashionable.
