Wariness

Thank you, I am also pleased to see you ! I have a good road bike and got a 200 km cycling tourism diploma in the past, but I am starting to feel old above 100 km now. It hurts my legs and I need a couple of days to recover.

@changjiangzhibin89 It is mainly a matter of training.

@topffer Bicycling for 100 km is really something too !

I am afraid that they may not be in place for a long time here.

@topffer yes it's a problem

@topffer Yup. We converse every day. She has sent the most beautiful photographs of roses. A walk here and there as respite from isolation. Initially disappointed she won't be able to travel around as planned but she has completely immersed herself with the dissertation. She loves the city.

@eileenleyva Nobody could guess what would happen, it is very nice that she takes it positively. I learned an Indian saying during the confinement : "If you see everything in grey in front of you, remove the elephant." There is often good sides to any bad. If she stays a few months more she will be probably able to travel. Borders are reopening to tourism in Continental Europe.

Nice to see you ! You had a daughter in UK, no ? She has probably more interesting things to tell about the pandemic than myself.

Yes, same with me

Well, I may decide some holidays at the last moment, but I need to be sure that we will not have a second wave. We will know in a couple of weeks.

@LadyDuck I was feeling safe until they authorized people to go at more than 100km of their home again, because there were quite no cases in my area. Now that anybody from a contaminated area can come, I do not enter anywhere without a mask. Outdoors it is too hot for me to wear masks now (we had 32° yesterday).

@topffer I do the same, I always have the masks with me, if I go inside I wear a mask, but outside is too hot. In Lombardy until June 30th you have to wear it also outdoors, I do when I cross the border, I am ready to guess than a zealous Italian Customs Guard would surely stop me to give me a fine, they are so dumb.

@topffer I also think that in a couple of weeks we are going to be confined again, I will go grocery shopping in Italy this Sunday, they are still obliged to wear masks there, I went also last Sunday. From July 1st, no more masks in Italy, so we are not going there again. I hope that this virus will disappear one day and we can plan a visit to Warsaw, for the moment I do not feel safe leaving our home.

I just had a look, the fastest way for a car from Paris to Warsaw (1672 km), only motorways, takes 15 hours. And another look on buses, they take about 25 hours, but they have to stop 45mn every 4 hours according to EU laws. Oh, and I am at 5 hours from Paris that should be added. It would be certainly better to take a car because of the virus, but if you are alone, doing 1600 km would be 4 times more expensive than taking a plane. The idea of the campground with friends looks great

@paigea Yes, I am near the Atlantic and it is near the Russian border. 1300 km would be too many km for me today. In my young days I went to Turkey with a 20 years old Citroen 2 CV. It was a 2000 km trip crossing several mountains. Crazy. And the best is that the car had not a problem.

@topffer That is pretty far. We drive 1300 km to visit family

@topffer Great to see you around tops. I am still thinking of the Spanish Coach driver ages ago now in Alicante and it was summer and he had a lady in front of him with one of those scooters that were all the rage then with those big mirrors on the side. So he put the brakes on and held out his arms high and wide with a big smile on his face and he got closer and closer to the scooter so he could see her face in her mirror. He said what a lady to put it politely you know I am British so I say it all with good taste to say he fancied her would be more like it. But it was funny to see what he did as he was trying to flirt with her just those few moments as the traffic light was in red and then when the lights changed he went back to his serious semblance and was himself again. I do not like all this "elbow" thing I am seeing around and I think its nuts but there you go I am and always was a huggy person not that anyone around me was ever like that at all maybe it comes from another life too. I don´t mean for you to bike it up mountains flippin eck that would be tough on anyone. I won´t say anything about the so called deal or whatever its supposed to be I prefer to remember the Spanish bus driver and his admiration for the lady in front of him. He made no bones about it how he felt in that moment I am not saying anyone else is never like that its just that I have never seen it again since ever. Its a really nice genuine memory of how really good things can be and I still feel happy remembering that one. You might see that a lot in France but the Spanish are usually much held back in that sense quite a lot. Hope it makes you smile a bit much better for me than all the rubbish that is going on right now.

@lovinangelsinstead21 No, I never saw something like this from a bus driver, it would be funny. It remembers me an anecdote told by a volunteer on an excavation. She was a retired lady in her 60's and a true Parisian with what we call "la gouaille" a kind of cheeky banter that is typical of the popular neighborhoods of Paris. As Paris becomes a bourgeois city, it tends to disappear, but is still in the suburbs. So, she told us that she was walking in a street, and, near a cafe, a group of youngsters whistled at her. She turned, and when they realized that she was in her 60's, they started to apologize. She said : "Don't apologize, there are years that nobody whistled at me, may I offer you a drink ?"

I do not want to dissuade anyone to fly, but for what I hear it is not improving in many countries. The last one I heard was Tunisia : they test people in the airport and force them to stay 24h in a hotel until they have the results of the tests... Lol, I will not go to Ibardin with a bicycle. I am unable to climb there, I like flat lands and regret that it is not that flat around me. I was probably born in Belgium in a previous life. I think the Tour de France will be in September this year. I should control it, it was perhaps only a project.

@topffer I've been long saying that the US will not be welcomed into other countries . . . and here we are, it's happening. We've burned so many bridges with other countries too . . . boy we have such a good reputation with the world . Firing Donald - yah, I wish - unfortunately too many support him still. Good that you can do your own bike maintenance! Hopefully we find bikes soon. We have biking and hiking trails, but the problem is EVERYONE is going to these places now, so it can be quite crowded. I am having to predict times when people are not likely to crowd - this goes for shopping as well. It is very warm here, but I like it and can tolerate heat. Mask on as well. But most people cannot. But regardless of weather, people have issues with wearing them. I see too many wearing them incorrectly as well. In our county, we are required to wear them in public areas and where we cannot be socially distancing . . . but I see so many making their own interpretations of that. We have our cars, so transportation is not a problem, but there are wreckless drivers out there - possibly more than before. Here people have complained about flights and that it didn't appear safe (lack of space between people, no mask requirement, etc). As we continue to reopen, I still do not trust many businesses - nor the people who work or go there. As our "leaders" seem to be on another planet, I feel like we have to save ourselves and do what we think is safe.

@much2say US is still welcomed, it is only an application of the principle of precaution we have here : it is not a political ban but a ban due to the high level of covid in your country. The US did the same for Europe last March. I hate this principle, it often make me feel like if I was a child : do this, don't do that... OMG ! I was preferring the years where I was free to decide what was good for myself. Now you give me a bit of nostalgy when you tell that you have to save yourself. Speaking of politics, we had local elections yesterday and a green wave won on several large towns (Bordeaux, Lyon, Marseille...). I think you can also expect ecology to be a main concern after the covid, and this is not good for Donald. I do not like to wear a mask, but I force myself. And I also avoid crowds. But you never know...

For what I read because of the high level of the virus EU countries are forbidden to tourists from USA and Brazil this summer, and it is really not the right year to visit France. Museums are opened again but the entrance is very limited, like for many monuments. And the US with the mess and protests I see there is looking like France on an average year. There is also a rush on bicycles here. The state is offering 50 euros to repair any bike. I thought to have something fixed on mine, and I would have had to wait 4 to 6 weeks, so I did it myself... Masks are recommended in France, but it is now too warm to wear them in the streets, I put a mask only to enter in shops/businesses. They are also mandatory in public transportation but I avoid to take them. I have not been in a train since last March. I renewed last october a card to travel by train, so it is a bit of a waste, but during the confinement people were authorized to take trains only for work, and now I am not tempted. I wait for better times. They are also mandatory in planes but they say planes are safe. Poland is very safe too, but they may close their borders at any moment to foreigners and I do not trust any populist country (yours included until you fire Donald). Yes, I guess we need to be creative for holidays. There are a lot of bike paths dedicated to tourism in my area, I will explore them....

Lol, I have 6 weeks of holidays/year like most French (the legal minimum is 5 weeks/year), and with the covid, I had to take 3 weeks at home. Not fun.

@RebeccasFarm No, it is you that should be pitied, it is about the same in all Europe, France is only 11th/27 EU countries, some have more paid vacations (up to 8 weeks).

@topffer Aw no fun you are so spoiled rotten

Oh, you have moved ? This is a news ! What kind of plants are you moving ?

@DaddyEvil I had recognized this grass. It is nice in a garden. What happened to you is not fun. The same may happen here. The law gives us 6 months to buy the house or to move. Better than 14 days but same at the end. Good that you could find a house that you like. I guess you would look for another one if it was not the case. With all these plants your garden looks certainly very nice now.

@topffer We had to move last November. The man who rented us the house we lived in for over 22 years passed away so his family sold the house. The new owner gave us 14 days to find a new place to live and get moved. Believe me, it was no fun trying to find anything for rent in our area that close to winter. We only found three houses. Two of them were out of my price range. (We had been paying $285 a month for that 22 years.) The house we're in now was $500 a month. Pretty talked the Property Manager into accepting $450 for it. The other houses cost $700 and $800 respectively. I work at Walmart. Those other houses were nice but I can't afford that much for a house. The plant in the photo above is Pampas Grass. We also got starts from my Green Striped Bamboo, three kinds of mint plants, a Midnight Fern, bulbs for Oxalis (purple), bulbs for Gladiolas (a red so dark it is almost black), a ground cover with blue flowers (I can't remember it's name) and three different kinds of portulaca. We just dug a bed for watermelons but they didn't come from the other house. We just like watermelons. We've also planted two types of tomatoes... cherry tomatoes and Big Boys. (I've already gotten two cherry tomatoes. ) We still need to go back for Sugarcane, lilac bushes, Ostrich ferns, Lily of the Valley and honeysuckle. Unfortunately, while digging beds for everything I sprained my right wrist so we have to wait to get any more plants.

I felt the need to apologize because I was pleased to have myLot during the confinement and abandoned it as soon as we were authorized to go outdoors with no limits. As an archeologist I worked several times in the middle of nowhere, but I have still a lot of places to discover not far from my home. When thrushes are lacking the hunter eats blackbirds.

@MALUSE This discussion is taking an unexpected avian turn.

@topffer "The sparrow in the hand is better than the pigeon on the roof."

Sorry to be so late ? Where is this island and how was the visit ? The pandemic is "done" here, except a few small clusters, but I am afraid that we may have a second wave soon, the fault to the youngsters not following anymore social distancing. We will see.

@just4him Thank you very much for the picture. For the rest, what will be will be... If this thing comes back it will not be the fault of people in their 60's like me, we are careful, but young people are not that careful....

@topffer The best way to show you is the county's image. Washington Island is the larger island at the top of the thumb of Wisconsin, also Door County. It was wonderful. I'm glad the virus is over there. I hope you don't get the second wave. They're already talking a second wave here.

Lol, at least a populist leader who took the threat seriously! And seriously I want to visit your country in the future, but I will not try to go to another continent during this pandemic.

@Tierkreisze Thank you very much, I wish you a strong health, take care.

@topffer Considering that the president ordered everyone to go home then ordered a nation-wide confinement, I guess he really is a serious populist leader. Oh, and I'm sure you'd have lots of fun when you come here in the future. I just really hope that you would take good care of yourself right now so you could come one day.

Well, I need to be sure that we will not have a second wave. For the moment, it seems that this bug is didappearing in France, but I prefer to wait a couple of weeks. Poland is a safe destination for what I know, and masks are mandatory inside planes.

@topffer That is a good idea to wait for a few weeks for your travel. Have a nice day.

@topffer That`s right

I believe we will be many to do that. It is better to stay safe.

Yes, most of the time. A family friend took a last work for Airbus in Florida before retiring. Right now he would prefer to be in France.

Thank you very much. I hope that everything will be back to normal in September here. For USA, I am stunned by the mess you have. You did a lot better than European countries during the Spanish flu a century ago, but the president was not the same.... Stay away from protests and rallies to stay healthy.

@topffer We are mostly staying home and wearing our masks when we go out. Have a great rest of your day.

I have stayed 2 months at home, and it was long because we had to follow very strict regulations, but it worked to stop the pandemic. The deconfinement is progressive here, but now that cinemas and theaters are reopening, I fear a second wave in a few weeks. We will see.

@topffer Yes, there may be a chance for second wave.

Thank you, I will do my best to come back here more often.

@topffer no worries. You can check out my posts or other mylotters for more earnings to you too

Many people are still not decided, it is too early I think, we need to be sure that the virus continues to disappear here.

@topffer yeah you're right,now a days it will be safer to everyone to stay at home rather than hanging out.