Confinement – Day 20

Posted on April 5, 2020 by

3rd week of confinement

Sunday April 5th 2020

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The pandemic has now claimed at least 63,437 lives worldwide since its emergence in December in China, according to a report drawn up by Agence France-Presse on Sunday morning. More than 1,169,210 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 190 countries and territories since the beginning of the epidemic. Of these cases, at least 219,000 are now considered cured. The United States recorded the most new deaths in 24 hours with 1,399 additional victims. President Trump warned that the country was entering “a period that’s going to be really horrible” with “very bad numbers”.

Meanwhile in the UK moderate London MP Keir Starmer was elected leader of the British Labour Party on Saturday 4 April, five years after the arrival of his predecessor Jeremy Corbyn. The 57-year-old former lawyer received 56.2 per cent of the vote in the first round of voting, to which the party’s 600,000 or so members were invited.

►Information: Post Office

As of this Monday, there will no longer be any mail or parcel delivery from the Post Office on Mondays, Tuesdays and Saturdays.

►Information: Masks

It looks more and more probable that it will be necessary to wear masks when going out. There are more and more advices how to make your own. As Bryan said during our last “Virtual Apéritif”, home made masks will not stop the virus come through but it will help you not to touch your face, nose. The last tip how to easily make one is from Al.

►Information: Updated list of shops that can stay open

  • Maintenance and repair of motor vehicles, agricultural vehicles, machinery and equipment
  • Trade in automotive equipment
  • Sale and repair of motorcycles and cycles
  • Necessary supply to farms
  • Retail sale of frozen food products
  • General food trade
  • Suprettes
  • Supermarkets
  • Multi-Commerce Stores
  • Hypermarkets
  • Retail sale of fruit and vegetables in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of meat and meat products in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of fish, crustaceans and molluscs in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of bread, pastry and confectionery in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of beverages in specialised stores 🍷🥃
  • Other food retailing in specialised stores
  • Food distributions by charities
  • Retail sale of fuel in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of information and communication equipment in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of computers, peripheral units and software in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of telecommunications equipment in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of building materials, hardware, paints and glass in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of newspapers and stationery in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of pharmaceutical products in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of medical and orthopaedic articles in specialised stores
  • Retail sale of pet food and pet supplies
  • Food retailing on stalls and markets (although markets themselves might not be allowed by local decree)
  • Sale by vending machines and other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets
  • Hotels and similar accommodation
  • Tourist and other short-term accommodation where it constitutes a regular place of residence for the persons living there
  • Campgrounds and parks for caravans or recreational vehicles where they are a regular place of residence for the persons living there
  • Rental and leasing of other machinery, equipment and property
  • Rental and leasing of agricultural machinery and equipment
  • Rental and leasing of construction machinery and equipment
  • Activities of labour placement agencies
  • Activities of temporary employment agencies
  • Repair of computers and personal and household goods
  • Repair of computers and communication equipment
  • Repair of computers and peripheral equipment
  • Repair of communication equipment
  • Laundry and dry-cleaning
  • Wholesale Laundry and Dry Cleaners
  • Retail Laundry and Dry Cleaning
  • Funeral Services
  • Financial and insurance activities

►Information: Entertainment

TF1, France Télévisions, M6 and the encrypted channel Canal + are now working together in the midst of the coronavirus crisis. Like a dozen other media groups (the four operators Bouygues Telecom, Free, Orange and SFR, the Pathé and Gaumont studios, the production company Réservoir Prod, Brut, etc.), all have joined Mediawan’s initiative.

This French audiovisual production giant, which owns 24 companies – including those behind the series “Les Bracelets rouges”, “Dix pour cent”, “Alice Nevers” – has decided to launch a free television channel for the duration of the lockdown. Called #Alamaison, it will be inaugurated this Monday. Every day between 7 a.m. and midnight, it will offer only cultural and educational content, for young and old alike.

►Information: As usual more to come during the day if available

► Fun:  

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► Nostalgia: Paris as you never experienced it before (Video)

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The film was made in a single take, on an open road (in the middle of real car traffic), without any preparation, authorization or guards, early in the morning. My friends and I attempted a few times to do the same but we had to admit defeat.

☠️ The dreaded daily statistics 💀

► International Statistics: Top 10 countries according to the deaths count.

Saturday April 4th 

Rate of healing in the UK is still going down only showing at 0,38% yesterday

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Friday April 3rd

Frightening is the rate of healing in the UK only showing at 0,42%, although I am not really sure what it means exactly.

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► Percentage increase of deaths from one day to the other: 

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► Regional Statistics: Occitanie & Aude  

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► Statistics: Percentage of cases by country v population (1.000 cases or more only)

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❦

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Montecaos

Posted on April 5, 2020 by

From Aline

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I’ll give you this one. It’s from my original home, Africa! Originally it was Spanish. They were Montecados. Then the people from Oran (Algeria)  transformed it and it became Montecaos.

Normally they’re the size of an individual cake, 6 to 8 cm in diameter. But when you see the state of the ground after the children and the husband have stuffed themselves, I now  make them in small bites.

Ingredients

For two baking sheets (you can halve them, it’s more sensible…)

  • 500 gr of flour
  • 275 gr caster sugar
  • 1/4 litre of peanut oil
  • Cinnamon

Method

Mix flour, sugar and oil. Make small, tightly packed spheres. You can add a few drops of oil if the dough is too dry. Sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake in a preheated oven at 200° C for about 8 minutes. The montecaos are cooked when they start to crack.

Recipes Index

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Confinement – Day 18

Posted on April 3, 2020 by

3rd week of confinement

Friday April 3rd 2020

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Ooops! I managed the original page

Trying to duplicate it

►Information: Entertainment

Some suggestion of things to watch on line:

 

►Information: PROVISION OF A DIGITAL TRAVEL CERTIFICATION DEVICE
NEWS RELEASE – April 2, 2020
As part of the containment measures, Christophe Castaner, Minister of the Interior, announces the availability of a digital system for certifying exceptional movements, in addition to the paper system, which is still valid. This service will be available online on the website of the Ministry of the Interior.
The system will be available from Monday 6 April 2020.Its main objectives are as follows:
– for the citizens: to provide a new capacity for the production of thesimple and secure certificate;
– for law enforcement agencies: to ensure secure control through the ability to remotely read the information on the document by reading a QR Code.
The form available online on the Ministry of the Interior’s website will enable information to be entered concerning identity, address, reason for exit, date and time. A PDF file containing all the information and the image of the paper version is then generated. This document automatically includes a QR Code containing all the data of the form, as well as the date and time of generation of the document.
This file must be presented in digital form during a control using a smartphone or a digital tablet. This service is not a processing of personal data. It is a faithful translation of the declarative device in paper format: no data entered is transmitted to the Government’s servers. The data entered is only used to generate locally, on the user’s device, the attestation in digital form.
This service has been designed to be easily usable by people with disabilities, applying the rules defined by the RGAA (General Accessibility Reference System for Administrations).
This service is accessible on any type of mobile terminal (smartphone or tablet) through a relatively recent browser.
An online form was preferred to the creation of an application available on mobile application stores. The form solution seemed simpler to use for the majority of people and makes it easier to update the certificate should it evolve.
Christophe Castaner, Minister of the Interior, says :
“In the early days of the containment, I refused the digital attestation solutions that had quickly emerged on the Internet, because they did notprotect personal data. Because they increased the risk of fraud. Because it was a question of implementing containment and enforcing it. Two weeks later, the issues and principles of containment seem to be understood and generally respected by the French. I therefore decided to authorise the implementation of a digital system. It is intended to be flexible without calling into question the very strict respect for containment that the health situation in our country continues to impose. Developed by teams from the Ministry of the Interior, this device is effective against fraud, because it shows the time of creation of the form. It is protective of personal data, because no data storage is carried out. It respects barrier gestures, finally, by allowing the police to check the certificate without manipulating the mobile phone or tablet of the person being checked.”

►Information: Easter holidays

The government has announced that the containment in place since March 17 will likely be extended beyond April 15. “De-confinement will only be able to take place gradually,” said Edouard Philippe, adding that “we are currently thinking about several scenarios” with “health experts and logisticians”.

The Easter holidays, which officially begin on Friday for zone C (Ile-de-France and Occitanie), will therefore not take place. This is because “there should be no departures on holiday in the coming days. Anyone who contravenes this will be punished,” warned Edouard Philippe.

To ensure that the French people concerned do not leave, the Minister of the Interior, Christophe Castaner, has stepped up checks on major roads, but also in airports and stations, where “the rail service is reduced to 6% of its capacity”. The Paris police prefect has announced that he wants to enforce confinement “with the utmost firmness” by introducing tighter controls.

► Fun:

 

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☠️ The dreaded daily statistics 💀

► International Statistics: Top 10 countries according to the deaths count.

Thursday April 2nd

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Wednesday April 1st

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► Percentage increase of deaths from one day to the other: 

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► Regional Statistics: Occitanie & Aude  

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► Statistics: Percentage of cases by country v population (1.000 cases or more only)

I have added 9 countries where the number of cases has gone over 1.000 casesScreen Shot 2020-04-03 at 12.00.03.png

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Obviously one has to question the reported data from Russia / India & China

❦

 

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Confinement – Day 19

Posted on April 3, 2020 by

3rd week of confinement

Saturday April 4th 2020

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Screen Shot 2020-04-04 at 10.53.55.pngLast evening’s “Virtual apéritif” went well. We are learning slowly not to speak all at the same time. As far as the daily news are concerned there is not much. A lot of discussions, pointless most of them. What is sure is than the current confinement will last much longer. The infection peak has not been reached yet.

►Information: Masks

While the government has repeatedly stated that masks are of no use to individuals who are not carriers of the disease, the tone is changing in many countries including France. The most dramatic turnaround came from the United States on Friday when President Donald Trump announced that health officials are now advising Americans to cover their faces when they leave their homes. He of course immediately added that this is not valid for himself. A few specialists are now saying that the coronavirus could be transmitted via the exhaled air (“aerosols” in scientific jargon). It is suspected that “the virus may be transmitted when people are just talking, rather than just sneezing or coughing”.

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I wnat one of those with a moustache as well

►Information: Entertainment

In this time of containment, we’re going to spend a lot of time locked up at home. Nevertheless, staying locked up at home does not mean that we can no longer educate ourselves, cultivate ourselves or even take the time to travel for a few moments. Indeed, thanks to Google Arts & Culture you can virtually visit 500 different museums and galleries in several cities around the world.

By clicking on the museum of your choice, you will be able to consult and admire some of the works and collections of these museums and galleries. For some of them, you will be able to visit them entirely, as if you were actually there.

 

►Information: As usual more to come during the day if available

► Fun:  

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☠️ The dreaded daily statistics 💀

► International Statistics: Top 10 countries according to the deaths count.

Friday April 3rd

Frightening is the rate of healing in the UK only showing at 0,42%, although I am not really sure what it means exactly.

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Thursday April 2nd

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► Percentage increase of deaths from one day to the other: 

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► Regional Statistics: Occitanie & Aude  

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► Statistics: Percentage of cases by country v population (1.000 cases or more only)

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❦

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Confinement – Day 17

Posted on April 2, 2020 by

3rd week of confinement

Thursday April 2nd 2020

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Had a video conference / apéritif virtuel with friends and former neighbours in Germany last evening. Good fun and nice to see everyone.

De-confinement is unlikely to happen “all at once, everywhere and for everyone,” warned Prime Minister Édouard Philippe. Possible scenarios are being studied but of course no provisional dates.

►Information: Consultation sites

In Occitanie, some departments host consultation sites that rely on private practitioners and are specifically dedicated to patients with COVID-19-type respiratory signs. In the Aude region, 12 dedicated consultation sites are available and now operational. Patients should not go there  directly, but they must go through their doctor, first and foremost by phone in case of symptoms. It is the doctor who will refer them.

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►Information: Decree from March 28th – Controle Technique

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Due to the health crisis, an additional 3 months is granted to carry out the technical inspection of your car (light vehicle) and eighteen days for the technical inspection of heavy vehicles.

 

 

►Information: Waste

I think a picture is worth 1000 words. They do advise not to put bags on the street only in bins and appropriate containers. Everything must be in bags.

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►Information: As usual more to come during the day if available

► Fun:

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☠️ The dreaded daily statistics 💀

► International Statistics: Top 10 countries according to the deaths count.

Wednesday April 1st

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Tuesday 31st March

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► Percentage increase of deaths from one day to the other: 

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► Regional Statistics: Occitanie & Aude  

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Too early to say, but one could possibly read a slight flattening of the curve

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► Statistics: Percentage of cases by country v population (1.000 cases or more only)

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Obviously one has to question the reported data from Russia / India & China

❦

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Wishbone Ash

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

Sitting at my home office (in fact that is the only one I have these days) during this forced confinement time. What does one do? I guess it is an ideal time to clean up files, do some back-ups and surf the web.

I came across some old files and songs which for some reasons I have forgotten were tucked away in a folder I forgot existed. I might seem to recall I had transfereed files from an old computer to a new one expecting to sort it out at a later date. Well almost 10 years later the time has come.

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Anyway I came across a couple of songs I used to like from Wishbone Ash in 1970. I did a bit of research on the group and of course there has been a lot of changes in the band over the years but they still exist and in fact they brought an album out a few weeks ago. Thanks to Deezer, I am able to listen to it at this minute. The style has not changed over the years.

 

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Keep listening to music

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Chorizo, Red Peppers & Butter Beans

Posted on April 1, 2020 by

by Guy

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Ingredients

I’ve listed some basic alternatives if the originals are difficult to find!

  • 2 tbsp. Olive Oil
  • 2 Medium Onions – large diced (about 1cm sq.)
  • 2 Red Peppers – roasted, peeled and diced (about 2cm sq. See note below) OR Jar of Red Peppers
  • 2 Garlic Cloves – chopped (optional)
  • 250g Hot Chorizo Sausages (un-cooked) – peeled of their skins and cut into 2 -3 cm pieces
  • 1 or 2 x 400g jars of Spanish Butter Beans (amount to taste!) or Supermarket tins – washed and drained
  • 1 x 400g tin of Chopped Tomatoes
  • ½ tsp. Espelette spice – or a mixture of a little Spanish Sweet Paprika with some Chilli Powder
  • Salt & Pepper – to taste

Method

  1. Rub the peppers with Olive Oil and place them on a baking tray in a pre-heated oven at 200c. Roast for about 20 minutes or until they have blackened slightly – remove from the oven and place in a plastic bag – the top tied in a knot. Take out after 10 minutes, skin, de-seed and chop into desired pieces and set aside.
  2. Heat the Olive Oil in a large pan and add the diced Onions – cook over a medium heat until softened.
  3. Add the pieces of Chorizo sausages and cook until they are done and have given up their colouring and spices into the Oil.
  4. Add the Butter Beans and stir gently to coat them with the flavoured Oil.
  5. Finally add the Chopped Tomatoes together with the Red Pepper slices and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
  6. Adjust the seasoning and serve!

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