Daily Post – February 5th 2021

Living through a pandemic in the south of France

324 days in Carcassonne since the 1st lockdown in March 2020

▫️ News and titbits

No new turn of the screw, but a brief update on the epidemic and precautionary instructions just a few days before the start of the school holidays. Prime Minister Jean Castex spoke at a press conference on Thursday 4 February 2021 at 6 pm, after a new health defence council was held on Wednesday.

The head of government was surrounded by several ministers, including Olivier Véran (Health), Agnès Pannier-Runacher (Industry) and Elisabeth Borne (Labour).

No new confinement at this stage, acceleration of vaccination, call to reinforce the use of telework… Here is what we should remember from this press conference.

▪︎ A fragile situation, especially because of the variants.
▪︎ No new confinement at this stage.
▪︎ 1.7 million additional appointments for vaccination
The Prime Minister announces that 1.7 million additional appointments will open in the coming days for the first injections of vaccines. They will be divided into 500,000 appointments by the end of February, “which will be open from tomorrow. And 1.2 million appointments over the month of March, which will be open from the middle of next week. »
▪︎ More screening in schools.
▪︎ Checks and verbalisations on the rise.
▪︎ Call for more teleworking
▪︎ France will contribute to the production of four vaccines
▪︎ No travel restrictions during holidays

▫️ Daily and weekly Corona virus statistics are visible here and will be ready by 2pm

▫️ Comic books

I went to pick up one of my regular order of comic books this morning. It is always a pleasure to go to the shop and have a chat with the manager of the comics section.

I enquired about the business and she advised that it had never been so good. I did a bit of research back home and came across this article: The French comic book market will end in 2020 with a record figure: more than 53 million copies of comic books have been bought in France (+9%) for a turnover generated of €591m (+6%). Mangas have made the most progress (+18%), despite a drop in new titles due to the Covid. The market is mainly driven by series and best-sellers.

I certainly do my bit every month

▫️ Music

BIG BAND – Quite a change from my usual but Big Bands make a nice change.

It reminds me of some very entertaining evening in FitzGerald’s in the Chicago surburbs.

FitzGerald’s has been a gathering spot since it was built in the early 1900’s. Up to 1925, the frame building at 6615 W. Roosevelt was a roadhouse used as a hunting lodge and sporting team headquarters. As more buildings rose along Roosevelt Road, the club was home to several nightclubs, the best-known being The Hunt Club, which flourished through the 1950’s and early 60’s–acts included Turk Murphy, Bob Scobey and Lil Armstrong. After the Hunt Club closed, the space became the Deer Lodge, complete with pool tables and a fortune teller.

The FitzGerald family bought the building in 1980, and since that time FitzGerald’s has gained a national reputation for excellent live music in a casual, comfortable atmosphere. Along the way, the family purchased the buldings on either side of the club; the corner building now houses a private party space and “get away’ bar, and the building to the east is currently occupied by Capri Ristorante, a popular Old World Italian restaurant.

▫️ Pic of the day