DAILY AND WEEKLY STATISTICS HERE

▫️ VACCINATIONS

Norway, for its part, is withdrawing from AstraZeneca. Prime Minister Erna Solberg justified these measures by the rare but serious risks that these vaccines would entail. Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine is now reserved for volunteers only.

It looks like the second target of 20 million first vaccinations by mid-May could be met. As of May 13th, 19 299 124 people have received their first injection and the daily average over the past 7 days is 252 000.

▫️ INCIDENCE RATE

The incidence rates are still declining in France and is now 168,52 on a national level. Locally in the Aude departement it is even better at 114,84.

▫️ TRAVEL

14/05: Vaccinated people no longer need a PCR test to enter Greece.
14/05: People who have been vaccinated or have had covid no longer need a PCR test to enter Germany.
14/05: France’s border reopening strategy has been published:

“Within the European Union, travel facilitated by the health pass To travel within the European Union, it is currently not necessary to justify the reason for travel, but prior testing obligations (-72h) are required.

The government is working with the other Member States on a “green pass” to support the resumption of tourism and facilitate border crossings through common standards.

While the test is already an element of proof used, this “green pass” will enable travellers to show that they have been fully vaccinated at border controls.

For travellers entering France from outside the European Union, tourist flows will be reopened from 9 June depending on the health situation in these countries. France will have a policy of controlling entry to its territory that is proportionate to the health situation in each third country, in accordance with a vision shared with the other Member States of the European Union.

• For countries in which the virus is not actively circulating, and in which no variants of concern have been identified (“green countries”), flows may be resumed under much more flexible arrangements.
• For countries where the virus is actively circulating but in controlled proportions, and without the spread of variants of concern (“orange countries”), the conditions for entry into France will be more restrictive, particularly for unvaccinated travellers.
• Finally, a European emergency mechanism will aim to establish a list of “red countries” for which drastic measures will be implemented, in view of the epidemic circulation in these countries, as well as the presence of variants of concern: strict limitation of people authorised to travel, tests on boarding and arrival, strictly controlled isolation and quarantine measures.

Pending European harmonisation of the criteria for classifying “red countries”, and in order to protect the French without delay, France has already put in place these drastic measures for incoming flows from the following countries: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Qatar, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (list as of 10 May 2021).

For EU citizens wishing to travel outside the European Union, it is necessary to find out in advance about the entry restrictions and health situation in the destination country.

• Travel conditions will depend on the entry restrictions applied by each country.
• It is still not advisable to travel to “orange countries” and it is strongly recommended not to travel to “red countries”.

12/05: Reopening of borders: France expects reciprocity from the United States.
12/05 : The suspension of international flights to and from Nepal is extended at least until 31 May.
12/05: Self-tests are now accepted to enter the United States. However, you still need to have spent at least 14 days outside the Schengen area to enter the country.
11/05: Thailand may fully reopen its borders by 1 January 2022.

10/05: Fully vaccinated persons are now exempt from PCR testing to enter Cyprus.
10/05: Morocco has extended the state of health emergency until 10 June.
10/05: Travellers from 12 countries will be able to travel to England without quarantine from 17 May, but France is not one of them.
10/05: French Polynesia will not open to travellers from mainland France without compelling reasons until July.
10/05: Tunisia has put in place a new general lockdown from 9 to 16 May.
07/05: The quarantine requirement for entry into France has been extended to seven additional countries: Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Turkey and Qatar. For these countries, a PCR test of 36 hours (instead of 72 hours) or a negative PCR test of less than 72 hours accompanied by a negative antigen test of less than 24 hours is now required.
07/05: Australia‘s borders may not fully reopen until mid to late 2022.

▫️ WWD

▫️ MUSIC OF 1968

Another Top Hit in France at that time

A nice spoof on Hey Jo

🎶 / 🎶 / 🎶

▫️ FOOD & DRINKS

In the past couple of days, we went to replenish our wine reserves in 2 favorites places.

One in the Corbières

Ollieux Romanis

🍷 🍷 🍷

One in Minervois

Domaine des Homs

The owner Christian is extremely knowledgeable and is very proud of his 15 years experience with Bio wines. Originally a chemist he previously worked in the Burgundy area.

▫️ THE FABULOUS FRIDAY (FUNNIES) GROANS from Paul

Top of the morning to you.

◼︎ A few groaners to start…

• I’m looking to buy a new compass.
Can anyone point me in the right direction?

• My mate’s that argumentative, he only eats food that disagrees with him.

• I’m hiding from doing exercise. I’m on a Fitness Protection Program.

• I’ve just come back from a car boot sale. The only thing I bought was
an old record album called “The sounds wasps make”. When i got home
and played it i thought to myself, this doesn’t sound anything like the
sounds wasps make. Then I realized I was playing the Bee side.

• I went to the card shop yesterday and said, “Do you sell bereavement cards?”
“Yes we do.” replied the assistant.
“Good,” I said, “could I exchange this ‘Get Well Soon’ card for one?”


◼︎ Cowboy: “Well, I suppose you’ve been all right. You’ve been a decent horse, I guess. A bit slow sometimes, but a decent horse, and…”
Horse: “No, you idiot! I didn’t ask you for FEEDBACK! I said I wanted my FEEDBAG!”


◼︎An elephant was drinking out of a river one day, when he spotted a turtle asleep on a log. So, he ambled on over and kicked it clear across the river.
“What did you do that for?” asked a passing giraffe.
“Because I recognized it as the same turtle that took a nip out of my trunk 53 years ago.”
“Wow, what a memory!” commented the giraffe.
“Yes,” said the elephant with a wink, “turtle recall.”

◼︎ Some interesting thoughts …..

• Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other says ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

• Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

• He who laughs last thinks slowest.

• Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.

• If the shoe fits get another one just like it.

• Those that live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.

• The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.

• The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.

• When you go into court, you are putting yourself into the hands of 12 people who weren’t  smart enough to get out of jury duty.



◼︎ A young city boy visiting a farm wanted to be appear macho, so he went out walking with one of the hired hands. As they were walking through the barnyard, the visitor tried to begin a conversation, “Say, isn’t that fine-looking bunch of cows over there.”The hired hand replied, “Not ‘bunch,’ it’s ‘herd.'” “Heard what?” “Herd of cows.””Sure, I’ve heard of cows!” finished the city boy excitedly, “there’s a big bunch of ’em right over there.”


◼︎ “Good morning class,” A university professor greets his brand new students. “Welcome to your first official day of training. But before we begin, I’d like to ask each student to quickly introduce themselves and give a little information on what led them to be interested in this particular field of work.” The blond student in the first seat stands up. “Hello everyone!” The blond addresses, “Probably like many of you, I grew up in a small town. My dad was a farmer, of course. I remember as a little kid, I used to love helping him out with the land and the animals. I would assist him any chance I got. Even our neighbours, when they would let me! So, like many of you probably, I thought to myself why not do it for a living?” After brief silence, the professor replies “And that’s why  you’ve chosen this profession? Because of your love of assisting farmers?” “That’s right!” The Blonde student replies proudly. “I want to be a pharmacist.”

◼︎ “A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.” – Herm Albright


◼︎ In any organization, there will always be one person who knows what’s going on; 

This person must be fired.


◼︎ When I was a kid, we walked 10 miles to school every day, sometimes in the rain or snow. 

Man, did we feel stupid when we found out there was a bus.


◼︎ After the fall in Garden of Eden, Adam was walking with his sons Cain and Abel.

As they passed by the ruins of the Garden of Eden, one of the boys asked, 

“Father, what’s that?”

Adam replied, “Boys, that’s where your mother ate us out of house and home.”


◼︎ A steam locomotive passing through Poland one night was running low on coal. 

The engineer said to his fireman, “We’re coming to a town, let’s stop and send the porter
out to get more coal. Can you see the name of the town on the depot sign?”

The fireman replied, “It appears to be Danzig in the dark.”

And the engineer shouted, “Buy coal, Porter!”


◼︎ The doctor, who had been seeing an 80-year old woman for most of her life, finally retired. At her next checkup, the new doctor told her to bring a list of all the medicines that
had been prescribed for her. As the young doctor was looking through these, his eyes grew wide as he realized she has a prescription for birth control pills. “Mrs. Smith, do you realize these are BIRTH CONTROL pills?!?” “Yes, they help me sleep at night.” “Mrs. Smith, I assure you there is absolutely NOTHING in these that could possibly
help you sleep!” She reached out and patted the young Doctor’s knee. “Yes, dear, I know that, but every morning, I grind one up and mix it in the glass of orange juice that my 16 year old granddaughter drinks… And believe me, it helps me sleep at night!”


◼︎ Groan…..

At one time, there a Sea Scout camp outside of Norfolk, Virginia. It was so close to the beach that the porpoises could be seen swimming in to shore at dinnertime. The scouts would amuse themselves by throwing the scraps from their meals to the porpoises every evening. Because of this the camp’s chef would announce the meals by yelling, “It’s chow time… for all in tents and porpoises!”


◼︎ After my husband and I had a huge argument, we ended up not talking to each other for days. Finally, on the third day, he asked where one of his shirts was.”Oh,” I said, “So now you’re speaking to me.” He  ooked confused, “What are you talking about?” “Haven’t you noticed I haven’t spoken to you for three days?” I challenged. “No,” he said, “I just thought we were getting along.”


◼︎ Q…How do you keep your car from being stolen?

A…Buy one with a manual gearbox.      


Q…How do you send a message in code?

A…Handwrite it in cursive


Q: What’s the difference between a lawyer and a lab rat?

A: There are just some things that a rat won’t do.


Q: Why was the boy sitting on his watch?

A: Because he wanted to be on time.


Q: What do you give a pony with a cold?

A: Cough Stirrup!


Q: What is a horse’s favorite sport?

A: Stable tennis!

◼︎ My wife asked me to put tomato ketchup on the shopping list that I was writing out. I can’t read An effing word of it now.

◼︎ An older white haired man walked into a jewelry store one Friday evening with a beautiful young gal at his side. He told the jeweller he was looking for a special ring for his girlfriend. The jeweller looked through his stock and brought out a $5,000 ring and showed it to him. The old man said, “I don’t think you understand, I want something very special.” At that statement, the jeweller went to his special stock and brought another ring over. “Here’s a stunning ring at only $40,000”, the jeweller said. The young lady’s eyes sparkled and her whole body trembled with excitement. The old man seeing this said, “We’ll take it.” The jeweller asked how payment would be made and the old man stated, by check. “I know you need to make sure my check is good, so I’ll write it now and you can call the bank Monday to verify the funds and I’ll pick the ring up Monday afternoon,” he said. Monday morning, a very teed-off jeweller phoned the old man. “There’s no money in that account.” “I know”, said the old man, “but can you imagine the weekend I had?”

See you in the soup…..

▫️ NEWS FROM ACROSS THE POND 🇺🇸

▫️ FUN

▫️ WEATHER

Where is summer?