Lockdown diaries day forty-six, Advent day fourteen, name the bottles

Advent day 14 Syrah red wine and Biere Brune

Day forty-six, Monday 14^th December 2020

 

The end of the attestations

For the last forty-six days we haven’t been able to leave home without a filled in form (attestation) detailing who we are, where we live, where we were born and why we were leaving home (and the reasons allowed for doing so were quite restrictive). Today was the last day these forms will be necessary. From tomorrow we will be free to roam and confinement (or lockdown) will be over (once more), although it is being replaced by an overnight curfew. 

 

If you do need to leave home after eight o’clock in the evening, or before six o’clock in the morning, you will need an attestation and the only reasons to be out are for work, family, medical, to assist those who have a disability, to carry out necessary deeds in the public interest or to walk a family pet. General exercise and sports are forbidden between 20h and 6h.

 

This second lockdown hasn’t been anywhere near as restrictive as the first, especially as so many more shops have been open as normal. Aside from the form filling, I can’t see much will change for us and I doubt we will notice that we will be living under a curfew at all. It’s winter here and dark by six o’clock in the evening. There are no village events on, and the village bar has closed for good, therefore we have no need or desire to leave home once the heating is on and shutters are closed. We know the virus is still out there, masks will still need to be worn whenever we leave home and although we can now see friends, no one we know is ready to party like it’s still 2019. An interesting benefit to Covid-19 is that France is reporting far fewer cases of the flu or the winter gastro bug that are normally rife in schools by the end of the first term. Keep wearing your masks, keep washing your hands and keep safe. 

 

Technically this post is my last lockdown diary entry, however, we still have ten days of advent left, so I’m not ready to quit daily blogging just yet, sorry.

 

Advent day fourteen

Things are beginning to feel a little bit more Christmassy, although you won’t find any flashing lights or garish decorations here. What did arrive today were two parcels from Adrian’s mum. Hidden within the layers of bubble wrap were an exciting mix of things like bike pedals and warm gloves, that Adrian normally keeps at her house for winter cycling commuting but will be far more use here this year, some post, some bits and pieces we’d ordered and some wrapped up Christmas gifts (which we haven’t peeked into yet). This inspired Adrian and I to set off once more for a Christmas shopping spree to Niort. Well, all I can say is that we’ve ticked a few more things off the list and you wouldn’t believe how grateful I was to come home to a warming and reviving mulled wine and mincepie. 

 

France Trivia advent calendar, day fourteen, name the bottles

In our advent calendars today were a red Syrah for me and a biere brune for Adrian. Keeping to an alcohol theme, my French Trivia for today is all about bottle names, specifically for Champagne.

 

Magnum, holds one and a half litres or the equivalent of two standard bottles

Jéroboam, three litres or four standard bottles

Réhoboam, four and a half litres, or six bottles

Mathusalem, six litres, or eight bottles

Salmanazar, nine litres, or twelve bottles

Balthazar, twelve litres, or sixteen bottles

Nabuchodonosor, fifteen litres, or twenty bottles

Salomon, eighteen litres, or twenty-four bottles

Souverain, twenty-six and a quatre litres, or thirty-five bottles

 

Some of those names look like they will be as tricky to pronounce as they would be to pour. I think I prefer the mini bottles from my advent calendar.