Living in Quarantine

The events in France happened quickly, as I'm sure they have all over the world. Restaurants and bars were closed on Saturday night. Then word came that President Macron would make a speech Monday night.
I'm generally a Macron fan, but I think he botched things by announcing that he would make a speech and not giving people the details. That caused a panic on Monday that filled all the groceries and will probably cause a spike in coronavirus cases.
On Monday around noon as I was teaching, Earl came upstairs to say that the rumor was Macron was quarantining everyone starting at 8 p.m. and no one would be allowed out even to get food. We tried to logically think whether this could happen. It didn't seem right, but we didn't know. Would they deliver food to people in little boxes like when the train is delayed?
Grace, Jack and I had been planning to go to LeClerc, a Walmart-type store with groceries and many other goods, when I finished teaching because Jack needed some IT supplies and the only stores open were groceries. I didn't think it would be bad, because I hadn't seen widespread panic in France.
But the announcement of a coming announcement with no one knowing what would be said sent everything into overdrive.
The parking spots were few and the shopping carts were fewer.
We agreed to separate, I went to get some staples while Jack and Grace went to the tech section of the store. There was toilet paper. Noodles were completely gone, but I was able to find several boxes of soup -- they do boxes instead of cans here.
The only onions were red onions, which Grace is allergic to so I couldn't get onions. I found some chocolate bars (priorities) and headed back past long lines that stretched from the cashiers at the front to the middle of the store, line after line of people.
I had somehow missed the paper towels and I was retracing my steps. When I found them I started toward the front of the store knowing Grace and Jack had gotten in line and saved a place in the mass of people.
Perhaps because I was not near the grocery section, but down near the beauty products, I found a line with only two people in front of me and I stopped moving. Grace and Jack were in a longer line and came to join me.
The picture of the people in line doesn't begin to show the craziness,

I don't know why the lines were so much worse farther down the line of cashiers. 

but as we saw all the people clustered together waiting to pay, we predicted that many people were exposed to the virus that day, and that's where Macron went wrong. If he'd let us know we will be allowed to go out for food during the quarantine, people wouldn't have panicked.

We also noticed that there were people in line, at least two that we saw, buying trees.

People in line buying trees because "quarantine."

Who says, "well, it's going to be a quarantine so I better buy a tree?"
That night, Macron announced the quarantine. People had to stay home unless they were going to the grocery store, the doctor, the pharmacy, to take care of someone who cannot take care of themselves, or to exercise alone. And if they were out doing any of these things, they needed to carry a paper called an "attestation."
I made a joke about "papers, please" as in Nazi Germany. And the next morning as I headed out on a run, my French neighbor asked if I had heard the news?
I said I had and he went on a bit of a rant about "papers to run, papers to eat, papers to go to the grocery!" I could tell he was not happy about the situation.
I said perhaps it would make the situation better and he gave a French shrug.
Tuesday, our first day in quarantine, was kind of normal except the builders didn't come, leaving us with a ceiling that is boarded for drywall but not mudded yet, and walls with support beams and no boards. It may be weeks before they return so we have arranged things as well as we can.
I taught from 9:30 - 2 and then had to work on my online class for the university, so it was just another work day for me.
Earl went to the butcher and said that the small grocery store in town was only allowing in two people at a time. The post office wasn't taking any mail, so Earl wasn't able to mail his absentee ballot to vote in Florida's primary.
Our friend Derrick, a loquacious Irishman, wondered how he would stand being quarantined. I suggested that he text me when he heads to the market and we could stand in line together, but I guess that defeats the purpose.
Grace, Jack Earl and I had dinner together and played cards. Jack and I lost 10-9 so it was a close match with no one feeling they were slaughtered.
I went for a regular run this morning. These horses seemed to know about the quarantine as they both stared at me, wondering if I had my papers, no doubt.

Today we spent some time cleaning our small yard, pulling greenery that has decided to grow in what was once a concrete patio or in the cracks of our house.
As I was sweeping, I found two empty snail shells and a Bueno Kinder wrapper.

Sweeping up in the garden

Earl is busy tackling the "cozy room" which has become filled with construction debris as we continue to work on our house.
After a few loads of laundry, Grace and I settled on the veranda with some sweet drinks -- menthe a l'eau.

Mint syrup and water, plus Grace's knitting.

No one wants to be quarantined, but hopefully it slows down the virus, and we're lucky to be in a warm environ today where we can sit in the sun and sip green drinks the day after St. Patrick's Day.
How bout you? Has your life changed since the virus arrived?