Spikecollie

I was just out for a nice dog walk and chucker ball play in the thick drizzle.Not what I wanted to come back to...

"A British man who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus has told Radio 4's Broadcasting House that he was "shocked" at the lack of information and testing when he arrived back in the UK from a skiing holiday in northern Italy. He flew home from the Austrian city of Innsbruck, just across the border from Italy, to Manchester Airport last weekend. "It was rather strange... when, we got in to Manchester [airport] there was no mention of coronavirus whatsoever - no advice, no checks... I was a little shocked to be honest," he told the BBC's Luke Jones. He said he and his wife took the decision to self-isolate after being in a ski resort packed with local tourists. He describes the illness as starting with "a bit of a dry cough - and then suddenly feeling feverish". He attended a pod for a swab test after speaking to NHS 111 and learned he had tested positive three days later. "By self-isolating, think of all the lives we've saved," he said, on the radio. He says he is now "well-recovered". His wife did not test positive, but both remain in self-isolation. "We are both self-employed and this is affecting our income a little, but you've got to do what you've got to do - and we did the right thing."" (Source: BBC live) For all the "less sensible" (putting it politely) people out there, thankfully there are some and hopefully many who make good and considerate decisions.

An Easyjet flight from Porto to Lyon has been diverted to Toulouse over suspicions that several passengers may be infected.

Here's a little something for you to think about, if you would like to: Kohlberg - Moral Development | Simply Psychology WWW.SIMPLYPSYCHOLOGY.ORG You have used the pronoun "I" five times above. This disease is not "a cough". Yes, 80% of people will probably get a relatively mild illness but that leaves 20% who won't and even if you prefer not to think of those people, then there are those of us who do and who will. Thankfully the authorities will also think of them as well. At times like this we need to show the collective-oriented, human side of our humanity - for the good of everyone, including ourselves.

I think they may be waiting until after 1800, when Macron is holding his council of defence meeting, to give out today's French case numbers.

Would you self quarantine if you had symptoms that could be COVID-19? If not, what would you do - continue to move around in public and go about your daily life potentially spreading the disease to others, some of whom may be vulnerable enough to die from it? I hope not...

No update on French numbers yet today. Perhaps the calculators can't cope...

If I had friends like that I'd be asking myself why I had friends like that! Sorry - they're just being completely irresponsible.

This is an interesting one, The French Labour Minister has said that 900 French companies have applied for partial staff layoffs, affecting 15,000 employees due to economic/financial concerns around COVID-19.

As several news articles have said, though, there is a balance. Buying what you need for a two week potential isolation is one thing, buying huge quantities that are well beyond what you need for that period is quite another as it leaves other people without the means to sustain themselves for a potential two week period. People need to make rational purchases and answer honestly as to how much toilet roll they use in a typical week. You can then buy twice this amount, put it away in case of emergency and just buy normally. The same applies to food and healthcare products. Stripping the shelves is anti-social and very selfish. For me, the epitome of disgraceful behaviour is the mentality of people who are trying to make a profit from this crisis by selling scarce essential products like hand sanitiser at hyper-inflated prices. I think people doing this on Amazon, eBay or wherever should be tracked down and made to give the money back to purchasers. Ultimately it needs to be made a criminal offence. The law is there as a common denominator to protect us all and there are times when it needs to be used.

Back to toilets I'm afraid. I don't flush my toilet paper, I can't because the very old drains around the house can't cope with it. The pipes are ceramic and the rough patches in places cause the paper to catch, creating a blockage. When we first moved in we had two blockages that were extremely difficult and unpleasant to clear and we stopped flushing paper after that. My paper goes in a toilet bin in a bag and then into the main household waste. This is a very common practice in France where small pipe diameter can also be problematic. This is also the case in other countries. This means that there is lots of potentially infected material moving around if, as we suspect, COVID-19 can spread via faecal matter.

"The health care system in the Italian region of Lombardy is on the brink of collapse, the head of its crisis response unit has said. "We're now being forced to set up intensive care treatment in corridors, in operating theatres, in recovery rooms. We've emptied entire hospital sections to make space for seriously sick people," Antonio Pesenti told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. "One of the best health systems in the world, in Lombardy, is a step away from collapse," he said." (Source: BBC live)

First case in the neighbouring département of Corrèze. Haute-Vienne, Creuse and Corrèze used to be called Limousin before boundaries were restructured and we were amalgamated into Nouvelle Aquitaine.

949 cases in France tonight at close of BFMTV live and 16 deaths. I'm afraid doglet and I fell asleep on the sofa. Hes' now gone to bed and I will befollowing his example pretty soon!

949 cases in France and 16 deaths.

Good idea, Nick. Finally, if this happens more often, it might make that "small island" know that it goes both ways - eh?

I guess we taught the wrong things eh? With my classes (I am a given up/not retired management lecturer) I would always use examples/ideas/exerecises of survival. We played the usual games of people out of the ballooon etc. but one of the most telling was an exercise where your plane had crashed in (wherever) and you had a limited number of items to prioritise (you could adapt the game as you saw fit). This always really brought out the poor skills that the majority of young folks have vis a vis survival. Being able to skin, gut and cook a rabbit and make a good fire to cook it on has its advantages - even if it's just for the good taste and enjoyment. Fishing too - how many kids these these days would know what to do with a rod, let alone a hook and priest...

Just like ,me. The freezer and larder (bottled fruit) is stocked with the produce of last year. Plenty of baking capacity. Our local shop is a lifeline too.

Will share this (consent agreed between the two of us). I just had a chat with my doctor who was visiting my neighbour. Doctor, utterly exhausted, came in for a cup of tea - typical day - surgery 0800-1200 house calls 1200-2000 weekdays), just finished today at 1800. He said everyone who has a sore throat/sniffle is panicking about having COVID-19. It is making life hell and could stop real patients presenting. No protective wear as promised by the government, just him and his surgery diagnostics. Our healthcare system is among the best in the world but we can't keep up the defenses forever...

It's really easy. Despite being in France, the best country for bread in the world (IMO) I like to bake. I like to add dried or fresh fruit and nuts. PM me if you want a really simple talk through if things get difficult and you need to bake. I'll help anyone with anything when I have time, so you might have to wait a while during the week when I am helping others for work...

An unaccounted and uncontained potential spread. No record of attedndees as I said earlier. A bizarre scenario - I hope they are praying to their deity, not just for themselves but for the rest of us...

Ia lready eat loads of oily fish per week and Mylo has sardines with every meal! Should suffice...

Sorry, forgot to add to earlier post. WTF are people doing with flour? Are they suddenly going to start baking or will they eat it like porridge? Mllaahh...

Or lack of it. I've just been to my trusty local shop. People don't panic like townies here and I was able to buy a pack of 12 rolls to do me for the next week or so in addition to what I haveand there is loads left. I also bought and dropped in a smaller pack for one of my clients.

3rd case in French Parliament, another deputée.