Upcoming Freedom

Covid infection numbers are still relatively high, around 20,000 cases per day, but the "coming out of lockdown" calendar has been revealed...

• May 3rd
  End of the 10km limit for going places, but most things remain closed and curfew is still 7pm. Remote work required as possible
• May 19th
  Curfew pushed to 9pm, outdoor dining, non-essential stores, movie theaters, live theaters and museums open, remote work required as possible
• June 9th
  Indoor dining, gyms, stadiums reopen, foreigners allowed in, remote work encouraged but not required
• June 30th
  Everything is back open except nightclubs, and remote work no longer required
  

More Press Conferences

The government has been giving a lot of press conferences this year, covering Covid-19 stats, new measures or restrictions, and / or updates about vaccination or opening things up. Sometimes we watch, sometimes we catch the highlights later. 

We had another one of these enlightening moments yesterday. This time the highlights were: 

• Preschool and elementary school kids go back to school Monday, April 26th
• Middle school and high school kids are still on distance learning til May 3rd
• May 3rd, middle school and high school kids return to school, with a hybrid in-person / distance learning for high school (10th-12th grades), and for 8th and 9th graders in the 15 departments with the highest infection rates - including ours:
  
  
  
  
  
• The 10 km limit for being outside our homes will be lifted May 3rd
• May 3rd we won't need "passes" to go out anymore except during curfew hours (7 pm to 6 am)
• Curfew stays in place at least until mid-May
  
• Plans right now are to re-open outdoor dining mid-May 
  

 So there you have it... we're at 13.2 million first doses given, out of around 55 million adults. Frédéric joined that number yesterday, so that's good news for our household.

Stinging Nettles Galore

As we did during last spring's covid-lockdown, we're using the current covid-lockdown to work on the yard, too. It was long past time to attack the stinging nettle patches that were taking over the back corner of the yard. 

Frédéric is going to plant potatoes in the bare patch at the left of the photo below, and then we'll put grass there later on.

Bare patches of dirt = no more nettles

More to go

And even more to go

 

The pool is open!

The, ahem, outdoor pool. 

The boys are both doing distance learning this week per the latest governmental decisions. Benjamin hasn't always been able to swim in the afternoon because some of his teachers insist on giving video lessons during their normal classtimes. 

 Noah (at left below) was able to swim in the snow today, though. Brr! 

Noah with two of his teammates, Manon and Clément

 

Easter

I told Frédéric he had to find better hiding places this year since the boys aren't little any more. He did - this one (inside the metal tube from the old swingset - took them quite some time to find.

Gala, keeping an eye on the neighborhood

obligatory annual Easter photo