Unmasked

Saumur was so relaxed today with the population finally able to walk around, go into shops, mingle freely, with no masks.   I don't care what some people say it is not natural in the western world to cover our faces.  I want to see the expressions and most of all I want to be able to understand what they are saying.  Finally we oldies can go back to lip reading.

I asked for an estimate to re-cover 2 upright chairs and having waited 3 weeks to receive it I went to the shop and asked for it.  The next day they emailed it to me - 2000€!  As I could buy 2 new chairs for that, I binned it.  I was telling this to a French friend who said, 'Ah yes they do that, estimate ridiculous amounts, when they don't want to do the work.'

We all ridicule the 'red book', an enormous tome, which details the legal working practices in France but ridicule no more.  P & O only sacked British workers as sacking a worker in France is fraught with difficulties and can be very, very costly.

A group of former Prime Ministers are demanding a Nuremburg type trial for Putin.  The ICC have their hands tied as they can only try war criminals who have been referred by the UN security council and of course Russia would veto any such proposal.  It is time to veto the veto and go for majority decisions.

Macron was ridiculed last week when he appeared on television and in newspapers as a Zelensky lookalike, with face unshaven and casual sweatshirt.  It didn't  take him long to revert to clean shaven face and a shirt and tie.

A friend asked me when I was in China and after a quick think I said 1992.  Am I losing it?  It was 2002, not even the right century.