THE LAST THING I PUT IN THE FRIDGE

The last thing I wanted to put in my fridge and fortunately didn't because I realized that it was a plate with apple peels ! which certainly didn't belong in the refrigerator but I had it in my hands when I went to the kitchen to throw the peels in the bin ! 

No wonder I have to think of so much that I am so distracted. It's not the first time I've put something in the fridge, even my slippers once ! We searched the whole apartment for my slippers and Mr. G finally found them in the fridge when he opened it. At that time I didn't have any excuse I was just 29.

I am getting fed up with the Lockdown rules ! When you go shopping which I avoid as much as I can, you have to think not to forget your mask, line up in front of the entrance door, get a disinfected caddie, then you disinfect your hands and you have 30 min to do your shopping ! And you have to be alone !

If ever you have the good idea to go through a carwash, you can't, it's closed ! The Coronavirus sits in the brushes and soap and water, while you are alone in your car with contact to nobody.  But you can take a bus or the train where everybody is squeezed together but should have a mask on his nose AND mouth otherwise you get a fine of 250 € ! Isn't this absurd ?  I never would go out without mask, that's in my own interest, but why should I wear a mask when I am alone in a wood ??

This is our second lockdown and it's worse then the first one. There is also the curfew from 10 pm on til 5 or 6. No way to celebrate Christmas or New Year or you have to put up spare beds, which is not allowed as per houshold you can invite one person ! The other one has to stay on the street if it's a couple and only until ten!

Finally the only thing to do not to loose your mind is to make the best out of the situation, think what is the best for you and the less dangerous. 

Therefore I will continue to put things in the fridge which really don't need to be there at least it makes us laugh !

You have got the Covid 19                                                      Phew  ! I thought I've got the Coronavirus

I had bought this mask long time ago for Halloween ! I never thought that I would need it now when I go out !!

 

linking to SOCS Linda G. Hill

FRIDAY's FAVE FIVE

Another Corona lockdown week started and it becomes difficult to remember what you have done this special day, as all days are the same ! 

Ah yes, the lift was still out of work on Monday morning, and Mr. G gathered his courage and slowly crept downstairs, took the car and went shopping! I stayed home and called my friends to tell them that the elevator was still out of work

For Myriam it wasn't a problem but Nicole couldn't walk up 3 floors ! So we switched the homes and went to Myriam, and played scrabble which we hadn't done since a long time, but there was enough space around the table not to sit on each others lap. 

The next day was again a summer day and as the weatherman said the warmest day since 1926 !! I had the window doors wide open and sat there in the sunshine ! It was strange it felt like summer I was wearing a little T-shirt, but the trees around me were naked or only had a few leaves left ! 

 As all shops are closed except the food stores, I went window shopping virtually for some Christmas decoration. What I found was so funny that I ordered it, not really for our Christmas but more for our Grandson, so that he can show his friends once adult, that his grandparents had "survived" a Christmas with the Coronavirus and a masked father Christmas !

The one I ordered had all disinfactants in his backbag !

and here is a decoration with the famous toilet paper !

and there were also Christmas masks !

 

It was quite noisy in our living room, because around was an army of gardeners with their machines   and trimmed the trees or vacuumed the huge pile of leaves !

 

I visited Chantal who is allowed to receive one visitor, or maybe two but not at the same time, we have real strange and complicated rules, in some cases you should have a saw to cut one person into two ! I had put my mask on the sofa besides my purse, and Sheena the dog stole it and played with it. Chantal tried to put it on her nose, but with her long ears it didn't stay ! It slipped up and now she looks like a nurse.

The whole afternoon she had the mask on and we had our fun ! 

When I returned it was dark like in the devil's hole, thanks to the winter time light saving and on top it rained and I had to drive 15 km on a quite narrow street. I

I was relieved when I arrived home, it's difficult to drive when it is dark because the cars on the other side are dazzling with their head lights !  

 

Today a 18 m high Christmas tree was put up on the Grand'Place in Brussels, this will be the only sign of Christmas in Brussels, the market had been cancelled and now the Government is talking about keeping us locked in until beginning January ! I don't know if that will work ! People start to loose patience and start protesting, others are depressed and think about suicide and the one young 24 year old hairdresser had really killed herself. There was a gathering around her salon many people put flowers at the doorsteps and her father spoke. It was so sad to see it on TV. 

 

 

 

  

more participants at Susanne at Living to tell the Story.

HODGEPODGE

1. It's Mickey Mouse's birthday (November 18)...happy birthday Mickey! He reads here, right? Have you ever been to Disney, any of the parks at all? Are you a Disney superfan or something less than that? They're open right now so tell us, would you go if you had the time/money/a free trip. 

I didn't grow up with Mickey Mouse or anything from Walt Disney, I was an after war child in Germany and we didn't have or my father didn't want that I read cartoons.

I discovered all this with my son and in the 80th we have been to Disney World and Disney land it was very funny ! The closest park in Europe is near Paris, but I have never been there, and now I have no intention to go there ! Anyway it's closed  because of the Coronavirus, which has probably caught Mickey too !

2. Your favorite place to go when you want to be quiet as a church mouse? Would those who know you well describe you as more churchmouse or perhaps more like mighty mouse? 

I have never been a church mouse ! Even when I wanted to and stay alone in a corner ! I don't know why but after 5 min I always was surrounded by people. Even at school, it was always me who attracted attention even if I hadn't said a word ! I think I belong  to the mighty mouse, also I don't feel mighty at all ! It must be my looks and demeanour.

3. The day before Mickey's birthday happens to be National Homemade Bread Day. Did/will you celebrate? Do you bake your own bread? Last time you had hot out-of-the-oven homemade bread? What's your favorite kind of bread? 

It was also my grandson's birthday, I will tell him that it also was a Homemade Bread Day ! I have never heard of it but I bake the bread myself, I have a machine for that. I love the smell which goes through the whole house when it's nearly ready. I always take mixed flour for half dark bread with different grains, like sunflower grains or others. 

 

Toby loves my bread ! but here he is with a sandwich

4. What's something you might say is 'the greatest thing since sliced bread'?

A scone with sour cream and bluberry jam

5. Let's keep the gratitude theme we started last week rolling on through November. Share with us five little things you're grateful for today. Small blessings. One catch-they all must start with the letter T. Gotta keep us thinking, right?

- The sun which is shining through our big window door

- Today just started and I enjoy a cup of strong black coffee with suger to wake me up !

- There was no invoice in the mail, which is the only mail we still get !

- The Christmas decoration I found on Internet as all our shops are closed and we are under the       second   lockdown !!

-  Time for watchingt a little movie

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I didn't mind the first lockdown, maybe because the weather was nice and you could sit outside. Now I feel locked in, all the shops are closed, only foodstores are open. Restaurants and cafes are also closed. What should you do in the bad weather ? Watch TV, read and get bored. Fortunately the virus doesn't bother me personally but there are people who are really hysterical, get depressed and yesterday we had the first suicide of a young hairdresser, her saloon went bankrupt ! 
 

 

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

 

 

 

In order to protect the small shops which have to remain closed because of the lockdown, the supermarkets had to cover the items with plastic so that they could not be sold.

 

 

 more participants here, and Image-in-ing

MY CORONA ARMCHAIR TRAVELS - BRAINE LE CHATEAU - BELGIUM

Very close to Bruxelles are a lot of castles, some of them still occupied by the owners. To one belonged also a mill with the strange name "Banal" which means "Common" !

Why a Commonplace? Today there is a rather remarkable museum of milling installed in the mill whose paddle wheel is put in function in good weather! You can discover the mechanics of the mill as well as the equipment and tools used by the millers. The presence of an ordinary mill in Braine-le-Château is attested as early as 1226. Under the Ancien Régime, the peasants of Braine-le-Château and Haut-Ittre came here to grind their grain and paid a "banality" of 1 bag on 22 to the lord of the place. The site was classified in 1954 and the exceptional building built of arkose stone (local bricks) or granite in 1970.

The mill

The wheel was not turning this day

Just besides is the castle of the Earles of Hornes.

This fortress erected at the beginning of the 13th century by the lords of Trazegnies was transformed into a pleasure castle in the Renaissance and welcomed prestigious families. The castle cannot be visited as the actual owner is still living in it,  but the park and everything else can be visited on appointment.

200 m from the castle, do not miss the pillory dating from 1521!

The park is huge and very beautiful

The castle from outside

 

more participants here

 

 

PS. I call my posts Corona Armchair Travels, because I have no new travels to report due to the lockdown. I have to dig in my memories sitting in my armchair !

AWWW MONDAY - WEEKEND NOVEMBER 14

 

 

Linking to AWWW MONDAYS

 

New post in MY CATS & FUNNY STORIES

 

WEEKEND NOV 14

Saturday when Mr. G. wanted to go shopping, he rang at the door to tell me that the lift still didn't work !  I was surprised because when I came home on Friday at 6 pm, I was lucky because it took my to our 3rd floor. 

As I am better in negotiations and reclamations then he thinks he is, of course he handed me the phone and asked me to solve the problem ! 

First I called the company, it was "only" the 3rd time, and of course I had to go through the new telephone robots, instead as in the past a friendly telephonist who answered you "Johnson & Jackson" good morning, may I help you ? You get now an answering machine which tells you which button to press to get the service you want. And that takes time !! In my case I should choose the language first, Flemish, French or English. Then came number 1 with 3 suggestions, number 2 with 4 suggestions, etc. Fortunately I was not stuck in the elevator with a broken floor, hanging half in the air with the 3 floors under me. Again they promised me that a technician would come right away. 

I spent the whole morning on the phone to find the responsible of the building and first the one for the services. The result was we have to wait until Monday, because it is the weekend, and they need a spare part ! Now we have free gymnastic included in the rent. 

The rest of the day I spent on our balcony in the sunshine it was really very warm for November 20° ! I also took some sky pictures as it was so beautiful and changed all the time.

On Sunday Mr G. went to a friend and as I needed the car, I drove him there. It was quite warm but very windy. 

As soon as I had climbed up all the stairs to our apartment it started to rain or rather to pour, buckets of water fell from heaven, against the freshly cleaned windows 

 Rain, rain, rain

I watched the sky and the dark clouds. Besides typing this post and watching a bit TV I haven't done anything! A real lazy Sunday. Mr. G. was glued to the television looking at Formular 1 with his friend !