24 May 2020

Virtual sightseeing: Angles-sur-l'Anglin

Earlier, I wrote a series of posts about taking a virtual vacation, since our April getaway had to be canceled. Confinement, you know. But for that, our quasi-annual visitor Peter H. would be here from San Francisco right now. We'd be shopping in markets and supermarkets and cooking the good things we'd bring home. Walt would be enjoying the Roland Garros/French Open tennis tournament on TV, and looking forward to a good lunch or dinner. None of that is happening.


In the picture above, the woman wearing a bright blue scarf and carefully framing a photograph is our friend Sue. She lives in California, where we used to go on cool camping trips every year — Yosemite National Park, Salt Point park on the northern California coast, Zion National Park in Utah, etc. etc. Well, she's decided to cancel her trip to France and Morocco, which was scheduled for early September. The last time she came to France was in 2018. I spent a week showing her Carteret County in North Carolina — where I was born and grew up — last October.


Another good friend who's had to cancel her 2020 trip to France is Evelyn — a lot of you reading this know her, if not personally, at least virtually, through her comments on this blog. I met her and her husband thanks to an Internet forum at about the time Walt and I relocated from California to France in 2003. Evelyn was going to visit in August. She too has had to cancel. For me, and for E. and Sue too, the idea of sitting in the middle of a crowd in the claustrophobic space available on an airplane is just not imaginable at the current time.


I wasn't planning to write about such sad turns of events. What I was going to write about was how I am looking forward to days when I can return to see places like Lavardin and Angles-sur-l'Anglin one more time. Both villages are about an hour from Saint-Aignan. Or Paris, for example, and the Baie de Somme. Another old friend who has had to cancel his annual Atlantic crossing in an airplane is CHM. He has an apartment in Paris and he has family connections in the Somme. Even before he had his accident about two months ago, he had decided he mostly likely wouldn't be willing to take the risk involved in flying to France in 2020.


It's going to be kind of a quiet, lonely summer. My sister and our best cousin had been planning a trip to France in late September. I had started making plans for and lists of all the places we would go to see. They've had to cancel too, of course. I'm so glad I went to North Carolina last October and got to spend a couple of weeks with them. I'm not sure when I'll be able to go back there, or when they'll be able to come over here.


Sorry to be so downbeat today. On the positive side, the weather here is beautiful, and the garden is in. I had my doubts about that job getting done in 2020, but it has all turned out great. The ground got tilled, the seedlings grew strong in their little pots, the weather cooperated, and the plants are now in the ground. We even had just enough rain and clouds yesterday so that the tender little plants got a nice welcome rather than a fatal sunburn. Oh, and Walt went to the market and got strawberries and asparagus yesterday morning. Lunch today... By the way, the neighbors from Blois went back to Blois yesterday morning.

19 comments:

  1. This Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted millions of lives and made so many victims all over the world! Even if you're an optimist, it will take years for things to get back to what could be considered as normal. But it will never be the same. Qui vivra verra.

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    1. Well, you're probably right. I'm glad I am where I am. I would miss France too much if I didn't live here. Hope that you are in good spirits and that the physical components are improving.

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  2. We’re all in the same boat, Ken. We’ve canceled three trips (18 weeks) of international travel that was planned for this year. I think you are quite lucky to live where you do. Imagine how much more dangerous it would be to live in London, Paris or New York. Please count your blessings. We will get through this.

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    1. Solidarity is some cold comfort. Stay healthy.

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    2. I’m truly sorry if I have offended you. That was certainly not my intention.

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    3. No no no. You have not offended me. I do feel lucky to live where I live. Things could be worse, and I feel bad for people who are in worse situations than I am. Solidarity means we are all having a rough time of it and we need to realize that is the way it is right now. But this too shall pass.

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  3. Hey, maybe we should drop in on you for a visit. Let's see when they start opening up hotels and restaurants. Maybe by late June or early July.

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    1. Are you joking, Ellen? Don't show up unannounced. We won't let you in.

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  4. A year or so to remember the adventures of the past, and dream of the adventures of the future. A year off from traveling, and I will be eager to get back in the air, on the road, on the water.

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  5. The photos here show the kinds of things I miss by having to cancel this year's trip to France. We're hoping to reschedule the same trip for next Spring. We'll see.

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    1. I hope you and we will be able to travel by next spring. That would be very nice for all of us. I have several destinations in mind. We just need to make it through summer, autumn, and the coming winter.

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  6. Today's virtual trip is nice, I would love to visit Angles sur l''Anglin someday. We have been spoiled to have the world so accessible, so now we are learning patience. I will never take travel for granted again. Saying that, I'm planning for a trip to celebrate turning 75 in June of 2021. Things will be different but hopefully the virus will be contained.

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  7. You're just a kid, Evelyn, your future is ahead of you. My future, is behind me!

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    1. I will enter the fourth quarter in September, grateful for making it so far. CHM, you are an inspiration to me- your future is still there and hopefully you'll make it to an overtime. It is good to hear from you. Stay safe and carry on.

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  8. Ken, I'm sorry you're guests can't come. I certainly wouldn't get on a plane now, though I have an acquaintance who alleges its a great time to travel (empty planes, cheap hotels). I guess if you luck out and get an empty plane, maybe, but they've cancelled so many flights, some pictures are showing full aircraft. The problem with France is, it's 11 hours from LA, 6 from NYC/DC.

    This is a good time to explore local parks and streets. And enjoy nature.

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  9. Oh, the plans that have been shelved! Darn! I'm missing out on going to visit my sweet little grand-niece in June... I'm going to end up missing experiencing this time in her life, when she is just a few months shy of 2 years old, and starting to talk. I'm so glad that we have the world of messaging and FB and sending little videos, so I can watch that way, at least.

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  10. We have all become armchair travelers - as someone above mentioned: time to remember the other trips we've enjoyed and to start planning a list so when we can travel, we'll be able to get right on it! I know that Ken has made a few places pop up on my list! Merci, Ken!

    CHM, you are an inspiration to me, too! I hope your PT (physical therapy) is going well and you will continue to improve!

    Mary in Oregon

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