les Davey de France

 From supermarkets to restaurants via the factories, shortages are getting worse in the United Kingdom. It's a phenomenon due to the delivery problems generated by Brexit and the pandemic. Industrials leaders are urging the government to act, particularly in the light of the coming Christmas festivities. The Nando's restaurant chain closed some fifty restaurants last week because of a lack of chicken. In industry car manufacturers have had to pause production because of a shortage of electronic components. In construction certain medium sized businesses find themselves short of materials and of manpower. The CBI states that stocks held by distributors are at their lowest level for forty years. Manpower and logistic problems are threatening the UK's economic recovery.

 "Where are you from?" asked the tiny lady in the colourful head cloth after we discussed the health of the fig tree growing out of the steps up to the Meriadeck centre.  "So where are you from?" "I'm Welsh, from Wales", I said. I always put it like this now as it gives people double the chance of homing in. It's pretty emphatic in French because you say "I'm Welsh, from the Land of Wales". "Oh! Scotland!" she said. "No, Wales", I insisted. "Ireland, then?"  "No, Wales. It's a small country between England and Ireland." "But I thought that was part of England." I coughed. "You also have an accent. Where are you from?" "South America" (One says America of the South) "Texas or Florida?" - No, I didn't say this, though I wanted to. "From which country?" "Peru" We talked a bit more about the countries from which people had come to t...

It is seven am and we are sharply wrested from the gentle arms of Morpheus by the sound of a disc cutter attacking yesterday's concrete in the Gardens of the Ars.  Well, to be clear, Morpheus had loosed his grip on me a while before. I had earplugs in watching a video on how to make videos without spending a fortune on cameras and lights and stuff.  But Pat was still in his embrace. So she got up and shut the window and silence reigned once more. Except for me. I was hearing how all these microphones and lights could be had for under $150. Yes, and stored where? thought I. The gardeners are laying concrete paths, good and wide, shiny and smooth, between the dark, dark beds of beautiful black topsoil. Surely they must start planting soon. The ideal time would be October, I suppose. I am pretty sure that you are not allowed to do noisy construction work until after 8am at least, but we don’t mind. Sooner they start, more they do. More they do, sonner they finish. Sooner they fin...

 We've spent two years adapting to confinement, déconfinement, limits on numbers, spacing out, end of spring out, zoom, post-zoom...  It's not over yet. At least not for us.  We're missionaries. That means that although we live and work in France and we are immediately responsible to the church council here in France, we are also responsible to : our sending church in North Wales who sent us here our mission, UFM, who helped the church to get us here individual supporters and supporting churches all over the UK who give to keep us here. (that sounds a bit odd, but you know what I mean) So we need to report back regularly. Our Sending Church we send a weekly prayer update for their regular prayer meeting they send out an elder for a pastoral visit once a year. Or at least they did until covid stopped travel!  we also visit from time to time - generally about once a year I did a weekly short Bible message on Saturdays during confinement we do zoom calls amongst the eld...

 It's quite a long time now since we owned a car. This was a conscious choice, but kind of forced on us - our car was costing too much to repair and it was not easy to see how we could consider buying something else - but now that we've adjusted to the car-free life we genuinely wouldn't go back. Of course, living in the centre of the city helps a lot. In fact in our church very few people own cars, and they all live out in the suburbs. In the city parking is an issue and you can't move around very fast anyway - you're better off walking, cycling or using public transport. We can walk to the doctor, to a physiotherapist, to the pharmacy, to a dentist, to a reasonably-sized supermarket, to restaurants and fast food outlets, all within 1km. So within a 10 to 15 minute walk. A little further and we add three more supermarkets and lots more restaurants, cafes and shops. Say within a 20 minute walk. Our flat is near two tram-lines, the C and the D. The D takes us directl...

Pat made an appointment with our local physiotherapist - the doctor had given her a prescription for however many sessions it takes - for Monday 16 August. We had walked up and found his office on the way to the pizza place, but you make your appointment on Doctolib - the website and app that lots of medical folk work with. However he caught covid, so he phoned her to postpone the appointment by a week. That meant she went along yesterday. While she was there I scurried off to Lidl to get fruit and vegetables and succeeded in not buying a steam cleaner, a food mixer and a sander - or the tempting ice-creams they had put right by the tills! By the time I was halfway over the bridge back home Pat was out of the physio so we met up and walked back together. He'll see her twice a week and meanwhile she is to walk for at least 10 minutes a day. That's not so hard for us! We generally walk much more than that! Meanwhile a newspaper report yesterday said that in France in the 1950s th...

 From time to time friends in the UK contact me to ask if articles in the Spectator or the Telegraph accurately reflect life in France just now.  Take it from me that they don't, but do still contact me about them. Here's why they are not accurate. Imagine I assessed the situation in the UK from, say, the articles you can find in the Guardian. Would that accurately reflect life in the UK just now? What about life in Camden? What about in life in Scotland? What about life in Cornwall? I choose the Guardian because for the moment it is freely accessible. I can't read articles from the Times or the Telegraph without paying a fee. There's a paywall. But I realise that I have to read with care. Free of charge does not mean free of bias. Newspapers and magazines are not neutral. They have a political viewpoint to convey that is found in every article they publish. Even when they present statistics and undeniable facts, the facts and statistics  will be selected to prove a poi...