Lascours Lockdown, Day 679

Saturday, January 22nd. Happy 4th Birthday to Louis!

Laureva requested crêpes for breakfast. It is that time of year, though I think she just wanted a chocolate spread delivery device. Afterwards, I went down to the pharmacy to pick up Maëva's new set of home tests and the organic market. It was nice to be out when places first opened at 8:30. There weren't many folks around. A germy guy did come into the pharmacy when I was there, though. He wanted to buy home tests because he was running a fever, among other things. They offered to test him, instead, but he said he wasn't vaccinated. He would have had to pay 25 euros for the official test instead of just 5 euros for the home test. If his home test is positive, he will have to get an official test to confirm, but he won't have to pay for it. They sent him away, fully expecting him to return soon.

Back home, we administered Maëva's D0 home test. It was negative. Another classmate, our neighbor Valentino, tested positive today.

For the rest of the morning, I made pizza and did the exercise bike while the girls tidied up, did their penalty minutes, worked on the puzzle and prepared some plaster molds for growing crystals on.

At some point, I remembered a funny thing Maëva said that I forgot to report yesterday: "It's a good thing Dad's not our mom." This remark was made in the context of a discussion about food, chores and family organization. She seemed to think things would be much more hectic and less well-managed if Sylvain were in charge.

After lunch, the girls went to physical fitness at the tennis club then read for an hour. Meanwhile, I started grading my next batch of papers: the ones for my detective fiction elective class. I was pleasantly surprised to find the first ones I graded were better than expected.

At 6:45, we headed out with Marie-Elisabeth to the girls' piano recital. We had been told to arrive at 7:15. I was upset when we arrived, because the setup was not what I had been promised when I phoned the organizer earlier in the week to enquire. The recital was in a music store which was much smaller than we had been led to believe. Also, instead of families spread out waiting all around the store, there were chairs set up to make a traditional audience space, with no distancing. Masks were required, but some children weren't wearing them. When we arrived, the store owner was addressing the crowd with his mask down on his chin. We waited outside until he had finished and put his mask back up, though he kept it under his nose. There wasn't any space inside, so we just stood in the back near the door. Had I known, I would not have accepted to let the girls participate. As we were there, we stayed. Laureva, upon observing the scene, decided that she did not want to perform. We had thought the judges were going to be in a separate space and that the kids and their families would go in one by one and then go home. Instead, it was just like a regular concert recital. It was not what Laureva had prepared for and she refused to participate. It's too bad, because she plays her piece better than the kids who did perform it. Another time, perhaps. Maëva did a great job. She was poised and elegant. She later confessed that her leg had been shaking from nerves, but you couldn't tell from where we were. We left immediately after her piece, so we were only there about twenty minutes in all. Later, we learned from Maëva's piano teacher (who must have phoned the organizers as she did not attend) that Maëva had received première mention à l'unanimité, which is the best you can get.