So 2021 begins with the rollout of the covid vaccine. At first offered to the elderly and most at risk, by spring it was opened up to all to combat a huge spike in infections. We got our first dose in May, a booster in early July and a 3rd and final dose in December. As I said in the previous roundup, the speed of the global rollout was truly impressive. By the end of the year, over 90% of the French population was vaccinated against Covid. It wasn’t all plain sailing though as a depressingly large number of people bought into the conspiracy theories and refused to get vaccinated – some of our friends included.
The other major event in January occurred on Mum’s birthday, the 6th. Two months after losing the election, Donald Trump incited a mob of his supporters to attack the Capitol. Their intention was to keep Trump in power – to subvert democracy. It’s the kind of craziness you expect from some tinpot failed state, not the world’s only superpower. Fortunately, it failed and three weeks later, president Biden was sworn in.
In February, I celebrated/commiserated my 40th birthday. We weren’t locked down, but were under curfew and social gatherings were limited to a maximum of 6 people. It was therefore a very low-key affair. We headed to Mum & Dad’s for lunch (we were all to become very adept at daytime socialising this year) where we had a lovely meal, and I opened my presents. As it was such a low-key affair, we decided we would celebrate it more fully in the summer time, virus permitting.
It was a mainly dreary and rainy spring – the sort that the Dordgone excels at. Despite this, our wysteria decided to flower copiously and magnificently – but for the final time. It apprently hadn’t appreciated the concreting of our driveway and had slowly died, going out with a lovely swan song. We hope to replace it some day, though it will take years before a new one will reach the same size.
In March, work began on our new bathroom. Getting it redone had been on our to-do list for ages and we asked Benoît if he could recommend someone to us, to which he replied “Yes – me”. We gave him free rein on the design and did not regret doing so as it came out fantastically. We especially liked his choice of tiles. But the pièce de résistance is the wooden unit that Benoît commissioned Dad to make and which we love.
On 31 March, Macron gave a televised address to the nation, telling us what we already expected and feared: that the current covid rebound, led by the new and deadlier Delta variant, was saturating the health service and a third lockdown was needed. This began on 03 April and lasted a month. It was beyond tedious to be back under confinement, although to be honest, we may have respected this one a bit less than the previous two.
May’s big news came from Dave & Amy, who had just celebrated their 5th wedding anniversary: she was 12 weeks pregnant with baby #2. Glorious news in a miserable year.
Our interminable curfew was finally lifted at the end of June. In its place was the introduction of the Passe Sanitaire – a certificate proving your vaccination status and without which you were forbidden from attending any public event, going to bars, restaurants etc.
In early July, Mazerock had its first gig of the year. This was for the Fête des Voisins in Milhac and went mostly ok, but our audience wasn’t very attentive, as is often the case at this event.
Our second gig took place in August, at Le Relais de la Dronne, a bar in St Front and site of the weekly fish and chips van we occasionally took advantage of. I was more than a little nervous, but I needn’t have worried – the introduction of the Passe Sanitaire meant that there were only about 30 or so people present (a good few of whom were our friends) so it was a much more intimate affair than feared.
The grey dreariness sadly decided to continue as spring gave way to summer, with barely any decent sunshine. To add to the melancholy, Mum & Dad’s cat Ginge died at the end of August. He’d been quite unwell for some time and kept having seizures, so it was at least a blessing he was no longer suffering. Dad and Ginge were about as close as a man and cat can be, so he was understandably distraught.
On the 28th of August, we decided to host a party at Port 80. Exactly 6 months after the day itself, this was my delayed birthday party and Mazerock put on our 2nd concert of the year. It went well, but by nightfall it got a bit chilly.
A couple weeks later, we played for the third and final time of 2021, this time at Paul & Nat’s, for her birthday. This was at lunch time and was very well-attended. It was also a marvellously warm and sunny day and we played quite well all told.
Our other big September news was a trip down to Nice to visit Françoise and see her new flat. We drove down, stopping at Aixe-en-Provence en route where we celebrated our anniversary at a lovely B&B Matt found on Trip Advisor. The next day we went on to Nice and benefitted from Françoise as our tour guide. After a couple nights there, we went on to Antibes to spend a few days with Kevin. He had managed to get out of the UK just before the Brexit deadline, netting himself a job as a gardener for a super-rich couple. His job comes with a house situated on the grounds so was a lucky find.
We had some terrible news in October. Our good friend and erstwhile landlord Ian Martin died suddenly. He was only in his mid 50s, but hadn’t been in good health for some time. His funeral unfortunately coincided with Jan’s yearly visit so we weren’t able to attend in person, but it was streamed online so we watched it remotely.
We took a trip down to Bordeaux with Jan where we stayed for a weekend, coming home via St. Emilion where Jan treated us to a lovely meal for Matt’s imminent birthday. On the way home, we dropped in to see our favourite wine makers and stocked up with as much of the 2015 as the car could carry. For the birthday itself, we booked ourselves a table at the Hostellie St Jacques, to which Jan hadn’t yet been. Mum and Dad joined us and we had a typically excellent and excessive meal.
The other big bit of news for October was that Matt submitted his application for French citizenship. It took 2 years from that point before I got the result for mine, but Matt has been less lucky. At the time of writing (late December 2023), he finally has a date for his interview in Bordeaux – 10 January 2024 – but will likely have at least another year from then before hearing anything.
November was a baby bonanza. First was my cousin Jo and partner Michael’s first child, who was born three weeks premature and as such had to stay in hospital for some time. It was a bit hairy for a while but luckily he pulled through. His father is from Jersey, where french surnames are common, so they decided to name him Henri. His full name is Henri le Bourgeois, which I just love – although his parents are in the habit of calling him Orri, which lacks the same gravitas.
The other baby was of course Dave & Amy’s. Charlie Roberts was born in the evening of the 22nd of November, weighing 7lbs. He has so far turned out to be a very smily and mischievous child, and the spitting image of his Dad at that age.
We had a duo of thanksgivings in November. The first was a Milhac-Loisirs event at the Salle des Fêtes and was a success, if not hugely well-attended. The following night we had an altogether more enjoyable one at Benoît & Virigine’s. In France, la bise (the traditional two kisses on the cheek greeting) had pretty much been outlawed thanks to covid, making occasions like this, where it was hugs and kisses all round, feel remarkable.
November was when the “Partygate” revelations came to light in the UK. That the very people passing the laws banning social contact were themselves flaunting them was galling to say the least. At the same time, it was revealed that the Tory government had been giving contracts to their mates for the provision of personal protective equipment that turned out to be unusable and which cost the tax payer billions. The stench of corruption and hypocracy surrounding it would see the party sink like a stone in opinion polls, where it languishes to this day. A little light in the darkness…
In December, Jan turned 80 and there was a family get-together in Minneapolis. I stubbornly maintain that I will never ever travel to Minnesota in the winter so Matt made the trip on his own where he got to see all of the family. He returned just days before Christmas.
Even though it was our turn to host, we had Christmas lunch at Mum & Dad’s again as Matt had only just got home. We had a lovely time just the four of us and facetimed the family back in the UK.
Mum and Dad weren’t up for joining us for our regular NYE round Manu & Mathilde’s so, as it was a lovely sunny day, we met up with them in St Saud and went on to a place called le Trou de Philipou for a walk through the woods. The evening came close to being cancelled as the Lorenzos as a family had caught covid. In the end they all tested negative in time and we were 7 at theirs for our usual apéro-dinatoire.
And that was the end of the second year of the pandemic, which had by now claimed a terrifying 5.5m lives. Fortunately for the world, a new variant had by now emerged – Omicron. Although even more contagious, it was less deadly. And that concludes 2021.
2021 summed up in one David Bowie song: “Time Will Crawl”
Time Will Crawl was written during the Chernobyl disaster of 1986. Bowie lived in Switzerland at the time and was half-expecting a cloud of lethal radiation to wash over him at any moment. The song’s apocalyptic themes are fitting for the pandemic, and again, the title is very much on point.