Day 1422 (Friday) 30th April 2021. 

The weather was much better today although it was still a bit cloudy but it’s warm again and no rain – hooray!

Huw went off to do his long walk and I prepared my laptop and lessons for my Zoom class with Eduard and Olga who are in London at the moment at 9.30. By 9.50 I was fed up with waiting so I sent him a text, 20 minutes later he replied cancelling the lesson. I know I still get paid when he does this but I find it extremely rude to keep me waiting for nothing. I used the time to prepare next weeks’ lessons so it was wasted but still – it’s bloody rude.

Our flowers are looking great and the bougainvillea is looking the best it has in ages and the lavender is starting to flower.

 

The anti-mosquito flower is in full bloom

And the geraniums are quite magnificent

Macron made an announcement yesterday and it looks like we will have a relatively normal life again soon. Yippee!

President Macron has unveiled a timetable for the easing of coronavirus restrictions.

In an interview with regional journalists, the President said that he hoped that life in France will slowly return to normal over the coming weeks.

On May the 3rd ,the public will no longer need to fill a form justifying daytime activities and people will be allowed to travel to different regions of the country.

Colleges and high schools will reopen but the night time  curfew will be maintained from 8pm and non-essential shops will remain closed.

On the 19th of May, the curfew will be pushed back to 9 pm and there will be limited reopening of cinemas and museums. Bar and restaurant terraces will also be allowed to reopen and sporting events will be allowed to welcome limited numbers of spectators. A ban on gatherings of more than 10 people will be maintained.

On June the 9th , the curfew will be pushed back to 11 pm and cafés, restaurants and fitness services will be allowed to reopen.

Home working regulations will be relaxed and sporting events will be allowed to welcome up to 5,000 spectators.

Foreign tourists will be welcomed to France as long as they can provide proof of vaccination against COVID-19.

On the 30th of June, the curfew will be scrapped and outdoor gatherings of more than 1,000 people will be allowed as long as those present are in possession of a  health pass.

Discotheques will remain closed and social distancing measures are to be maintained.

Mr Macron will explain the measures further in an address to the nation later.

 

I found this article in The Local France and rather enjoyed it…

Top of Les Pops: Ten famous singers who recorded songs in French

Flexing their vocal chords in the language of love has proven too irrésistible for some of the biggest names in the music history, but how good did their French actually sound?

English may have long ruled supreme in the global music industry but a surprising amount of legendary pop stars have tried their luck at singing in French. 

Why is very much up for debate. It could be because they wanted to expand their international following, or maybe they just lost a bet with their old French schoolteacher.

In any case, these decisions have given way to some harmonious hidden gems and some musical faux pas. We’ll let you be the judge of who deserves top prize for best musical performance by a non-native French speaker.

Eurythmics – Tous les garçons et les filles

British synth-pop duo Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart gave a positive 80s twist to Françoise Hardy’s 1962 classic 'Tous les garçons et les filles'.

Lennox has recorded other songs in French (including a Christmas carol) and seems to have a good grasp of the language.

Robbie Williams – L’amour Supreme

The charismatic and equally controversial former Take That singer covered his own song 'Supreme' in French and it sounds surprisingly good (although that may be because the original is one of his best).

Robbie is no Kristin Scott Thomas but the lad from Stoke-on-Trent still has a little je ne sais quoi when he sings in French, sounding pretty good also in another French version of one of his songs – Time On Earth – which he recorded in 2017.

David Bowie – Héros

Bowie’s 1977 signature hit 'Heroes' – a story of love separated by the Berlin Wall – actually has a French and German version cover recorded by Ziggy Stardust himself.

Under the title 'Héros – David Bowie chante en France', a limited number of copies must’ve been sold at the time as the vinyls are now going for 80€ on Amazon.

It’s hard to say whether 'Héros' sounds any better or worse that its original English version but the French government liked it enough to make Bowie a Commander of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1999.

Michael Jackson – Je ne veux pas la fin de nous

The King of Pop decided to turn one of his lesser-known ballads 'I Just Can't Stop Loving You' into his very own French hymne à l’amour.

Titled ‘Je ne veux pas la fin de nous’, the song’s lyrics and title are completely different to the English version (perhaps because they were written by Jackson’s French friend Coco DeCroix) but the smooth, soft voice remains unmistakably his.

Eartha Kitt – C’est si bon

If there’s any French song on this list that the singer is instantly known for it’s the flirty 'C’est si bon' and its glamorous diva Eartha Kitt.

The song was composed in 1948 by Henri Betti, getting his inspiration from a women's lingerie shop in Nice, but it was Kitt who added the extra va-va-voom to it in 1953, making her version an instant classic.

The way she purred, sometimes growled while rolling her Rs in French won Kitt great admiration across her performances in Europe, perhaps her most signature seductive sound.

The Beatles – Michelle

The story goes that when Paul McCartney wrote ‘Michelle’ he ran the lyrics past his friend Ivan Vaughan, whose wife was a French teacher.

It ended up being more of an English ballad with a few lines in French, such as “ma belle” (my beautiful) and rather ironically “sont des mots qui vont tres bien ensemble” (words that go very well together), as if McCartney had decided to use a side note written by the French teacher because it just happened to rhyme.

Blur – To the End

Oasis’s alt rock nemesis Blur didn’t worry too much about their street cred when recording this version of their 1994 lesser known song 'To the End' in French.

Damon Albarn doesn’t quite seem to hit the high notes as easily in this one, and his cockney drawl doesn’t do his French accent any favours, but we take our hats off to Blur for giving it a go.

Blondie – French Kissing in the USA

By the sounds of it Debbie Harry is a bit of a Francophile. She’s recorded at least three versions of her songs in French and she seems at ease singing in la langue de Molière.

The only thing she seems to struggle with is translating the choruses into French – 'Sunday Girl', 'French Kissing in the USA' – preferring instead to stick to the original versions.

Grace Jones – La Vie en Rose

Supermodel and singer Grace Jones added a tropical, modern twist to Edith Piaf’s classic in 1977, one of countless music stars who have covered 'La Vie en Rose' since its initial release in 1947.

Jones gives a powerful performance and sticks to the original French lyrics for most of the song, occasionally slipping into English.

Barring Louis Armstrong’s saxophone homage to Piaf’s eternal song (which he added words to in English), this version is one of the best ones out there.

Dusty Springfield : Demain tu peux changer

The British pop folk starlet absolutely nails this French version of her hit 'Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow', as part of a French-themed four track EP which also includes 'Je ne peux pas t'en vouloir' ('Losing You'), 'L'été est fini' ('Summer is Over') and 'Reste encore un instant' ('Stay A While').

The leading female propellant of blue-eyed soul has impeccable pronunciation and could quite easily have given Francoise Hardy or France Galle a run for their money in their mother tongue.

Bravo, Dusty!