Essen (where?)

We’ve quickly fallen into a routine since the start of reconfinement, back here in Châlons-en-Champagne.  By the time we’ve had breakfast and read the latest French and UK news it’s getting on for 11 o’clock which leaves us time to have our once-a-day, one-hour, signed-attestation-holding, pre-lunch walk up the River Marne and back down the canal.  After lunch we split the time between doing those jobs that we’ve put off for months and getting ready for going back to the UK.  It always amazes us how much planning goes into leaving the boat for a couple of months working out what to take with us and, just as importantly, making sure we know what we need to bring back with us when we return.  Although we’ve been living fulltime on the boat for over six years there always seems to be something we need and usually that means getting it from the UK where generally boaty things are a lot cheaper.

Our daily walk takes us across the passerelle (footbridge) at the far end of the park where we are moored.

Looking west from the passerelle

The canal runs down the left to Châlons lock in the far distance.  The island in the middle contains a heronry that provided endless hours of fascination for us during the original confinement.  We are moored in the port which is just out of sight to the right under the cathedral.

We had a small change to the routine on Monday with a visit to the out of town Leclerc.  Karen popped into the supermarket while I filled the car up with diesel.  A couple of rows of pumps at this particular Leclerc are of the pay at the kiosk type which means the garage is manned.  During the last lockdown these pumps were converted to pay at the pump, so no one was needed in the kiosk.  The trouble with that was that the racks of gas bottles were inaccessible as they had to be opened by the person in the kiosk.  This time, automatic gas bottle dispensers have been installed which rather piqued my interest.

You may remember that we've got a third gas bottle that I've been unable to trade in for a full one because it’s a practically unheard-of brand.  I checked out the automatic dispenser and found that one of the options during the purchase is to say that an empty bottle is being dropped off thus avoiding the need to pay a deposit on the new bottle.  I thought I’d take advantage of this and returned on Tuesday to dispense with the old, esoterically branded, bottle and pick up a full one from a popular brand.  Another bit of good news is that with a bit of fiddling around I managed to fit all three bottles in the gas locker so we now have a supply for eight or nine months rather than the usual five or six.  This also means we no longer have an empty bottle rolling around in the back of the car. 

We’re moored in the same spot as we were earlier in the year which means we catch the sunrise but lose it later in the afternoon as it sinks behind the trees on the island.  This was a welcome relief in the hot days in Spring but doesn’t matter so much now the evenings are drawing in.

Our reconfinement mooring

I had said the port was full when we arrived last Friday but as you can see there is a vacancy between us and the next boat.  There was a large boat there originally, but Stéphane left early on Sunday morning.  He’s a soldier in the French army and was moving to Nancy as he’s going to be based there for a few months for some sort of tank training.  At least this meant that we were on our own and wouldn’t be dwarfed by a boat alongside us taking even more light away.  It’s also most unlikely we will get another neighbour for a while as pleasure boating has been stopped during reconfinement.

While on reconfinement, we’ve heard about the new lockdown in England and were pleased to hear that, unlike in other countries, the English Government showed their caring side and gave their constituents practically a week’s notice so they could plan and hold plenty of parties.

Our morning view as the sun comes up

One of our priority tasks over the next few weeks is to sort out what we’re doing boat-wise next year.  We know we want to carry on cruising in Europe especially as we lost the first few months of this year but also realise that this is quite problematical because of Brexit.  This is now further complicated as extra scenarios have been added since the advent of coronavirus, just think of the different combinations of a deal or no-deal Brexit with either or both France and UK still in lockdown on January 1 2021.

As we don’t want to apply for French residency, we’re currently working on obtaining a 12-month visa for next year.  This means we have to come back to the UK in order to visit the French embassy but at least we can do that over the new year break when (hopefully) we can catch up with the family.  Whichever solution we go for in order to legally stay over here for more than 90 days next year we will have to arrange health cover.

I've now been an old age pensioner for a week which apparently is politically incorrect as I am meant to say I'm a state pensioner.  As an old age pensioner, or OAP, the UK state provides me with an S1 certificate which allows me to receive health care in France with the same rights as French nationals.  It was confirmed this morning that my S1 certificate has been posted and should be with me soon and it was also confirmed that it provides cover for Karen as my spouse.  The S1 will no longer be available after the transition period for new applicants but it has been agreed that those holding an S1 will retain them in perpetuity.  From a selfish point of view this is all good news for us.

Talking about items in the post, seven of our nine children have moved over the last six months or so thus skewing the house buying statistics in this strange year.  Steve, the latest to move, has settled down near Chichester and has found it a rich hunting ground for Victorian post boxes.  Over the weekend he came across an example of what is called the First National Standard.  These boxes were produced from 1859 and were so called because the design was the first to be used nationally; until then the postmaster in each region was responsible for their own design and procurement.  The nuances in the design of the box that Steve found date it to 1859 so one of the first to be manufactured.

Steve’s 1859 First National Standard in Worlds End

The eagle eyed amongst you will have noticed that this blog entry is coming from Essen.  This is because we've come over to Germany for a week or so for medical treatment as it‘s a lot closer than any other country that offers the treatment and has current capacity.  We 've had to jump through hoops as far as making sure we have the right documentation in place and also had to get a Covid test as we drove into Germany.  

Germany has been very organised with its testing facilities and we popped into Dusseldorf airport to get ours done.  The airport car parks were practically empty as was the airport itself and even the testing centre.  We had to pre-register to say we were coming and, at the time, were told it would be a free test as we were travelling from a high risk area.  As it turned out, we arrived on the day after they introduced fees for people like us but at €59 they were still reasonable compared to many we have seen advertised across Europe.

Eurowings flight check-in desks converted to Covid-19 check-in desks

We have to remain in our Airbnb until we receive the results which should be available within 24 hours. Even though tourists are not allowed into Germany, we’re still allowed to enter the country as foreigners as we’re going there for medical reasons.  Of course, like France, no tourist attractions will be open while we’re here so there may not be another blog for a week or so.