Members' Emails

From Jean-Jacque Lavergne

Hello Doris
Thank you for your nice message on the web site.  we hope you can organize yourself safely in the face of the pandemic. and we hope that there is no contagion among all members of society.
Some news about us. We are therefore confined now to our house in Carnac, Brittany  We somehow fled Spain when the obligation of containment in Alicante was decreed.  In 24 hours, we emptied the apartment, made several dozen trips to garbage cans, keeping only the essentials.  Many times I have been lectured by the cops because I was walking on the street.  "Me voy a mi casa en Francia.." calmed them.  We loaded the car to the brim.  We couldn't bring everything back.  At 11 a.m. we drop off all our bottles of wine and alcohol and our stove with friends and we leave with Guylaine's sister, Michèle, stuck in the back seat because the double seat was folded down with clothes and suitcases going up  up to the ceiling.  It is raining, and the sky over Bonalba Mountain is as sad as we are.  On the AP7 impossible to have a coffee.  Gasoline is paid through a window to a gloved attendant.  At 10:30 p.m., we were in Montauban near Toulouse at Michèle's, thinking of staying there 3 or 4 days.  Macron's speech makes us decide otherwise.  The next day we hit the road to Carnac.  The next day was too late.  It must be said that the week before we left Alicante, Guylaine had taken the bus to pick up his sister.  Or a return trip of 1800 km.  Upon his return we left for Porto to see one last time Guylaine's other sister paralyzed and in a semi-coma.  It was a round trip by car of 2200 km.  And 1700 km then to return home ...
So here we are in a completely deserted Carnac.  You know the travel restrictions and the terms of the paper to sign justifying them.  Some people strolling on the seafront were seen aligned for € 135.   the Supermarket are deserted and well supplied which makes possible to take food in reasonable quantity for a week.  And now is this absolutely incredible life, with the big restriction and the psychosis of catching the virus.  Fortunately to go by car to Super U, we can go by the seaside.
Television, piano, reading, gardening computer are the activities for a much longer period than the 30 days announced by Macron.  And personally, I find it hard to believe that the virus will go away easily. This is the reason why we canceled out renting. Fearing that it will be a long time before we can return to Spain, we wanted to avoid unnecessary rentals.
A page in our lives is turned.  We were fantastically happy in Spain.  It was in 2010 that I took my first subscription to the CBGS, 10 winters ans springs if extraordinary moments of golf in a group where I counted many friends.   Goodbye Doris goodbye all of you my friends. WE really appreciated the human quality of the CBGS and we won't forger you.
Lot of kisses. JJ

From John and Ann Brook

Good afternoon Doris, thanks for posting on the blog, it was good to hear from you. As you maybe aware we decided to escape back to Cornwall and I have to report that the sun has been shining every day since we returned. I bet you are very pleased to learn this fact!

Life here is somewhat limited but not as much as you are experiencing in Spain.  We can go out for our hour’s walk each morning along the coastal path, however due to having to be isolated, we leave home around 7.00 each morning when we rarely see more than 2 people.  Buying food is a bit of an issue due to me being ‘at risk’ which means that Anne has to be extra special careful and I don’t go out at all apart from the morning constitution.  Like Bonalba all UK golf courses are closed however the course which we walk near each morning still has a groundsman working so it is well trimmed and should be in good condition when the closure is lifted.

One of my golfing friends is marooned on a small uninhabited island in the Falklands, 200km from Stanley and living in an abandoned Youth Hostel while his son is sailing to explore another island. Don’t ask why he went to such lengths to self isolate, doubtless I shall know in due course! Maybe just a Crazy Golfer!

We look forward to this pandemic drawing to a close and watch with horror the sheer devastation that it is causing to Spain.  Best wishes to you and all our friends in the Society, we will raise a glass to you all tonight

John and Anne

From Brian and Wendy Wakely

Hi Doris,

Thanks for getting in touch. 

Wendy and I are okay as are our two dogs. The time has gone quiet well and luckily we can get out with the dogs. I have set up our exercise bike in a spare bedroom with a TV. We can now cycle for 30 minutes and listen to the radio or watch tv. 

Like you we’ve been doing some diy on the house and garden.  The bad weather has been a bid of a downer and made the dogs miserable too!

Let’s hope we can get out on the golf course soon. 

Best wishes and stay safe 

Brian and Wendy 

From Roger Hunger

Hello Doris,

Thanks for your email. We are certainly living in extremely unusual times. Having completed 14 days inside my apartment, except for 20 minutes food shopping every 3 or 4 days, we now look forward to another 14 days isolation. And perhaps more days after that.

I am coping with doing little things during the morning very slowly to make the time spin out. After lunch it is tv, reading, listening to music etc. A few pre dinner drinks, then dinner, tv again and bed.

It is hard to imagine that 2 weeks ago we were playing golf without a thought in the world, now we are trapped inside our homes. No restaurants, bars, live sports on tv, nothing except news about the virus.

My exercise is yoga in the lounge and walking up and down 130 steps from the ground floor to my apartment on the 7th. I am realising how unfit one is becoming.

It will be such a relief when we finish all this and get back to our daily routines, which hopefully we should all appreciate and realise how lucky we are.

Love Roger