Daily bread

S used the last bread from the freezer for his sandwiches, so I needed to make some more ... as the starter is hibernating in the fridge I made a couple of yeast-based Pane di Terni from my Italian Baker book -- the best bread book I have. I've made this loaf before -- it has a thin, delicate crust and a nice soft interior. Made with a local organic wholemeal flour, freshly milled, it smelled lovely when it was cooking and tastes delicious.

On the good news front ... at lunchtime our doctor's secretary called and invited us for vaccinations on Thursday! I'd phoned the surgery a couple of weeks ago to get put on the list, but really wasn't expecting anything so soon. But someone seems to have flicked a switch on the French vaccination programme. Normally it grinds to a virtual halt at weekends, but on Saturday over 200,000 people got jabbed. 

Getting jabbed won't change anything immediately, but at least it gives us some hope for a return to normality. For me, today is the anniversary of the end of our normal life, although officially lockdown didn't start till a week later. On IWD 2020 we were at the Casa de la Cultura in Almuñecar watching a wonderful play about powerful women through history, as the grand finale of a celebratory weekend of women's events. Yes, there were clouds on the horizon, but we didn't have a care in the world. Or any idea that a year later we would still be living with so many limitations on our liberty. It's been much in my mind in the last few days.

For IWD 2021: feminists in Paris were punched and had eggs thrown at them by queer/trans rights activists. And left-wing paper Libération chose for their front cover on this day of all days a self-justifying letter from a rapist. In Barcelona women were punched and TRAs danced and stamped on their placards. There's a long way to go.