Recycling of SAPIN

Sapin is a French word for this.  My first live Christmas tree ever.  I watered it well and cherished every second it graced my humble apartment in Paris.  I knew I could not keep it forever as it would turn fire hazard after some time, but I could not bear the thought of dumping it in the garbage bin either.  But then France had a wonderful solution.

Here is the corner of Place des Vosges where Sapins to be recycled are piled.  They would be treated by professionals and made into something wonderful. 

After I removed all the ornaments, I let my tree rest in a tab of water for a couple of hours.  It looked pretty good and it joined other sapins.  My dear tree would not be lonely in the company of many other trees.

初めての生きたクリスマスツリー。捨てるのは辛いですが、マレ地区の公園の隅に専用のリサイクルコーナーが政府により設けられ、ここに置いておけばプロの手で何かに生まれかわるそうです。お別れ前にたっぷりと水を吸わせてお礼をいってからお仲間の間に置いてきました。

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Already some shocking news in France 2021

After living more than five years in Paris and the novelty has worn off, you start paying more interest in the local news.  The year 2021 was greeted in France with the image of Notre Dame Cathedral with a blasting rock tune on the national TV screen only to be quickly followed by a gruesome news of ‘a man dies with his head torn off after a firework mortar fire in Eastern France.’  Then 2500 party animals participated in a rave party near Bretagne without wearing masks.  The local TV commentators are livid that it may lead to a large Corona cluster.  Of course, it will and all this for in the hope of meeting someone to have a fling or relationship?

It was the wrong place to look for relationships when all the participants lacked consideration for other people’s health.  They did not give a toss to the people the participants would come in contact before and after the rave party.  Such selfishness is not a solid ground for a meaningful relationship, but the people like this will demand integrity even if they do not have it for anyone else.  

History repeats itself and 2021 will be no exception.

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Corona virus has flushed out the bad ones

I am still alive.  I am back in Paris to complete my process of acquiring residency status in France.  After hanging onto the same address above the restaurant from Hell for a duration required for qualifying, I was finally granted the Carte de Residency which will allow me to stay in France for the next 10 years.  I can finally move out but Covid 19 environment makes it scary to go search for a new place, so I am stuck here for a while to observe the fate of this restaurant below.

The first two managers failed miserably and the current manager picked up a bargain.  I hope he deserves such a tremendous luck.

In the other part of Le Marais, I noticed a vacant looking restaurant.  In fact it was up for sale.  I have once dined here and was disgusted by the excessive amount of refrigerators and freezers which were kept on the ground floor, instead of doing the decent thing and keep them on the basement.  The infrasound noise was unbearable even during the daytime, I deplored the fate of the residents living on the first floor.  The neighbours evidently did not support this heartless restaurant because here it was shut down after Corona Virus stopped tourists from coming.  Unlike the nearby bistro where locals are lining up to buy takeaways in support of their favourite and decent eatery.

Coronavirus has flushed out the bad ones.  When it is contained someday, the good eateries with moral will be rewarded with more clients after the bad ones are out of the picture.

 

Germany is purchasing anti-infuenza drug from Japan to combat Corona virus

Despite the Japanese government is considering offering the anti-influenza drug Avigan for free to countries looking to use it to treat new coronavirus patients, Germany would not take chances and they have decided to purchase millions of Avigan from Japan.  With the help of their military, the drug will be distributed to the hospitals nationwide.  

I hope Avigan saves more lives.

Prayer does not save you from Coronavirus

The Corona death toll of Catholics and the Catholic priests is steadily rising.  I still believe in God, but we are made to realize somberly that we are going to need something more than prayer.

Japan is mass-producing our anti-Virus called Abighan which has proven effective against Corona Virus.  However, it is not conclusive as pregnant women may suffer side effects.  But other advanced nations such as France (its Pasteur research team) are working on a cure which I am sure will triumph over the virus one day.  The number of the infected is rising in Japan too, but the death rate has been kept low that the other advanced nation suspects of the Japanese to have already developed the immune system to this virus.  This is unlikely because unlike Chinese people, we don’t consume bats nor snakes that have feasted on Asian bats.  In fact in some areas in Japan where residents were annoyed by the migrating Asian bats eventually discovered that the plant ‘peppermint’ repels the Asian bats from making nests under the roof.

I do not presume to know the answer but Japan is a very egalitarian nation when it comes to medical treatments.  The government picks up 70~90% of the medical bills.  There are plenty of ventilators (to send oxygen into the infected lungs) in Japan whereas the oxygen ventilators are pretty much limited to the rich people in other advanced nations.  Of course, the governments worldwide have placed orders for more ventilators to be manufactured, so hopefully, the tide will change.  

In the meantime, I can only suggest what the doctors in Japan advice which is to drink simple hot water.  It helps boost the immunization of your internal organs while the coffee and teas cool your inside.  They both originate from the hot climate regions where people need cooling down, but one needs to warm our inside against the virus.  The best time to drink the hot water is in the morning and the worst time is right after meals because the stomach will be busy digesting food.  Another advice by the professional is to protect your fingers with ointment.  Regular washing of hands and application of the anti-bacterial gels are recommended, but over-stripping of the natural oil shield of the surface of the fingers makes it easier for the virus to pass through into your system.  So please, sterilize and then apply a moisturizing cream.

Back in early February Paris had no records of the infected while Japan had some.  Naturally, I wished to stay in France rather than going back to Japan, but the Asian phobia has already started in Paris.  I must add that my favorite bistros and the bakery continued to receive me warmly, but I noticed the frightened stare of the clients.  I realized that my presence might affect the business of my beloved bistros and the bakery.  So I decided to leave France for a while.  By sheer coincidence, I landed in Japan on the 10^th March, one day after the Japanese government restricted the entry from China and Korea.  So the coast was clear in the Tokyo Airport and the plane had been almost vacant.  Two weeks of self-imposed isolation at home at the end of which I felt fine.  I hoped to return to Paris soon.  

Imagine my surprise when I later received the news that Coronavirus had exploded in France only one week after I left.  The quick surge in their death toll implemented the closure of the French border.  I quickly wrote to my acquaintances who were kind to me in Paris.  There were not many of them, so it only took me 10 minutes.  I was relieved when the couple in Italy replied to me.  However, the sisters in the USA have not yet replied to me.  What has Coronavirus done to us all?

Speaking of the USA, the Chinese government has expressed their theory that it was the US army who implanted China with the Coronavirus.  This claim is not accepted by some Japanese researchers who have traced the virus back to the Asian bats, not the fruit bats in Latin America.  However, the Japanese government is still grateful that China responded in a civil manner to our decision to restrict the entry of the Chinese citizens, unlike some Asian neighbour who responded hysterically turning it into the usual political blame game against Japan.

They say that Coronavirus has brought out the worst in people, but also the best like this one young nurse in America who died after deferring to take the PCR test out of consideration for the patients.  What a noble sacrifice.