…recommending the measures of prevention and vaccination…
Thanks Stella, I am relying on your updates to keep abreast of my visit to Lyon. Friends just back from Munich said mask wearing was compulsory on public transport in the city.
Whilst it says “mask-not-obligatory”… there are regional/local variations… and it is certainly recommended in transport/crowds and “is obligatory” in various medical situations…
we have a mask in our pocket at all times now… ready, willing and able… just in case we need to don 'em.
Me too as so many have the nasty dry non covid cough and I dont want that either.
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Including our doctor at the last but one rdv. He was coughing almost continuously and when he was not produced a loud and violent throat clearance because he was blocked up with catarrh. I recognised it immediately as I have suffered similarly since birth, catarrh not coughing, and suggested to him that he clear it with Fishermans’ Friend. ‘Already got some’ was the reply as he fished out the pack and offered me one too. Of course, I took it. 
oh my, that brings back memories… I was young and unsuspecting, when friend offered me one of those for my cough… good grief… made my eyes stream and I thought I had been poisoned… I spat it quickly into my hanky…
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I always have a packet handy in the house, ever since I discovered it was sold in France. Only thing that allows me to talk sometimes.
Some people have been known to try and hide it away from me though. 
Exact same thing happened to me in my twenties in wintery China for the same reason, only mine was salted dried plum. Absolutely disgusting shock. I just leaned forward and dropped it onto the ground as soon as they had gone. As Dr Samuel Johnson said, “A fool would have swallowed that.”
I adore those! My grandfather used to give me them when I was tiny and I have always loved them -I usually have a bag on the go and am always amazed and disappointed when people don’t like them. My children love them too 
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Funny that, because I do like sweet and sour. Always put salt in when making porridge but always a sweetener of some kind (fruit usually but sometimes sugar) on it before eating.
I often have a banana, preferably well on the way to black (thus my only source of alcohol these days 
) and half an apple with either cheese or ham for lunch. And what is Branston on ham anything but sweet and sour?
So, I think my first reaction to a salted dried plum would not be the same as yours @Susannah . 
Try apple or indeed practically any fruit with roasted ground sesame seeds and salt, superdelicious.
I expect it was the shock of taste not at all matching my expectation 
. I was young and foolish but at least I waited until the giver couldn’t see
Back in the day when I often consumed a boiled egg or two, with a little hillock of mixed salt and pepper on the side of the plate to dip into, if I miscalculated and finished the eggs before the hillock, I just loved licking a fingertip and dabbing up the surplus.
Definitely a salty as well as a sweetie. 
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The very looks are a warning 
Even the description admits it’s ‘an acquired taste’
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Superdelicious
while we’re on a complete thread detour… I feel able to mention something a pal at work offered me… a tasty treat from the north pole or similar…
good heavens… raw fish but not as I know it and enjoy it…
… absolutely foul… ( and I really am adventrous with food and drink… but this was… yuuuuk)
Was it that completely incomprehensible rotten Swedish ‘delicacy’ Surströmming? You have to be completely under the influence to even try it. And then only the once will suffice 
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it wasn’t from Sweden… lapland/iceland ?? whatever, it was probably very similar… yuk…
Similar stinky thing called Rakfisk from Norway.
Or Iceland’s fermented shark (!) Hákarl - “Soft, white hákarl from the shark’s body has a cheese-like texture, while reddish meat from the belly is chewier. Those who sample it describe the flavor in far-ranging terms, from fishy and mild to strong like blue cheese . Most agree that the lingering aftertaste can be described only as urine.“
Why would anyone want to eat this?!?
I’m thinking there are probably similar decayed fish corpses from allover the old Viking lands. Best avoided!