Yes, I do know what it really means. It just amuses me to think of it as a disrespectful certificate.
And in case someone hasn’t seen it, this from the British Embassy
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I agree with @Sue_Young, I watch France 24 (English version). I’m not at a stage where I can make anything more than rough sense of French TV or radio programmes, although Radio France Bleu is good because it involves quite a lot of ‘vox pop’ interviews, people who speak ‘ordinary French’ about day-to-day topics, and it has widespread regional cover so you hear local news, in a familiar accent, and lots of light music.
French documentaries on topics of interest are usually easier for me to understand than politics, and middle-brow quiz programmes involving off-the-street competitors can be fun.
I also watch French films on Netflix using French subtitles. That has really helped me to match spoken vernacular French to the written word, which I can read fluently with needing to translate it into English to understand it. But written French is not how people talk! It can sometimes seem like hard work, unless you work with French people every day, but although progress may be slow it does reward the effort. I’ve been here for five years and I expected my French to be much better than it is at this point. But it’s coming along… 
Languages are very odd. I can formulate fluent and stress free sentences in German with much greater ease than in French, it seems to come easily and naturally to my mouth, throat and lips than French, although I learned both languages at school 70 years ago, and have never lived in Germany. I can’t understand this, unless I was German in a past life!!
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I’ve now taken to watching/listening to France 2 in a morning (TeleMatin) up to 0930 but on Saturdays (as there is FA on English) I watch C News (La Matinale week-end) till 11:00 then switch to France 5 to watch Silence - ça pouse ! (silence, it grows - a gardening program) in two parts, first part is the Junior version where the very talented (and artistic) main presenter Stéphane Marie gives a brief outline to some horticultural aspect to two young listeners on camera then the main program which follows with his ever devoted sidekick Carole Tolila
After that the rest of the day on France 5 with excellent programs on diverse subjects (some in English with French voice over) until 16:50 when there’s a fascinating magazine programme about Routes Impossible - just showing how difficult it is to travel in some remote parts of the world.
A smorgesbord of delightful educational TV.
You can switch off from the news the UK wants you to digest and relax with a settled stomach and improve your French subliminally to boot!
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Same here.
Here’s a piece from the guardian about what France is thinking about arrivals into France, mandatory isolation .
If this is the case virtually impossible to see elderly parents in Uk then come back to France.
I expect things will change over the coming months, numbers are falling everywhere now.
Wait until next week. It may turn out that residents with no symptoms returning will only be required to self isolate for 14 days, rather than being quarantined somewhere else.
And number are falling but UK is not doing well and becoming the dirty man of Europe (or continuing to be…) so coming back from there could be less appreciated.
People seem to forget that the Uk started 2 weeks behind France with the lockdown, the numbers are a lot lower than a couple of weeks ago, they are getting a lot more new cases everyday but are testing more than France.
Yes “testing”
Can you tell me exactly how testing is going to help control the number of cases. I can see how it can help frontline workers to get back to work and to get a more accurate estimation of how many people have actually had the virus bit I can’t see how it will help to reduce the number of people becoming ill.
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If the UK had ‘tested’ properly, the mortality rate would be 50 % plus higher. What’s your point exactly?
I don’t forget that at all. I find it shameful. The UK had a real opportunity to learn from other countries and take more effective action, and it didn’t. When France went into lockdown England had a handful of cases, and could have taken meaningful action. It didn’t. Over the last 7 weeks I have watched with horror as from being way behind France in terms of cases and deaths, the number has slowly and steadily ramped up and has now overtaken france despite similar population. Many of my friends and family are in the UK, and I am saddened by the position they are in.
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Meanwhile Doris continues to play the sympathy card…
Doctors discussing by his bedside how to tell the nation if he dies 
Ermmmm how about “he’s dead”
and discussing who who take over - errrm elect a new leader of the Conservative party?
While Nero fiddles, Rome burns 
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No apparently he was only in for testing - because that is what we were told!
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Bojo is lying. There is no way that ever happened.
Hancock lied about the testing numbers. He should have had the courage to admit he’d only achieved 89K, that was a significant enough improvement, he didn’t need to lie. Prof. John Newton should be ashamed of himself for having bowed to political pressure and indulged in spin.
They all continue to lie about PPE.
They are just a bunch of shagging (literally in Bojo’s case) liars.
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I son’t know about you, but I find this pretty disconcerting…
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I don’t know about you, but I find this pretty disconcerting…@John_Scully
In four years time those same guys could be dressed in heavy US battle armour and kicking in the door of someone’s rural retreat in France, eyeing up their terrified wife and daughter. That’s their second option.
If Trump gets re-elected, no scenario is going to be off script. He hates and despises Europe. Oh, so you don’t think he’s like that? Really? (not you personally, John)
Have it your own way, and don’t say you weren’t forewarned by John’s post.
I’ll have my own AK47 by then Peter. And maybe a T34 too.
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Better a personal rocket-launching drone as first line of defence, John. 
Is that tank CT’d and with French plates? 
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John, the only thing Leo thinks is is impressive his himself. Speaking to long standing friends there over the weekend, the locals dont give a monkeys and life goes on as normal.
Yes Barrie, but the UK and other european countries knew about the virus in January and did nothing about it “The Government was told by the UK’s intelligence community from the outset that China had concealed the true scale of the pandemic”
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