Mes petites cellules grises

Cette histoire m’intrigue énormément, comme un défi lancé à mes petites cellules grises //
This story intrigues me greatly, as a challenge to my little gray cells

Today’s prompt is “cell”, cellule.

By a happy coincidence, the Spanish television is now showing Agatha Christie’s Poirot series, and Hercule Poirot is extremely fond of talking about his “little grey cells”, so here is the cat, dressed in his sharpest grey summer suit as a tribute to the famous detective (especially as portrayed by David Suchet). He looks extremely elegant, in my professional opinion. The only big(ish) detail that is missing is a pocket watch chain, and that’s because with my bad (again) Internet I can’t work out how it is supposed to be worn.

In quarantine news, yesterday and very SUDDENLY! ©, with less than a 24-hour warning, the small shops, hairdressers and barbers got a permission to open under certain conditions. Only very few could react as fast as all that. Yesterday, on my way to a bigger supermarket I walked along the main commercial street of Triana barrio. As far as I could see, practically everything was still closed, including the shops which have the permission to open. Happily, my favourite office and art supply store Carlin was open, even if it was just a temporary counter placed across the doorway. You had to tell the lady attendant what you wanted and she’d go in and fetch it for you. I got a new Sakura Koi pen brush, to draw more cats.

Chaton porte un chiton

Chaton porte un chiton // Chato wears a chiton

Today’s prompt is “republic”, république.

It is tricky. All the quotes I could find were either dead serious or sort of difficult to illustrate although I can’t help but share with you this one, by Georges Clemenceau:

La vie m’a appris qu’il y a deux choses dont on peut très bien se passer: la présidence de la République et la prostate.

Life has taught me that there are two things you can do without: the Presidency of the Republic and the prostate.

Aaanyway... As you can see, I decided to make it easy for myself. Just one thing though: when and why the English version of the name “Plato” did lose its terminal “n”? Even the French version has it.

Oh, and the second note: chaton means “kitten” and Chato doesn’t mean anything.

And the third: it is fun dressing the cat in various outfits.

In quarantine news: tomorrow we should be able to come out to do some individual sports and walk around, according to an age-specific schedule. There are some (many) doubts about it, because swimming in the sea, for example, is very much an individual sport, but beaches are closed, so... how is that supposed to work? Anyway, I guess we’ll see tomorrow, when everybody rushes to the beach and police starts fining people left and right.

Le merveilleux acteur

Quand intelligence et sensibilité sont en parfait équilibre, on a le merveilleux acteur //
When intelligence and sensitivity are in perfect balance, we have the most wonderful actor

Today’s prompt is “actor”, acteur.

The original English version of the quote, supposedly by Charlie Chaplin, once again proves to be somewhat elusive. He might have said something similar, of course.

The cat always wanted to be an actor. He also has great balance of intelligence and sensitivity. What he lacks is the slim stature of Charlie Chaplin, but hey, he did his best.

In quarantine news, nothing major once again. The stats keep being tentatively optimistic for Spain in general, even more so for Canaries. Yesterday, as a sign of “life returning back to normal” we got two guys with a jackhammer under our window, breaking the surface of the little side street and leaving droppings of traffic cones in their wake. I’m sure it is a positive sign, although it is kinda difficult to perceive it as one.

Conseil sans assistance

Conseil sans assistance est un corps sans âme // Advice without help is a body without a soul

Today’s prompt is “assistance”, which is the same word in French.
The quote is a French proverb.
I am not sure why the cat is carrying a log. Maybe, but not necessarily, because I’ve read too many jokes about Lenin and a log recently.
Projecting on our current circumstances, the unhelpful advisers in the picture probably don’t have any choice. Social interaction of any kind is forbidden, so they can’t just come down from their balconies and help him to log the log, so to speak.
In quarantine news, the government plan of opening up was revealed yesterday. There are five steps in it, numbered, just for the heck of it, from 0 to 4 (errm). The positive thing is that three of the Canary Islands with the best stats can proceed to the stage one (not 0) almost immediately. The negative thing is that we don’t live on one of them. The walkies and individual sports are tentatively scheduled for this Saturday, as far as I can tell. The reporting of the news is on its new low at the moment, nobody seems to check what they are publishing, and cut and haste mistakes abound.

Les plus belles agences de voyage au monde

Alors... Où pourrais-je voyager aujourd’hui? // So... where could I travel today?

Today’s prompt is “agency”, agence.

The quote by Bernard Pivot that inspired the pic goes as follows:

Les dictionnaires sont les plus belles agences de voyage au monde.

Dictionaries are the most beautiful travel agencies in the world.

I sort of understand what Bernard Pivot meant, but right now it sounds rather ironic, if not sarcastic. The answer to the cat’s rhetorical question is, of course “nowhere” (nulle part). But let’s just pretend he can, shall we?

In quarantine news, nothing major. There is one strange thing though. Over the last few days Spanish media keep reporting substantial drop in “bad” part of epidemic statistics and emphasise the “good” one, while the WHO is showing some really quite strange stats in their reports. Due to change of report procedure, one hopes. Also, having botched both the return of least skilled workers after Easter and the kids-walking business, they now seem to want to keep the rest of us staying at home forever. It’s not major of course, just the normal operation.

Le plus dur dans une relation, c’est de partager le silence

Le plus dur dans une relation, c’est de partager le silence // The hardest part of a relationship is sharing the silence

Today’s prompt is “relationship”, relation.

The quote above belongs to David Foenkinos, French author and screenwriter. Tell you what — it’s kind of true for extroverts. Introverts might disagree. For them (or should I say, us), the most difficult part of anything is to find that silence to share. Or at least to find a place where the noise is created by us, not by other people. That is to say, listening to our own music is fine. Being force-fed somebody else’s music is not. And if the alien music is bad, Spanish shame kicks in. Balcony-bound extroverts, please take note.

Anyway. Canaries are proposing their own schedule of coming out of quarantine, being the least affected autonomous community of Spain. The proposal, which is released via mass media, has some very interesting parts in it — like for example that one day people from houses with odd numbers can come out, the other day — with even ones. I mean, huh? I don’t even have a document where it says which number I live in... Oh well. As the example with kids shows, best to wait a few days before things become clearer.

Une dette est belle par son paiement

Une dette est belle par son paiement // Долг платежом красен

Today’s prompt is “payment”, paiement.

I had difficulties with this one. Now we are sitting at home, with no ways of generating income, thoughts of various payments that are due are looming menacingly, making it difficult to stay positive and draw something positive, too.

So, here is not-so-positive pic. The cat will be fine though, if he owns anything to anybody, he owns it to me, and I am not going to claim anything off him. He is a good cat.

The quote of today is a Russian proverb. As usual, I couldn’t identify the original immediately, but at least I could do it eventually in this case. The literal meaning is “The debt is good by its payment”. Originally coined by merchants to underscore the practice of lending with interest, so that the debt is made “good” by giving back more when you borrowed, now it is used more or less to say “you get what you give”.

Les gens heureux

Les gens heureux n’ont pas besoin de se presser //
Happy people don’t have to hurry

Today’s prompt is “people”, gens.

The quote above is apparently a Chinese proverb, although I am not convinced. «Счастливые часов не наблюдают» by Griboyedov expresses much the same sentiment, and I am sure many more expressions saying basically the same exist.

The cat is sunbathing on Las Canteras, Las Palmas main town beach. Being an intellectual, he is also reading a very clever book.

Les vêtements sont un message

Les vêtements sont un message // The clothes are a message

Today’s prompt is message, written the same in English and French.

The full citation goes like so:

Les vêtements sont un message, un reflet de la personnalité, de la situation sociale, de l’éducation et l’image que chacun de nous veut renvoyer au reste du monde.

The clothes are a message, a reflection of the personality, of the social situation, of the education and the image that we want to send to the world.

It comes from Leaving the World by Douglas Kennedy and I couldn’t find the English original, so it might differ from the translation above.

The cat always wanted to be a cowcat. Occasionally, he puts on his hat, takes his lasso and poses against the sunset, just to send a message.

Ceux qui t’entourent

Ceux qui t’entourent, s’ils chantent leur chanson, chante-la avec eux (ou non) //
If those around you sing their song, sing it with them (or not)

Today’s prompt is “song”, chanson.

I think that when the quote was originally written, said or otherwise uttered, the utterer didn’t consider that the song could be an abomination. What if it happened to be Despacito or something?

Poor cat. He doesn’t enjoy it at all.

Un professeur d’espérance

Le poète doit être un professeur d’espérance // The poet must be a teacher of hope

The prompt for today is “professor”, professeur, the word which means teacher in general and can be applied to teachers on all academic (and not academic) levels.

The cat is a poet of course. He just wrote a kanji for “hope” directly, in seems, on the windowpane. I think he is hoping to get out of the house before all the petals fall off the sakura trees.