French Conversation – February 2022

We have had two meetings this month and in the first one where we talked about Christmas and the feast of the three kings. Annie told us about the traditional French cake with the bean in one slice.

The topic of the next meeting was pros and cons of online shopping .

Clearly it’s been a godsend (aubaine) during the lockdown. People were able to get their groceries delivered and remain safe. The cons of that were that the supermarkets will substitute goods if they’re not in stock and you might get something you didn’t want!

And often things, like books, are cheaper online and easy to return if they aren’t wanted. And it’s great to have heavy items delivered to your front door. You can also send gifts by putting down a different address so that saves a lot of time and effort. Certain things, like clothes, shoes, are less popular buys as we like to try on and check the quality of what is being ordered. And the downside of all this is the effect on the high street where shops are not doing well. Shouldn’t we be supporting local?

At the moment some of us have returned to going into shops as they are safer and it is nicer to be able to browse and pick out what’s wanted as well as maybe getting a bargain! Booking flights, hotels, theatres, etc is very convenient online.

The only worry is making a mistake!

We had one concern, if you never go out and do everything on line you could get isolated, become a hermit! And of course, some people don’t have a computer or don’t feel confident using one.

Bridie Cushion