Life on Lock Down - Day 7 and 8

After my usual start to the day, a Wii Fit session & fruit & yoghurt for breakfast, we got dressed and left the house - the first time in a week - as we'd run out of milk. The plan was to drive to B&Q (a DIY superstore) first as we needed some bits and pieces to complete a few tasks but, despite checking their website the previous evening, the store was closed and operating a click and collect service only, we passed Morrisons but there was a huge queue so we carried on to our local Co-op which was mercifully empty. We got milk, bananas and fresh veg (enough to see us through the next week or so) as well as a carton of eggs for a friend. We drove round to his house, knocked on his door, left the eggs on his doorstep and waved at him from the car - it all felt very strange.

Back at home I caught up with blog comments, pulled on my work boots and spent a couple of hours in the garden. The council has - understandably - cancelled our garden waste collection for the foreseeable future but these leaves will be fine in our compost bin.

After lunch, I continued in the garden, unearthing a heap of branches from beneath a clump of ivy which I moved to the wood store, which is now nicely topped up, in time for the bitterly cold weekend we've got forecast.

There are signs of Spring popping up all over the garden, I wish the rhubarb would hurry up and grow, I am desperate to eat it.

Fennel, which is great in pesto.

We already used a few of our chives for a potato salad earlier in the week.

 The wild garlic's gone mad, here's another couple of clumps which seem to have sprung up overnight.

 Rosemary grows like mad and is utterly delicious with roasted veggies.

The redcurrant bush has sprung into life...

And the apple tree is starting to sprout green shoots.

Jon continued sorting out the coal house which hasn't housed a bag of coal for a long time as it's bursting at the seams with junk critically important VW parts. Meanwhile, I sat and read in the sunshine. After showers and tea (roasted vegetables with Haloumi), Jon decided to have another go at placing a food order online and, lo and behold, managed to get a slot for next Wednesday.

Hallelujah! Perfectly timed for our never-had-a-wedding anniversary on 1st April! Isn't it strange how we're delighting in little things like this? We really are living in a strange new world.

I fully expected to be the only residents of the avenue voicing our support for the NHS last night but I was wrong, by 8pm our applause was just a tiny part of the wall of noise emanating from all over Walsall, cheering, drums, fireworks, car horns and people shouting "NHS, we f*cking love you". What an amazing feeling it was, being part of a community after a week of isolation.

This morning (day 8 of Stonecroft's lockdown) I decided to scrub the radiator in the lounge, a pig of a job, after my Wii Fit session.

My daily breakfast: orange, banana, black grapes, blueberries & raspberries (bought from the market last week, before lockdown) with natural yoghurt and a sprinkling of seed and dried fruit mix from Morrisons.

SOURCE

Last night the government finally made a pledge to help the UK's 5 million self-employed. Over a coffee, I dug out my tax returns and did a rough calculation of the grant we should expect in June. Expecting to have to live off our savings the news was most welcome.

After getting dressed I threw the contents of the laundry basket in the washing machine and hung it on the line to dry (I decided our pants weren't really worthy of a photo!) After checking thoroughly for any nests, decided to tackle the ivy threatening to engulf our compost bins.

That's better!

Here's today's gardening outfit. I won this vintage dress on eBay about 15 years ago and the Mary Quant scarf came from a jumble sale - a total cost of £1.09!

Last night we watched another episode of Simon Reeve's travels across America, this time he visited the giant redwoods in California. I reckon the trees in our garden aren't far off those huge beasts.

Look at this naughty boy! Stephen Squirrel digging for victory in Jon's freshly weeded veg patch - I've no idea what he's doing, he comes inside to use the litter tray.

This one's far better behaved than his adopted big brother.

After such a frenzy of activity, I decided that I'd earned the right to spend the rest of the afternoon reading in the sunshine, so I did, although the cold wind soon had me scuttling in for cover. Tonight we're having vegetarian sausages, eggs, chips & peas for tea and, with it being Friday, a glass or two of rum.

Are you all staying at home, keeping well and smiling through these strange times? I do hope so!