Our Life in Lockdown - Day 44 & 45

The previous evening's entertainment had kicked off with a documentary about Titian, followed by the BBC's latest Scandi-Noir, State of Happiness, set in Norway during the discovery of oil in the North Sea in 1969. We'd seen it advertised, the storyline didn't appeal, the clips were mostly of actors speaking in American accents, making us think it was dubbed rather than subtitled (which we hate) but once we started watching we realised that the visiting Texan oilmen spoke in English and the rest of the cast spoke in their native Norwegian. Anyway, we loved it. A gripping storyline, gorgeous cinematography, stunning vintage cars and some seriously cool outfits (the menswear in particular).

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On Sunday morning (lockdown day 44) Stephen Squirrel did his usual trick by waking me up before 5am but I made a concerted effort, stayed in bed & must have dropped back off to sleep, I couldn't believe it when I woke up at 8am! I left Jon in bed, fed the cats, watered the windowsill seedlings and brought mugs of tea back to bed where we read until 9.30.

Breakfast was a fried egg on toast - after I said we don't each much bread! We watched the rest of the Andrew Marr Show and after I'd dressed, I went outside and watered the plants. It had been raining when I got up at 8am, but not particularly heavily, so I thought they'd appreciate a drink.

This week's lockdown nails - Barry M's Fuschia Generation

Jon decided to prep the utility room ready for painting by filling the cracks in the walls but, as is often the way with old houses, he ended up finding unexpected problems as he went along including a leak coming from our ancient loo. In the old days, he'd have driven straight to B&Q, bought the bits he needed, come home & fixed it.  The new normal means that he'll have to empty the shed this week and see if he's got anything he can repurpose. At least we've got an upstairs loo!

 I beat a hasty retreat, headed back into the garden and swept the pathway that runs alongside the Kinky Shed, also cutting back the brambles, raking up the leaves behind the pond and in the borders and did a bit of weeding before cutting back the shrubs that grow next to our postbox as they'd had a bit of a growth spurt after last week's rain. Considering I'd been working flat out for three hours, I couldn't see a fat lot of a difference but there again, I'm going for the rustic rather than manicured look (or, at least, that's my excuse!)

There was no stopping for lunch as we don't generally bother after we've eaten a cooked breakfast.

The psychedelic bird box was a Xmas gift a couple of years ago, hand painted by Liz

Day 44's outfit was most unusual for me, two contemporary shop-bought pieces! The lampshade-sleeved, dobby cotton top came from FabIndia in Panjim in 2019 and the block-printed cotton wraparound maxi skirt was from Cotton Cottage in Margao in 2018. Both companies specialise in fairly traded, handmade, organic cotton clothing and I try and buy something from them every year.

I allowed Frank a leaf from the nepeta (catmint) I'd bought from eBay last week, he's off his tits now!

The dress I'd worn on Saturday needed a couple of the press studs on the sleeves replacing, in truth,  they've not fastened since I bought it last year and it irritates me every time I wear it. So, in my new lockdown way of life, I decided to tackle the task whilst I thought about it rather than putting it off for another day, so  I brought it downstairs and repaired it at the kitchen table whilst Jon prepared tea (jacket potatoes with cheese & salad).

I decided to repair the hole in my Alpnani kaftan next, something else I've been meaning to do for ages usually only remembering it needs a repair when I wear it. In the absence of a similar type of fabric (I've pretty much depleted my fabric stash with my patchwork curtains) I used some vintage braid to do some visible mending.

After tea we watched Race Across The World Revealed, the series finished last weekend so it was a chance to see the competing couples get together and discuss their adventures. Just in case you've yet to watch I won't give anything away, other than to say that our favourite couple thoroughly deserved their win. Again, we almost forgot it was Killing Eve night, the weeks fly past so quickly, but we remembered just in time. I went to bed early and read Margaret Forster's The Memory Box for an hour, I've only got a couple of chapters left now, what on earth to read next?

This morning started, as all weekdays do, with a Wii Fit session and a fruit and yoghurt breakfast. We've run out of bananas amongst other things, so it looks like a trip to Johal's is on the cards in the next day or so. As it was dry I dragged an old metal chair outside the gates, piled it up with some of the books we'd recently finished. Within an hour half of them had gone so I added a few more.

I got dressed in one of my vintage Afghan nomad dresses and replied to my blog comments, leaving reading the blogs I follow as a treat for later.

I do love an Afghan dress!

I watered the patio pot plants & sprayed the windowsill seedlings whilst Jon, unable to find all the stuff he needed in the shed to repair the loo, called the plumber's merchants to place an order and drove into town to pick it up. The postman arrived with our Superdrug suncream, not that I'll need it today, it's another overcast & distinctly chilly one. I also unwrapped a book Gill, a lovely Facebook friend, had just finished and had kindly offered to send my way.

As Jon cracked on with fixing the loo, I repotted the basil, the purple cauliflower & some of the ruby red Swiss chard into larger pots and planted out the remainder of the chard into the bed below the lounge window, I've grown rainbow chard before and loved how pretty it looked so I'm hoping it'll work well with the rest of my plant. I got the hosepipe back out and gave everything a good watering.

After our lunchtime noodles, I planted the lemon cucumber out into the grow bags inside the cloches.

Ha! No chance of getting to those cucumbers in there, mister!

Having successfully fixed the loo, Jon continued in the utility room, filling a few more holes in the wall and scrubbing everything down.

By 2pm watery sunshine had broken through the clouds so I sat outside, finished my book and added it to the free pile.

I had a light bulb moment this morning, got out of bed at the crack of dawn so I could retrieve something I'd forgotten about. Above is a photograph of my Grandpa (Mum's father, the previous owner of Stonecroft). This a poem his Aunt Dorothy (b.1884) wrote and sent to little Reg in 1919.

 I've featured this on my blog a few years ago and, today, it couldn't be more apt.  Its a relic from the last pandemic, the Spanish Flu outbreak, which tragically claimed more victims than the Great War which preceded it.

I daren't suggest a lockdown walk around the block as Jon's still traumatised by the toilet. Instead, I'm leaving him to relax by cooking tea (grilled halloumi with roasted vegetables) whilst I catch up with blogs.

Tonight we'll be watching Grayson Perry's Art Club and I'm not sure what else, I'll have to see what the BBC has on the i-player.

Stay safe, happy and positive. See you soon!