The Distancing Diaries - Day 80 & 81

Lockdown day 80! How on earth did that happen? After my first Wii Fit workout of the week and a blog catch-up, Jon joined me for our fruit & yoghurt breakfast and, as is usual, we had the BBC news on in the background. For the last few days, coronavirus has been replaced by coverage of the Black Lives Matter protests in the UK. The big story on Monday was the toppling of the statue of Edward Colston in Bristol, a man who made his fortune from slave trading. The mayor of Bristol suggested that, at some point, the statue would be recovered from the harbour where it had been dumped and displayed in the city's museum alongside some of the protest banners to record the moment for future generations.

I was reminded of the statues we came across during our 2016 visit to Dr Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai. In 1947, finally free from British rule, the Mumbaikers tore down these symbols of colonial oppression and here they've languished ever since, on a straggly strip of grass at the back of the building, left to disintegrate and fade away.

We were running low on milk so, once he was dressed, Jon drove down to the Co-op. Miraculously it wasn't raining so I gave the patio plants their fortnightly liquid seaweed feed (it was due on Saturday but it was far too wet) before checking on the greenhouse and watering the veg patch.

Jon came back with the milk and a parcel which our MyHermes man had handed him at the gate, containing something I'd bought for the next DIY project, a roll of Moroccan-inspired sticky-backed plastic!

We'd bought this pair of 1960s folding camping tables from a car boot sale in 2006 and they were looking sad and tatty after 14 years of festival use.

In line with my lockdown ethos of getting it done immediately instead of putting it off for another day, I peeled off the edging strip, tore off the old Fablon covering, sanded the tops down and applied a coat of PVA glue. After a break for noodles, together we cut the replacement sticky-back plastic to size, peeled off the backing, attached it to the tabletops and replaced the edging strips.

What a shame we won't be taking them to a festival this year.

Jon's task was to start painting the kitchen ceiling. He'd applied the first coat when he got back from the Co-op and it was dry enough for a second. Only another two to go!

After four days of relentless rain and unseasonably low temperatures, the hazy sunshine had tempted Jacob out of his state of semi-hibernation. He had a paddle in his pond and nibbled on the rocket we'd planted in his pen. He's well on the way to becoming a self-sufficient tortoise.

It was almost 3pm by the time our post arrived, during the pandemic the Royal Mail had suspended weekend letter deliveries so the postal workers have double the amount to deliver on Mondays. Apparently, this will go back to normal next week much to the relief of our poor, stressed postman.

It was post worth waiting for! A beautiful handmade card from Liz thanking us for her belated birthday presents and a 1970s Anokhi jacket I'd spotted on eBay and, too impatient to wait for the auction to end, had sent the seller a cheeky offer which she'd accepted.

The listing had mentioned a missing button and, not having one that matched the original, I replaced both with a pair of vintage glazed Indian clay buttons.

WEARING: Vintage Eastern European embroidered blouse worn with a 1970s Interlinks block printed midi-length wraparound skirt & some silver Turkomen earrings (all eBay purchases from 2019) and my Lotta from Stockholm clogs

We'd not been for a walk around the block for a while and, despite my daily Wii Fit sessions, I'm starting to limp badly so, when Jon had downed tools for the day I buckled my clogs and away we went.

 Tea was the last few slices of Ray the neighbour's sourdough bread with salad and some mini veg spring rolls and jalapeno & cheese bites from Jon's last trip to Farmfoods. Later we watched the last couple of episodes of Jay Blades' DIY Fix, there's something wonderfully therapeutic about watching people paint, fix, repair and create, so much so that Jon fell asleep.

Tuesday (day 81) was another dry day with hazy sunshine. After my Wii Fit session and our fruit & yoghurt breakfast I caught up on blog reading whilst Jon applied a third coat of paint to the kitchen ceiling. Towards the end of last year, Jon bought this 1960s chores jacket from the clearance charity shop but felt it was a fraction too long so my morning's mission was to take it up.

With all the time in the world, I switched 6Music on and slowly hemmed the jacket by hand which took me up to lunchtime, when I joined Jon amidst the chaos in the kitchen for a bowl of spicy noodles. The ceiling only needed three coats of paint in the end so he planned to start painting the walls next - the exciting bit.

What with the rubbish weather, I'd got out of the habit of watering the patio plants. It was after lunch by the time I'd got round to it.

I'm loving my Delphinium, the first time one has graced the garden.

The redcurrants are almost ready to start harvesting for our breakfasts, my makeshift CD and scrunched up foil balls have done the trick and keep those thieving birds at bay.

The leaves in the foreground belong to the new potatoes I planted as an experiment.

I filled four terracotta pots with cornflowers we'd grown from seed and then ran out of compost. It looks like a trip to the garden centre is imminent although, after the last trip, I can't say I'm wildly excited by the prospect.

WEARING: 1970s cheesecloth dress by Rumak (Oxfam, 2019), vintage tooled leather belt with lion buckle (out of the 3 for £1 basket in the clearance charity shop), Lotta from Stockholm clogs, glazed expression (blame the painkillers!)

Once Jon had finished for the day we went for our walk around the block, me with my creaky hip, him with his knackered knees, what a pair! He's about to get stuck into making tea - halloumi with roast vegetables. I'm off to dye my roots, they're a disgrace, I only did them three weeks ago, goodness knows what's going on there. I need to look respectable for tomorrow's National Trust adventure.

Stay safe, happy and fabulous!