The Distancing Diaries - Day 84 & 85

When I went into the kitchen on Friday morning (day 84) I did a double-take. Unbeknown to me, Jon had got up in the night and had applied the first coat of paint to the walls. What a difference! The arsenic green made the room feel restful and calming, a huge improvement on the previously white walls, despite the torrential rain and charcoal grey skies outside.

Chocolate digestives, monkey nuts, rum, popcorn...all the essentials!

After my last Wii Fit session of the week and our fruit and yoghurt breakfast, I caught up with emails & blog comments and booked us another National Trust adventure for next week, while Jon girded his loins and went out in search of groceries.

After he'd unpacked the shopping and put it away, Jon cracked on with the painting and, as the rain had stopped, I ventured into the garden to check on Jacob. After I'd removed the army of slugs, I gave him to homegrown lettuce and Welsh poppies.

Accompanied by Frank, I planted the wild rocket that Liz had given us, harvested the last of the radishes as we needed the area to transplant some of our other crops and cut back the Dusty Miller in the window boxes. 

After an earlier drenching, the patio plants didn't need watering so I just had a leisurely wander around the garden to check up on everything.

The last of the Oriental poppies had burst into bloom, the apples were growing, the jasmine was in flower and last year's Sweet Williams were still going strong.

 The delphiniums and olive trees were in full bloom and the Hydrangea flowers looked to be imminent.

We've been adding our blackcurrant crop to our daily fruit and yoghurt breakfast all week, the sweet peas are still going mad and one of the several buddleia bushes had flowered.

After a break for noodles, I decided we needed a new carrier bag tidy for the kitchen. I'd made one using instructions from my edition of House Proud about ten years ago and, after a decade of near-daily use, it was well overdue for a replacement. Although we've been saying no to plastic bags for years, we still seem to have a mountain of them!

To create the 65cm square of fabric the pattern required, I used the remnants from the last patchwork curtain I'd made plus one from a set of William Morris cushion covers I'd bought from a charity shop, cut them up and sewed them together to form a single piece of fabric.

Fancy making your own? Click on the photo to enlarge the instructions

A couple of hours with 6Music and my trusty Frister Rossmann machine and ta-dah! A carrier bag tidy fit to grace our newly painted kitchen.

After I'd tidied up my sewing stuff I was all geared for a walk around the block but by the time Jon had reached a good point to finish, it had started to rain. Ah well, I was wearing the dress already, it was only the hat and Docs that I'd put on especially.

WEARING: Vintage 1980s Anokhi block printed midi dress & Doc Marten boots (both eBay), Aldo fedora (charity shop)

Tea was a big salad with a slice of bread, some chilli-stuffed olives and a selection of cheeses.

Later we watched the award-winning 2015 film Spotlight, about the Boston Globe's exposure of the child abuse scandal within the catholic church. We ate popcorn and drank rum.

Saturday (day 84) and Jon was up first - thanks to Frank nibbling his ears. He fed the lads and brought tea back to bed where we read until 8.30. Jon went downstairs to start breakfast whilst I stripped and changed the bed and loaded the washing machine.

After sausage sandwiches, I gave the houseplants that had been soaking overnight a thorough spraying before putting them all back and scrubbing both the bath & sink clean. Meanwhile, Jon emptied the kitchen cupboard so he could move it and paint the wall behind.

After I'd pegged out the washing and put another load in the machine, my job was to remove the old 1960s lining paper, scrub and sand down the kitchen wall cupboard ready for repainting.

Made in the 19th Century and originally used in a shop, this glazed cupboard cost £5 from a car boot sale in the early noughties. That particular day was memorable for its brilliant buys. I found my beloved Jeff Banks W1 label blouse for just 50p a few stalls further along.

Although the weather forecast had been for grey skies and showers, the sun made an appearance and it was deliciously warm. I pegged the next load of washing out and watered the patio plants barefoot.

The sunshine even lured Stephen Squirrel from his Saturday lie-in.

My computer chair was the next thing that demanded attention and I gave the frame a lick of paint.

And use the remains of my Indian printed wallpaper to decoupage it.

By the time I'd applied a final coat of Modge Podge, Jon had finished the painting and was ready to start the next stage of the kitchen makeover.

We had a list of stuff we needed so decided to drive to B&Q, our logic being that most people shop early in the day and that late-afternoon would be a lot quieter. How wrong we were! There were hundreds in the queue. We drove back and placed an online order with Tool Station instead. It'll take a few days to arrive but I'm sure we'll be able to find something to occupy ourselves while we wait.

Just as I'd gathered the washing from the line the sky went an ominous shade of black and we felt a few drops of rain so Jon grabbed the - mercifully dry - chair and took it indoors. It turned out to be a false alarm, the sun came back out minutes later.

Tea was a mixed veg curry with a packet of spicy rice from our festival food stash (it'll be out of date by the time we trade at a festival again) accompanied by a bottle of beer.

Tonight's entertainment will be watching Julieta on the BBC i-player.  I've been an avid Almodovar fan since I saw Pepi, Luci, Bom at the much-missed indie cinema, The Aston Triangle in Birmingham in the early 1980s. We've got rum and the rest of the popcorn to keep us company.

Stay safe and see you soon!