The Distancing Diairies - Day 142 & 143

On Sunday (day 142) I was downstairs making tea at just after 6am. Although we'd another warm day forecast it was gloomy, grey and overcast. I went back to bed and was joined by the lads back from their exploration of the garden shortly afterwards. I read till 8.30 am while Jon snoozed.

For breakfast we ate the rest of the tin of beans & vegan sausages we'd opened yesterday and the last three slices of Jon's homemade spelt bread. After he'd headed off to the council tip to dispose of the old washing machine, I went online, confirmed that our details were correct for the council's electoral roll and printed off a claim form for Stephen's pet insurance policy.

 My job for the morning was to give the bathroom a proper clean which, since lockdown I've done every couple of weeks and hardly takes any time at all. I dusted the shelves, pictures & mirrors, scrubbed the bath, sink & loo and swept and mopped the floor. I had a bit of a change round with houseplants and hung the Indian tin plate sign G'n'T had bought me on the wall. In the mood for more cleaning, I swept & mopped the floorboards on the landing, in the spare bedroom and the stairs.

Talking of G'n'T, they'd brought us round a huge pile of wood when they visited last week. As it's soft wood, we'll burn it in the open grate in the lounge rather than the wood burner in the dining room, but hopefully it'll be a while before we have to start thinking about heating. Jon spent the morning moving it from the builder's bag on the drive up the garden to the wood pile.

I did my daily deadheading and harvested some dwarf French beans to throw in our curry later.

Nail paint of lockdown week 20 - Barry M's The Way You Make Me Teal. I do love a pun.

 As always my feet match my hands.

Jon did his daily inspection of the greenhouse and moved things around to accommodate the oak shelf we used to have in the kitchen

And carried this one round the garden like the big baby he is.

After a noodle break the sun had finally broken through the clouds and I was able to strip off to my bikini and prostrate myself on the lawn for the rest of the day. 

Pre-bikini, this was how I was dressed. I wear this Ayesha Davar midi skirt & Oasis Trading Indian gauze blouse almost every other week, slightly updated this time with the addition of my new-to-me vintage Christian Dior sunglasses, Afghan earrings and the tooled leather belt I bought from the charity clearance shop last week. I think mask-wearing must have made me slightly befuddled, when I picked the belt up I could have sworn it was my size but when I got it home it was enormous. I punched a new hole in it and chopped 10 inches off the end to stop it flapping around like an unwanted appendage.

After the sun had vanished behind the trees I washed my hair, which had been slathered in conditioner all day, epilated my legs and watered the garden. Tea was, as I'd mentioned earlier, a curry made from some Morrisons' vegetarian mince (far superior to Quorn), green beans from the garden, tomatoes, onions and peppers, served with half a nan, veg pakoras & mango chutney.

Giving the dreadful A Suitable Boy a wide berth, we caught up on a couple of episodes of the Danish crime drama, Advokaten (The Lawyer), currently being screened on Channel 4. We'd enjoyed the previous series and loved that Sara, one of the main characters, dresses in particularly cool vintage '70s gear. Her brother, Frank, (seen below) is rather easy on the eye.

It was another dull grey start to the day on Monday. After I'd let the lads out at 6.30am, I mopped the utility room floor and put the crochet cat blanket through the Rapid 15° wash in the new machine, pegging it out on the line fifteen minutes later. After my Wii Fit session I caught up with Blogland until Jon joined me for fruit & yogurt in the kitchen.

We were expecting friends later and, with a mixture of glorious sunshine & torrential rain showers forecast, Jon dug out The Egg from the depths of the shed. It's a professional pop-up trading marquee I'd spotted in a charity shop a couple of years ago and, at a tenth of the normal retail price, we'd have been mad to leave it behind, although dragging it from the shop to the van nearly killed Jon. We'd just managed to erect it when the first shower arrived, within minutes giving way to glorious sunshine and 30°C heat - hooray!

The outdoor rug has been part of our festival shop set-up for years and has usually been in constant use at this stage in the summer. It felt good to give it an airing.

The flower bed beneath the lime tree was demanding my attention so I raked, weeded and tidied up the clumps of montbretia that had been flattened by the dreaded tree debris. After a stop for an al fresco coffee in the sun, Jon wheeled my sweepings to form a pile at the top of the garden as the garden waste bin was already full (it's due for collection this coming Wednesday).

In my enthusiasm to get it sorted I never took a before photo, it's not the most exciting area but it looks a lot better now.

After a break for noodles I thought I'd use the newly cleared bed for a posing area. 

The more eagle-eyed amongst you might remember seeing me wearing this vintage India Imports of Rhode Island dress last week. In the year I've owned it it's travelled to Corfu and India & numerous festivals and no doubt will pop up a few more times whenever the weather is warm enough. Maxi length, halterneck, Indian block print and cotton, it ticks all the boxes and makes me feel six feet tall - even though I'm only 5' 3 and a half inches!

After I'd submitted a very cheeky bid for a Buy-it-Now item on eBay (and to my great surprise, had my offer accepted) the rest of our afternoon was spent lazing around in the sunshine annoying the lads who wanted to be left alone to snooze in the shade in peace. 

Stephen refused to look at the camera, Jon's not strangling him...honest!

It's been so long since we last saw Liz & Adrian and it was wonderful to see them today, fresh from their holidays in Dorset. We sat in The Egg for the rest of the afternoon, catching up on the last six months over a beer (for us) and tonic water for them (they're being good)! Jon loved his beach-themed birthday present, a lidded enamel camping mug & a card by a Dorset-based artist.

Tea was salad with a half a goat's cheese quiche (or it will be when it's cooked). After I've watered the garden (the threatened rain never materialised), we'll be watching more of The Lawyer.

Stay safe & see you soon!

PS This blog post was brought to you courtesy of the new Blogger, after months of glitches and weird quirks it appears to be working perfectly...unless you tell me otherwise!