The Distancing Diaries - Day 160 & 161

On Thursday (day 160), after my Wii Fit workout and our breakfast, we got dressed and got cracking in the garden. The Midlands been issued with an amber warning for rain so we wanted to get as much done as we could.

You did take a before photo, didn't you? Jon asked, halfway through clearing the border. Oh dear, in my haste to pulverise the pile of buddleia and magnolia branches we'd piled up yesterday I'd completely forgotten. This is the only photo I could find of how that area looked before Jon set to work. 

At a less than impressive 12°C , Thursday definitely wasn't bikini weather. I'd just got to the bottom of the pile of branches when Jon called me in for noodles. The forecasted deluge arrived shortly after lunch. We dashed outside to recover the tools, disconnect the shredder and drag it under The Egg ready to resume work in the morning.

Wearing: Vintage block printed kaftan and 1970s quilted jacket (both eBay), tooled leather belt and Clarks' Orinoco Club Chelsea boots (both charity shopped),  vintage umbrella (car boot sale)

With gardening plans thwarted I did a bit of mending, resewing the rouleaux loops, on the kaftan I'd had made from a vintage sari in Jodhpur earlier this year, as always accompanied by 6Music.

Did I mention that we'd booked accommodation for our first couple of nights in Greece? Well, unsure as to the travel situation, we cancelled the reservation last week while we were still within the free cancellation window but as Greece remains a government approved travel destination (at the moment) he's started looking again. We were hoping to travel around but the Passenger Location Form (PLF) that the Greek government have made mandatory for all foreign tourists only allows for two addresses within Greece so Jon got the Rough Guide out and attempted to draw up an itinerary but with so many amazing destinations he abandoned his studies and started to sort out his travel clothes instead. 

I cooked! Tea was roast peppers stuffed with couscous, sun-dried tomatoes, chopped olives & Feta cheese. We harvested our first courgette yesterday so I made a Greek yachni using a recipe I'd adapted from the lovely book our friend Lynn sent us.

As I'd only got one courgette I added a handful of frozen okra. The book says that, when using tinned tomatoes, Greeks often add a dessertspoonful of Worcester sauce to bring out the flavour but, as a vegetarian, I use tamarind sauce as it's fish-free.

Courgette Yachni

8oz courgettes (roughly chopped)

1 large onion (chopped)

Tin of tomatoes 

Dessertspoonful of Worcester / Tamarind sauce

Olive oil

Fresh chopped parsley

Ground black pepper

Ground sea salt

1 tsp sugar

2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar

• Sweat the onion in olive oil until translucent
• Add the rest of the ingredients
• Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes

 After tea we watched a few episodes of Gone Fishing on the BBC i-player. Jon's already seen a few and loved them & I'm late to the party. Who'd have thought that a programme about two middle-aged men going fishing would be such fun?

On Friday I was up at 6am to book a slot for our next National Trust adventure. The sun made a brief appearance as I did my last Wii Fit workout of the week but soon descended into the same old grey murk. We'd just eaten our fruit & yogurt breakfast when the My Hermes driver arrived with a parcel. Earlier in the week I'd visited the website of one of the several UK stores on the brink of closure and bought Jon four pairs of shorts, reduced by 75% in their Summer sale. All four pairs got the thumbs up and fitted perfectly so yesterday's packing is going to have to be re-thought.

Jon wasn't the only one being treated, look what arrived for me (although I think we'll be sharing it!)

Despite the rain we cracked on with the border clearance, Jon lopping and sawing and me shredding beneath The Egg. Those are the surviving garden lights, the ones closest to the house were destroyed by Storm Francis.

After a break for noodles we continued for another couple of hours. The lad hadn't shown any interest yesterday and were totally bemused by the changes when they braved the rain in the afternoon. Stephen Squirrel is most put out that his mousing corner has been razed to the ground.

The postman arrived with the new-with-tags Zara bikini I'd treated myself to from eBay. I tried it on and left glowing feedback for the seller. 

Despite the fact it was tipping it down and we'd got the heating on I decided to play around with my holiday clothes...

So far I've put aside....two skirts, two cotton camis, two kaftans, a midi dress, two maxi dresses, two bikinis, a sarong, a long-sleeved wrap-over sari top, two pairs of sunglasses, a raffia clutch, a straw bag, a maize fedora, leather chappals and a pair of Lottas. I'll be throwing in jewellery, my eReader and some face masks closer to departure.

Tea was the rest of the other night's pizza as Jon had forgotten to cut them in half and freeze them. Tonight we'll be partaking in some rum & cola, served - as always - in charity shop tumblers. I don't think I ever shared the JH Lynch coasters I found for £1 in the charity clearance shop earlier this year. They make drinking in the house a bit more special. 

A year ago tonight, I was dressed in a Lurex halterneck maxi, sequinned coat and barefoot. We closed our shop at the Towersey festival and danced to The Selecter in a field. Tonight we'll be staying in with the central heating on, the curtains closed and watching programmes about fishing and gardening....what a strange year!

Stay safe, stay fabulous and see you soon!