The Distancing Diaries - 24th & 25th October, 2020

Jon was up first on Saturday morning, he made tea and brought it back to bed where we lay and read until just gone 8.30. After he'd gone downstairs to make a start on the breakfast I stripped and changed the bed, hung up the tea towels I'd left on an hot eco wash the night before and reloaded the machine. After our sausage sandwiches I tumble-dried the bedding and caught up with blog comments while Jon did a bit of work on Gilbert before the rain arrived.

The postman arrived with a multi pack of biker snoods, Jon's go-to choice of face covering. We were weeping with laughter when he tried them on.

With no prospect of photographing stock or playing in the garden I did some housework instead (in my tatty gardening dress), cleaning our bedroom, the spare bedroom, the bathroom, the landing and the stairs which took me the best part of the day.

I've never been one for cleaning but, since lockdown I love how therapeutic it is. The almost zen-like calm I get from filling a bowl with hot soapy water and scrubbing away with a stiff wooden brush, flicking away the cobwebs with my feather duster, beating rugs and polishing surfaces with a soft yellow duster and the delicious smelling Lord Sheraton's beeswax wood balsam, accompanied, as always, by 6Music. 

After a bit of self-care - stripping off last week's nail paint, cutting my nails & epilating my legs followed by a long soak in the bath - we had tea, grilled Halloumi with potato lattices, roasted peppers, red onions and tomatoes and a bottle of beer. We'd been too involved in Spooks the previous evening to watch Gardener's World so we caught it on catch-up before watching another couple of episodes of Spooks (accompanied by a few rums). Although the growing season is over I left a few of my houseplants to soak overnight in the sink in the utility room before going to bed. 

The clocks went back at 2am on Sunday morning but unfortunately nobody had told the lads who tried their utmost to get us out of bed at 6am. I resisted until 7am, then went downstairs, fed and let them out and brought tea back to bed where stayed until I'd finished my book.

Jon made fried eggs with grilled mushrooms served on a slice of toast for breakfast which we ate whilst watching The Andrew Marr Show. I swapped the houseplants over and painted my nails Barry M's Black Cherry.

Once we were dressed we drove to the clearance charity shop, offloading another sack of donations. We spent a good forty minutes rummaging and dodging the scutters who seem to think it's quite acceptable to wear a face mask like a chin strap and stand far too close. We popped to Wilkos but were very disappointed to see that the plants had been removed from sale and replaced by aisles crammed ceiling high with garish plastic tat (ie., Halloween and Xm** stuff). I was hoping to pick up a raspberry bush as Monty had said it was the ideal time to plant them but left disgruntled and empty-handed. Not to worry, we hadn't done too badly in the chazza.

I'd only mentioned on Friday's blog post about how most National Trust visitors wear a uniform which, more often than not, includes a knitted bobble hat but this Firetrap Black Label cable knit one will be perfect for working outdoors in the winter (£1). I loved the lurex stretchy wristbands on these new with tags Faith gloves, which don't look quite as violently pink in real life (also £1). The vintage tooled navy leather belt fits Jon perfectly and goes with last week's Jeffrey west boots (50p).

More new with tags stuff...people are so wasteful. The shorts will go in Jon's holiday bag ready for next time we go away (£2) and the paisley print slim fit "York" shirt by Hawes and Curtis of Jermyn Street originally retailed at £55 but Jon paid £3.

I'm long sighted and whilst my distance vision is perfect, close-up I'm as blind as a bat. I can't be arsed wearing reading glasses when I'm shopping, a mask is enough to contend with, so I never read the manufacturer's labels, always going by how something feels. It must work, I've yet to come home with anything from Primark. The bags in the clearance shop are mostly poor quality and plastic but this big navy mock-croc tote bag felt like leather, had a really satisfying magnetic closing mechanism and brass feet.

Once I got home I put my glasses on, read the label and did a bit of googling. Turns out my £3 buy is a leather Quincy bag by Victoria Beckham and originally retailed at £1045. The exterior is perfect, the inside is a bit grubby but nothing a damp cloth can't handle. Madness! 

Sunday's outfit was a vintage block printed dress and quilted waistcoat (both by Phool and bought from/swapped with fellow vintage traders), my new favourite Sanita clogs and a Gujarati amulet pendant. 

After a bowl of noodles I spent the rest of the afternoon catching up with blogland and wrapping eBay parcels ready to drop off at the post office after our National Trust excursion tomorrow. In addition to the stuff I've already shown you, Jon managed to find a decent wooden picture frame for £1 in the charity shop and framed the Indian matchbox covers I'd bought from eBay last month. It's currently being weighed down with a pile of books so I'll have to show you when it's in situ.

Tea was half a Morrison's veg pizza with oven chips. Tonight we'll be catching up with Michael Palin and his Travels of a Lifetime as well as another episode (or two ) of Spooks. I don't know about you but this extra hour makes the day seem endless, I'll be ready for bed by 9pm!

Stay safe and see you soon!