The Distancing Diaries - 23rd & 24th May, 2021

 I was up first on Sunday and mopped the hall and kitchen floors whilst the tea was brewing. I took the mugs back to bed where we lay and read until Frank demanded Jon's attention. We had toast for breakfast and I had a rummage through the cupboards to see what I could add to the charity shop donation bag stuffed with the non-vintage clothes from Jon's wardrobe clearout. I managed to fill another bin bag with some mugs, a pair of salad servers, two ice cube trays (who needs three?), a cutlery tray, a 1970s hand-held steamer, a corkscrew and a badge maker plus a modern top the Ayesha Davar one I wore on Saturday replaced.

I painted my nails in Barry M's Black Pistacchio while the Andrew Marr Show was on and then got dressed.

WEARING: Leo Narducci maxi (Vintage fair, 2017), Lotta from Stockholm clog boots & 1980s sunglasses(eBay), Copal beads and vintage leather belt (charity shop finds)

This vintage Leo Narducci maxi would have been worn on repeat if last year had been normal, it's one of my go-to vintage fair and festival pieces. Instead, after a brief appearance last spring it had languished in the suitcase on top of the wardrobe. Although the sun had made a welcome appearance, with the temperature being a piffling 10°C if we'd hadn't driven to the charity shop, I would have needed a coat over the top. 

Bonwit's Espresso Shop for Young Sports dates from the early to mid-1960s, a department within Bonwit Teller, a luxury department store that was torn down and replaced by Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, New York.  The Guy D line was sold between 1963 - 1965. You can find out more about Leo Narducci in the post I wrote HERE back in 2017.

I've no idea why these sunglasses haven't seen the light of day since Corfu, 2017!

We were the first through the doors when the clearance charity shop opened. We handed over our donations and rummaged for 40 minutes. Jon bought a cotton shirt printed with hummingbirds (£2) and I bought a handmade 1960s copper pendant for 50p.

Dropping me at home, Jon continued to friends, Erica & Jon, to pick up some unwanted metal panels to use as part of our school-kid/dog barrier for the front lawn (when it grows). After our noodles, he laid them out, cut a  bit more wood from our stash down to size and painted them in the same Silver Birch woodcare treatment as the others.

Meanwhile, I staked the Greek beans, moved some lily bulbs & potted up the reduced to clear loganberry. One of our eBay customers messaged to ask if they could pick up their purchase as they lived locally. It turned out that we had several mutual friends and we all got on like a house on fire, giving them a tour of the garden and promising to stay in touch.

Although it was fine over the winter, the olive tree we'd bought from Morrisons last year was looking awful so I removed it from its pot and replaced it with yesterday's Acer. After some research and checking the roots, which seemed fine, we repotted it and gave the poor thing a radical pruning...the branches were all green when we cut them, so there is life! Fingers crossed it perks up. If you're wondering, the other one lives with Tony and is absolutely fine.

By now the promised rain had started so we went back inside, Jon worked on some music and I read my book. After pizza and sweet potato chips, we watched more of The Killing. The rain continued all night, much to the lads' annoyance. 

Monday got off to a sunny start. The lads & I took advantage by taking a walk around the garden before I went back indoors for my Wii Fit workout. I'd just finished wrapping the weekend eBay sales when Jon came downstairs and we had breakfast. He did the post office drop-off, popped to B&Q for some specialist screws and called round at Tony's for a coffee and a catch-up. 

I dug up our French Breakfast radishes and replaced them in the raised bed with the courgette plants we'd bought at the weekend. I'd just finished weeding the border next to the greenhouse when the heavens opened and I had to dash inside. As the rain showed no sign of stopping I had a rare culinary moment.

Pickled Radishes

• Around 30 radishes
• 2 cups of white wine vinegar
• 1 cup of water
• 6 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 10 black peppercorns
• Sprigs of rosemary
• 3 garlic cloves

Simmer vinegar, water, salt and sugar until the sugar has dissolved

Thinly slice radishes and pack into a freshly washed jar with the herbs and spices.

Pour vinegar mixture into a jar, leaving 1cm at the top. Gently tap the jar against the work surface to remove any air bubbles before putting on the lid

Leave to cool before putting it in the fridge.

Consume within 10 days.

Jon arrived back bearing gifts, a Swiss Cheese plant he'd liberated from B&Q's clearance shelf. After immersing it in the utility room sink we had noodles and when the rain finally stopped I repotted it outside. I needed to post a parcel and walked around the corner to the priority postbox. The avenue is in chaos as Severn Trent are renewing the water pipes, we've been advised that there'll be no running water from 8am -2pm on Friday. It'll be like being back at a festival! 

The 22nd - 31st May marks the UK's annual Every Flower Counts survey, organised by Plantlife, the environmental conservation group behind #No Mow May. Participants have to stake out a square metre of their unmown lawn and record the number of native wildflowers and any pollinators they see. While Jon sorted out Gilbert's wing mirrors, I counted and recorded my sightings and submitted them online. You can join in HERE.

I wore the copper pendant I'd found in the charity shop on Sunday morning, combined with a vintage Rae Dolls of San Francisco embroidered kaftan and my fake snake boots. Just as we'd taken this sunny snap it started to rain again!

I thought I'd crack on with some more ancestry, coming across another interesting character, Thomas Brocas (1756 - 1818),  the father-in-law of my 4x great aunt Susannah. Thomas was a part-time Methodist preacher who worked as a gardener at the Sansaw Estate in Shropshire from 1773 to 1776 where it seems he was often in trouble for neglecting the grounds. 

The Sansaw Estate, Shropshire

He left to work for a Mr Wingfield at Whitehall and to begin with his employment went well but the Wingfields fired him in 1789 as he was overly involved in preaching and did not properly tend to the gardens. 

Whitehall, Shropshire

After this, he continued with his preaching but gave up gardening, becoming a cheesemonger in Shrewsbury which he combined with selling continental porcelain and ceramics from the Staffordshire potteries to the local aristocracy and gentry. Thomas was a celebrated diarist and several of his journals are available to view in The National Archives. 

Thomas Brocas (1756 - 1818)

The second volume of his journal describes his journeys to Liverpool, Market Drayton, Manchester and Chester to buy and sell "forign china". In 1811 Thomas went to London, where he bought "£400 pound worth" of porcelain. His fashionable London-bought goods proved popular in Shrewsbury. One "forign" service sold to a Francis Darby of Coalbrookdale for £300, making Thomas a profit of £100, a fortune back in Georgian England. The Brocas family resided at Copthorne House, which was knocked down in the 1960s and absorbed into the grounds of Shrewsbury Hospital. 

Tea was a kale and mushroom Higgidy pie (that's the brand name) for me and a steak & mushroom one for Jon, he served with parsnips, peas, carrots and a couple of Yorkshire puds. Later we'll be watching The Killing and The Great British Photography Challenge with Rankin.

See you soon!