The Distancing Diaries - 4th & 5th July, 2021

 It's coming home, it's coming home, football's coming home...I woke up still singing it on Sunday after Saturday evening's magnificent game. Although we'd not gone mad with the drinking it was 8.15am when I went downstairs to make tea and we only managed thirty minutes of reading in bed before The Andrew Marr Show started, which we watched at the kitchen table with a slice of toast and a mug of coffee. I painted my nails in Barry M's Beach Club.

Although it was warm we'd been told to expect the average month's rainfall within the next 24 hours. We had to wait for a particularly heavy shower to pass before heading down to the clearance charity shop for what has become our Sunday tradition. Despite only visiting the shop on Friday, we still managed to come back with a few finds. The shop has a target of a thousand items of fresh stock to go out every day so there's always something different to look at and donations are always gratefully received - this week we handed over a set of six 1970s Hock wine glasses, some cushion covers, three shirts from Jon's wardrobe and a book.

 

For the stockroom: a handmade 1970s wrap over skirt; a vintage embroidered cotton kimono; a 1980s Peter Storm waterproof jacket; a 1960s-inspired jacket and a screen-printed scarf, no doubt a souvenir from Greece. I couldn't leave this pretty Broderie-Anglaise off-the-shoulder top behind, I was inexplicably drawn to the carved oak acorns and neither of us needs an excuse to buy a book. I'm looking forward to reading Two Under The Indian Sun, the author Rumer "Black Narcissus" Godden & her brother Jon's memoirs of a childhood spent in East Bengal from 1914 - 1919. Look at Our House, they weren't short of a bob or two, were they?

After popping to Wilkos we drove back, inspected our finds, ate our lunchtime noodles and then set off to Liz & Adrian's to deliver her belated birthday present. The rain was biblical, the water was up to my ankles in the avenue, the town centre roads had become rivers and several houses and businesses were flooded. After an hour drinking tea and catching up we drove back in glorious sunshine with barely a puddle in sight. Madness!

It was the first outing for my vintage Phool midi skirt and, after holding it up against my rail of tops, this Indian cotton gauze blouse seemed like a perfect match. 

WEARING: Vintage Indian gauze blouse, 1970s Phool midi skirt, Lotta from Stockholm clogs (all eBay), vintage sunglasses and Indian silk screen printed headscarf (charity shop finds)

After I'd photographed my finds I threw them in the washing machine and hung them up to dry in the utility room and then emptied the contents of our spice jars into the new stainless steel canisters, scrubbing the old ones out ready to redonate to the charity shop next week.

Between showers, we nipped into the garden, Jon pinned the Lavatera to the wall and I staked a couple of sunflowers that had grown too big for their canes.  

There's a lot of pink and lilac in the garden at the moment. Isn't it wonderful how the colour palette changes on an almost weekly basis? The Bear's Britches are slowly making an appearance and I'm madly in love with this Fuschia's colour combo. 

Tea was halloumi with roasted veg and lashings of Henderson's Relish. Channel 4's catch-up was working so we watched the final couple of episodes of The Pleasure Principle. I had an early night, leaving Jon to a YouTube tutorial about sparkplugs and finished my book in bed. 

Monday got off to another damp start to the day, it had rained heavily throughout the night and my morning inspection of the garden revealed broken lupins, delphiniums and flattened sweet peas and also some rather juicy strawberries and redcurrants. After my Wii Fit workout, I wrapped my eBay parcels, sprayed oven cleaner inside the old cooker and caught up with blogland whilst it worked its magic. I'd just finished scrubbing when Jon came downstairs.

After breakfast, Jon did the post office & supermarket run followed by his weekly coffee & a catch-up round at Tony's. I soaked the oven shelves in the bath and spent a sweaty hour scrubbing them until they shone. The morning's drizzle had given way to sunshine so I went outside, pulled up the bindweed, secured the sweetpeas and cut down the casualties from yesterday's rain. When Jon got back I took a break for a bowl of noodles.

I managed some time on the lawn with my latest read before it clouded over and work resumed. Following Adam's suggested jobs for the weekend on Gardeners' World, I cut back the hardy geraniums and then gave the buddleias in the border a haircut as well as the ash tree growing beside the pond.

Jon's proudest achievement this year is his Elephant Ears (taro) which he's grown from bulbs. He's also very excited about leaves appearing on this giant butterbar (petasites japonicus), also grown from bulbs.

These monsoon-like conditions have turned the lawn into a veritable fungi-fest.

My drumstick alliums are turning more purple by the day, the agapanthus is slowly unfurling and the Black Velvet nasturtiums I grew from seed are gradually blooming, not as black as anticipated but gorgeous nevertheless.

Whilst the weather's pretty unpredictable, the temperatures aren't too bad and I'm happily pottering about barefoot and in a crochet crop top although I'm excited about the imminent arrival of my new gardening Crocs. 

WEARING: Block-print, organic cotton wraparound skirt (Cottage Cottage, India), crochet top (roadside stall, Goa), 1970s Indian silk screen-print scarf by Saks (charity shop)

Tea was a Greek-inspired feast with Gigantes Plaki, Feta cheese and a roasted red onion flatbread whilst watching BoJo's press conference. Apparently, on the 19th July, we English can chuck away our facemasks, forget about social distancing, return to the workplace, go clubbing, attend gigs & sporting events and meet up in groups of limitless size. Is it all a bit too soon and rather reckless or have I just turned into a scaredy-cat over the last 16 months? Only time will tell.

The Euros resume tomorrow night with Spain vs Italy, so with no football on the TV, it looks like we'll be rewatching a few more episodes of The Serpent. It's even more terrifying the second time around.

See you soon!