Lockdown - still getting those jobs done

How is life treating you?  Sick of lockdown?  Sticking to the rules?

We finished the laundry room last week and we are really happy with it.  The room seems so much bigger with the units in place and the run of worktop makes sorting the laundry so much easier.  No one chucking it on the floor. The whole job cost £117 which was for the worktop and the extension hose for the washing machine.  The units were painted with a tin of Ronseal garden paint I had bought last year then decided it was wrong for that particular job.  The blind was from one of the bedrooms and I tarted it up with a string of pompom bunting which I simply glue gunned on.  I pains takingly scrubbed the life back into the floor tiles, whilst not brilliant they are more than suitable for what is a room off the back of the garage. All the other paint was left over from when the house was redecorated, so it turned out to be a very thrifty makeover.

We have been busy keeping on top of the garden and it is looking lovely right now, May is one of the best months in the garden. We found a newly opened nursery only 10 minutes drive away and I have found myself there on the last four Sundays, I went today and met with our youngest daughter, for bedding plants for my wall pots now that we have an irrigation system in place and I could have gone crazy, so many lovely plants but to be honest I really don't have too much more space for them.  Once some of the early perennials have gone over I'll have a better idea.

We are hoping that we may get back to France soon as the borders are reopening, though we will need to quarantine at both sides unless Boris changes his mind.  This tit for tat quarantining is helping no one.  I do worry that this virus is here to stay for some time and just what life is going to be like in the near future.

I/we (not all) have been knitting, baking, cooking, walking and reading.  

My first proper loaf of bread, which turned out pretty well

Oven baked Chorizo scotch eggs

Asparagus ends soup - saved wasting them and it turned out well

Pretend 'pub visit' after a 6 mile walk

I finished my cardigan, but still awaiting the delivery of buttons.  I mean does it really take over a week to put 8 buttons in an envelope? I have started making the next 20 hot water bottles, I have 5 completed so far but not taken any photos

I met up with my friend Manda on Tuesday for a socially distancing catch up, so good to be out and able to sit and have a natter.  Had a WhatsApp video call with Joan, which we have been enjoying since lockdown started. We are looking forward to being able to have a proper visit with the grandchildren, talking over video just isn't the same, for one they don't keep still for 5 minutes.  Life feels a little more like normal, in that there are more people about but with it comes the fear.  In some respects I wish there was a compulsory mask order then you would know that everyone was doing it rather than just a few, and I have a real problem with people who just don't respect space.  I can't see me rushing back to the shops anytime soon, though just to have the choice would be good. I think that's all anyone wants, the choice to make up your own mind about your life.  

And with that I will call it a day.  The sun is shining, my book - The Dutch House - is waiting and it must be nearly gin o'clock.  Take care xx