Reflecting on my week #138

I always knew this week was going to be a big and busy week at work, and so it’s Wednesday already and I’m only just writing this post. We had a couple of much needed days off at the end of last week and the two days couldn’t have been more different. Thursday was a slow day, a day for life admin and sitting in the sun on sun beds with an ice cream. Sometimes that’s just what’s needed isn’t it?

I had a second hair cut wearing a mask - it’s still weird, and I still find myself fascinated by breathing the material in and out. It’s daft but I become obsessed by it, so it was just as well that this visit was just a trim rather than the full blown colour.

Then the next day we headed over to the National Trust’s Chartwell for a wander - and a blow - around the gardens there. The house wasn’t open and it was our first visit there. It’s a lovely garden, full of picturesque vistas and the best walled garden. We followed the one way system around the garden but like many other visitors we adapted the route through the vegetable garden. I’m not sure anyone just wanted to walk through the central path and out onto the next part of the garden, so I think that will need some reconsidering.

We explored as much of the garden and woodland as we could, though I’m not sure that I was quite ready to find an acorn.

It’s been a while since we’ve done any proper gardening and we put that right too. We’ve a corner at the back of our garden which has become more overgrown than we’d like. A vine has popped over from next door and firmly lodged itself in our cherry tree. It’s clearly happy as we picked a few grapes, and there’s plenty more still to be picked. MOH, who pretty much eats anything tried them, and declared them passable. I tried them and the verdict is pips. The pip to grape ratio is high, and too high for me, so most are now in the bird feeders!

The good news though, is there’s only two working days left this week already!

Reflecting on my week #137

This past week has felt the most normal for a while, with normal things happening including having family over, going out, twice, and a house move in the family - we’ve yet to visit, but have an open invite so hope to pop up soon. Work has been as busy as usual, but that’s the reality right now. It felt normal to have family over, for them to stay overnight, but was less normal is the amount of cleaning we needed to do beforehand. Being in the house pretty much full time since the middle of March has seemed to attract more dust and insects than it normally would. Don’t get me wrong, we have cleaned in all that time, but when you have people staying, family or otherwise, you find time to give everything a bit more of going over.

This week though that time was straight after a night out. Not a big night out, but a soft opening for one of the local bars. Of course after a week of nice weather and threatened storms, the rain arrived to coincide with our booking for an outdoor table. We left home almost dressed for winter, though the new waterproof I bought during lockdown came in handy. By the time we got even part-way there we were wetter than we wanted to be, so waited for a bus. Another first.

Actually some habits don’t change, we only waited as the board said it was only 2 minutes away. When it did arrive, with masks on, we got on tentatively. There was plenty of space, and with a capacity of 11 people for a single decker bus, it’s hard to see how this will work when more people are back at work. Luckily our outdoor reservation was moved inside, and we really tested the system, by arriving later than we should have done.

After a gin and tonic or several it was time for food, so as it’s been a while we headed over to Franco Manca. The virtual queue was also the track and trace requirement and worked really smoothly, there were less tables in the restaurant and we sat in a completely different part of the restaurant than before. In fact I’d never even noticed the tiles before, and now that I have, i can’t imagine why ever not.

We’ve had another visit from the dragonfly, though this time it came no further than the conservatory. MOH spent time on and off trying to shoo it out, which was most entertaining for me, less so for the dragonfly. Both it and MOH needed to rest at times, due to the heat I’m sure. While it was nice to have lunch, breakfast and dinner outside, it has been a tad on the warm side, so the cooler temperatures and rain were are almost welcome, just for a bit.

Then on Sunday it was nice to pick up my crochet again, it’s been a while. And of course, now I’m out of the mini skeins, so I’m waiting for the next delivery, which should arrive soon.

The colours this month have been blues and lilacs, which are colours I wouldn’t naturally go for, but they’ve grown on me. Yet again I’m curious to find out where the colour-way is taking me next.

I’m also wondering if I’ve been over-brave in going for a multi-coloured wearable… Only time will tell.

Reflecting on my week #136

Wednesday again, and I’m only just getting my thoughts together for this post, it seems that time is still something eaten by this pandemic. But the past week has seen even more what used to be normal activities take place, including a weekend visit to Norfolk to see my parents, a day out of the house and getting into the habit of baking bread again.

The latter never seems to hang around for long though!

We had a random midweek day off, and managed to time it to coincide with some lovely blue skies, and feeling the need to do something, we headed out for a walk along the Thames Path. We used to cycle that way pretty regularly and I was interested to see how it had changed, especially the section closest to the Thames Barrier.

As we were on foot, that’s where we planned to start so took a more direct route there. MOH still cycles this way occasionally and shared information about a new walkway, which is where some of the pictures of the pigeon cruise were taken from.

But to get there we walked through an old industrial area, which looked stunning in the sun. I’m under no illusion that it would have looked a lot less ‘Cuba-esque’ on a more dreary day.

It’s about to be redeveloped, and has the real potential to become a thriving community, adding to the arts centres and local businesses located close by. I hope it doesn’t lose all of its character, though the greenery sprouting from the building probably won’t survive.

We forget don’t we, what we have on our doorsteps - It was good to remind myself of views like this as we walked towards Greenwich. I have plenty more photos, so expect a couple more posts yet.

We stopped for lunch in the pub, our first visit since they reopened here. Sitting outside, enjoying the view and a pint it was almost believable that life was normal. Though there were new ways of operating - everything ordered through an app, not going to the bar etc. - which weren’t immediately clear or obvious, but we got there. By the time we arrived home, we’d clocked up over 22,000 steps and was a little pinker from the sun than we’d have liked. Neither of us were up for much active gardening, and so spent the late afternoon with our feet up and enjoying the weather.

We headed to Norfolk at the weekend to see my parents, our first trip since the middle of March. It was good to see them in person (obviously) and good to have a wander along the front, although it was way busier than anywhere I’d been for a while, which was a little disconcerting. The black clouds were looming though, and I think most people were heading home to stay dry. Not quite so for us, but luckily, as the rain started we were close to a small and pretty much empty cafe, so stopped for an ice cream and sheltering under their cover.

Mum and dad have been on a bit of a clear out mission it seems, going through their loft and finding some absolute treasures, like the masterpiece above. I’ve no recollection of it, but it was assumed to be mine, as my brother commented that he didn’t think he could draw that well now, let alone then. I think we do lose our drawing skills, or maybe it’s our confidence to draw, that we lose?

We left with more than we arrived with, including our first runner bean of the season, which were promptly eaten with pasta the very next evening. I don’t think mine will be far behind either, so that’s good too. They are one vegetable we rarely, if ever, buy and I’m mildly amused to see them in the shops too. They are somewhat of a family tradition, and it won’t be that long before our freezers fill up with sliced beans, just so there’s enough to ‘see us through’ and for Christmas lunch too.

There was more excitement in the greenhouse too when I checked it early on Monday morning - my tomato plants finally have a flower. We might have tomatoes after all…