Lockdown diaries, day fifteen, Friday 13th

Cauliflower and leek soup

Day fifteen, Friday 13^th November 2020

Ooh it is Friday 13^th, in a year that has already thrown in a global pandemic, a six-month drought in work for Adrian and loss in our family. I might not be overly suspicious, but I wasn’t looking forward to today. It seemed to become one of those days when I struggled to commit to anything, and nothing on my ‘to do’ list, that is supposed to help relieve moments of boredom, appealed. I applied my tried and tested method to keep motivated and happy, heading to the kitchen to bake a cake, prepare the dough for a batch of naan breads, plan a veggie curry for dinner and put the finishing touches to a batch of leek and cauliflower soup. I think sometimes we all need to accept that some days are not for achieving the big things, just keeping things ticking over is enough.

 

His and Her haircuts

One job we did manage to tick off was our regular haircuts. Lockdown part one put paid to the short bob that I’d had for years and I now realise being able to tie my hair up is so much more practical for yoga, gardening, cycling and decorating. I might have embraced my longer locks, but I have no desire to become Rapunzel, so whenever I get the clippers out to do Adrian’s hair, he gets the scissors out to trim mine and it’s become one of those special shared moments of domestic bliss.

 

A spot of filling

I can’t believe a week has gone by already since I foresaw a weekend of wallpapering, and yet, no wallpapering has yet happened. Before you think this is due to laziness, I’ll try my best to persuade you it isn’t. This time last week, I’d forgotten the ceilings needed painting and with a landing split into three (not so small) parts, and each part needing two or three coats, this took time. Once Adrian had finished those, and I’d finished clearing up the paint he managed to walk around the rest of the house, his work schedule had changed once more. There is, and never has been, any routine or normal rhythm to his work. Some jobs are pencilled in weeks in advance and then come to nothing, others come in at very short notice and if he wants the work, he drops everything to be available. At least for the moment this doesn’t mean trying to pack, book the next available flight, plus accommodation, and head off for the airport, all within an hour, but it does mean decorating was put on hold and with a couple of busy weeks in the calendar, things will just have to take their time. We did manage a bit more essential preparation this afternoon, but starting the wallpapering, on Friday 13^th, didn’t seem the best of ideas.

 

What did seem like a good idea was a bike ride in the sun and a quick look in the fruit bowl revealed not enough bananas to fuel our addiction this weekend. A return trip to Chef Boutonne, a quick in and out of the supermarket for the few bits we needed, stopping only to chat to some beautiful cream Charolais cattle on the way home, and I felt so much better. I know it’s not quite over yet, but fingers crossed, we may have survived another Friday 13^th.