How Friday nights have changed. I spent mine ordering a bag of Perlite, watching Wild Wild Country on Netflix and drinking a bottle of Cremant. Weather has been somewhat pants so no garden progress this week, I tried to see if there was anything stuck under the ride on mower with the new ramp but nothing is apparent. The belt is hidden under some housing which I’m going to have to remove to see if there’s anything stuck under there, but that felt like a job for another day, preferably when the sun comes out. I cleaned some dried grass out of the petrol mowers air filter and I think that’s running a bit better, but ultimately we’re still using last years petrol, so should probably resolve that.

We’ve had a lovely lazy weekend of listening to the radio in front of a lit fire and reading bits and pieces, which I’ve really enjoyed. My Dahlia nursery in next doors living room has sprung to life more and more over the last few days, but had to cover the newly sown potatoes and onions due to frost. My windowsills are groaning under the weight of a thousand seedlings, but I still feel like I have loads more to do, but there is just nowhere to put it all. What I do need to do is tie all of the taller lankier plants to their green sticks, but bring on frost free nights so we can get this party started please. I have about 9 cucumber plants which is about 8 too many. Good job I love greek salad and tzatziki really isn’t it, my dill is coming along really well under the grow lamps too so cannot wait for flat breads and hummus alongside bbqs in the summer.

I can report that the indoor mouse has not been sighted since wire-wool chopstick defences were employed. However this morning I saw Freya standing over something in the garden. I went to have a look and she was jubilantly licking a small dead rat, which I think was actually despatched by the killing machine that is Barney Puscattenpants. As usual, I picked it up with a dog poo bag (it was still warm…) and laid it out on the Valhalla dead offering wall (behind the post box) for a bird of prey to come and deal with. That is the biggest thing the murderers have dealt with thus far, I’m actually quite impressed, thankful even, that they are keeping the rodent population down. Figs has just sashayed into the kitchen for some snacks after being asleep upstairs since 9.30am – it’s now nearly 4! I am going to retrieve the litter tray from the barn and see if they want to stay inside overnight tonight, as increasingly in the evening they had just been laying in front of the fire and going to sleep, and we feel terrible kicking them out at 11.00pm to go to bed. It feels like a big step, but they have been spending more and more time around us of late, and heaven knows I never thought I’d become so attached to cats!

I’ve broken my self imposed no clothes shopping at all this year rule as well. I’m not proud of myself.

It started innocently enough with some headbands from Gisella Graham. Accessories, I told myself, don’t count. It seems that accessories are a gateway drug….Then I started looking for a new swimming costume and sun hat – some sort of pool will be going up outside again, we got so much pleasure from it last year. Nothing flash, just big enough for me to float about in, on some sort of inflatable flamingo. French website, with sizing in centimetres, and fetching a tape measure seemed like effort. I shall re-visit this later, but fab vintage clothes site – hurrah!

As Simon Bates used to say on Radio 1’s Our Tune, “…and thaaat’s when it happened…..” I fell down a rabbit hole on Shein, and there were discount codes and I think I blacked out after that. I only wanted some of those cute trainer socks with the little heart on the back. It spiralled into a dress, 2 tops, a floral bomber jacket, and fluffy hoody complete with bear ears. Don’t judge me – yes I’m 46 in August, and I’ll still be wearing whatever the hell I want.

We’ll also gloss over the new pair of white Converse……

Next I’m browsing coffee beans as we’ve finally become those bean to cup bastards we’ve always despised/aspired to be. Our Nespresso is in less than the first flush of youth, so plan to retire it into the gite, and no more buying coffee pods, really environmentally pants (although we’d been using the biodegradable ones for just the cost of a small kidney) . The new Krups space age machine is now ordered and we’re very excited. In all this Covid weirdness, we shouldn’t underestimate the power of a bit of lippy and a pretty frock, even if no-one will see it. A really good coffee to go with it – well why not! Cheaper than therapy right?

Laters……. V x