Sneaking about...

Keith went to Tesco and Aldi this morning and also tried, without luck, to get his hair cut. It's long overdue!

Sophie and I mooched about the house and did very little. Outside it was cold and sunny with the slight threat of snow later in the day. Keith returned from shopping having given up on his haircut, and we helped him unload the bulging bags of shopping.

Sophie and I still needed some ingredients for tomorrow's meal, so we all went to Smith's Farm Shop as they stock a wide range of herbs and spices and Indian flatbreads. However, the place was packed and the queue to get in stretched a long way! We drove back out and headed to Waitrose, but the supermarket was also very busy with queues of people waiting to get in... unbelievable! Who on earth would have thought shopping would still be like this in December?

We gave up, I put some petrol in my Dad's car, and we dropped Keith off at home. We had decided to sneak into Leicestershire and visit Farndon Fields for the ingredients we needed. We just hoped there wouldn't be police patrols on the border!

We took the scenic route to the main Harborough road and then turned off at Great Oxendon to take another narrow single track road. The roads were muddy and wet, but not flooded, thank goodness! Just before Market Harborough, we crossed over into Leicestershire, which like Northamptonshire, is in Tier 3.

I was expecting more queues but there were only a handful of people in front of us, and after a short wait, we were in. We bought some cardamon pods and looked at getting a bag of nuts, but the price was exorbitant. Giving up on the ingredients we needed, we indulged in some treats for lunch - turkey, sage and onion sausage rolls, and breadsticks with a houmous dip. Of course, Sophie also bought a selection of macarons - no visit to Farndon Fields is complete without them!

We headed home with our booty and arrived at the same time as Keith and Mike who had been at work. I had already put the heating on in the conservatory so it was lovely to sit there, eat a late lunch and read the newspaper. 

At 3pm we watched the news and discovered, as we had expected, that Northamptonshire will be in Tier 4 from midnight tonight. This means that I will be off work again as all leisure centres and gyms will close. The number of deaths yesterday was alarming - 981 - the same as at the peak in April. This number could have had something to do with a delay in reporting over Christmas, but it's obvious that something needs to be done. On a good note, another vaccine has been approved but it will take a few months for people to be given the dose.

Sophie and I went for a walk down to the village and as the time neared 4pm we were treated to a beautiful sunset.

The photos don't really capture the amazing range of colours in the sky - pinks, peaches, blues, greys and oranges. In the distance, it looked misty and I could have leaned on the field gate and just watched for ages!

All photos courtesy of Sophie

As the sun sank below the horizon, it became a lot colder, so we hurried home and enjoyed a hot chocolate with spiced rum. Delicious! The news was full of information about the new Tiers so I watched a lovely programme called Reindeer Family and Me. It was pure and wonderful escapism from our current troubles!