More research

Compared to the sloth of yesterday, today was much more productive. I gave the downstairs of the house a thorough clean and cleared more dead flies and spiders from the conservatory. It was a beautiful day, but the wind was still cold and quite strong.

As well as the housework, we also did lots of laundry and opened the windows to get fresh air into the house. At 1.30pm, I drove Sophie to Moulton, where she bought flowers, chocolates and wine before going to her friend Daisy's house for a "sip and paint". I returned home, made myself cheese on toast for lunch and prepared the crumble topping for tonight's meal.

I did more research on my family tree in the afternoon and discovered that my sixth Great-Grandparents were married in the village of Plaxtol in Kent. I had a look at the village, and saw that there was a pub there, called The Papermaker's Arms, which looked lovely. Nearby was the 14th-century Ightham Mote, so that might be worth a day out in the future! Lots of my relatives are descended from this area of Kent, so it might make for an interesting day.

I had arranged with Sophie to pick her up at 6pm, and when we got home, I opened a bottle of Cotes du Rhone red (15%!) and we sat in the kitchen and chatted. The wine was delicious and was the same one, albeit a different vintage, as the wine we'd bought in Carpentras a couple of years ago, when we couldn't find anywhere to eat. She had brought back paints with her and some paper, so I might do a little landscape!

We drank the 2024 vintage

We ate a little later tonight and enjoyed another episode of Gone Fishing, which was both hilarious and touching at the same time. No staying up until midnight tonight, though! It's back to work tomorrow!