Chop, chop, chopping!

Day 29, continued...

After getting back with Keith from the vaccination centre, I busied myself with housework and doing little jobs that had irritated me!

Sophie and I went for a walk at lunchtime, up to the village, and we were delighted to see the sun come out. It's forecast to get cold again towards the end of the week and the north saw snow this morning. We're all hoping that Spring is not too far off now!

I had planned on cleaning the conservatory this afternoon, but after I'd spent over an hour preparing the ingredients for dinner, I had run out of energy! We were cooking chicken in a black bean sauce with fried rice, so I decided to prepare everything and then all we needed to do was cook the meal. I chopped up green beans, a carrot, an onion, broccoli and a red pepper to go into the rice dish, as well as baby sweetcorn, mushrooms and mange tout to go with the chicken. I cooked a pan of rice as well, so everything would be easier later on.

The meal turned out to be delicious, and the fried rice was sticky and absorbed the sauce from the chicken dish beautifully. Keith watched Newcastle play in the evening while Sophie and I went upstairs and binge-watched several episodes of A New Life in the Sun!

Keith is vaccinated!

Day 29

Yesterday I was up at 5.30am, but this morning it was a much more reasonable 7.30am when I opened my eyes!

Keith had a very important appointment today - his Covid jab! He was due at 9.50am so I drove him there and waited in the car.

I actually felt very emotional watching everybody go into the building to get their vaccine. Obviously, most of the people were older, and probably over 70 years of age, and it just felt great to see them going to be protected against this horrible virus. At the same time, though, I did feel like we were in some kind of nightmarish world where huge vaccination centres have been set up to protect the population. A year ago we would never have believed what would happen.

Keith emerged barely ten minutes after his allotted time and said the whole process had been great - very smooth, efficient and professional. He received a leaflet and will have to return in 12 weeks for his second dose. He has been given the Astra Zeneca vaccine:

We returned home to have breakfast and coffee in the conservatory with Sophie, who was delighted that her Dad had received the vaccine. Let's just hope the remaining three of us will have ours soon!

Musings on lockdown...

Day 28

Keith went shopping very early this morning and stocked up our fridge and cupboards until he goes again on Thursday. I made sausage sandwiches for breakfast - not my ideal choice but we had to use them by today, and I was determined not to throw them out. We are trying not to dispose of leftovers at the moment, especially when we contribute to the local food bank every two weeks!

The sausage sandwich sat heavily in my stomach and I decided that I really do prefer the veggie ones we buy instead! I felt queasy all morning and in the end, added a spoonful of ground ginger to a cup of boiling water in an effort to feel better. It worked!

I have to confess I haven't done much today, which makes me feel a bit guilty. This lockdown seems so much harder than the two previous ones, and it could be down to the weather and not being able to spend a lot of time outdoors. It seems that the less I do, the less I want to do and tomorrow I'm going to try and motivate myself to give the conservatory a good clean! All I seem to do these days is drift between the computer in the study and the dining table in the conservatory, and endlessly fill and empty the dishwasher, washing machine and tumble dryer! When I do resume work again, I feel it's going to be very difficult, especially if we're called in every day!

The news this evening was full of the South African variant that has been found in certain parts of the UK. Residents in these areas have been told they must stay at home, and also get a test, even if they have no symptoms. It raises the worrying question about whether the variant will be resistant to the vaccine?

In the evening we had leftovers from the weekend meals for dinner, so that made me feel better! Mike has been furloughed for another week, which pleased him greatly!

Bending the rules slightly...

Day 27

I had told the members of my recycling group that I would be going to Milton Keynes today with the pet food pouches and coffee pods, as they were threatening to overwhelm my garage. I knew that the others had bags of stuff for me to take as well, so they were delighted. 

They all dropped their hoard off to me and I spent an hour and a half this morning sorting it all out. The recycling filled my boot and the two back seats of my car, and I estimated it must be three months since I've been.

To be honest, my car needed a good run and it was great to have somewhere to go. OK, not strictly essential, but the bags were stacking up and causing problems for us all. Sophie and I called into McDonald's first for a sneaky drive-thru lunch, and we weren't impressed as our fries were cold!

The journey to Milton Keynes was smooth and trouble-free, and before long we were offloading all the bags and boxes at George's house. His crate was already full so we stacked all of our stuff behind. I believe he has now raised in excess of £40,000!

We made our way home via the scenic route, through Newport Pagnell and Weston Underwood, which is a gorgeous village near Olney. We were astonished at the amount of flooding on the farmland that adjoins the River Great Ouse. It looked more like lakes than fields!

Our favourite little cafe in Olney was shuttered up, all the shops closed and the pubs dark. What a terrible shame. We decided to try Castle Ashby, though, and see if we could get a takeaway from The Buttery but when we arrived it was closed. There were several cars parked, though, and the Deli was doing a roaring trade in coffees, teas and hot chocolate. I also bought some biscuits and we sat in the car with a hot chocolate and enjoyed a Viennese Whirl with our drink. Well, it's better than nothing!

Leaving Castle Ashby we drove down towards Earls Barton, but when we came to a narrow one-lane bridge crossing, it was badly flooded. Cars were coming the other way but I didn't want to risk it so we turned around. All the fields were flooded and like Olney, they looked more like lakes! This time our own River Nene was to blame for the floodwater! And to think they have forecast more rain next week!

Before going home we called to see Mum from the window and had a chat on the phone. Another resident, on the ground floor, saw us and kept waving at us to come in. I only wish we could...

Back home it was time to relax for a short while before I started preparations for dinner. We were cooking a meatloaf from one of The Hairy Bikers' recipes, and I chopped veggies and mixed together pork and beef mince along with sausage meat, breadcrumbs, Worcestershire sauce and ketchup. I did as much as I could before relaxing with a G&T!

Sophie had been chatting to her friends Laura and Daisy and helped me put the finishing touches to the dish. It smelt delicious while it was cooking, and we had a lovely meal, with the meatloaf accompanied by mashed potatoes and bubble and squeak. Definitely one to try again!

A socially distanced meet!

Day 26

We had a weather warning out for snow today, and although we had a few light showers first thing, it never really amounted to much. I was glad because Sophie had arranged to meet her boyfriend at Brixworth Country Park to exchange their Christmas presents. He was travelling down from Birmingham, where he was collecting a car for his uncle, so it was the ideal time to meet up. They were planning on going for a walk - not ideal considering the weather conditions, which became worse as the day wore on!

I spent a good part of the morning preparing our dinner of Coq au Vin, and Sophie helped with the vegetables. As we were busy, we recorded Saturday Morning Kitchen to savour at a later date. 

At midday, Sophie set off laden with presents, and outside it was bitterly cold and raining. A truly horrible day! Keith and I stayed in the warm inside and it was the best place to be! We pottered about and didn't do a lot, and when Sophie returned she was a bit sad that she hadn't been able to meet Zain properly. No contact and a socially distanced walk on a winter's day is not her idea of fun! However, she said it was good to meet up after so long and exchange their pressies. One of them was a jigsaw he'd had made from a photo we took in Mallorca, and it looked great!

She also received lots of other gifts, including trainers, new headphones and bedding, so she was extremely pleased. When it was a decent time, we enjoyed a Martini and put the jigsaw together, and it was strange seeing our faces appear! We then played Scrabble and cards while the dinner cooked, and it smelt delicious. Tonight, unusually for us, we substituted dumplings for potatoes, and the suet really added to the flavour of the dish. We'll certainly do that again, and it was perfect for such a cold and miserable day.

After we'd eaten we watched the second Jason Bourne film, and poor Keith had to explain the plot to us girls! Once we realised what was going on, it all became clear!

A quiet end to the week!

Day 25

I woke up very late this morning - 9am! I must have needed the sleep!

Keith and I went to get the newspaper first thing and it was a beautiful morning - sunny, dry and mild. When we returned home the postman called, and Keith had a letter from the NHS to say he could book his vaccination, which was brilliant news! We managed to book a slot on Tuesday and then another 12 weeks later, so we were all very pleased!

Our walk to get the newspaper was our only outing of the day; we have stayed in the house and pottered about, so again, very little to report! 

The weather stayed sunny and dry until the afternoon when it clouded over. To be honest, it was lovely to potter about, and I caught up with my work colleagues on WhatsApp, so that was good. Some of our leisure centres are going to be used as Covid testing sites and there was talk of the staff being on hand to help, so we'll see. I think we are all fully resigned to being off work for the whole of February and maybe into March. I still find it hard to believe...

As 6pm approached, Sophie and I cracked open a beautiful bottle of Australian red wine that Mike had bought me for my birthday. We watched a couple of episodes of A New Life in the Sun and sympathised with the Brits who had started new businesses at the beginning of the pandemic.

Dinner tonight was a delicious savoury beef crumble. It made a change from cottage pie, and went down very well with the wine!

It's no joke!

Day 24

Keith went shopping very early this morning and was back by 9.30am. It has been a mostly uneventful day with little to report, other than a walk around the estate at lunchtime to drop off some recycling to a neighbour and to collect our daily newspaper. I busied myself with housework throughout the morning and took down all the glasses we keep on top of the kitchen cupboards to give them a good wash. One thing is for certain, they won't be going back up again when we have the kitchen refurbished!

The weather has been grey and dull with very heavy rain in the evening, so we have more flood warnings in place, and weather warnings for snow over the next few days. 

Keith wanted to watch the football this evening so Sophie and I (with Monty-cat) went upstairs to watch a film. We were both in the mood for a rom-com but ended up watching Joker instead, which was a bit disturbing! Joaquin Phoenix looked painfully thin in the film - apparently, he lost 52 pounds!