This week I have decided that furlough is training for
retirement. I get paid a monthly income for a job I haven’t done, I am spending
a lot of time in my pyjamas pottering around the garden, and I am spending a
lot of time at the allotment or binge watching TV series. I have also done a
jigsaw, and am part way through making a huge blanket.
Week eight has been a bit more exciting as I got paid again
this week and completely blew my shopping budget for the whole month in one
day. I spent £150 in Wilkos and that was before I did the grocery shopping (not
at M&S). We decided to invest in some proper blackout curtains instead of
hanging two blankets over the current curtains. They weren’t cheap but they are
so effective, and a lot easier to open and close because we don’t have to hang
and clip blankets up now.
I still haven’t had a concrete update of when I am due back
to work but I suspect it will be closer to the end of June as per the last
email I had. So I might have another four weeks off.
Homelife
I have finished my first 1000 piece jigsaw! It is a
geological map of the UK and Ireland and came from the BGS shop. I did it in a
week or so but had a couple of days off as the sea was infuriating. I now need
to break it all up and put it away ready to start my next 1000 piece jigsaw,
which is also a geological map of the UK, but from 1820.
I have started sewing together the granny square blanket and
now have four rows sewn together. I have three rows in front of me waiting for
their turn to be attached square by square, and then I’ll sew them together
before adding them to the previous four rows. There are 14 rows in total so I
still have some way to go!
Garden
The garden is starting to bloom – there are lots of geum
flowers out and also a type of hebe. We now have three huge clematis flowers
open. The sunflowers are getting taller and need tying in every few days and
the peas are clambering away up the fence. The strawberries I planted in the
new hanging baskets are starting to put out fresh leaves already, and the ox
eye daisies I transplanted from the allotment are starting to open. The first
pea flower is on the way, some strawberries that I transplanted earlier this
year are setting fruit, and the courgette is getting huge.
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| Pea flower |
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| Strawbs |
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| Sweet peas |
The planters out the front have got their first carrot
seedlings poking up, and I have also added some gladioli bulbs into one of the
planters. Some of the cupid sweet peas are starting to come into bud. The roses
by the front door are starting to bloom despite my hacking the other week, and
the hanging basket is looking gert lush.
We have had the back doors flung wide open this week as it
has been so warm. The downside of this is that all the local seeds from the
trees are now in our house. We also have a local song thrush who likes to shout
all day, starting at around 4am and ending about 10:30pm. When the evenings are
quiet all you can hear is the river over the back, and the flippin’ song
thrush.
The hollyhocks I bought from Poundland are also showing signs of life:
I tend to do all my gardening between 9am and midday as it gets far too hot for me after that.
Windowsill Gardening
The courgettes and butternut squash seedlings are now in the
back garden to grow bigger. The only thing left on the windowsill is the tray of
aubergine seedlings. I need to get more compost so I can prick them out into
bigger pots.
Another of my aloes is having a baby! So now I have two aloe pups to seperate - when I get more compost.
Allotment
The allotment is looking good – I have started working on
filling the new beds this week. I have taken lots of plants from home to plant
out. I moved sweetcorn, courgette, loofah, sunflowers, tomatoes, butternut
squash and pumpkin. The potatoes have bounced back from being so badly frosted
and are looking really healthy now. I have been spending time hiding from the sun in my shed as I get sunburn and sunstroke quite easily.
My hayfever has been a right hoot this week and I have
requested some higher dose medication from the doctors. The doctor suggested I try
doing a nasal douche by snorting a mix of salt water and bicarb to cleanse my
nose of pollen. I think I’ll continue with making a lot of snot and will stick to my own method of smearing my face in vaseline for the rest of the year.
Some pics from the week:
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| Where does everyone keep their cheesecake? |
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| The first solitary bee that I have seen in our new garden |
