12th April

Sunday - I think it was a month ago that Mum came for lunch for Mother's Day and then we went into real lockdown.  It seems as though we have another three weeks at least to go before things relax and only then if people adhere to the rules.

We decided to mark today with a traditional roast and John is taking care of the roasting of the pork joint.  I was on veg duties and we got everything prepped before we spent the day in the garden.

We have a new neighbour - a horse has been tethered in the field nextdoor (sorry about the quality of the photograph taken on John's phone).  It looks like she might be pregnant and we are wondering if she belongs to Andreas.  She looks to be in very good condition and she will be in full view for Andreas as his house is behind.

The change in the weather means that we are keen to the house into its 'summer' mode and so both the bedrooms got a good bottoming and the guest bedroom would be ready for guests if and when we get any.  Clean bedrooms deserve to smell super nice so the fancy candle in the guest room and my lovely little Jo Malone (courtesy of my lovely Mother in Law Janet for my 60th) got lit but only long enough for them to impart the rooms with their perfume.

I took up as many rugs as I can manage to wash myself and the others got hoovered to within an inch of their lives ready for John to roll up and pack away for another season.  I am easily distracted when I go outside as the flowers are so beautiful at the moment, it makes lockdown so much easier having the garden to take our minds off of things.

The conservatory is now just about in summer mode with all the rugs taken up and the floor cleaned.

We are contemplating taking down the heavy curtains but leave the voiles just in case at some point 3B are over because there is a small section where, if they were looking out of one of their upstairs windows, they could see us.

It feels lovely to know that everything is clean and tidy.  I love the house in the winter when it is cosy and full of soft furnishings but equally it is fabulous to have all the doors flung open and the sun streaming in and everything pared down.

We were pretty knackered when we started on the final prep for our roast dinner.  John had got the joint in and was studiously following instructions to get his crackling crackled to perfection and it looked as though he had got it absolutely right.

Roast Pork with Yorkies and Roasties is probably John's absolute favourite so he was super happy when his joint emerged from the oven with super crispy crackling and the meat inside pink and tender.

We had crispy roast potatoes, carrots and peas, Yorkshire Puddings and an apple and ginger compote and apple cider gravy to complete the ensemble.

It was a lovely meal and we really enjoyed it.  The remainder of the pork will be served up with spicy noodles for our supper tomorrow.

The day (Easter Sunday in the UK) was rounded off with a pretty good film chosen by John.  I have actually persuaded him not to make me sit though The Irishman and after reading reviews he agreed so instead it was another of his choices The Gentlemen which was a really good Guy Ritchie movie - sort of Snatch meets Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.

The Ration Book extract...
All the freshly dug earth in gardens, parks and playing fields which had never been cultivated before needed a lot of manure to enrich it.  Luckily there was a ready supply brought almost to your doorstep every day and it was completely free!!!  In the war years most of the tradesmen's carts were drawn by horses and the youngsters would be sent out into the streets with shovels to scoop up what they left behind.