Day 85 - Friday 12th June
There's a lot to do today, starting with tidying up the hall and veranda which have become dumping-grounds for decorating materials. The charity I chair is having a meeting there this morning and I'd like it to look tidy; the hall leads to the downstairs loo we offer to visitors if they need it. The whole house is pretty dusty but I don't think anybody but me notices it. The plumber was due to come this afternoon but just before 10 he messages to say can he come at 10.30 instead. That's when my meeting is, so I have to say no and offer him any time after 12. I was half-expecting this after our daughter mentioned he was fitting her outside tap today, but I was also hoping he'd manage to find time for both. It's not too urgent now that we don't need the heating on, but it would be good to know whether he can do the work or not.
The meeting goes well, and it's lovely to be actually working with people face to face, albeit at a distance. It's almost noon when it finishes, but still no word from the plumber. I message him again, then organise my lunch. Hubby goes out to cut the lawn and I begin the task of waking up our son. I have a sourdough ready to bake with a camembert inset into it - a dish I've enjoyed at one of my favourite restaurants. He wakes quite promptly but says he won't be ready for lunch until about 3pm. I leave the dough on the side to prove a little more. After lunch I make tea and catch up on emails and hubby sets out for Makro - we're short of soft drinks and I add a few items to the list for this weekend's barbeques. He calls with some queries, including whether to get frozen chicken wings to make buffalo wings as they don't have fresh ones. I tell him yes, suggesting that we defrost them as I know we don't have room in the freezer and we'll be cooking them tomorrow. While he's gone I go out to shop for my sick friend. I'm gone about an hour and get back at 3.
The atmosphere is frosty. Hubby is annoyed that the wings won't fit in the freezer (apparently they have to be cooked from frozen) so I suggest he leaves them on the side and I will clear space, but I need to do this without him breathing down my neck. Then he gets the sourdough loaf out of the oven and I realise he has cooked son's lunch - apparently he tried to phone me but it went to voicemail. I assume that he has just cooked the dough and the camembert separately, but then son starts cutting in to the centre of the loaf ... at first I think he's planning to sit the cooked camembert in it but no - he thinks the cheese in inside the loaf. Given the uncooked dough was not as tall as a camembert I have no idea how anybody could have formed that opinion, but given that they couldn't contact me this was apparently the assumption and so the cheese has not been baked. Hubby gets even more annoyed, son gets stressed by the bad atmosphere and I switch to peacekeeping mode.
They disperse and I quickly assemble a halloumi caesar salad for our son, who is most appreciative. Hubby has gone to clean windows, which is a good outcome as they badly needed doing. I clear some space in the freezer for the wings and salvage the butchered loaf - the ends will do for dinner, son snaffles some of the crust and the rest of the centre I carve into chunks to make croutons for a salad. All this has taken a while, so I'm behind with the things I planned to do today, one of which was to re-instate the cooker insurance we cancelled to save money at the start of lockdown - today is the deadline. I'm looking for the number when hubby picks up a call from our daughter, updating me on the plumber who is her neighbour. I get to hear my grandson's voice, which helps my stress to subside. I manage to get through to the insurers, but they have to take instructions from hubby as the account is in his name for some reason - almost nothing else is, and I ask him to tell them to switch it to me so I can take care of it in future. I catch up on a few emails and then write off the rest of today's admin.
Hubby is going to cook himself gammon, egg and chips for dinner. I make aubergine stroganoff for my son and I and start preparing the salads for the weekend, while listening to radio four. I treat myself to a spritzer while I cook. After dinner I prepare some sourdough for tomorrow and we watch the final episode of We Hunt Together and then a QI. Early to bed for me, as I know the weekend will be busy and I want to be up early tomorrow. Tonight I am grateful for being able to meet in person with my colleagues.
The meeting goes well, and it's lovely to be actually working with people face to face, albeit at a distance. It's almost noon when it finishes, but still no word from the plumber. I message him again, then organise my lunch. Hubby goes out to cut the lawn and I begin the task of waking up our son. I have a sourdough ready to bake with a camembert inset into it - a dish I've enjoyed at one of my favourite restaurants. He wakes quite promptly but says he won't be ready for lunch until about 3pm. I leave the dough on the side to prove a little more. After lunch I make tea and catch up on emails and hubby sets out for Makro - we're short of soft drinks and I add a few items to the list for this weekend's barbeques. He calls with some queries, including whether to get frozen chicken wings to make buffalo wings as they don't have fresh ones. I tell him yes, suggesting that we defrost them as I know we don't have room in the freezer and we'll be cooking them tomorrow. While he's gone I go out to shop for my sick friend. I'm gone about an hour and get back at 3.
The atmosphere is frosty. Hubby is annoyed that the wings won't fit in the freezer (apparently they have to be cooked from frozen) so I suggest he leaves them on the side and I will clear space, but I need to do this without him breathing down my neck. Then he gets the sourdough loaf out of the oven and I realise he has cooked son's lunch - apparently he tried to phone me but it went to voicemail. I assume that he has just cooked the dough and the camembert separately, but then son starts cutting in to the centre of the loaf ... at first I think he's planning to sit the cooked camembert in it but no - he thinks the cheese in inside the loaf. Given the uncooked dough was not as tall as a camembert I have no idea how anybody could have formed that opinion, but given that they couldn't contact me this was apparently the assumption and so the cheese has not been baked. Hubby gets even more annoyed, son gets stressed by the bad atmosphere and I switch to peacekeeping mode.
They disperse and I quickly assemble a halloumi caesar salad for our son, who is most appreciative. Hubby has gone to clean windows, which is a good outcome as they badly needed doing. I clear some space in the freezer for the wings and salvage the butchered loaf - the ends will do for dinner, son snaffles some of the crust and the rest of the centre I carve into chunks to make croutons for a salad. All this has taken a while, so I'm behind with the things I planned to do today, one of which was to re-instate the cooker insurance we cancelled to save money at the start of lockdown - today is the deadline. I'm looking for the number when hubby picks up a call from our daughter, updating me on the plumber who is her neighbour. I get to hear my grandson's voice, which helps my stress to subside. I manage to get through to the insurers, but they have to take instructions from hubby as the account is in his name for some reason - almost nothing else is, and I ask him to tell them to switch it to me so I can take care of it in future. I catch up on a few emails and then write off the rest of today's admin.
Hubby is going to cook himself gammon, egg and chips for dinner. I make aubergine stroganoff for my son and I and start preparing the salads for the weekend, while listening to radio four. I treat myself to a spritzer while I cook. After dinner I prepare some sourdough for tomorrow and we watch the final episode of We Hunt Together and then a QI. Early to bed for me, as I know the weekend will be busy and I want to be up early tomorrow. Tonight I am grateful for being able to meet in person with my colleagues.
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