Good Friday

It’s Good Friday and for the first time for as long as I can remember it is a good Friday. I woke at 08:30 that’s got to be a new PB! This weather is unbelievably hot for an Easter bank holiday weekend, if it wasn’t for the Coronavirus the roads would be nose to tail with people heading for the coast or holidays, under the current restrictions if you are lucky enough to have a holiday home you can’t even visit that ( still think that is a load of crap as long as you are still strict with social distancing what difference does it make where you are?) but these are the rules and sticking to them has to be the best thing for all of us!

I’ve not always been an insomniac, I scream at Millie to get up everyday and feel genuine disgust at her sleeping in until 2pm without me threatening to “drag her out by her hair” or “Chuck a bucket of water over her” if she doesn’t move her hairy carcass (phrases credited to my mother) but I used to be exactly the same at her age, I sat up until the wee hours watching films (mostly the same films she does now) then given half the chance would sleep all day but like me my mum and nan would have none of it. But now 08:30 is a proper lay in, I never want to get up and feel constantly knackered but either have to for work or the god awful school run or just can’t sleep in because my brain or damned tiny bladder just won’t let me. Talking of school runs I feel a bit bloody robbed of a celebration for Millies last day at school, I did the last ever school run to Hadlow and didn’t even know it, I would have tied tin cans to the car are cheered all the bloody way had I have known I would never have to make that shitty journey again but it just fizzled away!

Serious gardening undertaken today, Giz has busted his backside under my strict supervision (even then he nearly felled some poor innocent plants) I’d like to say it looks better but it still looks like someone ran through a jungle with a machete, but with about 10 barrows of garden waste removed there must be some improvement. At one point I thought I had killed Gary when an old bit of trellis we were trying to pull out of the ground suddenly gave way and smacked him in the head, on close inspection it was a tiny wound but boy did it bleed!

The big rabbit run is finally up, Bitsy and Bumpkin (they were rescues we didn’t call them that) have a great space to explore 24/7 rather than odd days out of the hutch. Lockdown had certainly made me think about freedom and life in a hutch is pretty shitty so feel a great deed is done!

The menu was toast for breakfast, I will change that I promise but little gives me more pleasure than hot buttered toast right back as far as I can remember, it will never be as good as the toasted doorstops dripping with butter I used to make on my Nan’s gas fire on a Friday night, we used to eat it with a pint of prawns my grandad would pick up from the fish man on his way over for dinner (they didn’t live together but she cooked for him everyday, that’s is a very long story) for a late supper we would sit and peel them together soak them in vinegar and I would get the brass toasting fork out and make the best toast ever! Lunch was a boring cheese sandwich and a rice crispy Easter cake the kids made, then we had the dogs doo dahs of bbq’s, actually it was a long way from the banquets I usually prepare but the first one of the year on a beautiful evening after a gratifying days work just felt perfect, the bottle of perfectly chilled Prosecco I downed helped , it was the first drop of alcohol I’ve had (other than copious amounts of hand hand gel) for a couple weeks and it went down a treat! The big was still at 180c after I finished cooking so I’ve double tinfoiled a chicken rolled in Chinese five spice, and dropped the lid so it slow cooks overnight…… I hope

I Saw a few mins of the news but it was horribly depressing, 980 dead today that’s higher than Italy’s worst day and we still don’t seem to have hit the peak period yet. Paul O’Grady has been infected, he’s such a well loved celeb I think the nation will be praying for his recovery! In other news Boris is out of intensive care and said to be “taking short walks” now I’m glad he is ok for his family’s sake but I hear of him taking short walks I still hear “off a short pier” in my head.

Millie helped me most of the day, she made the burgers for me and attempted potato salad, she needs to up her game with that, I’m good but my Polish sister inlaw’s is on another level so she better go there for lessons and learn from the best. Fabian has frankly been ferrel, he’s run wild in the field and garden, he’s played pirates and nearly driven us mad humming the theme to Pirates of the Caribbean whilst attacking us with swords and anything else he could get hold of. I’ve never seen such a dirty child in all my life it was proper street urchin style but I guess that’s the best kind of fun.

We all sat and watched Independence Day insurgence, it was ok but missed Will Smiths witty one liners the original had , anyone who knows me know I’m beyond terrified of aliens so it will definitely be a lights in night for me after what was an almost perfect family day!