The House Husband

The Lion and Lamb Yard was full of patiently queuing Sub 65’s as I sat reading a bit of Naomi Klein (That Changes Everything). Like the non-elderly, non-infirm, I was waiting for the clock to tick to 9 o’clock.

I was sat on a bench as the queue grew. Mind you, it didn’t have many people in it. The social distancing being practised meant the line stretched all the way down to Cote.

I didn’t need to look at the time. Normal shopping commenced with the line rapidly disappearing. I closed my book and left the Yard.

The reason I was waiting was not for shopping – I’d already been in during the Oldies Hour. I needed to go to WH Smith to use the Post Office. I didn’t want to but needs must. And what a surprise it was.

I really dislike WH Smith in Farnham. The staff are not very good or helpful, it’s on the Borough and the aisles get a bit like a dodgem course when one is wheeling a trolley. Which reminds me…a lady was very complimentary about my trolley this morning. It still turns heads, it seems.

Going to WH Smith did mean I had the opportunity to check out the new footpath at the bottom of Castle Street. The guys working on it must be pleased about the lockdown because they haven’t had to contend with quite so many pedestrians and cars.

The reason I was having to head for WH Smith was because last week I made a photobook for mum and had to post it. The photobook turned out really well. It was just full of photographs taken around our house and garden with a few of the park thrown in. I thought she’d like to flick through and jog her memories a bit.

As it turned out, my trip to WH Smith was great. There were three customers in the whole place including me. I was in and out in about five minutes. All easy peasy. Like the footpath workers, I was rather glad about the lockdown.

Back at home, most of the day was spent researching people from Epsom.

Then, late in the day, we took our exercise by taking the girls up to Crondall for a walk around the fields.

We did see quite a few family groups and couples, most with dogs, but we all kept our distance while exchanging hearty greetings. Even Freya was allowed to fraternise given her latest season has ended.

The walk was absolutely glorious. Big sky and fields, a tractor ploughing one field while crops starting to emerge in another. Only this morning I watched a short Twitter video from a farmer who said that they were having to do a Spring planting because of all the rain at the back end of last year. I guess this chap was doing the same.

Our walk was exactly what we needed. It helped Mirinda deal with the day spent inside and it gave me a bit of exercise.

I didn’t leave the house and garden today. I’m restricting myself to shopping for two days at a time rather than my usual every day. Perhaps it makes a difference at Waitrose, I don’t know, but I’d like to think so.

So, instead, my day was spent mostly in housework, garden pottering and some research in between. (Mirinda did take the girls for a walk at 5pm but I had to start cooking at 6pm so I didn’t go today.)

Being stuck at home when the weather is so glorious is hardly a chore. Particularly when the colours are starting to appear.

I managed to finish filling the new raised bed made from the old wooden planter. Mirinda is thinking of putting some broom in it (that’s the plant and not the sweeping implement). It will have to wait for her to find some online. But it’s ready.

Of course, being a Thursday, the line came down late in the day. Mirinda was a bit concerned with it being up all week (like it normally is) until I assured her it would be gone for the weekend. In normal times, I put it up on Tuesday (when she leaves for work) and take it down on Thursday (when she returns).

She thinks it ruins the look of the garden.

I made sure she realised that it is her encroaching on my household routine and some things will not change. The washing line rota is definitely one of them. Particularly given the amazing weather.

It was surprising that we didn’t eat on the terrace at lunchtime. Mirinda claimed it was still a bit chilly. Seems a waste of some perfectly good sunshine if you ask me. I know I’d be eating outside if it was just me and the girls.

Speaking of the girls, I think that Freya has finished her season. Tomorrow I will know for sure because I washed the waffle blanket she sleeps on. No stains tomorrow means no more season.

Lunch was a normal Chez Gaz salad with the remaining half of the paleo loaf.

Normally I put a few balls of frozen spinach in the loaf – this is my addition to the recipe – but thewidespread panic purchase of frozen spinach has made that impossible. Not a problem, I thought, I’ll use fresh.

While using fresh spinach made no difference to the taste, it did make the loaf a bit greener in places. Rather off-putting if you’d never had it before.

Not that it put us off. It was all gone by dinner time.

For dinner I made pollo al chilindron which was lovely though I should have made some cauli-broc to go with it. There was rather a lot of oil to soak up. I must remember that for next time.

I have to remember each day to let Mirinda know which one it is. She’s used to going into town, working, going to the flat, having long, boring, face-to-face meetings, etc, etc. Now her routine is a little more static. It’s up to me to be her calendar.

That’s not to say that my routine hasn’t had to be amended. I’m used to a house with just me and the puppies. An extra person, and one who’s working, does tend to impact on the home maker routine. Particular when it involves unscheduled baking, like it did today. Mirinda asked for a paleo loaf. What could I do?

Another evolving situation that mucks up my routine is the almost daily changes at Waitrose.

Today’s rule is that they only allow a maximum of 45 people in the shop at one time. Once the maximum is reached, they operate a strict one in, one out protocol. This sits alongside the old and infirm getting the first hour.

I have to say, it makes shopping the delight it normally is with few people, fast checking out and full shelves.

Before gaining entrance, the new rule meant joining a big queue outside the main doors. I grabbed a trolley and stood behind a man who was completely covered, head to toe. His outfit included what looked like an industrial dust mask, to avoid any contact with anything airborne.

I guess he may have some underlining health issue. For his sake, I hope so because he was dressed for Arctic conditions and it was not that cold. Still, one of the great things about social distancing is the fact that you are unlikely to smell other people’s body odour from two metres away.

The trolley was very handy for the social distancing rule. It kept everyone the correct distance without causing people to drift closer. It was a bit annoying when the guy in charge started telling people they shouldn’t collect a trolley first. I think he was trying to keep the line of people shorter but all he did was bring people closer together.

I’m not blaming him. The situation is continually changing and it is all very new to all of us. I think Waitrose is doing an excellent job and I have nothing but praise for them.

My wait in the queue was not very long. It took about ten minutes for me to get from the jewellers before Orvis to the head of the queue. The very well behaved and largely cheerful queue. It may have been a little less cheerful had it been raining.

The poor lion, which is normally crawling with kids, has been given a bit of a rest. It’s rare to see it devoid of laughing, screaming, licking children.

I’m fairly certain that the lion always has germs on it. Kind of like the way it always has kids on it. I’d be a bit concerned that my kids were not building up an immunity through contact. Still, I don’t have kids, so what do I know?

I managed to get everything I needed for the next two days and trundled my trolley home.

Mirinda had Skype and phone meetings all day while I pottered about. Then, after lunch, we headed up to Hankley with the dogs for our Period of Allowed Exercise.

It’s good that the places we walk them are big and usually quite empty because social distancing is not difficult. Except for the dogs. They don’t get the social distancing thing at all.

Actually, the walk around Hankley is a new one that Mirinda found a while back. It includes some lovely views across the MOD land as well as a trig point. As Mirinda said, it’s almost as good as one with a container in it. I suggested that while I do love a trig point, I’m fairly certain it’s a long way behind the possibility of running into a container in heathland.

There were a few individual family groups with their dogs who all kept their distance. We are very lucky to have such amazing spaces to relieve the boredom of the lockdown. Not for the first time, I felt very sorry for people in one bedroom flats in cities.

Back at home, I made lamb and pistachio rissoles with English asparagus and ribbon cabbage.

As I ate the asparagus (I love English asparagus) it occurred to me that my favourite vegetables were not ones I had growing up. At some stage I tasted asparagus, spinach, olives, etc and was overwhelmed with the deliciousness of them. I wonder if I’d like them so much if I’d had them as a child? Mind you, I still love broccoli, cheese and peas.

Regarding food matters, I follow quite a few farmers on twitter. One of my favourites is Joanne Pile. She regularly tweets photos of her cows. Today she was in her tractor and made a video. Here she is:

An amazing woman.

In all the excitement of yesterday’s unexciting post, I forgot to mention the fight we witnessed at Frensham Little Pond yesterday. It was all over social distancing in a strange kind of way. It also caused quite a ruckus.

The pond has two resident swans. They feel that the entire pond is their private property and they tend to see off any other swans stupid enough to land on it. I reckon it’s the same swans we’ve always seen but Mirinda claims the original ones would be dead and these are yet another couple in the never ending natural ownership rules that govern the world of swans.

Today, rather than the couple, we saw only one. She was in a little pondette surrounded by rather dopey looking geese. At first we thought they were Canadian but, given their dumb expressions, I think they probably came from the White House.

Anyway, the swan was not happy with the geese and kept going for them. She swept through the water like a WWI battle cruiser, lowering the battering beak at each attack, sweeping the geese aside.

Not that the geese seemed particularly bothered. They would just move out of the her way and blithely float back once the coast was clear. There was no flying, just floating and dodging.

I thought I’d videoed it. I didn’t. I took a photo instead. Because I’m stupid.

Mirinda thought the swan was possibly protecting a clutch of eggs.

Speaking of eggs…it was Richard’s last delivery today. He handed over our final half dozen almost with a tear in his eye. He said he’d be back as soon as the lockdown was over. Rather annoying but perfectly understandable.

Things were pretty much the new normal today with Mirinda working from home and Emma taking full advantage of it.

I rang mum first thing (I didn’t go shopping and couldn’t visit the gym) and she was very sleepy. Denise had told me that she had been prescribed antipsychotic drugs because of her mood swings so I attributed her sleepiness to that. Denise said she hadn’t started taking them yet.

She couldn’t really have been sleepy from over activity. The care home is under lockdown conditions and they are basically being told to keep to themselves and in their rooms as often as possible. Of course, that was what mum said. The truth is not necessarily the same.

Still, we had a nice chat even though it was mostly about the virus and the First World War research I’m doing.

While chatting to mum, I noticed that Emma has decided we put the raised bed in especially for her.

I can’t blame her. With the glorious sunny weather we’re having, the raised bed is probably lovely and warm. She often lies on the path but I guess, being raised, the soil is warmer.

While happy with the garden improvements, Emma (and Freya) was much happier when we took off for Farnham Heath for our daily bout of exercise.

This is one of the lockdown rules. We can go out for essential shopping, prescription drugs, helping the elderly and infirm, the doctor and for one exercise session. This exercise session can include walking the dog(s).

The instruction, however, does not indicate how long it can be. A lot of people are claiming that means you can go out at 8am and get back at 6pm. Others wonder how it will be policed. Perhaps people should get a stamp each time they leave the house. Also, if one goes shopping on foot (like me) is that also their exercise for the day?

So many questions and so few answers.

Our walk was lovely apart from the woman walking her dog while constantly on the phone. This meant that her dog kept harassing us and she had no idea because her call was way more important. The dog needed to learn some social distancing.

Of course I don’t blame the dog. This was definitely a case of nurture not nature.

This morning, Waitrose was almost back to normal. There were a few more people than usual but no great crowds of queuing under 65’s outside while us ancients happily picked and packed. It was all most civilised and greatly welcomed.

I did read a disturbing statistic that food waste has increased 30% due to people throwing away food that they panic bought a fortnight ago. Presumably they are also using more toilet roll than is strictly necessary.

While it was all rather more pleasant than it has been of late (the weather helped) my trip to Waitrose did throw up this rather sad sight.

The woman in the photo is a regular – she gets a coffee before work every day – but clearly didn’t get the memo. I had a notification on Instagram last night regarding the closing of Starbucks. At least I was prepared.

I passed a lot of people in the park on the way home. Most of them observed social distancing by moving onto the grass. They would then make a big effort to say good morning and smile. I think this is in order for people not to think they are being rude by keeping their distance. Mirinda observed this later at Frensham and thinks it may become a new kind of social etiquette.

I accompanied Mirinda and the girls to walk around Frensham Little Pond after lunch and it was glorious. There were a few family groups and couples out but no large groups. I’m wondering if this will change as the weather warms.

There were a few iffy moments when I had to pick Freya up (she’s still in season) but otherwise it was very pleasant and good to fill our lungs with fresh air and ourselves with vitamin D.

Vitamin D was in plentiful supply today as the sun remained beaming and the sky drenching blue. The washing line worked overtime today with loads of clothes flapping around in the slight breeze.

While obviously the Great Isolation of 2020 will prove a major disaster for the world’s economy, at least the weather is good.

At 8pm, the prime minister announced that we were now in lockdown.