Thinking ahead, I am probably not going to have access to much of a food shop next week so I need to make sure I have enough of the basics. To that end I did a stocktake of all the food on board and then, finding every conceivable empty container on the boat, I set off for the ‘zerowaste’ shop I passed yesterday. A cornucopia of delight! I really hope we will see many more springing up over the country. I had great fun making my own peanut butter to the crunchiness I desired and then I ground my decaf coffee so that its suitable for the Italian stove top coffeemaker we have – R really likes using it over a cafetiere. I liked that I could choose how much of anything I wanted without the quantities being preset. The only treat I brought pre packaged were some small 100% chocolate Easter eggs filled with peanut butter! Delicious I am sure. As R doesn’t buy Easter eggs I bought this for him to give to me!! The shop had so many environmental friendly products, from bamboo toothbrushes and socks, to beeswax covers and aluminium free deodorant sticks! They even had metal straws and very thin brushes to clean them thoroughly. It has always worried me how you clean a straw properly! I’m not too sure on how covid secure it is to touch the same scoops as everyone else but there was plenty of hand sanitizer and I really like the principle of reusing empty containers, especially as we have a lot of the plastic ones you seem to get with an Indian takeaway. Ideal on the boat and in our small freezer as they stack so neatly together.
R had been practising his accordian whilst I was out and writing a few postcards. The rain poured down and we were grateful that we hadn’t planned on moving the boat today – I thought I might have been feeling a bit ropey but actually I felt pretty normal. We went walking in the afternoon when the weather was improved and continued to be amazed at the extent of Banbury’s industrial parks and estates. There is an all pervading smell of bread, more specifically donuts, along the towpath, from a large bakery – it really made me feel very hungry! There was so much traffic out and about. I imagine the town gets pretty gridlocked frequently.
Had a lovely long telephone chat with my cousin’s husband and caught up on all the news, whilst R went off to chop wood on a nearby bench. We had a tatty blue plastic box that he used to store the wood and he couldn’t find it anywhere. There really is nowhere to lose anything! Eventually he concluded he got distracted yesterday and left it by the bench whilst returning to the boat with some larger logs. Someone must have walked off with it. Their gain!
Another Friday, another Zoom. I can’t believe how quickly Friday comes around. We chat for an hour and a half and the time speeds by, but I can’t remember half of what we talk about! It is just so nice to see friends and feel connected.
Watched a new episode of Midsomer Murders to ring the changes, all based around bees, but still got a fix of young Morse after. Then I read a sad WhatsApp from my eldest daughter, H, who is now really struggling with lockdown. As she said, who would have thought at 33 she would be all alone for a year not seeing her friends or able to build new relationships. I just feel so sad for our young people and the isolation so many of them are facing. Conversely for those in a relationship that also has its stresses as a couple is totally thrown together without the usual additional friendship groups around. That’s not age related – ask R!
NarrowboatTLC 