Friday

Yesterday was nicely paced, filling my time with ordinary everyday things. Apart from the social distancing and mask wearing it was just like a normal pre-pandemic day and so, in that way, it was perfect.

The morning was taken up with errands. They were only supposed to take an hour at most but I was actually out of the house for three hours so my plan for a walk was put on hold! There was a short queue at the bank but I needed some pound coins to refill the egg money box so I had to wait ... why is it that every time I go into the bank I get stuck behind people paying in bags of coins or dealing with complicated transactions? Then it was off to Waterstones where I was hoping to buy a couple of jigsaw puzzles (ready for the winter months) with my Christmas tokens, one of which expires in July, but there wasn't anything of interest so I'll try again next month. 

As I was walking back to the car I bumped into friend H so of course we chatted (for ages) and during that chat she mentioned that the day before she'd bought some cosmos plants from the garden centre. Can you guess where I went next? I was lucky to get some - I bought the last three trays - and the assistant said they'd put their entire stock out late yesterday afternoon, it was all snapped up quickly, and they're not really expecting to get anymore as supplies of plants are problematic. While I was there I bought a couple of osteospermum as well, just because!

I also popped into the shop to buy some asparagus and some bread for the freezer, so now I should have enough in and won't need to shop for a couple, maybe three, weeks. I was tempted to buy some chocolate, which I did, but regretted it as soon as I'd paid for it so I took it straight round to my nephew's home for Misses C and H. He's still working from home so we had a long doorstep chat.

In the afternoon I pottered about in the garden, working out where the next lot of pots will go, sweeping the patio, watering (much later), and measuring up. I've (almost) decided that if I want to have annuals and veggies, which I do, I need to have somewhere to grow from seed to keep the costs down. I don't really have room in the house for baby plants so definitely need a different option. There is space on the patio against the wall of the house where I could place a mini greenhouse so I've been looking online to see what my options are. I will speak to M when she is here today but I'd also appreciate your opinions please. Okay, *idiot question alert* ... is this the sort of thing I need to be able to grow from seed until it's time to plant out once there is no longer a risk of frost? This is the one I prefer (but won't be paying that price) or would something like this be better? 

M will be here this morning and once we've talked about what I want her to do today, I have to sort out the birthday cards for May. I need to post two family ones today and the other three the following week, but those three all need letters enclosed so I must get on with it. I've been putting it off as two of those letters will be difficult to write because they are to friends who have recently lost family/friends to Covid. 

It's the Nutrition Focus this afternoon, but I can't remember what will be discussed this time, and that's all that's in the diary for today. Assuming I get the letters written I may go out but if not I'd like to continue with the family tree research - the Wiltshire Records Office has reopened so I'm making a list of all the things I want to check against original documents and will then attempt to book a place.