DVT DAY 271

Friday, its 8:30, crap the decorators will be here any moment. Three frantic people dress chaotically and get down stairs to the kitchen before the decorators do arrive. Our first chore is to find a small shop in Kirby Mallory which is our closest DPD pick up point so that we can return some wallpapers. The post code took us to Kirby Mallory race track. A friendly dog walker put us right and we eventually found a tiny local sparse shop. Mission accomplished we start out on our main mission. Fresh food. The morning really begins when my partner and I set off to visit the local farms shops to stock up with fresh milk, butter and cheese. Excellent stuff. The next farm shop produces meat and we filled out bag with fresh flesh, which will see us through the weekend. Bizarrely our next port of call was the garden centre which houses a butcher who makes really good pies and a newly acquired mini branch of Sainsburys. Ladened with pies and rubber gloves we return home.

What followed was a mixture of curtain and blind sourcing interspersed with some baking. All this against the background of the decorator wrestling a new bath surround into place. It was clearly not an easy job judging by the banging and muttering that was going on. By two o’clock I am mixing ingredients to make Florentines. I add 50 grams of crystallized ginger to my mix to give them a bit of bite. I pop them in the oven and take a call while I watch then magically spread. I cut the call short to pull the Florentines before they burn and get them where they can cool and solidify. I resume the call and chat ordinary stuff. I clear the kitchen and realise that the noises from the bathroom, have ceased and there are now sounds of clearing up and the preparation to leave. I dip the Florentines in chocolate and realise I have chocolate over and create a giant chocolate button.

The decorator leaves and of course we go to see how the bathroom looks. We are pleased, no more rotting wood but shiny reflective surfaces that are light. The bathroom looks renewed and a pleasure to be in.

In celebration we measure up the window in the office and order a blind to finish the room off. Gradually the feeling that the house is coming together grows, which is reinforced when the new curtains for the second bedroom arrives. With a little effort over the weekend the top floor can be reclaimed.

The evening arrives and we a eat dinner made from the days foraging and watch Captain Fantastic. What a surprise and lovely film it turned out to be. I realise just what an opportunity home schooling could be. I also wonder how I missed the opportunity to give my children hunting knives before puberty struck.

It is followed by Have I Got News for You. I write the blog and wait for my partner to go to bed so that I can prepare fro her birthday tomorrow.