163 days since lockdown/isolation.

There seems to be a lot of mass protests/rioting at the moment. All over the world people are taking to the streets. Hong Kong, Wisconsin USA, The Lebanon, Spain, Bolivia, Egypt, Iraq, Bolivia and others. The reasons have been varied ranging from corruption to climate change to a lack of democracy. Many of the protests have been legitimate and peaceful. At least that is how they begin. It doesn’t take long for trouble to break out (anarchists, right wing extremists etc.) and extreme violence to ensue. Occasionally resulting in deaths. I have never been on such a march and even if I had, at the first sign of any non-peaceful/extremist group participating, I would have been hurrying home. These people will take any opportunity to further their cause by turning to the protests from peaceful to violent. My view is have your march but keep it short and go home. Leave the police to deal with the trouble makers.

I have been busy in the kitchen. I have made a massive chilli split into seven freezer packs. I did the same with a huge chicken curry the day before. Jenny also made two huge shepherds pies destined for the freezer. We will not starve, that’s for sure.

We took advantage of the “Eat Out to Help Out” scheme yesterday. Just before the deal ceased. We each had steak pie with chips and vegetables, two soft drinks and Jenny succumbed to a sticky toffee pudding. All for £11. A bargain. Some restaurants are going to continue offering the half price meals as their restaurants have been full Mondays to Wednesdays. We ate in The Duke of Cumberland in Cottingham which was packed with customers.

I went to see Mum yesterday for my weekly visit. She was very well. Her favourite carer, Elaine was there too. It was nice to see her. I went for a second visit in mid afternoon to coincide with a visit from a district nurse who came to do a regular blood test organised by mum’s medical practice.

The weather has been awful for the last few days with some torrential rain which kept us in the house for a while. The plants in the back garden and the hanging baskets are on their last legs and we will take them out soon.

Our garden/paving contractor ran to say he will be coming mid September to pave the front of the house. He apologised for the delay but he has been having difficulties sourcing materials. One thing he will be doing is removing the “triffid” from the front of the house. We have cut it right back twice and it has grown back each time and is currently 4 feet high and growing. I will leave it now, until Jim comes and he will dig it out and put it in a skip.

We took a bus ride (with masks) to Beverley the other day. We bought a new frying pan (a really good expensive one} and had a coffee and cake at a cafe for just over £4. We didn’t realise that the half price government scheme would apply to cafes. Nice one, but sadly the scheme finishes on Monday.