Normal life?

It’s now Sunday morning mid February, the first Sunday since September when we don’t have renovation clothes on. In fact for Ian, the first day at all since September without renovation clothes on. We don’t have jobs we ‘have’ to do however tired or sore we are. We can have a real coffee and relax, we aren’t snatching a quick instant coffee between jobs. There are jobs to do, but none are urgent, except maybe dusting, oh the dust! There is so much. I know it will stop falling out of the air soon, as we are no longer creating it, but it’s clearly happy to be here as it keeps returning in copious amounts!

We have a taste of what normal life will be like; we have started making beer and wine again. We used to make almost all our own before we moved, so it’s fabulous to start again, it’s fun to do, is tasty to drink, and saves a fortune!

I’ve also been baking; I don’t yet have all my baking things back from storage. We need to make space in the garage for the last load of our possessions. Ian forgot when he was sending back garden and garage contents, that container also had most of the baking equipment too! It’s a bit of a guess in terms of weights and I have tried using the American cup system, as we have some as part of a stacking bowl set, but I am thoroughly confused when trying to convert recipes. 

1 cup of sugar, is not the same in grams as 1 cup of flour, so how on earth do you bake using cups? I have not attempted a Victoria sponge... However, rustic scones work well, as does bread. I even managed to make some for the neighbours who have been so welcoming to us.     

One of the things I really love about living here is that every shop, even the big supermarkets have local produce. Local milk, butter, bread, and it is delicious. It is hard to explain, but the butter is so different to mass produced butter. It has flakes of salt you can see, it’s a rich colour, however warm it keeps its butter texture. Not great for spreading on bread, but an amazing flavour, so worth the holes. Fab for scones and pastry!  

We have also purchased (well I say purchased, we converted Avios points from all my copious former work flights, that are unlikely to be used in the foreseeable future, to Nectar points and got them for free!) bicycles, so we can increase our exercise levels and explore bits of the island not accessible by road. Hopefully we will soon be able to cycle to the farm shop across the bridleways and cycle paths, and try out more local goodies. 

I know I have said this before, but normal life here really does seem to feel like being part of a community, I know some of the people we have met will become friends, real friends. One of the first people we met, who lent us the tool to remove the kitchen wall, popped by recently with a gift he had made us. Never before has a neighbour made us anything, and this is perfect. A door stop, in our colours, for our new home. 

I have a feeling it will be well used, propping open the conservatory door in the summer as we (hopefully!) share a laugh and some good times with neighbours and friends.