Well. Here we are at the start of 2020! Let's begin with a look back at 2019 shall we? It's felt rather less eventful than 2018 (thank goodness). After looking back on a rather busy 2018, I started the year thinking about living seasonally, and then was promptly thrown into living seasonally when the snow arrived. I declared an intention to start walking more, which I've sometimes kept up with, sometimes not. February started with a chicken tragedy, when a stoat found its way into the hen house and killed Hermione and Luna. We buried them under the fruit trees, and Mildred and Maud, physically fine but intensely traumatised, came to live in our house for a few weeks (rather disrupting the beginning of my work sabbatical). They slowly recovered while we made reinforcements to their run, and at the end of February we collected three new ladies, freed from battery cages, to add to our little flock. In March, I pondered January and February in the garden, went for a run around a local reservoir, and waffled on about the chickens (there was a lot of that in 2019). In April I finally finished knitting a cardi for a friend's daughter (it was very late, and rather small), and continued taking my morning constitutional walks around the local lanes. In May I talked about chickens (again), and did an unusual amount of travelling (to Copenhagen, Glasgow, and Hebden Bridge). I finished the month with a look at May in the garden. I didn't say much in June, but spent quite a bit of time chasing sheep out of our fields (something I've just had to do again today, unfortunately). In July, work got unexpectedly busy, and I neglected the garden, but did find time for a series of mini adventures. In August it rained quite a lot, but the sun shone too. I pondered June and July in the garden, when we tidied up quite a bit, and a tiny hare took up residence. I walked six miles to meet a friend in a cafe, and took a trip to Calke Abbey. In September, I talked about our hay making! Most exciting. I also reflected on how rainy August had been and how soggy the garden was. I did a bit of sunbathing with the chickens. In October we finally had the builders in, and there was lots of upheaval as they replaced the kitchen ceiling. The chickens weren't impressed at being confined (but would have tripped up a builder or got stuck in a cement mixer if let out). I reflected on September and October in the garden, and how much I'd neglected it. We did still manage to grow our first apples though! By November, the builders had left, and we were slightly overwhelmed by what we still had to do. I went on a beekeeping course (which was interesting, but convinced me I was not going to keep bees any time soon), and I went on and on about how rainy the autumn was. In December, Beaky the chicken was ill, and had to be admitted to our in-house chicken hospital wing for a week and a half (which gave us a nice excuse not to do any DIY). I'm delighted that she made a full recovery. I finished the year enthusing about my love of cafes.
So there we are - another year gone by. I feel like 2019 has been rather sedate in comparison to 2018, but in reality it's been our first full year in our new house, so there's still been lots of settling in to do, and we've had major building work done after all. I've had some unexpectedly busy times at work too, a little out of the normal routine, which have taken a lot of time and head space but which should (fingers crossed) make things more interesting soon enough.
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It's no secret that I spend a lot of time in cafes. I can't really remember when it started. It wasn't something we did when I was a child, and for a long time I didn't have spare money for such frivolities, certainly not when I was at university. For several years I was vegan, and back in the late nineties it was definitely not cool, and the only vegan snack you could get (other than fruit) was a Fry's Chocolate Cream or a speciality flapjack from Holland and Barratt. As I'm writing this a vague memory is coming through, of my first trips to Liverpool as a teenager, buying a Big Issue and sitting in the cafe in Quiggins with a hot chocolate, or in the cafe at the Bluecoat gallery, or in the Thornton's cafe at Central Station. I would have been maybe fifteen or sixteen, so maybe this isn't such a new habit after all. There was a pause once I got to university though, partly veganism, partly lack of money, and then I don't remember any serious cafe visiting until I moved to Sheffield in 2003. I started my PhD with quite a few other new people, and we hung around in the Students' Union cafe reading and watching the world go by. My cafe habit became seriously entrenched when I met Peter though. At first just on holidays and days out, but eventually we found cheerfulness in a weekend cafe trip, and when we nearly went mad renovating our old house, our local cafes gave us a refuge to run to (and a nice bit of cake). The cafes we frequent have changed over the years of course. We haven't been to the cafe at the city farm since we moved house, and our favourite cafe in Sheffield closed down not long after we left (were we really keeping them afloat??) We found a new home in a cafe in our new local village, but that closed too last Christmas. Recently we've settled on a cafe in a bookshop, not far away, as our new favourite place. It's busy, so we have to get there when it opens, especially if we're going to get our favourite seat. Recently the card machine had broken and we walked out without paying (oops!) - the staff left a note about the 'regular morning sofa couple' and so that's now how we refer to ourselves too. Of course it can get expensive, all this cafe visiting. We're generally not too extravagant, we have tea and toast (or cake) rather than a fancy lunch, and spend between £5 and £10 each time we're in there. We've contemplated giving up, or at least cutting back, but as vices go, this is a fairly tame one, and we are fortunate that we can make room for it within our budget. It helps that we rarely go to the pub, the cinema, or anywhere else that requires paying to get in. Our favourite cafe is opening again today after a short break for Christmas, and you can bet we'll be there when it opens. I'll take a book, Peter will take a crossword, and we'll sit mostly in silence, drinking our tea and eating our breakfast. A most satisfactory start to the day.
How is it that Christmas takes me by surprise every year? Every year I vow to have all my presents bought and wrapped by the end of November (wise advise from a friend who used to work in retail), and yet every year somehow it's December, and there's only three weeks to go. This year we weren't helped by a poorly chicken who has needed a spell in the Chicken Hospital Wing (also known as our ex-kitchen). We're still not entirely sure what was wrong with Beaky, but we noticed over a few days that she was slower than the others, standing apart from them fluffed up and sometimes with her head under her wing. She seemed to be getting worse rather than better, so we brought her inside, and after a bit of observation, took her to the vets, who gave her a very undignified examination and injections of calcium and antibiotics, and sent her home to either get better or die. Fortunately, after eleven days of living in our house, with an epsom salts bath and a massage every day, and plenty of rest and treats, she has (fingers crossed) made a miraculous recovery. Needless to say, DIY was put on hold as we can't have drilling disturbing a poorly chicken. We did let the others in every day though to make sure Beaky kept in vague touch with the flock, and they took great delight in inspecting the building works. Mildred made herself right at home in the middle of the living room carpet. So I'm blaming the chickens for my festive incompetence this year. Their house, of course, is fully cleaned out with a layer of fresh hay. Our house, of course, is full of chicken bedding, and most of our crockery has been used to feed the chickens and is in high need of a thorough scrubbing. Still, I'm off work now until the 6th, so plenty of time for scrubbing and tidying and hanging around, and my favourite over-Christmas activity of plotting and scheming what adventures will happen next year. I' hoping we'll manage to get away on holiday, which requires rather more planning now we have the feathery ones to see to. I'm also planning to get back into the habit of writing on here. With one thing and another it's rather fallen off the list this year, and I've missed it. There's the usual exercise-related goals of course, and house-tidying goals, and of course major DIY to do and field walls to fix, and I'm hoping to grow at least some of our own food this year - something I failed at spectacularly last year.
But there I go again, making far more plans than I have time for, as usual. I hope I'm not the only one who does that. But what to miss out? More pondering to come I think. |
Hello!Sit down and make yourself comfortable. I'm Jenni, and I write here about our new foray into country living, which includes growing food, knitting, baking, wandering around the fields, and seeing which local cafe serves the best cake. Categories
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