So this is life in the country?

When I think of skittles, I naturally think of those roundish sweets, which I only ever buy in a garage ‘as a healthy snack as they must have some fruit in them surely’ – yes, I know, who am I kidding? More interestingly, used by some friends of child #2 at university to flavour a bottle of cheap vodka….no, I’m not convinced either (but then I am not a 21 year old student!). It was with great pleasure, then, that with children #1 and #3 down with us for the first part of the week, we were invited by family to a skittles evening in a pub nearby. As designated driver – yes, a definite drawback to life without oystercards, contactless and 24hr tubes, I was able to enjoy a swift half of the local cider – I was up for a pint until the landlord pointed out that, at 7.5%, I might be better off with ‘just the half, son’ if I were driving. What followed was a real delight and I was left to reflect on the joy of seeing cousins mingling happily and the different generations laughing together- we all shared a collective, good old fashioned evening of fun.

The writer her indoors continued her creative streak with a lampshade making course in a local crafts centre, using our bargain of the week, an offcut of probably the most expensive fabric I have ever seen – who knew that 1 metre could cost that much?- to fashion a lampshade for an old and favoured lamp we have and for which we have put up with an ill-fitting, mis-matched and ugly shade for probably the last 15 years. And fair play, it looks lovely, matching expertly with the colour we don’t yet have on the walls!

Finally, friends down from London again this weekend and fabulous weather, so we were able to enjoy the great outdoors on both Saturday and Sunday, not even needing walking boots on the quickly drying fields, slopes and coastline. Too much eating and drinking, followed by disappointing results for all concerned in the weekend rugby internationals, leading to more eating and drinking – note to self, I need to start running again before a whole new wardrobe is required! I am left to ponder the similarities and differences between our ‘old’ and ‘new’ lives and the extent to which time has taken on a whole new perspective…

Eating: Lemon roast vegetables with scarmorza,taken from The Part-time vegetarian, ideal as a Friday evening ‘kitchen supper’. I especially love the caper dressing, which elevates it. I have served it by itself with just some leaves, or with both white fish and chicken as well.

Drinking: The above English wine, very kindly brought down by our friends from a vineyard they know in East Sussex and which had a very different sense about it from my normal purchases… a real ‘smokiness’ that complemented the scamorza perfectly.

Listening to: a playlist put together not so long ago for a relative’s 80th birthday, so mainly old school (please note not ‘skool’) jazz and swing – child #3’s favourite being ‘Something’ stupid – Frank and Nancy Sinatra, child #1’s favourite being ‘Woody wood-pecker’- Kay Keyser (no, I don’t know where his music taste comes from either!), mine ‘Petite fleur’- Chris Barber.