Winter crocus

 I booked last Friday off because I was shattered, but also I just wanted a day around the house all on my own. Then guess what - turns out husband had day off too! Hey ho.... Always there.....

Always there comes from lockdown, I was going scatty because whenever I turned around a member of my family seemed to be standing about a foot away from me. In the end I started to tell people to just go away. Which husband took as an opportunity to wind me up. I'd be doing something like cooking and he'd creep up behind me and whisper in my ear 'Always there'.

Anyhoo we decided to go out for lunch, there's a cafe that's opened in the village that's part of the Ginger chain of restaurants - and the Ginger chain is our restaurant of choice. Particularly the Gingerman (which is a point, haven't been there for ages). So we went down and it was yum actually - they do posh all day breakfasts, so I had a poached egg with smoked salmon and crab mouse on sour dough. Very yummy.

In the evenings they do tapas, so we've booked ourselves in for Friday evening. Looking forward to it already.

Saturday was a very busy day. I woke up with a huge amount of can't be arsed running through my veins. I lay on the sofa knowing I needed to move. In the end I decided I didn't want to - so we'll be eating out of the freezer for the week because I didn't make it to the butcher for fresh meat.

Around 11.00 I had to stir my unwilling bulk because we were all off to the wedding of my husband's nephew. As a family we really don't ever dress up - so getting ready for the wedding was quite a stressful event. Son hadn't even tried on his outfit and of course bits of it were too big and bits were to small. So I told him he'd just have to cope because it had been waiting for him to try on for around 2 months.

Husband got his suit out of mothballs - and then literally had to dust his smart shoes because they had about an inch of dust on them. I'd decided I was going to give up trying not to wear black to weddings. Every time I have a wedding I end up buying a new outfit that never gets worn again, purely because I try not to wear black. So this time I wore black trousers and a black shirt, with a chiffon top that went over the shirt that had a few bursts of colour on it. I'll probably never wear that again either!

We headed off, dropping the dog off with a friend in Hove, with promises to pick her up later. Then headed for Firle Place where the wedding was held. We'd allowed for traffic, of which there was none - so we ended up arriving about an hour early.

Wandering around Firle Place gardens was lovely and I was amazed when we turned a corner and there was a tree with a blanket of crocus underneath. So lovely and so unexpected (mum tells me they are winter crocus). 

The ceremony was lovely - thank goodness it didn't rain because it was held outside in a courtyard. Then we had drinks on the lawn and then went into the old riding school to eat. 

Everything was formally informal, very relaxed and I'm pleased to say - in this instance the whole thing had been arranged by the groom.

As ever we ended up on an odd table, I don't think that anybody really knows where to sit us at weddings. I ended up sitting next to a complete stuffed shirt. I tried to engage him in conversation 3 times and just got one word answers shutting me down. So I basically gave up on him. His mother sat opposite him and I got the same from her. To be fair I don't think that they hated everybody, just me - later in the meal some people came over to chat to them and they lit up and nattered away!

Sitting next to husband was the loveliest lady - fascinating. She must have been about 70, she told us all about when she left home and how she'd wanted an adventure so she moved to America and worked as a nanny for 20 years. She was really fun actually and even persuaded husband to show her how to do tequila shots (there was a bottle on each table as it was the bride's favourite tipple).

After we ate there was a great band that sort of does hits in a big brass band kinda way. Really hard to describe, but it was fun. They were knocking out things like the Beasty Boys and Kean - on Tubas!.

Around 09:00 the oldies (including us) filtered off and headed home allowing the yoofs to dance on without the smell of decay around them. We picked up the dog and were back at home by 10.00.

I woke up on Sunday feeling shattered, took dog for a lovely walk up to the farmhouse - the sun was still shining (yay). Looking forward to the end of the week. Dog will no longer be on heat then and I can go back to the normal routine. Definitely more simple than leaving at dawn and walking in out of the way places.

I had decided I was going to make a Ramen, never again. Oh my goodness it was an involved cook and whilst it tasted nice - it definitely did not taste good enough for the effort. Whilst I was doing that I was also painting the ceiling in the sun room after our leak. That wasn't very successful either, so I've left it to dry and I'll give it another go later.

I apologise for the blog this week, I just don't feel terribly inspired to write today - but wanted to make a note of what I'd been up to for future reference. I'll try to get my humour back ready for next week!