Mark went off to work this morning so we had to get up in the middle of the night again.
I mean really the middle of the night. The alarm went off at seven and I had absolutely no idea what the dreadful noise could be, it interrupted another dreadful last-minute-panic sort of dream. I do wish my brain would stop doing this. I know I am having a last minute pre-Christmas panic. I do not need my subconscious to keep reminding me. If it wanted to be really helpful it could start giving me some restful relaxing dreams, the sort with sunshine and chocolate and contented lounging by swimming pools. Then I might wake up feeling refreshed and energetic instead of starting the day with an exhausted yell of horror.
Mark was not doing rural broadband. He was mending some cars for somebody. All the same it was a full day’s work and so he had to arrive in the morning, not at lunchtime which is the earliest we can generally manage because of not liking to get up. Almost nobody likes to give somebody a day’s wages when they do not turn up until a quarter to two.
Mark is not in the Civil Service and so he had to turn up in the morning.
I did not really mind this at all. It was nice to have a cup of coffee in bed, and once Mark had gone I could get on with all sorts of very useful things. I suppose I could do useful things whilst he is at home but somehow he has the ability to get under my feet, and it is not nearly as easy to concentrate.
It was sunny and terribly cold. I mean real nose-and-ear biting cold. I took the dogs for a run around the park and was very glad of my thick coat and boots.
The dogs did the running. I trailed along after them, squinting in the sunlight and occasionally bellowing whenever they started doing something brainless.
The builders had left us some firewood, so I sawed that up when we got back. I still have all my fingers although it was so cold that I would not have noticed if I had cut a few off. I filled the fire and hung out the washing, and then turned to the day’s incumbent labour, which was cooking.
You might have noticed that there has been very little cooking mentioned on these pages for ages, this is because I have not done any, and we have run out of everything. This has just started to become thoroughly tiresome, and this morning there were only two biscuits for Mark to take to work instead of four.
Obviously I was stricken with guilt about this, and so today I baked biscuits. I made shortbread biscuits and peanut biscuits and chocolate caramel shortbread. Then I made some banana and linseed cakes. These have now been put to one side for a few days because they are soaking in blackcurrant brandy. Here is a Housewife’s Tip. Cake is nicer like this. Leave it for at least a week and put some more brandy on it every time you remember. It does not matter if it becomes soggy. You can pretend you meant it to be pudding all along and eat it with some home made ice cream. Warm it up for this only not too much, you wouldn’t want anything to evaporate.
Lucy came and helped for a while, and we made prawn toast. We fried it in lard rather than oil, because Mark thinks that lard might be good for us. I certainly hope it is because we used loads of it. I have just had some for dinner, prawn toast, not just lard, obviously, and jolly splendid it was too.
Lucy said that eating lard is unfashionable which is why you can hardly buy it anywhere these days, which is disappointing because it is jolly good, surpassed only by goose fat for pastry.
I am making pastry tomorrow. I would have liked to do it today, but I just ran out of daytime.
Tomorrow can be Pie Day.
