The Dogmother Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Did anyone else do the applause for the NHS workers at 8pm? Our whole street was out, shouting, clapping and cheering, sounding car horns - very emotional. A massive thank you to all our emergency workers and front-line health staff who are working so hard, in difficult situations and putting themselves at risk to help us. 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Love this 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandmashazzie Posted March 26, 2020 Share Posted March 26, 2020 Yes DM, all out here in my street cheering. It was very emotional, particularly as my son has been deployed from children’s specialist community services to start in Covid centre on Mon. and my daughter in law is a nursing sister in renal unit. Their two children are coming to stay on Mon as we want to try and limit their exposure and ours to the virus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Bucking up thought for today: 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 Trying to but I'm starting to hate this quiet. No traffic, no people, no planes. It's uncomfortable, kind of itchy. I've put YouTube videos on my tablet of train journeys so I can hear people chatting and travelling. Getting on and off at stations and so on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Conversely, I am loving it 😎 Mind you, the world has gone to hell in a handcart! Just been out to get fuel - all supermarket garages have half the pumps closed and are only accepting pay at pump... my card doesn't work in those pumps, so had to drive to find a garage that doesn't have them.... 5 miles away!!!! Supermarkets operating a one-out, one-in policy so queues all round the car parks. I am sticking to the corner shop - they're nice in there...... back to the gardening 😎 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted March 27, 2020 Author Share Posted March 27, 2020 One good thing. I could only find a bag of chickpea flour which makes a surprisingly nice loaf if I do half and half with regular bread flour. I've also found a recipe for oven baked onion bhajis which are delicious and great for lunchboxes. I would never have bought chickpea flour normally. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 We are having trouble getting bread flour too, PL. Make all our own (OH even made his sourdough starter!) so getting experimental with some of the more obscure flours that we have in the cupboard and not got around to using yet (a bit like that weird bottle of obscure booze brought back from someone's holiday aeons ago that seems to lurk at the back of every cupboard!). Today we are having tomato and garlic bread and I've got some malt loaf rising as I type. Can cook together and save me making cake! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursula123 Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Soap dragon, can you post the recipe for malt loaf please Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Ummm, well I just used the ordinary bread recipe that we always make but using malt flour instead and muscovado sugar in slightly increased quantity. I have made it, years ago, with actual liquid malt but it wasn't nearly as successful. I use Wessex Mill Malt Loaf Flour (normally available online via their website when people are not panic buying!) and proceed as follows in my Kenwood with dough hook; Half a pint of water, 1 desertspoon of muscovado sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt (I use Maldon) butter (probably about 2/3 oz tho' I don't weigh it!) 1 teaspoon dried yeast, sultanas or raisins.... again I don't weigh but just chuck in a couple of handfuls... and 1lb flour. This all gets mixed for 5 mins then set to rise. You may need to add a bit more water if the dough is dry. After about an hour knock it back and put into a greased tin. Wait until risen (it wont rise as much as 'ordinary' bread though) and baked at 200 degrees (mine is a fan oven) for about 20/25 mins. You'll know its cooked properly when you turn it out of the tin it will sound hollow if you knock on the bottom of the loaf. This is for a 1lb loaf so you can just double quantities if you need to. Hope that makes sense? I very often don't weigh or measure things which works for me but being a 'bung it' cook doesn't help when passing on recipes - sorry! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 Social distancing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted March 27, 2020 Share Posted March 27, 2020 I'm also quite enjoying the quiet, the feeling of not needing to go anywhere and having both my sons home. I prefer us being in lockdown than the way things were before, feels like something is being done. I feel for those for whom it's financially difficult and people living by themselves. Realised I didn't miss Waitrose as much as I expected. Gone back to baking bread which I'd been meaning to for ages but was being lazy. Went back to veg and meat box deliveries as well. Right now I'd say we're eating well and more healthily but may not last, it means I'm spending more time planning meals and cooking. Made broth for lunch for the first time today, it was really nice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beantree Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 France lockdown has been extended until at least 15 April because the number of cases hasn't peaked as they wanted and is still rising at 10% per day. I've got to go shopping on Tuesday and am dreading it, but postponing it may put me in a higher risk situation if cases continue to rise. We're perfectly safe here unless we go out, but supplies are running low. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted March 28, 2020 Author Share Posted March 28, 2020 Is anyone else following the Worldometer which I find very useful and strangely reassuring. When the talk is all about lockdowns and dystopia and fines for going out of your house,lack of ventilators and so on, it helps me to look at the simple numbers and see that the world's population is doing alright. There are far more recoveries than deaths and far more mild cases than severe. The total numbers globally is in truth tiny although obviously each case is devastating to people directly involved , looked at coldly as a whole not that terrible. I guess there's more to come although Italy is slowing down thank goodness. I hope other people find these figures useful to know. This is the front page from today. There are so many charts comparing this to that it becomes quite fascinating and seeing how other countries are faring without the 'sad' faces of news presenters suits me better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chick Chick Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Yesterday I felt content. It turned into a lovely sunny day my children played in the garden after doing their homeschooling We got a lot of work done in the garden which we have been wanting to get done for a while now which felt good. Also did some baking with the children and ate my husbands home made bread. Going forward I intend to keep doing the things I can and make the best of the way things are just now, and try not to worry. I haven’t seen worldometer but will have a look. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursula123 Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 34 minutes ago, Beantree said: France lockdown has been extended until at least 15 April because the number of cases hasn't peaked as they wanted and is still rising at 10% per day. I've got to go shopping on Tuesday and am dreading it, but postponing it may put me in a higher risk situation if cases continue to rise. We're perfectly safe here unless we go out, but supplies are running low. Beantree, do you have a supermarket with 'Drive' facility near by. I used this for the first time this week as I do not want to go into the supermarket. Order online and then go to the Drive, scan your order bar code and the shopping is put in your boot without need for you to get out of the car, boot handle disenfected and then off you go. Leclerc, Intermarche, Super U all do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valkyrie Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 OH went to the village yesterday, found it deserted apart from one mask-wearing fellow in front of him in the queue for the grocers. Not much in there but it seems we now order online and they will invoice when the goods are ready to be collected or delivered. So as soon as he got home he filled in the form online. Seems I can't get popcorn - it isn't on the list and I have run out! Maybe have more luck with chocolate! Oh the issues for a sweet-toothed bod. Funnily I had some sweet stuff the other day and I didn't really enjoy it. So much away from sugar and my taste buds have decided meh, you don't need it, while my head still says my preciousssss I neeeeeedz! We gave our bread flour to DD when OH visited her a couple of weeks back. I'm so glad I went to stay and hunt wedding dresses in February with her. Mostly here is like any other day. Except day 8 of sunshine which is amazing. I've been tidying beds, planting garlic, winter onions and now the first early spuds have gone in. It is DDs birthday today and I'm sad because she can't enjoy it (plus who knows what's to happen for the wedding) I would have been there after my quilt retreat - but that was deferred to next year. But she has observed so many people mooching around in Leamington Spa and she gets angry. She is going into work because she doesn't want to be at home alone. Half the office have taken their computers home to set up and work remotely. Supposed to work from home - they didn't collect the computers till late afternoon. Then went AWOL for a staff meeting the following morning. Probably having lay-ins. They weren't taking calls either. Not sure if anything was said, but they can and probably are monitored so yesterday they were answering phones. Madam was relieved because the few in the office were constantly answering calls and nobody remotely was picking up if all staff in the office were on calls already. Not heard from the boy since his quarantine apart from saying it was over and he was going back to work. He said he might have had it, but if he did, it wasn't an issue and that he was fine. Boys! OH has had a funny series of photos taken by his partner - with Guinness lined up, he had a baseball cap on and rough holey clothes with a cigarette in his mouth "working" from home. Then gradually ended up with him flat out on the table with lots of crushed cans. He doesn't smoke either - he was winding OH up! There are a lot of people getting together for quiltalongs online. I'm already doing my own, but since the sun is out I'm doing outside chores while I can! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 PL we have been following that tracker.......although I think it's just winding OH up! Another lovely day here.........feels so sureal! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Can't work out how to add text to the ducks pic! It was posted on our village facebook. Very apt as we have a brook running through the village and many, many, many, many (you get the idea!) ducks who, when not hurling themselves in front of passing traffic (including cyclists) are constantly being stuffed with food by locals! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 😂 Anyone doing the “bear hunt”? Didn’t have any teddybears so got me a chalk marker! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Ahh, looks like Soapy is in one of the same groups as me 😂 Life isn't really much different here, getting loads done at home though lots of garden remodelling yesterday (pickaxe out) and shifting of heavy soil. It is bright enough today, but there are clouds and a very cold wind. I am trying to use the smaller shops where I can, as the supermarkets all seem to have queues around the block just to get in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 Isolation Blues? Boogie them away by catching up on Sophie Ellis_Bextor's Friday Night Disco - brilliant fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
soapdragon Posted March 28, 2020 Share Posted March 28, 2020 What we cannot buy in the village we barter. Have just had half a bag of compost for my seeds dropped off by a lovely villager (following an appeal on the local website) in exchange for a roll of Donald Trump novelty loo roll........desperate times! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Dogmother Posted March 29, 2020 Share Posted March 29, 2020 So very true: 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted March 30, 2020 Share Posted March 30, 2020 Not much sitting on the sofa going on here except right now with my coffee 😂 About to go shift the load of compost sand and slabs that B&q just delivered off the drive and down the garden (I wasn't expecting that would still happen so that was a bonus) Slab and sand are to provide firm base for my walkin run that after years of promising it my husband's got as far as working out plan and ordering the wood, wood order was promptly cancelled but it will take me a while to level the area 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
