Put away your purse & become debt-averse

foxgloves

......Oh, & HHoD, I forgot to mention that the first snakehead fritillaries are just coming into flower under the pear tree. We used to have a lot more of these but they were attacked by lily beetle a few years ago. I must get a few more bulbs for next year, as they do look very pretty - there is nothing else really like them, with their chequered flowers.
F x

foxgloves

Hello Diary Friends,
An unexciting but pleasant enough day. Town first thing to post my Easter presents, then the market for our fresh fruit & veg & a couple of other shops. As the fruit & veg was the last expenditure of our March grocery budget, I can now say that we came in at about £3 under budget this month. There were times when I thought we would be over budget by quite a chunk, but we managed to pull it back this week. I do think that the supermarket chaos just prior to Lockdown 1, then the lockdowns themselves plus a few supply issues, some of them probably for brexitty kind of reasons, have all coalesced to make fresh produce & food generally more expensive. I will be glad when we are picking & eating our own homegrown produce again, but that is a long way off yet. I have pulled the forced rhubarb. The main rhubarb is growing well & I have sorrel ready for picking (for adding to salad or making soup), but our ancestors truly called this time the 'hungry gap' for a reason.......stored crops were running out or had already been eaten & not much fresh food ready to pick. I think that's why they used nettle tops. I don't mind nettle soup, actually. 
I do go off topic, don't I? We have also done about an hour & a half in the garden. Mr F continued wrestling the ivy into submission & I weeded all the courtyard pots & tidied them up with a bit of snipping, dealt with an infestation of the evil weevil (I must try some nematodes on them this year) & swept up. I've done a bit of family history this afternoon, including applying for some certificates, which I have paid for from my Personal Spends money. I have plenty in that budget at the moment, as it isn't as if we've been out anywhere to spend it. Of course I do buy things online, but it isn't even a quarter as enjoyable as actual shopping - being able to try things on, properly assess the quality of the item, stop for a coffee & scone, etc, so I am not someone who would rack up big online shopping bills because it wouldn't really involve any of that pleasure.
Mr F;s cooking night, so he's clattering away in the kitchen & I'm cosy on the sofa thinking I will just get today's piano practice done, then I will read my book. Might watch 'Deutschland 89' tonight - we've enjoyed the earlier 2 series. 
Enjoy your Saturday nights.......we are none of us hitting the town & painting it red, but the situation is what it is & at least we know, that like all things, it will eventually pass.
F x

Sun_Addict

A big part of the pleasure of shopping for me is the stop off for a coffee, then a browse round the shops, followed by a nice lunch. Online shopping is for heavy items and things I can’t find in the shops.

scandimore

That sounds like a nice day Foxgloves and glad your garden is looking good. We spent a bit of time outside today too as tomorrow is forecast to be rainy and windy. You'll be glad to know we "shopped from home" by proxy and found a load of strawberry plants under the gooseberry bush so managed to fill the gaps in the strawberry patch potentially made by Mr or animal unknown  
I'm sure the market traders will have been glad of your custom throughout lockdown. Must be a very worrying time for people who rely on passing trade. I hope everyone continues to buy local, it sounds like something you've historically done but so many just nip to the supermarket for everything due to lack of time. I've definitely had my eyes opened to the great produce sold locally so am trying to give them my dosh where possible! 

ladyholly

I would lov to buy local but my nearest shops are all supermarkets and the council in its wisdom have closed off where the buses normally stop and moved the stops much further away from the town. This is now too far for me to walk so for at least 6 months I have no access into town. Even if my husband takes me in the car we cannot park in the central car park as we have a Mazda Bongo which are quite tall and it wont go in the multi story. I have complained to my local concillor who has passed it to the project manager but I am not hopeful of a sensible answer in fact if I get any answer I will be surprised.

Baileys_Babe

We too have a Mazda Bongo @ladyholly ours is 2.2 metres tall and it can be difficult to find somewhere to park. The occasional multistorey car park has clearance but most don't and a lot of surface level car parks have height restrictions that are too low.

ladyholly

Baileys_Babe Yes great vehicles but can be a pain for parking. Yours is obviously a free top as well at that height.

Baileys_Babe

Yes, we have a free top, lovely vehicles very useful but a pain to park at times.

scandimore

Luckily / unluckily we're fairly rural only one bus a day but local businesses I didn't even know existed have been delivering during lockdown e.g. fruit and veg which normally goes to restaurants. Weve been trying to support local as much as possible but it isn't always easy for everyone.

foxgloves

Yes, it does depend on what is available locally. I live in a village, but we are lucky to be just a mile & a half or so from town. Even the local market has been offering deliveries during Lockdown.... people can list their requirements the day before market day & a market officer will collate the orders & deliver fresh fruit & veg, meat, fish, cheese, eggs & bread. We can get into town to shop directly from the market stalls, but I expect this has been a really useful service for people who have been unwell or shielding.
F