Can I…?

Today’s been spent getting on with the kitchen. It needs it. My husband’s been re-setting the larder door on its hinges and putting architrave around the frame – now the door is in place and the latch is back on, he’s moved on to continuing the job of tiling the kitchen wall.

He hasn’t done any tiling since his hips began to give him serious trouble, in summer 2019. He was digging around in the tiling cement and he asked; “Are we allowed to go out to a DIY place and get some fresh tiling cement?”

On the face of it, yes we are – the builders merchants are all still open as “essential businesses” – but equally, no we aren’t, as we are only allowed to go out for essential shopping trips, medical appointments, exercise under strict rules or to care for a vulnerable person. It’s been frustrating. We have spare time and want to keep occupied but we can’t, without breaking the rules.

It seems completely crazy that we have to ask a builders’ merchant a few miles away to post us the nails or paint or tiling supplies we need to make good use of our time – that we worry about driving three miles to a local supermarket in case we’re stopped by the police for not having gone to a food shop two miles away instead. We’ve learned today that a Suffolk hardware store that has been in business for 200 years has closed. Walking around that shop was a delight, and we’ll miss our trips there. I’m sure the current lockdown dealt them the final blow.

In better news, I have repaired the statue that I broke by dropping it on a stone floor and touched up the paint (the floor survived, thanks for asking). And this morning I heard that a story I submitted to a competition is through to the shortlist. Fingers crossed.