Self Sufficient 2021

[ina]

Stats up here - so many cases in the nearest four or so miles that this whole village could be laid up with the virus. We're in a real virus hot spot. Not that there's anything to do with the weather being distinctly colder than cold. Even the dog walkers are doing very short walks.

Can you still book deliveries OK, or are they overrun again? As long as you have food, I suppose you don't need to go out... I'm back at work on Monday, and as things are at the moment, I'd rather stay home.

[Flo]

No problems with food delivery. No problems with going out at present until the knee is trained. But it is boring. The real problem is that none of the village hall events have been able to start up again even when lock down rules are loosened. So there's no chat club for older folks, no craft club, no WI and no cheap film club. You sort of miss out on the odd couple of hours for a natter on a Thursday morning (chat club) or the chance to catch up on a film that you have missed for £3 or thereabouts (plus coffee at the break) on Friday evening. One has to have a bit of a break for doing things.

[ina]

I sometimes wished I could go for a coffee, even with nobody to talk to, just to see something different! And they've closed the local library again...

[Flo]

Exactly Ina. You can only be so self sufficientish. Even on the farm in my youth we had a 5% chance of outside "stuff" and something to do.

[Flo]

Someone elsewhere on the internet said that being tidy (!!!!!!!!) and putting the same things together stopped you buying another one when you didn't need it.

That sounds a bit like one of those Marie Kondo tidying up ideas to me but I do see what the intention is.

[Odsox]

Even on the farm in my youth

We were talking this morning about waterglass when I read the BBC news about an egg glut due to no hotel breakfasts. That's something I well remember as it was always my job to put my hand in a bucket of freezing cold water to get slimy eggs for Sunday breakfast.
Those were the days

[KathyLauren]

We are getting a bit of cabin fever here. We go out once a week for essentials, and we are keeping the pantry well-stocked. I go to a weekly yoga class, but that could change at any time.

We are doing pretty well for covid cases here - none in our area, and only single digits daily for the whole province - but we are nervous about the new mutants. They are in the country, and it is only the strict travel restrictions that are keeping them out of Nova Scotia. If they come here and start to spread, we will likely cut back on grocery shopping, and the yoga class will be history.

I am trying to stay active walking the dog, but I am a bit incapacitated by surgery I had last year that didn't go well. I'll probably have to have more surgery to fix it, if they even allow it. I'll have to travel out of the province for that, from an area that is fairly covid-free to the hotspot of out-of-control spread. It's not looking good right now.

We will be growing berries this year. We did well with strawberries and black currants last year. We want to add a few more black currant bushes. Home-made black currant jam on toast is my Sunday morning treat!

We are not self-sufficient in veggies, but we buy locally, from a wonderful family-run organic farm down in the valley. We had a CSA subscription there for a couple of years, but we found that the quantities were too much for our small household. So now we just order what we need, and it is working well.

[Flo]

That's bad about the surgery KL - especially if you can't ever get it put right. In this village all social activity is history at present with no sign of let up. You can be as self sufficient as you like till you run out of human contact. We aren't trained to live in isolation.

[Flo]

I think that the grandson's wedding has been put off again - was planned for May this year (moved on a year from 2020) but he's not hopeful. Think that he and the lady may make a fast visit to the nearest registry office and the party whenever things get better. Shame - obviously not going to get to party in the compound of a lighthouse on the north coast of Scotland. Was looking forward to that.

It doesn't look as if there is going to be any break out soon. I have an idle dream of taking my small camera out, getting on a bus and going round some of the small tourist villages to take pictures. I know some of them have changed in the intervening years. Pubs come and gone, houses sold and gardens changed, businesses moved.

[Flo]

So we are still on rolling lockdowns of sorts. Half way through the year and still tied down in many ways. Facebook full of local businesses trying to drum up custom. Do you think that the pub culture has gone in the UK?

[Green Aura]

You wouldn't think lockdown isn't completely lifted until later this month (if then) up here. Wall to wall campervans, tents, barbecues and other "waste" being left in situ as the campers move on.

I don't know about pubs, Flo. We don't have many round here.

[Odsox]

Yeah, same here. Never seen so many campervans. All different styles from the huge pantechnicon types down to the homemade van conversions.
Not many caravans though.

[Weedo]

Another Covid spinoff - I was looking for a largish aluminium punt to use as a flood boat (our patch floods every few years) as the last one was stolen. The only actual punts available in Oz now days are either huge commercial units or things you wouldn't put Owl & Pussycat in! I did find a boat builder with a great design but it will be 3 months before he can make it. Apparently the huge demand for caravans, campers and boats is taking up all the materials

[ina]

Is that because people are more inclined to take holidays with their own accommodation? Understandable... But I hear that places in caravan parks are a lot more expensive than they used to be.

[Flo]

Another Covid spinoff - Apparently the huge demand for caravans, campers and boats is taking up all the materials

I wonder what will become of all these caravans, campers and boats in two or three years time? Will there be a glut of these on the market when self sufficient travel goes out the window?