Hi folks,
I though that I might as well 'diarise' some of my week during lockdown as my Etsy shops are closed for the foreseeable. The lovely weather last week, and the week before, made me think that it would continue indefinitely but sadly it was not to be. While the sun shone I was able to plant some seeds, mainly of cottage garden flowers such as daisies and pansies, both outside and in the greenhouse. The downside was that I also had to start watering everything so the rain has been a timesaver in that respect. Roy and I also ventured out during the fine weather on a couple of short local walks, starting off through the field at the back of our cottage and walking on to the next village and then back. It was easy to social distance from the few people that we met who were mostly going for their daily run or walking the dog. We met someone we knew in the next village who has had various operations on his legs so is not able to go far, if anywhere. From the safety of the lane and well away from his garden wall, which he was a good distance behind, we had a chat.
I have been renewing items in my Etsy shops as they expire and when I get some time I have been listing new items but have been saving them as drafts so that they do not appear 'live'. My self isolation has lasted since the second week of March and Roy's a couple of weeks after that. The last time we went out was on the 3rd March to a Strictly Come Dancing show in Swindon with Giovanni Pernice and Nancy Xu, and we were quite worried about that but fortunately all was well and the number of infections in both Gloucestershire and Swindon were low at the beginning.
I have a fair amount of backstock to work my way through, so not being able to go out to look for new stock is not too big a problem, but I must admit that I am not getting through it very fast! My time has been spent on searching out suppliers for our household essentials and supermarket slots for deliveries. Like everyone else, I have taken up baking again to make stocks go further. I can't say that I have taken up any new challenges but have some jigsaws to pass the time. I usually pick 1000 pieces to make it a challenge but, as Roy does not join in, I am on my own on that one! I have done some reading but not as much as I though I would, possibly because I find too much reading at once makes my eyes ache these days.
I have watched all of the first six Star Wars films in chronological order and all eight of the Harry Potters and Roy has watched most of those too. We enjoy Killing Eve on Sunday evenings even though it is a bit violent, The Repair Shop and The Curse of Oak Island on Wednesdays. The next box set may be the Marvel Cinematic Universe films in chronological order starting with Captain America but I don't know how far we will get with those. I also have some episodes of Hypothetical to watch on the Sky Planner, as well as Gardener's World, though they couldn't be more different!
One of the things that I do on a regular basis is feed the birds every day - as well as the bird feeders on the tree which are squirrel proof for the small birds, I scatter an array of suet nibbles and bird seed over the lawn for our close corvid neighbours who are the rooks, jackdaws and crows who nest in some very tall trees not far away.
I am wondering which direction to go with MillCottageRetro after the lockdown. I am wanting to continue with the same number of items in the shop but showcase smaller things, partly because of the space needed to store them but also the amount of packaging that is required to pack them! I'm not sure that I can think of many retro homewares that would be small so may have to change tack - if anybody has any ideas please let me know .....
