Plague 55

We are free.................It took arguing with the powers that be till 5pm yesterday for him to be offered a place in the homeless hostel in Lincoln , we had 5 agencies and the police involved in the conversation . The local council were insistent that he be bailed to this address because we have an empty bedroom , I already knew that would be the argument , but i pointed out we wernt prepared to not see my grandson , my partner is disabled and that Young Baldrick isnt able to follow distancing protocols because he doesnt give a stuff about anyone else . Plus theres no phone signal here so they cant get in touch with him . The police agreed with us that it isnt fair to expect us to provide 24 hour monitoring of his behavior  , because we are very rural they couldnt get to us in the event of their being major problems . I just started sobbing at the point the woman from the council stated that they would help me to claim carers allowance for him and sort out rent problems etc .  FFS i would be caring 24 hours a day and caring for someone who i believe is dangerous , she got a monk on and suggested that i was the one that needed to see a doctor!! 

They finally agreed that he couldnt stay here , then there they were all arguing among themselves about what to do with him . The police wanted him moving out of he area altogether , other agencies say that is a good idea . The council say that he must be in Lincoln because hes only on bail and he hasnt been charged with anything .  The council were just saying that they didnt feel that they could risk their staff  and suggested that he be rehoused in the Premier Inn , in Lincoln the local council rents the whole of a local Premier Inn for emergency housing , but the police pointed out that he cant be near children as a bail condition , the council were none to happy when the police suggested the new build hostel that is basically an open prison with 24 hour monitoring and the staff are in a module , a lot of the residents have just left prison and are being assessed so this sounds ideal . So at 5pm he was delivered there , the silence is deafening and wonderful . we sat outside last night watching the lightening show and Mr BH said  you know we havent heard the last of him dont you .........

Plague 54

Yesterday was going pretty well till Young Baldrick decided to take apart his xbox for some imaginary reason , he tends to take apart everything electronic he comes in touch with , ive had to stop him touching everything of ours that he can make work better or faster or update . Anyway he fixed its imaginary faults , turned it on and it had died . The rage was astonishing it seemed that the munchkin had damaged it deliberately , trouble is grandson hasnt been in the house since he left the building before Baldrick arrived . Ranting , talking to himself this went on all yesterday evening , we went to bed at 9pm and left him to it . We had already had fun just getting his prescription filled at the doctor , hed been back to the car three times ranting and Mr BH had pointed out that if the police turned up we were just driving away.  All the way home we had ranting about his partner not sorting out his medication , how she wouldnt fetch it for him, on and on . Please bear in mind she is severely physically handicapped which may have a lot to do with this. His level of paranoia and poor me is ever increasing .  His dad has taken him fishing out of the way today , so im toddling off on mission see the kids at lunch . 10am tomorrow we are rid of him , they have rung to say that an advocate from some agency will be meeting him there . we are dropping him off and turning off our phones , we know that we havent seen the back of him . but the door will be remaining locked for the foreseeable future 

Plague 53

The whole contact his GP farce has left me worn to the bone , his GP is another one of those on Ask GP  the computer system that is never working . So i spent most of yesterday trying to explain that he has autism and isnt able to deal with this , till i got one useful receptionist who said i will just get a GP to ring you back . GP rings back and says theres nothing they can offer him but antidepressants and Step Change self referral , something hes really going to take up !! He needs far more than a 3 minute phone call and a soddin phone number .
Yesterday was dreadful from start to finish he smelled so bad he was making my eyes water , he was quite chirpy and on overshare mode . He managed to corner me so he could tell me in full gory detail  about his sex life with his partner !!! I was finally rescued by Mr BH going off his head at him but at least he managed to convince him to shower .  We have noticed that we have to be very careful about what we watch on the TV anything about the police or violence even the news can set him off on a paranoid rant , we have to keep the TV on so that he doesnt get on his violent xbox games . Saying no has no effect .  We had DR Who on all day yesterday as we figured aliens was a good thing for him to be paranoid about . Im so glad we dont have access to guns in this country he is obsessed with them .
I really thought he had quietened down again but no, something while he was flicking channels set him off . This was an epic racist rant , so  bad we just sat in silence and looked at each other , how hes lived this long baffles me . In fact he is just terrorizing us we spend a lot of time staring at each other in disbelief , i just stay in the bedroom his dad cant run away and is stuck in a room with him .
Friday he is gone , but i dont think we have heard the last of it .

Plague 52

Where to begin ....this half arsed version of lockdown is making it impossible to resolve anything on the Young Baldrick front , im still sticking to the we leave him at the police station plan . We had actually contact from someone at social services a wee bit further up the food chain , to be informed that there had been a case conference which he had neither been invited to or informed of . the excuse being because he is still on bail he cant be in contact with his child or partner .  So he asked me to speak to them because he didnt understand . At which point they gathered that im not afraid of them , i dont give a toss if they put our grandson in care , my only concern is them avoiding there duty of care towards Young Baldrick , no im not going to take oh  but its because of Covid as an excuse . Strap your mask on like everybody else has had to and get on with it . I have explained that he will be homeless on the 31st  and no its not down to me to sort this whole shitty mess out , im not well his dad is in bits its effecting  him both physically and mentally . Young Baldrick is seriously mentally ill , hes suicidal , having paranoid delusions and should be in secure psychiatric care at the moment , not here terrorising us . In fact i dont know how much more clear i could have made things . At which point she turns round and says . Well after today im on holiday for a fortnight theres an emergency number to ring .  She didnt like it when i said im well aware of that number already , its leave a message and hope nobody has been killed when they ring you hours later !!!!

Plague 51

Another happy day on the fens , himself and the cuckoo have taken themselves fishing so im doing not a lot today just a potter around sort of day , im so tired i may be feet up and fall asleep with some inane rubbish on the TV day . Yesterday turned out a much better day , the third son biked 30 miles to see us for the first time in months , more to ask me if i could get the mould out of his very expensive motorbike jacket , hed left it in his boot and the boot had leaked , nothing what half a gallon of  white vinegar couldnt tackle in the washer , i struggled to get it in the washer hes such a big lad , he will pop back sometime next week for it, i cant figure out how to get all the armour and liners into it . He was made redundant back in March and his landlord has dropped his rent down to Housing Benefit level till hes working again because hes a good reliable tenant , plus hes doing a bit of work for the landlord here and there .  Hes been very quiet of late so i had already gathered hed found a girlfriend but was keeping it quiet . Watching young Baldrick prancing around he did comment that he was glad his girlfriend had a couple of small kids as he wouldnt dare have any of his own .  Hes fortunate that hes the least affected of the males in his mothers family apart from having cataracts he just has a few very minor joint problems . Its a syndrome that comes as a lot of letters and numbers , females are carriers and have Ehlers Danlos and early onset dementia to look forward to , males can have anything from cataracts to severe autisms ,EDS and loads more goodies but have a much lower rate of passing it on.  In this day and age why would anyone plan to have children without genetic screening at least .knowing this is in the family .
So the sofa and the TV remote are calling , day of sloth and working out a very cheap online shopping list . Tesco gripe , they sent me some £8 off a £40 spend vouchers which is a very useful amount , sadly they are only to be used instore , i havent ventured into Tesco since March , mainly because by the time ive queued for ages i need the loo. They abandoned the village back in March for online shopping and have only just appeared  again . Morrisons continue to be dire online, this week we got no milk , no eggs no meat its like a lottery.

Plague 50

Well yesterday was my birthday not my facebook birthday or my google one , like the queen i have more than one mainly for online security issues .
It was the sort of day that convinces you that life can only go upwards from here , not a single thing went right . From getting up to find that yesterday was one of Mr BHs  spectacular physical problems days which requires endless washing  of the wet room , hosing of the toilets , washing soaking ,washing, washing more washing , putting washing out  fetching washing in  ...oh joy ...not helped by the whining cuckoo in the nest following me round asking what was going on . So contrary to some peoples thoughts , im not a carer just to make a cup of tea now and then , theres days when its just endless grotty chores . Nobody can visit due to our Cuckoos bail conditions and we cant go out unless hes with us and is constantly supervised . So hes still having a paddy this morning because theres no shops within 3 villages hes got no bacca  and i dont feel like going out im knackered .  My daughter rang and my son in law texted that was my birthday , grandson rang up crying because he wants to come back to grannies just to make me feel better ..lol
im counting the days till we can get rid of him , we have already had the discussion about if hes charged hes not being bailed back to here under any circumstances , its been made pretty obvious that we have been taken for a mug by the whole family , nobody wants to step up and take any responsibility , theyre all think that throwing a bit of cash at the problem absolves them of doing more , they all have spare bedrooms its way past time they did their share

Plague 49

So another glorious morning at the little prison camp on the fen , im up and have been for the morning cat stroll only 3 today so im low on cats this week though im turning into the hedgehog whisperer as well as young Frank or Franketter came for the evening stroll last night , hes reached the realms of sitting up and begging for cat kibble , he chases the cats round the garden and hes not averse to a Lidl cat stick treat , cant get any good pics of him as he turns up at dusk and stays for around an hour .
On the Young Baldrick front we are stuck with him for the whole 28 days and its proving hard work , though hes improving with some sort of sleep regime imposed , midnight curfew for all electronics or his dad will stamp on his phone seems to have sunk in . Between that and the sunburn from not listening when told you need sunscreen in daylight hes a bit crispy at the moment , being so white from never going outside isnt helping him , they have a huge garden thats like an overgrown wasteland .  ffs go out and cut the bloody grass when you get home . Losing himself for hours and days in violent games isnt doing him any good . The arguments weve had over that , im sure his xbox means more to him than his kid . Im coming to the conclusion that he and his partner are a car crash waiting to happen , shes hooked on heavy duty pain medication due to her disability and spends a lot of time asleep , hes constantly on his xbox her teenage kids seem to be looking after the baby most of the time .
I really dont see how this can be made to work , resources are scarce , lockdown has made their problems 10 times worse because they have had minimal monitoring , he doesnt answer the door hes cut all the family off . I can see this turning to headlines in the Sun with a lessons learned speech from Social Services and the other agencies involved .  He just needs inpatient psychiatric care and assessment , hes needed it for how many years now and hes got nothing ,hes just a bomb waiting to go off .

Plague 48

Well this is fun another happy day with the smelly cuckoo in the nest . Thanks for all the helpful comments , some are a little naive perhaps not intentionally just ignorance of the UK systems in place . Young Baldrick is high function autistic he has Aspergers Syndrome and other numerous isms that are an endless list , this doesnt mean hes good at one particular thing , it means he absorbs endless information but cant put it into order to actually use what he learns . This leads to frustration which can lead to aggression.  His people skills are dreadful every other word is fuck , there is never any improvement in this . He is currently so paranoid that nobody can help him , not that theres any help for him available in Lincolnshire at the best of times .  It is best that he is allowed no contact with his partner and their child at the present time and the police have stated this . Social Services are involved , they have a caseworker but lockdown has meant that he is cycling, hes either so depressed hes not getting out of bed for days or so wound up hes dangerous, hes refusing all medication and so paranoid he cant see that hes the problem not the rest of the world .
So the problem is once again dumped on us , he needs inpatient psychiatric treatment but theres none available anywhere unless he injures someone at which point he can be sectioned against his will . It does always calm him being here , but its proving hard work enforcing a regular regime on him this time . Last night there was another session with Mr BH having to stand up to him , YB wanted a bottle of Jack Daniels NOW , we are miles from the shops and all the drink was locked up before he arrived so it wasnt happening . Hed also had a bit of a do with BIL while fishing , never one to mince his words hed told young Baldrick that his kid would be better off in care than putting up with his bullshit excuses .
It feels like every sentence ends with an argument .
But heres some more anti Tory propaganda , the wonderful well thought out Universal Credit system , means that as the head of the household all the universal credit is paid direct to his bank account , leaving his partner who isnt allowed any contact with him without a penny at the moment . She faces another 5 week wait till she can get a penny in her own name , while he sits here whining for a bottle of Jack Daniels . If one turns up from Amazon today i will be the one locked up for smashing it over his head !!!

Plague 47

Where to begin , our cuckoo in the nest is driving me steadily mad , so if i vanish for a while dont worry , there is a possibility i may have murdered him but its more likely i will be having a bit of an episode and just want nothing to do with the world at all . Im not getting much sleep with him here as hes up wandering about half the bloody night . When i do get nodding off hes shouting and swearing at his Xbox till the early hours . I actually spent several hours sat in the fishing shelter drying in the garden just to get away from him . He smells like a ferret , doesnt wash just glares at me if i say anything, i even begrudge cleaning the endless skid marks from the loo after him he just treats me like a member of the staff , its got to be bad if even his dad has had enough him .  He has grown in to a truly horrible vile adult .  Aspergers can be the weirder offshoot of the autism spectrum and quite often it leads to paranoid schizophrenia as an adult and i do think there are real signs of this . Nothing  is his fault about the horrible mess he has got himself into or so he thinks and believe me its his attitude to authority that has ended up with him stuck here yet again . People have been trying to help him but he doesnt see it that way , now there is an 18 month old child in the mix he is finding he cant just do what he wants and cut off all the help that is offered . Ive always liked his partner shes rather like me in the keep plodding on whatever is slung her way mentality but this is going to boil down to whether social services decide hes a danger to the kids in which case we may be stuck with him for good . The fact he may well be a danger to us counts for nothing it seems . He is an adult and we cant force him to accept the help or medication he is offered , plus it will be expected that he lives here full time because the munchkins bedroom is empty regardless of what we say, thats the sad fact of state housing these days and the bedroom tax.  So wish me look ...my life once again has entered the realms of you couldnt make it up 

Plague 46

On a lighter note today , did the bread run yesterday because Mr BH decided that today would be family fishing trip day . so it was up early to do the lunch , ive supplied them with lots of stuff out of the bottom of the freezer that was for the xmas buffet that didnt happen due to everyone being ill . Not helped by the fact that some bright spark at the Jobcentre has sent Young Baldrick on a food hygiene course and he is now a world expert . Caught him going through the cupboards looking for anything out of date because his dad is vulnerable and im old , not so old that i cant ram a tin of beans straight up your arse if you dont get out of my kitchen AAArrrgggh .  He has no concept of personnel space and boundaries and hes never going to grow any . Oh and i need to date everything i put in the freezer or it needs to be thrown away, so in protest i found a pack of raspberries three years out of date and made hin crumble for tea ....small victories
Anyway while on the bread run , the lovely elderly lady who works on the tills has returned to Sainsburys , they arent furloughing any staff now , i asked her if she was happy about it ? Yes and No she was bored to death at home and missed the company but is it worth risking your life for a natter?
I think the main thing made noticeable by all the freedom is theres an ever developing gap between the old and the young . The media have made it clear that Covid doesnt apply to the young so theyre all off partying , sadly its noticeable in the press that the stabbings in London are starting again . The middle age seem to be taking a more practical approach wear a mask , wash your hands and get on with life . But the Elderly remain terrified and arent going out masked or not . Covid is far from over , it looks like being a long term feature of life , its also being made clear that Covid is a disease for the poor , if your wealthy you just jet around the world as normal, totally ignoring all scientific evidence because in your fragrant world it doesnt exist its an illness for plebs and your granny.

Plague 45

Just as life settles into yet more plague tedium , you get a phone call that pops your little bubble. Its the police.
Young Baldrick has got himself in a spot of bother and spent a night in the cells he can be released but he needs to be at an address away from his partner and the kids , i hasten to add that he has hurt no one , though lets be honest i wouldnt be surprised if he had . So after cutting us off completely Young Baldrick has entered the building yet again . The munchkin has had to be sent home to his mother so im minus my gardner because Baldricks not allowed near children at the moment , now dont jump to conclusions I must admit i did, its a weird tale thats not for me to tell.
But i think that i rattled a few cages with the police when i pointed out that he shouldnt be interviewed alone as a registered vulnerable adult  and that any so called evidence obtained during questioning would be null and void .  He apparently refused a solicitor as well .
Baldricks mum is away looking after a sick friend or he could have gone to hers , shes trying to sort something out to come back , but were hoping this can all be sorted out come Monday once his social worker appears .
As usual hes filthy , stinks of weed and is a skanky mess , so thats this mornings battle , that and stretching the food budget yet again .  Stew anyone
We went to bed last night and Mr BH said .
What the hell will happen to him once were not here to sort his messes out?
My reply of he will end up doing hard time or in Broadmoor eventually didnt go down well , one day he will get himself in serious trouble that i cant resolve its inevitable , his dad cant see we are being played yet again and its tragic .

Plague 44

Cloudy and cold this morning so Mr has staggered off fishing with brother in law , they have the wee tents to sit in so should be fine , did a heavy gardening day yesterday so ive decidedly crippled myself today .
 Had one of those strange chats with a mate of many years standing online yesterday.
Do you still need leeks ive a pot full left , can we meet in Lincoln for a cuppa somewhere?
Errrm....well theres no toilets open so it might be at short notice , i have to pick my times to go out , at least with son stuck in since March ive got a sitter . 
We decided to try posting the leeks...lol   I must admit ive reached the age where i dont go anywhere i cant be sure to find the toilets open , so no im not going to be rushing to the pub this weekend .
 Im quite enjoying a gardening summer  with my sidekick , he was hauling away the big lumps of bushes quite happily yesterday then manually chopping it up into little pieces , pissed off that i had to sell the shredder when i was hard up , though evil rumour has it theres one somewhere in the tardis sheds at his father in laws , i live in hope .
Watched Prime Ministers Question Time for some unknown reason yesterday and just sat there with my jaw dropped as the chief baboon stated that the reason that Leicester is being quarantined is that the residents couldnt understand  the governments instructions on Covid  Condescending racist pig pretty much sums him up .  Most of the residents of Leicester may have different skin tones but they are for the most part second and third generation English . What next Tory public health statements in pidgin English ?

Plague 43

Sunny Sunday now the grounds nice and soft planting can resume in the garden with my apprentice  hes grown so much the last few weeks hes looking me in the eye now...lol . hes staying for 2 more weeks at least due to his move up to senior school hes doing online training at the moment.
Mr BH in his best i know best mode decided we should go into town early Friday morning because he wanted to go shopping , hes not been anywhere on his buggy for months because i just cant lift his bigger chariot and the tight old git refuses to spend the money to have the proper hoist fitted to the car , grandson is however big and strong enough to maul the damned thing about . 
 Mr has no idea what its like shopping and just gets angry with me . He wanted to go to Boyes but they dont open till 10 so he had a strop , then he decided Wilkos was a good idea on his chariot , nuts and bolts being upstairs we had to use the lift he promptly demolished a huge basket of tea light candles started swearing at me while the horrified assistants looked on , not helped by grandson chiming up "hes always like this "  The other interesting fact due to the endless snail trails, barriers and one way system he couldnt get to the tills or exit the store , so once again he was off ranting .  After we got him out he just spent the rest of our time sitting outside the butchers and Heron scowling at me.  We had to listen to his whole disabled soddin access rant the whole time we were out , i did point out that he isnt supposed to be out anyway at which point i thought his head would explode .
So the atmosphere here is a tad frosty at the moment not helped by the fact you cant go fishing in lightning weather ....i wish he would it would be like a dodgem car at the fair !! 

Plague 42

So here we are at 42 which i gather is the answer to everything , somehow i watched Boris yesterday and im just as baffled as i was before i watched him , lots of meaningless graphs and statistics plus why is he so obviously dubbed it was like watching an out of synch foreign movie .
So now we are down to one metre which was pretty much what most people were doing anyway just on the grounds of you cant get 2 metres apart in most buildings these days . So pubs with a beer garden are reopening what if they have no beer gardens just a hut for the smokers because the brewery sold off all the land around them for housing , so a lot of town centre pubs are doomed , but this will be the end of the pub industry as a whole , most people have discovered the joy of alcohol by post during lockdown , plus its much easier to be a closet alcoholic . 
Ive noticed one sad side effect of the lockdown those over 50 are being targeted for redundancy by a great many firms ,along with those with pre existing medical conditions  and the fat .  One friend is having a really bad time she has never been out of work in her life and suddenly the national company she works for has put those over 50 on the redundancy heap , she has worked all through the lockdown 12 hours a day seven days a week  , but bye bye your to big a risk .  im sure our caring leader will shortly raise the pension age yet again to pay for lockdown . Its a bit of a ploy to make the economy look better by forcing the over 50s middle class to use up their assets to make it look better  .On a plus note the younger generation are starting to look a bit more attractive to some employers , nephew has managed to get a farm job collecting eggs and sarcastic son has his name down . All the eastern european employees went home once they realised that herd immunity wasnt a good idea . Plus i get duck eggs now as nobody else wants them , not a fan of them on their own but theyre amazing for cooking .
So where do we go from here? not a clue nothing much changes here , still plodding on . Though the persistant stomach bug everyone seems to be having mystery may be solved  . Its become noticeable that its happening whenever it rains and now we can talk to each other it seems theres most of the village has had the problem .  Collered the jogger who is an engineer for Anglian Water and asked if anything has changed in the water supply because if you go onto bottled water you get better rapidly , it seems theyre using a different make of additive at the moment due to shortages of the normal one . So ive emailed Anglian Water and am waiting for a response .

Plague 41

So its a beautiful sunny lush green morning on the fen . All the thunderstorms add the perfect touch to the garden , though the grass does need mowing badly , last year in the whole of summer the grass was cut just 4 times , this year its back to weekly . Ive pottered round and checked things this morning and the highlight is that the rain has lashed the greenfly off the apple trees , im hoping the really hot weather forecast for this week will cause the apple trees to drop otherwise its going to be a ball ache to thin them all . A reasonable amount of pears this year as it has glutted several years on the trot , plus its looking good on the plum front so it may be a major plum jam year if the wasps dont get there first , the raspberries are glutted but nobody wants them...lol theyre to busy moaning that i had virtually no strawberries
On the locked up front i managed to buy a couple of box lots  from a local little auction that was on facebook , no internet so i asked my daughter to go it was just up the road from her  , first time she had been out since March but she says its was great very social distanced and masks , everything was bagged up and it sat in her boot for the rest of the week , try not to laugh at my purchases .

Yep more dolls for my world of strange...lol   ..90s Ken is a plastic horror story but never played with , i love the 80s stencil sets . My first ever Bratz horror doll , i have an idea for her and it involves a hacksaw ...lol ..but it seems i accidently bought a couple of Sindys the blonde being an original early 60s one and valuable . But answer me this why cant Barbie keep her clothes on ? Theres a mountain of Bratz clothes and accessories along with their feet so i guess i get to play dollys come winter  

Plague 40

So Covid is now middle aged?  Im not spending much time online due to enjoying having grandson around , he flatly refused  to go home till he goes back to school and informs me its more important to grow food...lol
On another note he did rather rattle me the other night at 1am when he was woken up by the endless pissed up party next door and informed me that hed looked out his bedroom window and was ringing the police because they wernt social distancing correctly . That was a little to Hitler Youth for my liking so i pointed out to him that natural selection is a wonderful thing and he needed to do nothing except wait for the coughing and keep a good long way away from them all . We are just hoping that the party season has drawn to a close till next payday as three nights on the trot was a bit extreme and very loud .
Then we went disabled fishing yesterday and MR BH took a tumble  and it was a hard job getting him back up , all because he wanted a photo with his huge fish that his brother had landed for him , he was laid on the ground for a good 10 minutes with everyone panicking and me just telling them to leave him till the spasms died down before moving him , the swearing was so bad he wasnt about to die . Hes feeling it today and is on his emergency pain killers , 3 day rule if hes got circulation and feeling dont panic unless he cant wee in which case dial for an ambulance . Did have a conversation with the fishing pit owner later in the day who was horrified and I explained exactly what is up with him and not to worry to much , as he said he just though he was on crutches with a funny hip or something . BIL did comment that i was more worried about the fish at the time .
So im heading out for an afternoons gardening with the munchkin shortly , dont think i will here much from my other half as ive had to wake him up several times just to give him a cuppa...lol

Plague 39

So Grandson has entered the building hes been isolatting with his mum for the duration , not sure how long its for but he wasnt wanted back at school yet as there primary is quite a large modern eco building that doesnt have the space to have all the kids there at once , so he will probably get his rota days sometime soon . At which point common sense dictates we wont see him again .  Though Lincolnshire schools that have opened are already facing problems with staff testing positive for Covid and many have shut again . The kids seem to have no symptoms but are wiping out the teachers and support staff .
The ongoing problem at the moment is that theres also a nasty snot cold virus doing the rounds ,  so its scaring folks to death , if you have no transport theres no way of getting tested easily or quickly and the GPs have barricaded themselves in and pulled up the drawbridge . I suspect they will never know who has had Covid in rural areas around the country, but there has been no deaths for several days here , but quite a lot of new infections .
Now that a lot of the older folk and disabled are venturing out theres big gaps in the shelves again as they all stock up , seen quite a lot of folks on disabled scooters lugging bags of compost home from the little garage  laden up . It seems that in a lot of cases lifes settling back to a new normal just with gloves and masks .
Just hoping the sun breaks out a little later it would be a great day for planting after the rain and ive loads of sprouts and sweetcorn to pop in with grandsons help. I do like the no dig method so much i just lift up the carpet , burn off any weeds remaining and chuck the compost bin contents down pop in the plants then a few organic slug pellets down and mulch with grass clippings . The ~Potatoes are looking really well under much the same method , havent done many potatoes this year , planting much more squash and beans because thats what we use most of plus theyre easy to store and grow , kale and savoy cabbages because thyre another easy crop . If youve lived anywhere for a few years you get to realise what never thrives for you , cauliflowers have never grown here , flea beetle devastates carrots and other root crops plus the grounds like concrete because its an old river bank . this years weird fail is rhubarb but it will recover and appear again at some stage , to much sunshine as it emerged sent it all straight to seed this year despite taking off the seed heads 

Plague 38

Just a grey murk of a day , despite heavy showers yesterday and overnight and this mornings hammering it down the ground is still rock hard and full of huge cracks . So much for the plan to put shed loads of squash in today . Though in an effort to baffle the neighbours ive hung a load of washing out .
Weve had a few grumbles and moans from a few of the neighbours because we go out to shop , this is mainly because they assume that we have the kind of income they have and can afford the butcher baker and candlestick maker that deliver .
Now im starting to get a little fed up with them , we have one couple who should be isolating because shes a heart lung transplant patient of a few years standing and does get a lot of bad patches .  They are still on the old DLA system they get a big new car everytime they can , he gets carers but works cash in hand most of the time , shes currently helping him lay block paving to match next doors because the block paving they layed last year isnt the same colour . Their son bought their council house and now rents it back to them ?  Plus him and the kids have been popping round all through lockdown . So they have a much bigger income than ours .
 Next to them is the builder of the bungalow at the bottom of the garden , hes on benefits but works full time as well , but is a bleedin scary menacing gammon so nobody in their right mind is going to do anything about that .
For the most part our neighbours are lovely but im cold and fed up so i feel like moaning about something today...lol

Plague 37

RAIN its lovely the first rain for weeks and its even warm rain !! .  im informed that grandson is coming to live here for a while , hes been locked up since March they have no garden  and his stepdad and he are planning to kill each other .  Doubtless the neighbours will be ringing somebody to report us , but his school isnt opening , his parents are off back to work so what else can we do ? We have a huge garden , masses of veg to plant out and he can try his hand at bricklaying another useful life skill i can teach him ...lol 
Not quite sure what the latest load of cobblers devised by the government is supposed to acheive other than extending the plan for herd immunity ,  they have stopped the grocery delivery scheme for a lot of the vulnerable to try to force them out of lockdown i dont have the breath to waste about folks flocking to the seaside or stores where distancing is a myth . I think we are the watch and wait point of the virus , sunshine kills an awful lot of things and it will hopefully drop the figures right down . But with the endemic lying from our government how the hell do you tell ? You dont get more distanced than South Lincolnshire , but most people know of someone whos died .
I cant see a whole lot of people returning to the big high street retailers so many will go under , BIL family are all now jobless , they worked in the hospitality industry and there employer is one of the dead , they have received no help from the state as there furlough paperwork didnt get completed and they cant apply for Universal Credit  because of this, its sort of left them in Limbo. They  had an eviction notice and a visit from the Council Tax Bandits the other day.  Once upon a time you could fill in a nil income form and it stopped the matter going forward tll benefits were resolved , but once again its something that has been done away with quietly by the current government . Once grandads estate is sorted Mr BH intends to give his share to his brother to help them out  , its not a big amount but every little helps .  There are none of the thousand of land work jobs available here till harvest time , which is another month at least but his BIL may be going back to work in the next few weeks despite his asthma being terrible at the moment . We shall see
So yes is continuing on as boring as ever

Plague 36

So another glorious day , im a great lover of heat so im lapping up the weather , here its almost always accompanied by a brisk breeze so its more than pleasant ,im busy digging out the compost bins adding wood ash and concocting rustic bean supports out of big lumps of hazel i pollarded a couple of months ago .  Chopped a pair of holey leggings to make plarn for tying everything together and ive just the brown wheely bin to finish emptying today . The local council started charging to take away garden waste a couple of years ago so i use that bin for degradable food waste and the odd lot of grass cuttings , i drilled a couple of holes at the bottom and it sits in a sunny spot festering but it makes quick compost .
Unable to breath today as im bedding in a new bra , the joys of being a big girl , industrial bras !! No good buying anything flimsy , it does annoy me theres lots of big girl bras out there these days but they always have flimsy straps , ive had some that actually make you bleed when you wear them , psoriasis is such a wonderful thing to have , sunshine does wonders for it . Finding bras without wires is another hard one if your a big girl , i cant make wired bras last more than a couple of weeks without poking an eye out , im an expert at putting wires back in, super glue and extra stitches can work wonders . Another bra gripe for big girls why are they all padded , i dont need them to look bigger ! Minimiser bras , squashing your boobs so they go into your armpits then you cant move your arms properly? WTF
How the hell did i go off on a whole bra rant ?