How many years campaigners have called for sweets and chocolate bars to be removed from shelves right by checkouts. When my children were little it would annoy me so much, that queuing nightmare with little ones within hands reach to all those tempting sweets. I understand times have improved now however I never take Scarlett to supermarkets so I'm not really sure. Suddenly, for me, with this coronavirus pandemic the temptations have changed. I stand outside the Co-op in the queue with my mask on, socially distanced, waiting to be let in. I hate queuing it's so boring, I look at my phone, no connection, smile at a few people walking by, they ignore me probably can't see me smiling as I have a mask on, read the headlines on the newspapers outside on the newspaper stand, far too depressing, then I shuffle along to the plant stand. If I have Scarlett with me this is how the conversation goes "That's pretty Nanny" "Yes it is a primrose." "I like that" "It's only £2 that is cheap, shall I buy it?" "Yes I like that".
For the first time in my life I am picking up items to buy before I go into the shop! If they look as if they need care and watering then that is it! It's lucky I only have one pair of hands! I think it may be because I am so desperate for signs of spring, I want brightness and normality or is it simply that standing looking at pretty flowers for a while is just too much temptation. I know spring will come but somehow those little flowers around the house seem to bring it closer.
Yesterday having a move around to make space for books resulted in me moving a lot of items around. Am I the only one who does this? My family groan when I come home with a new painting from a car boot sale as it can lead to a chain of events which ends up with furniture being moved! My Dad always was, until his hands have become painful with arthritis, an avid model maker. One of my main memories as a child was him sitting at the dining room table with a model ship or aeroplane on the go. I had a detailed Tiger Moth aeroplane, a model he made of the plane he used to fly in the Royal Air Force, hanging on my bedroom ceiling when I was little. I wish I still had it.
Over the years he has made beautiful dolls house rooms, not for children to play with but with a glass front and tiny little details that can keep you absorbed for a long time staring in. I have three he has made and they have been up on high shelves but yesterday I brought one of them down to the dresser. It was a really fiddly process as I had to take the glass of the front to put everything back into place and they have to be dusted with a little paintbrush. I thought now Scarlett is a bit older and can be trusted not to touch she would love to look into them. Unfortunately I couldn't get the lights to work despite an hour of fiddling with fuses. They come on but there must be a loose connection as they keep going off. I have bought a new lighting plug box on ebay and am keeping my fingers crossed I may be able to fix it before Scarlett comes on Thursday. This is one of my favourite photos of my Dad building a model ship taken in 1962 and it's one of the clearest memories from my early childhood.
