A very quiet Christmas and New Year thanks to that pesky Covid……Bah Humbug!

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December began with the return of The Destroyer, but this time the action was in the garden. Mark brought his chainsaw and he and Neil got to work taking down some hideous conifers at the back of the garden adjacent to the vegetable patch and fruit cage.  In tribute to the late Dame Barbara Windsor, Cheryl didn’t miss the opportunity to ask Mark to trim her bush at the front which was also getting a bit overgrown…..tee heee!!

It was whilst Neil and Mark were bringing down the trees that Neil noticed half a dozen raspberries on the canes.  They were small and a tad sharp but, hey, raspberries in December?  Our tomatoes continue to amaze us.  Our Christmas Day breakfast of smoked salmon and scrambled egg also included the last of our greenhouse tomatoes.  It just seems unreal to be picking tomatoes in December.

A still evening was all that was needed to burn all the debris and the weather was very obliging. Just as well as there was another batch of felling and burning to do at the end of the month.

It’s Christmas……but not as we know it

It was becoming clear that things may not be as we would have hoped for owing to the rising number of Covid cases. We set our expectations at low so were not devastated when the inevitable announcement was made. We decided from the start of December that we would try and celebrate as best we could so the tree was up and decorated and lights strung up in all the windows.

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As we’ve reported before, we’ve been having regular takeaways in an effort to support local eateries.   We extended our shopping to the lovely Hideaway Café on the West End of the Esplanade.  It’s a delightful place serving quality cakes and light meals using locally sourced ingredients.  It’s become a favourite place for a treat including one of Neil’s travelling favourites, proper Vietnamese Coffee served with condensed milk.  It sits at the very end of the promenade with glorious views across the bay.  They have had limited opening recently using the outside seating which is of course very weather dependant.  However, businesses continue to be innovative through this crisis and they carried out a baking frenzy and advertised boxes of takeaway mince pies with clotted cream and Christmas cake. 

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We ordered a box of pies and half a Christmas cake but even that weighed over 1Kg!  We ate one pie each straightaway, just to sample the quality of course, and Cheryl immediately messaged them to order some more.  There are mince pies and there are  mince pies but these are the mince pies to die for.  The cake is equally delicious and the added bonus is that it doesn’t have icing which neither of us like. Just take a look at the picture, delicious it is but it’s also a work of art.

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Neil also managed to get some quality time with Paul, Miranda and the grandson that he so misses.  A couple of weeks before Christmas he met them at Stourhead National Trust Property for the Christmas garden light show.  They had met Miranda’s father during the afternoon for an outdoor Christmas get together as Simon was taking no risks having been in hospital earlier in the year.  It was great to see everyone and the light show, despite the very damp weather, was excellent.

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A week before Christmas we took the twilight Christmas Tram special with Diane and Glyn for a socially distanced journey to Colyton.  On the outward tram Glyn produced a flask containing mulled wine – perfect as it was quite cold.  On arrival we had a Christmas dinner in the platform cafe including another glass of mulled wine and a full bottle of red wine which by now we really didn’t need!  The journey home was on an open top tram which was very cold but not a problem, Glyn pulled another rabbit out of his backpack, single malt whisky and a bottle of port. We were no longer cold!

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On Christmas Eve the day’s weather was forecast to be cold but dry and sunny.  ‘BBQ’! Neil said.  So after several text messages it was agreed that Bob and Sheila and Paul and Maureen from across the road would join us on the terrace for a socially distanced get together of mulled wine, beers, gin and Ron’s festive BBQ sausages followed by Sheila’s homemade mince pies and clotted cream.  Yes it was cold but once we got a good fire going in the BBQ we sat out until dusk.  What a great way to start Christmas.

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Like most of the world Christmas Day was celebrated in a most unusual way.  We’re normally surrounded by friends and/or family but this year, for the first time ever, it was just the two of us. 

We were treated to a stunning Christmas morning sunrise and we had breakfast in bed.  With no itinerary to meet we didn’t get up until it was time to start cooking lunch.  The small turkey crown was put in the oven and the vegetables prepared including the double cooked roast potatoes. 

Then it was time for Neil to grab his first beer and head to the study for his regular private time to sit and remember his mum and dad.  He watched the family video put together from his dad’s cine film going back to the mid-sixties.  It also included family photos and it reminded him just how lucky he and his siblings had been to have grown up with such devoted parents.   

We had decided on an early traditional lunch of turkey and Christmas pud to give us time for a long walk to help counter the excess calories. 

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It was a beautiful day and the walk took us through the lanes to Seaton Hole and along the beach to Axmouth Harbour.  Then it was back along the promenade before dark where we bumped into our favourite singing builder Stacy walking his dog.  Once home, we poured a beer and sat down and watched The Queen’s Speech plus the Channel 4 spoof speech. 

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Like many others, we connected with our family using facetime and zoom which wasn’t the same as being together, but we are hopeful that normality will resume next year.  Supper was delicious sourdough bread with a selection of cheeses washed down by most of a bottle of port.  We slept well.

Boxing Day was very similar, lazy, breakfast, light lunch after yesterday’s blow out followed by an even longer walk along the prom and up over the golf course.  As the club was closed we were able to walk across the course right to the cliff edge to see some great views of Seaton, the mouth of the river and the harbour and a striking sunset.  Just how lucky are we. 

Renovation Update

Work continued through the month as, let’s face it, we don’t have a lot else to do with our time! The rather grotty looking utility room that we inherited got it’s first makeover when Paul the plasterer came in to give the messy walls it a bit of a tart up.  It took a while to dry but as soon as we put a coat of paint on it was just a different room altogether.  It is amazing what a skim of plaster and a lick of paint can do.  Cheryl started to paint the grim green floor with a more appropriate grey which will be finished after the cabinets have been installed in the new year.

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We finished the preparation of bedroom 2 and the bathrooms in readiness for Stacy and Co. to come in to complete the remaining woodwork and start the tiling.  Things were moving fast and after 3 days of action the ensuite was tiled just in time for the bedroom carpet and ensuite floor to be laid before the flooring business closed for Christmas. 

Matt the plumb arrived the following day and fitted the sanitary ware, shower screen and radiator.  We are very pleased with the finished product and even Stacy came to take a peek after his brother Jason had told him how good it looked.  It was a rush at the end but we would have been ready for visitors for Christmas after all if we had been allowed to have them………….apart from a few finishing touches like having a door on the ensuite!!

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Jason the tiler then started on the family bathroom before the Christmas holiday took over and all the renovations were put on hold until 2021.  We did actually enjoy the break from sandin’ ‘n paintin’ which by now were becoming a chore rather than ‘wow’ what a difference, that looks great.

The Christmas celebrations continued on the 27^th with a journey to Weston-Super-Mare to meet up with Paul, Miranda and a very chatty grandson.  We chose Weston as it’s a similar journey time for both of us and the beach offers endless excitement for a toddler, an enormous sandy beach for Lexy the dog to run on and what does Weston also mean? – fish ‘n chips!  It was cold, windy and showery so we ended up munching our lunch in the shelter of the bus stop – not the most romantic of settings but well within the current guidelines. 

The weather didn’t spoil the day and we had a great time playing with the incoming tide, getting wet feet and only had to pick up grandson twice following the inevitable stumbles into the sea as he tripped up trying to outrun the tide. He learned an important lesson that day – wellies don’t keep your feet dry when you are face down and lying in the water!

The next few days were taken up by a much neglected garden.  The renovation had meant that we didn’t do as much in the garden as we really should have.  So, with relatively cold and dry weather we got stuck into the several mounds of chippings that had quietly been composting after we chopped down all the trees in February.  It was very satisfying to see our piles disappear whilst getting some good all round exercise.  

A still evening meant we were able to burn yet another pile of trees and shrubs that had been chopped down a couple of weeks ago. It was a difficult task as the piles were a bit soggy and Neil finally came inside more than three hours later. Next morning he found that despite the freezing overnight temperatures the remnants of the last pile were still smouldering. 48hrs later, New Years Day, the fire was still hot and gently smoking. Neil is no longer The Destroyer, he is now Twisted Firestarter!

As with Christmas Day, bringing in the New Year was very different.  There was no dancing on the beach until the early hours, watching the fireworks and generally having a good time.  For us it was a quiet night in, some good food delivered from Indian Restaurant Ragini and fine wine. Neil was in bed before midnight and Cheryl just about stayed awake to greet the New Year.  Are we rock ‘n roll or what!

Reasons to be Cheerful

What a year it has been.  Probably not the one that anyone could have predicted but one that will certainly leave its mark.  We planned to have a different year in as much as we weren’t going to live our normal nomadic lifestyle.  If ever there was a perfect time to decide to settle down and buy a house, this was it.  But as we have said on a number of occasions, ‘lucky’ is Neil’s middle name. 

We have been busy counting our blessings, and for us they are many.  We have lost friends this year, and we know that some have been very ill, but we hope that everyone has made the best of what this year has thrown at them and is looking forward to a much better and brighter 2021.  

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