18

It was a relatively slow morning. I did head out to do the weekly shop.  As I was leaving PY asked me if we were 'going to keep doing this'.  It's an interesting question. Prior to the March 2020 lockdowns we shopped as we needed: a little bit here and there and probably picked something up most days. And as the restrictions in England are mostly gone the underlying question is, 'are we going back to the old ways'?   But our lives are not the same: we're both still at home which means we eat more meals in the house and we both realise that a little bit of planning means we eat far less processed food.  We were never big ready meal eaters but a microwaveable pasta sauce or something to pop in the oven for half an hour probably made up a decent amount of our diet.  I prefer our current way of cooking.  So, in the end, off I went to spend £48 on most of meal needs for the upcoming week. I know it could be cheaper but I still believe we are spending less the we did 'under the old ways'.

Just to disapprove the above, last night we had fish & chips from the takeaway. They were really good. But it did mean that the Okonomiyaki (traditional Japanese fritter-like) pancakes that I had planned to use up some white cabbage didn't get eaten. Instead, I made them for lunch and I am very glad I did. They were delicious and brought back memories of our time in Japan. At the same time I realised it probably would not have made a substantial meal last night.

Kallan is 18 today. How time flies. I remember their first year and it doesn’t seem like 18 years ago. The family went to see the musical &Juliet this afternoon but this evening PY and I met them for a meal in Bar & Block. It was a lovely evening and the first (legal) drinking for the 18-year old who decided to order quite a selection and relished being ID'd! It was lovely to be able to celebrate with them all.