Curried green lentil and aduki bean soup

We had Ailie, Chris, Katy and Colin round tonight as we thought Dennis would be staying. It was strange having friends to eat as I don’t think there’s been time for months with us being away so much. Strange in that I am out of the habit of cooking for guests. We had this soup followed by a chicken chorizo olive tomato cannellini bean casserole with stewed apples and yogurt for pudding. They also ate lots of cheese. Chris brought me all the newspaper supplements about the Queen. She didn’t want us to have missed out with being away. She’s a one.

It was a lovely evening though Colin is worried at age 62 about what’s happening to his savings and investments in this current chaos. He has a part-time job as a groundsman at the golf club but it’s seasonal. We tried to reassure him that these things will pick up but times are so uncertain for so many. Also people who have been used to low mortgage rates are struggling with rates up to 4 or 6%. We had to cope with 14% twice but it’s not comparable because many young people now are used to a much higher standard of living than we had and will struggle to adjust. But there are also those who are working several jobs just to stay afloat with no treats.