Making Every Day Count: Days 6-11/40

Day 6

Another sorting and tidying task, this time the shelves in the hallway just outside the kitchen, which serve as an overflow for foodstuffs.  On our last trip to Ikea we bought four flatpack wooden crates to separate and store tins, spices, flour and pulses.  These are now full, with another list of contents.  I could do with another couple, but will resist for the moment as I hope that when I tackle the kitchen cupboards I may be able to rationalise them and free up some space.  At least that's the theory!

Day 7

A light day.  I allowed myself to be distracted by catching up with the previous evening's Celebrity Masterchef and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's War on Waste, and lost momentum.  Still, it is my holiday.  I did however devote 15 minutes to blitzing hot spots in each of the dining and living rooms.

Day 8

I spent an hour and a half on our monthly Green Party stall in our local high street.  We were collecting signatures for the proposed closure to cars of a city centre bridge.  Response was mixed with some car owners admitting to wishing to continue to be able to drive across it.  Still, the sun was out and we stayed on for a cup of coffee and a chat with one of our local councillors afterwards.

Day 9

I spent an hour in the back garden sweeping and tidying.  It's not much more than a concreted yard with a raised rockery and a small pond at the end of it.  We grow (or at least attempt to grow) a variety of plants in pots, window boxes and a mini greenhouse.  As I mentionned in an earlier post, the elections put paid to any serious attempts at planting this year, but we still have a few bushes and herbs which we're keeping alive.  Now that the summer holidays allow us the time and weather to spend more time eating and relaxing outdoors I've spread our table with one of the colourful French tablecloths I bought in the French market one Harbour Festival, and dragged out the umbrella, to create a temporary outside room.

Day 10

I made a start on my kitchen cupboards.  First in line were the corner shelves.  A few items were binned and others rationalised to create more space.  I really should have managed the one over the fridge but we went to the cinema in the afternoon.  We saw The Commune which I enjoyed.  It's been too long since our last visit.

Day 11

Our fortnightly vegetable box was delivered.  Normally it sits in a corner of the kitchen floor from where we pick items as required.  Unfortunately this leads to some vegetables being neglected, rotting and being wasted.  So today I sorted through it as soon as it arrived, refrigerating all the perishable items, making a list of all the items and starting to think of how I would use them and in what order.  I made a start on them this evening adding cavolo nero to our dal at dinner time.