The End of an Era

 18 months since the last post. Some sort of record. 

Lots has happened since then, of course, most of which will be all too painfully familiar to warrant re-hashing here. Bullet points relating specifically to the WithaY household:

• Neither of us has caught Covid, thankfully. Or not as far as we know, anyway. Those little lateral flow tests keep coming up negative, which may mean nothing at all, but we've clung to that, worn our masks, had our vaccines and (mostly) stayed healthy.
• We haven't managed to travel anywhere (like almost everyone else in the world) but Mr WithaY did venture over to France for a couple of weeks last summer, as soon as it was allowed, to visit his mother. The trip was a success, right up until the point where his overnight train from Toulouse to Paris was cancelled, and he spent the night sleeping fitfully in a train carriage, in a thunderstorm. He missed his Eurostar connection back to the UK as a result, and arrived home many, many hours later than anticipated. 
• Work for both of us has been variable.  All of Mr WithaY's work was cancelled very early in the pandemic so he decided to claim his pension a few years early, as a reduced income is better than no income at all. I was able to continue working all the way through the pandemic. 
• However.  Last week I was offered the opportunity to take redundancy - things in the world of bookselling are Not Going Well - which I took up. So this week marks the end of a 4 and a bit year stint with my current employer.  I might claim my pension a few years early now. I hear it's great.

Other than that, things have been more or less OK. The dog is still a source of great joy and comfort, even when she wakes us up at 5am by barfing loudly in the kitchen. Ah, Labradors.

Things which I am planning to do to fill the endless empty days include:

Writing. Yes, hello.

Dressmaking. Specifically, making a Regency style dress and jacket, because we're planning to attend a Regency picnic later this summer. I've never made anything from the Eighteenth or Nineteenth Century, so it will be an interesting project. 

Bonnet decorating. See Regency reasons above. I bought a bonnet "blank" from the Internet, and will be furbishing it up to match the dress I make. What larks.

Going swimming.  This is mainly because I treated myself to a nice new swimsuit and want to wear it. Bad luck, other members of the public. Prepare your eye bleach.

Experimental cookery. I've mastered making yeasted dough, something which always previously eluded me, and I am now keen to try out many other techniques - as I will have more time, why not? We bought a deep-fat fryer ages ago and still haven't used it, so I might crack on with some Japanese bar snack type food, which will be perfect for feeding to unsuspecting visitors over the summer.

So. Plans. All quite small-scale and domestic, but that's not bad thing.