VE Day

Along with my mop which I spoke about at great length the other day, my other favourite lockdown purchase is our new compost bin. Yes I have reached an age where I get excited about a compost bin.
Although in my defence the garden waste collections have stopped and the tip is closed so it is exciting to have somewhere to put it all.
It was actually delivered on Monday and has sat out in its box all week waiting for Mr K to build it. I didn’t realise it was flat pack and had to ask the delivery man on Monday what it was. The delivery man - stood in front of an enormous lorry covered entirely in giant pictures of compost bins - was very sweet and answered me very nicely. Unlike Mr K who scoffed at me and asked what did I think it was? What could it possibly be coming out of that lorry?! I think I prefer the delivery driver now......
Anyway, today was the day, Mr K built it and I went mad with the secateurs so I could fill it up even more!!
Apart from that excitement we just lounged around in the garden until the VE Day coverage started on TV. I found it all incredibly emotional and, while I don’t for a minute think that a few weeks of watching TV and relaxing in the garden even begins to compare to six years of war and deprivation, I was struck more than usual by how it must have felt for it to be finally over. How many times must they have said, like we are, when this is all over...... And then suddenly it was. It must have been amazing.
We toasted those who gave so much at 3pm and then went out into the front garden for a mini street party with our neighbours. We hadn’t planned to stay out for long - having no cake or anything but we did have a bottle of bubbly and drank it all, chatting and laughing with everyone. It was lovely! They were impressed by our posh glasses. They normally only come out for Bucks Fizz at Christmas - a glass for every occasion!!! - so it was nice to get them out for the celebrations today.
One of the neighbours has her mum living with her and she came out too. She was sixteen on VE Day and remembers playing tennis when the news broke!
We’ve spoken to the people in the four houses round us more in the past few weeks than we have in the past three and a half years!
When we got back into the back garden all pretence at gardening was abandoned. Mr K immediately fell asleep and I wasn’t really in a fit state to be wielding the secateurs so I read my book instead!
We watched more fab VE Day coverage in the evening and then took to our beds. Lockdown is exhausting!!