Monday, March 30: Pilates video workout in the morning, more phonecalls, invisible mending (ancient Ashley Fogel cardigan brought back from the dead) and ongoing kitchen cleaning. The cleaning offers a sense of order, something I can control, when so much is disordered and out of control. So I clean the hell out of my house. You can see your face in the silver. Campbell reports that he has cleaned the oven. Later he sends a photo of scones cooking in the sparkling oven, and before-and-after photos of a huge tidy-up in the garage.
In the afternoon, a legitimate outing: I drive across town to the doctor to get my flu jab, administered in the carpark, like a scene from a sci-fi movie. First time my car has been out of the garage since lockdown. The CBD is a ghost town. I call at Green Patch fruit and vege shop for a few things on the way home, it sort of feels okay.
Highlight: Making Stuff columnist Joe Bennett’s beef ragu recipe for dinner, a hugely comforting dish laced with red wine. A rough guide: gently fry chopped garlic and onion in olive oil, celery if you have it, add a knob of butter, then bacon chunks and beef mince, brown for a bit, add bay leaf, chopped carrots (optional), tinned Italian tomatoes, dried oregano, a vast amount of red wine, and a decent glug of Worcester Sauce. Cook very slowly, for about an hour, until you have a lovely reddish-brown slurry. Season to taste. Serve over pasta, top with grated parmesan and chopped parsley. Drink any leftover red wine.
Missing (some of these are First World problems): my family; my friends; weekly catch up with Venetia; GSK coffee; Sunday walk with Venetia and Rosemary, and post-walk GSK breakfast; work; hugs; movies; pilates with Braidy; coffee at The Kirk post-pilates; nipping up to the shops for a missing ingredient for a recipe; general bloody lack of control over my life.