Category Archives: Home

May Garden

I’ve started tracking my garden through instagram. The alliums have started to flower and are just so ridiculously cheerful as bright white and purple pom-poms. The smaller pinkish alliums are appearing in the new beds whilst the yellow alliums are just about to brighten up the gravel. Last year at the Chelsea Flower Show we fell in love with the allium display, not really noting that they’d had all their leaves cut off. The reason why has become obvious with slugs and snails really enjoying making a mess of them. Still worthwhile though.

Allium + bee

The surprise has been the early appearance of the pink roses which are now flowerful enough to need to cut. We headed off to the shops for two new smaller bowls just to cope with the overspill of rose blooms about to go over. The white roses have yet to make an appearance en-masse but they are a year younger and it is still ridiculously early in the year. Bizarrely the nine roses were planted out at regular intervals (measured by an OCD partner) but have grown quite obviously into three groups of three. It’s not unattractive, but it’s certainly unexpected. I’ve replaced some penstemon in the gaps.

The very old roses are flowering but very straggly and riddled with blackspot. The books tell me that this fungal disease is basically endemic to all rose plants though the younger varieties should have some resistance. Anti-fungal sprays are available but th basic answer seems to be to remove the infected leaves and try to limit the re-spread that way. Maybe if I feed the roses and keep them relatively well watered it will help them just through avoiding plant stress.

My hanging baskets are still alive which is cheering though only because I’m still in the first month of watering. This year I’ve added some of those water retentive pellets to them, but ultimately the answer is pretty obviously to water them daily and not lose interest after 6 weeks. Ho hum.

Allium

This year I’ve added some white leucanthemum to a border for late Summer and a couple of white lupins in front of the magnolia shrub. I’m finding white works well against the green and looks sharper in late Summer when everything starts to look a little dry and tired. Though I’m still not sure how any of this will hold together if we go away for a three week trip to Japan.

Most of the pots are still in the courtyard part of the garden where they were all brought for our last trip in order to try out a new automatic watering system. In the end we just set it to continuously drip rather than sticking it on a timer. The tap into the garden is so old we struggled to find any connector that would work reliably. I’ve added a fats in a pot to make the area look even more lush and jungle-like.

It means that all of the potted ferns are together though they could usefully be moved towards the very back, the dry dark garden, which is currently being overrun by geraniums. Again. Geraniums, tiarella, woodruff, euphorbia and bugold are impossible to kill but pull out in a very satisfying manner. Obviously euphorbia is an irritant so gloves will be required for any serious removals.

There’s also quite a lot of weeding to be done up on the gravel roof with clover picking through the gravel everywhere. A little bit of rain and a lot of sunshine make the weeding up there look a little daunting. I’m wondering whether to put the miniature confer I have in a pot in the middle of the bed within the blue grasses, but it might just look a bit twee.

So everything seems to be arriving a little bit early, including the weeds and as normal, I’m putting off the weeding.

It does look beautiful though.

Garden

It’s Spring and the garden is lovely. The seasons are clearly out of whack though with everything a few weeks ahead of time.

The crocus and daffodils came and went along with the camellia and magnolia and the pear blossom. The blue muscari and white anemone (a good buy last year) have worked well and led into the tulips. After two years, the iris finally started to flower though not all of them. The white clematis is in full bloom and the glory of the wisteria and the bluebells are currently dominating.

The tulips have just gone over, except under the maple tree where the yellow flowers planted last year are looking good. I shall have to plant more of them, and maybe some of the orange ones. The latter are a lovely shade but only around 10cm tall so really only good for the very edge of the bed.

At the moment I’m waiting for the alliums to burst into life. A couple of sprinkles of slug pellets seem to be keeping the worst of the snails at bay. Hopefully the roses will follow straight after. Even though I am totally sure they were measured out very precisely, the soft pink roses seem to have broken into three groups of three rather than a consistent hedge of nine. My gardener seems to have cut back the penstemnon a bit brutally – I’ll be cross if it means I’ve lost it.

Hopefully the baby white roses in the front will grow more evenly. The salvia planted between them looks to have survived but the bed is still a bit overgrown. I wonder if the foxgloves from last year have self seeded – as a biannual they’ll just grow green this year so it will be tempting to dig them out.

I have already planted up pots and tubs with geraniums, begonias and lobelia. And possibly for the last year I’m attempting to keep alive two hanging baskets. I know the answer is to water the beggars, but despite my best intentions, I never make it much past a month.

In a few weeks I shall have to buy some more white bedding, snapdragons maybe or alyssum, to replace the anemones at the front of the bed but right now, I’m busy watering and generally babying some pots ready to distribute them around the darkest and driest bits of my garden.

Supper

The first tennis match of the year is approaching and it’s at home leading to the “forever” question of what to make for supper.

An onion tart with a cream cheese base or something more Italian in feel?

Three hefty salads, with or without a second tart? New potatoes and asparagus with mint or a version of aloo papri chaat? Ceviche broccoli with cavalo nero or some other form of green, maybe a farmer’s salad? Or what about some form of sticky butternut squash or tofu salad with aubergine with a soy dressing?

Someone else can bring desert and something to drink.

Or I could throw the pattern out and make a huge butternut squash laksa or curry with some rice and vegetable salads as sides. My partner could bring the food down to the club just before we’re ready to eat at 9pm.

Vaccines

My entire family is vaccinated against most common illnesses but that wasn’t always the case.

We didn’t routinely vaccinate or get the standard baby batch vaccinations and even now, there are some that I probably wouldn’t bother with if they weren’t part of a batch vaccine with something more useful.

As long as we’re in the UK, polio is pretty much pointless as a vaccination since it’s a disease eradicated from our country, though it was one we signed up to straight away once we started traveling around the world with the kids.

Pertussis or whooping cough has a vaccine with limited efficacy requiring a booster shot every 4-5 years but since it’s part of the DTP shot, we keep up to date with it.

There are some other vaccines that just aren’t very effective such as the flu vaccine so the elder members of our family have thought hard about using them. At the end of the day, there are just too many versions of flu around for any shot to cover everything but the downsides to this vaccine are low to non-existent side-effects outweighed by any coverage to catching flu so it’s worth having the shot for the elderly.

Standard UK vaccinations include diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough (DTP) polio, Hib (Haemophilus influenzae type b) and hepatitis B. My daughters, like most girls in the UK, are also vaccinated against HPV. Since we’ve all caught chickenpox, we should have lifelong immunity.

Travel vaccinations that we’ve also added to our list include HepA and obviously we all take antimalarials where necessary.

We have never fallen sick (beyond my uncomfortable food poisoning in Laos travelling up the Mekon) and considering that we’ve been visiting developing countries since our kids were toddlers, that’s a pretty good outcome.

It’s something we attribute in large part to decent preventative measures such as basic hygiene i.e. eating only hot cooked food, hot drinks, bottled water for drinking and brushing of teeth, water purifying tablets if required etc. and the use of preventatives such as nets over beds, insecticide sprays around rooms, and ones designed to sprayed on the body as well as basic long sleeves and trousers. It’s pretty simple stuff bit always surprising to find out how many people seem to get it wrong.

I’m not convinced that I’d vaccinate my kids if I didn’t think there was a direct risk of them catching the diseases listed i.e. if we weren’t travelling. Herd immunity, the protection of other people’s kids, is a cold reason to stick a needle into your baby and I’m just selfish enough for it not to weigh too heavily.

But the risk of catching one of these diseases is very real given the places we travel and the results of catching those disease can be horrendous, so we vaccinated.

Other, better, less selfish parents should vaccinate immediately. They work 85-95% of the time. The vaccine side effects are minimal whilst the effects of catching the diseases themselves can be devastating. Your baby will cry, possibly scream, when they get the shot but that can be countered with an ice cream. They may even have a slight temperature which will need some calpol (baby paracetamol). These symptoms are nothing compared to the actual symptoms of any of these diseases.

As the cases of measles rise in the UK, it’s worth remembering the symptoms. Measles lasts 7-10 days, starting with flu like symptoms, a runny or blocked nose, sneezing, watery eyes and swollen eyelids, sore and red eyes, a high temperature of upto 40C, small greyish spots in the mouth, cough, no appetite, tiredness, irritability and a general lack of energy.

This is followed by a rash around 2 to 4 days after initial symptoms.

Complications can include liver infection, misalignment of the eyes if the virus affects the nerves and muscles of the eye infection of the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord or infection of the brain itself.

Some children will die from contracting measles. A vaccine is a small price to pay to reduce that risk for my kids.

Heels

Rolling over in bed before going to sleep should not result in stabbing pain in your heel, yet apparently it’s a thing, plantar fasciitis, for a moderately active woman of a certain age.

Just to re-state the obvious: menopause is crap. Growing old is not for wimps.

A few different factors can lead to heel pain, including sciatica and the heel version of carpel tunnel syndrome but one of the most common causes is plantar fasciitis.

Luckily self-care treatments can help reduce the pain and inflammation linked to plantar fasciitis so I’m going to try the obvious before panic sets in.

plantar fasciitis

The following treatments are available to self-administer at home:

  • Ice: Advice is to apply ice three or four times a day for about 15 minutes at a time. It’s advisable to wrap an ice pack in a damp towel and place it on the heel. Since ice seems to be making things feel worse (though it is the best advice) I’m going to try relaxing with heat packs as well. My coach recommends an alternating sequence of heat and ice.
  • Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs):  NSAISs may also help reduce discomfort and inflammation. Ibuprofen and paracetamol combined are my go-to pain relief so they’re definitely on the menu for the next few days
  • Orthotics: Foot orthotics are custom foot supports to places them in the shoes. Orthotics can support the arch, which helps evenly distribute the weight placed on the heel when a person walks. But since I spend my life in flats, and definitely use decent sports shoes, I’m going to passion these for now
  • Splint: Wearing a splint at night might also help. The splint stretches the arch and calf, and may decrease discomfort. At the moment this sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.
  • Switching activities: It might also be helpful for people to switch from high-impact activities, such as running, to exercise that is easier on the heel. Low-impact options include swimming and walking. Since I hate these and love tennis, this just isn’t going to happen

Exercises

stretching heel pain

Certain stretches can help heel pain.

Plantar fasciitis can disrupt workout routines.

Continuing to partake in certain activities can make heel pain worse, but remaining idle and avoiding exercise is not beneficial.

Exercise is still possible when dealing with plantar fasciitis. The key is to avoid activities that place a lot of force on the heel.

Stretches for plantar fasciitis

According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, certain stretches can help reduce heel pain and prevent plantar fasciitis from reoccurring.

People who have plantar fasciitis pain in the morning might want to carry out the following stretches as soon as they wake up.

Seated Fascia Stretch (this worked like a miracle of pain relief for as long as I held the stretch)

  1. Sit in a cross-legged position at the end of the bed or a chair.
  2. Place the affected foot over the knee of the other leg.
  3. Grab the heel of the painful foot with one hand and the toes with the other hand.
  4. Gently pull up on the toes, while at the same time pulling up on the heel. Bending the toes up stretches the fascia.
  5. Bending the ankle up stretches the Achilles tendon, which may help decrease pain.
  6. Hold the stretch for about 10 seconds.
  7. Relax the foot and repeat 10 to 20 times. If both feet are experiencing pain, repeat the exercise on the other foot.

Seated Ankle Pumps (this hurt like hell a few times into the repetition)

  1. Sitting in a chair, hold the leg out straight and flex and extend at the ankle joint.
  2. This exercise stretches both the fascia and the calf muscle.
  3. Hold the stretch for 5 seconds and repeat 10 times on each foot.

Standing Calf Stretch (felt it in my calf but not the heel)

  1. Place both hands on a wall, keep the back leg straight, and place the heel down.
  2. Pull the hips forward towards the wall until the stretch is felt in the back of the lower leg.
  3. Hold for 10 seconds and repeat several times.
  4. If the heel on the opposite leg hurts, repeat the stretch on that leg too.

Medical treatment options

Although home treatments can be enough to decrease heel pain from plantar fasciitis, they might not always have the desired effect.

If home treatment is not successful, a doctor might recommend additional medical treatments, such as:

  • Steroid injections: When heel pain persists, steroid injections are an option. The doctor injects an anti-inflammatory steroid medication into the heel. Frequent steroid injections can weaken the fascia, so injections cannot be given too frequently.
  • Surgery: This can be a possible last resort. There are several different surgical procedures for reducing heel pain. For example, a procedure called a plantar fascia release involves partially cutting the fascia to reduce the tension of the tissue.

Visiting a physiotherapist worked with tennis elbow (from housework rather than tennis) so I may make some appointments with my local recommended physiotherapist to see if she can work on my heel. I’ll certainly try this long before I visit the doctor for injections or the hospital for surgery.

Causes

The plantar fascia is a ligament that runs underneath the soles of the feet. It connects the heel bones to the front of the feet and also supports the arch.

The fascia normally serves as a shock absorber, but repeated stress to the heel can lead to small tears in the tissue. This tissue damage causes inflammation in the fascia known as plantar fasciitis.

There are a few different causes of plantar fasciitis. The ligament can become inflamed due to repeated force from high-impact activities and sports that involve a lot of jumping. Wearing high heels may also place stress on the fascia.

Having a job that requires a lot of standing or walking increases the chances of developing the condition. People with flat feet may also be more likely to develop plantar fasciitis. Flat feet can cause an uneven distribution of weight when someone walks, which puts added stress and pressure on the fascia.

Prevention

comfortable shoes

Choosing comfortable shoes can help reduce symptoms of heel pain.

Stretching can be helpful in decreasing the symptoms of plantar fasciitis and also preventing the condition from developing. In addition to stretching, a few steps might help prevent plantar fasciitis.

People can start by wearing the right shoes. Avoid high heels as they can place stress on the heel. Shoes with a moderate heel and sturdy arch support can help.

Be sure to always wear footwear and avoid being barefoot for long stretches of time. The lack of support could lead to heel pain.

Athletic shoes provide good support and cushion the feet. A 2011 study suggests that running or athletic shoes should be replaced every 500 miles. Start exercise slowly and gradually increase intensity to prevent plantar fasciitis.

Symptoms

The most common symptom of plantar fasciitis is pain in the heel and sometimes the arch of the foot.

The pain usually starts mild, and people often feel it when stepping out of bed in the morning, as well as after sitting for a long period. Although pain levels can vary, discomfort often decreases after walking around for a while.

The pain from plantar fasciitis can last a long time, and complications can develop. Continued inflammation of the fascia can lead to the development of scar tissue. This can make the condition harder to treat.

Plantar fasciitis can also cause pain elsewhere in the body. For example, when someone has heel pain, they might adjust the way they walk without realizing it.

Knee, hip, and back problems can develop due to changing body movements.

Easter Miracles

It’s a long bank holiday weekend, where mostly everyone, except retail workers and priests, get to enjoy four days with no work, and the sun is shining.

The garden is probably at its best and mostly things are going to plan. The crocus, daffodils, magnolia, camellia and pear blossom have arrived and left in successive gorgeous waves of spring colour. The wisteria is about to dominate, with both its beautiful purple drapes and the scent of Spring.

After two years, it looks as if the iris planted just infant of the new white roses are about to bloom, earning another year or two in the hope they’ll eventually come into their own and flower more generously. It’s likely that the dry site is a problem even though the iris were chosen to be drought tolerant. If they get to be large enough, they’ll probably flower more generously with better root systems.

Replacements have been planted for the penstemon that died off in the Summer drought, and one of the fatsia spiderweb which managed to die entirely in the shaded plot at the back.

I’ve also added two thug clematis, one to the shaded plot (though the sunniest corner) and one to a very elderly rose along the wooden frame boundary to the gravel path. The rose flowers but not well and has become increasingly sparse. With a bit of luck, the clematis will use the rose as a climbing frame and cover the wooden frame from the wisteria on the left to the virginia creeper on the right.

My bedding from last year seems to have survived in the cold frame so the pots are now back on display. As always there are gaps in the bedding scheme and the hated hanging baskets. I have never managed to keep one alive through the Summer.

`I’ve also invested in a bit of biological warfare, or at least biological control for slugs and ants. The two separate packs are currently sitting in my fridge waiting for a bit of damp to be watered onto the garden, hopefully towards the end of the week.

The sun is shining and all is well in the world – miracles happen.

Garden plans

It should be possible to just sit back and enjoy a garden but I’m not quite able to do that. It’s Spring and the garden has been lovely, but even so there are gaps to be filled.

In general, white flowers have proved successful in this garden against a green background.

The crocus have been beautiful, white and purple, but it would be nice to see more of them, especially white up on the roof in the gravel garden.

The miniature iris have been and gone, but there are fewer this year than last so I’d like to see clumps of them also, especially in the gravel. Iris reticulate Blue Note are on the shopping list

The white windflowers have appeared and are wonderful, but there could be more in the borders at the front of the house and along under the hedge to the right of the garden.

& some tulips are just about starting to appear, red and tiny in the gravel – let’s have some ore of them too. Tulip Montana might be worth buying and planting in clump

The violas and cyclamen bought as bedding last Autumn are still flowering and lovely so maybe I should try them again.

But mainly I’m waiting until the end of April to order replacements for some of the plants that died in the dry heat of last year’s Summer, watching the gravel garden carefully to see what rises after the stripping and re-planting

Rainy Day, No Sunshine

It has been raining all day, the kind of rain that keeps threatening to stop but never does. Tennis has finally been abandoned so no doubt the rain will stop shortly, just as everyone has moved on.

Sitting typing, writing and generally whiling away the time watching the bird feeders.

The common birds appearing regularly in the garden include:

Blackbird, Blue Tit, Chaffinch, Cuckoo, Great Tit, Green Woodpecker, Herons, Jays, Magpies, Nuthatch, Pigeons, Robins, Rooks, Song Thrush, Sparrows, Wren

And since my feeders hang up in the tree (to keep them safe from cats) it’s always entertaining watching the robins and other ground feeders find their way, following other older birds to precisely the right branch from which to hop across to the food.

Food so close, yet so far

Alas the blackbird knew the route but remained just too large to access the food.

Money Gap

It’s quite trendy to talk about the gender gap but in the UK at least it’s still culturally difficult to talk about money, especially personal money. It is considered less rude (though still not advisable) to ask about someone’s sex life than their salary in my country, which might be just one of the reasons that women continue to be so badly served by the financial system.

Finance is a feminist issue. There are many reasons for why women are not well served by the financial sector, some historical many due to the sheer inertia and failure to adapt of a famously adaptable business sector.

The gender pay disparity is put down to the disruptive effects of raising a family on a woman’s career prospects and earnings potential. Whilst obviously making a family takes two people most usually representing both genders, the cost of having a family is borne almost exclusively by the woman . The astronomical cost of childcare and the stress of juggling work and family life are further factors — big problems, with no easy solutions.

But the imbalance in earnings is then further magnified by the “gender pensions gap”, which many women won’t fully wake up to for decades to come.

So what can be done? Maybe the biggest solution is raising awareness. The problems are not women’s “fault” and the consequences will fall on both women and the people in their lives, their partners, their parents, their children and friends – we are social creatures at the end of the day and society fails when we make one group disproportionately bear the cost.

Mistake 1: Not saving enough for retirement

The “gender pensions gap” is nearly 40% — more than double the gender pay gap. Let’s take defined contribution pensions. Workers build up a pot of savings over their lifetime, which can be accessed in retirement — but when you’ve spent it, that’s it. Women have a double problem here. Not only do they save less (factors include lower pay, the impact of career breaks and part-time working) they also live for longer. The obvious solution is saving more, but that can be tricky (see above).

Starting to save earlier will help. Higher earners could fund a pension for their partners. If you’re taking a career break to raise the kids, make sure that your partner is also funding pension contributions for you. They can contribute the maximum of £2,880 a year for a non-tax payer. Tax relief is added to your contribution so if you pay £2,880, a total of £3,600 a year will be paid into your pension scheme.

Older, wealthier readers could consider funding a stakeholder pension for their daughters and granddaughters. My daughters both have existing pensions, started on minimum contributions when they were born and annually topped up whenever we could – let time do the heavy lifting. Whilst at one level they will find it frustrating to have money set aside that they can’t touch until they’re at least 55, it should provide some comfort in their middle age when they’re busy funding their kids and struggling to save for themselves.

The UK government’s much-lauded policy of automatically enrolling workers into a company pension excludes millions of low earners and part-time workers unless they specifically opt in. Many of these will be women. Three-quarters of women have “no idea” how much pension income they need to retire and nearly half said they were relying solely on the state pension as they “couldn’t afford to pay into another pension”. This means women could be losing out on “free money” from an employer’s pension contributions too. The answer here is to be aware and prioritise pension saving appropriately. If your partner has a pension, then you need one as well.

Mistake 2: Pensions, marriage and divorce. The pensions system hasn’t kept up with modern family life.

Couples today are more likely to cohabit than get married or form a civil partnership, which can present serious problems if one of you dies — see the case of Denise Brewster in Northern Ireland who successfully took her late partner’s employer to court when they failed to grant her survivor’s pension benefits. Make sure that you have a will in place that specifies who inherits what in the sad event that one of you dies.

One obvious action point is to make sure all of your pension providers have an up-to-date “nominated beneficiaries” form. Since my partner doesn’t need my pension assets, my daughters are my nominated beneficiaries. Over time, when they become self-sufficient maybe this will become my granddaughters. If you are unmarried and cohabiting in a property over £325,000 in value, also consider the impact of inheritance tax if one of you were to die suddenly. Be aware and make plans.

Pensions assets are also often overlooked in divorce. Research by Royal London found that divorced women have, on average, one-third of the pensions wealth enjoyed by married couples. Pension assets should be regarded, along with the main residence, as assets to be valued and shared in the event of a divorce.

If you are financially independent by the time you marry, and hold significant assets either a residence or pension pots, then consider a pre-marital agreement. Make sure both of you take appropriate legal advice. It will only be regarded as advisory in the UK, and will obviously be adjusted to take into account the interests of any children, but with one in three marriages ending in divorce, usually to the financial detriment of women, it’s important to protect yourself.

Mistake 3: Not claiming child benefit If one half of a couple earns more than £60,000 then you lose your entitlement to child benefit.

Stay-at-home parents with a high-earning partner will lose out on valuable state pension credits if they fail to register online — even if they do not qualify for child benefit. Make sure you sign up — and while you’re at it, click here to sign the petition to reform the system and allow backdated claims.

Check your contribution record for the state pension via HMRC and keep your contributions up to date. The UK state pension is not overly generous at around £8,500 pa but it is worth having. It would cost a lot of capital to generate that amount of annual income, index linked from an annuity. It takes 35 years to accrue that full amount, but it is possible to “buy” missing years’ contributions to boost your record. The cost per year varies, but with each extra year worth around £240, you don’t have to live very many years post retirement age for it to be worthwhile

Mistake 4: Being too fond of cash

Another reason women can end up with less in retirement are the poor returns on cash savings compared to stock market-linked investments. HMRC statistics show that women save much more into cash Isas, where years of poor interest rates and inflation have hampered performance, whereas men are more likely to hold a stocks and shares Isa. The stats also show that women are more likely to favour cash for children’s Junior Isa accounts. Considering Jisas are designed to be invested for up to 18 years, returns on stocks and shares are likely to be far superior.

Mistake 5: Not having a ‘f*** off fund’

This term was defined by the US writer Paulette Perhach as having enough money to leave a bad job or failing relationship, and her article on the subject should be compulsory reading for all young people regardless of gender. In it, she chronicles how prioritising saving over spending causes short-term pain, but long-term gains in the form of financial independence — far more fashionable than a splurge in the mall.

If you have daughters or granddaughters consider setting them up with a savings account with enough “drop dead” money to give them some choices for the hard times.

Mistake 6: Not asking for a pay rise

The only good thing about the gender pay gap is that many companies are much more receptive to boosting women’s career prospects and pay packets. But if you don’t ask, you won’t necessarily get. And whilst asking for a raise, consider asking for training too, as we all need to invest in building our skills for the future as well as our retirement funds.

And if you’re not working, make sure that the income earned by your partner is fairly distributed to include adequate savings in your own name. Make sure that when they receive a pay rise, so do you and salt that away into a pension or other savings – value yourself and your contribution to the family at least as well as that of your partner.

Because you’re worth it!

Hoarding

In everyday life I am the opposite of a hoarder. At a certain level, “stuff” even my beloved books, becomes oppressive and I take great delight in sorting, ordering and chucking out (usually to some church fete or charity shop) the vast majority of it.

But I am considering hoarding, or to give it the more respectable name, “stockpiling” stuff for the brexit handover months of March/April. Attis time of the year. 70% of the UK’s fresh food is imported, and whilst I do not expect people to starve, I do think there may be empty shelves in supermarkets fro the first time in 40 years.

It isn’t so much a matter of essentials (though there are some I’m thinking of stocking) but rather a list of stuff I do not want to go without because of brexit.

The list starts with hygiene: toilet roll, sanitary products, toothpaste, mouthwash, deodorant, shampoo, soap, bleach, laundry detergent, washing liquid.

These things may never run short, but if they did life would become horrendous pretty quickly. They’re also easy to store.

Then it continues with basic medicines and supplies: paracetamol, ibuprofen, antiseptic spray and cream, vaseline, sudocrem, contraceptives.

And it moves onto basic foodstuffs for the spare freezer in the garage, fruit, vegetables and proteins mainly, but also ice cream and some party snack type food.

Before reaching basic store cupboard items: cereals, rice, pasta, lentils, beans, long life fruit juice and some cordials.

Not forgetting cat food and cat litter for the pets.

As the Chinese curse says: we are living in interesting times.