So, the fifth day of this particular weekend got off to a brisk start and I went to turn up the AGA before even having my shower. The first batch of dough was mixed, the dishwasher was on, and so was the first batch of laundry before I even got a mug of coffee down me.
I planned to make three different bread doughs today, to freeze for taking away with us. In between mixing and kneading I prepared some veg for Orange Soup and had that roasting in the top oven while it was coming up to temperature for the bread. There’s efficiency for you.
Then I went and spoiled it all by chucking my purple chenille jumper in the washer with the woollies. I now have three fewer sweaters than before — and a whole heap more purple fluff than I had bargained on.
Clearly having bitten off more than I could chew for one morning, the bread-making did not go perfectly either. A better organised day might have produced three evenly-shaped baguettes but I’m happy enough with what I threw together. Some malted seedy batch rolls followed the white bread and I finished with a flourish of Tomato & Garlic flour made up in to soft baps and topped with Orkney Smoked Cheese with Garlic and some cherry tomato chunks.
I was about to put the third batch in the oven when I remembered that I needed to go to the surgery and pick up my meds. I asked Mr L if he could go in my stead, pausing to ask if they would be open today. We have been living in Scotland for a long time now but have yet to really get the hang of holidays, which seem to be largely ignored up here. For instance: it may be a Bank Holiday doon Sooth but our rubbish collection went ahead as normal. Scotland does not have Bank Holidays but has Public Holidays and Local Holidays instead. As far as we have ever been able to tell, life mainly goes on when it is a Public Holiday, except the Banks etcetera close. Local Holidays are observed in some areas but not in others, with shops and so on closing where it is. It’s all very confusing for us, especially as Mr L is employed in England and therefore has English holidays. His conclusion, by the way, was that the Surgery would be open. I was less sure.
I was right – they were closed on account of the fact that Scotland has always had a Public Holiday on May 1st – long before England acquired the new-fangled Bank Holiday version. So, add GP surgeries to that list along with the banks. One year, we will remember and get it right.
Most of the bread has made it safely to the freezer, with the exception of half of the tomato and garlic ones, consumed with our orange soup. Consumed? Devoured!
It has been a day of sun and showers and the laundry has been in and out like the proverbial yo-yo. Not us though, no walk in the bay yet – though there is time enough before high tide, I think. Mr L has been busy dismantling his model railway. I have not managed to pack any more stuff in the van yet.
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