w/c 30 March 2020
Thank you to all those lovely people who ventured as far as my front step last week to collect their meals and to those who kindly ordered from my drop and go service.
This should have been the first week of our school Easter break. We should have been excitedly preparing for our annual ski trip. Instead we are all locked down, still battling our way through what we didn’t manage to complete of last week’s home schooling, acting as games-maker/minister of fun/referee/peace negotiator as well as doing all the household chores that we would usually shamelessly outsource. In the midst of which my husband is valiantly trying to work.
Far from ideal, but everyone is in the same boat and we are in a much luckier position than many. We are all well, safe and together – and we have the luxury of a garden. Moreover, it just needs to be done.
In our village (and I’m sure in very many others across the country), a wonderfully, community spirited initiative has been gaining momentum and is now in full flight. An ever expanding group of volunteers is supporting vulnerable or self isolating individuals by being their “buddy” or running errands to get newspapers and essentials like bread & milk from our village shop run by the amazing, indefatigable, utterly selfless Ajay, Seema and their team.
This week a virtual social activity programme has been launched with a whole host of initiatives from a daily service, to virtual coffee mornings, to quizzes and even a cookery demonstration by yours truly!
I have been lucky enough to be buddied up with two delightful ladies in their 80s who are both stuck at home. I have really enjoyed getting to know them better as we have chatted on the phone about everything from organising newspaper deliveries to where to buy the ingredients for simnel cake! For some their phones are ringing off the hook with family and friends rallying round to pass the time of day or offer help, whilst for others the phone rarely rings and they are have no other means of getting even the most basic of shopping so are reliant on ready meals, snacks and the television for company.
There are many restaurants, pubs and caterers whose livelihood is in peril whilst they are shut down and so desperately need to generate business through food deliveries.
Therefore, rather than offering my weekly menu, for the moment, I am going to focus my energies (and what ingredients I can source) on providing home cooked meals, at cost (i.e. excluding any element of cost for time or profit), to vulnerable or socially isolated individuals in my village, for whom this might be really necessary.
I am sure you will all survive without your Just Add Parsley meals but if anyone finds themselves in a jam, please do get in touch and I will do my very best to help out.