Happy New Year! I hope everybody is keeping well and coping with the new UK lockdown announcement. To say 2020 was a ride of a year would be an understatement, and sadly 2021 still continues to carry many of the same burdens, albeit with more progress (and therefore hope) behind us.
2020 was the year that more of us spent more time indoors, in our homes, than ever before. Aside from baking sourdough and banana bread, lots of us looked to self or home improvements to keep us busy, whether that's learning a new skill or redecorating a room. Of course, my lockdown was spent with a toddler, the kind who likes to be with her mama at all times, so whilst it wasn't the MOST productive way to spend a year we probably did a lot more than I give myself credit for! One thing I did repeatedly was to try and tidy and improve the appearance of our house and garden (this is always very much a two-steps-forward, one-step-back situation if you live with a toddler) and I noticed I really missed being able to pop to the shops and garden centres easily to pick things up to brighten up our home. Even when we weren't locked down, it still felt like more of a mission and more of a risk to venture out to the shops - and almost everywhere else. (Have you remembered your mask? Hand sanitiser? What are the rules on meeting people in any given moment? Are you standing 2 metres away? How on earth do you keep a toddler 2 metres away and stop them touching everything?!)
