When Ed bought me this little beauty for Christmas, I never imagined in a million years that I would be typing in early spring, about the world pandemic that we are all now going through. Like the majority of people, when Boris announced lockdown, we thought this would be over in a matter of a few months and it would either fade out or we’d soon find a vaccine. Little did we know the enormous changes that would come and how it is affecting our everyday lives.

Here are a few extracts from the beginning

11th March we visited our accountant Joff before he shut down and worked from home. We were going to my brother’s birthday party in York – something that he’d been organising for months. Sadly we had to cancel the accommodation and all the celebrations we had been planning for him. Never mind, we said, we’ll re-book in a couple of months – still waiting on that.

The chicken pie was lovely though! See the recipe at end of this blog.

On the next day, America closed its doors to Europe. Just as well considering the present state of that country under “The Donald”.

Our friends in Denmark said the schools had closed down. Denmark acted very quickly and has had much less cases than the rest of Europe.

Abi’s company in London closed their offices and she packed up her house and headed home to Suffolk where there are a lot less cases than in London.

We were heading to the English coast to spend a few days with Rosie our friend. Rosie is a nurse who had just started working in a care home so that trip was cancelled. As yet, she is still working and has fortunately not had any cases of Covid at the home. We still haven’t seen each other since November – apart from Zoom calls.

Saturday 14th March Spain closes and our friend Grainne said Empuriabrava was very quiet – no market and most restaurants closed. We were due to leave UK for France and Spain in April but will have to wait and see like the rest of the world.

Sunday 15th March Gerry, our Irish friend was in isolation in Southern Ireland – her brother Brian who lives in Spain was in lockdown and couldn’t leave his apartment to travel up to Chalabre, France where he normally spends most of the spring and summer.

Monday 16th March One of our favourite hotels, the Spielman in Ehrwald closed, along with the rest of Austria.

Tuesday 17th March – usually one of the best days for us Irish with lots of celebrations and parties. Not this year. Dublin closed.

CHICKEN PIE RECIPE

500gm of cooked, shredded chicken (use meat from a roast)

30gm butter

30gm plain flour

300ml chicken stock

2 Leeks finely chopped

3 rashers bacon chopped or two tbs of lardons

small tin of sweetcorn

Shortcrust pastry – ready made

Make the roux by melting the butter and adding the flour, cook for 2 minutes. Gradually add the chicken stock and stir with a whisk until it boils then keep stirring until it thickens. Leave to one side.

Cook the leeks in butter until softened, then add the bacon and cook through

Stir in cooked chicken, then add all the ingredients to the roux.

Season with salt and pepper (I add a pinch of nutmeg)

Put mixture into pie dish (enamel plates are better)

Top with shortcrust pastry, brush with beaten egg and bake for 50 minutes at 180ºC Fan until golden and crispy. Eat with fresh greens.

Since typing in the first week of lockdown, so much has changed. Follow my blog for the updates on friends, family and events and read my stories old and new. Enjoy!