Just call me Mrs Make Do and Mend

One Halloween many moons ago when I was a Brownie we all had to take in carved pumpkin lanterns to the meeting for some reason that now escapes me. Probably so that we could dance around them singing "We're Brownie Guides, we're Brownie Guides, we're here to lend a hand" etc (yes, I can remember the whole damn song, and my promise as well). Anyway my mum and dad wouldn't get me a pumpkin to carve, so I had to take in a lantern made out of a swede instead.
Their excuse was that they didn't like pumpkin and that if I was going to carve a vegetable, it should be one that they could eat rather than throw away. It seemed perfectly reasonable until I arrived at the meeting where, of course, I had the piss roundly taken out of me by the rest of the pack.
At the time, it seemed like the kind of traumatic experience that was bound to scar me for life but, knowing what I know now about a) the price of pumpkins and b) my parents' financial situation at the time, I can understand it. My reason for mentioning it now, though, is not to use my blog as some kind of cheap therapy device(believe me, if I wanted to harp on about how my mum and dad fucked me up, there's plenty of other incidents I could mention that were far more traumatic than having the wrong type of vegetable at a Brownie Guide jamboree) but because I am extremely skint myself at the moment and I've been thinking about how it's affecting my life.
My friends Tom and Barbara Goode, who live just down the road in Bath and whom I am getting to know much better now I live down here too, said to me the other day that poverty breeds creativity. Well, that certainly seems to be true, as I am thinking up all sorts of creative ways to avoid looking for work.
But I also made a delicious supper involving lots of fresh vegetables tonight, partly because I didn't have the money for a Friday night takeaway but also because not working means I have the time to cook healthy tasty food. It was marrow stuffed with almonds, hazelnuts and marjoram, with broccoli and butter-mashed swede on the side which is what made me think of my Brownie story*.
And I have started making Christmas presents and I'm very proud that I have made three presents so far without spending a penny (snarf!) - I have knitted and crocheted up some of my huge stash of leftover wool into rather snazzy hats for two ladies and a gentleman. Lots of other people are going to get baked stuff.
So, in short, I am going to make someone a lovely wife one day if I carry on like this. However, I am not going to be a best-selling novelist. I am going to have to shelve the writing project while I make some money because although Prince Charming assured me before we moved that he would be earning loads of money and I could relax and really work on my dream of being A Proper Writer, he now has a whole load of very valid reasons why he can't find work until the new year. So he's spending the whole time working on a concept album with lots of widdly guitar solos.

Other than that, I had another twinge of missing my friends tonight because I got a text message from Bessie saying that she wished she could come over and hang out like when I used to live in London. I was too tired to call her back and I got a bit sad because I was thinking about all the times we used to pop over to each others' houses to watch Sex and the City, or Yoga Goddess would come round and we'd all sit and yammer on about blokes and babies and skincare.
I guess that's another reason to look for work, so I can start making more friends who live nearby, but it takes a long time to work up to really good mates like Bessie and Yoga Goddess. It is much nicer living here than being in some tiny flat in Walthamstow or Leytonstone, which is where we probably would be if we hadn't moved, but I do wish I could have brought all my friends with me.
There is a tiny flame of hope inside me, though, that won't die, and it keeps me thinking that maybe, just maybe, some of them might like it so much when they come to visit that they might decide to move here....

*Following the ecstatic reaction to my discussion of marinated tofu a few months ago on Real-Life Chicklit, I believe some readers may be interested in the recipe. So here it is (besides, I'm really very proud): 1 marrow, big enough for two people to eat as a main dish; about three big handfuls of mixed, unsalted almonds and hazelnuts, chopped - chestnuts would probably be good, too, or pine nuts; 1 handful of pumpkin seeds, bashed a bit; 1 slice of brown bread, crumbed; 1 egg; about a teaspoon and a half of dried marjoram; salt and pepper. Cut the marrow in half lengthways and scoop out seeds. Stir everything else together and stuff it into the hole. Drizzle lots of olive oil over the top and bake at like, 180 or something, until it's done, probably about half an hour, maybe more, I didn't time it (the marrow won't go brown but the stuffing will). Then serve with a rich tomato sauce or maybe a nice thick homemade onion gravy - or, if you are feeding it to a bloke, Tesco's vegetable gravy granules and tomato ketchup. I'm sorry, Nigella who?