A walk in the woods

Yesterday was another beautiful day, bright sunshine albeit a bit cold.  Although we both had things to occupy us, N felt that we really shouldn't waste such a lovely day, so we wrapped up warm and drove to Firestone Copse, an expanse of woodland maintained by the Forestry Commission.  It's a very popular place for ramblers and dog-walkers, but as it was Sunday lunchtime, we had the place almost to ourselves.  It was a bit muddy in places, and very muddy in others :), but we had a lovely time, seeing signs of Spring and enjoying just being outdoors.

Wellies were definitely the best footwear!

Catkins shining in the sun

Furry willow buds just breaking

A wonderful 'staircase' of conifer roots

The sun piercing through the shade of the trees

The previous day (Saturday) we had considered going out for a belated Valentine's meal.  The first question, as always, was 'where?'  We used to enjoy going out for a meal, but over the last few months we've gone out less and less because, as we told ourselves yet again on Saturday, we eat better at home and for far, far less.  N cooked up a delicious prawn and mushroom linguine which went down very well with a bottle of bubbly.  Had we gone to a restaurant it would have cost us probably about £70 for a 3-course meal and bottle of wine.  Our meal at home cost a fraction of that, and we enjoyed it much more.  

We were talking about this again this evening, when N commented on just how little we actually spend now, compared to when we were at work, but we both agreed that we don't feel the need to spend, and to be honest, I'm not sure what I'd buy if I did want to spend money.  We have what we want, we have no desire to surround ourselves with 'stuff' and 'things', we don't feel the need to follow the latest trends (we wouldn't know what the latest trends are, truth be told!) and fortunately neither of us succumbs to the ad-man's temptations.  The horse-meat scandal that has hit the UK food industry over the past few days has brought home to us the benefit of cooking from scratch, of knowing exactly what is going into the food we eat, and has highlighted the concerns of convenience meals.  We acknowledge that we ourselves now have more time to prepare meals from scratch, but the scandal has made us realise how much we as a society have come to rely on everything being done for us.  It seems we have lost a degree of self-reliance and that's a bit scary.  If you'll pardon the pun, it's food for thought.