While we were in South Africa, one thing impressed me very much. Many Afrikaner men do NOTHING in the home. Nothing. Not cleaning, not laundry, not washing up, not looking after the children, nothing. Mind you, the women don't seem to do a huge amount either, they all seem to have a maid to do the dull bits for them, allowing them to concentrate on running errands (drinking coffee and going to the mall). It was like stepping back into The Diary of a Provincial Housewife, where all she has to do is complain about the lack of staff and force some hyacinths. This is a life I would dearly love to have for a very short amount of time; I love pottering, shopping with other people's money and meeting friends for coffee. I know that after about a week it would drive me to distraction, and we wouldn't be able to afford the cleaner, or a Nursery or preschool for Hattie, or to shop at Waitrose, or to buy wool, so it remains a dream for the meantime.
During the holiday, Simon, who is not an Afrikaner, thank goodness, did all the cooking. He claimed that this was because he wanted to give me time with my grandmother, but having spent the last night cooking chops, I know that the lovely peace in the kitchen while the children rampaged around outside was just as important. Now we're home, I'm going to try to cook more often - I have shelves of cookery books that are untouched from one year to another, so tonight I have dusted off "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" and made a sausage and spinach pie. It is cooking at the moment, and hopefully won't collapse like a fainting maiden when I take it out of the oven; I forgot to make a steam hole, which might lead to disaster later.
Skinning sausages, which is a key part of the preparation, is a disgusting job - it makes me feel like a mortician.
Well, it turned out nicely in the end and was very tasty too. Shame it had a soggy bottom.
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