After an absence, it’s good to see dawn break on the allotment

Returning to the plot after a two-week isolation, it’s hard to tell who has missed who the most

My first morning out of quarantine. The end of 2020’s second long absence from the plot. But this time it is deep autumn. I am at the allotment gate at 6.30am. The mornings were lighter when I was last here. It is still dark, mid-October before the clocks fall back. But I cannot wait any longer. I have been like a dog at the door, desperate for release.

There is an occasional pre-dawn chorus. The ground is wet and slippery. I use the torch from my phone. A first, I think. Raggedy cardoons leer at me on the path. I spot a cat’s eyes. It all feels a little unfamiliar. Until I turn the corner and catch the plot’s harlequin sunflower skeletons in the beam. Home.

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Ethical homeware - in pictures

New products from companies and creatives who want to change design, manufacture and consumption for the better

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Ethical homeware - in pictures

New products from companies and creatives who want to change design, manufacture and consumption for the better

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Financial first aid: how to make it through the second Covid lockdown

Coronavirus has hit jobs and pay – here’s what to do if you’re struggling with bills, mortgage or rent, loans and other costs

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With much of the UK in lockdown and many businesses forced to close for at least four weeks, household finances are set to be squeezed again. This week, charities said they had seen an influx of middle-income families who needed to access food banks after being plunged into crisis by job losses and gaps in state help.

If you are being made redundant, are going on to furlough and face an income cut or are self-employed and having to close for weeks, there are places to turn to for advice and help. Here we look at what steps to take in a financial emergency.

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UK homebuyers told to act fast to beat stamp duty holiday deadline

Covid restrictions and high demand for mortgages create delays in property process

Homebuyers who want to take ad-vantage of the stamp duty holiday have been warned to act quickly as high demand for mortgages and coronavirus restrictions are creating delays in the process.

David Hollingworth of brokers L&C said getting a mortgage was taking about double the usual time as lenders struggled with the volume of business, and needed longer to review some applications. “To get a mortgage offer in normal times you are usually looking at a couple of weeks from the application,” he said, “Now you could be expecting it to take at least a month, or possibly longer.”

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Ten top energy-saving tips Nottingham Estate Agents

Saving energy, like recycling waste, is one of those good habits which people acquire, but all too often lose. We tend to get our lofts insulated and turn off electrical appliances we are not using, then fall back into our bad old ways – and end up with inflated energy bills. It should not be […]

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Does everything you own need to be beautiful? | Coco Khan

There’s a reason I don’t have more things: I think most objects are ugly

The process of moving flat has got me thinking in cumulative numbers. “12,045 days” I mutter to myself while lying on a mattress in a shop (the amount of time we spend in bed during our lives), or “£16,000” as I peruse the steam cleaners (the money I would save over my lifetime if I cut out the dry cleaners).

And now I have another: two (the amount of large laundry bags needed to contain every single thing I own).

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