By: Blonde Two

My writing work is a strange thing. As part of a project (a really fun GetOutside one), I recently took delivery of a fantastic picnic mat. Once I’ve added food (easy enough) and an exciting destination (tricky right now), this mat will have everything I need for a picnic.

  • Enough area for a whole family (failing that two socially-distanced adults)
  • A waterproof bottom (I suspect I already have one of those)
  • A stuff sack for neat and tidy carrying
  • Pegs to stop it blowing away (failing that, I will bake heavier cakes)
  • A map to help me plan my next picnic destination (and the next, and the next…)

As far as I can see the only problem with my new picnic mat is (hopefully) a temporary one. I can’t go anywhere to sit on it!

So, being a Blonde, I came up with a couple of entertaining ideas of what to do with a map picnic mat whilst stuck at home. Here’s how I got on.

  1. I pretended the mat was a sensible road atlas and planned my next campervan trip (lying on my back of course)
  2. I wore the mat as a superhero costume ( I was Super-Map Girl)
  3. I covered an armchair with the mat, and created a cosy travel corner in my lounge (complete with travel books, sunshine and a reading light)

We haven’t really gone that far through lockdown three yet. No doubt some more crazy ideas will spring to mind. In the meantime please excuse me, I’m off to ‘Travel Corner’ to look longingly at my new maps of Scandinavia. Swedish meatballs in the van outside the house are all very well but I promised myself chilly lakes and giant forests!