General Chat

Morning all,
Nice bright morning suns up and shining away .

Ann they do these garden centres like that so you have to walk past the things hoping that you'll buy extras on ths way round ,our one in Taverham has a door one end where you go in but you come out another door way down so you have to tramp right across the car park to the car so it's a choice of which end shall we park .

Anng enjoy your trip today sounds as if it might be very interesting .
We hope to do the bigger greenhouse ourselves if we get in a muddle son will soon sort it for us I'm sure .

Vera thats a lot of photos to look through that will keep you occupied for a while.

Mel was your meal nice last night ,what did you have .

Right better get sorted and get outside .

Good morning all. 9 degrees here, dry but the sun is not quite up yet, can see the sky going orange/red in the East though. Hopefully it will stay dry as five of us are doing a fairly local trip to Deerhurst where there is supposed to be an interesting church.

(St Mary's Priory Church, Deerhurst, is the Church of England parish church of Deerhurst, Gloucestershire, England. Much of the church is Anglo-Saxon. It was built in the 8th century, when Deerhurst was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Mercia. )

We then are going out for lunch to a pub called The Farmers boy that I have never been to.

Arm was a bit stiff when I went to bed and I can still feel it this morning but not too bad.

Ann, although the garen centre has reverted to past owners does it now come under the British Garden Centres? The reason I ask is that our Dobbies have been taken over by them and, although I have not yet visited, I believe it has been re-fashioned like you describe making it difficult to find a way out.

Vera, hope the cottage pie was nice anyway so at least you had something to show for yesterday.
Good that you now have tablets.

Mandy, That will be a nice feeling that the fence is finished. good luck with the greenhouse this weekend. Will son be helping with that?

It's clearly the week for Covid jabs. I hope none of you have achy arms and you have a gentle nurse or doctor tomorrow Annx. Our jabs are next Wednesday.

I wonder what Stu is cooking for you tonight Mel.

I have only seen a couple of butterflies so far this year, a large white and a peacock. The peacock was spreading its wings out in the sun so I wondered if it was newly hatched. I used to see a lot of red admirals but rarely see them now I seem to remember that red admirals like to lay their eggs on nettles but we all keep our gardens too tidy now.

I think I will cut all my tablets up Mandy and put them in a little pot. I don't want to go on to automatic pilot and take a whole one without thinking, though I don't suppose it would do me much harm. Good luck with getting your greenhouses up.

Annx, that doesn't sound like a very enjoyable visit to the garden centre today. I wouldn't be wanting to be eating in a cafe with the doors open at the moment as there is still quite a chill in the wind. You suggested that I order my meds a bit earlier. There's a slight problem there - I don't order them. All I have to do is collect them every 28 days from my nominated pharmacy. Meds that I have to take every day are on an automatic system. The only one I have to request are my pain killers as I only take them when I really need them and I am given 100 at a time of those. As it happens I do have a small stash of most of my pills to tide me over any gap in getting a fresh supply but, unfortunately, I only have a couple of days leeway on the ones I couldn't get this time.

I don't seem to have got anything much done this afternoon. All I can remember doing between 2 and 4.30 is preparing a cottage pie for tonight and a small one for the freezer. I must have just been pottering at this and that. Around 4.30 our son rang and we talked for a good hour or more. He was telling me all about the great time they all had in Florida and all the things he is planning to do to his house. He also said that some of the family group that had gone to Florida had been sharing their photos on WhatsApp and he would send me a few. He did - 113 of them!

Eyes are sore now so I am going to go and put some drops in and then go and check out the kitchen. OH said he would clear up after our meal but I haven't heard much movement. I suspect he's watching snooker or something and has forgotten all about it.

Evening all,

Lovely day here again ,I got a lot of jobs done put some more seeds in pots ,my toms are coming through and the cucumbers , Colin carried on with the fence so all the outside along the path are now done just the inside bits to do so we're getting there .

That's good you have your tablets Vera but be careful you don't forget to half them and take a whole one which would be easily done if you were distracted by OH talking to you , I think if it was me I would half the lot of them to be sure .

Anng I see you've had your covid jab and Mel too ,so one didn't feel it and one did ,just shows it's who's doing it ,some nurses must be more gentle than others ,some we've had just seem to jab it in and it's a bit of a pinch.

Mel enjoy your meal tonight ,I wonder what you'll have to eat tonight .

Tomorrow I want to get the little greenhouse up ,its only a small one that I put my seed trays in and then a couple of tomato plants when I take the seed trays out ,bit early and cold at night to put seed trays out but it will be up ready for when I can get them out , then over the weekend I hope we can get the bigger greenhouse up ,no doubt that will be fun and games as we haven't done this one before .

Afternoon All,

Lovely and sunny again but it was chilly this morning. We went to a garden centre the other side of the city that has returned to it's previous ownership since years ago and we haven't been there since before the pandemic. Well, we won't be in a hurry to go again!! It's been refurbished and looks smart, but it is like a maze worse than Ikea with high walls everywhere so you can't see across to where you want to get to and is twice as far for my knees to walk than it was before. We have two other local garden centres similarly arranged, but not so far to walk and you can at least take short cuts to where you want to go to. We had scrambled eggs on toast in the cafe but it was freezing in there as they had doors wide open with cold breeze coming in. The meal wasn't half as nice as lovely poached eggs on toast we had at Morrisons recently and were twice the price. We wanted to see the Bentley's maintenance free sheds that have moved there and thought we could go in at the side of the front of the building, but no, big gates are there now that are kept shut except for deliveries. I couldn't face walking through the maze again to find the way to the outside so we left it. OH collected his remaining meds on the way back and they were all there thank goodness. When we got home he set off and posted a letter and then carried on with a walk and took a photo of frogspawn in the pond in the field to show me. I went in the garden, weeded a couple of pots ready to plant, then dug some weeds out elsewhere that are flowering and topped up the garden bin with them.

I'm glad you have some meds at last Vera. The £1 psrking cost adds up when you have to keep going back. It's a worry when you can't get them isn't it. Perhaps you could order them sooner next time so you don't run out for a few more days. I have read that pharmacists are having to spend time ringing around to source medications now.

Mel you are lucky to be able to ask for the same make of your meds. I had three different makes of one of my meds in the last prescription and the tablets were three different shapes as well.

We all seem to be having our covid jabs this week. Mine is in the morning.

The Peacock butterflies are beautiful aren't they AnnG. I've decided it was a Comma butterfly we saw on one of the shrubs as it was smaller than the tortoiseshell ones.

I've just in time managed to get refunds from Asda on the milk and Kefir that came on my order last Sunday. The dates are up on the milk today and on the Kefir the day after the delivery! I didn't check till today and there's never been a problem with milk before. They refunded straightaway which is good, but I need to buy more milk tomorrow.......it would be something heavy to carry!

It's an early night for me tonight as I hardly slept last night.

I have noticed a sudden influx of peacock butterflies in the garden the past two days. I think they are newly hatched as they spend a lot of time sitting with their wings out in the sun. Lovely to see.

O meant to say glad you got your pills Vera. I also picked up my missing one from the surgery today. They sent me dispersable asprin instead of gasstro resistant one which I like better.

Just had lunch when Briget came with the news letter. Her mum is our reader at the church and has been in and out of hospital for over a year now. I wondered why I had'nt seen her driving around lately she's in Hospital with Sepsis again. She had been having chemo and her immune system was down. I think this happened once before poor lady. She is nearly 5 years older than me. It knocked me back a bit but Bridget gzve me a hug and she's going to see her tonight so I dropped a card in to her house.

When she had gone I looked at the time and I was late for my covid jab so rang the docs and they said its ok and to come down and they would do it. After that (ad it did hurt a bit today) I went to the desk and asked to book a blood test as the doc said I was to have another one after my January one as my sugars were a bit high and the Cholestrole so Kate (Stu's X wife) said they could probably do it now and asked the nurse for me. Kate said she would make her a cuppa. In I went and she took my bloods too. Just a red one and a purple one. So came home jabbed in my left arm twice and great amounts of blood taken. I had had toast for lunch with strawberry jam!!!!!! hope it did'ntmake much difference to my test as I had a nice lotof butter but the jam I had was low suger.

Popped the card down to Sheila's house but I think Bridget must have gone by then so I went to the shop for a card to have in my box to replce the one I gave to Sheila.
While in the shop my phone went and it ws Stu telling me wht time to come for dinner tonight. Just as I was leaving the shop it started to rain and is still raining a bit now. I must get round and do the girls and then I will be ready for the off.

I have tablets :-D Put out the flags and give 3 cheers. I have my normal pills but at double strength so I have to take just half a pill. I take these as soon as I wake in the morning so I'll start tomorrow morning. I can't understand why, if this strength was available all along, one of the pharmacy team didn't suggest it from the start. In this instance, AnnG, I don't think it was anything to do with cost. It's lack of supply from the pharmaceutical companies. One of the pharmacists at our surgery was telling me that they now have to source medicines where they can find them and she regularly gets stuff in from Italy and Dubai. She said this has only been happening since the current government was elected. Our doctors only issue 28 days at a time so I have only been given 14 tablets to make 28 halves. I hope I don't have to go through all this procedure again in 4 weeks.

OH has just yelled up the stairs that lunch is ready so I'll post this and come back later.

Walked back from the jab. I was down ther early so went and had a coffee and read the book I had taken with me. Friens came to see me in the cafe and said to go on in they were not bothering about times so I went in 20 minutes early. Straight in, no queue. Walked home with a U3a friend two thirds of the way, got home at 12 o'clock just about when the bus would have been at the bus stop. It is very sunny with no wind and 16 degrees. Pleasant out, a nice day for a walk. About a mile and a half I think. I didn't even feel the jab at all this time.

O Vera what a todo with your tablets. I had the same trouble with my heart pill they kept saying they cold'nt get it. When I spoke to the doctor when I broke my foot she said she could make sure I get hte right one and issue two months at a time. Which they have done so far.

I too love dark chocolate nad not so much the milk and I hate milk choclate biscuits. Terry's used to do a bitter dark chocolate which I loved. I now have on special occasions the green and blacks 80% dark chocolate which I find much like the old Terry's.

Morning all,

Bright and sunny and 10 degrees and pc says mostly sunny.

Not read the last few post yet but must get on as I too have my covid jab today and the postmans coming for the parcel at last. mHave toget in the shower before he comes.

BIL came yesterday which was a surpise as he had had a flare up on his ankle so came home from work on Monday. He scarified all the lawns and then mowed it up. BBL.

good morning all only 7am here so up (not dressed) early as I had a good nights sleep so no need to go back to sleep then. 5 degrees and clear sky no frost.
Covid booster this morning. Cynth is going away for a few days, has to get to Cardiff by 12 but will drop me off first. It saves me getting the bus down to the surgery but I will be an hour early. Hopefully the cafe in the community centre will be open so I can get a coffee and wait in there. Then I will probably walk back home afterwards unless I am at the bus stop around 12 o'clock. That bus is hourly.

Vera hope your head is completely clear this morning and that you can find answers re your medication. I presume all these problems with pills is a cost cutting exercise somewhere. I have heard of others with problems elsewhere. Surely before cutting a medicine there should already be a replacement in place.

It’s been another beautiful day with cloudless blue skies and sunshine but that cold wind is still making it feel quite chilly at times. I haven’t bought any plants yet as it still seems too cold at night. I am putting the ones overwintering in the conservatory outside for a few hours each day but bringing them back in late afternoon. I was getting on well with doing a little in the garden each day but that’s gone by the board the last couple of days. I’ve had too many other things to do, particularly with the tablet chasing, and I seem to be low on energy as well at the moment.

How’s the fence painting going Mandy? I hope you haven’t got chilled if you have been doing any today. Talking of chills, I hope your sore throat and sneezing haven’t developed into a cold Mel and you are feeling OK.

I’m not surprised your OH has perked up since getting the good news about his health. It must be a load off his mind. The more he can relax, the easier it will be for him to cope with the problems and pain he still has. OH and I have been lucky in that, as far as we are aware, neither of us have had problems with sugar levels. Neither of us has a very sweet tooth though I do like a cake or biscuit. Am I the only one who prefers dark chocolate? Many moons ago, before I had children, I used to buy a very dark chocolate which was actually called bitter chocolate. I think it was made by Fullers and I loved it but it disappeared from the shops donkey’s years ago.

I got some sleep last night but still had a painful head this morning. I’m pretty “with it” now but still feel as though someone has punched me in the eye and walked over my skull in hobnail boots, but I can look at the screen without feeling sick now. I drove myself to the chiropodist mid-morning and now have another toe with a dressing on it and instructions not to get it wet for at least 2 days. Good job I showered before I went so I can get by with a good wash for a couple of days. I came back via the Farm Foods shop and stocked up on a few things we use that were good offers. It struck me then that without a car we couldn’t take advantage of these offers as there is no bus we could catch. I guess in a year or two when we have to give up driving we’ll be in that position.

Well, the tablet saga goes on. I haven’t told you all the ins and outs of the story as it’s quite long and complicated and I don’t want to bore you too much. I think I left it that the pharmacy team at our surgery were finding me an alternative tablet and I had to ring them this morning. I rang spot on 9.30 am, their opening time, and was already no.6 in the queue but it moved quickly and I only held on for a few minutes. They have come up with a wonderful solution (not). A prescription was being electronically sent to the chemist I use for a higher strength version of my normal tablet and instead of taking a whole one I am to take half a tablet. They seemed amazed when I asked, if there was a difficulty with the production of this tablet anyway, were the chemists likely to be able to get it in any strength, and what do I do if they say they can’t supply the higher strength either? Apparently I must ask the pharmacist to ring the surgery and tell them what they do have in stock and the team at the surgery will sort me out the best one. So another visit to the pharmacy tomorrow. Each time I go I have to pay a parking charge. It’s not expensive - £1 for up to 2 hours but when you are sometimes only parked for 15 minutes and tomorrow will be my 5th visit in 8 days, it gets expensive. At the moment I feel as though I am going round in ever decreasing circles. Well, I shall see what tomorrow brings but I am not optimistic.

On that cheerful note I’ll wish you all goodnight. Sleep well everyone.

I don't really know AnnG. He was prediabetic a year ago and the blood test he had last month would have been a measure of what his average blood glucose was the previous three months, which included christmas and afterwards when he was eating up christmas goodies and then affter the cardiac arrest when it was a case of getting him to eat enough calories. I know my glucose level moved from prediabetic to normal when I lost a couple of stones during the pandemic, but his diagnosis may be an extra risk for diabetes according to some studies. Whatever the reason he will do what he can that may help. Once you have one autoimmune condition, (they are all inflammatory) you are at risk of getting others and I have three myself now including hayfever.

I prefer milk chocolate too! I filled two more humpers with shrub trimmings and a few weeds and the garden bin is full to the brim now so that's good. Now to sort a bit more in the bedroom or maybe not as it is later than I thought.

Losing weight helps but has losing weight helped your OH with his blood sugar level Ann?
My real chocolate problem is that I don't like the really really dark chocolate. I eat the bournville one but my favourite is milk chocolate.

I have been on the pc all morning trying to do this parcel and it won't now send a code to me to pay.

I am exhausted and BIL has turned up to scarify the lawns and I need to eat something and feed him too. Cheese and pickle sandwiches I think and a nice glass of orange juice.

I'm the same and love my dark choc biscuits and I know I eat all the wrong things but I don't have sugar in my drinks or on cereal if I have that but also like a cake and other biscuits too. My mum used to call me her biscuit baby or bacon baby and I do have that once a week.

I like the sound of the standing up 5 times and shall try that.

Morning All,

More sunshine and a blue sky! :-D

Vera I hope you manage to get an alternative tablet. That's awful having to do all that chasing and still being left four days without. I hope you get a more relaxing day today. OH collected his meds this morning and has to go back for four of them tomorrow. At first they said he was owed two, till he told them it was four. Fingers crossed they will be all be there tomorrow.

That is good advice re carbs AnnG and it will help that a heart healthy diet is also good for diabetes. I was lucky to learn quite a lot about diabetes with attending the two studies at the diabetes research centre and then being a member of their forum group for a few years. One thing I learned from one of the studies was not to sit for ages without standing up! In the study we had to compare sitting all day with a day where we stood up for 5 minutes every half hour. In my case blood sugar levels dropped 40% on the day I stood up. Apparently the act of standing up means that glucose in your blood is taken up by the large thigh muscles. The effect lasts into the following day too. (I must get back into the habit of doing it more and remind OH as well). I also have a book called The Glucose Revolution that OH bought me. It explains that carbs in different foods may release glucose into the bloodstream at different speeds too. It has charts of carbs and charts of their glucose load. I must have another read of it. Neither of us add sugar to drinks or cereal and have yoghurt and orange juice with no added sugar, we already have wholemeal bread and wholegrain rice and eat lots of veg and salad. OH has now cut out biscuits, but I, like you have a weakness for chocolate, but am trying to stick to the 90% one that I can't eat much of! Jacket potatoes have more carbs than other potatoes, so we can just have small ones now and having salad with them helps. I've already suggested to him your good idea you do with your daughter to share a treat between you and he liked the idea. Often when you eat out it can be difficult to find what is healthier.

You are right about the temperatures as it's been really chilly in the evenings. I still have my fleece throw on the bed.

I hope you get on well with the fence painting today Mandy, but mind your back. Does Max come to watch you and snooze like Monty Don's dog? It's good those potholes are getting filled in where you fell and I wouldn't be surprised if others had had accidents with them too. Like everywhere though, they take ages to get round to filling them.

I hope you get sorted with your parcel today Mel. It sounds like they have made a right mess of what was working fine before.

OH seems like a different person since he had the good news this last week. He's just been for a half hour walk. Since losing weight his pants are falling down (sorry if that's TMI) so we went to M&S down the road. He couldn't remember what size he is wearing so we had to hide behind a rail to check the waistband. (why can't men remember these things?). Anyway, we are going back another day after I've measured his waist to get the right size! We've not been there since they did a big refurbishment and it is unrecognisable now and has a cafe twice as big where we had decaf skinny lattes.

I'm off to do some more cutting back in the garden now.

Just re-reading a bit after reading Mandy's post re your OH ann. sorry I should have said it is good that he has been discharged and doesn't need the defibrolater fitted. regarding improving his blood sugar levels. I am sure that to do that you don't need to concentrate on actual sugar but carbs. If he can cut out the veg that is high carb and also cut down on sugar in things you but, that will help a lot. If he has to have sugar on cereals etc a good alternative is either 'half spoon' sugar or candarel sugarly (which I use sparingly). The hard thing for me which I don't stick to is cutting out chocolate and biscuits etc.

Mandy good to get the shop out of the way. Now you can concentrate on the fence.

Mel, sounds like you have a swimming pool in your garden.

Morning all,

Nice sunny day here not sure if there was a frost as we were a bit later getting up

That was good you had a better night's sleep Anng , yes I bet there's a lot of people caught out with getting plants out early ,I noticed yesterday a lot of people in shorts, still a bit nippy for them I would have thought as it was chilly in any shade with the wind .

Mel hope you can get your parcel sorted today, I've been sneezing the last few sdays which reminds me I must take my hay-fever tablet.

More painting to do on the front fence today ,we did our shopping yesterday as they are doing the pot holes in the market place ,about time as that's why I when down and broke my wrists because of the pot holes ,it will mean all the traffic going round another way so will clog up the roads ,its taking rwo days so we shopped early this week.

Vera hope you can get your tablets sorted and they can find some for you ,not good for your poor head all this stress.

Ann thats very good news that OH has been discharged he must be pleased about that and the fact that he doesn't need to have the defibrillator fitted ,a little bit of weight lifted off his shoulders, well both your shoulders . <3