General Chat

Looking back is fun sometimes. My brother is still a bike enthusiast, he is nearly as old as me, he has two big BMWs and a vintage Triumph.
No way would I ever get that distance now without a loo stop - 50 miles is about my limit.

Well time for bed,
Enjoy your day Allan,
sleep well Amanda,
Hi to Diane, and Berona,

Goodnight.
Tec.

Good night Amanda

Good night Tec

Allan

Ooops!

My deletion, I posted twice :0((

Allan

Good Evening/Morning all
Isn't it funny how sometimes we can talk the leg's off a hind donkey and can't keep up with the post on here and other time's, well like this no one around to talk too.
Hope everyone's alright, didn't make it on here the last couple of day's as my back was quite bad and I thought it best to rest it instead of sitting here on the lappy.

Diane

Hi Diane - I'm here:-)) Sorry your back's playing up. I wish you could retire early - I'm sure your job isn't good for your health.

Sue xx

Greetings from The Land of Song.

It'll be all that dancing CC. dragging poor old George around the living room. You need to lie down in a darkened room.
Thank you for the Aussie pics - great.

It seems the in thing to buy for the garden is a tree called the Woolemi Pine, named after where it was re-discovered West of Sydney. Apparently thought to be extinct, it was re-discovered in 1994 , and is thought to be one of the oldest trees known on the planet.
My next door neighbour has bought one. They are quite expensive, and although extremely attractive and exotic in appearence, they grow to an enormous height - not a good idea for a small garden - but can be kept in a large container for a while.

Tec.

Good Morning Sue,
Good Evening Diane,

Hope you are well Sue, and the weather fine today.

Diane I'm sure sitting on your lappy is not good for your back - and how on earth do you manage to type in that position?

Tec.

Hello Diane, You are l☺☺king as lovely as ever - I will now have to catch up with you.

Evening Tec - I am impressed that your neighbour has a Wollemi pine – we are not allowed to import them here in NZ. When in Victoria, my OH had us spending a good deal of time hunting out a book on the very subject in secondhand bookshops. I tell him that one is growing in Wales.

I have lots of posts to read, am sitting here and looking up can see the corrugated iron roof – we took out four ceiling panels and will be replacing them today. The computer and desk has been covered with drop sheets, and our hallway has become an obstacle course as have had to move some stuff out of here.

Persey

Hello Tec - the Woolemi Pine is beautiful but expensive. I do hope your neighbour looks after it and it doesn't die:-))

I love buying plants that are unusual but last year I made a mistake at a gardening expo. There was a stall featuring a large nursery in Queensland and without thinking about how tropical plants would fare south of Sydney I bought a couple of beehive ginger plants. Very exotic looking flowers. They've failed miserably and they were not cheap. I'm not happy but I guess it was my own fault.

Sue xx

Hi Persey - sorry didn't see you there. Hope you are well.

Sue xx

Good Morning Perse,

You must be psychic - I was thinking about you this morning.
Sounds as if you are in a bit of a pickle there - I hope you get straight soon.

I Googled the Woolemi Pine after admiring my neighbours - there are several outlets selling them in the UK, and they have books available about them. The one my neighbour has is about a metre high, and came with a book all about its history and aftercare etc. Fascinating really.

How is you foot? and himselfs eyes?

Tec.

That's okay Sue
I am quite inconspicuous in here amongst the dropsheets and rubble.

I have now been looking up ginger plants - there are a couple that grow here that are noxious and we have to get rid of them - but think the beehive one is okay.

Persey

Sue I think gardening is all about trial and error, some you win and some you lose. I tend to stick to things I know I can grow these days. I also hope my neighbours Woolemi tree survives, but she is not good with plants, so I hope she takes care of it - apparently the Woolemi is a relative of the Monkey Puzzle Tree.

Tec.

Not good enough to make the All Blacks Tec... It doesn't like me climbing ladders and gets tired easily. I still go down the stairs like a little kid, one step at a time.

His eyes - both done and then last Tuesday he spent the day in bed with a massive headache. So the next day took him back to the eye clinic in the afternoon but our lovely eye surgeon reckoned he had a sinus headache. He has never had sinus - so then it was off to the doctors and now he is on a tablet that contains codeine as well as paracetemol etc and has to take antibiotics. What with that and all is eye drops he is becoming very pharmaceutical.

Persey

Perse I'm not surprised your foot objects to climbing ladders, that puts enormous strain on your metatarsal.

I hope your OHs headaches clear up - he has a long way to go to catch up with me on tablets - I take a cocktail of 16 different things throughout the day - one day there will be a huge explosion, and I hope I'm never raided by the Drugs Squad lol.

Tec.

Hi Tec, Perse and Sue
sorry I didn't respond back earlier but after I posted my son wanted to talk to me about something, which remind's me I haven't told you all but he has got a job after being out of work for 16mths, it will last for at least 6mths but it may become perminant after the alloted time ( let's hope so ) as he love's the job, it is home office funded and he is teaching people how to use a computer ( lucky lad ) exactly the kind of job he wanted.

Tec it is very hard to master ( sitting on lappy ) and need's a lot off practice lol.

Hi Perse good to see you hun, hope thing's aren't too hectic for you and you get thing's sorted out soon.

Hi Sue hun there is no chance of that just yet and the way thing's are I wont retire till I'm about 65yrs as the goverment have put the age up , (knowing my luck it will have increased to 70yrs ) by the time I reach 65 lol.

Diane

It is 65 here Diane -

I am nearly there - my OH gets all the freebies and I have to part with my money.
They are talking about moving the age - but I am in the safe zone the goal posts won't be moved before I get there.

I am really pleased for your son - it will open up new contacts for him as well and who knows where it will go, I am sure he will do well.

Persey

WTec.ell done and congratulations to your son Diane. I hope everything works out for him and the position becomes permanent. Must be soul destroying to be young and out of work.
I see the new administation are talking of taking a million people off the unemployments benefits, but where are the jobs coming from?

Diane - I hope your son job becomes permanent. My youngest has decided to go to university and get some qualifications while working part-time. He's loving the bridging course he's doing but he's always on the go.

Sue xx

When my daughter got back from the UK she had problems getting employment in the field of her expertise, whilst there were plenty of jobs in Auckland there was very little in Wellington. Two came up and she actually got her second choice. It was also a contract Diane – it was to be for one year to cover someone’s maternity leave. The one year grew into more and she now has staff reporting to her – she designs web pages etc (all way out of my league).

Unemployment was unheard of when I was first working – we all had jobs to go to and there was plenty of choice. A lot of the unemployment is down to where you are prepared to go- some townships etc have a higher rate because there just is not enough work to go round. Auckland papers still have several situations vacant pages; we have not got to the stage where the work has completely dried up.

Persey