General Chat

Did it again wrote the post and forgot to post it because oh asked me for something.

Washing is on the line and the sun is trying to come out so thats good. Not cold out there today.

Harry downs syndrome people are so loving. Oh's sister (his youngest sister) has our lovely Stephanie. She has been in charge of putting the new students in their places last year but now I think she has left colledge (sp). She did some time in a coffee shop and went on her own on the bus back and forth. She is 20 I think.

Morning all, Evening Kim,

Another lovely morning her "NOT" !!! drizzle damp, horrible day.

Jan arrived about 3.00 pm yesterday. After dinner about 6.00 pm she mentioned the Sufrugets (sp) film. Looked on the web and there was a showing at 8.30 pm in Northampton. They rang Carolyn and she wanted to go as well. So I was left "HOME ALONE" Great, I watched BBC2 about the fishing 8 till 9.00 Then there was a programme about the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Britain at Furford Glos.
It took you though the complete build up. What a great programme. I was then watching a Customs and Excise programme, when my peace was disturbed !!!! only joking.

They all enjoyed the film. I went to bed and left the girls talking, and watching Downton that they had recorded. I was still awake when Ros came in at 1.15 am. I got out for a pee, and got my kindle out and read until after 3.00 am. The next thing I knew it was 9.00 am. Jan was in the shower, and taken over the bathroom. We walked about crossed legs till she came out :-D :-D

She was supposed to be in Leicester for 11.00 am but was still here faffing around at 10.30 So she will be late for her meeting.

She is coming back to stay the night again tonight. That was she can spend a bit more time with Ros. I will be down the pub tonight watching the Match.

Harry, It was the perfect little market for the "JEWS" along the road, by the station and London Hospital. The area was full of the families. Yes, Tubby Issacs was a great meeting place for Jellied ells and cockles etc.

Did you use Pedicote Lane on a Sunday ?? My dad when not at sea. would take us there on a Sunday Morning, we would go round "CLUB ROW"" and buy day old chicks to go under a broody hen. MEMORIES, !!! What a wonderful time being a child in the 40s/50s.

Gill it sounds like Sandra will be another "FANNY CRADOCK" If you get her to sit and watch you cooking, I am sure she will pick up a lot of tips. I know I did as a child

Oh how nice for these "CLEVER" people being able to build their own computers. I thought we were very good as children to make a "Cats Whisker" Crystal radio , which we would lay in bed under the covers, trying to pick up a station !!!

We have 8 black bin bags of Garden rubbish to get rid of today, I will beg space in neighbours bins to put it in. We are the only ones (ROS) who seems to fill the Green bin every two weeks, and still have bags over. !!!

My gravy consists of Bist# powder, three ox# and the water from the potato/parsnips and any green stuff if needed. stirred into the meat juices. Only in a rare case do I need to add anything else. I've never had a complaint yet. THEY HAD BETTER NOT !!!

Ann and Gordon or should I say "STEPTOE AND WIFE" lol. I bet you have got to the point when you dread opening a door or cupboard in fear of what you might find. More things to dispose of. You poor things. I imagine that's how it will be when they have to sort this place out. The garage has a lot of Tea Chests of Ros's Mothers China and Glass. All Victorian and should fetch a few bob, if they can be bothered to sort it and sell it. I bet they will pay someone to come and clear everything. We aught to sell it ourselves, but Ros won't hear of it.

My Gawd it's almost Noon, and I am not showered yet. So I will get my skates on.

See you all later.

How right you are Mel about Down Syndrome Children. I had a lad who's Mum lived next door to us. He was at the "HOME FARM TRUST" working and living. Whenever he came home (Holidays) he would come round to the house .Knock on the door and as you opened it. He would say "Just come to see how you are" and march in. He would sit and chat for a while, and then get up and walk out without a word. We loved to see him whenever he was home. He loved our two children , and got on very well with them and them with him.

I have managed to get rid of three bags of garden waste so far. I see the woman across the road hasn't put hers out. So I might go and see if I can use it. If I need more space there will be Tony's and Pam's.

Have made a shepherds pie for tonight. I always fry off the mince. Then the onions. boil a couple of well chopped up carrots and add those, garlic, brown sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. It just adds that bite. Nice creamy mash on top. Then grated cheese. I have done a big daffy of sweetheart cabbage to go with it.

Jan will ring us when she sets of from Leicester. So it won't take too long to have dinner on the table.

Still a miserable day here, but it's not cold. I have been in and out without any top on, getting rid of my rubbish.

Just remembered I have two packs of Sardines in the freezer, I must get those out. I love them, but have to cook them on the BBQ as they stink the house out !!! I'll perhaps have those tomorrow when she's out with Carolyn. Then I can cook them indoors with all the windows and extractor open.. Don't tell ROS.

David, I meant to say, I treated myself last year to having my family tree printed on a scroll. the cost depends on the number of people on the tree. Mine cost £30.00 for four families. My Mum and dads, and my wife's mum and dads. The Company is on line. www.genealogyprinters.com. It might be worth contacting them for a price. In fact I have added a lot more to my tree, so should see about getting another printed.

I have also found a frame maker on line. who makes Made to Measure Frames. So if you want to frame your tree, you can get it done.

Bet Ros still smells thoses sardines Frank.

The sun came out here this morning after I posted so now I have two lots of washing on the line.

Oh is cleaning the old decking he took up from around the pond and is going to make steps down off the decking by the house to the oil tank I think. He is pressure washing it all that he wants to keep.

I am waiting till he has finished everything he needs to do and see what wood is left over as I need a new something to put my eggs in that I have for sale as my old tea trolly I adapted has finally fallen apart but it has done me good for at least 6 years so that can't be bad. It was rescued from next door who were ging to chop it up for fire lighters.

Afternoon All,

Mrs Steptoe here!! :-) Well I wish we had his horse Hercules and cart to take stuff away on. lol It's very kind of you to think of helping Gill, especially with all the things you have had to do recently. We went to the estate agent's this morning and left them the key. We were 20 minutes early so popped in the cafe over the road for a bacon sarnie first so that was nice. The agent is taking just outside photos till we have cleared everything out. He said he already has a few people in mind who are likely to be interested in the house. One already rents 3 houses out in the same road, so we are keeping our fingers crossed!! He also gave us the name of someone they use who would come and clear the rubbish out for us. We've rung him and left a message to see what it would cost before we arrange a skip ourselves. We can see some difficulties with parking a skip as people park all along the road outside the house. Then we visited the solicitor to sort out them dealing with the sale and to pay them more money!! We did a bit of shopping on the way home and now OH has gone to visit his dad.

The wooden boxes aren't nice ones Gill, they are more like old army ammunition boxes, that kind of thing. I'm sure they would be worth a few bob each, but it's where to store all the stuff till it is sold.

It's very dreary here too, but not cold at all and the washing has all dried while we were out so that is good.

I enjoyed Downton last night, but OH hasn't watched this last series.

Well I'd better go and empty out all these bottles of stuff we brought back from MIL's yesterday so they can go out with our recycling stuff tomorrow.

It never seems to stop Ann, What's in all these bottles ??

Mel, If I am careful she won't know about the sardines, I hope. !!!

You should have a word with Ann, I am sure she would have a few TEA TROLLY's she could let you have to replace your broken one LOL LOL

Madam is sitting making table runners for Christmas. The material is silver with raised branches covered in silver beads. I have just been on eBay buying tassels to go on the ends. She thinks she might have enough material to make four runners.

I'm like a spare part this afternoon, No dinner to worry about, and fed up with reading. Will have to see what's on Nat Geo.

Thinking about it Gill, you should ask SK# what it would cost for the extra. Sandra would find so many programmes on there that she would love to watch, especially if she likes animals.

Hello Everyone

We have the same dull weather and it's quite cold as well, I took Amy out for her morning walk and all she wanted to do was sniff.

Ran the Dyson round & mopped the kitchen floor plus had the washing machine on.
Two members of Peter's family rang for a chat which was lovely he had a very large close family so I keep in touch every week his youngest sister was only 9 when I first met him she's a great grandma now

I only have one brother he's 7 years younger than me and divorced with no children
when he's in the UK he lives just outside of Edinburgh. When we arrived home there was a postcard from him in Italy and Saturday another one from Vienna. He is an Art Historian who lectures on Art tours so we don't get to see him very often he does a lot for ACE cultural tours and if any ones interested you can find him on their website under tour directors he's Colin Bailey. He works for other companies as well but this is the main one.

I've been thinking about buying Mark a microwave as he said he hasn't got one but I will need to ask him if he has space for one in his kitchen as he never invites us back when we come to Hastings.

Frank I love sardines on toast but they are the tinned ones.

Gill have you shown Sandra how to bake cakes, you sound like a very good cook and with Christmas coming she has plenty of choice.

Our Downs niece Sarah is a lovely girl born in 1967 she's the same age as Richard
and on leaving school worked in a nursing home in Horsham she was much loved by the residents because she never hurried them and was vey caring. She could be naughty and used to pinch her Dad's whisky until he got wise to it and use to mark the level on the bottle but Sarah soon realised and use to top it up with water.
We had a laugh when she was a toddler her dad who was an RSPCA inspector took her with him when he had a quick trip into a shop leaving his uniform hat on the van seat, she had filled her nappy hooked out the contents and placed then in the hat. Because her stepmother couldn't cope with her she went back to her Mum who was living near Chester and Sarah much to everyone's surprise got married

Ann & Gordon sound like they have had a tremendous task on their hands it must seem never ending..

I am just going to prepare dinner it's only chicken breasts wrapped in bacon, new potatoes, green beans and a frozen veg mixture. Also give the cats their tea.

Just made Mandy's Lemon Drizzle cake again and am waiting for the 5 mins to put the lemon juice and sugar on the top. It is such a lovely cake and so easy to make as Mandy said. :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D Yum yum yum.

Still waiting for it to cool down but had to have a cuppa.

Anne I did laugh at Sarah putting water in dad's whisky bottle.

I really missed our Stephanie this year as they usually come and visit us and stay near by but we hav'nt seen them this year. Her dad my BIL so to speak, is a tiler and owns his own firm so has to have a late holiday.

Evening All
I haven't been able to use the laptop today as it is been updating software .Chris got it started for me and then had to go out.Told me to keep an eye on it and follow instructions which i did until it said there was a problem .So i have had to wait for Chris to come home and sort it out.So it has taken hours and hours :-S

I woke this morning feeling all achey in my legs and just not tip top.So I actually haven't done much today other than a bit of ironing and getting Chicken Snitchels (sp?) prepared.I took for ever to flatten out the chicken breasts with the roling pin,and I still don't think I have them thin enough.So I hope that all the crumb stuff doesn't burn while the chicken cooks.We will see.Hope it stays stuck to the chicken too LOL.I always worry about it dropping off.
I caught up on Downton just now.Ooh it was a bit messy wasn't it :-S.But good :-D
I need to also catch up on the Darkness prog too from last night as I fell asleep watching it :-|

Thomas has just turned up .He has been out since midday.I wonder how many mice he has eaten today ????..He has just drunk his drop of cat milk but ignored the food so I am thinking he might be a bit stuffed :-S :-S

I have had a quick squiz through the posts but sorry not to comment on them all now as I have to get into the kitchen.
I will look up your Brother Anne.He sounds like he has a very interesting job.
I wonder if Fitz(my friend may have heard of him as he is quite interested in Art.He has had many interesting paintings in his family .Some have been worth a fortune too !!

I may be back later but if not it will be in the morning.

Hi all

I've finally finished all the sorting, there was a lot more than I thought so it's taken me all day, needless to say the Christmas present didn't get wrapped up.......It's Michelle's presents all over again isn't it? :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

Yes Anne I will teach Sandra how to bake cakes, I remember not so long ago I asked her if we should bake a cake, she got as far as greasing the tins for me, then wondered off until it was time to eat it LOL I said thank you for your help and she said yes I helped eat it :-D :-D She's so funny sometimes.

It sounds like your brother gets around a lot. I will take a look at his website when I get five minutes. Wasn't Sarah funny putting water into the Whiskey bottle. Quite smart if you think about it.

So what did you do wrong to upset the pooter Jane ;-) ;-) ;-) At least it's sorted now, thanks to Chris and hopefully no more messages saying there's a problem :-)

I might look into the extra subscription on Sk* Frank, if there's lots of animal programmes, Sandra will love it. I quite like them myself. I might wait until after Christmas though as she's into all the Christmas films at the moment so won't have time to watch anything else just yet.

What a pity the wooden boxes aren't the nice ones Ann, but you never know they might still be worth something to someone. It's good that there might be some people interested in the house, hopefully it won't take to long to sell. Are you nearly ready for the skips yet? I really hope you're near the end of all the sorting now. I think the two of you deserve a medal sticking at it for this length of time, you must dread going there not knowing what you're going to find next.

It sounds like your OH is nearly there in the garden now Mel, it's going to look lovely when it's finished. I'd love to see a pic if you take one. Hope the Heron hasn't shown his face again and all your fish are okay.

OH is spray painting a picture frame for me because I want to make a picture for the bedroom. I found some lovely wallpaper with trees on and I've got some other pictures of birds and butterflies so I was going to make a new picture for the bedroom. That's the plan for tomorrow anyway.

Good job OH put the electrics into the garage, he can now plug his light in so he can see what he's doing. The silly man said I can't spray it now it'll be dark before I've finished. Clearly he'd forgotten about the electrics he put in the other week :-S :-S I reminded him and he said nothing, probably felt a bit daft LOL

Well, I'd better make a start on dinner
See you all later

Evening all. Well we are in our holiday cottage in beddingham nr Lewes. It's a quaint little thing but the a 27 runs right by the bottom of the garden. So we will have to get used to the noise. We have a kitchen here lol lol so have just finished our dinner and will be off for a quick drink when we find the nearest pub. It will be by car

We had a food pack left us here also a packet. Of dog treats for Millie and mocha. Will watch emmerdale then we will be off catch you all later.

Pat I hope you enjoy your holiday, last week we stayed in nearby Hastings, do you know the area well? Beachy Head in Eastbourne is a good place to walk your dogs but wrap up warm. I know it well as I was brought up in Hastings from the age of 7 and married there but moved to Bracknell in 1966.

Frank did you use to listen to Radio Luxembourg when you were young, I always tried to tune in to that although my parents had other ideas.

I now have Timmy on my lap he's the largest of the 3 cats and his bum is overlapping the keyboard
:-) :-) :-) :-)

Gill I did nothing wrong(for once LOL).It was something to do with the password .It was a hiccup with my old internet ID and I cloud.

Pat that was nice to have a doggie pack :-D for you in the cottage...and a KITCHEN !! :-)..You will be dreaming about your new one.Lets hope by the time you get home it will be well underway.

Just doing the chicken Schnizels( sp again? ) now for me and Chris.James has had his and said it was really good.BUT Half the crumb had fallen off :-S :-S He did say that he reminded me last time I did this, to double dip the egg and crumb mix.So instead of just dipping the chicken once in egg and coating ,to dip again and re coat. I WILL remember next time :-D

I thought you dipped it in milk then flour then egg and finally breadcrumbs??

We had cumberland sausages, mustard mash, carrots, onions and sprouts with gravy. Nice it was too.

Glad you like the cottage Pat. You will soon get used to the 27 running at the end of the garden. Nice to get doggy treats too.

I can member getting Radio Luxenbourg. You had to get it just right and sometimes it would wonder off and you had to retune. I always member too the K E Y N S H A M Bristol

hi testing Shirlxx

You are all very kind and friendly, I appreciate it. Thank you Frank for information.
A good one well done would be worth the effort.

Thank you for all the help I've received, past and present.

I apologise to Melanie for a very poor joke I was fool enough to send her SORRY

Morning all morning Shirl and David

It's very dark here today it wouldn't surprise me if we get some rain. I think I heard the rain coming down quite hard in the night but had my TV on so I'm not sure. Good job OH cut the grass yesterday if it did rain.

We have to pay for our garden bin to be emptied Frank, the new rule came into force last year and costs £35 a year, luckily next door said we can use theirs if we need to so that's a great help and saves all the rubbish laying around in the bin for to long. I should imagine it would start to smell if it was left in the bin for any length of time.......mind you if it turned to compost that wouldn't be a bad thing ;-)

I was gong to make the picture for the bedroom today but have decided against it when I got an email yesterday off Ancestry showing all my hints on my tree. I had a quick look last night and managed to find the marriage and deaths of one couple of my Allen's, so I'm going to take another look today to see what else I can find.

This surname is so popular that it's a nightmare to research, especially in the London area, which is where some of my family originated from, so I'm made up I might now get some clues on where to start looking. I've had this part of my family on hold for almost 10 years now, so I might be able to finally fill in all those gaps and add more peeps......Wish me luck :-D :-D

Going to watch Downton first
See you all later

Morning all and evening Kim and Shirl.

Shirl if you are looking in your test came through ok.

This is what I had from Shirl via pm.

Hi Mel,
Yes i now have injection in both eyes infact I go next week to have photos taken to see how this last injection worked. Fall is apon us colours are beautiful, To-day has been the coolest untill yesterday was up in the 20c& 23, but we did have a flurry of SNOW------
Give my love to the gang, I still cant get on threads but will try again lol shirlxx

Lovely morning again here with sunshine but they forcast cloud and rain for later inthe week.

Donkey Day today and I think I will go off there this morning and get it over and done with.