General Chat

IT'S ONLY ME. !!!!!

How are my girls ?? Not long up, as we didn't get to bed till 2.30 this morning. So I am not with it yet. But thought I had better pop in so you know we are home.

BBL

Morning all,

O good our Frankie Boy is back. I have missed you so much without a single post for a week.XX <3
Bet there's loads of washing to do. Thats the rotten thing about a holiday, all the work you have to do when you get back!

Not a bad morning here, well at least its dry at present and there's a bit of sunshine and no wind.

Afternoon All,

Well look who's back from his hols.....'ONLY ME' !!!! lol. :-D <3 <3 I bet you slept well Frank. When you've opened all your post, looked at all your emails and got the washing on you'll have to let us know about your holiday.

Thank you Gill.........I got through it all which is the main thing. I find it quite hard to gather all my thoughts quickly to answer when you have no idea what you will be asked. They did about 20 minutes of film altogether then edited and chose the bits they wanted. It's quite good to do things out of your comfort zone sometimes though. :-) It sounds like you are cracking on with your next project now getting the garage cleared. I think I could do with you here to get me motivated!! We need to decide what to do with some of MIL's things that are in our garage soon, I need to advertise some and car boot for some first and then see what's left.

This morning there were loads of pigeons in the garden. I have left them some bread crusts. I don't like encouraging them but don't like to see anything looking hungry!!

It's nice to see your back again Frank and looking forward to hearing all about your trip.

Ann, I also thought you came over very well too, as Gill says it's nice to put a face to a name. I must try not to sit too long without getting up, it's only in the evenings.
Working in an office all my working life couldn't have helped me with the diabetes but because I have always been on the thin side there were no reason to think it could be harmful.

We have also had a Thomas look alike in our garden quite often, he is a lovely boy
but if Amy spots him she barks very loudly, she must think please no more cats :-| :-| :-

It's a lovely day here at the moment sunny but very cold but so much better than all that rain.

Paul and Richard have gone into Reading, Becky has gone with them and they are going to see Star Wars after shopping. Abbie has her boy friend staying for the weekend he has come up from Dorchester, some way from here. So they have a house full there. Becky will be staying the night here.

Thank you Anne. I must admit I thought of all the years I spent at an office desk in the past too! The decade before I retired I was an Inspector visiting different places so between the sitting was a lot more activity walking and going up and down stairs. I think we all tend to sit more in the evenings. Years ago we would have to get up to switch the tv on and off and to change the channels but don't even need to do that now. I used to go to the Reading Carriage sales many years ago. Some wonderful characters would be there, old boys in their groom's gaiters, one who kept Shire horses in Staffordshire always wore a tartan tam o' shanter. It would be interesting to go back and see how things will have changed. I was horrified then at the number of beautiful carriages that were being bought by Americans and shipped out of this country. We were wondering whether to go and see Star Wars. It's not really our thing but the effects should be pretty spectacular.

Fancy all these Thomas lookalikes turning up. :-) All the cats we see in the garden have short coats.

We've had a very frustrating day!! Our kitchen mixer tap had developed a leak at the base, so, OH had the whole thing to bits this morning, which meant clearing out everything under the sink, removing the shelf and ferreting underneath to undo the connections, to remove the tap!!! Luckily it only needed a new washer and tightening, but it was a performance!! Lunch turned into quick sandwich and we finally got cleared up about 3.15!!
Nice to see you back Frank, look forward to hearing about your adventures!!
Very dark here, wonder if it will snow?!!

Evening all,

Well the break was a great sccess. J & C made us very welcome. They picked us up at the airport on Friday evening, and we went for a meal before going to their house.

The weather has been wonderful temp in the morning at 8.30 were around 20 degrees getting warmer as the day wore on. In the afternoon it was to hot to sit out in it..

John tends to be a loner, so I was going out with the girls, and being dropped off at the coast with my book and a Cafe nearby, where I could get a nice cold beer.

Every evening we went out to eat. With prices for a three course meal at around £6.00 it wasn't worth eating in. The selection was very good with starters of soup,, melon and ham, pasta fruit selection. The main meal was Steak, Chicken, Fish, Pasta,Sardines and other offerings. Sweets were Banana Splits, Ice cream, and Flan. Coffee and they threw in cocktails.. Beer was only £1.45 a pint. But it was always Larger type, but always very cold.

We spoilt ourselves on Thursday by going to a beech side restaurant which served mainly steak. They had a big display of all the meats from Fillits to T Bone Steaks that I would defy anyone to be able to eat. The chef at the BBQ had to use two sets of tongs to turn them over. The weight of thenm was around 40 onz. We settled for Rib Eyes at around 8 onz. with salad and chips. At the end of the meal the waiter bought over a bottle of Raspberty VODKA which we could help ourselves too. As neighter of the girls drank, John and I tucked in, and very nice it was too.

On the way home last night Ros wasn't happy to how the car was handling. This morning he took it to the local garage, to find the offside front tyre had developed a bulge in two places. She was unable to drive it until a new tyre was fitted, £68.00 so that was nice on our first day home.

I haven't read the posts yet, but will try to get to them tomorrow. I had over 100 emails to look at, most of them were rubbish,

Just going to order a TAKEAWAY Chinese tonight. Back to cooking tomorrow if I remember how to do it. !!!

Evening all,

Another nice sunny day but oh so cold with it ,i think we must have had a very light snow shower in the night as the tops of the cars were quite white this morning and it looked a bit more than just frost .

Oh Gill you had a cold job today sorting the garage out ,i hope you wrapped up and had lots of hot drinks to keep you warm.

Goodness Ann you have some fat old pigeons all lined up on your fence :-D we have lots here there are usually sitting on the fence when we have our breakfast in the conservatory ,some times i put a few bits out for them too ,they come down in the garden because the smaller birds peck at the fat balls on the bird feeder and then they go after any droppings from the fat balls.

Oh Liz they never makes things easy when it comes to a fix it job ,you'd think a tap could be mended from the top with out having to haul every thing out of the cupboard ,

Nice to see you back Frank it sounds like you had a really good time in the hot sunshine with plenty of nice food too at a good price and all cooked for you :-D
I bet your heating has been full on today ,you'll be feeling cold after the hot days away .
More expense when you got home then !! at least the car got you home last night ,it wouldn't have been very nice to have had to sit and wait in the cold for breakdown to help sort you out .

We've just had Sausage tray bake so we're both full up .

Sounds like you got a bit of nice peace and relaxation and some nice meals Frank. :-D I haven't drunk for years now but when I did I would have enjoyed the Raspberry Vodka or in fact any Vodka!! Shame about having to get a new tyre though.

Speaking of tyres when OH started his car today it warned of low tyre pressure at the front. He checked it and it was only slightly low but he blew it up anyway. Then when I started mine up to go out this afternoon it said the same! We haven't had cars with tyre pressure sensors before but I expect the cold weather lowers the air pressure in the tyres.

This afternoon I went to see a new wool shop that had opened a few miles away. It turned out to be a craft shop as well and was run by an asian couple who had their young daughter with them in the shop. Tables were laid out with different things in the middle of the shop so I started to mosey around it. I got round to the far side and was looking at clay you can bake when the woman left the shop. The man then started unrolling a rug and I must have looked puzzled so he said he was going to say his prayers and he laid the rug down near the corner and proceeded to do so. I really wanted to see the art stuff next but that was in the corner where the rug and man now were so I waited patiently. After a while he continued, but on his knees, and then got up as he finished. I was debating whether I should step on or over the rug to get to the corner, when he called his daughter to come and do her prayers next. At that point I decided I couldn't wait any longer and left.

What a pain Liz having to empty all the cupboard out to fix it. I remember when I had to do that when the waste had a leak!! I swore then I'd get some boxes to keep the stuff in there in, so I could just lift them out, but still haven't got round to it yet. Another thing for my 'TO DO' list!

Evening All
Having trouble with the internet here so will be short and sweet while it is still working.
Just sent a pic of the material we have chosen for the new suite.

Welcome home Frank <3..It sounds like you have had a lovely week away.Good weather ,good food and drink .A nice relaxing time :-D

So Thomas look a like has turned up with you Gill LOL.I hope he doesn't manage to catch any of your birds .Little devil.

Liz that sounded an awful job with your taps.Was it not those that you had bother with the other week?

Hannah and I had a really lovely day yesterday.The Crime museum was really fascinating and I loved St Pauls.I managed t ohaul myself up as far as the Whispering Gallery(nearly 300 steps.But I couldn't do the next two levels .So Hannah did that on her own and had a wonderful clear view over London.It was blue skies all day long :-D
We had our lunch in that restaurant that is used for the programme First Date .Then in the evening another meal in a very modern and very noisy place in Kings Cross.
Train home and then straight to bed...My Calves today are really sore.(all those steps in St Pauls lol)But it was worth it.The shame was no photos were allowed at all in the Cathedral.
Then today it was the belated birthday lunch for James.We all had a wonderful meal atThe Falcon in Fotheringhay(near Oundle).Such a beautiful village with the most amazing huge church !!

Belated Birthday wishes too to little Luke .I am sorry I missed that yesterday Mandy.I'm glad he loved his flashing shoes :-D <3

I have just spotted a few snowflakes !!!.Looks like we could be on for quite a bit of it tonight.Then freezing fog in the morning. I bet Hannah is hoping she will get back to London in the morning.Poor girl is still suffering a bit of Jetlag.She has a smashing Tan.It was so funny last night at St Pancras.She was so cold she wanted to buy a hot water bottle so she could take it to bed.She managed to get the last one in the Boots on the station.They said they had ahd a run on them..
But boy was I disappointed when I sniffed the inside of it.(I used to love the smell of a good old rubber hot water bottle)...It just smells like plastic or synthetic :-S :-S.I was hoping for a good childhood memory to come flooding back...It was not to be :-(

Shirl has asked me to let you know that she is having trouble on Genes again. It won't accept her password again!! She said she has just renewed her subscription as well. Poor Shirl, I wondered why we hadn't heard anymore from her! <3 <3

Sounds like you had a great time Jane........all those steps as well, you did well to do 300!! I don't think I could have managed that. :-S

Oh dear Poor Shirl.I wonder why this keeps happening with her GR account :-S.Must be so frustrating for her.

Ann I was quite chuffed to get as far as the Whispering Gallery.I was determined to do it as James had bought me the ticket for St Pauls so I had to see as much as possible.The steps up to there were actually easy ones to do .It was just the number lol.But the 2 galleries above that level were narrow and apparently you couldn't turn back and come down again.(there was a different route )It was just one way only.I think it was just young healthy people that managed to get to the very top(like Hannah).Even she was sweating when she reached the top ,and she is very fit.

I think I would have given up too in that shop Ann.It seems strange that the praying was done in the shop.I remember last year when we were waiting in Paris for the Eurostar and a man and wife did exactly the same thing in the corner of the waiting area.But the fascinating thing was that they seemed to have a change of clothing to pray in..The husband prayed first and then his wife.I actually felt a bit sad that they had nowhere private to pray.I am not sure but have a feeling in some airports I have seen special rooms for people who want or need to pray.

Well the snow hasn't quite arrived yet .It is wet stuff but the summerhouse roof is white.
Anything your end Frank?

Yes Jane, we had to replace the tap in October!! This time it's the pipe fitting for the hot tap that had corroded with the hard water, and destroyed the washer! OH has replaced it and put some white tape.on the screw bit (!!) So hopefully we won't have a repeat performance!!
Your new furniture looks lovely Jane, I bet you'll be well pleased with it all. Glad you enjoyed your day out. Having a fine day does make a big difference!
It sounds as if your break did you good Frank, I wonder you could bear to come back!!!

I can't believe it was October Liz(the taps).I just didn't seem like that long ago.
I dread anything going wrong here to do with water :-S..Out Kitchen tap has been dripping now for a long time and is driving me nuts.I think we are covered by Home Serve (there is no way Chris will be able to attempt those taps) so I think we will have to get them out to stop the problem.....Now my cupboard under the sink will have to be cleared out too then.I do have a couple of plastic baskets there to keep things organised but things have spread now, much further and bottles and cleaners are just jammed into any tiny space :-S :-S

I can see big flakes of snow coming down now....Oh yes, it is 'proper snow ' !!!!

It sounds like you had a lovely day out with Hannah Jane. I did'nt know you had to have tickets to go in St Pauls. I would never have managed those 300 steps. You are a clever girl to get that far.

Frank you have had a lovely break with some nice meals and cold drinks. Shame about the tyre but at least Ros noticed it before it caused and accident or a nasty punchture.

I hav'nt looked at my emails today as oh has been over our friends down the road working a digger for him. He rang to ask oh how to change the bucket so he went over and did the job for him. He said our friend would'nt have managed as the ground was so wet where he was going to put the digger to dig this huge hole for a new septic tank. Then they had to move the tank from the back field to the front of their propity so oh made a sledge for it out of a long pallet and slowly fragged it to the place it had to go. Getting out the digger he has twisted his right knee and hopes it will be better by tomorrow. Wishfull thinking I think. I bet it will give him jip for a few days at least. I went down to see what they were doing and had a good look at Gerry's horses. She has a lovely coloured pony/horse who has a very distinguished moustace (sp). the other are all thougherbreds most of which she has bred herself or recued because they are troublesome. She is a real tender touch when it comes to horses.

What a problem with the tap Liz. There is always something going wrong in all our houses is'nt there?

Don't the people who pray on those mats have to point to Mecca in the east. I wonder if thats the only clear place in the shop to pray? Not very practicle when customers want to get to the corner though.

I shall get in touch with support tomorrow and report the problem Shirl is haveing with her password not being accepted and see what can be done about it.

Well I am going to watch last weeks Country file now and have a relax before bed so saying night night and see you ALL in the morning.

OOooooooyou lucky thing Jane. It is too warm down here to snow. I think we are going to be about 5 tomorrow. We did have a heavy frost this morning and when I went round to the chickens the mud was quite hard and the water frozen still on the top but breakable.

Ooh I just looked out and we have a very fine covering of snow here too! I hate it when stairs are like that Jane and you can't go back down. It's a bit like some castle steps that I have found narrow and scary!! :-0

Liz I remember it was your mixer tap! We have hard water too and I'm forever using that Viakal stuff on the taps and shower fittings. It always amazes me when I only need half the amount of shampoo in Cornwall.

Off to bed now.........OH went ages ago. He amazed me today by just deciding to go and clean my muddy shoes from yesterday for me.......you can tell it doesn't happen very often!

Morning All

Lots of snow here,but thankfully not the freezing fog.I don't reckon the snow will last that long though especially if there is no more to come.It looks very pretty out there.
Must get Hannah to check the trains now as there is supposed to be disruptions due to work on the tracks.
I am still in bed having just caught up on last nights Casualty on the laptop.But now I think it is time to get up :-D

No snow here! but very cold damp and raw.
Ann, I use that Viakal spray a lot particularly in the shower cubicle, as the hot water causes a lot of limescale. Mind you the taps need doing pretty frequently too, it's a real pain!
More peaceful day hopefully!

We have had a very light smattering of snow here the first in over two years it's only laid on the roof tops and grass as the ground is still very wet, I hope Sandra is now able to have her snowman Gill.

We also have hard water in this area, I always use too much washing up liquid when we visit Hastings as the water there is just the opposite.

Glad to hear you enjoyed your holiday Frank how nice not to have to worry about cooking and the meals being so cheap plus the lager as well. Back to reality now with the cold weather here at last

I'm the only one up at the moment I think Becky must be enjoying the peace and quiet, Richard never gets up early at the weekend unless he's going out like yesterday. They had both seen the Star Wars film before but it was to take Becky as she hadn't and the cinema near Reading has reclining seats and plenty of space between them more comfortable than the one in Bracknell but we will get a new one soon as it's part of the regeneration plan, I don't know if the current one will stay as it's a different chain and their not touching the part it's on.

Ann have you visited the carriage museum in the Peak District ? It's very close to Chatsworth House, they have a very interesting display plus the horses of course
as they are often used in period dramas,

Must get on with the prep for the Sunday roast now before sitting here for too long