General Chat

Clouding right up now!! Must get the washing in! Ian's out with Cas on a local shoot, so I've had a lovely peaceful day!!! Nearly the last of the season! which is a shame as she does love it, they both do!
Fish cakes from Waitrose for supper, smash potato and salad. Just the job!!
Tomorrow, roast chicken, roast spuds and leeks. Done a bit of gardening, dead headed some daffs and swept the path at the back.
Enjoy your evening Frank!

Afternoon All,

Wall to wall sunshine here and it feels quite mild and springlike today. I even saw some tiny lambs in the fields the other day.

That is very true Anne and I hope Frank told his wife too. Poor David has had a very traumatic time to lose both his mum and his home as well. You are very kind and it will help him to be with his friend Richard rather than a strange flat or something on his own.

Frank, I think we will see how we feel after the funeral as OH will still have meetings booked and work to catch up on before we go away. Maybe one or two day trips further afield would do us good though. He said last night how he is really looking forward to Cornwall now. He's gone to a match with his pal this afternoon and seems quite chipper this morning now he's thought through what needs to be done next week. I shall be sending various letters and sorting photos for the order of service and newspaper announcement. We don't think there will be many at the funeral, after all, at 95 you've outlived most of your contemporaries.

I went to an Art Exhibition earlier at one of the local colleges. I went early so I got a good parking spot right near the entrance. The standard was very good and there were some lovely ones done in fabric, with stitched scenery, trees etc in the thinnest strands of cotton and silk. I hadn't seen anything quite like them before. It's made me want to get my paints out! :-) I didn't see the smaller upstairs part though. What with climbing stairs to the theatre carpark, the stairs in the theatre, the uncomfy seats in the theatre and then the walk last night, my back was aching after an hour of browsing around and a short sit down didn't help much so I came away.

I hope you enjoy your meal later Frank, remember (wags finger!) nothing too greasy or you will pay for it later! :-)

I bet the children will be pestering to come and see Max as soon as he arrives next month Mandy. :-) He'll be smothered with hugs!!

Liz, it's a shame Ian and Cas won't be able to go shooting for a while. Will Ian take Cas out with Merlin in the carriage you have?

Suns seems to have disappeared here now but there is no wind and its not bad out so I think I may go and do some cutting down. Oh has mowed and is now picking up the cuttings. He leaves it for a while to dry a bit as there is so much to pick up and that way the box dos'nt need emptying so much.

Sounds like you enjoyed the morning visit to the art exhibition Ann. You must both feel more at ease now. I know there is still loads to do and once thats all over you can both feel very proud of yourselves for doing the best for both MIL and FIL. x

No sun here it's blooming dreary and cold ,one of those days were i just carn't get warm even with the fire .

Nice(if that's the word ) for you both to be able go out knowing FIL is now at rest and not have the worry of the phone ringing and having to dash off.
It sounds as if there were some nice things at the Art Exhibition Ann, a lot of work must have gone into the ones in cotton and silk i should imagine .
Yes i think the little ones will love Max ,they might not be so keen on his little needle like teeth though !! :-D

I was wondering how Fiona was too ,it's quite a while since we have heard from her and Pat too.

Yes Ann, we are planning to take Cas out with Merlin, just like we used to with Millie. She's quite a bit smaller than Millie, so it should be easier to fit her into the trap.
Yes Mandy, those needle teeth can be very painful and destructive!! We, at last, can leave stuff around again without Cas chewing whatever to bits! We had to put everything up out of her way else shoes, clothes, anything, could be wrecked!! She's stopped picking up stones too, which was a worry last year as we were concerned that she might swallow one. I think this summer will be easier all round!!!
Oh they're back!! Better put the kettle on!

Afternoon All

The internet has been playing up big time today and this is the first time it has stayed on for any length of time.

Frank you really are a lovely soppy old date aren't you :-D :-D...Hope you enjoy your meal out (with your 'new' lady :-D) and the others :-D

Anne,I am sure David will love staying with you until he goes away.How sad about his Mum and home :-(.Did you say he works with Richard?

That Art exhibition sounded interesting Ann.Nice to see something a bit different too.
I went to a Childhood Memory Exhibition this morning.It was just in a tiny room in what I think is called the Civic Centre .A very small building in Burton Latimer.It was rather disappointing.There wasn't much there at all.
One thing I did see that I don't think we have ever mentioned was a comic by Enid Blyton called Sunny Stories..Anyone remember ? I didn't.The copy I saw was from 1947 and cost tuppence.There was another from 1965 (i think) and that was sixpence.
I spotted an Annual called Pippin,but couldn't see what year it was.

Mandy you will soon have that lovely Puppy Breath (not you lol) and the smell of puppy feet :-D.There is something so nice about that .A bit like a new born baby.
Yes I bet the children won't be keen on Max's little sharp teeth .As you say they are like needles !!

Ann that was lovely of OH to give you that card :-D.What a lovely thought that was.

We got my Olive trees out from the greenhouse today.Some little tiny Olives had still been growing and I actually picked one this morning.It wasn't for eating though .It would be lovely to think I might actually get some.Fingers crossed.My new Herb Container is now filled up with compost .It looks a bit like a massive cradle or as we call it the coffin. Chris says it is still a bit early for planting the herbs so we will go in a few weeks and get a big selection.I said to Chris I hope Thomas doesn't think this is a new toilet.So it is now covered in netting as it would be the perfect place for Thomas to leave stinky poos :-S

I felt sorry for James this morning as he messaged me saying he needs to buy a Black Suit for Jess's Grandads funeral .He was planning on wearing his grey suit with black tie,which I think is absolutely fine.I have suggested he looks at hiring one as he isn't going to be wearing a black suit again.I am guessing that he has been told he has to wear one by Jess's family.But will find out more when he comes home tomorrow.He has ordered a suit which will be here on Tuesday but we know that off the peg suits just don't fit him properly .

Liz our Daffs are just coming out !!..and you are deadheading yours !!!It is weird because Fitz has a wonderful display of Daffs down at his and yet ours are still to come out.My Sister is off to Crufts again tomorrow .They love the working Dogs.

These light evenings throw me .I am thinking it about 4pm and yet it is nearly 6.
So I had better get a move on and put food in the oven..Lamb Kleftico ,Parmentier Potatoes.Broccoli and Asparagus.Liz have you tried this Lamb Kleftico(it is from Waitrose)I know you shop there :-DIt's very tasty but a bit expensive.But nice for a change.

Mel how is the old girl this afternoon? Any change?
I haven't seen much of Fiona on FB lately but Pat is about :-D

Oh Jane, I remember Sunny Stories! ( but not Pippin) you've reminded me. I didn't have it regularly, but when we went on holiday, or I was ill or something like that.
I think it's a bit much to expect James to buy a suit for a non family funeral, especially in this day and age! A decent one is so expensive and they're not married, ( are they officially engaged?) so he's not a family member! Surely Jess could have vetoed that, I know I would have. My cousin wore a dark grey suit to all our family funerals which was perfectly acceptable. But on the other hand I suppose a black one might come in handy in the future!
No we haven't tried the lamb dish, but will have a look next time we go shopping, I'm always looking for a change!
Our son gave me the complete set of Dads Army CDs for my birthday. I've been playing them this afternoon and feel much better for laughing!!

Oh yes Jane i remember Sunny Stories ,didn't they have Jinks and stories of Brer Rabbit in them ? they were small little books ,i think they might have been my sisters and i had them after her .
I don't remember Pippen though .

That's not very fair asking James to get a black suit when he has a perfectly good grey one that would do , i didn't think people wore as much black at funerals now ,when i see people going down to the church near us for a funeral they are in all sorts of colours .

Yes i would keep your herb box covered as i bet Thomas would love to"Go" in the lovely fresh compost , what herbs are you going to grow there's so many to choose .
Good old Dads Army Liz , even though we have seen them so many times we still get a good laugh from them .

Jane is it a Vegtrug you have for your herbs? I was looking to replace our raised boxes with a couple of them but like a lot of other things I haven't got around to it yet. Your herbs should grow like mad in one. It's a shame the exhibition you saw wasn't so good. Some of the smaller ones can be like that I find, but you just never can tell. I don't remember the comic or the annual.

It's good Cas seems to have lost interest in stones Liz. I know some dogs can get obsessed with them and start swallowing them as you say! I bet she will like riding in the trap.

Oh yes Mandy, little Max will be trying out his sharp teeth on everything won't he! :-0 I expect their little gums can aggravate them too when their baby teeth fall out and new ones grow. He's going to keep you busy till he's a bit bigger!

Liz, James and Jess are not engaged,but her family think of James as family!!.He won't want to 'rock the boat'.They are not a family you would want to fall out with !! :-S
He will get this Black suit just to keep the peace .Jess'sGrandad was quite a high regarded Lawyer and was invited and went to Princess/Lady Diana's funeral.

I just looked up Vegtrug Ann..I think that is what it is :-D..I will send you a pic when I take one :-D
Mandy I want to have ,Thyme,Oregano,Rosemary,Tarragon, Parsley,Sage.Those are the herbs I can think of now.

Yikes I hope Cas doesn't eat stones Liz.I know of a Red Setter ate so many stones she had to have an emergency op !!.

Watching Casualty now and then off to bed..Must check my lottery ticket..Someone must win all these millions.It won't be me though lol

No Gill for a couple of days now.I know it has been a busy couple of days what with viewings and Solicitors appointments..I hope things are going well <3

Golly Jane, if it's that grand James is lucky they're not insisting on Morning Coat!!! We once went to a funeral of the mother of a school friend of Ian's whose family insisted on this being worn!. It was at Wells Cathedral and actually rather splendid!
No Cas doesn't pick up stones now! That was last summer and a real worry as it can be very dangerous.
Time for sleep now!

Morning all and evening Kim,

Frosty here first thing for us but now the sunshine has put in an appearance. Oh is out on the BIG mower pulling our friends farm roller over all the grass today.

Going back to the annual Pippin, I seem to remember the name but don't think I ever had that comic but my cousins may have had it. The only Enid Blyton things I remember were her Noddy boxs which dad used to buy me and read to me at night or on a Sundy morning in bed with them and morning tea which was followed after by a ticklin g fight between dad and me, mum never joined in.

I woke this morning at 7.30am for a p then went back to bed and woke with oh atarting the mower at 10.45am. Got up and made my tea and found myself singing to myself, I like a nice cup of tea in the morning, etc.

It was lovely here first thing but has become very misty again! Both up by 7.45(!) had finished breakfast by 9. Did our daily chores, then after a quick COC, went into the garden. Ian rotavated where we're going to plant the early potatoes, while I cleared up round our two graves and took a barrowload of sticks/weeds from where the hedge had been cut back in the autumn down to the bonfire. It looks a lot tidier out there now so we're chuffed!! Have just put the chicken on so should be eating about 2.30!
I can remember going into my parents bedroom on Sunday mornings too Mel, when I was small. I usually took a cat with me! and got into bed between them. They had their tea, while I chatted!!! Ian and I did the same with our two when they were small.
I loved all things Enid Blyton when I was a child Mel! right up to Mallory Towers! Famous Five, Faraway Tree, in fact everything I could get my hands on! I think I probably read them all, several times over!! Does anybody remember Boots Library? We belonged to that as well as the County Library. You could sometimes buy books when they were out of print, and I've still got a few books with the Boots stamp on the front and with the leaf inside where they stamped the book with the date!

I like a nice cup of tea with my tea Etc. Thanks Mel that's stuck in my brain NOW.

Good morning good people, and evening Kim,

Bright blue sky here with no wind. It should warm up this afternoon. There I will be stuck in the pub watching West Ham play Manchester United. I do hope we win. We will then go through to the Semi-Final of the CUP.

We drove to Toddington (about 25 miles) on the motorway so not long time wise. We then went on to Woburn to what was a pub, but is now an up-market restaurant. The price certainly show it. I was not that impressed with the Menu for the starters of mains. Lewis had fillet steak, £2.95 an oz Ros had Rib Eye a little cheaper per oz, Julia and I had HAKE on a a bed of rice stuff. and Harvey had A Pigs Hock.. We went back to Harvey's for a drink and came home about 10.00 pm.

Ros did all the veg for dinner tonight. I have made the Yorkshire pudding and Cheese sauce. She is busy on the sewing machine making more covers.

Mandy For what it's worth, ask your butcher for a beef shin bone, with the marrow in it. Boil it, let it get cold and give it to MAX. He will have the time of his life licking out the marrow, and he can use it for teeth sharpening after you wash it for him. All my poodles had them, and loved them to death. It will save him chewing other things. !!!

I think it todays life and times.A black suit is not the thing for a funeral, I have a dark blue business suit that I keep for just those occassions. With a White shirt and Black Tie. Clean black shoes. You look as respectable as anyone at the funeral. I have dress like this for many years, and have only ever had favourable remarks, of how smart I looked. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Still no emails, I bet I have loads when I do get into them.

Glad you have meet David ANNE, It will make ita lot easier rather than him just turning up. That is very fair of you also only taking the same as your son pays for his keep.

When I lived with my Mum after my marriage split. My EX came and stirred up trouble for me at my mothers one morning as I was getting ready for work. The long and short of it. I packed and left that morning. In the evening Ros took me to meet her Mum and Dad (she wouldn't let me move in with her) As her mother opened the door she said "I like the look of you, you can come in) Ros had already had words with her about me. Gawd knows what I would have done if she didn't LIKE ME :-0 :-0 :-0

JJ has the habit of picking up twigs and stones when he's in the garden. The twigs get caught in his long ear hair, but that doesn't stop him chewing them up to small pieces over the lounge carpet, as for the stones they are left for someone the tread on. !!! Little blighter. <3 <3 <3

See you all this evening.

Afternoon all

I'm so sorry to hear about your FIL Ann, I'm thinking of your both <3 <3 <3

It sounds like you're glad to be home Frank and back into your routine ;-) Hope your West Ham wins, I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Pleased to hear you have met David Anne, I think you're right charging him the same as Richard.

So not long to go now until Max is with you Mandy. That's the thing with puppies they have sharp teeth, but he'll soon grown out of it.

Well, OH and I have been so busy these past few days and today we decided to tell our buyers about the deeds and the insurance we have in place. It doesn't seem to have put them off but I think they may get in touch with their solicitor tomorrow for his advice.

The weather here is lovely so OH is going to cut the grass after he has finished packing the rest of his things out of the garage.

We decided not to go for the bungalow in the end as the builders quotes were to high, we've looked at loads more places but apart from one, which we're not sure about, there isn't anything to buy. We looked into renting, but again, the same problem, nothing to rent. So now we starting to get concerned. If we go through with the sale of our bungalow then we could end up homeless.

I know my mum would let us move in with her, but she's only in a small bungalow so there really isn't enough room for us all. OH said we might have to rent a small caravan and sleep in that down mum's drive as Sandra would be in mum's spare room. So we're not sure what's going to happen, but in the meantime all I can do is keep looking online for anything new coming onto the market.

The property we looked at the other day wasn't very nice, so we won't be buying a second property after all and because OH has had time off work it will effect how much we can borrow in a mortgage if we decide to go down that route.
On a positive the car has new tyres and an MOT :-D :-D

Going to check on the roast now, see you all later <3

Gill, I'm so glad you've told your buyers about the deeds and the insurance you have in place. I'm sure it won't be a problem, but just as well to be up front with anything like that. I would have thought you would have been able to rent short term as it seems a pity to let this sale go after all this time getting to this point! Have you thought of looking further a field?
Oh, lunch is ready, Ian has just called me to the table!!

Well I have had a right old job trying to get my Emails, in doing so I have lost instant access to the thread, BBC sport. FB and quite a few other things including EBAY. I have caused myself more trouble than enough.

I have a long wait until I can get Conrad to sort it out in June when I go to Spain. Lewis might be of help next Saturday when he is coming up for an overnight stay. I expect I will be cooking for Harvey and Julia as well as us three, next Sunday when they come to collect him.

I am off to the pub soon, I see Arsenal are being beaten by Watford after an hours play. :-D :-D :-D

I mentioned to OH about you saying to tell the buyers sooner rather than later Liz and the mortgage advisor said the same thing, so the Agent set up a meeting for the four of us today at ours. They didn't know Sandra was in the other room and once we'd told them the situation we gave them the policy to look over and went outside so they could talk.

Of course Sandra heard everything they said and told us after they had gone and although they seemed okay with everything Sandra overheard them saying they wanted a copy of the policy to show to their solicitor. Unfortunately I couldn't give them a copy as we're not suppose to show anyone the policy except our buyers, but I thought unless they had actually signed something to say they are definitely buying (exchange of contracts) then they aren't yet the buyers, so had to say no to a copy.

They read on the policy where it said we're not allowed to show it to a third person and left, giving us the impression that they are still keen on going through with the sale. So all we can do now is let our solicitor know what we've done (he won't be very happy as he told us not to say anything) and wait to see what happened next.

At least OH and I will be able to sleep now as we've both been very worried about leaving this to the end, especially when their surveyor is due on Tuesday. They are in rented accommodation and we didn't think it was very fair on them not to let them know now, incase they gave noticed and ended up homeless themselves.

If they pull out of the sale we have decided to take the bungalow off the market and have an extension built, we'll also stay if we can't find anything suitable to buy and mum can't help us with the caravan idea down her drive. She likes to put her car in her garage which she wouldn't be able to do if the caravan was in the way. So at the moment things are very much up in the air, so to speak.
So we're not sure what is going to happen next.

I'm just watching the last Mr Selfridge and then I'll take another look online to see if any new properties have come onto the market. I've not been online for a few days so you never know our dream home could be there waiting for us to find :-D :-D

Sorry to hear of your troubles Frank, hope they can be sorted for you soon. I won't tell OH about Arsenal, he won't be very pleased :-( :-(

Afternoon All
Well after the fog cleared it has been a lovely day but really chilly.The wind seems to be picking up a bit.I have just lit the fire now :-D

Oh dear Frank.I hope Lewis can help you sort out the problem with your pooter.I wonder what has happened .

Gill,that is a pity that you are now not able to go with that bungalow.Would you have only gone for it if the price was right for the building alterations?
You aren't having much luck are you :-(....It will be a terrible shame if you have to lose the sale on your bungalow after it taking all these years to sell..You never know though something might just come along very soon that will take your fancy.

Mel that was a nice long lie in today.I too didn't get up until quite late.I decided to watch the last 2 episodes of Trapped on my laptop and then I found another programme called Murder which was a bit weird but very good.I actually watched some of it when I was in the bath :-D.I propped the laptop up on a chair beside the bath.

Liz you have been busy in the garden !It sounds like it is all coming on a treat .
I see that all our Daffs and Narcissi have finally bloomed down the bottom of the garden.You can't see them from the house which is a bit annoying as it is a lovely display.

James has just arrived.I asked hm about the black suit business.It is the Grandma who wants all the family going in the big black funeral cars to be in black.Jess's Mum did offer to pay for a suit for James but as he says she has no money so he couldn't possibly let her do that.He said that the announcement was put in the Death Column in the Times yesterday.The funeral is not until the 30th.

Did anyone see Back in the Room last night with Phillip Schofield ? It is so daft but so funny.You just can't help but laugh at what the people get up to.It is good to to have a good old belly laugh especially when there are so many depressing things happening around the world.
I don't know if I said but Chris has stopped watching the news at the moment!!

Now it's time for a warming cuppa.