General Chat

Jane I did think you were a little late on your packing not so bad with another day to go. I'm the same when it comes to having a good clean prior to going away, will James keep it tidy for you?

He might not during the week Anne,but by the time we get home it will all be spick and span :-D :-D..He woudn't dare leave the place in a mess..He had enough grief from us. in his teens when we came home and the house was a tip !!!! It may be done at the last minute but thats fine :-D
I recall some years ago when Hannah was about 16-17 and Chris and I came home from a holiday...The whole place looked like a bomb had gone off.There had been a big party,and when I say big I mean big.There had even been a big bouncy castle in the bag garden lol .It took 3 black bin bags to put the empties in !!!!.Made her take it all to the tip :-D.When we arrived home she and her friend Lorraine were sunbathing in the garden.(we got home much earlier than she expected LOL) The look on their faces was a picture.

Just watched the end of the Invictus Games !!!. Our Prince Harry is just the best :-D

Morning my Friends, Evening Kim,

Well BAD NEWS When J & C picked us up l Carolyn said it was the talk of the Newsagents this morning.ast night. They informed me that one of my "drinking buddies" had fallen down his stairs and broke his neck. This happened yesterday morning. He was a member of a "BOY GROUP" in the 50s/60s. I can't remrmber who, but will find out and let you know. We bought each other a pint on Tuesday watching the West Ham match. He was about 72.. Carolyn said it was the talk of the newsagents this morning.

The meal was excellent last night, and to top it off J & C PAID for it. To thank Ros for all the running about she has done for them. He did mention that he was only going to invite Ros, but felt he couyldn't leave me out ;-) ;-) ;-),The owner was so pleased to see us that he bought a round of drinks after our meal.

Madam has popped to take some shirts back that she bought me. I HAVE LOADS and didn't want anymore. She's taken Carolyn so they will be at least 3 to 4 hours !!!

She isn't out with Martine, as she is taking her OH to thr Welland Valley to see "THE FLYING SCOTSMAN" that is due throught there later today.

Cooler morning here, but nice and bright. I have been for a stroll around the ESTATE al; looks fine. NO POACHERS in the night !!!

Never had any teenage parties. Mum and Dad never went away, plus at 17 I was his nurse and carer. I felt I lost a lot of my younger life, but what better reason could you have than nursing someone you dearly loved.

I'm getting emotional now. so I am off.

Morning all and evening Kim,

What sad news you had yesterday Frank about your drinking buddy. At least you saw him for the West Ham match and had a good chin wag I expect. It must be horrid to fall down the stairs. My grandfather died at 72. He always said he wanted to live for three score years and ten and he did plus two more.

We have grey sky here today but I am hoping we may get a bit of sun later.

Oh is waiting for his toast so I will be back later.

Afternoon all,

Cloudy here the sun keeps trying to peep through the cloud every now and then, quite windy and i would think there is a good dry out but i don't have any washing to do as i have caught up with all mine ,even the ironing is up to date .

Frank what sad news for you and to think you were only with him a few days ago too, you never know whats going to happen , was he married ?

Liz how is Cas today ? did she get on ok at her check up the other day ?

Afternoon All,

Well. we got back late afternoon yesterday folks! It wasn't a great journey back Anne, as the new A30 dual carriageway section they are building caused us a 51 minute hold up!! Then, when OH avoided the major road junction roadworks again near Coventry I think everyone had the same idea and it was crawl, crawl around Evesham. There was no trouble on the way down to Cornwall, but the first delay on the way back meant we caught the rush hour traffic later as well. We think we'll stick to Saturday travel in future as we never seem to have any trouble then. The owner of the lodges is hoping to build and sell some of the next lodges they will be building next, which will be in a seperate area. I asked him and he confirmed they would manage them and arrange for them to be let if required, but the owners could pick what weeks they wanted to use them themselves. He even said if I wanted the one we stay in, as we seem to like it , we could buy that one!! It is in the best spot!! lol. Something to think about.

You were spot on Mandy/Mel!! Everything unpacked and washing in the washer last night and drying nicely on the line this morning. While OH was unloading the car I shot up the garden to check the greenhouse and everything was fine so I left the watering till this morning. :-) I was in bed by 9.00pm with a slight headache, sneezing and feeling a bit wobbly. This morning I was all bunged up and sneezing but felt better, so I think it is being back in all the rapeseed pollen again. We can see fields of it over the back fence now too. We went down the road to use another voucher this morning BOGOF breakfast, but we just had eggs benedict as part of cutting back on our eating. We both did a few minutes stint on my cross trainer before we went out and I was very pleased it didn't seem to bother my knees, so Ill keep that up now.

What an awful accident your friend had Frank. It sounds like the same kind of accident that chap I worked with had when he fell downstairs after his wife had left for work and the cleaner found him. I was the same as you regarding having no parties when I was young. No 18th or 21st...nothing nor any other birthday parties. As for parties when my parents were away, I would never have dared. I would be hit for just arguing with my father, even in my late teens so gawd knows what he would have done if I'd had a party while they were on holiday!! :-0 Even when I and my friend's stayed at the chalets my friend's mum owned in Norfolk, we would clean them all through before we left. When his mum went on holiday my ex would always tidy and hoover before she came home too. Yes, is the info you have on your tree the same line as that that I found? After this week and the ''filming' I will see if I can get down to it and sort how to transfer the photos so I can send them to you, together with the rest of the information.

I bet Jane has her outfits sorted now the deadline is looming!! It should be nice in Avignon this time of the year, not so hot as later. I'm with you on cleaning before you go.........even OH said this year how nice it was to walk into a clean house when we got back and not have that job looking back at you as you walk in! :-) In case I miss you, I hope you have a good time next week, testing all those nice french wines and their delicious, crusty bread

Isn't everything growing fast now? Our tomatoes have double in size while we were away and I put some ties around them this afternoon. I think I will pop out to the local Aldi tomorrow and get some of those geraniums that Mandy told me about. They were nice in pots each side of the arbour last year. Then I can get some trailing plants to go around the edge of the pots.

I need to pop out now so will catch up with the posts later.

Afternoon Everyone
Well I thought Fitz was just popping in.....3 hours later.he has just gone !!!.So I am still sorting out my packing.I thought I had done it this morning ,but keep having to have a tweak LOL.I know I really need to take some things out of my suitcase but just can't bring myself to do it. 5 pairs of shoes so far :-S.They are quite light weight(that is my excuse :-D )

Ann, go on buy a Lodge :-D..We would rent it from you for a week :-D(I mean that )
Shame the journey home was a bit of a chore.That Coventry bit has been a nightmare for ages now.

Frank did your friend survive that fall .If he did I hope his broken neck was stable and hadn't caused too much spinal trouble.

I just lifted Chris's Suitacase (it is lighter than mine) I think I might be nice to him and ask him to just add few bits and bobs :-D :-D
Better get on....I will be back later

How many pairs of shoes do you wear in a week Jane?? Hope you can sort your case out ok and perhaps Chris will let you use a bit of his room!!

Mel,some are sandals ,some flats and a pair for any wet weather .My Sandal ones are the good ones for walking in.I am sure I can get a few odd bits in Chris's case :-D.Maybe just my toilet bag.It weighs a ton lol.
Still trying to decide what to do with Thomas tonight.Keep him in or let him out. :-S I have just done his worm treatment (on the back of his neck) and he has legged it !!!

Fitz had the results of Podges blood tests.Podge is diabetic !!..No wonder I thought he looked so bad the other day looking so skinny .When Fitz gets back from cat sitting in Devon he is going to have to begin 2 injections a day with Podge.To be honest I can't see hm coping with that.

After quite a cloudy day ,the sun is shining :-D. Lots of things to get on with now ,so wil BBL

Evening all,

Turned into a pleasant afternoon, even though it was a chilly wind.

No my friend didn't survive. A friend called round yesterday morning and couldn't raise him. A neighbour had a key and let themselves in, he was dead at the bottom of the stairs. He was a member of "THE ROCKING BERRIES" for any of you that might remember him. I don't know for sure but I thimk he was divorced. His family are coming down from Birmingham on Monday. I raised a glass of beer in his memory today at thr pub.

Glad you artived home safe and sound Ann. As Jane said, it will be easy to rent your Lodge (if you buy it) with all of us on here, I am sure you will have it fully booked. It will be a problem who gets which weeks
;-) ;-) ;-)
..
I hope you have a nice time (HIC HIC) in France Jane and Chris. I am sure the weather will be fine for you. I knew you would pack too much stuff.

Carolyn is ringing Ros at 7.00 am tomorrow , so she can get herself sorted for when John pick her up at 8.10 to go to Hampton Court. I have told her not to get lost in the maize. That's if she goes in it.

Home fried F & C tonight. I have a piece of loin of COD and Ros a Plaice Fillet. I will get the oil on about 6.30 and have is soon after.

Have a nice evening all.

Ann it is Lidls that have the Geraniums, don't want you toddling off to Aldi and wondering why you carn't find them.
So do you know which day this week you will be filming ? I can see you will be going through your wardrobe now wondering what to wear :-D

I would be the same as you Jane taking an assortment of footwear ,there's nothing worse than sore feet after a day out and not having different shoes to change into,especially if you get some thing like a bluster and need some thing looser round the heel ,i think feet swell in the heat any way.

Poor old Podge with his diabetes, i'm not sure if i could do an injection on my animal ,but if needs be then i would have too.

Frank ,hubby remembers The Rocking Berries singing "He's back in Town " when i googled it i remember hearing it too.
No batter on that fish !! remember it doesn't suit you ,you don't want to be up in the night .

Oh that is terribly sad Frank that he didn't survive his fall....I think I remember the Rocking Berries.If not them a similar name. I will google them.

I am still looking at this suitcase !!!!BUT I think will just leave it as it is.I won't wear half of what I have packed ,but if I start taking things out now it will get me all in a hooha .So best left as it is :-D :-D

What a lovely evening here.Clear blue wall to wall sunshine :-D

Oh no don't start unpacking now Jane , can you remember if there was any thing you didn't pack last time that you wished you had ?
Hubby always use to say "if theres some thing you've forgotten you can always get it when we get there ,we're not going to the back of beyond " :-D
Have a lovely time away ,i hope the weather is fine and not to hot for you.

Lovely evening here too ,blue sky but the wind is making it feel quite chilly out ,we usually take Max out to burn off some energy but we didn't stay out to long as it's chilly.

Almost ready for my Bed. Just watching tail end of Foyles War after Ros had BGT on. Some good acts even if I say so myself. Not really my COT.

Didn't get any seeds set today, so will see what tomorrow brings.

We have a lovely evening here too. We have Just got back from having a meal with Paul and some of his friends there were about 14 of us including Becky and Abbie of course so it made a change, we went to The Smoke House in Bracknell, huge portions so Amy had chicken in a doggy bag from me This morning I went to with Paul to look at the new flat he is thinking of buying it has a large kitchen diner one end a sitting room at the other 2 bedrooms both en suite one with a bath and shower over the other just a shower with toilets and basins of course, a small room for the washing machine. All the appliances in the kitchen are built in including an induction hob so he will have to get new saucepans,they have to have magnetic bottoms I found out the hard way when we had our new cooker and our old saucepans wouldn't heat up . There is also a dedicated underground car parking space. The windows are triple glazed. So all he has to do now is sell his house which is on the market now

Jane have you finally shut your suitcase? I hope you both have a lovely holiday.

Frank that is so sad with your friend having a fatal accident and being alone when it happened .

Ann It would be nice to have your own lodge in Cornwall as you like the area so much, you could spend a lot more time down there. We found that when we had our own static caravan in the Peak District we weren't allowed to let it out so kept a lot of personal things in it.

We have the Eurovision song contest on a the moment but I am only half watching it.

Mandy Aldi were also selling geraniums yesterday when I popped in there.

When my friend Janet and I went to the garden centre yesterday I bought a few more plants and we had a nice lunch there as well. She is having some of her paintings on display shortly in a local exhibition, she has her own art room at her home and is very talented
.

Frank try this its the Rocking Berries in 2007

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIk2u7B-Hd0

Which one was your friend?

I remember all their songs and loved he's back in town...........

'Poor Mans Son' and 'Funny How Love Can Be' were also favourites of mine. I can see me now bopping away practising dance moves in my bedroom. lol. :-) What a shame and so sad, I hadn't realised the fall had killed him. Yes, which one was he Frank?

Paul's flat he's thinking of buying sounds great Anne and easy to clean the way it is set out too which would suit me! You'll have Amy drooling at the door till you get back after meals if you bring her doggy bags! It sounds like you had a great gathering and nice meal though. I envy your friend her art room! Another lady that used to be on this thread is brilliant at art and got me started painting a couple of years ago, but I don't do enough to warrant having an art room. I would like a she shed though. I do fancy getting the lodge Anne, but I'm so cautious I'd have to do a lot of research first, like how quickly they depreciate, ground rent, maintenance, insurance, tax position etc and will we want to be travelling that far in another 5 years time? It's nice to think about it though.

See, I'd forgotten already Mandy!! Lidl's it is, but I think now Anne's said Aldi have some too I'll look at both. Has young Max been out of the garden on a walk yet? I bet he'll really love that. :-D

Jane, I always put my books in OH's case!! He always says my case weighs a ton. Shoes are tricky as you say, I took 5 pairs last week, but some could go in the car boot instead of my case. I always like to take some thin mule slippers too, I like my comforts!! Poor Podge...... will you be called upon to be nurse and give the injections? It sounds like a 2 person job to me.

I had to give my parrot Captain injections once into his breast. He died in my hands and is buried up the garden under an apple tree against the top wall.

Whilst cooking dinner tonight I saw a rabbit laying on the road just down a bit from the arch into the top garden. The banties were out and up at the top wall of our garden so I went up there to chase them back down to the house and looked across to the rabbit which had'nt moved. It was not a rabbit but a hedgehog. I walked eright up to it and it looked a bit drunk. Came rushing down the garden for my gloves and something to put it in. Found a big pot I had washed out and went back up with that and just picked it up and popped it in the pot, brought it down to my shed and into a large cardboard box lined with newspaper in some hay. After dinner I went out armed with vasaline as it had a huge tick by its eye. Got that off easily and trod on it popped it back in the box with stripped newspaper and foodd and water but I have just had a look at it and it has'nt moved. Don't think it will make the night. Will report in the morning.

Poor Podge. I had a boyfriend once whose name was Podge can't remember what his real name was!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am sure Jane could do the injections for Podge if push came to shove but also sure she can give Fitz good advice on how to do it.

Ann I remember a lot of the songs The Rocking Berries did too. All good. Have watche dthem on youtube singing.

Safe journey Jane have a nice rest and enjoy yourselves.

Morning all

Overcast and cold today, not very nice weather to make a fence and install it but it has to be done today as OH is out all day tomorrow.

The greenhouse has been moved and all the glass is in now, we had to replace a couple of pieces though.

Thanks for the pics Jane, Sandra loved them. Michelle is down for a week but we'll only see her on Wednesday as she wants to visit the rest of the family and take her new boyfriend with her. OH only has the Wednesday off as she said not to book the week off as a holiday as it would be a waste with her not being able to see much of us. She is staying at a hotel with her boyfriend as we are using the space bedroom to store the boxes we haven't emptied yet from the loft. I managed to find a large cupboard in a second hand shop for £100, apparently it was £2000 when bought brand new, we used the money my mum gave us for our birthdays so it only cost us £10 for delivery......Bargain. It smelt a bit musty so I've given it a good clean and left the doors open to air it. Once the garden fence is finished and we've finished cutting the top of the hedge I'll be able to make a start on unpacking my things. I'm sure you'll be fine with the injection Jane, just think once it's over you'll feel much better, you're right though, no need to think about it now, just enjoy yourself on your holiday. Safe journey today hope you have a nice time away <3

Sorry to hear about your friend Frank, what a shock that must of been.
How nice to have J&C pay for the meal, I'm pleased you enjoyed it :-)

It doesn't sound like you had a very nice journey home Ann.
How nice, the owner saying you could buy your favourite lodge, that way you can go when ever you want. Would you be able to rent it out yourself if you own it, that would be a nice little income if you could.

Well, I'd better go, lots to do today and OH and I would like to watch the F1 later. I'm recording it just incase we're not finished in time. Happy Lewis Hamilton got poll though, lets hope his start is better than some he's done in the past, I think he might need a bit more practice LOL.