General Chat

Pleased to see you are back Fiona and hopefully now on the mend. Sorry to hear you have been so poorly.

Jane I do hope Thomas turns up soon they can be such a worry when they are missing for longer than their usual routine. What a pity you were unable to visit your sister and disappointing for her too.

Gill I'm glad you had a nice time with Michelle and you found her boyfriend friendly. Perhaps she will be able to visit more often now. Lets hope your online problems have improved and we can hear from you regularly again,

It's still overcast here but much warmer than yesterday, the forecast for tomorrow is good.

Dermot your journey to school everyday sounded quite an adventure but at least there wasn't the traffic problems we get today the drivers around here are too speedy for young ones being able to cross the roads on their own unfortunately.

Good that Max's tummy problem has been identified Mandy and hopefully sorted now. Have a lovely Ruby wedding celebration this weekend.

Liz I hope you can get a photo of Cas splashing about in Merlin's water what does
he think about It?

Paul and the girls should be back by now they are all coming to Sunday roast tomorrow.

I wonder what Frank & Ros are up to, I hope they are enjoying a nice relaxing time in the sun with no ailments to spoil their holiday.

Hi folks, look who the cats dragged in!
Sorry I don't get on much lately (ie "at all") but I'm kept occupied more and more these days looking after Carmel and trying to run the house, shopping and everything else. So I thought while I had a moment while she has gone for a rest, I'd write and try and update you on our life, such as it is.
Sadly, Carmel's brothers wife over in Ireland, her Alzheimer has got worse and days are slipping past with palliative care nurses coming in on a daily basis. She had spent so much time in hospital wasting away that the family lobbied for her to go home, well to the youngest daughters home, where now are both in residence with the daughter acting as Carer. Of course, Carmel worries a lot over the health of her brother and sadly we are not in a position to go over to see how things are for ourselves. She has always looked after everyone, been a good mother and an excellent wife and it just doesn't seem fair.
However, on the plus side, we have just become great-grandparents once again (number six), with the addition a few days ago of a beautiful great-grandson, Lincoln Phoenix - and I had the honour of bringing Mum, Dad and baby home from the maternity unit. I took Carmel along to see him and she is, without a doubt, over the moon. He was born on May 27, Carmel's birthday is Feb 27 - so she is delighted that they at least share the date (27th).
We also had a new car this year through the Motabilty scheme as our last car was over 10 years old and looking to cost us some money if retained. We now have a Skoda Fabia SEL which ticks all the boxes, has seats that can be height adjusted, which Carmel needs and more room all round, not to mention better economy. We just need the health and good weather to get out and enjoy it now. We have called it 'Paddy' as I collected it on St Patricks Day! Fitting as carmel is Irish..
On the genealogy front I had a bit of a surprize. A roundabout relative emailed me a copy of a census for 1939 (Mel, I thought all the census's were dome on the '01's' ?) Anyway, this was the census for Rose Hill, Oxford, and showed my granddad Charlie and his wife domiciled there with quiet a few other folks. I knew that my Uncle Horace and family were evacuated to Rose Hill for the WW II period but assumed my granddad and grandma were at Plaistow (East London) were my Mum used to live with them. That's the only place I recall them being - and of course, Uncle Horace was my Mum's brother and they had lived in the Plaistow area before the war.
Not only that but he had different information on my grandmothers lineage and I can't correct it with the way Genes is set up. It is a very complex line of marriages, deaths and re-marriages.
Anyway, I hope you have all been keeping warm and busy, I just catch glimpses on Facebook of one or two of you. I haven't done much in my garden due to health and weather but I've found a young man who is coming on Monday to give me a hand with the heavier work so I can get on with planters and lawn cutting etc. We shall see if he is worthwhile retaining to keep things in order. Then we just need to find someone to do a bit of decorating.
Other good news is that the local Carers support group that I help run once a month has been nominated for an award and three of us are to go to a presentation next Wednesday evening. That will be the third award we have received over the years..
Another feather in my cap this year is that my Mini-Mobileum here (my toy vehicles etc collection) has been featured in the Diecast Collector magazine and took up a whole four pages with text and photos. The author of the article and the photographer spent a happy three hours plus here putting it all together.
Anyway, I've bored you all long enough for now but I'll look in later and try and catch up on some of the recent posts. I'll try and send out some photos, probably after the presentation on Wednesday.
Hope you are all keeping well and out of trouble and also in good health.
Bye for now - William

Afternoon all,

Much better day here after a very misty start ,the suns out and its nice and warm.

Oh Jane i hope the little tinker soon turns up it is a worry for you , Chris sounds as if he's done his bit to find him , what a shame having to miss the opening of the reserve with your BIL and sister but i'm sure they understand being animal lovers themselves.

So good to see you back with us Fiona <3

Thank you Anne we're not ones for parties so it will be just family coming tomorrow and a quiet day.
Shouldn't think it's been a very good week for Paul and the girls this week in Yarmouth weather wise ,i know there's always inside things to do but they cost money.
I expect they will be looking forward to the roast tomorow ,you carn't beat nice home cooking.

Oh no Mel down to one little chick now what a shame.

Lets hope the tape holds then Gill so you can keep with us , glad the visit with Michelle and boyfriend went ok and you all got on ok , i think she's doing the right thing waiting before getting married ,no point rushing into it they need to really get to know each other first.
Glad to hear the gardens coming along nicely.

Oh no Mel just one chick :-( :-(.That is just so sad .I don't want to do sad right now .I have held it together all day until just now and then had a big blub.Even Chris had wet eyes.He pretends he is a hard nut but when it comes down to it is is just as emotional as me.

Hi William
Congratulations on your latest GT Grandchild..and for you and the carers group getting an award.It sounds like your life is very busy looking after Carmel and keeping house and home together .
Sorry to hear that Carmels SIL is getting so much worse now .The family have done a great thing in getting her 'home' .It is going to be a stressful time for the Daughter looking after her Mum now.I think she is very brave in taking on the responsibilities of caring.
You must be very happy about your collection getting into the Diecast Collector Mag :-D

Nice to hear from you William, and congratulations on your latest g.grand child.
Oh Jane, don't despair, I'm sure that Thomas will reappear. I can so understand how you are both feeling though, it is so horrible to be so worried. Perhaps if you bang the side of a tin of cat food or his plate, or both(!) and call him really loudly, like a fishwife (!!) at the same time, if he's local he should hear you and respond. Perhaps you've already done this. I don't know what else to suggest.

Evening All,

Well who is William? Only joking Will, how could we forget you! :-) Sorry to hear Carmel hasn't been so good, but the new car and prospect of sunny day drives should perk you both up. You have the right idea getting a young man to help with the heavy work in the garden. I could do with one of those myself. :-) Well done on getting an award and I look forward to seeing the pictures when you get them. Another gt grandchild too......I wonder how young Grace is doing?

Glad you are feeling a bit better Fiona and nice to see you posting again.

Gill, what would we do without tape! I hope it holds good for now till you can fit a new plug. Glad you liked the new boyfriend and I hope your garden is beginning to look good with the changes.

Oh dear Jane, fancy Thomas going AWOL. You are bound to think the worst and I expect you've already checked the ditches at the side of your road in view of that. I expect there is plenty for him to hunt at the moment so perhaps he's just been enjoying that too much to come home. I hope he soon turns up as it must be very worrying. Chris was good looking in the fields. I'm not sure OH would have done that. Such a pity to miss seeing your BIL do his speech too. Poor old Podge doesn't sound too good if he's really skinny now. I expect the sooner he gets his injections the better, but I don't envy anyone trying to inject a cat!! :-0

That's good the vet found the cause of Max's problem Mandy. I would expect the other pups could be affected too. He should be fine soon after his medicine!

How awful for the mummy Pheasant to keep losing chicks Mel! It is so hard for them to defend their chicks though and they are so vulnerable. I bet you are glad to have restocked your pond with Shubunkins, they have such pretty individual markings.

Liz, let us know how you get on with the runner beans that don't climb. I have looked at them, but wondered if you get many beans on them and how (in our garden!) to keep the slugs from attacking them as they must lay on the ground?

Well I think we are both going barmy!! I saw an advert on Thursday for a Park Homes and Lodges exhibition at Stoneleigh showground. It said there were 50 on show and it was free so I suggested to OH that it was a good opportunity to have a look at different makes and see the prices etc in case we do look to have one in the future. He'd also suggested a week or two ago that we should visit Stoneleigh some time as it has lovely old buildings there! So, as there was no beading yesterday, after OH had checked the website, we went! Well, he did a bit of chuntering when we were near as there were no signs advertising it. Anyway, we arrived and were directed by the gate keeper and parked up. We wandered over to where many of them still appeared to be being erected and workmen were everywhere and a huge lorry was reversing to where a crane was poised to lift the half lodge that was it's load. Suddenly a lady appeared and shouted to us we shouldn't be there because of H & S!!!! It seems we were there a week too early!!!!! lol. What are we like! :-)

I bet Frank is relaxing in his shorts with a beer in his hand and getting a nice tan.

Hello William nice to see you posting again, sorry to hear about Carmels poor SIL , congratulations on the new arrival of a dear little gt grandson .
Will look foward to seeing the photos.


Don't give up on Thomas yet Jane he'll come sauntering in when he's ready i'm sure ,
our pets do put us through it at times .

Another sad note was that DIL'S sister's dog got run over , he had to have his leg amputated they just couldn't save it , they had to take his hip off too poor thing .

Ann what are you like !! :-D i bet the people thought who the heck is that plodding across our field ! LOL

I hope Thomas has turned up by morning Jane. <3 <3

The poor dog Mandy! Hopefully it will soon heal and get used to it. They do seem to cope better than us.

Night night everyone.

Sorry to hear about Max Mandy, hopefully he'll be on the mend quickly with his meds now. Give him a hug from Sandra and I <3

Sorry to hear about Thomas, Jane, it must be such a worry for you. How nice of Chris to go looking for him in the fields. Just remember the saying "Dogs have owners, cats have staff" I'm sure he'll be back soon with not a care in the world that you've been so worried about him.

Yes Ann, the tape seems to be doing the trick keeping the wire in place. It did make Sandra laugh as I had to put quite a lot on with the wire being loose at the top. Sandra said it looks like it's been to hospital and been bandaged up, you can hardly see the plug for tape, but I don't care so long as I can get on here. I've really missed you all.

There were so many posts I'd missed that I couldn't get through them all, so I apologise if I've missed anything out.
I did notice we have a newbie "Hello to Dermot"
Pleased to see Will and Fiona back too <3 Congratulations on the birth of your gt grandson Will. Glad to hear you're feeling a little better now Fiona.

Well, it's getting late and I'm tired, so I'm off to bed now, see you all tomorrow
Night Night

O dear what a nasty thing to happen to that poor dog Mandy. I have seen a lot of three legged dogs though and they doo cope very well. I hope he heals soon and can get used to having three legs. At least they saved his life. Bless <3 <3

So our Thomas is still awol. Naughty chap. I hope he come shome soon Jane. Its a shame you missed seeing Larry's speech and your sister. I know you look forward so much to visiting Janice and larry.

Sso nice to hear from William and get all the info of whats been happening with you both and a new gt grandchild too. Nice names.

Ann what ar eyou like?? Another bloomer going to early. What with G going to an appointment early and now this. Whats going to be the third one??? :-0 Still I expect it was a nice day out anyway.

Hope t he tape holds Gill so we can hear from you as soon as you hve caught up with your telly programs.

I have just been outside watching a hog eat its fill. I call this one Tufty as it has tufy ears that show up in the light I have on the bowls of food and water.

Been working on the border this afternoon and got on really well. Cut all the edging and did some digging and weeding and got rid of lots of dead stuff from last years flowerings!!!!!!! It looks a lot tidyer now and my bearded iris have been gorgous this year and I have one peony out to perfection. The others are still in bud. The lupins are flowering but we have a dearth of rabbits this year. I think they have all come over from outside where they have cleared all the old secret garden.
Well signing out now and going to watch Country File from last week and the Musketeers.

Night night..............

There’s something hugely ironic about associating Mondays 'off work' with the banks, given that the reason that many have no work any day of the week is because of the profligacy of those same lending institutions during the boom times.

But let me not get into any argy-bargy with banks or their managers on a Sunday morning particularly those who willingly lend you an umbrella just in case it rains & then demands its return as soon as the Heavens open up.

Be that as it may, the existence of Bank Holidays means that those who live for the 'long weekend' can at least find something to be grateful for, apart from the tenuous security of actually having paid work. We’ve just enjoyed one and there’s more to come.

They’re not wasted for everyone of course because there are some employees who are fortunate enough to be in jobs where the work starts and finishes on a given day. But for most people, what isn’t done today has to be done tomorrow instead.

So you have a Monday off, but you still have to do a week’s work before Friday comes around. And for those people, a Monday off isn’t really a holiday at all.

Before I cause collective apoplexy and people think this is like Scrooge cancelling Christmas, this isn’t about being a killjoy on the holiday front because I'm retired & a long weekend is not as exciting anymore as it used to be.

In the land of my birth across the Irish Sea for example, there are nine Bank Holidays a year the last time I counted them and four aren’t open to argument – they are New Year’s Day, St Patrick’s Day, Christmas Day and St Stephen’s Day.

But the other five should be abolished. Instead, employees should get an extra week’s holidays a year. That way, workers enjoy the benefit of the free time and they wouldn't have to shoehorn five days' work into four.

Employers also benefit because production isn’t affected five weeks of the year, or they don’t end up paying double time for people to come in just so the assembly line isn’t brought to a shuddering halt.

The tourism sector might object to the end of five Bank Holiday weekends and the publicans in particular might miss the busier Sunday nights, but the police wouldn’t miss the hassle and neither would the late night street cleaners - assuming there are some still.

And we cannot underestimate the economic impact of a Bank Holiday weekend; we can see anecdotally how it works here in the UK. Cornwall, for example, calculated that moving the May bank holiday to St Piran’s Day (the region’s patron saint) on March 5 would benefit the Cornish economy by between £20 and £35 million. And given that the pubs and hotels have taken quite a hit in recent years, it might seem churlish to try and starve them of five nice little earners.

Enjoy your long weekend breaks. You know the weather will always be beautiful; the motorways will be clear of congestion hot-spots; network rail will not need to carry-out essential works & those pesky French Traffic Controllers will not go on a wildcat strike.

PS: Drink responsibly at weekends & be equally sensible in your forthcoming Referendum vote. :-)

Morning all,

grey sky at the moment but I am hoping the sun will appear a bit later on, fingers crossed. At least its still dry.

Bit achey this morning after yesterdays good go up the garden but hoping to work that off with another bit of gardening today.

Big breakfast day too and oh wants his hair cut as he says its driving him mad. So thats another job before I get up the border......

Miss our Frankie Boy. I hope he is not getting into any trouble out there in the sunshine. <3

Beautiful sun here this morning so apart from a bit of gardening we shall be spending the day outside mooching about!
Jane, I don't imagine Thomas has turned up as I think you would have told us. I wonder if he might have gone back to his former family? You know what cats are like!! loyalty can sometimes be a problem for them!!! Has the food you left out been touched? that could tell you something, mind you , if it's gone, it could be another animal. Just have to keep fingers crossed.

Morning All

No Liz no sign of Thomas :-(..He had been living rough for quite some time before he landed here.We had seen him around for well over a year ,maybe even longer.But he would never come close then.I am just hoping that he has gone a hunting again and will come back when he has had all the rabbits. I do miss him .

Mandy,that is terrible about your DIL's sisters dog.I do hope he will recover well from that dreadful accident and op.It is amazing though how animals adapt to just having 3 legs.Just like humans I suppose.Is it a young dog? and what kind?

The sun is trying hard t obreak through the clouds.It's taking its time but I think it will soon be out.

:-D :-D Dermot . Have to nip out as I have realised we are very low on Loo Paper !!!
That won't do as I refuse to have to use Yesterdays Guardian :-S
BBL

Jane, I'll send you one of mine. FIFI, IZZY, ALFIE, FLUFFY, take your pick :-D :-D

Afternoon all

What a glorious day it is here, I've been sitting outside all morning and could of happily stayed there all day (in the shade, bit to hot in the sun for me) if I didn't have the housework to see to ;-) ;-)

I'm so sorry to hear Thomas is still missing Jane, it is a worry, but like you said he looked after himself before he landed at yours so I'm sure he'll be okay and will return when he's ready and probably when you least expect it. Keep positive <3

My router went off again this morning so I hope it stays on long enough for me to post this. I think I'll get in touch with our provider and get a new router and plug. I've looked online for a new plug but I'm not sure which one will fit my router and I don't want to damage it by buying the wrong plug. If I put anymore tape on it you won't be able to see the plug at all :-S

I'm still trying to catch up with the posts I've missed but think it will take me for ever so have decided to just read the last few days.

Sorry to hear Ros took ill Frank and right on your holiday as well. I hope she is starting to feel better now she's on the antibiotics and that you are both having a great time away.

How nice to come back to a cut lawn Liz, pleased to hear Cass is over her op now.

All this talk of bathrooms, our bathroom floor needs replacing. I'm sure the joists have rotted as the floor seems to be dipping and is moving slightly so that'll need sorting out sooner rather than later. The only problem is we only have one toilet and of course the whole bathroom will need taking out to sort out the floor. Sandra can stay at mums and OH and I will probably stay at a B&B for a couple of nights until the job is done. At least we'll be able to have a re-fit of our bathroom which will be nice as that desperately needs doing too. Might as well kill two birds will one stone as they say.

The garden is almost done as far as the hard landscaping is concerned so it won't be long before we're at the pretty stage of putting in all the plants. It's a bit to hot for me to do much in the garden at the moment so that's on hold until the weather cools down a bit.

Going to carry on reading the post now
BBL <3

Afternoon all,

Nice sunny morning here ,the family have just gone they came in with cards and presants .
Thanks Jane for your card that was a nice surprise.

So still no news on Thomas ,thank goodness he didn't do this dissappearing trick just before you went on holiday , i have next doors cats to look after and feed next week so i hope they behave themselves.
I carn't remember what DIL'S sisters dog is but i dont think he's very old maybe about two , the operation cost them Eighteen hundred pounds !! Ouch !! He wasn't insured .

The children had the bouncy castle out today first time this year Lewis had a fine time on it ,the older three had their roller skates out ,we make them put their bike helmets on as we don't want any accidents .

Not a lot happening here ,might do a bit of weeding in the front garden later.

Oh my goodness Mandy, that was a lot of money your DIL's sister had to fork out!!! We have just upped Cas's insurance as vets bills can be quite frightening!!
Not much going on here either, it's a lovely day, not a cloud in the sky, but windy!! Today the field at the back of us is being cut for sileage, so we will be able to take Cas in there again for a run when they've finished :-D that is, till they put the cattle back in to graze. Must get a sandwich for lunch as we have Pork chops for supper.

Afternoon All,

<3HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MANDY AND COLIN <3 You have alovely day for it and I expect Max will be out watching the weeding and having a snooze!

Yes Mel, whatever will we do next! :-S Your flowers sound nice and it's very satisfying to get an area tidied up and weeded. :-) We are going to look at some open gardens this afternoon, just a few miles away.

OH said the same as Liz Jane, that perhaps Thomas had gone back to where he came to you from. At least he is chipped now so if someone finds him you are likely to get him back. On the other hand he may just be enjoying himself and is full of rabbit and sleeping when he isn't hunting.

David......Ellen would kill you!! :-D :-D

Mandy what a lovely last day for the children before its back to school.Little Lewis will have burned of a fair bit of energy on the bouncy castle lol
Crikey that is a lot to have to pay out in one go for the dogd op.There will be after care too probably .I bet they wished they had insured him now. If his is a young dog he will no doubt soon be up and getting used to just the 3 legs.Is it a back or front leg Mandy?

Gill ,it sounds a big job coming for you and the bathroom.We had a rotten floor in our ensuite a few years ago and the plumber who put in the new shower was surprised we hadn't come through the floor into the garage !!!!.At least you are in a bungalow so no worries about falling through yours :-D.
If I were you I would be leaving the housework today and just enjoy the good weather.Housework will still be there to do tomorrow :-D

Well David thank you for the offer of one of your cats LOL.. I think I will decline that :-) even though I'm sure you would be pleased to get at least one of them off your hands.Not sure Ellen would be too pleased though :-D
If Thomas doesn't turn up,there wil be no more cats for us.Not that Iwouldn't love to have one,but with all the changes coming around here with the new houses and roads it just wouldn't be safe.We never planned to have another pet after Chester went,but then Thomas just turned up one day and that was that.

Yes Mandy I remember before we went away I was worried about him being here for me to take him to the cattery.
Poor Fitz has the appointment tomorrow at the Vets with Podge.He rang this morning to see if Thomas had come back ,and said that he hasn't seen Podge since last night !!!.He sounds quite a poorly puss at the moment Fitz is really worried about having to do these Insulin injections.I felt bad saying I didn't want to go to the vets with him tomorrow.So I might just turn up there for a bit of support.I think the appointment is at 10am.

Dermot.I agree that Bank Holiday Monday is no longer the same now for many people.Things have changed so much especially with the shops and supermarkets open all year round other than Christmas Day and maybe Boxing Day.
Maybe clumping some BH days together to make a week up is a good idea.
I believe we actually have far fewer BH's in this country than many others.

As for Banks and Umbrellas .I have never known a bank like that.I know hotels have brollies for customers.I used one from our Hotel in Paris on our last morning the other week as I had just given my umbrella to an American lady who had arrived in torrential rain and she hadn't brought one with her.The hotel one was much better than mine :-D
I did wonder though how many never get returned.They must buy them in bulk :-D

I am sure Frank will have no need of a Brolly at the moment.Well hopefully not.I just hope he and Ros are enjoying their holiday and are having some great weather.I'm sure too that Frank will have his supply of cold beer in the fridge :-D
I bet there will be a lot of BBQs going on today.I did notice in Tescos earlier that there were plenty of bags of Charcoal in peoples trollies.
No BBQ for us though.It will be deboned Chicken with Tomato and Parmesan Marinade,Lemon and Garlic roast potatoes and Asparagus,Peas and baby carrots.