General Chat

OH doesn't like football or any sport except motor racing and occasionally cricket, thank goodness! The only person who has ever liked football is our son, and he's in France this week on a boy's outing watching various matches ! He still plays a lot for a local team plus he still plays squash at the ripe old age of 51! No one else has ever been interested which has been a bit of a shame!
Lovely evening here, so we've just come in from taking Merlin out and it went really well!!

They were lovely flowers from the bank Ann,what are the big flowers ? The centre looks a bit like a thistle.

Well done to Hannah , you have every right to be proud Jane she has worked really hard hasn't she .

Where is Frank ?

I don't know what they are called Mandy. They look quite exotic don't they! Not what I normally find in a bunch of flowers.

You count your blessings Liz! My first OH only watched a bit of footie if it was World Cup or something like that and never went to any matches, but my dad watched a lot on tv. Sometimes I can't believe I married a football fan as it was definitely not on my tick list! Mind you I think most people meeting him would never guess he is so keen on football. Some of his pals travel the world watching the game!

Proteas they are Mandy. I think they are from South africa.

Replied to your email Mandy.

Well done to Hannah. She is a hard worker bless her she's nearly there now! x

Liz did you mean you went out in the trap with Merlin?? That must have been really nice.

Well oh cleared more of the front of our potting sheds up the top outside the wall and I went and dug some more of my boarder. With the rain we've had it was quite easy to dig. By 7pm oh had done enough and so had I so we came down the garden and as we got inside the phone rang. It was our friends from over the road who have horses and pigs. Graham the hubby had to be brought home from a nearby village where he was moving a table for a lady. She brought him home as he did'nt feel well and had chest pains. His wife rang to see if I would go and sit with his mother who has dimentia as she was going to go in the ambulance with him.

A car ambulance turned up and he took G indoors and did loads of test on him then called for the air ambulance. Then a real ambulance came and we were there for about an hour and a half. His mothers carers were there and one of them said she would stay with g's mum so I did'nt have to do that but then they said the air ambulance was coming but they could'nt land in Graham's feild as there are lots of power lines over it. We said they could land on our top field as there are no lines across that in the middle. The ambulance took G up to our field and the copter landed in our field and they transported G to the copter on a stretcher across our little field. Oh helped the others lift g in on the sheet he was laying on. There were three of them one side and three the other. By this time g seemed more comfortable as he was laughing. They had given him meds in the ambulance and paracetermol.

They took him to Exeter and Gerry can't drive that far, she has MS but she rang G's brother and he happened to be home. He usually flies all over the world with his job. He lives in Exeter so a friend took Gerry to the hospital and G's brother will bring her back.

Now I am worn out and am going to have a glass of something to relax me.

Well we were up there till nearly 9pm. No chickens corned of dinner cooked. Oh had scotch eggs in the end as I did'nt feel like cooking steak at the time of night. I had three slices of toast.

Cameras.

If a wild raving fellow with blood on his hands, a knife or a machete in his fist came up to you & asked you to film him on your camera phone, I’d imagine your first instinct would be to turn on your heels, run as fast & as far as you could in the opposite direction. But apparently I’d be wrong.

Such is our insatiable appetite to capture moments & images of everyday life, good & horrible; that we’d risk our own lives to film the bloody end of someone stranger’s earthly existence.

The most bizarre thing about that horrific murder of Lee Rigby in Woolwich three years ago wasn’t that two lunatics attacked & killed an unsuspecting off-duty soldier – it was that dozens of people who filmed the aftermath with no more fear than they would have had if they’d come across a car that had run over an unlucky black cat.

There they were circling around like a lingering audience after coming out of a theatre, instead of a group of law-abiding citizens who had just witnessed what was, by any stretch, a deadly drama.

Some very courageous individuals among them stood over the murder victim’s body in open defiance of his killers & they deserve every commendation the British can muster for such bravery. The Police who captured & arrested Thomas Mair the other day, the killer of MP Jo Cox, deserve equal praise as well. Not an easy or a pleasant job - but a task well done nonetheless.

But those who mooched around with their mobile phones have clearly watched too much television & must have felt like they’d been given a walk-on part in a new series called CSI: London.

The image of the man in Woolwich ranting into a camera phone about Muslims & war, with his beheaded victim clearly visible on the street behind him isn’t just deeply disturbing – it is a final commentary on where we find ourselves in this age of technology & instant news.

The terrible murder of an MP the other day was another example of the power of the camera in the hands of amateur & unsuspecting individuals caught up momentarily in a historic & wicked death blow from one human against another.

But then again, should we really be surprised that some will unwittingly risk their own lives so they’ll have something to show their friends later – or an item of action news to flog to television or the tabloids for thirty pieces of silver. I try not to be too cynical.

American television relies on what is euphemistically called ‘citizen journalism’ – which is where individuals with cameras or video recorders roam the streets in search of a crime, a crash or a dead body.

From a positive point of view, were it not for ‘citizen journalism’, we’d have known little of the Arab Spring or Syrian uprising; the civil resistance in Bahrain would never have been heard of outside of the Persian Gulf - not to mention the silly incident in Downing Street which became known to the exasperated British public as ‘Plebgate‘. I can assure you that the Downing Street gate was not the pleb.

Indeed there are agencies which have been set up for the specific purpose of distilling such amateur film footage & verifying its provenance prior to bringing it to a worldwide audience. We can appreciate the pressure of that task.

All of that is very positive – giving a chance for ordinary people to play their part outside of ‘traditional media’ who either couldn’t be there in time to capture a moment of history or who, in the case of some US networks, may occasionally prefer to ignore it for political reasons.

But it’s when all this hoo-hah becomes little more than voyeurism that the waters turn considerably muddy. You’d have to wrack your brains to imagine a scenario, anytime, anywhere, that there isn’t some ‘galoot’ with a camera recording it for posterity.

You only have to see, for example, a performing dog winning the talent TV show Britain’s Got Talent while a half a dozen people have their phones ready to take a snap-shot of the treasured mutt for posterity.

If you’re unlucky enough to be seated towards the back of a concert for example, you could spend most of the night watching the musicians through someone else’s camera or mobile because where once in the pre-no smoking era, it was a sea of cigarette lighters illuminating the arena. Now it’s a wall to wall of phones lighting up the semi-dark theatres.

Have a good day & watch how you go!

Morning all and evening Kim,

Dull and rainy here today.

Our friend had to have one stent put in. He had had a heart attack and has to stay in hosptil a couple of days. His wife was at the hospital till 2.30am this morning and she just rang to tell us how he was.

A quick Good Morning from me.
We will be setting off for lunch in about 15 minutes.

Oh Mel that was lucky you had the top field for the Air Ambulance to land in.Glad to hear your neighbour is doing on after having his heart attack and the stent being put in.What a to do !!!! I take it Graham was taken to Exeter Hosp.

Happy Fathers day to all the Dads out there.

I need to brush my teeth and round up the troops now.So see you all later.

Our son's lovely partner sent OH a very amusing card for this morning! Although he thinks fathers day is OTT, I could see that he was really chuffed! She's such a thoughtful lady our son is an extreme fortunate chap to have her. They are planning a trip up to sons cottage next weekend, (I expect it needs a good clean!!) so we shall no doubt be meeting up at some stage!
Yes Mel, we got the trap out and had a potter down to the village! It drew quite a crowd!! We left Cas at home, not sure that her high spirits would have been 'very conjusive to pony driving!! Cas has decided that she does like a ball!! so we've got one of those ball launchers and she goes hurtling after it!! Five minutes of that in the field and she's exhausted!! We had to stop using the ring as its nylon and has become very rough, making her mouth bleed. OH is still putting her through her paces with the dummy. He hides it in the hedge first thing, and after breakfast he takes her to retrieve it and bring it back before Merlin goes out, then it's off down another field track to find yet another hidden dummy! She loves it and is getting pretty nifty! The rest of the day is chasing and retrieving her new found ball friend! apart from sleeping!!

Afternoon all,

Lovely sunny day here ,we nipped to sons first thing and hubby had his fathers day pressies and card ,the little ones had to help him open the pressies .

Thanks Mel i goggled the flower and it says it has a long vase life and makes a good dried flower ,they are quite unusual i've never seen them before.
Your poor neighbour , i think these air ambulances do a wonderful job getting people to hospital so much quicker and saving lives ,i hope he makes a speedy recovery.

I expect Gill is still busy in the garden ,although F1 is now on so i expect its all stopped while that is on .

Hope you've had a nice meal out Jane ,did you have some thing nice ? I like to hear whats on the menu especially the puds !!

Still no Frank ? Hope he's ok ,we all know how accident prone he is !!

Has anyone heard from Pat lately ? I expect her subs are out and thats why we don't hear from her any more .

Love to Fiona <3 hope your still improving and will soon be back posting again.

Mandy you see those protea on the Chelsea flower show in the flower arrangements. They do have them in florists around here sometimes and you see them as dried flowers too.

I think I had one once dried but it had gone brown so I threw it out.

Watching the grand prix

So is OH Mel! Yawn yawn! luckily he's got his headphones on so I can watch catchup in peace! We've just had a scrumptious lunch!! Roast Beef, roast spuds yorkshires and spnach from the garden all cooked by OH and cleared up by me! dishwasher took most of it so not too much to do!
Cas is playing with teddy what's left of him! Drizzling here!

Hi all

Hope all the dads are having a great day. OH and I didn't do the framework yesterday, we decided to sand a piece of furniture that needed doing as it was forecast for rain today and we had to do it outside.

True to form the rain has arrived just as we were getting on with the framework, so that has now come to a standstill till the weather improves.

I recorded the F1 so we're just about to watch it. We think the rain is here for the rest of the day so have packed everything away as we can't use the electric drill in the rain.

I love the flowers the bank sent you Ann, very pretty.

I've not caught up with the posts yet so hope everyone is okay.

Well, I'd better go OH is waiting to watch the F1
See you all later <3

Afternoon all,

Sorry I didn't get on here yesterday. Friday afternoon as it was dry I decided to do the front lawn. As I lifted the mower over the border by back twicthed, and left me in pain. I got the lawn done and came indoors. By the time I was due to go to thre choir concert I could hardly move, so stayed in doors instead of going to the concert. Friday night we had a real cloud burst, so no lawn cutting Saturday.

We went to our friends Sat. evening for dinner, which was very nice. Roast lamb and all the trimming with Prawn cocktail for starters and fruit and cheese board to finish. I passed on the fruit but enjoyed the cheese

I haven't been sleeping well since I got home, and when I have slept I have had a lot of weird dreams.( Going out on my own in a boat. Sitting with ancient people having a meal.) I put it down to change of weather and food.

This morning I was wide awake at 5.30 am but laid untill 7.30 till I got up for my COT By 9.30 I was in the back garden doing the lawn, even though my back was telling me NO. I could only do one and a half strips before the grass box needed emptying. The green bin is almost full.With Ros out there trimming back the over grown bushes and plants we had to push everything down to get it in.

We have had a very nice lunch out today. I had a seafood platter and Ros Pate for started. Roast Beef for main course, which melted in the mouth with fresh Veg. and new and roast Pots. I had a job to finish my meal, so no sweets for either of us.

Well done and congratulations to Hannah. Jane you must be very proud parents, she has worked so hard doing what she has done in recent years.

I have watched very little football, I just can't seem to enjoy some of the matches. I will watch England tomorrow, but will then wait to see how they progress. Ann I can see why you are getting fed up with OH watching every match. Tony next door is just the same as your OH. He's off every afternoon and evening to a Pub to watch it, even though it's on his TV at home

Mel, that must have been a BIG worry for your neighbour having a Heart Attack, and then being flown by Helicopter. It is one charity I support each month, together with Cancer research.

Mandy it sounds like Max is settling down now and being a good boy. <3 <3 <3 Bless him.

Liz it sounds like you are getting a lot of attention when you and Ian go out with the Pony and Trap. You don't see many aroung this way, now a days. It's such a pity because I loved to see them as a child.

Yes Mel, Mum always bought the "Gipsey Pegs" and a sprig of clover. It always seemed to be good luck, as they always insisted it did. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Gone very overcast now, and the breeze is getting up, so we might see some rain before the day is out.

Lewis is dribing up to see us this afternoon. He has a card from Harvey and one from himself for Father's day, Conrad sent one back with Ros. from Spain.

Time for a COT, so hope you all enjoy the rest of your Sunday, what ever you might be doing.

Frank was it clover or heather the gipsey's came with. I think it was lucky heather.

I have been on wake up duty while oh watche dthe race in the bedroom. Thing is I had to have it on and wake him up every 10 mins. I stood there and he just closed his eyes again................

Goodness Mel, I couldn't be bothered with doing that!! OH would either stay awake or have to miss whatever! It can always be watched later on catchup!
Apart from Countryfile and Penelope Keith, the TV is just awful tonight, so it's either a sky channel a recording or a CD, spoilt for choice!!! Tomorrow back on weed patrol!

Afternoon All
It sounds like some of us have had lovely lunches today :-D.Ours was smashing.
I had Chargrilled Chicken with a lovely Tarragon flavoured juice,baby carrots,Broccoli and Dauphinoise Potatoes.My starter was Avocado,Brie and Bacon Salad.Eton mess for pudding.
I had to take a pic of the assortment of mini puds for sharing.Hannah and Chris ordered that thinking it would be for 2 people.I think it would have done 4 really.
Will send the photo.

Thomas was very naughty when we were out.I put him in the cage..He managed to pull the bottom of the curtains in through some of the cage,upturned his water bowl and soaked all his bedding and himself :-S :-S..He is pestering to go out now all the time !!.and is driving me potty. :-|..Miaowing all the time and pacing up and down.He is not settled at all at the moment.
Hannah will be back in London now.She felt so full that she felt sick lol It was all those puddings :-D

Mel is was the Lucky Heather ;-) ;-)

Lewis has been and gone home just a few minutes ago. He bought me a nice bottle of Red wine. Ros got him his favourite sandwhich, even though he is going home to a Roast dinner for about 6.00 pm. But he is a growing lad. He is almost as tall as me now, and he's not eighteen till Sept. He towers over Ros.

He said a lorry had jacknifed on the southbound Motorway and the back end has gone through the centre resavation barrier. There is a massive tail back, so he is going home down the A5. He said he will ring when he gets home, to save Ros worrying if he is allright.

I think I will be in the conservatory this evening watching the football as there is 1 1/2 hours of soaps., and after that the 2nd part of 4 part "VERA" We missed the 1st part when we were in Spain, as the villa only had NEXTFLIC and anyway no doubt we were out.

Mel thre OH couldn't have been that interested in the race if he wanted to sleep through it ;-) ;-) He must be tires from all the work he does, bless him !!!

How did the lunch go Jane, ?? and did Hannah get her train allright ??

When we came back from our lunch Stoke Bruene had a canal festival. Everywhere was packed. The local farmer had opened up a field for parking at £5.00 per car, and the field was packed. So he earnt a good bit of TAX FREE money for an empty field, today. :-D :-D :-D.

Ros collected about 50 snails from the bushes this morning. They are in the GREEN BIN with the lid firmly in place ;-) ;-) ;-)

Thanks for the pics Jane. The pudding looked delicious, and your garden looks very well kept. Are you all keen gardeners? It certainly looks like it!!

Oh dear poor Thomas he's had a taster of the garden again and now he wants more ,sounds as if your going to have a testing time with him .



Oh thats some snails !! I've been going out and picking up the slugs later in the evening , i put them in a jar with salt water in ,i pick a whole load up the other night ,by the morning they had all gone from the jar....... i forgot to put the salt in and the little blighters had all got out !!

We've had a lazy afternoon its now clouded up so it won't be long before we take Max for his evening walk incase we get rain.

I collected two snails on one of my plants yesterday up the border and I buzzed them onto oh's lawn a long way from my plant. I wonder how long it took them to return to the border?

I remember being on holiday in Torquay at Mrs Presleys guest house and must have been very young. I made friends with a boy who lived up the road and we would collect the snails from the rocks that lined the pathway to the front door. Mrs Presley (no not Elvis's mum) had one of those big round gongs at the bottom of the stairs just outside the dining room. She would bang it for meals and sometimes let me do it. I loved it................. I remember I took Tessy Bear with me on that holiday and slept on a camp bed next to mum and dad's double bed. I still have Tessy Bear. <3