General Chat

Just a quick pop in. It's 8.00 pm. "Endeavour" is just about to start. Sat and watched "Country File" I think it's such a good programme.

That Jacket sounds just the bee's knees Jane. He will need either a FLAT CAP or a deer stalker. And don't forget his LONG STICK Hope he enjoyed his curry. Phew !!!!

Off now, so I doubt I will be back tonight. See you in the morning.

Sorry to hear you have got glue on your crafting Mel, can't you wait till it dries and try and pick it off, sometimes it just peels away, it might be worth a try.

Thanks for the suggestion of trying the native American route online Jane, I gave it a go but unfortunately I don't have enough information on my great grandmother, so I couldn't find her. I'm hoping family search can help, but probably won't hear anything until tomorrow at the earliest with it being Sunday today. Did Chris enjoy his meal? His presents sound good, the jacket will keep him nice and warm with the cold weather we've had lately.

I had to laugh when reading what you said about sorting out your purse Ann.......pruning LOL :-D :-D :-D :-D
That must of been a shock when you found the couple in your tree had been involved in Highway Robbery.

What a pity little Katie couldn't manage the straw weaving Mandy. Maybe, like you said, she'll be able to tackle it when she's a bit older. So poor Max is shattered again now. I bet he enjoys playing though :-) Sandra is left handed and sometimes finds things a bit difficult, she's very good at crafts though, they say left handed people are talented that way don't they?

I like Countryfile too Frank, it's such a good programme isn't it? I find the weather forecast for the week is more accurate as well, rather than the daily weather after the news.

I always save Country File for a Saturday night when nothing much is on. I have'nt seen last weeks yet as I watched a film last night oh found and thought I would like and then Iwatched Taboo. I think that is good and can't wait for next weeks now. It is a bit gory but I don't mind that.

Frank you should watch Father Brown in the afternoons. I like that because its a bit funny and I like Mark Williams.

Going to have a shower now and then watch Call the Midwife.

Morning all

Dull day here today, looks like we might get a bit of rain.

I'm going to watch call the midwife today Mel, OH is out and Sandra's still sleep so it's nice and quiet. Nothing else planned, so I might do a bit more of my tree later.

What is everyone else up to today?

Morning Gill and all, Evening Kim,
Dull damp morning here also. I think rain is forecast, but it will be a bit warmer. We are expecting high winds towards the weekend, so button down the hatches !!!

Ros is going to see Margaret, who she goes to LINUS with. She is going to sort out the tension on her sewing machine. Dos will then go on to Tesco as there are bits we need. She didn't go shopping with Martine on Saturday.

It's my Daughter 53rd Birthday today also SIDS 77th (He's been gone over two years now) also my dear old dad was taken from me 59 years ago. So not a lot to celebrate here today.

When Ros has a sort out, it's always to a BIGGER purse and Handbag. It's like picking up a suitcase ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

My GAWD the house is so HOT, I have opened the Conservatory door and got my dressing gown down round my waist. (HOT FLUSH OR WHAT) <3 <3

I ended up going to bed at 9.30 pm Just couldn't get into "Endeavour" I put the radio on in the bedroom, and someone interviewing a person, who started every sentence with "UMMMM" WHAT, I THINK. I was getting so annoyed I just had to turn it off. !!!

I am going to hand shower myself this morning. Madam will be cross I know, because she is sure I will get my FACE WET.

Have a good day everyone, I will see you later.

Morning all,

The weather seems to be the same here as it is at yours today dull and that horrid fine rain that gets everywhere. The ground is all muddy and sticky.

You be very carefull in the shower Frank we don't want any set backs with your eye now its getting better.

My craft project dos'nt look too bad this morning now it has dried out so I shall carry on with it. At least some bits of it will be ok anyway.

I did'nt watch Call the Midwife in the end so I have that to see tonight when its nice and quiet.

Must get on now so see you later.

Just had a most worrying phone message supposedly from HMCR saying they were taking legal action against me. There was a number showing on the phone screen. When I telephones it it just said "LEAVE A MESSAGE" which I have done. I think I will contact HMCR to see what they have to say about it.

Frank, that was almost certainly a scam. HMRC would never leave a message like that on your answer phone out of the blue.. If they had any queries they would write to you telling you of any concerns long before threatening you with legal action. If you're concerned get in touch with HMRC as you've suggested to allay your worry and also to make them aware that this is happening, as I doubt you're the only one, but don't reply to the message under any circumstances!
Not too bad a day here weatherwise, not sure whether we will be going out or not!

Hi Liz, Have spoken to HMRC they have put me in touch with "ACTION FRAUD POLICE" I have just finished completing their questionnaire. It went on for ages. The trouble is I didn't speak to anyone so could only give them the Telephone Number. Will sit back now and see what happens.

It is so annoying as I have just paid my tax for the year on the 16th Jan. and thought t was something to do with that. HMRC confirmed my account was up to date, and payment had been received, but it does make you worry.

SO WATCH OUT FOLKS. IT MIGHT HAPPEN TO YOU. !!!

That's a worry Frank, Liz is right you need to let HMRC know what's going on and also ask them if there really is a problem. Maybe you could keep a note of the scammers number incase the police get involved. I don't think I need to say this but don't give out any of your details to anyone but the right people, you have to be so careful nowadays. Try not to worry though, I'm sure it's just someone trying their luck and will soon be caught if that's the case.
Yes careful in the shower you don't want any set backs after coming this far <3

Pleased to hear your crafting wasn't as bad as you first thought Mel. We're all looking forward to hearing what it is and to see a pic if you take one :-) I've watched call the midwife and now I'm watching British History's Biggest Fibs which I recorded off BBC4 last night, it's the first of three and this one is about The War of the Roses.

Oh I see you have already been in touch with HMRC Frank, pleased to hear everything is as it should be for you, looks like it's over to the action fraud police now. Let's hope they catch them asap.

Oh Frank that's good, I'm so pleased that you've managed to talk to someone and report these b####rs. These people are just wicked, preying on elderly (?!!) people in the hopes of defrauding them and causing untold misery. If we get thjs sort of call we always say that our son deals with all our financial affairs and that they'll have to contact him! It always works!!!
Miserable afternoon here so we're watching a geographic channel. We're also watching the 'Fibs' programme too Gill, it's fascinating and OH admires(?!!) Lucy Worsley, so her programmes are always a must in this house!!!
How's your new TV Mel? They can take a bit of getting used to!

Afternoon All,

You did the right thing Frank. Using phone messages is the latest scam and scammers are more active just now as HMRC will have received most Self Assessment returns that are due by tomorrow and the unwary won't be surprised at contact by HMRC at this time. As Liz says, you always get written notification with explanation about any debt, including methods to pay long before it becomes a matter for proceedings to be taken.

In the past few months I have had several HMRC scam emails quoting refunds due which have all been forwarded to the Fraud Team.

I just checked and found that in the last tax year HMRC blocked eight million malicious emails destined for taxpayers, responded to more than 254,000 phishing emails and took down nearly 14,000 fraudulent websites.

It makes me sick how people can invade your home like this to rob you of your hard earned cash. As OH says, if only they would use the same determination and skill in a proper job.

Well I got a very nice Thank You card made by Sandra in this morning's post! <3 Please tell her I think it is so nicely made and lovely Gill. It has adorable little kittens and some lovely stickers, including hearts and some cute little paw prints! :-D OH was beaming when he saw it and took it over to the window to have a better look!!

It's dark and gloomy here today, so we cheered ourselves up with ham, egg and chips! :-D Not good for the waistline though. :-S

I watched Countryfile in bed at 3.00am Mel as I couldn't sleep. My word that 78 year old farmer did well running down those slopes didn't he. I'm looking forward to seeing your craft project. :-D

Mandy it must be very hard trying to show Katie with her being left handed. What sort of things were you making from the straw?

I thought Apple Tree Yard was very good this week.

I haven't heard anything from Action Fraud or HMRC so I guess they have it in hand. I would had thought with the Tele.No. BT would be able to trace where that number is being used. I think it's Manchester Area.

I always had trouble being taught anything by a right hander. Everything is ar@e about face ;-) ;-) ;-) My brother Jack was left handed as were Ted, Mary Bill and I. together with Mum and Dad. I digress, He said left handed gunmen were very useful for shooting round corners in the war. Thinking about it, it must have been !!!

Tesco are doing little Coconut bars in milk chocolate just like BOUNTY BARS. She bought me a bag, they are very nice, if you like coconut !!!

I still haven't caught up with A. T. Yard yet. by the time I do it will be off catch up.

That was very nice of Sandra to send a "Thank You". I always taught my children to write thank you letters, I believed that if people were good enough to buy them presents, they should send THANK YOU LETTERS. Lewis still does it even now.

Just heard from Conrad on "WHAT'S APP" it's free telephone calls provided to are both on it. His apartment is still drying out. He has a de-humidifier going all day while he's at work, and it's dragging two litres of water out each day. He hopes it will be dry by the time Jan goes out Friday evening.

Massive Pork Ribs in Chinese marinade, Chips and corn on the cob tonight. Something to get hold of, and a munch near a bone ,Juices running down my chin. LOVELY !!!

Afternoon All

Good job you have managed to sort that scam call Frank.We all have to be on our guard these days .Trouble is that so many seem so plausible.No doubt there will still be many people who get caught out :-S
Conrad must be getting throughly fed up now with still not being able to get teh appartment dried out. Remember when i had that big leak under the floor in the kitchen? It took 2 months to dry out with either 3 or 4 big dehumidifiers, and several fans all going.Plus not having the kitchen floor as it has to be all dug up !!.It was a blooming nightmare. So I do feel so sorry for Conrad .Hopefully it won't be too much longer for him.

That was nice to get the lovely card from Sandra Ann :-D :-D.That will be in pride of place now :-D

James's curry dish yesterday was actually really very nice.It was a Red Thai (not the Green). He made it as mild as possible for us,even though he loves a really hot one.
We then had a Profiterole Stack for desert and I put sparklers on it :-D
Chris has been using his fitbit today.He did another 5 and a half mile walk!. He says he is pooped tonight.

Apple Tree Yard was brilliant last night .I can't wait for next Sunday.

We had 2 three kilo bags of something delivered here last night.They are for next door .Still here !!. I think it might be dried dog food. The delivery chap said his instructions said to leave then here if there was no-one in next door. I think that is a bit of a bloo** cheek really as they haven't asked if it is ok for us to take in such big things. I know we do take packages for them ,but it would just be polite for them to check it is ok and not just assume. :-S :-S..There is no way we will lump them around.They will have to either come and take one sack at a time of bring a wheel barrow.
So they are still sitting just inside our front door .They should have had a card put through their door to say we have the delivery.

That is my grumble over :-D

Booked my car in finally today for the first service.I think the 13th Feb.
Then I wanted to make an appointment with a GP as I have a horrible fluid filled cyst on the top joint of my middle finger.It looks ready to pop :-D,and stings like mad sometimes. But I will have to ring at 8am tomorrow.No doubt have to wait a few weeks LOL. This thing looks horrible and i keep it covered with a plaster when I go out.Apparently is it connected to Osteoporosis .I am hoping it might be possible to have it drained.We wait and see.

Turkey Roulade,Hassleback Potatoes,Brocolli ,Carrots and Sprouts for dinner tonight.

Yes Apple tree Yard was brilliant Jane, like you we can't wait till next weeks episode!
Glad your meal was nice, I just can't eat anything very hot these days, so different from years ago!!
What a miserable day its been, hopefully tomorrow will be better!
Cold chicken and salad tonight so nice and easy.

Evening all,

Another dull day but it has stayed dry don't think it has been as cold either .

Ann it was weaving with wool that i was trying to teach Katie to do ,you thread wool through some drinking straws and then weave the wool round the straws gradually sliding the woven wool down the straws ,she kept twisting the wool round two straws or back the other way bless her.
Today DIL and son have asked if i could make Victorian costumes for Katie and Lacey for school so i said i'd have a go .
How nice for Sandra to send you the thank you card it sounds as if she has made a lovely one for you .


Glad you weren't taken in by those scammers Frank ,lets hope others won't be too .
Poor Conrad still drying out his apartment ,i was going to ask how things were going ,it's at a time like this he would love to have all the heat from the lovely sun shine they get all summer .

Could be any thing in those bags Jane !! and your signing for them , whats in the parcels too ? are they the neighbours you say are strange and the ones where they tried to break in ?
I had one of those cyst things on the top joint of my middle finger of my left hand but mine went down ,my middle finger top joints are so knobbly now and painful if i knock them .
I still have some bruising on my leg from Max jumping up it's taking ages to go .

I'm so pleased the Thank You card arrived okay Ann, Sandra wanted me to post it to you the day her bracelet arrived but I didn't have any stamps until Saturday, she said it has to be in the post by 12 noon as that is the last post and there's no post on a Sunday. She likes to say thank you straight away so was a bit nervous about it being a few days later. I did explain that you would be thrilled even if you didn't get it the day after and she didn't want me to tell you about it on here as she wanted it to be a surprise. She's been asking me all day if you'd got it, so she's made up you have. After she made it she showed it to me and her dad with a beaming smile on her face. I've always taught her to say thank you and she always makes a thank you card as Mel will tell you when she's received a couple off Sandra for the lovely presents she has sent. :-) :-)

I couldn't believe the stats you were telling us about the scammers. What HMRC are doing to combat it is comforting to know. I hope they find the people responsible for phoning Frank soon.

It's gone quite windy here now and cold with it. We're hoping to visit OH's mum towards the end of the week so I hope it's a bit warmer then. We haven't seen her for a while with OH's op and then the car breaking down and of course OH is back in work now too.

just noticed all the posts, they weren't there when I was writing my post, the last one was Ann's :-S :-S

It sounds like you had a lovely meal for Chris's birthday, I don't like food to hot either so you're not on your own. Hope you can get in to see the doctor soon Jane I had to have a ganglion drained a couple of years ago so I know how painful these things can be. It'll feel much better once doctor has sorted it for you.
I think you have every right to grumble Jane, taking in small packages for your neighbour is one thing but large bags is something else. They should of been round to collect by now as they would of got a card saying where it was. Maybe you could call round, although you shouldn't have to, and ask them to take it as it's in your way. They must be big if a wheel barrow is needed.
Good luck with your car hope everything goes smoothly for you. Our's seems to be okay, well for now anyway ;-)

I'm sure Katie will get the hang of it once she's had a few goes Mandy. I can imagine you would have one or two bruises with the size of Max, hope they clear soon for you.

Poor Conrad Frank, we had a few floods in our old house, one of the reasons we sold it in the end, and we had industrial dehumidifiers going for months on end, our electric bill was through the roof, but they did the job, eventually. Hope it's not to much longer for Conrad's place to dry out.

It's been a right to do for Conrad trying to get his flat dry. He can't do much till it's all dry can he. Whatever did they do in the days before humidifiers and fans! I suppose they had open fires blazing away for days then. I never liked playing badminton against a lefthander as I'd think I was playing to their 'weaker' backhand till they belted the shot back! lol.

Oh I had totally the wrong idea about the weaving Mandy! I thought it was corn dollies or something like that! lol :-) It should be interesting making the victorian outfits for the girls. A victorian maid might be good to do. :-) It must be nuisance with your hands as we are always knocking them on something or other doing jobs. Max must be very heavy now!!

I was surprised how much extra work is created for HMRC with these scammers too Gill and it's all a cost to taxpayers so the more we report to stamp them out the better.

I wouldn't have asked for something like that to be left nextdoor without asking first Jane. It's a good job it isn't chicken manure!!! Your finger joint does sound painful so I hope you can get a quick appointment in the morning. I'm glad you mentioned your service..........OH said something about his being due over a week ago and I don't think he's booked his car in yet. It's good James made the curry not too hot. I don't mind so much then as you can actually taste the food, rather than have your mouth just numb and tingly with your tastebuds all blunted!! lol. I found a bag of Tortilla Chips left from Christmas in the conservatory tonight so we've had those with a nice mild tomato salsa with onions and peppers in it.