General Chat

Morning All,

Sorry to hear your news Gill, but as the others have said the fact they are giving him chemo means they think it is worth doing. It is awful news for your OH and his mum to hear though. Does he have a wife/partner to help support him at home?

Thanks for the pics Jane. Jess does have a lovely smile and such a friendly face. It is a lovely pic of them both. It must have been good to hear that it isn't psioratic arthritis you have. I hope you hear soon about your xray. Was that for the hip that gives you gyp?

Our Sainsbury's down the road has cameras that clock your number plate going in and out but there is no charge there YET, but there is a time limit to park. As Mel says, if you have a meal as well as shop, you can end up cutting things fine! Asda's opposite has no cameras, but has a time limit, but the disabled parking spaces 'talk' to you and ak if you are entitled to be parking there!! Aldi and Waitrose in the next village both have time limits and in Aldi you have to enter your car reg in a machine as you go out or you will get a fine for parking over the time limit! Waitrose car park has pay machines. The big Morrisons in the city had to impose time limits as the football/rugby fans were taking up all the parking on match days.

The main reason round here for the time limits on parking is that they found commuters were parking there and then catching the bus into the city and saving themselves the extortionate daily parking charges!! Also the locals that live near the shop car parks were using them as somewhere to put their cars when they couldn't park outside their homes!!! Even the pub/restaurant near us has time limits in the car park for the same reason.

Where mum lived, because she owned lockup garages at the back of her property, she'd come home on match days to find cars all parked at the back of her house and along her driveway leading to the garages!! :-S She used to padlock her gates shut and wait and charge them when they came to collect their cars after the match. Any argument and she said she'd call the Police to come and discuss their trespassing with them. She couldn't padlock the gates if she was out in case the people renting her garages wanted to come in or out. She had signs up to say it was private property but people just ignored them.

Apart from our hospital that has the new multistorey as it was so bad before, the other 2 hospital car parks are getting worse. The one that I go to meetings at has several car parks around it and the one I use is less busy, but the spaces are so tiny I daren't park between cars as my doors won't open wide enough to get out, so I have to find an end space. To get around the corners, 4x4s have to make several attempts, shuffling back and forth. :-S At these 2 hospitals you have to guess how long you will be and pay upfront which is very hard to judge. When OH was admitted a few years ago and they didn't know what was wrong with him till the next day, I had to keep going out and putting more money in. The next morning I put plenty of money in as it was such a trek from where he was to the car park, but they discharged him once they found he had pneumonia and gave him tablets. I went to the office for a refund on my parking, but it was closed with a notice saying it would re-open after the Bank Holiday!! Not much use when it would mean a 30 mile round trip to go back for it and have to pay more parking to get it!!

The children are already on holiday from school round here Mel. We first realised when we were remarking on all the stretched Limos we kept seeing that were for the school Proms no doubt! How times have changed in these supposed times of austerity!!

Will Katie be going to the same school as Chelsea next term Mandy. I can't ever remember us having a Leavers' Service. I did enjoy playing Pirates in the gym on the last day of term though. :-D

I have found out where the poppy fields are so that's where I am going now! OH has gone to Cannock to a match. It's near where I lived as a child.

We have red tomatoes at last! :-)

Afternoon all,

Cloudy here and we've just had a few spots of rain .
When we went for our fruit and veg shop i was surprised to see all the town decorated up ready for the carnival tomorrow .
All the bollards have been wrapped round with stripy coloured knitting, and have pom poms or tassles on the top ,there is knitted bunting draped all round from post to post ,if looks so pretty .
The war memorial has loads of knitted red Poppies on sticks all stuck in the grass .
I just hope they are left alone tonight when the drinkers are about in the early hours .

Yes Katie will be moving to middle school with Chelsea in September, they have one more week at school here before they all break up ,the children / Katie that are leaving have all next week at the middle school so they get use to the school before they go in
September.

Did James and Jess enjoy the Proms Jane ?

Our Morrison's in Bideford is just off the Quay so lots of people could park in there and go off around the town before they put the parking charge on. You don't have to pay for parking only if you get a ticket for being back late.

Emm next door was telling me that her sister and sisters eldest girl and a friend went to see Little MIx at Powderham Castle last night. Emm said she felt very tired today.

I have small runners on the beans about a half an inch long!!

No Liz today yet. Did any of you waatch Outlander on Thursday night?

Its still raining here that very light stuff and its quite windy too.

I remember being miserable. The opening line of Angela's Ashes resonates with my childhood, only I'm neither Irish nor catholic.

Hi anymore memories please as we seem to have run out.

Love your avatar is he a rellie?

Evening All

Love the name WhiffingSiggs :-D :-D. Welcome .Yes any more good memories?

What a funny day weatherwise . Dull ,overcast ,a bit of fine rain in the air and muggy.Not a sign of any sun.
Hope your Cousin and Guests have a good party Frank. Naughty dog doing a Whoopsie in hte entrance to the Marquee :-S

I have seen this Cortana thingy advertised too on TV. It looks fun, but it would just be yet another gadget that we can do without LOL. I have enough 'stuff' in the lounge.

All the decs sound lovely for the Carnival tomorrow Mandy.Are you going?

Mel your Beans are ahead of us. We have just started getting flowers now. Chris picked the very last of the peas today. Another 2lb. I think we have had about 6lb altogether . He said the Radishes have come to nothing :-S,and not sure how well the Carrots will be.

Frank I love these Honesty tables. You got a good load of veg :-D

Looking forward to seeing pics of the Poppy Field Ann. I did see one here yesterday but I was driving on the A14 and there was nowhere to stop to get a pic.

James and Jess really enjoyed their night at the Proms last night. :-D and had a nice meal beforehand at one of the restaurants in the Albert Hall. It was called The Italian Kitchen. I did love that pic of the 2 of them.Yes Jess does have a lovely smile . It is nice to see her dressed up rather than in her PJs here LOL

I don't think the schools have broken up here yet.I think it might be next week.I have seen lots of coaches at Wicksteed Park ,and think it is end of term school trips. At least the children have been lucky with the weather :-D.

Ann ,my Xray was on my lower back. The Consultant said he thinks most of my hip trouble is just wear and tear and the early stages of Osteoporosis ,so not needing a Hip replacement anytime soon. I forgot to ask how I would find out the result of my back Xray :-S

Mel I know Morrisons at he end of the Quay in Bideford :-D. It is a little walk from there back into the town. I always stopped off at Morrisons to buy my Aunty Joyce some flowers when I went to vist her in Northam .

Our big Sainbury parking is free for the first 30 mins ,and then £1 for 2 hours, but you get the money back if you hand the ticket in when paying for your shopping Tesco free,Aldi free, Asda free.

Need to make a start on dinner. It is just Lamb and Mint Burgers, Mediterannean Veg, Mushrooms and Asparagus and Garlic Bread.

Runners Mel? Mine are still clawing their way up the poles!!

The decorations sound pretty Mandy. Some folk have been busy knitting! What a good idea to let the children see what the new school is like before they start. Saves them getting anxious towards the end of the summer holidays.

I was thinking this morning that you don't hear people say 'fizzhog' any more!! lol.

I managed to find the poppies after driving past them a couple of times! They are just finishing now but I got a few pics. I nearly drove through a red light at the end of the lane as it was completely covered with foliage......good job I noticed the one the other side of the road. I also found the windmill I saw before. It has been incorporated into a very posh house that has the roadside verges mown like a bowling green with alternate red and white geraniums planted at the back in front of the manicured hedges. I couldn't get a pic of the whole thing though as it was obscured by the hedges and trees.

Your sister isn't having an easy time is she Frank. I hope she's home again soon. Sounds like you have your sunday veg all sorted after your purchases! There is a table outside the old Manor in the village in the autumn that is piled with 'help yourself' apples!

It's good there was no mention of hip replacement Jane, but why does it suddenly become our age once we pass 60?

I enjoyed WDYTYA this week with Craig Revel Horwood. Wasn't his 100 year old gran a lively soul!

Yes it does look pretty in the town ,i think it's called yarn bombing :-D we might go to have a look at the parade as it goes through the town but i don't think we'll go to the recreation ground where they have all the stalls .

I meant to say we have Runners about an inch long ,no sign of any red toms yet ,cucumbers now getting bigger but i think it will be a couple of weeks before we can pick any .

They had that yarn bombing in Bideford last year. Some of the pom pom in the trees stayed there but where they had had it wrapped around the trees it was taken away. The bollards were devorated and all sorts. I wonder who does it?

We had a young doe and buck in the garden this morning and they travelled around quite a bit going back to the fuschia on the west wall. I watched them for a long while and when they went through the big west arch I got on with some chores. When I went out to go to Em's next door and drove through the big arch they were aalong the edge on the grass and I frightened them and they went in two different directions. I had forgotten they may be out there.

My beans don't get a chance to reach the top of the support as I wind them round a few times before going up to the next level.

Morning all

It's been raining here this morning but is finally starting to brighten up a bit. We're hoping it'll be nice after the F1 as OH wants to finish off spraying my pots for me. He only has 4 to do for now but they are big ones with plants in so we'll have to protect the plants while he sprays them. When the potatoes are finished and those pots are empty he's going to spray them as they are the right size to re-pot a couple of other plants I have, then hopefully all the plants will have been re-potted into the black pots I wanted.

I haven't caught up with all the posts yet, mum came round yesterday so I didn't get a chance to come online, I also made some PJ bottoms for Sandra out of a onesie (sp) she had and no longer wanted, she is made up with the PJ's so that was well worth making, I sewn it all by hand and it took me most of the day as I had some more programmes to catch up on and I wouldn't of been able to hear them if I had my sewing machine going.

You asked Ann if my BIL has a wife, he does but she's not very good at looking after him or keeping her house tidy, the place is a mess which is why we went round there to sort everything out. We will visit both BIL and MIL and help out where needed. MIL's kitchen cupboards need fixing next. Plus my mum bought a new bench with an arch over it the other day and wants us to make it up for her as it's a flat pack, so it looks as if we're going to be quite busy over the next few weeks, helping the family.

It's OH's birthday tomorrow, we're hoping to go out. I think he needs a bit of fun at the moment. Not sure where we're going yet though. I'm hoping it'll take his mind of his brother's first bout of Chemo.

Love the pic of James and Jess Jane, they both look very smart.

I'll catch up with the posts later as I've just run a bath. Hope everyone is okay.

Morning Gill and all,

Not very bright today but at least its dry. I had a good lie in this morning. I was up once inthe night for a w** and then fell alseep again right away.

We have pale grey sky and it dos'nt look as if it is going to brighten up at all. Whats it like your way?

Its not Cortana its Alexa!!

Not a bad morning here, windy but sunny, big improvement on yesterday!
I've managed to de- frost the big freezer this morning, it was long overdue and was a bit of a mammoth job, but it's all back in order now and I feel well chuffed!!
Our beans have a couple of tiny beans! so it shouldn't be too long before we will get a picking! OH has just picked a few small courgettes for our lunch; he will fry them in garlic and make a tomato sauce, which should be good along with roast chicken and new potatoes.
We recorded Outlander Mel as we were watching another prog, and will probably watch it today or tomorrow- that way you can get through the advertisements!!
OH is watching the Grand Prix, with his headphones on!! I'm outside and just about to find some music to listen to, again, with headphones!!

O what a grand prix. Must have been the most exciting one we have seen in a long time.

Suns been in and out here and it is very muggy today.

Liz what do you record on when you can go through the ads.?



Oh has gone off for a nap so I am on my own for a little while.

Yes, Mel I agree, what a great race especially the last lap. I'm just watching the live reaction, hoping to see what Vettel has to say. OH is outside spraying the four big pots with the plants in, he is protecting the plants and the pots look much better. The sun is out now and it's very hot out there, so it shouldn't take to long for them to dry.

It's a nice feeling when a big job like the freezer is done isn't it Liz? Our tomatoes are just starting to ripen so it shouldn't be long before we can eat them. I haven't done any beans like everyone else.

How did the cousin's reunion go Frank? I think someone had a party around here last night as OH and I could hear it when we were sitting in the garden, it was a bit like a disco, what with their music and our lights LOL :-D
Sorry to hear about your sister, hope she is feeling better soon <3

Hope the X-ray goes okay for you Jane and you don't have to wait to long for the results. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. Is Thomas still going for the birds? OH and Sandra thought I'd fell at the bottom of the garden the other day as they heard a bang, but then realise it was a birds egg that had been dropped (probably by a magpie) onto our greenhouse roof. It left a right mess that OH had to clean up as I couldn't reach it.
It pays to be small sometimes doesn't it? ;-) ;-)

We're on Sky Mel, so we record through our Sky Box. You can fast forward all the advertisements which makes it far less frustrating, so we do this for most independent programmes. Of course on catchup you have to sit through them which can be a pain!
Our lunch was delicious, I'd forgotten how lovely courgettes are!!

LOL Sandra I have a good excuse too for being short when certain things need doing :-D. Thats when Chris and James come in handy :-D. I do feel emabarrased though sometimes in the Supermarket when trying to reach something on the top shelf and it is right at the back. I have to hang about until I spot someone tall enough to help me out. If I can't find anyone I grab something off the shelf and try and 'hook' and scrape forward whjat I am after .I am sure I have strained my calf muscles doing that LOL

Oh what an emotional Mens Finals.Did anyone see? I expect you were all watching the F1 :-D

Liz we have our own Courgettes and Carrots tonight :-D. I just it when we can have our own veg. Your Courgettes,Garlic and Tomato sauce is just my thing. Our Garlic sadly are very small this year.
Liz I know you like programmes with Subtitles.Did you see 'I know who you are" .The Spanish one?Oh boy it is good. I had to watch it on catchup as it was too late for me .
Chris is wanting to see that. They do 2 programmes one after the other. Next week will be another 2 together.I love all these Psychological Thrillers but it means I have to spend too much time watching them all :-S :-D
Strange day weather wise. So muggy,grey sky,and just a few spits and spots . I have the fan on next to me but it doesn't seem to be cooling me down much.

We were going to the watch it Jane, but we were watching another program about Napoleon, so sub titles got forgotten!! We should have recorded it! Next week we'll make more effort!!! Mind you it'll be on catchup for a while so we may well. give it a whirl!
Our carrots aren't ready yet - they won't be long though and the spinach has been picked - twice!!!

Evening all,

We've had rain ,we had just got our spot in the town ready for the parade when it started so i nipped back for some brollies ,it was lovely seeing all the little ones dressed up ,some were dancing and others singing as they passed by in the floats ,the rain stopped for a while but started again just as the last float went by ,we've had rain most of the afternoon but the suns out now ,it's very muggy here too .

So a good job done on the freezer then Liz ,you'll be able to put your hand on what you want now after a tidy up.
I must defrost our spare fridge we have in the shed ,it's one with the ice box at the top and i never use that bit ,but i happened to lift the front last week and there's a huge bit of ice in there so it really needs doing ,i just have to remember to keep emptying the tray underneath as it defrosts or we end put with water in the fridge as the tray over flows .