General Chat

Morning to you all, Evening Kim,

I meant to record "GUNPOWDER" so will watch it om Catch up, when Ros is out. I don't think she will be to overjoyed to sit through it. ;-) ;-)

Gill you certainly have put a lot of work and effort in making your "VILLAGE" Yes yo must get a photo of it and let us all see your handy work. xx

Lazy bones me.!!! I was in bed by 10.15 last night and apart from getting out to the loo, was still in bed at 9.30 this morning. I have sat wth two COT and the paper. So now I will get the Veg prepared, pudding and cheese sauce made, then a nice shower and shave. I never had a read yesterday, so will have a catch up this afternoon, if I don't drop off. LOL LOL.

Ann, did you get my message. ???


Clear sky's and plenty of yellow stuff, but still very windy.

We did try the new Indian Takeaway last night. I can see we will be regular customers. The meal was one of the best I have eaten. When I arrived to collect it. The restaurant was quite busy 6.00 pm. I was asked to take a seat, and would I like a drink while I waited. They bought me a glass of Indian beer, which was very nice. Soon after my meal appeared. The staff were so polite and friendly. The Restaurant has been there THREE YEARS and was a local pub before that.

Lady Jane back hid afternoon/evening. I hope all went well meeting the future IN LAWS LOL LOL ????

Frank I got your email but could'nt open it.

Suns been in and out and it is still windy and we have had lots of quite heavy rain showers.

I hav'nt done the chickens yet but need to get the Big Breakfast underway now.

GP day today and Lewis has poll position.

Afternoon all

The weather here is terrible with the wind, the greenhouse has moved another 6 to 8 inches in the night and has come off the flags on one corner so OH will have to take all the glass out and move it back where it was. He is going to screw it down this time and hope it doesn't twist if the wind picks up again. He can't do anything until the wind has gone away. All the wooden framework and screening is still up, which we're pleased about. We're so glad we strengthened it a few weeks ago.

My laptop is playing up at the moment and very slow, I think that's why I keep getting the error page on here. I don't know what to do to fix it.

Yes F1 day Mel, I'm really looking forward to it. If Hamilton wins today's race and Vettel comes 6th or less, then Lewis will win the championship,
At least I think I've got that right :-S

I've woken up with a banging headache. I'm beginning to think it's the weather, as it keeps happening every time the weather is bad. I've been relaxing in the hope it won't turn into a migraine like it did before, that migraine lasted 15 hours, I ended up in tears with it in the end.

I forgot to say I loved the photo of Rupert Ann, isn't he a lovely colour and such a big boy,

Yes Lady Jane is home Frank :-D.Just an hour ago.My it was a swift journey home with James driving !!.I was sat in the back watching the speedometer LOL.The traffic going on Friday was hellish.Half Term beginning I think might have been something to do with it.
The Dovecote was lovely and so well renovated. I think it was 17th centuary and had been falling down before the owners decided to restore it ans its history. All the wooden pigeon holes had been restored as much as possible and lined the wall of our bedrooms. I will send a pic or 2. My only moan was that the two settees were very uncomfortable as the cushions had lost a lot of padding and were quite flat.Which made it a bit hard on the old backside. Friday night Chris James and I went for a meal at a local pub. James said he had one of the best ribeye steaks.It was melt in the mouth.
Saturday was the big get together.18 of us.There should have been 20 but Gareths sister was off playing a Hockey Match and her partner went with her. So we all enjoyed our various meals and then the birthday cake came in for Gareth.We sang the house down :-D. Then Michel(Janice's son Williams Dad) had the bright idea of going on to another pub !.But he first had to collect his other son from the mother (she refused to bring him :-S). The chaos then began with who was going in whose car .It was like a military operation and total madness.Janice ahd to call order LOL and sort it out.I felt like a lie down then. It is my Sisters family Michel and Rachel just seem to cause mayhem.Then add Janice into the mix as well !!!!. Her eldest some Matthew is so quiet. So off we set to the Gupshill pub. They had to clear a side room for us all to have drinks in. Luckily the staff knew my Sister and family as it is Janices local so they were quite happy with the sudden influx of numbers and disruption LOL. Then about 5 oclock someone thought it was a good idea to all go back to Janice to watch the wedding video of (Matthew and Kelsey s wedding). This was the last thing Janice needed really.So Chris and I said we would just go back to the cottage ,Gareth,Hannah and his parents went back back to their place. Rachel insisted that James stayed so Janice said she would bring him back to the cottage later in the evening when she dropped others home. A lot of liquid refreshments of the alcoholic kind had gone down with the younger ones by the end of the evening .
I was very good and just had 3 glasses of wine at lunch time and then went on to water(unheard of).What a good girl .
James arrived back at the cottage at 9.30.
This morning the 3 of us went to Gareths parents house for a coffee before setting off home. What a fantastic place they have. It is a 16th Century thatched house with lots of original features.It is a Grade 2 listed. A few doorways were so low that the tall men had to duck. We met Gareth's Sister Rachel and her partner Rodrie or Rod .Rachel was taking the mickey out of her Mum as she had a milk jug of hot milk for the coffees.Obviously that was special for us :-D :-D. Usually it would be the milk carton.
Gareth's dad made a right mess with the Coffee Cafetierre when he pushed the plunger down. He didn't realise it had to be done slowly . He had just come back to see us from cutting down a big tree somewhere and had left his fellow tree chopper up the tree with a Chainsaw (this chap was 72 !) So he was swiftly sent back to make sure no catastrophe had occurred .

The wind was so strong on Friday night and all day yesterday.Some heavy rain too. My poor hair !!!!. Looked like the Crazy woman at times . (no comments Frank !!)

So now I am unpacked,got my slippers on and have just lit the Woodburner for the first time .It smells really odd.But I think it might be the glue from the new rope thing around the glass door.It does look lovely with all the flames . I bet I will be too hot in a minute.

I haven't looked at any posts yet since we went but will have a read through now.
Nice to be home.

Good afternoon all

We have just finished eating, no leftovers which was good. Paul has just taken the girls back to their different places, Becky has half term next week but goes in on Monday for extra studies. We also watched "Gunpowder" and it was well worth watching but parts of it were blood thirsty.

Good to hear you had enjoyable time Jane catching up with every ones news, the cottage sounds really pretty do you plan to visit there again?

We had more sad news yesterday one of my other SIL's sister had a massive stroke and was airlifted to Brighton hospital as when she fell she badly hit her head and they had to remove a blood clot, she is in intensive care unable to speak or move she is being fed through a tube, they told her husband it may take a year to recover she is 71 years old and will be sent to a stroke unit in Haywards Heath when they are ready to discharge from Brighton. coming from Hastings that's quite a journey for her husband and two sons to visit.

Abbie made us smile today when she was out with her friends a chap in front of them took a tumble from his racing bike and was unable to get up so she rang for an ambulance and waited for it to arrive, the funny bit was I asked her how old she thought he was, she then said he was very old so I said in his 70's to which she replied no about as old as Dad, Paul is 51. :-) :-).

Sorry to hear you have had another headache Gill. I hope is doesn't turn into a migraine,

Sunny but windy again today and quite cold,

Just finished doing the big girls so they have a nice clean house to mess in tonight.

Just seen your photo of your bedroom in The Dovecot, Jane. It looks very quirky, I'm sure you wouldn't find another one like it.

Evening All,

Yes Frank I have replied to your message and thank you! :-)

How awful for your SIL's sister and her family Anne.It must be scary when you can't communicate very well. I think we are beginning to feel the effects of NHS changes now with folk having to travel further. They seem to have specialisms at different places, but it means much more travel and isn't easy especially for families if you don't know areas.

What an unusual room Jane and a good talking point! Good job the pigeons have gone and I would hate to have to dust in there though! The farmhouse sounds very nice and it sounds like you had a good time. I got it wrong before, but did Gareth like the 'Bull' drawing?

Yes, I would like to see a pic of your village you have made too Gill. :-) It's a shame you have a bad headache. I hope you feel a bit better now. Maybe doing all the FH on the computer hasn't helped as I know OH gets headaches when he has long spells of doing his notes.

We went to the carvery at Lutterworth for lunch as usual, but were second in the queue today, with 2 young noisy, naughty boys and their parents ahead of us. They serve from 11.30am now because of the huge queues later and we are usually first. These 2 boys were taunting each other, shouting, pulling at things on the counter, not a murmur from their parents!! Then one turned his attention to me, showing off, and because I ignored him he started pulling all kinds of faces which I also ignored! He then just stood watching me quietly. I think he was used to getting attention from his antics and didn't quite know what to make of me!! lol.

We then went to the Factory Outlet to use my 50p off socks coupon. I forgot to say that yesterday, whilst we were laying on a bed to test the mattress in our stockinged feet I noticed OH had black socks on with PINK toe and heel. 'That's where all of my pairs of socks go' I said to him while he laughed and weakly protested that the toes were RED!! (they weren't!) I'd noticed that despite regularly buying myself socks, I never seem to have enough, yet I never seem to buy OH any and he always has plenty! Now I know why!! :-S He fetches them off the line and pairs them together and puts them in our drawers so I never see them between going in the wash till I put them on. To think I bought our usual black ones, but with coloured toes so he would get the right pairs together as well. lol Before that I would pull out a 'pair' he' put together and find one was right up my shin with the toe hanging off my foot like an elf's slipper (one of his!) and the other just snug and nice!! lol. :-D

My headache has finally gone, it seemed to die down once the weather improved. OH thinks it might be something to do with the low pressure of the weather with it happening every time we have a storm. Thankfully it didn't turn into a migraine this time.

I've got photo's of the village but haven't got a clue how to get them off my camera and onto the computer, then from the computer onto an email and there isn't anyone I can ask to do it for me. My laptop is very slow at the moment and I've even had trouble trying to get back on here tonight......kept getting the error page. So I'm wondering if it's my laptop and not the Genes site now.

The photo you sent of your bedroom looked different Jane, I've never seen a room like that before. It sounds like you had a lovely time away.

I'm so sorry to hear about your SIL's sister Anne and hope she has a speedy recovery, it must be awful not being able to communicate properly. Bless Abbie, I must be very old then as I'm 51 next month ;-)

I had to laugh Ann when you were talking about your socks and your OH having a pair of yours on, while trying to deny it, also the comment on the elf's sock, you are funny :-D :-D Yes, I thought it might of been the computer causing my headaches so didn't go online until it eased off, but I woke up with it, so thought it couldn't of been that today. Those boys sound like a right pair, good on you for ignoring them, it does sound like they were a bit confused, not getting a reaction off you.

I've not long finished the Christmas village scene. I wasn't up to doing it this morning, but I must admit it does look good. I put the blue stars around the white tinsel this year for a change, then popped it all around the edges of the box, Sandra loves it and took some photo's on her camera.

Lewis Hamilton won the race, but not the championship as his rival came second, so it'll go to the next race now......it's all very exciting. I did feel sorry for Max though as he thought he'd come third, but was then told he hadn't as he broke one of the rules when over taking. Everyone is complaining about it, but the stewards are saying he gained an unfair advantage so had to give third place back to Kimi.

Good to see you back safe and sound Jane. It sounds like a good time was had by all by what you have posted.

I would'nt like to dust that room Jane!!

I wrote that ages ago and forgot to post it!!

I let Titch go tonight, boo hoo. I popped it in one of the hog boxes oh made me and gave it some of its old bedding and a lot of new stuff and shut it in till it was dark. When I opened it up tonight it was at the doorway and had a little look out but would'nt come out so I threw a dried food pellet in there and it disappeared after eating it back into the box. I could'nt wait any longer with camera in hand so came in to do our tea.

I have had a look down there and some of the food I put down has been eaten. I am cross though because I should have put my camera down there as I hav'nt used it for a long while i have taken the batteries out. It would have taken too long to set it up.

Morning all and LIz if you're looking in,

Dull dreary and that fine steady rain here this moaning and I mean moaning. Not much in the way of wind though just a slight breeze touching the trees.

Oh has put the bins out and I am just about to make a drink.

I did'nt see a hog at all last night and I looked out many times and I have the camera on in the evenings too but if I am watching the telly thats behind me.

Wakey Wakey...............................................................................

Who's saying was that?

Good morning to you all, Evening Kim.

Mel, that name is on the tip of my tongue , but it won't come into my head. I will be thinking of it all day now.Glad "TITCH" is out on his own. I am sure he will soon find his feet, and get into the throws of things..

Liz, I'm pleased you are both getting along alright and that Cas is her usual self. What a bummer about Ian and his troubles. Lets hope they get on top of things quickly. xx

Jane That is some Bedroom. I can just imagine hundreds of pigeons flying in and out of there. !!! How on earth do they keep the place clean with all those nooks and crannies.?? Glad you had a good time, and that you were a "GOOD GIRL"with the wine.

Anne sorry to hear your news. It's sounds as though she had a very bad stroke, and will no doubt take a long time to recover. I was lucky with mine, it only affected my right side, and my depression in the brain. (I can argue with myself) LOL LOL. I was lucky out to spend Five weeks in hospital, and recovered very well.
Nothing sort of day here again, Overcast with very little wind. So all in all a miserable day.

The roast lamb was as tough as old boots. I couldn't/wouldn't eat any. It's in a bag ready for Martine's dog's. I can't complain because I don't know where Ros bought it. LUCKY FOR THEM. LOL LOL

All showered, just got to get dressed. I was up again at midnight last night until 3.30 am. I did manage to read a lot of my book. !!!! See you later.

I lay in bed for a long while before drifting off last night. The plus side is that I did'nt have to get up in the night for the loo. First time for ages.

Frank I will put you out of your misery it was Billy Cotton.

Afternoon All,

A bit of a dull day here at the moment.

We went to BENSONS this morning. I hadn't realised there was one less than a mile away on the retail park and inside the Harvey's store there! A pesky salesman pounced as soon as we walked in and started his sales talk till I stopped him and said we'd come to look at the beds upstairs! They have 15% off the beds/mattresses till next Tuesday which is a bonus! We found a nice firm one, like lying on a board as Frank says! lol. I really thought it would be too hard for OH, but no, he tried a few others and said he preferred the firm one!! There wasn't much scope for haggling on the mattresses with the sale on, but they agreed to throw in 2 mattress protectors in for the price so that was good. Free delivery and they will take the others away for a price. We have one more place to look, but I think we will be buying from there. It was a lot heavier than our current one, but it seems most mattresses are now.

We called in the supermarket and got fuel and did a shop after and that is all put away now. The boiler man should be here about 2.00pm to service the boiler, cooker and fire so that will be another good job done. :-)

Your OH could be right about the weather and your headaches Gill. I know mine would happen more often if a storm was due. It's good it had gone this morning! :-) If I was nearer I'd come and help you to download your photos and show you how to send them with email. The camera should have a cable to connect to your computer, unless you use a picture card in your camera, in which case you can download from that. It's great that Sandra gets so much pleasure from Christmas and all the decorations.

Did you mark Titch so you will be able to spot him/her Mel? The little hog couldn't be let loose in a better place with food and hotel all laid on.

Oh dear Frank, lamb is horrid when it's chewy like that. I hope Martine's dogs are youngsters with good teeth!! lol. :-D As you say you have to be thankful your stroke wasn't worse and that you made a good recovery.

I have sent you a PM.

Good afternoon all

Weather today mostly wet, dull and cold and so dark first thing.

It sounds that you have found the ideal mattress that suits both of you Ann and a good price too, taking your old one away will be a help as well.

Pleased to hear your headache has gone Gill, I nearly always get one just before it snows which living here doesn't happen too often.

We are having honey, lemon & wholegrain mustard chicken thighs + extra ingredients for our evening meal I make it from the beginning but it doesn't take long so an easy meal with green beans, peas and new potatoes

Afternoon All
Anne ,have you had any news on your SIL's Sister? It sounds as though she is in a very serious condition :-(. You said it is a long way for her family to visit.Will they be able to do it? Maybe taking it in turns to visit.

Ha! Ha! Ann. How on earth could OH think he could get away with saying those socks were his !!!!. I am sick of mens socks here. I now refuse to put them away in drawers as Chris is always taking his from James's and James from his . They also have some exactly the same and doesn't help. So I have said I will just pair them up and they can then fight over them :-D

Billy Cotton I think was the WAKEY WAKEY man Mel :-D It just came to me
So little Titch is out in the big wide world now. I bet he is having a right good adventure :-D

Thomas is home and within an hour he had killed a little bird :-(. I saw him dash across the patio and that it what he was after. I am sure he thought it was a mouse as he normally never bothers with birds at all.So he has blotted his copy book already :-S :-S

Yes those wonderful pigeon holes must have been a haven for spiders and goodness knows what other kind of little things. But we never saw anything.(not that I looked too hard :-D). In fact they looked remarkably clean.There must be some way of cleaning them out especially with it being a holiday let.

I do like the sound of your Christmas village Gill.Did you make one before or was that a Nativity? How is your nasty headache ? I hope it has gone now.

Mandy I hope you are all ok(sorry I haven't read all the posts ) hope I didn't miss anything.

It is 3 years today that James's friend Johnny took his own life.I think James might be having a drink with Johnny's Mum on the way home from work. I am still waiting to hear from him to let me know what time he will be in for dinner.

Anne, Gareth loved the drawing of Stan the Bull :-D :-D.. Gareth just loves animals . Yesterday when we left his parents they were just going off to a 'petting farm' .I think mainly used by families with young children . But Hannah sent me some pic of him with a big Rabbit on his lap and another with him holding a big lamb/young sheep.He was in his element LOL .. Not sure Hannah quite felt the same. It's not really her thing.

I need to get on with dinner now as I have just heard from James and he says he is eating out with Johnny's Mum and others(he forgot to let me know! )

Evening all,

Well it's been a dry day ,we were supposed to have rain this afternoon .
It's been another day for a hospital appointment for Colin ,this time for a brain
scan !! when he had his hearing test the lady was concerned about the pain Colin had in his neck even though he told her it was Arthritis in his neck and he had been given exercises to do ,she wrote to his doctor and he thought Colin should have this MRI scan .

Ann what a beautiful cat your friend has ,i can see why she doesn't let it roam about outside ,he really is a beauty .
Sounds as if you've picked your mattress today ,it's good they can take the old one away too .
When you were saying about the socks i thought you were going to say you noticed a hole in OH's socks when he was laying on the beds LOL

We had Chelsea here on Saturday and Katie is coming to stay over on Wednesday night ,she gets so excited and is packing all sorts already in her over night bag .

Jane that was an unusual bedroom with all those holes ,i looked at them and thought oh spider traps !!! :-0
Glad you had a good time ,was the meal nice ?

So little Titch has flown the nest then Mel ,how are all the girls ? are they all getting on now ,no fighting and giving you plenty of eggs .

Anne that's sad news about your SIL's sister ,it does sound as if it's going to be quite a while before she's going to be up and about again , the visiting is going to be so tiring for them ,it's awful when they are so far away and you just want to be with them , i hope she makes a good recovery and is back home with them soon.

Did i miss a post about Liz's OH ? is he poorly ?