General Chat

Morning all,

14 degrees and sunny. I have to read your posts I missed yesterday.

I only have one great granddaughter’s birthday in June but then there are a couple of cards needing sending as well.
July is my busy months. Son, granddaughter, grandson, great grandson all in July and used to be T’s as well.

Annx, the builder made a good start yesterday which was why we were expecting him back today. Fingers crossed he'll be here tomorrow or at least will let us know when he is coming back.

I dry stuff on hangers as well when I can and I get away without ironing quite a lot but at the moment the bane of my life is OH's shirts. I may have mentioned that OH decided he wanted to stick with long-sleeved shirts now. His thicker, check ones never need ironing but are too warm for summer so we sorted out all his cotton ones. A couple went in his bag of "work" clothes and half a dozen went in the charity shop bag which left him a bit short so I sent him to buy some more. He came back with 6 lovely shirts from the "good" menswear shop in town but, however carefully I hang them, they need ironing and all on different settings. 2 must only be done with a warm iron, some with a hot iron, some are better not using a steam iron, some are better with steaming. As he has clean every day and I only wash once a week I keep ending up with 7 of these dratted shirts to iron. The moral is don't let your OH go shopping by himself (though I have to say the shirts do look lovely on).

We had our dinner outside tonight. Once the sun had dipped down and the table was in the shade and under a big canopy it was quite pleasant. I told OH to imagine he was having a meal outside on a lovely continental holiday because this was the closest he was going to get to it. The heat hit us as we came inside again and I am not looking forward to trying to sleep tonight. It's turned 9 pm and the temperature is still 22 degrees.

I am now going to do a little bit of admin before going to bed. That will include transferring some birthday money to another granddaughter's bank account. Her birthday is on Thursday as is the birthday of our step-grandson. We have a lot of birthdays in June.

Mel the code could be if your TV is a smart TV.. I.e. connected to the internet but you should be able to get drama and U on your TV. I is 114 and drama is116 for me.

Gosh Ann you are going to bed earlyThat doesn’t work with me, I have to stick to round about the same time.

I hope your builder makes a start for you tomorrow Vera. With all his current troubles he probably looks forward to being occupied with some work and normality for a while. I must look up Ickworth house as the history of these old houses can be very interesting. It's a pity the speaker tried to cover such a long period though as it could get a bit tedious with a string of dates I expect.

Mandy it sounds like your toms and cues are doing really well and yes it shocked me how fast the cues grow when I first grew some. You could be tying them up almost every day. The heat as well as the pollen can make me have some 'off' days where I'm too tired to bother with anything. I think just resting and taking it easy is best and trying to keep cool. Our curtains and blinds have been shut all day on the back of the bungalow and in the bedrooms. I left the windows open on the shady side where we often get a bit of breeze.

AnnG I do that with Tee shirts too and if they are going outside I peg the hangers on the rotary. I do it with OH's shirts as well. I have one of those plastic ring things with pegs attached and particularly if it might rain I peg the socks on it and hang it on the rotary. If it does start to rain it is quicker to just unpeg the hangers including the sock one. I did a bit of admin too and managed to sort a fixed rate for our energy with Octopus again. I could hardly understand a word the chap who answered said and kept needing to ask him to speak slower. I only needed to phone as some of their accounts have a green energy plan attached they charge for and I couldn't tell if the one I wanted did. OH is out at a school meeting 10 minutes away. Tomorrow he is at a hearing a lot of the day.

I realised it was the same here with the Blue and Great tits which we would watch in the garden and I haven't seen any little ones fluttering their wings this year.

I'm off to bed now as I feel really tired. I hope everyone sleeps well. Thursday is looking very hot with 29 degrees expected here so I might be up early again tomorrow to do what I can in the cool if it is!

I don't have Sky or any of the other subscription options, but we do have Freeview and U and Drama is Channel 20 for us on there Mel.

I have never thought to put my t shirts on hangers so I may give it a go to save on the ironing.

BIL turned up just after lunch but only mowed the west lawn and the one outside the kitchen window so both infront of the house.

I have downloaded the U & Drama to the pc as there are lots of programs on there that I want to see but I don't understand how to connect it to the tv. It keeps telling me to put the code in from the tv??????? BIL pulled the tv out and we found a number but that did'nt work when I tried it. There's two new programs I am going to watch, one is OUtragous and the other is Miss fishers murder mysteries. There is also Lovejoy on there and I enjoyed that serise years ago and I think I may watch those again too and lots of ther stuff that could be good.

I don't have sky but think this is going to be good for me as there's not much I want to see on the telly lately. I think there is aslo the follow on of Upstairs Dwnstairs 5 years on and Jean Marsh is in it again.

Well I got some admin done although this room is very hot I managed to stick it out, Both were quite long letters to friends but that is done now. wouldn't you know I had to change an ink half way through.

I have also washed the new duvet cover, sadly it looks as though that is one that is going to need ironing The ones I already have don't need it if dried in the tumble drier. so that is waiting to be ironed. I also did a large load of tee shirts etc. I had 7 tee shirts and all of them dried on hangers hanging in the conservatory with the door wide open. And none of them need ironing.

We're melting here. Depending on which of the weather apps I look at it's anything between 25 and 27 degrees and feels a couple of degrees hotter. I got a little done in the garden, mostly deadheading and a bit of weeding. I also emptied and washed out a big terracotta pot. Then I came in and did about half the ironing but I couldn't manage any more than that in this heat.

No builder today so I hope he turns up tomorrow. We know he had ordered some spray stuff which he said he would collect from the builders' merchants today and we assumed he was coming to us after that but obviously not. I hope he turns up tomorrow. I feel sorry for him as his mil died in the last week or two so he is involved in all you have to do after a death and his brother is very seriously ill as well, but it is difficult for us to plan ahead when we don't know when the job will get done.

The speaker last night didn't talk about Ickworth House as such but about the Hervey family, the Earls of Bristol, who owned it. He wasn't exactly boring, though I've heard more dynamic speakers, but he tried to cover too much so didn't give enough detail about anything. He went from the Norman conquest up to when the house was handed over to the National Trust in the 1950s. The speaker's only mention of the Herveys after the NT took over was that the family continued to live in one wing. In fact we all knew that the 7th Marquess of Bristol, John Hervey, born in 1954 inherited a very large fortune and died in poverty in 1999. His dissolute lifestyle (drug addiction, gambling etc) ate through the inheritance. Some of you may remember his antics as he was always in the papers in the 1980s and 90s. All in all it wasn't as boring an evening as we feared and we all managed to stay awake.

O and in the pics I sent of the Swallows you can see the horse hair hanging off the nest.

Sorry to tell all you hot girls but its nice and cool here at 19 degrees and pc says partly sunny but its been out all morning so far and its warm out.

Put all the shopping away and fed the fish. Had a visiter this morning, Bridget with the news letter and she has put BIL's picture of the white pheasent on the back and I got a mention. I must fill the bird feeders and then I am going to potter.

You were working early this morning Annx. It was a very hot night again, I had the fan going the whole night so I didn’t sleep well. I’m not good first thing in the morning anyway but I ought to get myself moving earlier while it’s so hot. I was planning to go into town to get my script and pick up some bits from Boots and Iceland but I can’t face trudging around in this heat. My other jobs for today are ironing and gardening and it’s too hot for either. I have washed the sheets and they are on the line..

The temperature is already 22 degrees so goodness knows what it will be by lunchtime. Better get on with something I suppose. Stay cool and keep hydrated.

Morning all,

Phew it was hot yesterday we got a few bits done in the garden early I needed to tie up the cucumbers as they were taking off and get some canes in the tomato pots ,they look really healthy this year nice strong plants with flowers now showing ,after that I just did some sewing on dil dress got one sleeve done one more to go , by that time I wasn't feeling to good my energy levels dropped again so today will be a lazy day ,to hot to do any thing anyway we should get to 27 degrees .

Ann I didn't know about the flea stuff killing the baby birds ,I wonder if that's why we haven't seen so many in the tree near us ,they all use to nest in the tree and when something scared them they would all come flying out there must have thirty or forty in there ,I know we sat in the garden one year trying to count them but we've hardly seen any this year.

Right I'm going to get some drink ,got to keep the fluids up in this weather ,hope everyone can keep cool and enjoy the sunshine .

Missed you there Mel. Yes I think I would have chuckled at seeing the nest with horsehair hanging down! It would have been a good photo! It's reached 19 degrees here now, so I'll get changed and shut everywhere up and we can do our errands. I found those bags we did the printing and painting on at the craft course in the wardrobe and had forgotten all about them. OH won't let me take them to the charity shop and I was a bit relunctant so they are back in the wardrobe now!

I don't usually get up as early AnnG but the thought of trying to do anything in the heat there will be later spurred me on to get the watering done. A bonus is I saw my neighbour fetching her bin in so no watering for OH to do today. Since I came in and had a sit down I have finally sorted out the bottom of the last wardrobe which has plastic boxes to roll in and out as the carpet goes inside. It was built in when the bungaklow was built. Well I found plenty of new sandals, shoes and slippers in there so don't need to buy any and a couple of pairs sandals that scratch and have a bit that digs in my foot have gone in the charity shop bag. I got the stick hoover ready to hoover it out but waited till OH woke up, which he just has, but needed a sit down for a bit. I'll do it now and put things back and then we can pop out. I shan't be doing much the rest of the day.

Morning girls,

Nice morning so far but not quite as warm here as with you Anng its 15 degrees and pc is saying warm treand over the next few days.

Shopping comes today and I need to get in the shower and dressed so I am ready.

I had'nt heard that about the blue tits and great tits. I have noticed not so many babies this year so perhaps thats why. It tickled me that the swallows had horses hair hanging dowsn from their nest this year I have never seen that in there before.

Good morning all, sunny here ans 16 degrees. I suppose I had enough sleep last night but it was in one or twoo hour 'bits' No idea why I kept waking up, or why I was dreaming so much. I can't remember what about but it was just dreams not nightmares). Fimally woke at 0800 so forced myself out of bed then and have put the new duvet cover in the washing machine to get the dressing out of it.

I had not seen that about blue and great tits Ann, some of my favourite little birds and I had been wondering where they have all gone, usually loads around here this time of year.. What a shame that something to protect one animal has killed off another species. I hope they are working on finding a replacement.
Goodness, even if I get up early I don't do as much as you have done when I get up, I just come on the PC and while away the early hours. So well done for that. I have a small bite on my arm and it really itches.

Morning All,

I wasn't too hot but just didn't sleep after 4.00am so got up at 6.30am, opened the patio door and back door wide to cool the bungalow and went outside and watered all the new plants I planted and all the pots. Then I got a small humper and half filled it mostly with little weeds in the gravel. My back and knees were starting to ache then so I've come inside for a rest. I need to sort something out with Octopus and then we will take a few things to the dogs' home charity shop in the village. The one we went to yesterday doesn't take clothing and this one doesn't take books.

Mel I've only recently started using QR codes as we have to use them at my hairdresser for their loyalty scheme. I'm wanting to sell a few things on ebay so it looks like I will have to use them on there like you! I hate all these changes when what we had works fine, but I suppose we have to keep up and not get left behind. Have you got windows 11 loaded yet only I read the other day that windows 10 won't be supported after I think it said September.

I expect we may not see as many Blue tits and Great tits this year. Isn't it sad that the chemical in some pet flea killers means that the fur these birds use to line their nests is killing the baby birds. One check of some nests found it was present in all of them. I suppose the fact that there are so many more dogs now since the pandemic, particularly those with longer fur like Cockapoos must have made it worse.

Tablet time so I'd better do that next.

I love solar lights and need to put new ones round the little fence round the patio behind my pot plant garden. I have some ohj bought me ages ago there was about 6 lots in the box and I have used some and they conked out last year.

I did manage to wash out the big pot for the courgette but thats all iv'e done apart from the chickens today. I put something on Ebay and they now won't let you put your postage on and say that private sellers should do it through a QR code and take it to the post office and get their tracked label. It all makes it harder for me as I don't understand these QR codes and its all something lese to do.

Its been a lovely day here without much in the way of a breeze but its been comfortable and at the mo its 16 degrees and sunny. Washing dried ok so that can come in now.

Hope you all get some good sleep tonight and poor Vera dos'nt get too hot and dos'nt fall asleep with the boring speaker.

That's reassuring that the fluid is reducing Gwyn and that you seem to be feeling able to do more as well. It sounds like you just need to pace yourself for a while and forget doing much for the time being. Will they be checking you again in a while? My word I wouldn't want those seagulls nesting on the roof! They must be noisy and are such big strong birds. Fancy them coming in the house bold as brass and they could cause some damage inside if they panicked. They make our Magpies seem well behaved!

Phew is the right word Vera and we are only one degree behind you! No rain due here for the fioreseeable either and 29 degrees expected at the weekend! I hope your talk isn't as boring as you expect. We have that option to be rung back when we ring the doctor to make an appointment as well now. We didn't expect it to work, but it's been good, just like you have found. I hope your OH's ear problem soon gets sorted. It sounds like you are busy with work being done now.

The roads are shocking with the humps and potholes aren't they AnnG. The lanes round here have all the edges broken away by the bigger lorries and farm vehicles we have now as well and so you can drop off the edges if you aren't careful. The heavier EV's are wearing them too and so making making tracks in the tarmac and goodness knows what the roads will be like as the tarmac softens more in the heat. I can only carry half filled watering cans now or my back plays up, so I do some with the hose as well. It's not ideal as we are on a water meter. It's nice you got so new tops to wear though and some solar lights..