General Chat

good morning all. a bit grey here 7 degrees and dry so far. getting a lift at 10.00 going to Winchcombe, a short walk before lunch with, I think 9 of us in a U3a group.

Oh dear Vera not the best idea to subject your back to the cold wind. I hope that doesn’t stop you sleeping tonight. At least you got something done in the garden , but I am sure you are asking yourself if it was worth it.
I think the uncovered plants should be ok as it is supposed to be a lot warmer from Wednesday.

I notice the sedums have not slowed down with the fluctuations in temperature. They are growing very well both in the pots and in the ground. I think I might look for a couple more when I next get to a garden centre.

I did very little in the garden today just cut back a small amount of the winter flowering clematis.

Sounds a fiddly job Ann, the new bits for the blinds, better wait until you are in the mood.

Good afternoon/evening (when does afternoon turn into evening?)

It was beautifully sunny this morning but, boy, that wind was gusty and cold. This afternoon it's been cloudy with a few odd showers. I seem to be in a rush again - I don't know where the days are going lately. I didn't sleep much at all last night and sat downstairs from 2-3.30 am before dozing off till just after 5 am. I've felt a bit zombie like all day but have made myself get on. We've had a nice Mother's Day meal cooked by.......mother, in other words me. We had roast chicken with all the trimmings and veg followed by strawberry cheesecake. I also managed to get outside and tidy up 2 troughs of all last year's dead material now that new growth is coming through for this year. With the cold nights we are having I hope I haven't done it too early as the old, dead stuff does help protect the new growth from frosts etc. The trouble is these troughs are down the side of the house which is like a wind tunnel and the cold wind blowing round me hasn't done my back any good and has also made me stiffen up so I am now going to lay on the bed with a wheat bag and a hot water bottle to try and ease it a bit.

I have read all your interesting posts. I'll try and post tomorrow but don't worry if I don't. We have another very busy day, including organising raffle prizes and tea and biscuits for a club meeting in the evening.

Afternoon All,

Slept well but couldn't get back to sleep after 5.30am, It's quite sunny, but still cold and it was so windy OH took the car to the village shop instead of walking.

HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY to all mothers! :-) I could hear outdoor chat up the close earlier, presumably family bearing gifts and flowers! Which reminds me that on Friday as we were travelling along a lane, I saw a woman picking an armful of the daffodils the council had planted on a grass verge at the edge of a road with a field behind. I suspect she was stealing them for Mothers' day as it was countryside with no houses near so someone hadn't planted them in front of their house.

That was good you had a trip out Mandy and had some some nice gifts from the family including choccies.....yum!

The man was riding an ordinary bike AnnG, but it's a downhill slope to the island and he was pedalling fast as well. OH's comment about an accident waiting to happen was similar to yours. Yes the Hebe is bigger than I expected it to grow as I thought a dwarf one would be nice in the island bed. It started to take over so a few years ago and I cut all the sides so it is like a little multi stemmed tree now. I ought to dig it out really as bits keep dieing off, but the small birds love hiding in it, especially when it rains. Yes don't do much in the garden if you have that walk tomorrow to be fit for. The time can run away with you in the garden before you know it. I was going to do a bit more outside, but it started raining by the time I'd done the veg for our lamb shank lunch.

I can't face doing the blind chains for a day or two as there are 5 blinds to do altogether and I want to measure them roughly first as I suspect the replacement chain they've sent may not be enough. Both of my OH's would leave a fiddly job like this to me.

Mel our conservatory has one of those polycarbonate roofs and the Pigeons and Magpies make a clatter as does the hail. I hope you haven't got another leak as well.

I have another problem now. As we don't use the lounge hole in the wall gas fire (it's for emergences if the radiator pump breaks or there's a long power cut), during lockdown I used a black polythene delivery bag to block off the chimney slot to stop heat in the room escaping up the chimney, as nothing I saw online would fit. I could always see the edge of the black plastic that reminded me it was there. Well that was till today when I couldn't! I felt all round and looked and couldn't see any sign of it and you can't see up the flue. There is a backplate behind the artificial coals and the air must go up the flue from behind that further back I think. I can't imagine how the rolled up bag could work it's way over the baffle and vanish though as there's hardly any space. I might have to get Riley to see if he can find it next time he services the boiler if it doesn't come to light as it could cause a fire if the gas fire was lit. It can't have come out of the top of the flue as it has a cowl over it. I wish I'd tied a cord to it now.

Food order arrived a few minutes ago in the pouring rain with our salads for tomorrow and a red cabbage out of stock. The cabbage was there though, but wasn't charged for when I checked the order. Now the driver's gone it's stopped raining. :-S I've mopped the wet off the porch and lounge floor and was glad there's no carpet as he didn't wipe his feet on the doormat and his feet left muddy prints. It's all put away now so that's good. Time for a COT.

Pleased that you had a morning out Mandy and that you were spoilt with presents.

I had cards from y two and some money to spend from daughter. Son doesn't usually but anything except a card for Mothers day, but he does send flowers all year round on different days. Like his Father he doesn't like these commercialised days.

Afternoon all,

It's 11 degrees here and we've had sunshine and quite a strong wind for most of the morning ,its now clouded over and I think we should have rain later .
We went to sons this morning and I had some nice mothers day presents, a glass vase with some artificial lilac stems in, a box of chocolates and a little ceramic heart ,it was nice to get out for a while.

Mel when a bird gets on that polycarbonate roofing it sounds like they have hobnail boots on ,they have a gazebo next door with that polycarbonate roof and we hear the birds on that when we sit out .

I,m 10 degrees now and the suns back out.

sunstill shining but raining as well 10degrees. Very, very windy but the wind is not as cold as it was the previous few days. It is very gusty today.

Been raining here. Whats it like at yours now? 9 degrees

I think he was too excited to have 12 girls in the garden. The man who owns the big house and runs a shoot told me at the big breakfast that I have all his pheasents in my garden. I told him he can have them back anytime he likes and as they were eating all my bird food and messing on my raod where I feed the birds. Pheasent muck is dreaful if you get it on your boots and walk it in and wipe your boots on the doormat.

I expect Mandy's son and family will be spoiling her on Mother's day after all the cakes she makes for thhem.

Mel he must have been an over weight pheasant or drunk.

Morning girls,

Its 8 degrees here this morning and cloudy so Anng please send some sunshine.

I was telling you about my water bill I got yesterday. Its for £116.70 and the leaflet thing that comes with it says a family of 5 don't use that much water in two months. It says mydaily average consumption is 655.2L. For one person it says 161L. I am so hoping I hav'nt got another leak.

Anng the roof over the patio is not polythene but plastic wavey sheet in hard plastic. Yes I have had pheasents and pigeons on it before and even Willie Wagtail make a noise when he walks on it but this pheasent landed so hard on it it sounded like something had crashed over in the wind.

Hope you all slept well and that all the aches and pains are easin g now and that Mandy has a better day today.

Good morning all sunny and 6 degrees here so a warmer start than yesterday, although we had a nice day yesterday after the cold start.


Nothing planned for today. Hoping my stiff leg is better (it seems ok so far) and I can get out in the garden for a few minutes. Don't want to overdo it though as I am out with a group tomorrow which entails a short (1 mile) walk then lunch in Winchcombe.

At least you made a starte on the garden Ann. that Hebe sounds really big, I didn't know they grew to that size.
Those electric bikes are frightening as they can be adjusted to reach really fast speeds like cars, so dangerous, especially when ridden by idiots. So he survived that time, one day his luck will run out.

Mel good job the pheasant didn't split the poythene roof. I suppose it looked solid to him, has nothing landed on it before?
When you lose posts is it while you are typing or when you go to save it?
I guess you forgot to copy and paste

re paying for letter that they don't need to send.

Lost it all again.................................................. :-(

Afternoon All,

Yes it's been cold here too but no wind thank goodness. While I went to the shop OH went for a walk and then went in the garden and spent a few minutes clearing and cutting the Michaelmas daisy and fuschia stalks. It spurred me on, so when he'd gone to footie I donned my old gardening coat and got my secateurs and went outside with a humper. It was quite depressing seeing the neglect and either I'm weaker or my secateurs need sharpening, but it was really hard to cut some of the stems on a big Hebe in one of the island beds. It was bought as a dwarf variety but it's so tall I can't see over the top of it now. I did some weeding of the gravel and a couple of pots too and filled the humper, so with what OH did the garden bin is half full. I noticed a couple of terracotta pots I grow different mints in and herbs have shattered with the frost and will have to check if they can go in the rubbish bin or whether to smash some pieces to go in the bottom of other pots.

I saw something stupid when I came back from the shop and was waiting with other cars in the three lanes at the traffic lights at an island. A youth going far too fast on a bike whizzed up to the lights between me and the cars waiting to my right, didn't even slow down and rode through the red lights and straight on at the island and did the same between the traffic waiting at red lights the other side of the island. He wasn't even wearing a helmet either.

Nice to hear from you Mandy and I was wondering how you were getting on. It's good to not do too much till you feel a bit better, just take your time and it will still get done.

I'm glad the fairy's legs stayed stuck AnnG. Knowing my luck I would have either put them on the wrong sides or one pointing backwards so she didn't know whether she was coming or going. Today I noticed my ladybird stones in the garden need a lick of paint. Even tiny tins cost a lot now so I might try my acrylic art paint and then varnish them.

It's not easy to know what happens with payments at times, but the idea is that they pass the bank charges they will have to pay themselves on card transactions to the customer paying by card.

I must remember to have enough cash with me in case my hairdresser starts doing that Vera as, like you, I don't want banking on my mobile. either. With tradesmen at home I can do a bank transfer on my laptop, but don't want to take that with me everywhere! I hope your neighbour's granddaughter will not need dialysis and hope she continues the small improvement. That was shocking the delivery driver doing that! Your parcel could have been stolen as well.

Mel did you get your inhaler ok? We had your hail today, but not here as it was a few miles away where OH was watching his footie match. That water bill does sound a bit steep for two months and only one person. We only seem to get post one day a week now and it is always Saturday lately.

OH got his appointment letter for the hospital eventually. He received it a month after the date on the letter and long after he attended the appointment.

Good to see Vera is ok and has just been busy.

Its 8 degrees here sunny and bright with blue sky and a few white fluffy clouds like you Anng. It feels cold inside though.

I just had the fright of my life sitting here I heard a great crash and thopuight whats up now. Went out the back door and on the plastic roof over the patio was a large male pheasent strutting around on the roof. I gave him the fright of HIS life when I put the broom up there and he chucked up and flew over onto the front lawn. Hope he'l think twice about going up there again.

Now Mandy you take thing a little at a time while you're still not back to normal. I heard somewhere that older people should do 15 minuets of jobs at a time. So pace yourself.

BIL called in this morning but did'nt stay long he had a look at my water bill as I thought it was a bit steep for one person as it was £116.35 for 1st Jan to the 27th Feb. It says my daily consumtion is 655.2L This is well over the consumtion of a house with 5 people in it according to there letter. Why do all these letters come on a Saturday when you can't ring up till Monday? I hope iv'e not got another leak and that the meter was read wrong. The last bill was £70 from Sept to December. I think BIL said he saw someone reading the meter when he came once, he said the man was bailing the hole out as it always fills up with water.

I was reading something on facebook where somebody had lovingly resores their hallway which has 130 year old tiles in a beautiful pattern. That set me thinking to when we lived in our first bungalow 1960-1967. No beautiful tiles to restore but the wide front doorstep that was under cover was red.tiles, as was the wide lounge windowsill inside. I used to clean both with red cardianl polish. anybody else use that in the past. the tiles lokked lovely after cleaning.

It has been sunny here all day blue sky and fluffy white clouds which seem almost static for ages. 12 degrees so not cold. Tesco has just been so that is all put away.

Vera I am pleased that their Granddaughter is making progress, fingers crossed that she wont need dialysis.

My chropodist is a bit naughty and I am sure it is illegal, he charges £27. if I pay cash £30. If I pay by card.

I do think it can be swings and roundabouts though as businesses could end up losing customers if the stop taking cards. Probably not the hairdresser though as cutomers are already loyal to them.

The fairy is sitting in the conservatory looking like butter wouldn't melt.

Pity you were rained off but still the thought was there.

Good afternoon all

I didn’t get on the thread yesterday as it was a very hectic day but I am OK, thank you AnnG. I am still laughing at your legless fairy and wondering what she will get up to now she’s been reunited with her legs

Good to see you post Mandy. Just take it slow and steady and don’t worry if jobs don’t get done.

Have you fitted your new plastic chain yet Annx? It sounds a bit of a fiddly job but you are good with your hands

Yesterday I fitted in some shopping with a trip to the hairdressers. She had a notice up to say that she would no longer accept cheques or credit cards because of the high banking charges. All the small traders are going this way now. I noticed a couple of ladies pay by bank transfer with their phones but I won’t put banking on my phone so I will have to pay by cash.

Don’t you despair of delivery drivers? There was a knock at the door mid afternoon yesterday and there was a neighbour from across the Close with a parcel for me. She had been in hospital and was discharged yesterday. When she got home she found a parcel for me left on her doorstep. It had a clear label printed with my correct address and both her house and mine has a clearly visible house number on the wall so why couldn’t the driver manage to knock at the right door? It was just by chance that my neighbour was discharged yesterday, otherwise the parcel could have sat there for days.

Then my friend M came with news of her granddaughter who is fractionally better but is on morphine for the pain and was moved into a dialysis unit just in case she needed to be rapidly hooked up to a machine.

I think the final straw yesterday was a call from the sister of an old and very dear friend. We knew he was ill and just receiving palliative care but he can no longer cope in his own bungalow and is being moved to a specialist nursing home for the short time he has left. It just seems to be one bit of bad news after another at the moment.

I was restless last night though I did get some sleep but I felt as though I just couldn’t be bothered to do anything this morning. So I gave myself a talking to and made myself get on with something. I decided to do the small bit of ironing that’s been hanging around all week and then.made a short list of garden jobs that needed doing. It was chilly but sunny so I put on a warm jacket, got out the tools and a kneeler and made a start. I did one small job, the sun went in and it started raining and that turned to sleet so I had to come in again. Looks like even the weather is against me :-(

Time now for an afternoon cuppa I think. Sun has just put his hat on again. I hope it’s sunny wherever you are.

Just little and often Mandy. Besides anything else I think maybe your confidence in yourself will need re-building up. Take care and good to see you.

Mel, I think giving her legs back might be cause for more mischief, you neverknow where you are with these fairies. ;-)