General Chat

I had another look at some of those plugs today Mandy and ordered 2. The pictures of them look like your description, so thank you for that and hopefully they should be ok. We have the plug socket to the sky mini box in a cupboard in the bedroom and every time it needs rebooting I have to empty the cupboard to switch it off and on again, so I thought the second plug could go in there and I won't have to empty the cupboard then. We had the socket put in the cupboard so the walls weren't cluttered with sockets and wires, but didn't realise at the time we'd need to switch the box off from time to time. Those little clothes you are knitting sound lovely for the knitted pig. We might all want some woolly french knickers this winter if it's cold! :-D I'm looking forward to seeing it when you have finished knitting it. I like Bon Marche things too and our nearest branch is over 20 miles away now, but I have orded a few things online. BHS is another store I miss.

We've so many Pigeons round here I hadn't thought about it being a racing Pigeon. As you say Gwyn it does seem silly to race Pigeons between countries when Bird Flu is around.

How nice that we might hear from Frank tomorrow. Love to him too as we have all missed him.

It's going to be a small painting Mel.

Evening all,

Another nice day here and I got all my washing dry .

Ann we have the bog standard plugs with a little remote ,just plug the tele plug into the plug and press the corresponding letter or number on the remote one side to turn on and other side to turn it off .
Nice to get a bargain on the tops Ann , I'm still waiting for Bon Marche to come back into the town ,seems as they are waiting to bring the winter stock in and not start off with sale stuff ,we had a shop in the precinct it them moved down to a bigger shop then closed when they had to close a few shops so it will be nice to get it back .

That bird could have gone off course ,there was one mentioned on our local news a few weeks ago and it ended up in America.

Oh love to Frank too ,I think we've all missed him on the thread so it will be lovely to hear from him again .

I've been knitting some of the bits in my new knitting book , a little pair of shoes ,some French Knickers and a little shopper bag and now I'm knitting a dress ,I think it will be for a pig ,there's thirteen animals to choose from , the knickers were done on a circular needle as I think some of the other clothes are ,it's been a while since I knitted on a circular needle and its played my fingers up a bit as I'm doing them in double knit but have adjusted the needle size ,the pattern said 5 ply never heard of that before and its between 4ply and double knit so using a smaller needle has worked OK.


Hope Vera has enjoyed her time with her cousin and the weathers been kind to them, looks like we could have a bit of thunder and lightning later ,I thought I heard some this afternoon .

Gwyn, that pigeon could have been blown off course and got lost, poor thing.

Just spoken to Frank and he said he will try and post tomorrow and sends you all his love.

It's a worrying situation with the birds, isn't it?
I was surprised that DEFRA didn't want to check the 2 dead young gulls I found, when we came back from holiday.
After that, we had a racing pigeon corpse one day. A friend suggested that a sparrow-hawk might have attacked that and brought it down.... it had certainly been attacked by something unlike the gulls, which were whole. When I went to clear away the pigeon, I found rings on it's legs and research online showed it had come from France.... surely not a good idea to have races between countries if there is Avian flu about :-0

Looking forward to see what you paint Ann.

Lots of cases of bird flu I expect Mel. Paignton Zoo has had to close because it has cases and Paradise Park in Cornwall has had to cover the Penguin enclosure with mesh to keep the seagulls out and visitors are having to keep to disinfected paths. Dawlish has lost some of the black swans to it. They say fishermen are seeing dead gulls floating out at sea off Mousehole. I was listening to a reporter on Radio 4 in the car this morning. She lives in Penzance and was saying there are dead birds in the streets there. We had a thunderstorm with pouring rain this afternoon and were concerned about a Pigeon sitting where the old tree was while it hammered down with rain. They do sit in the tops of the trees in the rain, but not on the ground and we thought it didn't look well. It had gone last time I looked after the storm though.

That's good you managed to change the leccy over on the PC ok. It often is easier than speaking to someone nowadays.

I've bought a couple of tops on ebay. They are a make I like and appear to be end of lines being sold off cheaply so were bargains which I also like. :-)

OH has had an online interview this afternoon and is out at a meeting soon so I might get my paints out.

O gosh thats a shame Ann. I wonder what they will find when they test them?

I hasve just been trying to change the leccy into my name I was text messaged and replied on the pc and it was much better than trying to hear what a forgien person was saying. Very helpful they were too.

Morning All,

You aren't destined to have a good night's sleep are you Vera. I slept quite well, but OH was off to a business breakfast at the local council office this morning so woke me about 6.30am. He seems incapable of doing anything quietly so drawers go thud and so do doors. I must look those tunnels up as they sound interesting. It's good to hear about all these different places on here. It sounds like you had a much better day at Ramsgate and are certainly getting some walking exercise this week. I like an Italian restaurant. I hope ypu have a nice time with your cousin today.

I was on the way to a garden centre to look for Michaelmas daisies when the boiler man rang on my mobile so I couldn't answer. I tried him just now and no answer so I'll try again tonight. There were some daisies on the bargain bench but none of the deep pink ones like I used to have. No sedums that I fancied either so I came away empty handed.

I was hearing on the car radio about all the gulls that are dying from bird flu in the southwest. People in hasmat suits are collecting them for testing.

Good morning AnnG, Mel and everyone.

That must be the changeable weather that the forecasters are talking about Mel :-), but how strange to have both showing at once.

The tunnels do sound interesting, don't they Ann ? I've never been there, but maybe could visit with my girls sometime. I'd like that.
I have been to Ramsgate itself and remember looking round the harbour at many 'Little Ships' which gather periodically to commemorate the setting off from the town on their mission of mercy to rescue service personnel from Dunkirk.
I hope Vera has a good day in Deal.
We had rain overnight, but have strong sunshine now, so if it's the same for Vera, they will probably be able to look across to France, like we could on Sunday.

Morning Anng and all,

Quite bright here today too pc says 15 degrees on both the forcasts the pc one is saying cloudy and the other one has a big yellow sun on it.

Got a lot to do today and I need to wash my hair and its bin day tomorrow and I must'nt forget like I did with the library.

Good morning all, a bit grey here but brightening up with some blue sky and sunshine 14 degrees so not cold.

Vera pleased that you had a better day yesterday. I have never been to Ramsgate I think I did once go to Margate), and had never heard of the tunnels so I had to google them. How fascinating, I wonder why I have not heard of them. And how useful and a life saver they proved to be during the war as homes for all those people. I bet there are some tales to be told about life down there. The interesting thing is that they were ready before WW2 and not built because of the war. Although I suppose the thinking may have been in case of....! Which tunnel did you go in?

We had a heavy storm during the night so not a lot of sleep again. Seems to be the story of my life. The rain has held off during the day but is starting again now just as we are going to walk back to town for a meal.

As far as Margate is concerned, my aunt lived.there for many years and when she moved she sold that house and bought another for all the family to use for holidays etc so I’ve spent many happy holidays there. My daughter’s first holiday was at Margate at the ripe old age of 2 weeks. It is so sad to see the state of the High Street and other areas I knew. My aunt’s first house was in a little square just off
the High Street and those houses have all gone and the square is now a car park.

OH was ready to go out so it’s now 3 hours later. We had a much better day today at Ramsgate. It seemed quiet and peaceful although there were plenty of people about. We got to the Ramsgate Tunnels about 11 am and had coffee and cake and a wander round the display items before going on the 12 o’clock tour. The guide moved along at a rapid pace, stopping every so often to explain things. Dug originally as a sort of giant air raid shelter, many people ended up living down there if they had been bombed out of their homes and had nowhere to go. It was fascinating stuff and the tour lasted over an hour and a half. At £6 for seniors it was excellent value.

When we came out we had a nice lunch. I had a jacket potato topped with a big mound of roasted veg and some salad. Then we walked along the front and looked round the harbour area and wandered up into the town area. Just as we were passing a bus stop our bus arrived so we got on a couple of stops earlier than we had intended. Was I glad we did. At the next 2 stops the bus got packed solid with schoolchildren.

Tonight we ate at a very nice Italian restaurant that had been recommended to us. Food was good and the service excellent but it was quite pricey. I nearly had a fit when I saw the price of OH’s bottle of beer. Having had a big lunch neither of us wanted starters or desserts so it was just a main course and a drink to pay for.

Tomorrow afternoon we are going to see my cousin in Deal.

I have read all the posts but won’t comment on them at the moment. This post is getting a bit long and I am feeling tired so I am going to make a cuppa and go to bed with my book.

What a shame for Vera that so much of Margate was closed.... hardly welcoming if they want to encourage visitors. I hope today was a better day all round.
Is a bus trip to Canterbury on the schedule, I wonder?

I wonder what Liz Truss' new proposals will mean to us in reality... Time will tell.
It's not going to be an easy task getting the country back on track though.

Still unusually warm in this area, although we have had a few showers today, but no sign of the thunderstorms, which were expected... Hope it stays that way.

Your talk of timers has made me think about what we should do here, although now that daughter works from home and is sat still at her desk for much of her working day, we need some heat for much of the time. Last winter we both spent a lot of time in our sherpa pile feece jumpers, which helped a lot. She also wore fingerless gloves and cosy slipper boots, as she said it's the extremities that feel so cold and she still needs to make phone calls and type letters and e mails.

Mandy there are so many different kinds of those plugs I haven't ordered any yet. So many mention wi fi or Alexa. Did yours need to be linked to anything like that? I did manage to get on the Portrait course so that should be a laugh. I think some people may be dropping out of the courses because the price has gone up. The Landscape ones don't start for another week or two so I may still have a chance yet.

I think we are all thinking about what we use now and how to save. I was wondering if Mel will get paid more for what electric her panels produce now. :-)

Mel I bet the next spending will be on having No 10 all redecorated etc! :-D

Evening all,

I don't know where the day has gone , I've been catching up with some jobs after having the children here ,its been a nice sunny day at times a bit cloudy but nice and warm but my goodness did it rain in the night ,it woke me up about two o'clock it was teaming down .

What a shame so many places were closed Vera I hope you've had more luck today finding somewhere to visit.
Pricey ice-creams but as you say your on holiday so why not have a treat.

Mel you mentioned the Library bus the other day so I take it they have a nice new bus now after the fire with the other one, did they ever find out who did it .

Anng thats good your boiler is ok bar the sticking valve you'll be OK and ready for the winter now .
We have our heating come on about half six until about eight in the morning and it's then we usually light the wood burner ,if its really cold we have had it come on for about an hour around six at night .
Heatings off now but we have the hot water on for about an hour and a half in the morning and for about half an hour at tea time ,the hot water is just for washing hands and washing up as the shower heats the water as we use it and the washing machine heats the water too.

Oh Ann he's stocking up with his books again lol
Shame you missed out on the landscape course but Ernies been good to you again I see :-D
We use one of those plugs on the upstairs television and on the christmas tree ,I think we had a set of three ,I didn't realise you could get something like that it was son who told us about them and they have been very handy .

Afternoon All,

Just had a chuckle at the PC's weather at the bottom LH corner. It's back to 68F again with an umbrella and says 'rain off and on' like yours Mel. 'On and off' would sound better as it can't be off till it's been on can it.

Yes OH would be in both those shops like a shot! lol. He's aready said that he will miss going to the garage that was in the city as there was a good charity bookshop just down the road.

Yes hopefully Vera will have had a better day today. It's an area I don't really know at all and think we did once go to Margate, but it may have just been OH that went. I like bus trips too and enjoyed some good ones around London in the past. I think you see much more on those trips than you do in a car.

That's good your boiler is serviced now AnnG and a new valve will be fitted soon. I'm still waiting for our chap to get back to me.

Well it seems our lovely Chief Police Commissioner who was found dead 12 days after he retired did commit suicide. An Ipad was found in the garage where he was found and he'd researched methods in the early hours of the same morning. Apparently he was anxious about his future and was in touch with his doctor and nurses about his mental health, but told everyone he wasn't having suicidal thoughts.. The article said it was his decision to retire at age 55, but I thought they had to retire at that age, but maybe it was optional like with teachers. I know my cousin's husband finished at that age years ago. He was full of energy and wanting to improve things for everyone, such a waste of a really good man.

After my success with a sale on ebay I have tried something else! It would be good to get rid of a few things I no longer want. Amazon have sent me a £5 off £20 offer so I must see if there is something on there that I need.

I managed to drag myself out to do the walk this morning and took some old bread for the ducks. There seem so many now that the youngsters are as big as their parents. I saw a Squirrel too and there were some acorns on the path as well as conkers and ash keys and a few apples off one of the trees. Not a bad home for a Squirrel with the corn on the cob ri[pening in 2 fields as well.

I don't think I have ever been so underwhelmed by a new PM. and yes, why all the cars?

I was actually just enjoying seeing London from above.

Yes spending all our money.