General Chat

You've had a busy day AnnG. I am relieved that you are OK :-)

Good evening. Sorry I thought I had posted when I got up. I was busy sorting things out for the garden interests meeting this afternoon. We had nine of us,they all wrapped up well as window and doors were open. Luckily the sun was shining so it was not as cold as it could be.

My geraniums have been going for at least six years, they are in the greenhouse, I just take the brown leaves off then leave them until they can come out when I will cut them back.

I haven't looked at my geraniums for a couple of weeks. Last time I looked the big plants seemed to be fine but some of the cuttings didn't look too happy. I must have a look at them again tomorrow.

I should just think your OH was frozen Ann. It won't be much use everyone avoiding Covid if they all catch pneumonia. It was really cold here today although it looked bright. There was a bitter wind. That was a nice gift from your friend Terry. He sounds a very kind person.

We'll want to see a photo of Lewis's Easter hat when you have finished it please Mandy. I was wondering about AnnG as well. She is usually one of the first on here in the morning and doesn't usually miss a day altogether. I hope she is OK.

OH went to the opticians this morning. One eye is much like last time but the other one has deteriorated quite a bit so new glasses needed again. MORE EXPENSE as Frank used to say. I have to go on Monday and I know mine will have to be changed again. It's not so much the frames as the lenses that are so expensive. We both have to get tested once a year and it's a heck of an expense every time.

We also went to the jeweller and after more dithering I eventually chose a pair of earrings and OH paid a deposit. I am going to have a smallish drop earring with a tiny diamond at the ear lobe, then a gold drop with a ruby at the end. I hope they look as good on me as they do in the catalogue.

On the way back home my phone pinged with a text from my friend M. She was collecting the friend who recently lost her husband and taking her back to her house for an afternoon cuppa and wanted me to join them which I did. The new widow has been getting more forgetful over the last couple of years but her husband's death seems to have tipped her over the edge into dementia. I had to tell her the name of her dil and she asked us the same question 3 times in 10 minutes and told us the same story several times. She told us her age which was 10 years younger than she really is. It just all seems so sad but at least I was able to make her laugh a few times, particularly with my story (much exaggerated) about trying to wash and dry my hair the way the hairdresser does and ending up looking like a demented elf.

I'd better quickly make a couple of changes to my Sainsbury order which is coming tomorrow and then I am going to read the magazine which came today. It's from the Old Girls' Association of my school. I say Old Girls but in fact the school became mixed several years ago so now there are quite a few Old Boys. I always enjoy reading it though as the years roll by fewer and fewer of my contemporaries appear in it, except in the obituaries.

I bought oh some of thoise gloves years ago. I would have thought G would have wrapped up a bit warmer going to these schools for meetings as we all know they are going to open windows and doors. He must wear his long johns next time.

If your geraniums are still in pots you could wrap some bubble round the pots.

Is your new bid feeder green> I had one with leaves on a few years ago but it rusted badly and oh bought me a new one. I used to have it outside the kitchen window but the birds made the window so dirty we hav'nt put one there now.

I did some craft this afternoon but not a lot. Its all taking quite a while.

Oh caught me coming out of the bathroom after my shower this morning as I had forgotten to take my clothes in there to put on. I only had my nicks on and he commented " O I have a lot more of you for my money than I had". Cheeky b****r I told him so did I and he gives me a lot more ironing to do with his huge clothes.

Thanks Mel. I have lots of boxes from online shopping I've kept for now so I will do that tomorrow. I took the dead leaves off today and must have 7-8 big plants and there are 6 cuttings that are at the back of the greenhouse on a bench. They look ok and the greenhouse has a 6 foot fence 3 feet from that end of the greenhouse so it is more sheltered. I see the tips of yours are the same too Mandy so it sounds as if ours should be ok.

My new birdfeeder station arrived tonight and I only ordered it last night. I had a £5 online voucher gift from Amazon and this feeder I had looked at before had 20% off as well so I couldn't resist! The old one is very rusty now. This one is nice with metal leaves on it with hanging places and a mesh tray for food as well.

OH has just got home from his meeting and says he has never been so cold in all his life! (The windows and doors are all being kept open at the schools to keep the virus load down). I told him he should have his long johns on he wears for footie matches. When I showed him the fingerless gloves Mandy had made the other day, he went and fetched some he has that I got him years ago that have fingers down to the first knuckle. He could have taken those with him as you can still write with them on. I think he will do things differently next time! lol. :-)

Evening all,

I seemed to gave been on the go all day but I can't see what I've done , it been sunny but cold and Colin was out pressure washing again so I kept in out if the spray.

Ann that was a nice of your piano friend sending you the t shirt .
I looked at my Geraniums the other day and took all the dead leaves and flowers off ,mine have gone a bit brown on the tips and I wondered if I should cut it off ,I'll leave them now Mel has said too.

Where's Anng today hope she's OK not like her not to post .

Vera you'll have to send us a photo of your new earrings when you've got them .

I have my next project, when I spoke to dil she said they had had a paper from the school Lewis needs an Easter hat, Bit early I thought but it will give me time to think what I can make to go on it for him ,dil had ordered him a boater hat as they have a nice flat top to work with .

Ann if you put them in a big cardboard box in the greenhouse thye should be ok or put the bubble on the glass of the greenhouse. If you cover them with polythene they will get mould I have'nt watered mine in the shed for months now I just keep taking off leaves that have gone brown. If the stems still look good don't worry about utting the tops off just leave them till it is much warmer and you can cut them back then.

How many have you got?

That's the plants in and the acer raised and positioned better so I'll see how that works. I had to half empty 3 medium pots to top it up enough as the compost had sunk right down, but all the pots could all do with a bit of fresh stuff mixing in as some have root tangles in them, so we will get some next time we go to the garden centre. I went in the greenhouse after and it was nice and warm. Some advice about my geraniums please. They mostly look fine, but the tips of the shoots on some have died back an inch or so. I'm thinking the tips need cutting back to prevent fungal growth, but what has caused it and does it happen to yours? It seems to have happened more on the tips that are near the glass so I wondered if it is too cold and I should put some bubble wrap over them near the glass, or is it just that the tips are more tender?

It was nice to lay in for an hour this morning and not have to be up early.

I twisted my worst knee a bit the other day climbing up to do the windows, but this morning it seemed ok again and I managed 200 pedals without it hurting! We've nothing on tomorrow so if it's dry I will see if OH fancies a short walk through the spinney to the canal and lock in the morning. It's near where I lived before moving here a couple ofmiles away.

It's good your tooth socket is healing nicely AnnG and that the plate is comfy. We don't show much tooth when we smile either so my single gap at the side of the front hardly shows. I have plenty of gaps in my back teeth now though.

Once lunch has gone down a bit I will go out and plant the stripey grass after topping up the pot a bit and raising the acer up a few inches.

How exciting going to choose your final earrings Vera. Sapphire or ruby will look lovely. I wear all white gold or silver now. I am so pasty with light blue eyes and with most of my hair white, yellow gold looks just a bit too yellow on me now. I still like rose gold though although I don't have any.

The sun's out again so I'm off to do the planting before I lose the will!

A parcel has arrived from my pianist friend Terry in London. He emails me occasionally and he asked if I would like one of the T shirts another friend gets made for him and which he sells. No charge for it, what a kind person he is!

I'll forward them to her now Mel.

Morning all,

Brightish this mroning but then again I was up late again this morning. I do wish oh would wake me but he just lets me sleep. I think he does it so he can have time on his own with the blasted tv blaring out. He's watching the winter olympics at the mo.


I had an email from Gwyn this morning and I forgot to put her on the email with the pics yesterday. Could I please ask one of you to forward them to her as I deleted them from the desktop and if I try to forward them it onlky puts on picture on it for some reason.

Nothing planned for today but I have a pile of ironing I have been ignoring trying to get some time to do my craft but I think its about to fall over in the uti room so it must need doing and I am not sure if I have any cleaned and ironed t shirts for oh so they will be first on the list.

Lovely garden pictures Mel. The snowdrops look wonderful but all the flowers and rose hips are looking good. I thought I saw a red admiral in our garden the other day but it disappeared so quickly I thought I had imagined it but now I’m wondering if it was there. It’s very early.

I like chaffinches but we only occasionally get one in the garden.

We tend to be late bookers for holidays and haven’t even thought about what we will do this year but if prices are going up that much I reckon we’ll be having a day at Clacton. After our disastrous holiday in 2019 we planned to go back to Vienna when OH was well enough but then the pandemic happened so we haven’t got there yet but I am still wary about going abroad to a hotel. We’ll have to think about that.

I managed to spend a short while in the garden and just tidied up one tiny corner but I was pleased to get anything done. My back is aching a bit now but it’s just an ache, not a real pain. I’m going to try to either do a little in the garden each day or clean another cupboard, depending on the weather.

OH has got an optician’s appointment in the morning and then in the afternoon we are going to the jeweller to finally decide on my birthday present earrings. The jeweller rang OH with prices and I am now down to a choice of 2 styles. I have decided on yellow gold rather than white gold as I am quite pale, even a bit sallow, and I think yellow gold will be warmer looking near the face and I am still tossing up between sapphire or ruby. I’m quite excited about it, mostly because my OH is always generous but doesn’t usually go in for romantic gestures like this. I had to smile when I was telling my son on the phone. He said he had been wondering whether to ring his Dad and tell him not to buy me something like a vacuum cleaner!

Great photos Mel love the butterfly in the snowdrops.

It's a long time since I saw a Chaffinch here and they are such pretty birds. OH wants the car in a metallic grey AnnG. His last 4 cars have all been metallic red, but we saw an electric one in metallic grey last year and he really liked it. He did like the white one we saw this morning as well, but as I pointed out 'was white a good colour for a man who never gets his car washed?'

Mel what lovely photos of your flowers and rosehips! My word where did that Red Admiral butterfly come from.....he's out a bit early. What a great drift of Snowdrops you have........absolutely beautiful to see!!

To be honest even people I mention it to here think it was cheap. I think I have said it is not an N.hS dentist but sort of half and half but I am sure I paid more for the previous denture. And also T had one with about three teeth on but molars and that was a lot dearer. Still I am not complaining. It is getting more comfortable and there is no pain from the tooth socket. Still mainly eating soft food, lots of mashed potato and Ambrisia creamed rice. I had forgotten how I liked that.

Just now I spotted a chaffinch in the garden, that is a first for a long time.

Oh yes Mel those were the days of the big costume dramas. Don’t forget The Forsyth Saga, how we looked forward to that one and I loved upstairs downstairs.

I read a lot of the outlander books but gave up as it went on to too many large books

Your garden is doing well Mel.

Ann it will be good to get your or rather OH’s new car. What colour?
It seems to me that we suffered by losing our holidays in the pandemic and now we are expected to pay so much more for the same holidays. Daughter booked both our weeks early and I don’t think it was a great increase. Both of them can be cancelled at no cost before a certain date but as they are both self catering we will go unless we are locked down.

From the Martin Lewis site and I must admit I didn't know you couldn't use up your old ones!

"Warning: Stamps that say '1st' or '2nd' class are going to become unusable from 31 January 2023"

If you try to use these stamps – which impacts all those with the Queen's head on them that say '1st' or '2nd' class, or any other price, or they're Christmas-themed – after this cut-off date they will not be valid and you will have to pay a surcharge. Though Royal Mail is yet to confirm what this surcharge is or how it will work in practice.

"Special" commemorative stamps, such as the Doctor Who collection, are the only exception, as these are not being phased out and can continue to be used after 31 January 2023.

Royal Mail will let you 'swap out' these stamps for free
You will, however, be able to exchange current stamps for barcoded ones for free under Royal Mail's new 'Swap Out' scheme, which opens on 31 March 2022 and will run until 31 March 2023.

To do this, you just need to fill in a 'Swap Out' form from its website (the page isn't live yet), or call it, or get one from a local delivery office (not a post office though). You'll then have to post back the stamps you want to swap to a Freepost address.
So we need to use them before then or swap them for the new barcoded ones by sending them with a form.

Afternoon All,

Slept well and had an early start to Nuneaton to have a second look at the car OH wants just to be sure. As we drove down the Longshoot past the big houses neither of us could remember which house was Larry Grayson's. I remember the turnout for his funeral as I was working at the Nuneaton office at the time. He's settled on the car now and it looks like Milton Keynes have the best deal. They will disinfect and deliver so I'm waiting for them to message me with the the cost for doing it! Otherwise we could collect it as it's only 44 miles away. It's a 4 months+ delivery, so I'm going to see if I can persuade OH to get the aircon fixed on his current car or we will swelter in a few months time.

I looked online at where we usually go for a week in Cornwall and was shocked to see the price was nearly double what we paid last year for the same week in May!! We wouldn't book anything till nearer the time anyway, but we think we may go somewhere different if we do manage to get away.

It sounds like your tooth is doing fine AnnG and wearing the denture at night wasn't a problem. That was very cheap wasn't it. I think I paid more for my 1 tooth years ago. When I sort mine out with extra teeth I either want a metal one (which OH has) or one of the rubber dentures that are supposed to be very comfortable. They are both expensive though and a few years ago I was quoted over £700. I hung on as I have 2 teeth that aren't in good shape and you can't add teeth to either the metal or rubber plates. My plastic one moved and got wedged tight between the teeth either side once and I nearly had to get the dentist to remove it. Yours sounds like a good fit though if you don't need polygrip as I always needed to use some.

Mel your garden sounds as if it is springing into life with the bulbs that are showing flowers now. I must check my tete a tete in a pot behind the shed!

Vera your 'studenty' grand daughter could do well as a hairdresser these days. Mine is single, drives a Porsche and is buying her own house. With courses and events she attends in her job, she gets to go to Italy and fashion events in London all paid for by her employer. It's a bit different to becoming an astrophysicist though!

OH loves his salad cream Mandy and even puts it on mashed potato!

Anng yes I watch the good K and call th emidwife and so does Mandy.

I love Shetland Vera and am always pleased when we get a new series of that. One thing I will say is that when we used to get good series they were much longer than they are now, I mean at the time of watching you would get perhaps 10 episodes and now you only seem to get 6.

For years I watched Outlander on our Prime but they had to stop filming in the pandemic and we are now going to get that back in March. It seems years since I have seen one of those.

I can remember when we had long running old fashioned series like The Pallisers and the Duchess of Duke Street and upstairs Downstairs but nothing like that now.

I'm pleased your teeth seem comfortable this morning and that you managed to get them in and out ok. Another day nearer to it all healing up.

We had a lovely sunny morning so I cleaned the big girls out and just as I finished and was coming back to the house to do lunch it started that horrid fine rain and its still doing it now.

I had a little walk around the garden this morning too to see what was coming out if anything. The camelia up the end of the border has lots of buds on it just showing colour. The New Dawn rose that was flowering has been bashed by the rain but it is still trying to flower. The snowdrops are well out now when the sun shines and there are quite a few yellow crocus and the occasonal mauve one here and there. My tiny iris reticulata I had in a pot behind the shed are out so they have come up onto the patio so I can enjoiy them with a pot full of tete e tete and the ones in the front tubs have a few flowers out on them. So quite a show for a February day.

I'm glad that all seems to be going well with your tooth extraction and denture AnnG. That was an excellent price you paid. At my dentist you would have paid £200 for the extraction with extra for things like X-Rays and at least £900 for the denture. They are fairly normal prices round here. It would be cheaper for me to drive to Glos. and go to your dentist! Several local friends are without a dentist as they can't afford private fees and can't get an NHS dentist. I have just googled NHS dentists around our town and 4 came up. One was 35 miles away and I know that another one has closed completely. The other two both do private and NHS work but aren't taking any new NHS patients. I don't know what people are supposed to do.

Of all the TV programmes mentioned the only one I watch is Call the Midwife and I usually watch that on iPlayer. I used to like Morse. I don't watch Vera as I think the books are better. The same author wrote the Shetland books and I do like to watch Shetland when it's on.

I haven't done very much this morning except sort out my Sainsbury order for delivery on Friday. Aren't the prices going up a lot? It's not one or two bits but practically everything. I only have a little bit of ironing to do so I am going to get that done before lunch and then, if I can brave the cold wind, I am going to try and do a bit in the garden while it's still dry.

Have a good day whatever you are doing.

OK I have had breakfast, cleaned my teeth, removed and replaced denture with no trouble and rinsed with salt water taken one paracetamol but no pain so far anyway so fingers crossed all is well.
I have only watched Vera once and was not that keen preferred Midsummer Murders, Lewis and Morse, Endeaver etc.

Anybody watch Good Karma hospital? I don't watch Holby or Casualty but I like good K and Call the Midwife, both on sunday.