General Chat

Afternoon All,

It's like a Spring day here with the bright sunshine, but there's still frost in the shade. 5 degrees on the PC.

Ray used to be an eco activist Vera, which is a turn off straightaway for me! It was a shame they lost the farm but I got the impression they saw it as an opportunity to become wanderers rather than homeless. Otherwise you'd think their children would have offered them temporary lodgings rather than see them sleep rough. My OH is the same Vera when it comes to mundane tasks needing doing. He needs to see the doc about the eczema in his ears which the nurse's treatment months ago hasn't touched, so I've been chivviing him. Yesterday he suggested I could ring and make him an appointment???? He had PAs at work and he's done his darndest to turn me into his PA since he retired.

Oh Mel, your OH is going to have to start looking after himself better isn't he and try to get himself more well. He needs a chart of his medications and times. It's a good idea to make use of the caravan if you won't be having visitors stay there again. It will be quite cosy for him too with teamaking facilities on hand! You sound nice and warm in your fleece outfit.

Thanks for your offer of The WW with the Teddy Bear outfit AnnG. I tried again to add it to my shopping, but it seems Asda have stopped the availability of magazines with your online groceries since the New Year, so I ordered the copy with the pattern from another site and it should be here soon. I am grateful though and would have snapped your hand off if I hadn't managed to order one! :-)

Your son is doing well losing so much weight Mandy. I bet he's chuffed at the improvement it has made with his diabetes too and it would be great if he could come off the tablets altogether. Thanks for the mention of the Watercolour prog, I'd not seen it so have recorded it now! :-) I hope the new statins will suit you much better than the others you had.

We now have 3 more big bags between us for the charity shop and I am going through more things in the bedroom this afternoon. I am beginning to think all these tops will outlive me there are so many! :-0 Some I've had since we moved here over 20 years ago though. I hate throwing good things out......but there is a limit!

OH has a face to face meeting this afternoon so I should be able to get on with things much faster,

Mel yes in anticipation of them coming out soon.

O I see you managed to change your logo Anng. I like the hellibore.

Morning Vera Anng and all,

everythings white here this morning but the suns out and its melting the frost where it reaches. Pc says degrees and a sun with a red ! on it.

Iv'e put on my new fleece trousers this morning and my big thick teddy fleece jumper and I feel like the Michelin Man. Remember him ???

Sun shows up all the dirty windows so I think thats whats on the cards for today and the bathroom which did'nt get done yesterday thats if oh dos'nt think of something else for me to do.

good morning all PC tells me it is 1 degree and sunny however when I look out of the window it is thick fog. when I hover over the temperature on the pc it comes up with a box which seems to inform me it is coming from Trowbridge in wiltshire which is 60 miles from here. Can't go by that then.

I suppose I had better clear the airing cupboard of all the stuff aired from my wash on Monday and yesterday ready for the next lot. and then dust downstairs as that has not been done since before I went away. Still a couple of admin jobs left on the list. Friend calling in for a chat at 1.30 but otherwise nothing planned.

Morning all

I haven’t been outside but it looks cold and bright.

It sounds to me as though you had a busy day yesterday Mel. The doctor seems to have been very thorough with checking your OH over. Try and get him to do as she said and take all his tablets. Men can be so stubborn sometimes.

I slept a bit better again last night. I haven’t got much planned for today. Our friends M & V are calling in this afternoon and I need to sort out my Sainsbury order for delivery on Saturday but there’s nothing else that has to be done so an easy day today.

Gosh you've all done loads today and I thought I was good to have a nice shower and do my toenails while oh was at the docs for blood results. It seems he was there a long while and she gave him a good look over and told him he is chronicly ill. he came home with diffenent statins and folic acid tabs and a list as long as your arm of the things he has to do taking his pills. He said he would never remember so she wrote it all out for him in big bold letters. She also put him on a double dose of his diabetic pill.

He has arther and she asked him how many painkillers he takes in a year and he told her 2 as he took two last week. He won't take them if he dos'nt has to so he just suffers. Silly old fool.

When he got home it was after lunchtime so I did that after reading all his page full of instrutions.

Then a big parcel arrived and he got that out and started to put it together in the kitchen and I had to keep picking up the alan keys he kept dropping as he can't bend down. I got the magnet out so I did'nt have to bend down. I had bought himj a new one for Christmas one with a light onthe end. So now I have another work table in the kitchen which will be going up the caravan and he is going to make a workshop up there as he has tools that need a dryer place than the old workshop. At least the table in now in the lounge.

Then we had to go up the caravan and measure to see where the tables are going to go. He wanted to take the little bedroom wall down but I said he woiuld be better to put the tables along where the windows are so he has a nice light to work n. He will take out the seating area and the second double bed which is also a seat so he has a nice lot of room. We are keeping the kitchen area and if he does take the little bedroom down he will put the single bed in the double bedroom. I think its only been slept on three times. The double bed in that room is his futon with a proper mattress on it so that could be folded up too.

SAll in all thats been my day then not long ago someone rang about having the solar panels checked. There have been two firms since we had them put in and both went bust now this one wants £190 a year for servicing them. He told them they are working ok and we are not lewtting anyone in as we are in lockdown and have been for the last two years. They have to go up in the loft and outside and in the kitchen so he put them off as they wanted to come tomorrow at 3.30pm. and thats been my day when I planned to clean both bathrooms and hoover the rest of the house. Now I feel shattered and still have to cook dinner.

Its been a lovely sunny day here with clear blue skies and not much in the way of a breeze and my wahing went on the line early and is still as wet as when it went out and the sun was hsining on it this morning for quite a while till it went behind the bungalow. Never did get the second wash in. :-|

I did find it a bit confusing at first with it starting as a prequel and then partly the actual and then the sequel. I found it a good read but I do remember thinking that, because the first was a success this one was maybe for the cash.

Just lost my post :-( so this will be an abbreviated one.

It’s odd AnnG but I can’t remember why I thought her selfish, but it was the word that came in to my head when I was responding to your post. It’s not that long ago that I read it so you would think I would remember. I’ve just looked up what I said on the book thread and there I said that, as it was an interesting, true story, I felt guilty that I found Ray a bit irritating which isn’t quite as strong as selfish. I might have to reread it to see if I still think the same and why.

Maybe he couldn’t remember where the toilet roll holder went. I had the same trouble when daughter and SiL were here. He (I think) left an empty roll on the window sill. He also left his empty beer bottles outside the cupboard with the recycling box in, plus wine and tonic bottles. Strange I had no problem putting stuff in the cirrect bins at theirs and their system is different to ours.

I had left quite a gap between books so didn’t find it repetitive. I am trying to think why you felt she was selfish. Do you mean her lack or seeming lack of concern for Moth’s problems. I suppose the writing was a bit self indulgent.

I think the problem with the bridges, and there is another one in our immediate area almost finished after about 18 months of road closures, is that all built around the same time they all suffer the same problems at once.

It's a blue sky, sunshiney sort of day but brrr, it's cold. We didn't get the fog we expected but it's forecast again for tonight.

I thought the roadworks round here were bad enough but it sounds as though it is worse round your way AnnG. I should think it is chaotic and wouldn't want to have to drive through your area. Round here several roads are closed because they are being dug up for utilities or repairs. Our town centre is constantly gridlocked these days. It's an old market town with fairly narrow streets. "They" have been talking about a bypass since the 1970s but there seems to be no signs of anything happening in that direction. In the meantime more and more housing estates are being built round the town, with all the extra traffic that brings, but there is no extra infrastructure,so the centre is constantly clogged up.

It's good you have got your scan results Ann. Sometimes the waiting for results is the worst thing. I hope you can get your blood tests quickly.

AnnG I have read the two Raynor Wynn books. In fact, I think you put me on to the Salt Path on the book thread. They were certainly interesting and different and some of her philosophy made me think but I read the second one immediately after the first and I think it was too much in one go. I found it very repetitive and by the end I was thinking that she was quite selfish.

You have been busy this morning Mandy and got a lot done. I really am slacking at the moment. My only excuse is this dratted back which is making things difficult. I did get the ironing done though I didn't have a lot. Then I stupidly asked OH if he fancied anything particular for dinner tonight. The answer was that the stir fry I did a couple of days ago was so tasty that he wouldn't mind another one. So I then spent some time just standing at the worktop chopping loads of veg which didn't help the back. Oh, and I am apparently the secretary-cum-dogsbody in this household and have been busy with those chores. HE mentioned that we both were due eye tests as last January the optician said he wanted to see us both in one year. Did HE do anything about it? Of course not. I went online and booked appointments for both of us. Then I phoned the friend with the broken foot and the friend whose OH is in hospital, although they are friends of both of us. Then I texted another friend asking for a phone number that she had already given him and HE has lost. When I finish the post I will write a birthday card to HIS great-niece. I think the final straw was when I went into the bathroom and picked up an empty loo roll that HE had put on the floor NEXT TO THE WASTE BIN. He isn't lazy, far from it, but he can't seem to see beyond the end of his nose. Moan over!

I haven't received the test kit that I hadn't ordered anyway but now OH has had an email thanking him for his non-existent order which will apparently arrive in 3 days. What on earth is going on? I had wondered if it is a scam but I can't see how. I've checked the email address it's coming from, there's no request for personal details or money or strange links. I suspect someone has accidentally programmed a glitch into the database.

Well, if I am going to get great-niece's card in today's post I had better get it written. I think I'll send OH down to the post box with it. :-)

Oh I see extra work because of the corrosion.

I mentioned to Ann about the teddies outfit its sweet isn't it she said she should get her copy with her shopping .

Has Inara got a Teddy you could knit her the set Anng .

Well I decided I would go and get some shopping so just back having a cuppa ,it was nice and quiet because it was nearly school pick up time .

Son was pleased yesterday he had his appointment with the diabetic nurse and he's now in remission they have halved his tablets and he will finish them altogether in March if his next lot of blood tests come back OK.
He's also lost just over three stone now so he was very pleased considering we've just had Christmas, we kept saying to him you've lost weight but he didn't think he had ,I knew he had when he tried on a hoodie we bought him for Christmas as I bought it one size smaller and it fitted him perfectly.

Mandy the problem is that the two jobs were planned well apart I think but the first bridge was due to finish last March when a big corrosion problem was found when they started digging around so it has been closed for a further year, should open in March now. However our complaint is that they decided not to delay the closure of the second bridge until the other opens because (they say) it is already dangerous. (who knows??)

Annx am I dreaming this. were you looking for the pattern for the knitted teddy's outfit in W Weekly? If you were I have a copy you can have,

Afternoon all,

Very frosty here first thing but the Suns got rid of the frost temperature is only 1 degree.

I haven't seen those programmes but they sound interesting, I did notice in next week's TV book there's Watercolour challenge on channel 5 at four o'clock Monday to Friday, Fern Britain is the host ,I thought irs something you might want to record Ann.

Ann thats good you have your scan results back and now you know what might have caused that pain you had ,more blood tests though and I suppose they will decide what needs doing after that .

Anng fancy them doing the two bridges together you would have thought they wouldn't have started the second until the first was done ,it sounds as if its causing a right old gridlock ,I bet there's lots that are late for school .

I have had a busy morning ,I've cleaned the glass both sides in the double doors between the lounge and conservatory the full glass door both sides in the kitchen ,the glass shelf in the hall and three mirrors ,I've washed the mat by the back door and also put a load of towels in the wash ,I've done the veg ready for tonight to go with a nice Toad in the hole and nipped outside and wiped the window sills on the Conservatory windows and the kitchen window .

Just tried to change my avatar and it wouldn't work so we are stuck with Christmas bauble for now. will try again later.

for those of you who have read the Salt path. I have just read Raynor Winns Prequel/sequel called The wild Silence. I really enjoyed it and found some of it thought provoking. I really liked the following paragraph:-

"At what age do we stop feeling the softness of rain on our faces and start worrying about getting wet stop marveling at the wonder of a badger rooting through the grass in the twilight stop listening to the sounds carried on the wind? Or when we hear the voice of a young activist on the radio and doubt its validity. When do we make the switch from being part of the natural world to being an observer with an assumed right to control it?"

Morning All,

I was up before 8.00am this morning. It was a lovely sunrise with a frost and is bright sunshine now, but minus 1 degree.

Those progs are really good aren't they Mel with lots of interesting info. I was interested to see the roman mosaic floor they found in the city. I recognised where they were digging as it was waste land after demolishing buildings and I used a carpark that was set up there when I was at work. That mosaic floor was huge and what a fancy brass key handle they found, When they built the office I last worked at, (soon to be converted into flats!) which was about 100yds from where they were digging last night, they found mosaic floor and artifacts and the office had a big wallboard displaying the finds. The city jewellers where I got my first engagement ring had a roman mosaic floor in the basement. I would love to have seen it, but was too young and shy to ask then!

It sounds like traffic chaos where you are AnnG. I wonder how long the work will take. We can never believe how long some of these jobs take these days.

The surgery has rung with my scan results. Nothing obvious to cause the pain I had but they have picked up a small what appears to be a cyst on an adrenal gland. More blood tests next.

Better go and get lunch sorted now........a chicken traybake I think. OH is on a zoom meeting.

good morning all, up but not dressed. Hard frost and PC is saying 1 degree. Sunny though so nice and bright which is good as we were forecast fog.

Glad I am not having to go out, one because it is frosty and two because the village is gridlocked. we now have two bridges being repaired one towards the end of a two year road closure and the second just started a one year closure ( as the first one did originally), Between them they box us in and now apparently just up the road from here on the main crossroads/traffic lights there is an accident so traffic can't turn left to Cheltenham (the way all traffic is going during all the roadworks. Oh and roadworks are due to start on another smaller road for a week on the 18th. Highways seem to want to repair all our bridges and roads at once. These roads are on the school run to six schools.

Morning all,

A bright sunny frosty morning here today and the pc has got a funny page looking thing where the temp usualy is, it looks like a newspaper. I put the cursor on it and it said mostly sunny 0 degrees and the sun has a red exclamation mark on it.

Funny you should say about Digging For Britian as I have been watching those. The one I watched last night had Castlehill in Leicester on it and in the other bit that fossil of the Ichthyosaurus is just amazing.

The sun is shining through the lounge window and through the lounge glass doors right on my pc and showing all the dust up!! Need to get my dusters out and clean the screen.

That brought back memories Vera..........THE NIT COMB! It had such fine teeth it did pull the tangles in your hair. Mum used to put a white sheet of paper down for the ordeal and any nits or their eggs would show up on it. I never had them either, but all through my schooldays girls were not allowed to leave long hair loose. Ponytails were allowed and I had plaits.

Vera sorry your poor back is still giving you trouble and keeping you awake too. I see you made a trip to the charity shop!

If anyone is interested, the Digging for Britain prog BBC 2 at 8.00pm is about the largest Ichthyosaurus ever found in the uk at Rutland Water not too far from here.

I’ve been wondering about the EcoEgg myself and wondering if it would get things like tea towels really clean. They are apparently non-biological. I’ve read quite a lot of reviews and haven’t seen any that say you need to take them out of the machine before rinsing. That won’t suit me if that’s the case. I have a vague recollection of Sharron talking about them on one of her threads. I think she bought some. I’ll have to see if I can find the thread. It was a long while ago.

I only ever use fabric conditioner for the occasional jumper washed by hand. I do dry my towels in the tumble dryer and I have a couple of dryer balls that I think came from Lakeland. Mine are rubber and are years old but seem quite effective still. The only problem is they bang around in the machine so are quite noisy.

I also have a shampoo bar that my daughter made a couple of years ago. I haven’t used it because it has such a lovely smell that I keep it in a cupboard in the bathroom and get a waft of perfume every time I go to the cupboard. Daughter said it washed her hair fine but she ended up with her hair all tangled and after a couple of goes had to use conditioner with it. It reminded me of when I was a little girl and my mother used to wash my hair with a bar of black coal tar soap. I think it was to prevent lice. Then she would tug a brush through all the tangles, accompanied with my squeals as she nearly scalped me. She would then finish off with a very thorough go through my hair with the nit comb. Gosh, I hated hair wash day, but I never, ever had lice.

I had a really bad night only getting about 2 hours sleep and my back has been really painful all day. This morning I decided that I would feel better with some fresh air so we went to town. I was looking forward to it as I haven’t been outside the door for nearly 2 weeks. Just as we parked the rain started. It was that fine,heavy rain that soaks you in minutes so I didn’t enjoy my little trip out at all. We did get a few jobs done. We took 4 big bags to the charity shop, I bought some birthday cards and some fresh veg and bread and OH went to the art shop and got some strong hanging cord for the back of some pictures where the old cords had worn and slackened.

OH has been very good and has tested daily for Covid for 7 days and all his results were negative so we think he can stop now. He’s got in the habit of testing as soon as he is up so it wouldn’t surprise me at all to find he does it automatically tomorrow.

I think it’s time for a late afternoon cup of tea so I’m off to put the kettle on. Enjoy what’s left of the day everyone.