General Chat

No pharmacist today in Boots again so they suggested taking the prescription back to the spine and then I could try another pharmacy, so i waked up to the doctors where dil works and used their pharmacy ,luckily they had all the tablets Colin needed .
But the silly thing was the couple behind me in the boots queue had been to the doctors and the doctor had sent their prescription through to boots wouldn't you think boots would have told the doctors they had no pharmacist for the day that way their queues would have been smaller .
I didn't bother to do the sane with my prescription as she said they hoped to have a pharmacist there tomorrow and I don't need my tablets for a day or two ,it would just mean more work for the girls in boots .

Phew we're in now for the afternoon it is too hot out there now ,might get some stitching done I'm making owl desk tidies for Lewis to give to his teacher and head teacher as he leaving that school and starts his new one in September.

Never mind Vera, I am getting to the age when any card, whenever received, is very welcome! We both had a chuckle and are glad we are not the only ones having these senior moments. :-) You have had a lot going on lately as well, but the post may surprise us yet! The schools round here broke up last Thursday.

Well the man didn't turn up or ring after all. :-S He did suggest Monday or Tuesday when he rang so I am wondering if he has the days mixed up. I did repeat Monday to him before I rang off though. If he just decided not to bother coming he is silly as the Mybuilder site vets people and asks for feedback from customers. We won't be here tomorrow morning anyway.

Two post offices here within half a mile of us closed a few years ago. In both cases the postmasters retired and they couldn't get anyone else to take them on. What happened with the village one is that they incorporated it within a corner of the Co-op which is useful. In a nearby village they combined the pharmacy we go to with the Post Office so that is very handy. Many have closed over recent years as they have lost a lot of business. Sale of stamps for employees' NI cards went, then self employed NI stamps, faxes, then emails came along meaning a drastic reduction in posted items, pensions, child benefit and other benefits are largely paid into bank accounts now so there are none of the books they were paid for cashing and dealing with and lots of courier services have sprung up in competition for parcel delivery. Most postmasters were/are employed as well as self employed and sell cards and stationery etc. Our Frank, bless him would remember all this. :-) I wonder if Ros is still doing her pretty garden.

Ann, my card might also be late. If so I apologise now. I had a senior moment. I sent the card early but stupidly sent it to AnnG. She has kindly agreed to keep that one for her birthday and there is another in the post to you but our one collection a day isn't till 5.15 so the card may not reach you in the morning. I hope your man turned up or at least contacted you.

Post offices are a nightmare at the moment. A few years back we had a large main post office in town which was always busy. In their wisdom the powers that be decided to close it and a corner of W H Smiths was turned into a sub PO. Now Smiths have closed and a town of about 20,000 people was left with no PO. The answer to the protests was that residents can go to the one in the area where I live, so someone living near the town centre has a wonderful choice. They can catch the very infrequent bus or walk a good mile and a half in each direction, either way it is going to take a chunk out of their day and they could have to wait an hour or more for the bus back to town just standing at a bus stop as there are no shelters or seating. The PO here anyway is one little counter in the corner of a very small McColls which has been taken over by Morrisons so we don't know if the PO bit will remain. There was such an outcry that last week a "pop-up" PO was opened in one of the empty shops in a small shopping precinct but it can be closed or moved elsewhere at any time. I sometimes wonder if the officials making the decisions live on the same planet as the rest of us.

Rant over :-) Better think about getting some lunch ready now.

yes 27 here too. The offer finished yesterday Ann which is probably why it sold out.

Hope your man arrives. I just wish they would phone if they are unable to make it.

Are your schools finished already Mel? Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk don’t break up till 22nd.. I don’t think it’s children being home causing shortages. As AnnG said it’s lack of workers and as well as the ones she mentioned I would add farm workers to pick the crops. In East Anglia there would be lots of workers from overseas, particularly Eastern Europe, coming for a few months to pick the fruit and veg etc. That isn’t happening now..

It’s 27 degrees now but no breeze at all. The iPad is telling me it feels like 29. I had to put a hat on to hang out some washing. I think the next load is finished now so I’d better get that out.

Morning All,

Slept well again, but woke up hot once and had to jettison the sheet over me. It's supposed to reach 29 degrees here today, but is 23 degrees at the moment. The man coming to quote on the drive cleaning isn't here yet, but traffic and accidents can cause holdups depending where he's heading from. I suspect he isn't going to come now as he's over half an hour late.

Never mind Mandy, I shall enjoy your card whenever it gets here and it still might be here by tomorrow. I've noticed some places here are keeping funny hours now. Some is staff sickness, others are not doing enough business to be open as many hours. My hairdresser has shifted to less morning opening and staying open later into the evening some days. It's a worry when it's big places like Boots don't always have a regular pharmacist though. People need to be able to get their medication.

I have the small loaves for me too Mel. (Nimble) OH gets through a big loaf in a week.

I should order some more of the Gin while you are getting the bargain with the sub AnnG!

I want to nip out to the Co-op (once the man has hopefully been) to get some icecream, creme fraiche and a few other things. I can put some icepacks in my little coolbag and hope they don't melt before I get home. It's only 10 minutes away by car.

I did a bit of dusting and sucked a few webs up earlier and will do some painting again this afternoon. OH was doing some work and is now shredding names and addresses off things!! There are so many extra jobs we have to do these days!

I only had one sub yesterday and that was a good one, almost the same as last week. I ordered a litre bottle of Gordons gin on offer for £21 and got two 70Cl bottles for £17.

I am not sure why the children being off should affect stock Mel. I think it is still the shortage of HTV drivers so the stuff is not coming from wholesalers, together with a high incidence of sick leave maybe at the wholesalers so nobody to load stock. The hot weather will affect availabllity of things like salad stuff, barbecue packs and beer/cider because of all the barbecues but can't think it should affect normal stuff.

Morning all,

Bright and sunny and 23 at the mo.

I have just done the asda add ons and take off's and am not dressed yet! I suppose with the children now off school for the holidays there will be lots of things out of stock. They hav'nt got my salad cream or oh's beer he likes which was on special or my small hovis wholemeal. I can't get through a large one in a week but the small one suits me fine.

Vera what a great surprise having your book published. I can't wait to see the lovely work thats been done.

Hot already out there so think I shall be staying in today.

Morning Anng ,morning all.,

Phew looks like another hot one again blue sky as far as you can see ,we did sit out yesterday in the morning first thing but came I just before lunch as it was really heating up.,I need to pop to boots for out tablets as there was no pharmacist there on sat so I couldn't get the tablets and Colin is out of one of his ,they do funny hours now as they never seem to have a regular pharmacist .

Ann I posted your card in the post office box but our post office is closed because of staff away so not sure if they will empty the box I hope they will but the post office is shut until tomorrow ,just in case you wonder where it is .

Vera sounds as if you had a lovely day with all your family and what a surprise to get your book published, looking forward to seeing it .

Mel your miniatures are lovely ,I love the little creamers ,must be very fiddly work for your fingers though .

Right boots here I come before it gers any hotter, bbl

Good morning all, had to get up before 7am as I was so hot in bed, didn't sleep too badly despite the heat but woke several times. 12 degrees here.
Not doing anything this morning but going out at 1.30 with friend for coffee.
PC is saying it is mostly cloudy, obviously in a different place to me as we have a clear blue sky at the moment.

Ann I hope the burglar alarm eventually went off and you had a quiet night in the end.
I think all our plants are suffering equally (well except mandy's who seems to have been very successful with her cues and beans etc. My cues seem to set then shrivel up. I do have two beans on the Cobra beans, that will hardly make a meal but there are more flowers on them. hope I have removed the black fly so maybe I will get a crop later on. tomatoes have struggled in the heat but I have a lot of fruit on them they look the right sized fruit for ripening but are still remaining green

Having seen photos of the beaches yesterday, it won't just be Glastonbury spreading the virus. Imagine all those queues for ice cream!

Vera, what a lovely day you had. While we are a fairly close family (My side not T's) we don't have regular get togethers. In fact some of the family hardly meet up at all. However we are all quite regularly in touch, with the cousins it is the adult generation who keep in touch so I wonder what will happen as we oldies fade away. I am the matriarch of both maternal and paternal sides of the family now.

what a lovely thing your Granddaughter did for you with the holiday boof.

It sounds like you have a great time when you get together Vera. What a lovely surprise and how exciting about your writing about your Russian trip being made into a book. It was very thoughtful wasn't it. I look forward to seeing a photo.

We have watered everything again tonight and both feel hot now. The toms had wilted again so all in all my toms are not doing well this year and neither are my cues. Now someone's burglar alarm keeps going off! I was sent outside to check if it was ours as OH is in his jimjams. It wasn't nor was it his car alarm. I think it is from one of the new houses. It keeps going off with short breaks so it sounds like the occupants are out. If they are I hope they will be back soon. OH said he hopes they haven't gone on holiday!!! :-0

Off to bed now. We could end up standing outside in our birthday suits in the early hours if we don't cool down.........or in the shower! Hope you all manage to sleep well.

26 degrees now so it’s cooled down a tad but still too hot for my liking. Never happy are we? If it’s cold we moan, if it’s hot we moan! If it’s too wet or too dry we complain.

Ann,, when we talk about family we really mean my father’s side. It’s the family descended from my paternal grandfather and his siblings so doesn’t include my rellies on my mother’s side. Of course, there are always some who can’t make it for various reasons. They may be unwell, on holiday or the date has clashed with something else but there are usually around 60 people there. Surprisingly there are no “cliques”. Everyone just seems to get on, possibly because we are always there for each other when needed but we don’t live in each other’s pockets and all have lives outside “the family”..

I did have a lovely surprise from my own immediate family yesterday. On my birthday in February I had potted up bulbs, bouquets of flowers, chocolates and wine from my kids and grandkids and a meal for 10 was organised in a restaurant near here for the first weekend in April. Then my daughter and her partner got Covid and it had to be cancelled. As I missed out on my special family meal they decided to get me another present. I had earlier written up on the computer the story of our trip to Russia in 2017 and they have had this made into a beautiful little book for me and given me 2 copies. It was the idea of eldest granddaughter who made all the arrangements with a printer and got it into a format he could use. The book is hand sewn and bound in red leather and granddaughter was asked if she wanted an ISBN for it so it could be sold or go into a library. She said that wouldn’t be necessary. Wasn’t it a lovely idea? I was so touched. I must send you a photo so you can see what it looks like.

If it doesn’t cool down soon I’ll be spending the night sitting in a bath of cold water. I hope you all manage to sleep well in spite of the heat. OH has had the hose on the garden so now the sun is going down I am going to give my tomatoes a can of water.

It's 28 degrees here now too Vera. Phew! I just fetched an Ice lolly from the garage and went through the conservatory. It was like a furnace despite all windows and the door open. I was just trying to imagine our garden with my 104 first cousins and their partners plus uncles, aunts and partners another 32. That's just them. lol. Some will have passed away, but goodness knows how many children they had. It must be lovely in the ways you describe to have such a close knit family, but I suspect often with a huge family there tends to be several groups of them that get on the best.

How lovely to see the baby Swallows leaving home Mel.I bet they will be glad to leave the hot nest today though.

One of the baby swallows is out of the nest and flying with the parents.

26 here now. still very hot out there so I am staying indoors.

It is now 28 degrees and supposed to get even hotter. I am dreading Tuesday when it is supposed to get to 32 degrees and I will be sitting in a hot hairdressers.

I hope your bites are less itchy now Mel. They can be so uncomfortable in hot weather.

You are doing well with your gin AnnG. I find Tesco are usually pretty good with their subs.

Going back to yesterday, it is difficult to describe the annual family party to other people. To us we are just an ordinary family like everyone else but we are frequently told we are unique. I suppose it is quite unusual for such an extended family of close relatives and distant cousins to all meet up regularly. There are also a number of traditions that have grown up over the years. A group of the fellas always do a song where they have put words about our family to a well known melody. Yesterday they were singing to the tune of Bachelor Boy. Another thing that has grown out of a joke event about 40 years ago is the giving of an award to one of the group who has done something particularly silly or funny, or something special in a good way during the previous year. It can seem a bit overwhelming to people who maybe have just married in to the family and come to one of these events for the first time but the children grow up with it and even normally stroppy teenagers wouldn't miss it for the world.

All that sounds peculiar when described to someone else but the upside is that such a close knit family can offer a lot of support when it's needed.

Enough about us. I've got unbearably hot sitting at the computer up under the eaves so I am now off for a cold drink and a sit by the fan for a while. .

Went back down and watched a bit more and Novak seems to have the measure of the Australian but they are well matched. Novak is a much calmer player.

I was reading in the shade on the lower patio but have come in now. It is 26 degrees and humid with it even though there is a very slight breeze. I am getting like T even when sitting down reading I am seeing things that need doing and getting frustrated because it is too hot to do it.

I caught a bit od the tennis (I don't actually watch it. But I got the impression it was not a particularly good match to watch as is often the case when One player can out hit the other all the time. He (the Australian) is a big brute isn't he?)

I bet it did too Mel and all those people will have taken it to wherever they travelled from. Cases are showing as up 38% here in the past week and as much 62% in some districts around the city and have steadily increased the past few weeks since the Jubilee. As AnnG says, not everyone will test now and there are more asymptomatic cases spreading it now more are vaccinated. The government also collect data and can see where cases are and if they are increasing from the tests they do on sewage which will have virus in it so that helps give a more accurate picture. Good idea of your OH to do some mowing and have a break from the hedge in the blistering sun, especially if he doesn't feel so steady today. Does he get bitten too? My OH rarely gets bitten, but I put it down to his funny blood that protects him against Malaria. Maybe he has a smell that doesn't appeal to the biters and stingers. When he was knocking all those wasps off me, none of them attacked him!!

Lunch was lovely and we had the rest of my chilled, alcohol free wine which was nice. OH has put the washing out and is washing the pans from lunch and I have hoovered through the bungalow and sucked up some spiders. That is it now and he will watch TV while I do more painting till it gets cooler later on. I have rooted some spearmint I want to pot up then.

It's reached 25 degrees here now...........too hot for me!

We won't know the full picture now as you don't have to report a positive test. so as people are not usually very ill with it those that caught it at Glastonbury may not have reported what seems to be a cold. And as tests are not freely available they may not even have tested.