General Chat

Fantastic morning here! Cleaned Merlin's field and long reined him round the block. OH cutting the hedge at the back of the house this am, a job that has to be done between the end of August and the end of Feb/middle of March because of nesting birds. Might clean the Waggon this afternoon - have to see, it's filthy dirty and will certainly need pressure washing!!! :-(

John & Carolyn are back from Tenerife, So you can guess where the girls are "SHOPPING" Not that we need much. But they are happy being out. John rang earlier and said "book a table at the Chinese" so I have done that, waiting now for them to confirm the booking.

Liz, It must be lovely to get out and walk Merlin on a day like today. Don't overdo things, there's another day tomorrow.

Mel, the "CONKERS" seemed to have done the trick here. The only ones around are those very light ones with hardly any body but very long legs, that seem to hang from corners. Ros is always getting the Dyso# out, and sucking them up.

Jane should have a nice journey down to Stratford. I wonder if they will stop for lunch on the way. It shouldn't take long to get there either.

How's things up north Fiona, any snow today ?? Any more news about your daughter getting another job ??

No gill, where has she got too ?? How's your OHs ankle now ?? How is Sandra still hoping for snow. lol

I am all showered and shaved, and should really be in the garden clearing the boarders. But, I don't like to be out there on my own, in case I tumble over and can't get up.

Just saw a programme where a woman of 83 had a fall in her house and laid there for over 24 hours. She didn't phone anyone, as she didn't want to be any trouble. BLESS HER. !! She had no food or drink, and only phoned 999 when she got so cold.

Afternoon all

Lovely sunshine today, you'd think it was summer if it wasn't so cold.

Hope you have a lovely time away Jane. Safe journey there and back.

Glad to hear your car is now sorted Mandy. Did they find out anything off the CCTV footage. I hope they catch who ever did it so it doesn't happen again. Nice to hear Lewis doesn't have tummy trouble anymore.

How lovely to re-cover the chair Maureen, it's always nice to recycle things when you can and using the same material as your curtains will make the chair look lovely. I'd love to see a picture when it's done.

Loved the emails you sent Frank. Sandra liked the snow one and thought you had built them all...bless her <3 They were really good. I loved the Thomas Kinkade one, I have a few puzzles by him, but to see the water moving in the emails was lovely.

My mum is feeling much better now, I've been looking after her for a few days to make sure she didn't collapse again. My sister came to see her yesterday so that was nice. I couldn't go yesterday as I had to go to the doctors to have my wrist drained and although it's a bit sore and bruised today I'm glad to say there is no more swelling which is great. The doctor said it might swell up again so I've got to keep taking the strong anti-inflammatory's he gave me for another 10 days.
OH's ankle is on the mend to, so that's good. He had it strapped up for a few days which helped and his boss keeps asking if he's ok and not to overdo things at work, which I think has also helped.

We did have some bad news yesterday. Our boiler isn't working properly, it's ok for hot water but if you put the heating on the pressure goes up so much that water just pours out of it. The plumber came to see it and said we need a new one....Can't afford that, so we're just using it for hot water and hope it doesn't get to cold with having no heating. Something else to save up for.

OH said he's going to get a second opinion, the boiler is only 7 years old so should be able to be fixed, he thinks the plumber just wanted us to pay for a new boiler.

Going to rest my hand now, it's quite sore today so I don't want to over do it and make it worse, the doctor told me to take it easy for a few days, so best do as I'm told :-D :-D :-D.

Afternoon all,

Lovely and sunny here too .

Frank i thought about doing something in the garden too but the wind is a bit on the chilly side so i decided against it.
I have got the washing out and theres a good blow so they won't be long getting dry.

Jane and Chris should have a nice drive to Stratford in the sun shine.

Yes no Gill for couple of days now,hope her mums ok and not poorly again..

No Frank no more news on the car vandals ,we're just hoping they don't come through and see the mirrors replaced and have another go !!

Oh you are about Gill, just seen your post ,what devil about your boiler, they are not cheap things to replace are they, a good idea to get some more prices .
Hope the hand soon feels better.

Gill, I have just read your trouble with the boiler. You can contact the manufacture who should be able to send an engineer to repair it or you can do what I did. As the boiler was under 10 years old I took out an insurance which covered all repairs for 1 year. I had to pay for one part. The heat exchanger which was £147.00 but everything else was covered by the insurance. They completely rebuilt my boiler at no cost other than the premium £295.00 and have since replaced the thermostats on the boiler and in the room. Usual cost £ 142.00. Worth you looking into the policy. To replace my boiler was going to be £1750.00

Still home alone, I don't know what they find to do !!! :-D :-D

Mandy, I just popped down the garden, and YES it's blooming cold, Brrrrr so glad I stayed indoors.

Many years ago Ros took up upholstering She covered an old THREE PIECE SUITE and a Chaise lounge Which I bough from a house clearance. She has recovered all our dining room chairs in the passed and done lots of work for other people. She's such a clever old stick ;-) ;-) ;-)

Looking forward to my Chinese tonight <3 <3 <3

I was tempted to get in the garden today but have a feeling it's colder than it looks out.

Have a good time in Stratford Jane, hope you enjoy Oppenheimer, at least it will be an experience.

Glad you are up and running again Mandy, I would be totally lost without the car, although I do get the bus into Harrow occasionally but then have to be careful what I buy as it has to be carried back on the bus.

No word from Gill for a little while hope all is well. It is all official with son's house now, the move will be happening next Friday

Oh Maureen, I can see before long, you will be just down the motorway from me. Where is your son moving to, ?? Is in Bedford or a village location ?? Do you think you will make the move sometime in the future.

I suppose our Jane will be sat in front of a roaring fire having afternoon tea in the hotel now. Is it tonight she goes to the Theatre.??

I have just bought a load (SIX LENGTHS) of various colours/patterns material for Ros on Ebay She will cut it up for her patchwork/children's covers etc. Got to keep her out of mischief <3 <3 <3

Will have to ring the Chinese again, they haven't confirmed my booking for tonight.

Starting to cloud up now, but the sun is still very bright in the west.

We,ve had no braodband all afternoon. I was just typing a message when oh came out and said thats no good we hav'nt got any connection.

It has just come back on so here I am.

I can't remember what I was posting now!!

Nice to know Gill is ok and her mum is better and oh's ankle is easier. Tendons take a long while to get better. Tell him to be carefull Gill as we don't want him doing any further damage.

O yes and Gill get some other people to look at your boiler too and don't take the first person you have asked as gospel as I am sure there is someone who can fix it for you without having to buy a new one. as Frank said they are so expensive now and it is only 7 years old.

Oh got so fed up he went and had a lie down on the bed i went in to tell him it was back on and he was fast asleep........bless.

Frank, I'm really jealous, I could just go for a chinese tonight instead of my healthy salad, but I did have fajitas last night and chocolate cake so I'd better be good today.

Son's house I think is Bedford itself or just on the fringes it's only about five minutes from my eldest daughter, she is very close to the embankment and the town centre itself is walking distance for her, I might end up there, who knows, but I'm such an old stick in the mud, I've been in this house for more than 33 years, and haven't moved further than a few miles from where I was born in Ealing, as you can tell, I don't like change.

Mandy I have sent you a photo of the revamped chair, if anyone else would like to see my newly decorated bedroom I'll forward a photo.

I wonder what took your broadband off Mel ?

We have seen lots of new green boxes being put up round the town ,son says it's all to do with faster broadband ,i don't know when it will be up and running or how much difference it will make .

Hope you managed to get your table booked Frank ,enjoy your meal.

Maureen , your bedroom looks a similar colour to the colour we have ,it looks a treat ,the chair has turned out well to , it was good idea using the material left from the curtains when you shortened them .
Hubby has painted some old chairs that were his parents ,he painted them in Antique White they turned out quite well and i bought some material for the seats ,it was an end of line material and cost less than £2 and there was enough to cover all four seats .

I think we will be up and down looking out the window every time we hear a lump this week end ,i hope there's no repeat of the trouble we had last Saturday .

Please may I see the revamped chair also? I want to see Mandy's bedroom too please?

Don't know why the broadband went off but it happened to my neighbour too. I rang her to see if it was just us.

Had roast stuffed chicken with pork and lemon stuffing and parmenter pots carrots and long brocc for dinner and very nice it was too.

Hope Frank managed to get booked at the chinese tonight.

Afternoon All,

It's been lovely and sunny here today too, but a bit chilly. There was no heating at class today which was fine by me as I was plenty warm enough with my cardie on. The others kept their coats on till a heater was found, but then looked at me in disbelief taking my cardie off!! lol.

That's good you are 'mobile' again Mandy. You really miss it when you can't pop out when you want to which I find makes you want to go out all the more!! Hopefully your car won't be touched again. It's obvious they weren't wanting the mirrors, so won't be coming back to steal the new ones.

Well, the lovely quilts she's made are a real credit to Ros Frank. She's very talented. I love the one with hot air balloons on it. You have a much better show of snowdrops than we have.....especially after OH pulled a lot of them up when I asked him to thin out the grape hyacinths near them. I thought it was you that needed keeping out of mischief? ;-)

I had a ganglion on my foot operated on Gill and now I have one on the other foot in the same place on top. The doc attempted to drain that one and it did eventually go down but it still comes back a bit at times. They reckon that even surgery isn't always successful, yet they can just go on their own sometimes. I had one on the top of my wrist many years ago and that just went on it's own. I hope yours is less sore now that it's been drained. Hope your mum is feeling ok now too and that your hubby will manage to ride his bike ok.

Oh Maureen it must be difficult to know what to do. I expect it is best to be sure your son settles and is happy there first though, although your daughter already being there will help. Yes, may I see a pic of your chair and bedroom colour please. :-) I bet your chair looks nice and smart now with the shabby chic look and new covering. I've re-covered some dining chairs with a leathercloth in the past and once did an old piano stool.

We enjoyed The Marigold Hotel film today, but I didn't notice I'd spilled some of my peanut butter cup icecream all down my top. We called to get some milk on the way home and luckily I spotted it as I got out of the car to go in the shop and put my scarf on so it hung over it. Why don't men think to tell you about these things?? :-S

We couldn't get on the internet this morning either Mel. OH wasn't happy as he knew he had emails to reply to. It was back on this afternoon when we got home. We have those green boxes appearing too Mandy, but I think our broadband provider charges more for faster broadband. Yes it would be nice to see a pic of your new decor too.

Off to bed now and to watch some telly.........night all xx :-S

Morning all and evening Kim,

Iv'e had one of Franks nights. Could I go to sleep?, no not for the life of me..............got up at 4.44am went back to bed and could hear my heart beating in my ears. Oh got up just as it was getting light and I was still awake.

Have just dressed and have my cuppa here on the desk. I feel like a wet week..........

Not as bright as yesterday either in fact it is dull and grey but it is dry at least.

I won't say GOOD MORNING, as it's peeing with rain and quite chilly.

Mel, I didn't have the best of nights either. I put it down to too much food. How's this lot sound. STARTERS. Steamed Mussels in Black bean sauce, salt and pepper king prawns, salt and pepper chicken wings, BBQ spare ribs, seaweed, prawn toast vegetable spring rolls. Middle dish Chrispy Duck, and pancakes, I then had Crabmeat and sweet corn soup, followed by a main dish. THREE PINTS and half bottle of RED, Was stuffed to the gills, and had to have my Gavis## before bed. Was up three times in the night, and awake for hours. I to feel like a wet week.

Maureen I know the Embankment in Bedford very well. I had an office in Grave Road, just off Goldington Road, and would spend a lot of lunchtimes on the Embankment watching the rowers and having my lunch.

Gill have you managed to speak with your boiler people yet. I think that should be your first move.

Lets hope it stays "all clear from those vandals" Mandy. You should try wiring the car to the MAINS AT NIGHT. That would give them a SHOCK if they come back. ONLY JOKING !!!!

West Ham on Tele. at lunchtime today, so will be off with Tony about 12.30.

Hope Jane enjoyed her theatre trip last night. She will have a different journey home than she had going yesterday.

Heavens Frank, where do you put all that food and drink!!!! Neither of us could eat/drink a third of that even on a good day!!! No wonder you felt so full!
Very dull morning here, but not cold. Family due this afternoon, so better look out Ludo and Happy Famillies!!

Afternoon All,

That's just what I thought Liz!! Just the food Frank ate in that meal would normally be 3 day's worth of eating for me too. :-S. He's lucky he can get away with it and still do his trousers up this morning!! lol.

It must be nice playing those games with the children. I used to love playing ludo as a child and it is far better for them to be 'engaged' with people doing that sometimes than always be playing computer games. I do like your pic of Merlin in his field.....a picture of horsey contentment!

That can't be very nice Mel. I know it isn't pleasant sometimes when you lie differently and can a bit of whooshing in your ears. A few of us seem to have these sleepless nights. It's so annoying because you can't tell when you go to bed, otherwise I wouldn't bother going and do a few jobs instead. :-) I slept well last night, but never drop straight off like some folk do. I'm usually awake for an hour or two first. :-S

It's dull here, but OH is off to a match shortly and I think I shall pop to Lutterworth. There's a little shop there that sells lots of different buttons and there are a couple of charity shops that are worth a look. One has knitting needles, patterns and other craft things at times. I even saw a carding brush there once that you tease wool fleece with ready for spinning! You never know what will turn up!

We enjoyed another Lucy Worsely prog this morning.......she seems to be all over TV at the moment. This series is about the history of rooms in the house and she was doing the bathroom. Apparently it was french prostitutes that made the bidet fashionable.......they liked to be fresh for the next customer! :-0 I never realised that in 1951 only 37% of houses had a bathroom and a lot of the rich in big country houses were the last to have them. Apparently they worried about plumbing failures damaging their valuable things. I suppose it wasn't considered urgent when you had a maid to lug your buckets of water to fill your hip bath either. I know when I was aged 4 the bungalow my parents moved to in 1951 had a bathroom and remember dad modernising it with a new suite. Grandma's house didn't have one though. Something I never thought about before........I expect flush toilets meant the end of the newspaper squares on the nail too.

Jane's had nice weather for her break hasn't she. :-)

Yes Ann it is nice to play 'old fashioned ' games, and so much better than the computer or TV. TV is kept firmly OFF when they're here. Mind you we have the usual quarrelling over who's cheating, and things being unfair. It takes me back to when we played the same games (same cards!!) when my two were young, even to when I was their age (again same cards!!) playing board and card games with my parents. Poor Ed is only 7, so keeping up with the rest of us can be difficult for him, (Granny gives a helping hand now and again!!) so he does on occasion, stretch the rules!!!!
Cake ready to come out of the oven, so better get on!!

I get that heart beating sound in my ear too Mel, it's very off putting, luckily it's only in one ear so I can turn and sleep the other way.

That boiler is far too new to be replaced Gill, I would expect it to last at least 10 years my last one lasted 25 years but then like everything else nothing is made to last these days.

Will e.mail a pic, I would like to see your bedroom too Mandy, I'm not nosey but like to look in peoples houses when passing if they have the front door open, it just gives me ideas for when I decorate.

Aaah Frank, a man after my own heart, I could quite easily have eaten all that food too, my dad always said my eyes were bigger than my belly, I don't eat cos I'm hungry, I eat cos I like food.

Good to hear you enjoyed the film Ann, I'm going tomorrow. As you say with such great actors it should be good but it's whether it lives up to the first one. Which reminds me I didn't think Broadchurch was as good as the first series, or maybe because they hyped it up so much, the ending just seemed too conveniently finished off.

I'm home :-D.I never got chance to say good morning yesterday.
What a beautiful day it was Sun all the way right through until the evening.Our room wasn't ready when we arrived so we went for a coffee and a mosey in the shops.(Well I had a mosey) Chris went back to the Hotel.I bought 4 tops.(2 went back this morning lol).Then we had an early dinner at a nice Italian place before the theatre....Oh my goodness..It was 3 hours.Well the play was 2hrs 50 minutes with a 20 minute interval.
We needed that break to stretch our legs and backs and have a pre ordered G&T.
Once again the seating where we were was not comfortable :-S.
The play it self was actually brilliant even though the first half seemed a bit like a Science lesson lol all about Atoms ,Equations etc.(way beyond me ) .But as I got into it I was enthralled.How the main actor (Oppenheimer) remembered all his words I will never know.He deserves an award.He was just amazing. So now I know how to build my own atomic bomb!!!..
This morning we had a lovely breakfast .Chris went to get a paper and I went to take back my 2 tops.Bought a new nightie then saw a nice Butchers.So popped in there and got some bits.The journey home was a dream.Not one hold up at all :-D
Our room in the Hotel was fine but I felt I was walking on a tilt all the time lol It was in an old part ,so had the uneven flooring.We had the most awkward stairs to get to the room.Narrow winding ones.I'm glad no-one could see us going up .It was quite a sight :-S :-S

Gill what a worry with your boiler !!!!.I certainly would get someone else in to have a look.If it is only 7 years old it really shouldn't need replacing.

Frank what a meal that was you had!!!! A real feast :-D

Maureen I would love to see your chair. :-D.All you talented people put me to shame.

The wind seems to be really picking up here and it is quite dark now.We had a bit of heavy drizzle earlier.
Hannah has gone out now .We have seen her for about an hour lol.This morning she said she was helping her friends sister move out (just split from a real sh**) with a 9 week old baby and a 2 year old back to her Mums.....I feel so sorry for her Mum.She still has an 18year old son at home and she has terrible arthritis (debilitating ) and now has to cope with all this. :-0 :-0. It isn't the first time her daughter has moved back home.But now it is with another baby!!!!
I have the biggest fattest Wood Pidgeon sitting in the Bird Bath .It looks ridiculous :-D

Must go and unpack my bag now .BBL