General Chat

Catie ,I am pleased your OH has got compassionate leave.I thought he may have been given it a bit sooner considering the circumstances.It is good that he can spend some 'Brothers' time,and what a great idea to make the little garden.Also I am sure you need a bit of support too seeing the job you have taken on!!

I don't ever think we had a tin bath.Maybe when I was a baby when we were in Greenock.
The place looks like a tip now with all James things gradually piling up lol.He will be gone on Sunday evening and Hannah gets back in the early hours of Sunday morning,probably with a back pack of wet towels bikinis etc.The holiday has been on a boat with about 30 people going around the islands of Croatia.I think it quite cramped on the boat,but it sounds like she has been having a great time.

I bet your £60 didn't go very far Mandy !!! Is Chelsea getting excited?I forgot how old you said she is.

Mel ,how is Mum tonight?Say hello from me please.
I hope Sheila is enjoying her time in Stratford on Avon with her friend.

Chelsea will be three Jane ,and hopefully it will be the end of her terrible two's ,my word can she sulk !!!! mind you at least she's quiet when she's sulking lol

Well i made what i thought was a good sponge ,as i turned it out of the tin there was a blooming great hole in it , i thought it had stuck to the tin ,but there was only a small piece stuck on the bottom of the tin ,so it must have been an air bubble !!
Now i've have to do another ,and i suppose we'll have to try eat this one !! LOI i'am sure we'll manage it,

I can remember being bathed in a stone sink when my mother and I lived with a friend of hers just after the war. I can remember the winter of 1946/7, and how COLD it was! and the snow was as high as a house (well, I was only 3!) I can remember my mother and stepfathers wedding in April of that year, snow had gone by then but there were awful floods, then it turned into a VERY hot summer!

Evening all
OH home and making dinner, I have just got out of the bath after a good soak. Babysat Sofia this after noon and gave her a bath , It was very tempting to climb into the bath beside her.
Though I think the water would be far to cold for me and she makes too big a splashes, I was soaked , she was good as gold and sat and played most of the time ,daughter no 1 says she has a hard time bathing Sofia as she won't sit down and wants to climb out.
I really don't know where these ideas come from !!!! she's no trouble for her gran LOL

I didn't over do the exercises this week so I don't feel to tired YET.
Was told that the course runs for 8 weeks, (I have done 3) then if I want to continue exercises I will have to use the Gym, I don't fancy that, so was thinking I will have to start swimming to keep the exercising going, not really keen on that either ,I can swim a bit but not got a lot of confidence in the water.
But if I pack in exercising all together I will stiffen up and go back to square one which I don't want to do. because I couldn't even lift Sofia it was too painful

Catie, your Memorial garden to your SIL sounds a lovely idea. some where the whole family can go and sit and reflect,

Dinner almost ready, need to set the table then after it's off to the do the weekly food shop

BBL

Hi Elizabeth,
The earliest bad weather I can remember was the snow in 1962 or 3 .Was it '62?.Dad made a sledge ,and we would hop over the neighbours back hedge into the field that was very steep.Everyone trooped through their garden to get in the field.Dad insisted that he should try the sledge out first and shot off down the hill.He was gone for a while.Then he appeared with scratches all over his face.He had ended up in the brambles at the bottom lol.It was a brilliant sledge.

Hi Everyone,

Sorry to hear about Chris's colleague Jane......I was only thinking about her the other day and wondering how she was. What a shame. I googled Dr Peter and he sounds like a very good man and a godsend to those in Cameroon. Fancy him apologising for crying......poor man must be devastated.

Catie it will be good for BIL to have his brother around for a bit and what a lovely idea for the garden that the girls will be able to help with. Hope little Mark is being good for you!

Mel, you must be very worried about your mum. Let's hope she can get her appetite and strength back.

Mandy my 'reject' cakes always got topped with jam and sliced and served as pudding with custard!!

Yes that was a very nice em Frank.

Fiona, I bet you are actually stretching further in your excercises as your back gets freer, which may also be why you ache a lot. It will all be worth it.

Yesterday after OH's interview we managed to find the Shoe museum. We spent a nice hour there looking at all the platform shoes first time around and the 'glamour' shoes!!! lol I liked the long clown shoes that belonged to Tiny Tich the clown. Lots of chinese shoes for bound feet.....didn't like those, but I did like some chinese boy's shoes that looked like 'dougal from the magic roundabout. They were really little dragons.

Today we have started edging the new border shapes with the rocks.....hard labour. Getting them levelish across the tops means lots of lifting and shaving bits of soil off and trying them again...... and again! We feel like weightlifters!! lol I also put some violas in my wall pots for by the front door.

Yes I hope Sheila manages to unwind while she is away.

I often wonder what happened to Mary. She was a great storyteller with her memories.

I remember the winter of 62 very well. We moved to a a house in a lane in the January, one of a group of half a dozen houses between 2 villages. It was very exposed with fields all around and the drifts were hedge height and spanned the lane. The cars had flattened the snow on the road surface but the paths were unwalkable. I was still at school in the city at the time and remember the bus breaking down about 3 miles from home. I remember walking home on the road with my heavy satchel and hopping into the drifts at the side when cars came by. My feet were frozen and sodden by the time I got home and there were no street lights for the quarter of a mile from the village. The roads were so slippy people couldn't even cycle on them.

Ann ,I now feel guilty I haven't been to the shoe museum and I only live a short way away.I must go sometime.
I don't think Mary is around anymore Ann.I haven't noticed her name come up on any threads.We did enjoy her childhood memories didn't we.Waiting for the next installments.
I wonder too about the Lady in Canada (can't think of her name) whose Grandaughter Bella had thyroid cancer.Do you remember she moved to Vancouver Island.I know the last time we heard from her Bella was having to have more treatment and she was only very young,about 8 or 9 I think.She used to send installments of her memories too.

Ann, I have a photo of my mum during that cold winter. The snow looks really deep and she's building a snowman with her younger sister. I think she said the snow was on the ground for months. During that time she also remembers having a chimney fire and the chaos that went with it. Luckily the fire was contained.

Jane, my OH did have time off before the funeral - just the odd few hours here and there. It was a comment made by my BIL's GP to him, that has prompted further time off. The company he works for has axed quite a number of jobs of late - so he was lucky to get it. To be honest - they weren't happy about it.

Frank and Jane.... Thank you for your emails lol

Have we seen Frank today? I don't think so.
Glad you liked the email Catie.
I am away to bed now.Chris has already gone.He went to see Jenny's Husband earlier.Apparently her funeral is to be in the little church just across from her cottage.I think it only holds about 150 people at a squeeze,and there will be at the very least 2 to 3 hundred wanting to attend!!!I daren't even think about parking.Maybe someone will open up their field .
Anyway will be back in the morning.No word from Mel.I hope her Mum is ok.
Night Night xx

Mum got up tonight and watched her soaps. Still not eating anything much though. She asked for sugar puffs this morning and a cup of tea but could'nt face it when I took it in to her. She had three malted milk biscuits a bit later and a hot choc and a cup of tea and about three glasses of water which I was pleased about. She did take her pills today but I told her not to take her water pill. Her ankles are not swollen anymore so I don't think she needed to take it. It only makes her wee a lot and I don't want her to get dehydrated.

She is very weak and can't walk much so OH put her in the wheelchair and took her in the lounge.

Jane was I right about th ewater pill??

Made Strawberry jam today too.

Mum asked for the heating to be put on today but the boiler would'nt fire up and stay on. I rang Preston our boikler man and he came sown this evening and put a new part in and did'nt charge us anything.

Morning,

It's another sunny morning here in deepest Devon.

Thanks for pm's girls.

Hope Franky Boy comes in today!

Morning Mel.
I'm not sure about the tablet.I will ask Chris,but there is a worry that if she doesn't have it there could be a build up of water which may put a strain on her heart etc.Could she change the time of day she takes the tablet so she will wee more during the day and not night time.Have you thought of getting those Buildup drinks in the cartons with straws.They have all the right nutrients in for someone who is not eating.
It is bright here too this morning.Chris is out with Chester and James has been for a desperately needed hair cut.He looks human again lol

Morning All,

Bright and sunny here today and its our wedding anniversary!! We are off out to breakfast soon, then OH is off to you know where!! Footie. The concert next week will be our anniversary treat.

Sorry your mum is still not great Mel.

Toodle pip for now......BBL

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY ANN!!
Have a great Breakfast out.

I remember 1962/3 very well indeed, I was 20 in 1963 and my boyfriend/hubby was in the Fleet Air arm and used to come up to Oxford on the train from Plymouth all through that awful winter, it once took him 10 hrs!!!and then he had to hitch the final part of the journey in a tractor!! that was New Years Eve, and he then had to go back the next morning, after very little sleep to be sure of being back to Plymouth by 9am on Monday! I think these days I'd be lucky - NOT!!! I remember going in and out from Abingdon to Oxford on the bus to work each day! getting there, and back in the evening was a nightmare, but we all did it without grumbling too!!! I was quite fun in an awful sort of way! I can remember too that the walls of my bedroom froze on the inside! My mother insisted that I wore a pair of sheepskin boots to work that had belonged to my granny years before (things lasted in those days) they were lovely and warm but NOT smart! Just think of telling a 20 year old what to wear these days and them doing it!!! I think we all did as we were told then, or perhaps we were just less assertive and stroppy!

Back from brekkie and a read of the papers......very nice too. Thank you Jane.

In that winter, if I remember, it was a very bitter wind a lot of the time too which is why there were a lot of snowdrifts. There was a lot on the news on our black and white tv showing feed and hay being dropped by helicopter for the poor stranded sheep. I can't remember dad losing any time off work then though, people just got on with it and helped push each others cars if they got stuck. I think we all wore whatever was suitable in the end, whatever it looked like. lol I loved the jack frost ferny patterns on the windows in the mornings then......we didn't have any central heating till after then so I would dress like lightning in the morning for school, a quick wash and brush of the teeth in luke warm water and dash downstairs to warm up on the Parkray.

Afternoon all
Just had lunch and OH back from Cycling so when he's showered and eaten we are off to the shops, Daughter no 2 & boyfriend not feeling so well both down with head colds achey etc, so I don't think we will see much of them .

BBL