General Chat

Hello everyone,

A lovely bright day here today with a warm breeze., - such a change after yesterday.

This pneumonia business is so frustrating. The mind is willing, but the body not so able, so I will just have to be patient and 'listen to my body' and not expect too much yet.
Unfortunately, when I went back for the 2nd X-Ray, as planned, it was not clear and a blood test showed 'markers' for infection were down, but not satifactory, so I have another course of a different antibiotics to take :-|

Today, my elder daughter came and picked me up and we drove to the coast. I can't walk far yet, so we spent a lovely time just sitting on a bench watching the sea, a cormorant and taking in the sea air.
It was a lovely change.

Not much energy to do anything, which is annoying, but feeling brighter in myself instead of sleeping much of the day, so I'm grateful for small signs of progress :-)

Sunshine and showers today. Some of the showers have been heavy but in between it’s quite pleasant, though still very breezy. I’ve had a good hoover round downstairs and done the ironing as well as some odd jobs. I had a Sainsbury delivery booked for 10 am to 11 am and he was here before 10. Then our handyman turned up to look at our job and talk through with OH the best way to do it. They keep talking things through but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of action. The painter can’t start until this job is done and at this rate we’ll be lucky to get the house painted this year. All the problems stem from the cheapskate of a builder not paying out for the right materials for the job. He initially built just 3 or 4 bungalows in our Close, then when he was able to buy a bit more land he built another bungalow and our house. As he initially built the house for himself we thought he might have done a good job on it but no such luck.

It’s good your car is fixed Annx but what a price. At least you won’t have to worry about water getting in every time it rains.

I know what you mean about the duvets Mel. I’m tall but I still struggle with them. As we sleep separately and both have a king sized bed I have 2 to deal with and sometimes when I’m changing them a few choice words get said. Stu may not be making an excuse. He might have man-flu, in other words a bit of a sniffle. Lots of people say they’ve got flu when they are just a bit under the weather. I’ve only had real flu twice in my life, once in my teens and once 5 or 6 years ago and each time I was really ill for about 3 weeks and quite frail for about another 3 weeks so I hope Stu hasn’t really got flu.

That sounds quite a bracing walk this morning AnnG but nice to be by the sea and get the fresh air.

It’s good that your grandchildren are happy to eat fruit Mandy. Learning these good habits when they are young will help them to be healthy when they’re older. I hope young Lewis enjoys the water melon. They’re very refreshing, particularly when it’s hot.

If you are looking in Gwyn I hope you are starting to feel much better after your nasty bout of pneumonia.

OH’s eye is much better and he was able to drive a short distance today. The post came at lunchtime and he had 2 more cards. One was only posted yesterday but the other one was posted on 20th May in Essex, so not too far away. Prices go up and the service goes down with Royal Mail.

Dinner sounds nice Mandy can I come please?

Second lot of washing nearly on the line so thats another job out of the way. Had lunch a nice granary rolls with ham nd watercress and a couple of beetroot and a small hula hoops puft. a glass of water and my pills. I did sow some more french bean seeds this morning and split a primrose which I think maybe the double one as I could'nt read the label and it had another orchid in it which is now in a pot with another one. they are coming up all over the place in various pots. They disappear in the winter and come again next year. They were brought down with me from suffolk in pond plants I that came from my pet shop and I love them. Some have plain green leaves and others have lovely dark spot on their leaves.

Have you findished that rabbit yet Mandy? We're waiting to see a pic of it.

Afternoon all,

Wet when we got up first thing but as the morning has gone on its got brighter and we've had some lovely warm sunshine ,lots of very grey clouds but I can see blue sky too.

Anng yes it seems a lot of fruit but there's five of them and son and dil so it soon goes and they snack on fruit instead of sweets ,we've always brought them lots of fruit and they like making a fruit salad and even cooking with some .
Sounds as if you had a nice walk ,was the water very choppy with the wind .

Mel perhaps Stuart doesn't want to be tied to having a meal each week with the lighter evenings perhaps he wants to do other things better to be honest though and just say do you mind if we give it a miss this week and catch up another week .

Ann as my dad would say good job you saved up when you was young girl lol at least you won't get the water in now ,if the water had got to the electrics it could have cost a lot more .

We manged to hang the suncatcher on the gazebo and the lights on the fence but haven't done much else this morning ,Colins just looking at the back of his eyelids and I might do my knitting for a while .
Meal tonight is an easy one jacket potatoes with tuna and salad .

Could be I suppose Mel? Who knows what is lurking in my brain?

Just back from a nice walk along the promenade at Silloth on Solway. Stopped and had a coffee first. A bit windy and cloudy while we were there but clear across the Solway to Dumfriesshire. Quite a long walk for me and no stick according to daubs watch about a mile. We have come home for lunch and here it is blue sky and sunny with a light breeze.

Just recovering from getting the quilt on the line. Its such a fight with me being so short and its a king sized one.

Stu has just rung me to say he has flu so we are going to leave it till next week. He did'nt sound too bad so it may just be an excuse.

Morning girls,

NIce and bright at the mo with sunshine and blue sky with big white clouds scudding across the sky and I don't think its as windy as it was the last couple of days and pc says 14 degrees and partly sunny.

Anng I wonder if it was because my back door was locked and I could'nt open it that played on your mind a bit which made you have the dream about not getting out?

Think I will get in touch with STu and make dinner for tomorrow night as its quite nice I may get a bit more done in the garden today and I need to get some washing on the line.

Good morning all, dry and reasonably bright so far. Doesn’t feel as cold.

Hopefully we are going to risk a trip to Silloth all g the coast north of here for a bit of sea air along the Solway Firth. Tomorrow is packing again and daughter has hair appointment.
Slept ok but had a horrible dream where I had been out for the day on my own and on my way home called I. To a place that should have been a cut through to ‘somewhere’ but all the exit doors were jammed shut. People were all nice but couldn’t help me find a way out and I couldn’t for some reason let To y know where I was. In the dream I was not frightened, just annoyed. I was glad to wake up.

Gosh that was a big car bill for the window Ann. Hopefully it is not the start of things going wrong. What make is the car?

Vera hope OH’s eye continues to improve and is soon better.

They did'nt arrive till quite late in the afternoon and when Simon tried the door it opened. talk about sods law. its been ok since but I hav'nt had to lock it which I will do tonight.

we were issued food waste bins but I keep some compost in mine as I don't have food waste with the chickens thye eat anything.

Did some painting this aternoon while waiting for Simon and Janine to come and look at the door. Not done miniature painting for a while because Iv'e ben gardening.

Annx what a price for your car!! but st least its done now and you don't have to worry about the rain getting in. Hope it stays that way for a long while now.

I remember you saying that the children love their fruit Mandy and its a good thing for them to have much better than junk food. Has Lewis had watermelon before? or did he just fancy trying it? Never saw much in it and would much prefer a nice honeydew melon or the other kinds.

Hope you all sleep well tonight and see you all in the morning.

It's confusing how councils vary Vera. We can put magazines in our recycling bin and and cardboard, but they will not collect anything outside a bin, except cardboard boxes that have been cut down to a size that would fit in a bin, even though you can leave those outside the bin! OH told me off for emptying a small amount of the nasty compost in the garden bin as he said we can't put soil in it. Lots of other rules too about paint tins etc. People will start doing what they did in the old days and bury stuff in their gardens.

Well my car is fixed now and has cost over £500, so between us we've given the garage over £850 today. Frank would have been saying his famous saying! The inside of the door had got a bit wet, so they were good to fit it in today with the rain we are to expect this week. They looked underneath and could see no damage from me dropping in that water filled pothole.

That's a lovely healthy lot of fruit for the grandchildren Mandy and good habit for them to be used to. Lewis will be pleased to see water melon he wanted. The suncatcher and lights will make the garden nice.

Well you managed a trip out AnnG and I must admit I like to watch a more wild sea with bigger waves and find it mesmerising.

I think I may have confused people with my recycling. I think our council are very bad at recycling which is why I do so much myself. We have 2 bins, a blue one for recycling and a black for general waste, but we are very limited with what can go in the blue bin. For example, no hard plastics, no bottles, jars etc,, newspapers - yes, magazines - no. There’s a whole long list of stuff. We have to take bottles etc to a bottle bank ourselves though nobody explains how you are supposed to do this if you don’t live close to one and don’t have a car. I could put everything else into the general waste bin but it seems wrong to me to send it to landfill when so much can be recycled. Our council doesn’t currently collect food waste but we are not allowed to put veg peelings or, say, cabbage leaves in with garden waste even though it’s going for composting. All these instructions come from the council who some while ago put a note through our door and our neighbour’s door telling us off for putting too much dust in our dustbins! Better climb down off my high horse.

It’s been raining pretty much all day. It’s not really cold but feels cool because it’s so grey and damp. I’ve been to the chiropodist this morning so I have comfy feet now though my pocket is £43 lighter. When I pay for something like that I always think of Frank and his MORE EXPENSE.

There’s the door bell and I can hear OH going to answer it. Now I can hear voices and he’s letting someone in so I had better go downstairs.

Good afternoon, it was dry this morning so we took advantage and went to Maryport, not very warm 11 degrees but we had a short walk. Still windy and the waves were high outside the harbour. Had a coffee, drove to Lidls for milk and came home for lunch, spent the afternoon reading.

Pleased Oh enjoyed his birthday and his special pie with candle.
Yes Amber was with them, it is like having two children, she demands attention to be played with but is no trouble and loves everyone.

Hopefully Mel you can get the door fixes without too long a wait as it is in on Enid t.

Mandy that is a lot of fruit.

Ann at least you are getting the weeds up. When I asked yesterday we had not had much rain at all at home.

Afternoon all,

Raining here a nice steady rain so it will do the garden some good ,it was dry first thing and we had a few places to go ,scripts in at the doctors then down to the warehouse to get fruit for the family Lewis asked for a water melon so got that strawberries, bananas,apples ,grapes,oranges and also got them a tray of eggs ,I got a few bits for us too, then on to tesco for some money and the Aldi for a few more bits , got some new solar lights to hang on the fence and a couple of glass suncatchers ,one for son and dil with a bird on and mine has butterflies on .
Called in and had a coffee with them and then home so i have only got lunch and haven't done anything else .

Ann it will be an expense but at least you won't have to worry about the rain getting in , its turned a bit heavier here now.

Mel thats a good idea of Ann's to have a key round your neck when your in the garden you don't want to get locked out .
The other day I had a job to lock the shed so Colin had to adjust the lock as the key wouldn't turn ,he said he had another lock in the shed if he needed it but he adjusted the bit where the bolt bit goes in and now its fine again .

Vera thats a lot of different recycling you have to sort ,we just have the black bin for tins,bottles ,paper, cardboard etc and the green bin for all other household rubbish.

It was a good job I got the bit of weeding done as it's rained ever since.

I suppose you've tried oiling the lock Mel. I was going to say you could carry a spare front door key on a cord round your neck till it's fixed in case you forget and shut the front door accidentally, but if there was a key in the lock in the inside it wouldn't work. It's annoying, but something always seems to need fixing with a house or car. The shower in our bathroom takes ages to get warm now, the toilet seat in the ensuite has nothing holding it in place so is precarious! Some of the lever handles on our doors don't hold the doors shut as the springs in them are broken. As those things will get replaced before too long it isn't worth extra expence fixing them in the meantime.

After our other errands, we called in the garage for OH to pay for his car service and MOT as there wasn't time before they closed for the bank holiday and I went in with him to ask how soon they expected the part for my car window to come. It arrived on Friday when the boss wasn't there and Steve said he was going to ring me today. He asked if I could fetch the car and they would do it straightaway as the rain might get in, so we did that and I'm waiting for it to be done now. The part itself is over £300 so it won't be cheap!

I would do the same to discreetly reimburse your daughter for my share too Vera. It seems the right thing to do, and even if she flatly refuses to take it, the offer was there. I think it is a great present and chance for you to have a get together.

It's lovely that little Maya seems a happy and confident little girl AnnG. When I was little I would hide behind mum holding her skirt when there was anyone I didn't know well. I was an only child till I was aged nine though so no older siblings to watch and copy.

What a lot of faffing about with your recycling. I have a black bin for glass jars borrles etc and a green bin for everything else. I have a beige sack for cardboard and a green sack for newpapers and paper.

Washed the front door down as it was disgusting. washed the back door window inside and out and wiped the paintwork down on both. Hoovered the kitchen and diner. Waiting for Simon to come down and have a look and see what new barrel lock I need for the backdoor. I managed to open it with the ey outside but am still carrying the keys around with me incase.

Wish they'd come as I am hungry.

Morning All,

More rain in the night and more forecast for later. I went out earlier to get more weeds out and most were coming out easily, I would have done more, but one of my morning tablets was making me feel a bit dizzy and sick as it does if I bend down too soon after taking it, but I made more progress and might do more later if it hasn't rained by then.

I was right in thinking your OH might get a candle on his cake then Vera. :-D It's good his eye is settling down now and not giving concern. My word you do lots of dividing your recycling, more than us. We are told to put glass with our paper and plastics all in the recycling bin. Batteries have to go in a plastic bag and the kitchen waste and everything else in the rubbish bin. We don't often go in the bigger supermarkets where they have more bins, but we sometimes drop things off in the clothing and shoe bins outside. Our local council collected newspapers if we tied them up and put them beside our bin as early as the 70s and gave us a discount on our rates if we did it, so we did! I can't see that ever happening again, more likely a fine if we don't do it now.

Must dash now and catch up later as OH is ready to go, Errands to do, meds to collect, post office to return a parcel and the shop!

Morning girls on this dull dreary dire and drizzley morning,

Think that just about sums the day up so far and nothing else to tell you cos Iv'e not been out yet.

O yes theres one thing my back door lock is broken and I can't open the back door at all so I shall have to use the front door which means taking keys with me as once its shut you can't get back in unless you use the key. More problems. Oh did it last time when we had the Anglian man down to see about getting a new back door and he told oh that you coiuld buy the barrel and put it in yourself.

OH says thank you for your birthday wishes. Being called Mr Vera made him laugh. I think he has had a nice day. He’s had some cards and texts and son and daughter both phoned. Daughter told him his present from her is a few hours spent together followed by a really nice meal in a good restaurant or hotel. I think I am invited too though I shall discreetly offer to pay a share as I don’t think she should expect to pay for me as well as her Dad. No date arranged yet as she suggested we do it when both his eyes are fully recovered. His eye is much more comfortable now, just a little sore.

This afternoon we went to our friends M & V. M had got several individual fruit pies but instead of a pastry lid the fruit was covered with swirls of cream. However one had a lid and that had a candle stuck into it. OH was laughing so much it took him 4 attempts to blow it out.

I had noticed the disappearing avatars as well but they seemed to come back quite quickly.

Hopefully a day with no gardening will give your hip and back a rest Mel though it sounds as though you have been busy clearing out that drawer. 7 watches! That’s one for every day of the week. Have you decided what to do with them or will you just hang on to them as a remembrance?

Nice for you to see how little Maya is getting along and to catch up with sil’s daughters AnnG. Did they have Amber with them?

I wish we had somewhere we could take our shredded paper Annx. As far as I know, there is nowhere around here that wants it and we mustn’t put it in the recycling bin so we have to take ours to the tip. We do try to recycle where we can. In Boots a couple of days ago I noticed they have now installed a bin for blister packs from tablets so I have now put a small bag in our utility to collect these in. That’s next to the bag for collecting soft plastic bags, film etc that we take to the supermarket container. Add to that the crate for bottles, jars etc., the bin bags for shredded paper and bags for hard plastics, fabrics etc., etc. in the garage, the two bins in the kitchen for general waste and recyclables and the three big bins for general waste, recyclables and garden waste outside and it’s a wonder there is any room for us at all.

It was very, very windy this morning which made it feel colder than it really was but at least all the washing dried quickly. During most of the day we only had a few spits and spots of rain but it has rained more heavily on and off since about 5 pm.

Well, I’m getting a bit tired so it’s time to wish you all a very good night with plenty of sleep and sweet dreams.

Oh yes Vera happy birthday to your OH. Hope he enjoyed his birthday meal yesterday.

Oh yes Happy birthday to Mr Vera hope you enjoyed your birthday roast yesterday and tea and cakes today.

It's been a funny day sunny one minute and then light rain that lasts all of a couple of minutes, I did get the bedding and clothes wash all dry before the rain started and I sorted through the canes ready for the cucumbers and tomatoes, don't need them yet as they seem to be growing very slowly , and I did do a little knitting this afternoon.

The water pressure is down and reading on FB looks like there's a burst water pipe ,we're lucky we still have water as a lot are saying they have no water at all and they reported it and it said it would be looked into in the next 48 hours !!!!!