General Chat

Good morning all, What a scorcher it was yesterday, and today looks like being the same.

I went to bed and read for a while around 9.30. Just laying on the bottom sheet with the top one filed back. I went to sleep like that at around 3.30 am and was awake again by 6.30 am. So got up opened everywhere up and just sitting in my u/pants. Eos is still sleeping, howe she does it this weather I just do not know, and she's undertake covers.

So NANNY Jane had a cuddle yesterday. I bet you are wishing that was your own Grandchild. Sorry my sweet it was meant to come over different to how it sounds. XXXX <3 <3 <3 <3 ( I would't hurt your feelings for the world). How is James doing ?? I bet it was nice for him to have a friend and family over to visit. It's tomorrow that her hears about his redundancy isn't it.

We went for our Carvery at 3.00 pm as planned. We couldn't believe the place. The car park was empty and there were so many empty tables. To think Last week, we had to queue for half an hour, yet yesterday we were served in minutes. The waitress said they had a lot of cancellations. I expect the so-called customers, were doing BBQs.

When we came home I put the fans of and stripped off, Ros changed, and went into the garden weeding again, until 6.30 pm. I don't know where she finds the energy.

Mandy that was a crafty remark by the policeman about the spikes on the wall. Do it my love, and any other thing that's within the law, to deter this/these idiots who have been going this to you. !!!

I reported this SCOOTER RIDER to 101 yesterday afternoon. He was screaming up and down the close six or seven times. The noise makes to keep up from your chair. The police woman said "Don't get involved Frank" the local PCSO will keep his/her eyes open on their rounds. YEH !!!!

You have been very lucky with large crops of Runners. I would think I have picked about 25 beans, if it wasn't for Carolyn, we would be buying them. I gave Pam a load of windfalls from the Bramley yesterday. She will make something with them, that doesn't include PASTRY as she said. lol lol

Saw Tony in the back garden this morning, Valerie is just the same. which I expect with this Parkinson's there's not much they can do. It's her birthday at the beginning of Sept, with Tony's a few days later. Then Ros will be 74 on the 19th. I had better start thinking of booking stable somewhere for her birthday. I will need to speak with Conrad, as he is flying back for her birthday, and also an exhibition at the NEC Birmingham. So I am not sure if he will want to join us.

Please be careful in this sunshine, I don't want to hear that any of you have fallen asleep in the sun, and got burnt. xxxxx

Morning all

Cloudy but still very warm here today.

Sorry to hear the sad new your OH had Ann. It'll be nice if he does receive the football program collection, but he's right it would be awkward to mention it. I hope he's okay. I did smile when you mentioned wearing Parfum Deet Jungle strength and how it looks like the snails have had a good time on you :-D Better to be safe than sorry though.

I finally found some people I could prove are OH's ancestors yesterday so I'm going to put them on his tree today. The other bit I was looking at has no real proof the children belong to this couple, so I'm not going any further with them for now. Many years ago I had two children (cousins) with the same name born and married in the same years and ended up putting them with each other's wives and children it took me a very long time to swap them over, so I don't want to make a mistake like that again.

Going to have a cuppa first then I'll make a start. OH has taken the grass cuttings to the tip then he'll clean the garden bin. We've noticed if we leave the bags of grass in the bin for to long it starts to smell and it's not a nice smell. In this heat it's just worse. Next door seems to have the same problem, he was cutting his grass yesterday and must of left his bin lid open. I had to shut all our windows and doors as the smell was really strong. OH said he doubts the neighbour will clean his bin. Luckily he has his emptied so at least the grass won't be around for long, but the bin will still smell every time he opens the lid........yuk :-| :-|

OH must of heard the kettle as he's just come back from the tip, talk about good timing, he does like his tea ;-)

Afternoon All,

Another hot one, but I slept quite well last night.

AnnG we take it in turns to buy 2 goes on the lottery each week too. It sounds like you have better luck, but it was a shame about missing that win! It took us quite a while to realise that you get a free go if you get 2 numbers so we lost out there for a while. Yes I think I would hate seeing all my work rained on too! There is a gate at Lutterworth that is still covered in knitted/crocheted poppies from last year and seems to be holding up well up to now.

Yes bamboo, even the dwarf varieties can be invasive, I was given a tall one by a friend's mother in the 80s and brought a clump of it here, but it was impossible to contain and would have needed a huge pot. Getting rid of it wasn't easy either, even with a machete and saw on the roots! The lady in the then new bungalow opposite when we moved here had a gravel front garden planted up with different dwarf bamboos and a tall black one which crept all under her block paved drive and lifted a lot of the blocks. She had to get rid of them all eventually as the runners were popping up all over the place. They do look nice as a screen though and rustle nicely in the breeze. I still use some of the canes I saved in the garden.

Jane, Fitz was lucky there and will have to make sure he stops that happening again. He will have to keep his wine glass a bit further away!! lol ;-) ;-) Is he driving again now?

I suppose James will have more options with where he lives or works if he's made redundant now he's split with Jess. I must admit I wouldn't have had the courage to deal with both stresses at the same time or I'd have been in no state to have job interviews! It will take a while for his sadness not to be all consuming, but time does help eventually. It's a shame they couldn't work things out after being together so long. I was only thinking yesterday about your recipe and that I must make some with the runners now there are plenty!

Gill it sounds like you had sunstroke as your symptoms were like I had in the south of france on a canoe/camping holiday aged 15. Apparently I was talking a bit of nonsense too......nothing new there. :-) You were sensible to get cooled down and to stay out of the garden today. It's a pity we can't see pics of your garden Gill as it sounds lovely after all the work you have put into it. The seaplane might have been going to an airshow?

Oh Frank, you must like bruising your BTM what with the injections and now falling through the slats. It's a wonder you didn't damage anything else!! lol.

I thought that paint that never dries might work Mandy, but then thought if they are determined they might bring something to lay on top of it once they realise it is there. Great that the police came up with Pigeons!! I wonder why whoever did it came back at all, unless they just go around spoiling things for everyone. :-( Did the police have any ideas or know of any other damage done nearby? It's such a shame as you hadn't had the pool that long.

Vera it's great you can get out and about a little more as your OH improves. The smallest change in scene can be a pick me up and I agree these impulse things we do are often the best! I'm fancying a sausage roll now and it's the only sausage I eat these days! I bet there was lovely scenery to look at too.

OH had some sad news on his way to Scunthorpe yesterday. He got a phone call from the brother of a footie pal he had known for over 40years. He hadn't been to footie for a few years but OH used to take him programs. He was taken into hospital on Friday with abdominal pain and deteriorated and died the next morning. He is the one who OH reckons has one of the biggest/best football program collections in the country and he told OH in front of his brother a couple of years ago that his collection was to go to OH when he died in thanks for his friendship and taking him to all the matches over the years. Now we don't know what will happen and doubt he put it in his will.. It would be awkward to bring it up so OH will probably not mention it himself and just see what happens. I asked OH how big his collection was and he said he knew he pruned it down a bit when his brother moved in with him and gave 10,000 programs to his old footie club shop!!!! I said you better start clearing the garage then, just in case!! It's such a shame really as he never married, gave up work early to look after his mother with dementia and worried about her all the time he was away from home and so his own dream of retiring to the seaside became impossible. Just before she died he started to lose his own mobility. He was only the same age as me.

Since I got badly stung by those wasps a while back, instead of wearing some nice perfume like I used to, I have taken to wearing Parfum Deet 'Jungle strength' in the summer at wasp time. It goes on with a rollerball and what I didn't realise till I looked today was that I have shiny trails where I applied it. I looked like the snails had had a field day!! :-0

I think I've strained your eyeballs enough now, but did anyone see that fascinating prog about the octopus that was kept in a living room to observe? If not it's worth watching if it's on catch up.

Ann, I slice and blanche the courgette. I minute in boiling water, then plunge (!!) them into cold water for about 30 seconds, leave them to completely cool, bag up and freeze! delicious cooked with tomato and garlic sauce or as an addition to a casserole.
Hope you enjoyed the children Jane. Nothing like little ones to cheer you up!
The chap doing the combining finished last night and has completed baling today, so only the bales to pickup in the morning! Its been a right old marathon, but he's got there, he must be exhausted!

How lovely to have the children at yours Jane, a cuddle with the baby sounds just the thing, and watching the little girl playing in the pool will surely put a smile on your face. I hope James is a little more cheerful, now he's spent some time with his friend and family.

I've got the news on and they've just said it's the hottest bank holiday in August on record since 2001. I'm so glad I stayed in doors today. Tomorrow is suppose to be hot to so that'll be another day sitting in the shade or in front of a fan. I think Tuesday is forecast for a bit of rain and after this heat we may well have a bit of thunder with it.

I meant to say I saw a sea plane yesterday flying around, I've only ever seen one on TV, it did look strange flying around in circles above our bungalow. OH said he saw it to at his friends. I wonder what it was all about.

We only have a few apples on a small apple tree to pick next month, all our tomatoes are finished now and I never got around to planting any potatoes this year. All your home grown veg and fruit sound delicious.

We have Bamboo's, we had them in pots but they weren't doing very well so we put them in the front garden. We were told they were the clump ones so hopefully they won't end up being evasive. They have thickened out since last year and now make a nice screen between us and Mr Grumpy. Everyone who sees our garden says how nice it is, so we're really pleased. I must admit now everything has become established it does look good.

Yes most bamboo is invasive. We have several bamboos in the garden but all in pots, I love to see them moving in the breeze.
I envy those of you with fresh beans and new potatoes etc. For some reason OH wouldn't grow beans this year, he was put off by last year when we had to dig them up as they were absolutely covered in black fly. I love fresh runners. Pippyn I didn't know you could freeze courgettes, I thought they would go mushy. How do you freeze them? sliced?
We have roast chicken new potatoes, broccoli and French beans tonight. Plus I managed to find a couple of apples to cook (fallers that had been pecked by the birds) so they are stewed with the last of the blackberries (OH has cut the blackberry back now) and we will have those cold with ice cream.

the sun came out here late morning and its quite hot now. I see Jane has been having a foot cool off andnow James's friend is coming over to yours with the children so they can have a play in the pool. Well not baby perhaps but I am sure the three year old will enjoy herself. I loved my tin bath in the garden on a hot day when I was small. It was mums mangleing bath, oval with a handle each end.

Stay safe indoors Gill.

We enjoyed our big breakfast so no more cooking for me today. I shall have cheese and biccies tonight and oh will have scotch eggs so nice and easy.

Mandy I think thosse spikes you can put on a fence etc are plastic so not such a deterant as the paint. The paint sounds a good idea to me and oh had suggested you put some nice thick grease up there. I'd move the bench too so its not so convienient to get down onto or out back over the wall.

VERA yes silly me I was getting muddled with Kentwell Hall silly old fool.

Trust it to be you who went through the bench Frank!! Hope you had a nice time with your friends for coffee. Some bamboos can be very very invasive.

Well what a good job I have that tiny pool. James and friend with children are on their way here. Chris has emptied the pool (after my feet) and put clean water in and put the pool in the shade. I dont have any toys though so wlll just have to get an empty plastic water bottle and a tupperware box . The eldest child is not quite 3 and the baby is just a couple of months old. How lovely it will be to have children here :-D and to maybe have a bit of a cuddle with the baby :-D The toddler is called Beuala but don't know the Baby's name.I think it a girl too. Better go.

Talking of beans Jane, we've got a brilliant crop this year! Like you I love them cold with garlic dressing. We're having some for lunch with our chicken and new potatoes (from the garden!) I'm hoping to freeze some beans as they are good for putting in stews, I've frozen a load of courgette too as well as giving away about 4 marrows!! Trouble is that everything comes at once and you cannot eat it all!!
Glad your son is having a day with friends Jane, I'm sure that he will eventually be totally certain that he's done the right thing for both their sakes . When our son's marriage broke up, it did seem very bleak, but tbh, fond though we were of his wife, his second wife is such a lovely person and is much more like him in outlook and attitude, so, much as perhaps I shouldn't say it , with hind sight it was a sort of ' blessing in disguise'! for both of them. I'm sure things will eventually work out the same for your son.
That chicken is ready!!

Didn't see you there Mandy. Yes, I'm feeling much better today thank you. I'm not very good in the sun at the best of times and although I didn't feel hot, OH thinks it might of been a bit of dehydration and possibly heat stroke that made me feel so unwell. A lesson learnt there I think and I'm now staying in doors until the weather cools down, then I'll tackle the screening job. The Police are very good at getting around things aren't they, what a good idea to blame the pigeons for having to put the spikes up. The paint is a good idea to. I hope the Church camera caught something and those horrible people are found and dealt with by the Police. It's such a shame though as a dip in your pool today would of been wonderful in this heat. Maybe you could do the same as Jane and pop your feet into a paddling pool :-D

So feet in a pool and a glass of cold wine in your hand, that's you sorted for the day then Jane lol :-D :-D :-D

Enjoy your Prosecco Jane ;-) ;-) Pleased to see James has gone out with his friend it'll do him good and give you and Chris some alone time to.

Air con in the garden centre sounds bliss AnnG, they don't have any of that by us and with the glass roof it's gets far to hot to visit on days like this, even outside is to hot to walk around for long. I see you bought a few things and some bargains to. Yes, you were lucky it wasn't a big win you lost out on, but still a win is a win so now your OH is going to renew the lottery you can check the numbers knowing if you do win it's yours.

Oh dear Frank fancy falling through the bench seat, you're not safe to be let out lol ;-) :-D It sounds like Joy's garden is in a right mess, hope it's sorted soon. We put our two planters up against the fence we built between us and Mr Grumpy last year and this year the lazy so and so couldn't be bothered to pull the weed up on his side so they grew about three foot tall behind our planters. I wouldn't mind but they were nettles. I have a grabber so managed to get them down a bit, but to get rid of them completely we'd have to move the planters and although they're on wheels they are still quite heavy. I put artificial Ivy on the backs of the planters which is why we didn't spot the weeds earlier. We'll need to keep a closer eye out from now on as they're bound to grow back at some point.

Mr Grumpy has now fell out with his neighbours on the other side because they put a fence up between him and them and he can't get his car right down the drive now. The reason they did it was because he was using their drive as well as his own to drive his cars down to his back garden. Apparently he's not talking to them anymore. At this rate he'll have no friends at all. No one in the street likes him and every time I try to talk to him he's either very rude, or just ignores me. I think the name Mr Grumpy fits him well, that along with Victor Meldrew lol ;-) ;-)

Going to watch a programme with Sandra and OH now, all the jobs for today are finished, the bench has been painted and put back into place and we've had our Sunday lunch and the dishes are done, so I'm sitting by the fan keeping cool. I'm glad I made the decision not to do the screening today, I think I would of melt in this heat. I had all my washing washed, dried and put away before 10am this morning, it was so hot it dried within in a couple of hours outside on the line.

Afternoon all,

Phew to hot to sit out today ,last night we sat out in the evening and it was lovely and cool but as soon as we came in we were hot again, we also slept on the top of the bed with all the windows open .

Oh Jane poor James what with the redundancy and now the break up he's really going through it i feel so sorry for him ,that's good he has gone out with his friends for a while and it will give you both a bit of time to have a stress free day ,it must be so hard to know what to say to him with out upsetting him . <3

Son came this morning and has helped us to fill in the claim for the pool we had to send photo's and even a short video now we have to wait for them to contact us .
We're still waiting to see if the CCTV cameras in the church yard will show any hing , i did go in the church house and the chap told me they don't have any thing to do with the cameras there it's all done by a firm in Norwich and the chap from the firm will be coming to the church on Tuesday so we just have to wait .
We are going to paint on some of the Anti climb paint on the top of the copings ,the policeman we went to see said it's a paint that is very hard to wash off hands and clothing and it does leave lovely finger prints :-D he also mentioned putting on the wall spikes , i did say i didn't know if they were ok and he said well there are a lot of pigeons about in the church yard and gave a wink and said you can have the for the birds .

Mel the field is looking good for the dog show ,i seem to remember last year was a wash out wasn't it ?
Will you have a look tomorrow ?

Oh Ann that 's a lovely looking bracelet i love all the colours in it .
Wow someone has worked hard on the yarn bombing cycle that must have took a while to wind all the wool round the wheels
A few weeks ago they had lots of wool decorations in the trees here in town it was for the War weekend ,there was Pom Poms ,bunting and flags all knitted in red white and blue ,lots of crochet squares all sewn together and tied round the tree trunks .
I did wonder if i could do some bunting to hang on our Gazebo but i thought it would only stretch when it rained .

Oh Gill you silly sausage going out in all that heat and making your self feel bad ,it sounds like you had heat stroke ,you'll have to leave it until the weather turns a bit cooler before you give it another try out there , i hope your feeling better now .

FRank, I hope there is plenty of good aircon when you have you meal. Don't break any chairs !!!!!!!!!! Enjoy your meal. I still haven't thought what to have for dinner this evening. Whatever it is will have to have lots of runner beans with it :-D James picked another load for me yesterday. I cooked up one lot with garlic,tinned chopped tomatoes and Oregano . No one likes that other then me and I love it cold too. I could eat a whole bowl of it :-D
I blew up the baby paddling pool just now and have been sitting with my feet in it.It was just heaven :-D. I bought the pool thinking I could use it after my op but with havign to keep those blasted compression socks on for 6 weeks it never happened. But today being so hot I though it was time to have a little paddle :-D

Afternoon Everyone
I am really grateful for all your kind words and support at what is a particularly sh*t time.I do appreciate it. One of Jame's freinds text yesterday to see if he would like go today to some waterpark with him ,partner and 2 little ones.
I am happy to say he has gone :-D. I really didn't think he would. It will be good for him. Us too having a stress free day :-D

It is really far too hot.I have just come in after sitting under the shade ofthe patio parasol chatting to my sister for 30 minutes .But even in the shade I find it too much. So it is back by the fan again. Chris cut the bottom bit of the lawn really early this morning (all around the veg patches and Green houses).That is his physical work done for today. There is a nice cold bottle of Prosecco in the fridge for later :-D I say later (it may well be open in a minute :-D ;-) )

Love the Yarn bomb pics Ann :-D :-D. Especially the cycle. so colourful .

£25,000 for artificial grass!!!!!!! . I think your friends are crazy Frank. They seem to have so much money . Do they ever give to Charity? It must be a large area of grass for it to cost that much.Personally I think it is ridiculous. A small artificial lawn I think would maybe be fine . This sounds BIG :-S

Vera we are members too of the NT but there as so few places around here . We just tend to get to see places when we are away on holiday. One year we even used our cards for a garden in Italy.I think it was somehere around Lake Como.

Think I might just open that Prosecco :-D

afternoon all,

What a scorcher. slept on top of the bed last night with the window open. As soon I was up this morning 6.30 am I opened all drs and windows, to try to get a breeze through. Haven't done a thing today, apart from showering and reading the paper.

We did go round to Pam and Denis for coffee which we had in the garden. Good old me !! I sat on a bench and put my Ass straight through the slats. We then transferred to the metal chairs at the table further down the garden. They showed me the garden where Joy lived before her death TWO YEARS AGO, It's a total disgrace, that anyone could let a property go into such disrepair. There is BAMBO growing in the middle of what was the lawn, and spreading everywhere. They are going to approach the local council, to see if they can make her daughter do somethings about the state of things. I wish them luck. I think I would be incline to spray weedkiller over the fence as far as I could reach, as least it would stop the weeds coming over the fence, into their garden.

I would imagine to be on a narrow boat,or any boat, would be so perfect. on a day like today. I just loved my Deep sea Fishing days, on days like this. I would come home extremely well tanned. ;-) ;-) ;-) (BURNT) lol

Poor old Harvey got caught up in a rail back after an accident. He spent over two hours to travel 7 miles. So in total it took him 16 hours to get there. Simon and Sally are just starting their 2nd week on theirs. I bet they are loving it.

A very traumatic times for James then Jane. I have been there and got the T shirt. Imagine after 17 years of marriage, to find your wife was having an affair with another person, and then TRY TO BLAME YOU, as having an affair, whereas I was with my friend Alan Beddow's all evening. The very next day I packed and left, never to return. All you can do is give him all your support, and LOVE. !!!

We have the table booked for 3.00 pm at the calvary. Ros has changed into her gardening gear, and is doing more weeding etc. Silly girl, I told her to sit and relax before we go out. I think it's far to hot,to be doing anything strenuous today.

Back to my newspaper and a cool beer. See you later. xxxx

Mel, I think your visit and your son’s school visit were to Kentwell Hall, rather than Melford Hall. They are both at Long Melford. Kentwell is owned by the Phillips family and they bought it in 1971 when it was in a bit of a state of disrepair and have restored it pretty well. They are the ones who do all the historical recreations and all the school visits and I know it has been used in several films and TV programmes.

Re the lottery we have a line each and since Christmas mine has won several times, last time first week in August, only small £10 wins except for one that was £100. Luckily yesterdays was not a big one as then I would have been cross. He will renew later today, we only do Saturdays lottery.

Gill, very sensible to stay in out of the sun. It was busy on the motorway but not too busy so we went that way as it is quicker. Inside the garden centre is air con so it was fine, didn't venture outside for long. Just bought a couple of little bits in the sale and a reduced orchid.

O Pippyn that sound nice a cool shandy under the apple tree. Enjoy your day whatever your doing.

Morning all,

You have all been busy posting and there's me sleeping late.

Vera tat was a nice surprise visit to Melford Hall. I know the place as before I lived in Suffolk I had a childhood friend who lived in Long Melford and she and her hubby took us there when we visited them. It was'nt lived in then but had been in the film The Witch Hunter General. There were lime trees all along the drive with mistletoe growing on them. The trees have since gone I think. My son went there on a school visit when everyone was dressed in old fashoned clothes andthey were living like a certain year which was educational for the children.

Nowe Gill you stay well away from that screening today and do your oh's family tree to keep you out of trouble. We can't have you swooning with the heat you naughty girl. Be sensible and stay inside today.

What a shame about your oh not renewing the lottery ticket AnnG. Better luck next time. So disappointing when that happens.

It overcast here today but dry and its still very warm. Oh is out on the mower doing the final cut for the dog show tomorrow so I better get on.

Wow, it's certainly hot here! OH watered the veg garden at 7.30 this morning , so we were up pretty early!! Weed killing will have to wait till this evening as its far too hot to be carrying the equipment on his back!!
Hope your son feels a bit calmer today Jane. As has been said, hard though it is, it's better now than if they'd been married with a family!
We were planning to go out this afternoon , but it's too hot and if yesterday is anything to go by, too crowded, so we've decided to stay put!
We've got some friends who have got artificial grass, it's certainly not maintenance free particularly in summer when it needs quite a bit of regular attention! I'd rather stick to mowing, it's less hassle!!
The garden calls, I must pick some sweetpeas, then we're having a nice cool Shandy under our biggish apple tree!