General Chat

Good evening folks

I hope your poorly tum is better now Frank and your injection hasn't given you too much of a sore bot. You are wise to see the doctor before you go away. I hope your problem isn't serious and he is able to reassure you. You mentioned about Ros wanting you to take her to see some of the London sights. If you can get to London there seem to be plenty of hop-on, hop-off buses in the City and the West End that you might be able to use so you didn't have too much walking.

I'm looking forward to reading Frank's story. Thank you Mandy for sending it.

Poor you Ann - sore backs are horrid.

Glad you car didn't cost you too much this year Mel. You got away lighter than us. Ours went for a service and MOT in March and the garage rang to tell us of various bits that needed replacing. They gave OH the price and after he picked himself up from the floor he agreed to have the work done. Total bill was over £800. The car hasn't cost us much in the past but it is now 11 years old so things are bound to start going wrong. We could do with changing it but we may not be driving for many more years. I've already given up driving at night because of dodgy eyes and I don't drive a lot during the day. OH is still happy to drive anywhere but he isn't getting any younger.

We went to Anglesey Abbey today. We go fairly frequently as we like it there and it is barely an hour's drive away. Had a nice wander round the gardens and woodland walks and a bite to eat in the café. Then I bought a book in the 2nd hand bookshop and a plant from the plant shop. On the way back we stopped at a garden centre so bought more plants. I've got to stop doing this because we only have a small garden and I am running out of space. I already have pots and troughs everywhere but it is hard to resist some of the lovely plants.

Hope you all have a good night's sleep.

Thinking of Jane and her family <3 <3

Evening All,

Another rainy day but at least the garden is benefitting.

Your trip sounded very enjoyable Vera and it's great to hold the coffee morning to benefit your group with any takings. I thought about you this morning when I was trying to get my trousers on!! My back is a bit better,and I'm trying to keep moving often, but I've discovered it hurts in the middle mostly one side if I bend my head forward, so I'm trying not to do that, also standing up is less painful if I lean forward. I've put one of those heat patches on now as I can't take Ibuprofen. I've decided not to meet up with my friends for beading tomorrow as sitting so long and crouching over will be the worst thing for it.

Frank, that's the best thing to do to just go and get things checked out. Hopefully there is nothing to worry about. I hope you aren't as sore as last time with your injection. It sounds as if it was better this time. Fancy poor Ros going to the hospital for nothing.

Mel, you have had better weather than us and have got on well outside. Good news on your car then and at least you know you will need more pennies next time!

I had a lie in this morning and then we went to a couple of garden centres. One has The Works and they had just put out the Academic Diaries which we both now use as it works well with OH's school terms so we got those.

The first Saturday in May is the World Naked Gardening Day Gill. ;-) Yes, because OH always allows plenty of travel time, he got to his meeting ok. One person didn't though and had to listen in from his car!! You can understand your new neighbour wanting the cameras in a way as no-one noticed when someone went in to start the kitchen damage, but he shouldn't have them pointing over your garden. I sit out in my dressing gown first thing at times too and OH goes up the garden in his jimjams sometimes so we wouldn't like it either. Our neighbour only has a camera at the front as far as I'm aware. Does the bungalow have an alarm?

Here I am as it was nice this afternoon I have been in the garden all the time. I have had all the trays off the Strawberry barrow and washed them all and topped up compost on some of the pots and finished cleaning the other plants off as I did'nt finish before. I still had two stacking pots to do and an odd pot of a plant I bought in Morrisons last year. This strawberry has masses of flowers but the fruit is'nt very tasty but I will give it a go again this year and feed it up to see if I can get a better flavour.

Rang Stuart late morning and he told me he rang yesterday but there was no answer. With the weather like it was yesterday we certainly were'nt out so I don't know hwat happened there. Anyway I picked the car up and it came to £130.84 as I got him to change the oil and filter so not bad this time. Next time it will be more brake pipes, a new tyre and possibly an exhaust box!!!! I shall have to save some pennies.

Thanks Mandy for sending Franks book's through, I will read them tomorrow morning when it's quiet.

Good idea to see the doctor Frank, things like that can't be ignored, I hope it's nothing to worry about. How bad was that not letting Ros know her appointment had been cancelled on time, I bet you get the letter tomorrow. We get a text off our doctor to remind us of appointments, so I should imagine they would do the same if it was cancelled. It's not nice weather to be traipsing around to appointments that have been cancelled, so I don't blame her for not being very happy about it.

Have you heard back about your MOT yet Mel, they are taking their time aren't they? Hope it passes and there's no surprise bills.

Thinking of Jane and her family and sending lots of hugs <3

Mandy you can have the weekend off too. But make sure you are at your desk by 9.00 am Monday :-D :-D :-D :-D Thanks for doing that. Bless you <3 <3

Ros got to the hospital this morning only be told the appointment had been cancelled. and a letter had been sent, with a new date. Ros replied, if I had received it, do you think I would be here now. ?? A look of surprise appeared on the girls face. The new appointment is late June.

I have had my injection this afternoon, as yet not a sore bum. Louise the nurse was surprised when I told her about last months injection, and apologised, I don't think she did anything different, but oh boy was that one painful. The next one will be when I get back from Spain. I am seeing a doctor tomorrow morning at 9.20 am I have a swelling in my Testies, which I want looking at. :-( :-( :-(

Still not a nice day here, it's that horrible drizzle now, that I think will continue into the evening.

See you all in the morning, if I don't get back sooner. xxx

Thank you Mandy.

I will have a read Frank, it looks interesting.

Afternoon all,

Not a bad day here ,the sun keeps trying to peep through ,we went and did the shopping this morning ,Colin had the dentist this morning or he thought he did when he went in they said NO it's next Tuesday ,he had a piece of tooth broken off and rang yesterday for an appointment and he felt sure the girl on the phone said 9.50 tomorrow .But he wasn't the only one today as the receptionist said he was the third one in this morning for an appointment that wasn't today :-D

I have e mailed your book to Vera,AnnG and Gill Frank .....can i knock off for the afternoon now :-D

Mel i hope the car has passed it's MOT he's taking his time in ringing you to let you know .

It started to rain here earlier, and it still is. A real miserable day.

AnnG I am sure Mandy will oblige and send my story to you. I wanted to try to get it into a Magazine, but have no idea how to go about it. ANY IDEAS GIRLS ??? It would be of interest to some people I am sure, memories of a child through the war and on into adulthood. I'm such an old dreamer, and think constantly about things I did as a child. Some don't as happy as others, but that was what childhood and growing ups all about. I must sit and read through it again, to remind me of what I wrote,

What's the news on the car Mel.?? I hope it went through the MOT without any expense.

The heating is on, as I feel quite chilly, even with a jumper on. I have emptied the W/M of a few coloureds, and put them round the radiators to dry.

Ros is quite happy to have leek pie again this evening, I did cook it for her last night as she felt hungry.

It's the Choir tonight, back as Blisworth Church, so she will be out from 7.00/9.30 pm She might go into Val's for a coffee after, that will make it 10.30 wish when she gets home. No doubt I will be tucked up in bed by that time. lol lol.l.

O dear a bad tummy. Perhaps you were worrying about your sore botty after todays injection. Hope its not as bad as last time and not so painfull.

The sun came out so I shot off to do the girls while it was'nt raining. Its a bit more cloudy now I have put a wash in!!

Done some ironing and now I am going to ring about my car.

Showery here today which is a nuisance as we have a group of nine of us meeting here for the gardening interest group. they enjoy looking round the garden but that can't happen in the rain.

Vera, glad you enjoyed your trip. We watched a series of programmes on the tower on TV not so long ago and were most impressed, it showed how they trained the guides, how they were chosen etc. and we also saw the ceremony you witnessed.
How strange that they could have a bigger coach, although good for those of you travelling with more choice of seats. Obviously the restriction of 20 was by the tower and not the coach company.

Frank, yes I would find your story interesting if I could see it please. Hope you can get a better sleep tonight and that your tummy soon feels better.

Good morning to you all, Not a nice one here, I might add, Not raining, but almost dark.

I didn't have the best of nights again last night. Kept waking from horrible dreams, and laying awake for a long time.

Woke this morning with a very poorly tummy. I didn't eat last night, so I don't know if that had anything do with it.

Ros is off to the hospital later, Carolyn is taking her, I have my injection at 3.40 this afternoon, so sore bum tonight. eh. !!

That sounded a very good trip Vera, as I said before, I love the area around the Tower. Eos has asked me many times to take her around the sites of London, but I have never got round to it. Somehow I don't think we will now, as our aches and pains, wouldn't let us do much walking.

Gill, I am sure there would be a law against neighbours camera's looking into your garden. If they do, I don't think it would be for SPYING on you, just the angle of the camera.

Mel that is most unusual, for your garage chap, to leave it this long to inform you about your car.Perhaps a phone call might be a good idea.

SECRETARY MANDY lol lol. It looks like I have landed you with more people to send my story to. I would think, AnninG, Vera, and anyone who hasn't had it, might be interested to see what I got up to as a youngster. Thanks so much for doing it for me.

All showered and shaved, now going to get dressed and read my book again.

Stay dry if you are out and about today, xxx

Morning all,

Still heard nothing about my car.

Its raining AGAIN so not very nice and its cloudy so I think its in for the day.

O have to go BBL.

Morning all

Raining again, the plants are loving it, but I need to move some pots around so I hope the sun shows it's face soon so I can get on with the jobs I need to do.

Silly me, I went to type my post and there wasn't a box to write in, then I realised I hadn't signed in, talk about daft lol :-D :-D

I've never heard of Naked Gardening Day Ann, but you're right if the camera's can see into our garden we wouldn't of been able to do it, not that I would anyway but it's a privacy issue with us, that's one of the reasons we put the 7 foot screening up as the neighbour on the other side (Mr Grumpy, Victor Meldrew) used to have binoculars and look over the fence from his kitchen window, he even had the cheek to ask us to lower our screening and the amount he wanted us to lower it by was just enough for him to see over from the top of his window, obviously we never lowered it, but that comment stuck with me, so now I'm wary of anyone looking over.

I would feel better if I knew how much of our property and garden he could see as he can check the camera from his phone and also he records everything. We just don't feel very comfortable with the situation. I often sit outside in my dressing gown in the mornings having a cuppa and don't want the neighbours to see me dressed like that, especially if I find a little job or two that needs doing as sometimes I do them before getting changed.

At least he's put some wooden shutters up at the side window so he can't see right into our kitchen anymore or Sandra's bedroom. I think he's changed his mind about putting a camera down the side as I said i would object to that as it would point right into Sandra's bedroom and the bathroom and toilet, Sandra was very upset at that and I don't blame her. I wouldn't mind but there's no need for camera's everywhere, he's just being silly, we all look out for each other in this street and there's always someone around to keep an eye on things.

We noticed a very nice jag parked on his drive yesterday, we think it might of been his son as he was due back from Japan. We're not sure if the new neighbour knew about the car as the drive isn't finished, so no cars can be parked on it yet.

Sorry to hear your back is still playing you up Ann, I hope it feel a little better this morning. What a palaver with OH's meeting, did he make it in time? What a waste on the parking to.

Love the pictures on your blog AnnG, I had to read it twice when you said there were 114 steps to the car park, how do people manage that many, surely there's a car park nearer that's on ground level. Love all the photo's on your blog, especially the one of the sunset, that was beautiful. Sandra's pleased her comment of you being pretty cheered you up, she thought you were having a bad day, but I said I think it's the weather you were referring to.

It sounds like you had a lovely time at the Tower of London Vera. There's always one moaning mickey isn't there, but it did't spoil your evening out, so that's good. It sounds like you're very busy with your club activities, what a wonderful club to be part of.

Did your car pass it's MOT Mel? I hope it did and it didn't cost to much.

I'd love a copy of Frank's story to please Mandy, I wasn't on here when he sent it to everyone and I'd love to read it, if you don't mind emailing it to me.

Good evening everyone

I’m sorry your back is not good Ann. Try to keep moving but take it very gently. I hope it feels easier soon.

Good that you are feeling a bit better Gill. You must have needed the sleep. I know it’s easier said than done but try not to get worried about things that might never happen.

What a horrid wet day it has been. Apart from a couple of breaks it has been raining heavily all day and this afternoon we had a few minutes of thunder that sounded right overhead. At least the plants will be happy, though I should think they are waterlogged now.

After the mention of asters I thought I would change my avatar to a photo of asters in my garden but all I managed to do was delete my avatar altogether. Then I remembered I can’t change the picture from the iPad so I will do it on the desk computer tomorrow.

We had a good day yesterday, although things weren’t exactly as we expected. There were 20 of us and the coach company sent a 57 seater coach. Apparently they weren’t charged for parking a coach with more than 50 seats, which seemed a bit odd. We had a very good trip up to town.

When we arrived we went our separate ways. OH and I just walked around the City and down by the river, taking in the atmosphere, and then stopped for a meal. Fish for me and chicken for OH. Then we went to meet the others in the group and our guide.

This was where things were not as expected. Our organiser had been told they couldn’t take more than 20. When we met up, there were in fact 4 groups of about 20 and we were joined together and taken round by one man. Luckily he was an ex-RSM and could make himself heard by all of us. Most of the tour was outside, though we did have a short while in the church. It was however very informative, lots of history, and very entertaining. Our guide was a real comedian.

After an hour or so of the tour he took us to the bar where we had drinks and then just before 9.30 he collected us again, gave us a little talk about the ceremony we were about to see and led us to our places. It was quite moving to think that this same ceremony has been carried out to lock the gates to the Tower daily for the last 800 years. There was a group of American men with us and they loved it all.

After that we were free to go back to the bar if we wished but our coach was picking us up at 10.20 so we left and arrived back at the pick-up point as our coach drew up. We had an excellent run back and were home just after midnight. We all enjoyed ourselves - except for one “moaning Mickey” who is never happy but still comes on all the trips with us.

My coffee morning is not raising money for any charity I’m afraid but is in aid of the club that organised the Tower trip. It started life some 45 years ago as a club for home wine and beer makers but over the years has morphed into a general interest social club. We’re a small club of less than 30 members and we meet monthly and have a variety of speakers, trips out etc. But speakers etc come expensive and we try to keep our subs low as some members are not as well off as others. Our biggest fund raiser is the coffee morning. Most members come and often bring a family member or a neighbour who’ll buy a plant or some raffle tickets etc. I was the club secretary for many years till about 3 years ago when I decided to resign from the committee, but I still seem to be doing nearly as much for them :-S. We have a summer party as well and I had that for several years in our old house as we had a large plot and we could set up outdoor games and activities but our garden here is much too small for that so I generally do the coffee morning.

As usual I have written far more than I intended so I’d better stop. Hope you all have a good night’s sleep.

Sorry Mel, I must pay more attention! My phone must be about 9 years old now and I just use it to contact OH mostly so it is PAYG. I keep thinking I should get a more up to date one but keep putting it off as it only costs me about £25 a year. I think I would be ringing about my car by now Mel. I wonder why they are so long with it?

Thank you for sending me Frank's Memories Mandy! <3 Jake is quite a young man now then and Chelsea is growing up too. I had to smile at Lewis taking his dog to bed! I think I would have done just the same if I were him. :-)

Poor OH rang to check today's meeting was still on as no-one had sent him any papers and they told him the venue had changed and was now in the city! Off he went, sorted out and paid for his parking and then he got a call to say it was now at the original venue again 6 miles away! He wasn't best pleased as you can imagine as it was the rush hour!!

Lovely photos AnnG. :-)

Mandy you can only do that on Smart Phones I think. Oh has a Smart phone but I don't mine is an old one now but I get on ok with it. Its only oh who rings me and Di texts me when she is coming round so I don't need a new fangled phone and I would'nt know how to use it anyway.

It was'nt my car tax that was £200 odd it was Gill. Mine was £160 I think.

Not heard anything about my car................

Ann, i've e mailed Franks book part 1 and 2 .

Jake will be fourteen this month Ann and Chelsea will be twelve in September ,yes Lewis loves his new bedroom and the dog goes to bed with him :-D
I meant to ask how your back was today after the gardening you need to get that right if you go away soon .

Our neighbour has cameras up and we wondered if they go over into our garden ,i see you can get cameras now where you can talk to the camera using your phone so if your -out you can still see and hear people in your garden ,i said to Colin if they listen in to us they might hear some thing they don't want to hear if we're talking about them ;-)

AnnG more lovely photo's thank you .

Wet Afternoon All,

What a miserable wet morning it was, but at least it has stopped raining now so I could put some slug pellets round some of my Petunias and lettuce plants.

Frank or Mandy, could you send me parts one and two of the blog please, as I think I lost them when my old computer broke!! Mandy we were going to shop today and saw the rain and thought we could manage till tomorrow. lol :-) I can't believe Katie is 9 years old!! Chelsea and Jake must be teenagers now I would think......how fast they grow up. :-) Is Lewis liking his bigger bedroom now and his new dog?

My back was awful getting up for the loo in the night. I had to get out of bed like I did after my hysterectomy......as little bending in the middle as possible and a slide/roll out. Fingers crossed it has gradually improved today and as long as I keep getting up slowly and carefully it has stopped it seizing up. Hopefully if I carry on being careful I shall be ok. The day before we went away last year I hurt it with pruning in the garden!! I shall have to get these jobs done in the autumn this year.

Gill I'm glad you are feeling a bit better again. It was a good idea to get plenty of sleep, you must have needed it. Our neighbour next door has CCTV as does the neighbour opposite him. The neighbour's is pointed up their front drive and probably covers some of our front garden, but it doesn't record according to the neighbour opposite him, whereas I think his may record as I think it's how he knew about the fisticuffs. I think it would be a good idea to ask your neighbour to show you what his camera can see of your back garden. I had a chuckle as it was 'Naked Gardening Day' the other day and I thought you wouldn't want to be taking part and ending up 'on film'. Seriously though, you don't want your privacy invaded, I would hate it. :-S

Mel I love Asters although you don't see them as much lately. When we first moved here, a neighbour that's now moved away showed me his back garden. We'd all had to lay out our gardens as the bungalows were new and he had a beautiful border, crammed full of lovely Asters in shades of blue, purple and a fuschia pink. Yes, some of the pinks have the lovely smell, but I have some vivid neon pink ones in the front garden that don't. I ought to get a couple for the wall pots as they are nearer your nose! lol That seemed a lot for your car tax, but I think they said it would go up this year. Mine was £120 last time and OH's was free!! I hope there are no nasty surprises with your MOT and that your car passes ok. OH's was expensive last month with the brakework and tyres needed.

Frank fancy your old schoolfriend contacting you! Does he still live in the same area? I have had 2 of my old schoolfriends contact me recently after putting a photo with one of them on on my old school site on FB. Her grandaughter only lives half a mile from me.

Vera, I have always wanted to visit the Tower of London, but been put off by the queues, so envy you your private tour. Was it good?

Must have aa look at AnnG's blog now.

More smashing photos AnnG. Some very nice views there.

Its been dreadfull here tis afternoon with very heavy rain I had to whip round to the big girls whiel it stopped for a while but it had started by the time I came back so I did get a bit wet. The water was rushing down the garden and down our drain out the front and I bet it flooded the ditch where they are laying this drainage pipe.