General Chat

Morning all,

Bit cloudy today but at least its not raining so that a bonus. Oh is out on the mower as I type cutting the west lawn.

Had a strange dream last night but I can't remember what it was about!! I just know it was wierd.

I have steak and kidney out the freezer for tonight. Not sure whether to do a pie or like a stew with dumplings. I am not doing a pud. I remember mum cooking steak and kidney puds and boiling them for hours and filling the whole kitchen with steam. She loved S & K pud and her mum (my nan) used to make them and I have one of my nans old pudding basins. I have still used it for puds. Its the one thing I took from nans house after grandad died that and nans two flat irons.

Oh I'm envying Ros having the talk on stained glass Frank! I would love to make some pictured windows with it. lol I love those tiffany lamps too and have one in the loft somewhere! I must see if I can find a day course to try it out sometime!! Why not let Barry do at least the first cut of your lawns. It is always the hardest one to do.

Gill, that was very brave of you to tackle that man. I had a chuckle at you calling him a naughty boy!! The workmen will never forget that!!

Good idea to get the cottage booked Jane. It sounds lovely and will help take your mind off things a little. When are you going? It's good that James has taken a few days off to get his head around things and calm down. He's the only one that knows how he feels and can make decisions for his future, but it must be worrying for you to see. At least with him living at home you can keep an eye on him though.

Oh AnnG how good were your visitors clearing up like that and making less work for you to do.....very thoughtful! The only children in our close are two grown up sons, the rest are all retired or about to retire. Our 4 bungalows were added to the bottom of the close and we only have a single car width road so nowhere to park on the road, so all our cars are off the road. One bungalow has a big trailer home and 3 cars. We can park 3 or 4 with one on the gravel. The trouble is, we all have made wide access to our drives which is great but also great for big vans or lorries wanting to turn around in them! :-S I must have a look on your blog!

Apparently the Coroner doesn't know my sister's cause of death at this stage and has to wait for the results from tissue samples that could take up to 13 wks!!

Off to bed now as OH's PA (ie ME) has to be up with the lark to take him to the station to catch a train to Birmingham in the morning! :-S

Evening All
Sorry again not have read all the posts yet today THERE ARE A LOT !!. I have had a glimpse .

Gill that was quite a tumble you had :-S. I hope you are resting your ankle today.
Good on you for standing up to that horrible man .How rude was he :-S :-S. You should be proud of yourself .

Ann I think the flowers for your Sisters wreath sound really lovely (not something though that you would have enjoyed having to do :-( ) I think too it is a lovely idea for you to give her sons old pics of their Mum. I hope they appreciate your kindness .

I am sorry not to comment on any other posts today. I just don't seem to be in the right frame of mind to be chatty at the moment what with what is going on with James right now.
One positive thing is though is I booked that cottage at Goathland this morning and got Thomas booked in to the Cattery for then. Heck Mel I hope I don't stand on the wrong platform at the station :-D :-D. I know nothing about Hogwarts and know nothing about Harry Potter. Maybe I will need one of your Wands :-D :-D
The cottage is called The Potting Shed ,Goathland . It is quite tiny but the setting looks lovely.

Dinner is a bit of a mish mash tonight . Bit of this and a bit of that.

What sad news Frank, it would of been nice to have been told though. Shame you can't make it to the funeral. I hope all goes well for Ros at the hospital.

Love your new pic AnnG, is it a flower from your garden? It sounds like you have a lovely family around you. I'm like Frank and don't have contact with my family apart from my mum and occasionally my sister if mum brings her here. One of our daughter's moved to Leeds almost 5 years ago and she stopped talking to us, although we don't know why. The only contact we've had with her over the last two years was my BIL's funeral last year, no doubt the next time we will see her will be another funeral. It's such a shame when families lose contact.

Well, I'm in a bit of shock, the boss has had a go at me, speaking in such a way it frightened me. All I did was ask when the skip is being emptied and he hit the roof saying it's a building site so I should basically put up with all the mess and disruption. To be honest I did say that he shouldn't speak to a woman like that and did he speak to his mother in the same way? I couldn't believe the disrespect he showed me and in front of all the workmen to. OH heard him and came and told him not to shout at me and when I asked at the end of the day if they could hold back on some of the water they use to clean their side as it was going under the fence and into my grid, he went bonkers saying they don't have a hosepipe.

Luckily today I noticed only a small amount of water came onto our side, not enough to go down the drain. Even the workmen who are doing the rendering said it won't do the drains any harm as it's only resin, but if they are putting it on the outside of a property surely it's going to set like concrete, so if any of it goes down our drain it's going to block it.

I got so annoyed at the boss that I said if the skip isn't emptied tomorrow then I'm ringing the council as it's almost 3 foot higher than the skip top. All he said was it's a building site, so I said yes your side is but our side isn't. He walked away at one point, so I called him back as I thought that was very rude. He wasn't happy at coming back and wanted the last word all the time, so I said you like the last word don't you, to which he made another comment, so in the end I said see you're doing it again. He finally gave up and walked away again, so I said he was a VERY NAUGHTY BOY.

The workmen thought this was funny and you could see they were trying not to laugh. I'm sure that saying will go around all the workmen and they'll know the boss as a naughty boy from now on, but it's his own fault as all I could see was a naughty boy. I could of said a lot worse. Hopefully the skip will be emptied tomorrow because if they try and put anymore rubbish in there it's likely to fall or be blown off straight onto our car and that just isn't on, so I'll have no choice but to report them the health and safety at the council offices.

The rendering they've put on down the side isn't very smooth so I hope they smooth it off, OH said they won't as they've taken the plastic off now, if that's the case then hopefully my plants will grow and hide it in time.

Sorry rant over. I'm really starting to get fed up of it all now.

Me and my BIG MOUTH. The bin lorry has just collected the food waste. U went out to bring the caddy in, then I saw Micks son, Andrew from across the road. Mick has been transferred to the Cynthia Spencer ward, to live out his final days with CANCER. I asked how he was, and Andrew told me he PASSED AWAY last Friday. Would you believe, if the neighbours around us knew, that no one bothered to tell us. I can't believe some people. Anyway he is being Cremated at 1.15 pm on the 28th. Thursday week. It would be the same day that Ros has to be at the hospital at 1.30 pm for her Heart check-up.

I have put a few photos from Batsford Arboretum snowdrops on my blog.

I know some of you have the blog address. If you haven't and want to see the photos pm me. I keep it closed to people I 'know'.

Frank we are very lucky with all our Grandchildren and children. They all look out for us. As all the families live at least 2 hours from us we don't see a lot of them but stay in contact via facebook. 2 Grandsons are 2 hours away in Hampshire, one Grandson and family and daughter and her OH are in the L District which is over 4 hours away and son and his family with youngest grandchild (granddaughter is in M Keynes so over 2 hours away and their son our fourth grandson is in his last year of uni. It must be very sad not knowing where your daughter is. Maybe one day she will look for and find you.

Gill it sounds a right mess with a lot of work being made for you. Pleased your ankle feels better but don't overdo it with walking on it will you. :-)

I have just been down the garden. Ros is clearing all the fallen leaves that have accumulated around the seat in the arbour. I have taken four buckets full and put in the green bin. At this rate it will be full again, and it was only emptied this morning.

AnninG, you were very lucky to have guests that cleared up behind them. It must make things easier for you. As we get older, we do find it more difficult, even though we love having relatives to stay. With us ,now in a one bedroom bungalow, we can't have people staying. When Conrad is home from Spain and visits with Partner Jan. they stay either at Jan's daughters, or the Hilton Hotel which is close by. Harvey Ros;s other son lives about 25 miles away, so the family just visit for the day. Simon my son lives in Daventry which is only a short drive from us. We are over there next Sunday week, when my Niece and Nephew and their partners are coming for lunch.He is such a thoughtful boy, and I am so pleased that he is back in my life again. My daughter is still a mystery to me, and I don't know where she is living.

My, can't I ramble on !!!. I am going to catch the news, so bye for now.

Good idea to leave the lawns for now Frank, like Ros said you're ribs are still healing and you don't want to make them worse. OH cut our lawns the other day, but we've had really warm dry weather here so it's not harmed the grass. Maybe if you think it really needs doing now you could ask Barry to do it for you.
I've just Googled Diamond Anniversary Rose, it's very pretty, I'm sure they'll love it.
Pleased to see you didn't sleep walk last night, lets hope that's the end of it now.

How lovely of them to help tidy up AnnG. It sounds like you've been busy yourself getting everything back to normal to.

It's gone cloudy here and we had a bit of rain before. The rendering workmen seem to have disappeared so gawd knows when the job will be finished. I wish they'd just carry on till the end instead of all this stopping and starting.

Mum came to visit and because she couldn't park on the road with all the vans around tried coming down our drive, somehow she managed to hit the concrete post, but not on the side of her car, right in the middle of the front. She's not a very good driver at the best of times but to hit it head on that's just rediculas. Luckily she wasn't going fast so didn't hurt herself or make the post any worse, but she does have a white mark off the paint on her bumper now. OH reversed her car out of the drive when she left....better to be safe than sorry.

The workmen have lent things on our fence and have even put things on top of it and don't get me started on all the dirt that they've managed to get on our drive. It looks like concrete that has been washed onto our side so I hope OH can clean it off later. I'm really getting fed up of the work going on next door now and wish it was finished. We're hoping once the outside has been rendered, with there only being work left in doors to do, there won't be so much mess everywhere. I did manage to pick up some rubbish that had blown into our front garden before.

My ankle is getting better by the hour, although it might have something to do with the painkillers I've been taking today. I'm resting it as much as I can but if I don't walk around for a while it seems to make it worse, so a bit of gentle exercise is helping every now and then. I've also got a hot water bottle, which is also helping.

Going to watch a film with Sandra now as OH has gone to do the shopping for me and it's a chic flick which he doesn't like.

AnninG howw nice to have the beds stripped for you and everything tidyied away nicely. Its things like that that help a lot when you are older.

Just finishing my toast and my mate and then I am off.

Good morning to you all,xxx

Poor you Jane, I think I would go ballistic if that was going on across the road from me. When do they expect to start to build, and how many houses are there likely to be. ?? I do hope James and Jess come to some happy conclusion over the split. You never know, a few weeks apart might bring them back together. Whats the old saying about the HEART GROWS FONDER.

The sleepwalking has only started in the passed few days. Last night I stayed in bed. If I read for a while, I always listen to the Local Radio before turning in for the night. It's mainly MUSIC which I enjoy.

Ann, I would have thought the local council would by LAW have to inform those affected by any alterations to the right of way/ access to the properties. It might be an idea to ring them to enquire. What do the neighbours think ??

Gill, You must take more WATER with it. lol lol. Seriously you must try to be more careful and watch where you are walking. It's a good job OH was around, or you could have laid there for ages. Pleased that's nothing broken. xxxx

It's always difficult to choose what to send to a funeral, in the way of flowers/wreath. I can't remember the last ones Ros bought or had sent on our behalf. We haven't had any local friends pass away recently. I hope it stays that way ;-) ;-) ;-).

When Ros has finished this silly DOG'S HAT. I will get hr to take a photo on her phone. How I will send it to you, I don't know. But I am sure Lewis, Harvey, or Julia will know. Fingers crossed. !!!

Bright sunny morning here, Ros has bought (WELL I DID) a DIAMOND WEDDING ANNIVERSARY ROSE. for Denis and Pam. She is down the greenhouse putting it in a pot with Richard Jackson's compost, as I sit here. We will keep it in the Conservatory watered, and warm, until early next month, when it's their Anniversary.
We take about cutting the lawns, and Ros said it's early days for my RIBS and I shouldn't put any strain on them for a few more weeks, plus we might get frosts. and they won't do the lawn any good.

Mel I have made TWO Sheep S@@@ Pies this morning, one for tonight and one for the freezer. I have done a pot of Spring Greens and Swede for vegetables, so we won't go hungry.

It's Mothers Club this evening, they are having a talk and demonstration, on STAIN GLASS WINDOWS. I expect that to be very interesting, and who knows we might see a small roundel of some description turn up some time in the future. !!!! ;-) ;-) ;-)

Where has the morning gone, ?? I know I haven't really stopped since I got up at 7.30 this morning. Soon be lunchtime.

Have an enjoyable afternoon, and I hope top back later. xxxx

Its come over all grey here now and the winds really biteing and its Donkey Day.

I have some things I need from Lidl so I shall have to do that and Morrisons today.

Just going to do myself some toast and take my pills so I am ready for the off.

I watched the Traitors last night and think it may be good.

I still have a few more pics of Rosemoor to send when the pc decides it will do them without a fuss. I think I am the same as Ann and the pc has been updated and they change everything you used to do and they way you do it. Why can't they just leave us alone with the ways we know? :-(

I am having trouble sending pics and have to do them either by two's or one at a time and they take so long to load I could be doing other things.

good morning from the madhouse. Clearing up bed changing under way.

Fortunately the Grandchildren were excellent guests. Not only did he cook the meal last night, yesterday they emptied and put away a very large dishwasher load. (OK I am still looking for bits and pieces %3A-D) At 7am before they left,They stripped the bed and took all the sheets, pillowcases and duvet cover downstairs and put it by the washing machine, also the towels they had used. Jess used to be supervisor of housemaids at a large hotel in the Lake District so she has even rolled the duvet tidily and stacked the pillows.

Toys all back up in the loft, second load of washing in, spare bed re-made. Now to find all the ornaments I put away and get them out again.

Annx parking in modern roads, especially cul de sacs with so many families having more than one car, is a headache. That is why we relented in the end and lost our front lawn to bricks. My car is now off the road and OH's is in the garage. Hope those gates don't cause you any problems

Gill Oh dear that sounded nasty, although not as nasty as it could have been. Good job your OH was there to make sure you were ok before you stood up. Hopefully the bruises will soon ease. :-) <3

No, the pot of bulbs was fine apart from some of the compost fell out of the pot which OH put back in for me. Funny you should ask though Mel, as my first thought was how were the bulbs and had I broken the pot, funny the things you think of first isn't it? Then I realised I had really hurt my ankle and knee, but like I said I'm not to bad today and a lot better than I thought I would be, just a bit sore, which is to be expected.

Sorry to hear about your cousin Mel, I hope her back gets better soon, it must be getting her down though if she can't do much and is still in pain.

Thanks Mel for sending the pic of Ann's coaster. It's really good Ann. I did receive the picture of the sleeping kitty, so it looks like your email account has excepted my new email now :-) Love the pics you sent to Mel, especially the wrens.

It looks like there's a lot of work going on by yours Jane, you have my sympathy I know how noisy and horrible it can be. How is James now? I think a few days off work might do him some good.

The wreath you've ordered for your sister sounds nice Ann. Is the date still the same or has it been changed?

Sorry to hear you're still sleepwalking Frank, but at least it's indoors and not outside. Maybe it could be the book you're reading or have you maybe watched something on TV that's triggered it off? I hope it stops soon as it must be a bit of a worry which won't help either.

Morning Gill and all,

That sounded a nasty fall Gill I hope you feel a lot better today and are now on the mend. How did the pot of bulbs fare? Did you scatter them all over the place?

Not a bad morning here as we have sunshine and just a little breeze.

I must remember to write to my cousin in Ohio as she sent me a nice birthday card and I hav'nt thanked her for it yet and she is still in so much pain with her back after that fall in September when she had to put off her visist to England. She is so fed up with herself having to be in care and not being able to do the things she wants to do. She was so active before this fall.

Morning All,

Sunshine here which is nice and I slept well last night and hope everyone else did too.

Oh Gill, I have wobbled off the edge of flagstones before and I hit my head on the corner of a wall once. You must have wondered what damage you'd done to yourself at first and hardly dared to move. At least your OH was there to help you. I expect you will be sore and bruised for a while now, so take it easy for a while.

I need to get the washer on before we go to lunch so better get cracking now as I need to change the bed too.

Morning all

Sunny here again today, but not as warm as yesterday. The workmen are here doing some more of the prep for the rendering, hopefully the whole job will be finished this week.

I had an accident yesterday and hurt my left ankle and right knee so I'm having problems walking today. I was in so much pain yesterday I thought I'd broken my ankle, but thankfully that's not the case, although it's very sore today.

We moved the worse Red Robin down the bottom of the garden yesterday to see if it makes any difference before we move the other two. OH nipped over the road to the builders over there and asked them for help swapping the two 12 foot Red Robins over and also to move them down slightly as the window from next door is now on show again with moving the smaller plant down the garden. We can still see the window so will have to buy something else to block it now.

We were doing very well in the garden, then Sandra noticed some of my bulbs in the greenhouse were starting to flower, so we decided to take them out and move them behind the greenhouse, that's when I had my accident. I was carrying a pot and my ankle went over the edge of the flag stones, I went straight down, still carrying the pot and banged my knee when I hit the concrete. Poor OH said he thought I'd knocked myself out as I didn't move for a while, he came running over to me, by then I was just saying ouch, I was laying on the ground for ages as OH wouldn't let me move until he had checked me over properly. He then got a garden chair and helped me sit on that.

I couldn't stop shaking and felt really sick, OH said it was shock. Luckily after some time and a warm bath I started feeling better. Needless to say I didn't have a very good nights sleep last night, but thankfully can at least put some weight on my foot now. Poor Sandra said it was her fault because she mentioned the flowers, of course I said it wasn't and that accidents happen and it was my own fault for not looking where I was walking.

So that's why I wasn't on here yesterday.

I haven't read all the posts yet, so will do that now.

That's a distinct possibility with the chap Mandy as he has had run ins with a couple of other neighbours! He's the one who was flying a drone over everyone's garden as soon as he moved in! We know some of the delivery men use our drive to turn around as we've seen them, but any parking outside the gate will block the neighbours next to us drives first. It was so silly to have allowed the last 3 properties to be built. Max should be steadying down, well perhaps a little, now! I bet he likes his squeaky things. I saw on a programme the other day where they have found that 24% of Labs are missing a gene that tells them they have had enough to eat. It could explain why food is such a temptation for some. Last night's Chateau must have been one I hadn't seen! lol I hope the new series is recording. We did that same train trip to Goathland as you. It was sunny when we went and I think it was a narrow guage train. I remember it being windy once we got there.

Jane your fields opposite are just like the lane the other side of our village, with diggers and lorries and mud all over the place! It is lovely, slightly hilly countryside that had a bridleway through it and lots of wild life. Once it's gone, it's gone and no-one in the future will know how lovely it was. We have two lots of temporary lights up where they have the roads up in the village. This morning was the second morning we have passed a sign at a crossroads in the middle of the village that says 'This road will be closed for a day on ......date'. As OH says, Which road? as it could be one of four??

Anne our neighbour has a huge motorhome. They fix their bikes on the back and off they go. Years ago we thought about getting one before we got the caravan, but decided at the time that being able to go off in the car down narrow lanes and park at supermarkets etc once we arrived suited us better. The downside of course was that you had to go back to the caravan to move it elsewhere if and when you moved on!! I still miss that kind of holiday though as there are some lovely small sites in beautiful settings.

I have sorted out the flower wreath for my sister today, but need to make sure the date hasn't been changed before I order it. This is something I never thought I would have to do. I chose a circle of pure white flowers with a pretty spray of pale pink roses and small white flowers nestled in lots of green foliage on one side.

She had a photo of my mother's maternal grandparents, the only one that exists. I asked her to let me take a scan of it so many times but she never got round to finding it for me.I bet no-one else will know who it is of and it will get binned. My sister's ex took all our remaining family photos after my mother died and wouldn't relinquish any to my sister, which I felt was controlling and morally wrong. However, I have decided to do the decent thing and print off ones I took of her when I was a teenager. I gave her copies of some years ago, but have found a few more since. I can give them to her sons at the funeral.

Nice looking chicken house Mel. Looks really solid.

Mandy if your son had the bug it would have stayed infectious 48 hours after he started to feel ok and if he touched any hard surface that you subsequently touched you could have caught it from him.

Poor James Jane, he needs some thinking time. As they have been together for so long it could be the wedding that has made them think.
Annx yes last time she was here she scrambled the washing machine but we sorted it. She seemed better about that this time and played on her own with the toys.

Good evening all

Jane just seen the view from your window, what a shame as it was just fields before it's the last thing you want at the moment as well as all the noise, are they building houses there?

Wet day here but there was a beautiful vivid sun set so hope it will be better tomorrow as I am walking to the dentist for my 6 month check up it only takes 20 minutes to get there.

Mel thank you for sending on a photo of Ann's glass work and more of your own lovely photos especially the little wren
Richard recorded Baptiste which we will watch later this evening , he also recorded, Traitors and Endeavour as he was at Ice Hockey.

Jane, North Yorkshire is a really good place to spend a holiday we have been there many times. Heartbeat was also filmed at Goathland .We went on the train to Whitby last time we were there. Have you looked at Sykes cottages sight?

When Paul picks up his camper van he will stay in it overnight his friend who is taking him in his camper van will also be staying over. When he picks it up it will be fully serviced, cleaned and MOT'd. I don't think he will spend many big holidays in it more long weekends, Richard wouldn't want to spend a night in it as Paul has such a large snore and he always does it. .That's why they have to have separate rooms when we go on holiday.

Had my usual Monday chat with my eldest SIL, She went to a funeral the other day with no body, the chap had donated his body to research as he had Parkinsons, she said it was strange as it was held in the local crematorium and of course no coffin.

Frank I agree with Jane that maybe playing some music at bedtime would help also maybe some warm milk to drink .

Pleased to hear you are feeling better Mandy, not a nice thing to have and can be weakening too.
It's school half term here so will you be seeing the grandchildren?

Jane I'm not surprised that James is taking time off so he can get his head round the situation, did he see it coming or was it a complete shock to him?

So the little whizz kid had a good night's sleep bless her and has now refuelled her batteries AnnG.