General Chat

Apparently it all started over 20; years ago when a teacher asked him if he could explain what happened with growing plants to a small class and he offered one day a week. Other teachers heard and that snowballed. Then a man offered to teach working with wood to students then a friend started to help him. They ended up showing how to make bird boxes.then a cookery teacher offered cooking classes, followed by a drama teacher, a music teacher and so on. First sheds were built then they were given the money to build a hall and classroom etc. I think he said he has bought another field to expand more. It is run as a charity all the helpers are volunteers, students are never charged and are all ages child to adult. He is a really funny unassuming speaker.

Iv'e mucked my pc up asnd lost my bookmarks and don't know how to fix it. It seems I have blocked microsoft.I shall have to wait till BIL comes and not sure if he is coming tomorrow or not.

You've got a lot done today Mandy. I must check my seedings in the morning as they soon dry out in the greenhouse and it was sunny this afternoon. What a shame Jake got a wrong answer again. I bet he was disappointed and kicking himself when he realised. Fingers crossed he will do ok next time. I was seeing that there are backlogs for driving tests with some individuals booking a lot and selling them on!! Yes, that bathroom was something else wasn't it with the ceiling and walls all painted black! lol. After all the black I thought the nice big light they had was a bit powerful and would show up all the creases in your birthday suit. ;-) :-D I thought it was a good idea to use the wood from the pews for panelling and thought that looked effective. The bath that was supposed to be quite big seemed a squeeze for Keith but he is tall and big built isn't he. They are a lovely couple that seem to get on really well.

I will have to have a look on youtube Mel. I bet it would be handy for you to be able to use the old mower to tow the trailer. You could park it where you work and load stuff straight into it then. I'm glad we never got your hailstones and thunder here, but it's been a really cold day outside.

AnnG I would have enjoyed your meeting and I looked at the link and thought what a lovely thing he had done with so many things to help people. We have an allotment in the village called 'A Place to Grow' that is for anyone with mental health troubles to come and learn to grow things which is popular.

I managed to fill the second bag for the charity shop tomorrow. I couldn't believe how many nightdresses I've got and daren't tell you! I must have kept forgetting I'd bought some after I'd squirrelled away the bags out of sight and bought more! Needless to say, any dingy ones have been thrown out now.

I'm off to bed as I have to be up early to shower and go for my blood test for 8.25 am tomorrow. I hope we all get a good night's sleep tonight.

It's been a lovely sunny day but a lot cooler .

I've got lots of inside jobs done today ,had a good dust round and hoover ,got two loads of washing dry and did a pile of ironing , made an old schoolcake and watered all the little seeds that are coming through.

Ann I couldn't believe my ears when they said black walls and ceiling for ths bathroom , green bath ,standard lamp ,sofa and a drinks trolley lol :-D
Now we wait to see what the bedroom will be like lol

Anng it sounds as if you really enjoyed your meeting and talk today .

Vera I hope you had a better night's sleep last night and your feeling better today must be awful to keep getting all these bad heads .

Shopping day tomorrow and we hope to go early so we miss the queues at the temporary lights ,it's bound to be busy with the easter weekend coming up .

Oh Jake had his theory test again today poor boy failed on one question again ,hopefully third time lucky for him ,he has to go to Norwich each time for the test .

Annx I'm glad you watched the otter being painted she's really good is'nt she. Shae had her own channel at one time called She Walks She Paints, Have a look at those and you will see all her work. she does calenders, mugs notelets, cards and her prints she even does Chirstmas cards.

That souds like you had a lovely meeting Anng and it was very interesting. I'm glad you enjoyed it and did'nt get bored.

Stu is coming tonight and he's going to have a look at the old mower and see if he can free the front wheel up so I could drive it if I wanted to. I can pull the trailer with that or oh's old mower. I'm going to o sausage toad with creamy leeks carrots broc and roasts.

The sun came out this morning and its been really nice all day but theres still that cold breezey wind.

We've had a lot of rain cos its filled both ponds up and the empty big trailer has loads in it too.

Just back from the U3a meeting. This month it was the owner of our local little garden centre. this garden centre, or nursery as it once was was started by his Grandfather, then his father and now owned by him. He is also the owner of the centre that has all sorts of help and classes for Special needs, mental health problems, and problems at all in fact, all classes that are held there for which he doesn't charge, just seems to generate money gifts without really trying. I think I have mentione it, called the Butterfly Garden.
difficult to understand but if you google the butterfly garden or click the following link there is a good explanation to see,

https://www.glosfamiliesdirectory.org.uk/kb5/gloucs/glosfamilies/service.page?id=01ZUxSObxBc

He is an excellent enthusiastic speaker, very funny and psstionate at what he does.He aims to never say 'no' explained by the fact that he explored the possibility of recycling videos which were going to landfill, he gets students to take them apart and they recycle the parts. He now receives videos from all over the country and at the moment probably has 10000 waiting for recycling. He gets so much stuff for recycling given to him that he now holds a waste disposal licence. He was the sort of speaker that you didn't want to stop.

Afternoon All,

Brrrr it was icy cold this morning but dry and cloudy and really windy. No more rain though and the sun is out now but it's still blowy. The Magpie nest was rocking well as if on a stormy sea!

We went down to the retail park to look at trainers for OH in JD Sports and Sports DIrect where we got our walking boots years ago. OH had quite a shock at the prices as he hasn't kept up with rising prices and those shops seem to have gone upmarket now with fancy designs and prices to match. The trend seems to be thick white soles with no bend in them as well which isn't ideal. I showed him some online at Chums when we got home which he thought would be better and were more the sturdy style of a few years ago and half the price. I also found a promotion coupon that reduced the price by £7.50, so fingers crossed they will fit him ok.

I hope you are more OK today Vera and had a good sleep. OH finds the ocular migraines just as draining so don't try to do too much.

Mandy I thought of you as I watched the Chapel prog last night and wondered what you thought of the colour scheme for the latest room they have done. In case you haven't watched it yet, all I will say is that any mould won't show!! We have made mistakes putting the bins out in the past too. They come so early for them now though it's no joke doing a dash in time for the 6.30am collection.

AnnG, the tree blossom looked like confetti on the pavement when we went out, but we also have nextdoor's Magnolia blossom on our garden this morning and I don't think any has fallen on their own garden. Some of the deep pink double cherry blossom looks lovely just now.

I meant to say that I watched the Skye couple on Youtube Mel and thought the Otter was good. I hope the rain fills the pond and well for you, but save some to send here please,

They have the road closed again in the village so all the motorway traffic was queuing from the village past our close this morning. Luckily, someone let us in, but the road on the way to the shop near where my parents lived is closed now where they are building yet another new estate, so I had to go a different way. Also there were lanes closed on the main road by an island as someone had collided with a traffic light and knocked it down. I must remember to leave nice and early in the morning for my blood test.

I started sorting the bottom of one of the wardrobes so better go and finish it now My knees have had a rest.

8 degrees here and feels much colder and I have the heating on. Still pouring and the only good thing is its filling the big pond up and hopefully the well too. I think its set to rain all day again much like yesterday but harder.

Good morning all it is blowing a gale and raining this morning (4 degrees), The blossom tree in the garden at the end of mine was absolutely full of blossom, very dark pink, it looked very pretty. However I knew what would happen and I was right, the wind is usually blowing this way this time of year and the blossom petals always end up in my garden. and they are!!! funny night's sleep last night. still awake at 2am so got up then and walked around. back to bed and went to sleep and woke between 5 and 6, up for the loo, back to bed and slept until 0745. So presumably I eventually had enough sleep.

Now we have hailstones which won't do the new leaves on the plants much good. :-(

we had a thunderstorm at 11pm last night but it did'nt last too long.

Morning all,

I was awoken at 7am with a call from my pond man to say he was coming tomorrow and not this morning. I had just woken and was gathering myself together and was surprised when the phone rang and it was'nt behaving great.Once I had rung voicemail it would'nt let me hang up but I managed it in the end. So up really early for nothing and have to do it all again tomorrow now.

So pleased to hear from Vera as we were getting worried. Hope you slept well last night and feel better today. Sending love and wishes. <3

Morning all,

Bit early but when we went to bed last night Colin looked out the window and said why have we put the black bin out and everyone else has the green ones out , we'd put the wrong bin out so as I woke at six I nipped out and swapped them over as the bin men come at half past six .
Now having a nice cuppa .

Thank you for your concern AnnG. I've had a few "off" days but I am OKish. I only got 2 hours sleep Sunday night again and couldn't settle to anything all day yesterday though I did manage to get washing done. Last night was better. I was still awake at 2.30 am but then must have dropped off as the next thing I knew it was 8 o'clock. However, I have had 2 sessions of ocular migraine today, 1 this morning and 1 this afternoon. They don't last long, anything from 20 minutes to an hour, but I do have to stop whatever I am doing and sit with my eyes closed until it passes and I can see properly again. They also tend to leave me with a headache.

Yesterday's washing was all clothing so today I got the bedding washed and did a load of towels. No chance of hanging anything out as we'd had a lot of rain during the night and it carried on for most of the morning. Since then there have been a couple of showers. Needless to say, there has been nothing done in the garden for a couple of days

I have just read all the posts and taken in what you have been saying but I won't comment as I don't want to risk my eyes going funny again with looking at the screen too much. I wish you all a good night.

When OH went for a walk this morning he was well wrapped up and got hot. He even changed into a T shirt and shorts when he got home! An hour later when he cooled down he was soon changing into his joggers and put a fleece on!! It was warm in the conservatory where we had lunch, but we put the heating on later. It's raining gently here now, so I'm glad you and Mandy have sent some my way! That's a nuisance about the light, but hopefully it's the fuse. I think a rest today after all you've been doing lately will have done you good.

No Vera again so I hope she is just busy and is ok and not suffering with a migraine.

It has rained here most of the day not too heavy so the garden has liked it but its a bit windy now.

I have felt cold all day today and turned the heating on before my shower. I was going to have it first thign this morning but when I looked at the asda delivery he was only 5 stops away. Now that could be miles away or local so I put it off till this afternoon and then forgot so I eventually had it about 20 mins ago. Not done anything today just sat around doing this and that. Don't feel I have achieved anything though.

My little tom plants have just got their proper leaves so its time to pot them up I think maybe tomorrow.

I have the pond man coming tomorrow to see about the UV light for the big pond. I thought it was looking a touch greenish and I had left the light off when I last did the filter in the week. Switched it on and nothing no light at all. Nick seems to think it may be a fuse and I am hoping thats all it is. He's coming very early in the morning to take a look so I have to be up really early to be ready.

Evening All,

No rain here today, but it was a bit blowy and chilly this morning.

I can't seem to get hold of the local skip people to book a skip for when the fitter comes. I tried the mobile, which said temporarily unavailable at first, but the voicemail worked on Friday so I left a message. I've tried the home number and sent an email, so I hope they get back to me soon. OH thinks they may be on holiday. It's sod's law the bathroom shop have brought out another catalogue and the wash basin I wanted isn't in it! lol. Two steps forward and one back at the moment, so it's a good job the work couldn't be done straightaway.

Yesterday we did a bit more pruning and weeding in the garden and the bin is almost full now. The back garden is beginning to look better, but still a way to go and then the front garden needs the same. Someone has put posts and barbed wire along the back of the bottom fence and ditch so I expect there will be cattle in there soon. The nest in the Blackthorn tree is a Magpie's nest as I've seen one go in there a couple of times. I expect those chicks will be noisy when they want food.

Today I managed to sort through yet more clothes and now have two charity bags full for the shop. Some nearly fit me again but I've decided that peachy colours don't suit my pasty complexion and mostly white hair now. I kept one top with peachy flowers on a navy background as that looked ok. I had to do it in two stints so had a break for lunch.

Happy Birthday to your BIL Mel. I was looking at one of his photos last night! It sounds much easier to see someone at your surgery. Even if we ring on the dot at opening time we can be in a phone queue of over 20. Those ticks seem to be wherever there are deer. The deer park here with the lovely old trees has warning signs about ticks now.

I see you had a successful shopping trip AnnG. I miss the Bon Marche we used to have at the retail park near here. It's Primark now, but the Bon Marche clothes are a better quality. I have woken with a tickly cough once or twice during the night lately and thought it might be hay fever.

I see you have been busy doing jobs Mandy and had a nice, tasty chicken. I should cook a whole one as there is much more flavour. What a lot of sunflowers you grew last year. I planted some last year where they were to grow, but I think the mice must have dug them up to eat. My Marigold seeds have sprouted now though and seem ok in the cold greenhouse. We should get some of your rain tonight and could do with it now, so send it this way please. I think it's the chapel prog again tonight so I wonder what surprises there will be for us! :-D

Had lunch then popped out into the garden and planted another couple of the plants bought at the garden centre last week. Just a few hanging around in the conservatory now. I don't think I mentioned that yesterday I potted on the tomato seedlings. They are now taking their chances in the conservatory, just hope we don't get too many colder nights.

NoVera for a couple of days. I know she was not feeling too good when she last posted so do hope all is OK. <3

Had a nice coffee and chat at sons traffic was a bit clogged up going as there was temporary traffic lights in place someone had crashed yesterday into the control box of the traffic lights ,we called at Aldi on the way home as the traffic had eased a bit by then .

Anng I like the crops in Bon Marche, I need some new ones for this year ,I had a nice pair from there last year in a crinkle material in a nice teal colour they are so comfortable to wear .

Rain stopped at lunch time and the sun tried to peep through but there to much cloud ,it seems a lot colder too .