General Chat

Did anyone watch Hotel Portabilo on friday night ITV. I think it is going to be good.

First go with mine this evening Mel :-D Not very adventurous - why burn cordon bleu when you can burn something out the freezer LOL I haven't really :-D but baby steps.
Didn't bother much with the instruction book - too long winded, just dived in.
There's some nice tempting recipes online.
It's not as big as I thought it would be and the worktop needed a cull anyway :-D

Iv'e ordered one!! Something else to get in the way on the worktop!!! but it should save me money if I want to do some chips or cook a small joint etc.

Thanks Anng. Could you cook a small chicken in it?

Yes it is Mel the one with £20 off

Is it the Lakeland air fryer with the two drawers you have Anng and Island?

I bet it is hiding in plain sight Vera. Maybe tucked inside one of the others.

Island Mine was so jammed in that I couldn’t have got the inner box open without splitting the outer box from a protection point of view it was really well packed. I won’t be going anywhere with it now until tomorrow. I haven’t turned it on yet. Daughter says she was confused when she first got her ninja but it was easier than the instructionsinferred.
I will check the plates tomorrow.

Well, I have hunted high and low and I can’t find my instruction book. I’m quite well organised with things like that and have packs with labels like Garden Equipment and Tools, Kitchen and Cleaning etc and including one marked Hi-Fi, Radios and Clock Radios. I’ve even got instructions for equipment we don’t have anymore. They are kept on the top shelf of a cupboard in the uti and I’ve climbed on the steps to see if the booklet was just shoved up there loose and got pushed to the back of the shelf. Nope! So I’ve been online and found a 24 page manual I can download. I’m too tired and cross to do it now but I might try and sort it out tomorrow.

The neighbours next door have had a tree company in to cut back 2 huge trees in their garden which is a bit bigger than ours. I’m pleased as one of the trees was right in the corner where our gardens meet and made that area so shaded. Plus we were left with piles of leaves to clear up. They have had that one cut back to 9 or 10 feet. It was a beautiful tree, a variegated maple, but far too big for where it was. It will probably recover but might take a year or two to look good again.

We’ve been puzzling over a plant in a pot outside the conservatory. It’s ridiculous but neither of us can think what on earth it is though one of us must have potted it up. At the moment it’s just several brown sticks about 18 ins tall so it’s either a shrub or a bushy perennial. It’s quite exciting waiting to see what it is. I’m assuming it’s going to produce new growth in the spring.

I stopped at this point to make a coffee and then got sidetracked so I’d better post this before I get diverted again.

No Island the workmen would of been using a digger so it wouldn't of taken them that long which is why I was so shocked at the 7k quote. I couldn't afford that price anyway with everything else that needs doing, so like I said earlier we'll level it ourselves even if it does take quite a bit longer.

Mel, I think most of us feel more like doing things when it's sunny. Dull days dull the mind :-( Thank you for sharing your photos.
You seem to be cracking on Gill. Have to ask though..... how long were those tradesmen expecting the levelling to take for 7K? :-0 Surely they wouldn't have been doing it with a rake? LOL

Ann, no I didn't have a problem with the boxes, sorry.
I just opened the outer one then lifted the lid on the inner one, lifted the 'egg boxes' out then pulled on the poly bag to raise one end of the fryer so I had a bit of purchase to lift it. I did all this with it still on the floor.
Then,,, I placed it on an armchair to pull the poly bag off as it would have been to slippy to safely carry to the kitchen.
Not too bad but wouldn't have turned down an offer of help LOL

As per I was making plans for the cardboard boxes - can't have too many at the moment!

Now for the tricky bit. It's black, why is everything black? I find it difficult to see clearly. So.... when you've fathomed out how low the 'trays' sit in the baskets would you let me know please? I don't want to force them into position if it's not needed.

Assuming you have the same one? Mine is the 9Ltr one.

I didn't mind paying £3 for express delivery as I usually find I'm hanging about for up to 5 days waiting. It's tricky trying to time it and never works.

What a palaver with the boxes AnnG lets hope it doesn't need sending back if the cardboard box is in pieces.

The living room is finished now, we didn't realise how late it was and OH is on a 12 hour night shift tonight, first one back after a couple of nights off, so he's having a soak in the bath then he'll relax for a bit before eating and going to work. We'll empty the hallway another day.

I was going to cement the hearth tonight but have decided to wait until the hall floor has been done incase there's a bit of board left over as I'd like to put another small piece in front of the original hearth. I don't want to cut one now as we think we've only just got enough for the hall, so it's best to wait.

I'm the same as you Mel, if we have a sunny day I seem to get more done, it also cheers you up to see the sun. Looking forward to seeing a pic of your snowdrops.

Going to have a drink now before we eat.

Pc is saying 10 degrees but it dos'nt feel like it outside today. Its still very dull and cloudy.

Gill you're making good progress with the rooms. and another one just finished, well done you two.

Why is it when we get a bit of sunshine I want to do lots of things but when its dull and cloudy I don't want to do anything? there's no wind today so I should have cleaned the big girls out but I just could'nt face it.

I must send a pic of my snowdrops so those that can't get out to see some can enjoy mine from their houses. I would get a bietter pic if it was sunny so am waiting for a glimps one day soon.

I don't often enjoy male authors writing from a female's point of view but he was good.

Well my air frier arrived. That was good going. Ordered Thursday early evening and didn't pay the £3 delivery charge for next day delivery and it arrived today via Evri at the time they had estimated.so two days free postage and no problems with the delivery. Must admit I was worried when I knew it was Evri after all the problems they have had published recently. But the delivery man was great, in his own car not a van. when I asked him he lifted it into the kitchen.

I have unpacked it. that was a task I would not like to do too often. The airfrier was in its own box inside a solid cardboard box and it fitted so tight that no way could I get one box out of the other unless I tore the cardboard box apart. I just hope it won't need to go back for any reason as the box is in bits. the next job was to get it out of its own box which also had that compacted stuff like egg boxes around it. the frier itself is heavy so you can imagine how heavy it was inside two well packed boxes. It is in position now and fits where the smaller one was which is good (although I had measured it.for the space before ordering).

I have not switched it on yet as I am too tired to start working it all out so that will be a job for tomorrow.

Island did you have a problem getting yours out of the boxes?

I hope you find your instruction book Vera, I still have one of those old style radio's OH's uncle gave it to us as a wedding present and it's still going strong after 36 years. Sorry to hear you had a bad tum and hope you feel better soon.

Thanks AnnG and Vera for saying I'm young and full of energy, pity I don't feel it today, my arms are aching from the DIY in the kitchen the other day, so trying to help with the boards is a bit sore.

We've got two small bits of boards to put down then apart from the cementing of the hearth the room will be finished. It's taking us a while as we're trying to finish the room with the off cuts that way we'll have enough to do the whole hallway. The woman who worked out how many boards we'd need for the living room over estimated and we have five full boards and five cut off spare which hopefully will be enough for the hall. So I guess we're doing the hall next and not our bedroom.

We're having Sky put in a new box a week on Monday so we can't over fill the living room or there'll be no room for him to set it all up, so doing the hallway next has worked out good for us. When it comes to measuring our bedroom for the boards I'm going to do it myself as an over estimate of five boards is silly, so she's obviously not very good at maths. It's a good job we have other floors to do.

OH is putting another board down so there's only one small piece left for me to measure then the room is finished and we can start moving the furniture out of the hall. We have two large wardrobes in the hall, plus a few cupboards and a pile of wood. They'll go in the living room and still leave enough space for the Sky fella to set up Sky and we'll probably have the hall floor done by then too.

Well, I'd better go OH is waiting for me to measure the final piece of board.

That’s an author I haven’t come across AnnG so thanks for mentioning him. I’ve just checked on my Libby app and Suffolk libraries have 5 Douglas Kennedys in e-book form so I can borrow them to read on my iPad. I’ll wait till I’ve finished the 2 books I’ve got downloaded at the moment and then I’ll borrow one.

yes, oh to be as young as Gill with all her energy.
I have not been out into the garden, it is really damp and cold feeling although the temp is supposed to be 8 degrees. So well done Vera on persevering.
Shame about th.e dodgy tum but better to stay home
I walked down and got six books to last me the next month although the selection was not that good for me this time. Even though there are literally hundreds of books. I was hoping to find another book by Douglas Kennedy as I read a really good one by him recently (Leaving the World) but I couldn't find one so I seem to have ended with several book with authors unknown to me.

Good morning everyone

It’s very overcast but it’s dry and not too cold so a reasonable day. When I got up I was going to suggest that we had a drive to either Ickworth or Anglesey Abbey and walk through the grounds. They both have lots of snowdrops and I thought we might spend an enjoyable hour but I’ve got an iffy tum this morning. I don’t feel too bad but decided not to risk being too far from a bathroom.

Instead I spent a bit of time in the garden doing bits of tidying up that I could manage without setting my back off. I was OK with a hoe as I could stay upright and not have to bend and stretch too much so I got rid of some weeds and moss like that. At least I feel I’ve done a bit and not left it all to OH.

That sounds a good day out at Tetbury AnnG. I think I would have enjoyed that.

Your bungalow will be lovely when it’s finished Gill. I wish I had your energy.

I’m now going to go and hunt for the instruction book that came with my kitchen radio a few years back. Not watching what I was doing the other day I reached out to put it on and must have hit the wrong button. Trying to get back the programme I wanted I made it worse and now all I get is the display saying “Now tuning..”. It never gets beyond that so I think I’ll have to start from scratch and set it all up again. I remember it was quite complicated. O for the days of a switch for on/off and a knob to turn to tune it to the station you wanted!

Morning all

It sounds like you had a great day out AnnG and managed to see lots of interesting places. I was thinking of doing the garden bit by bit but it's unlevel everywhere so needs to be levelled before we can do anything. We've been levelling it bit by bit over the last two years, so not much left to do compared to how much needed doing at the start so we might as well plod on and finish it ourselves as we can't justify £7,000 for that job.

Well, we hit our first problem with the boards yesterday, the hearth isn't level enough for the board to sit straight and the board kept popping off the screws so we've decided not to board that bit and go around it then cement the hearth so we can level it with the surrounding boards, if that makes sense. With a bit of luck the boards will all be down today and I can cement it tonight when OH is in work.

We've been working so hard lately we're both sleeping better, which is good.

OH has just got back from the shop, he went out to buy the cement as the shop is only open half day today and closed tomorrow.

Going to grab a drink then get back to work, once the living room is finished we'll make a start on emptying the bedroom into there then we can board the bedroom. They'll only be the hall and kitchen left to do then we can start on decorating and buying some carpets, with a bit of luck next winter will be a lot warmer here with no more drafts coming up through the floorboards.

I am on a meter Anng.