General Chat

That's thoughtful AnnG and will get them in the festive mood after seeing your decorations. It will be nice for your visitors to see too. I have noticed a few trees starting to go up now. The hairdressers had decorated theirs and one of the restaurants has been decorated for a couple of weeks.

I am only quick because I have son coming Saturday to do the present swap, just here and back in one day. Then I have Grandson coming Monday and staying over to Tuesday doing the same thing.I thought it would be nice to look festive for them,mtgen next week I have the garden meeting here.

It sounds like your son's job must be quite stressful Vera. It was same when we went on holiday before OH retired. He would still get phone calls and be checking and dealing with emails while we were away (at least there were no zoom meetings then though!). Travelling with him to offices in places like Liverpool and Wales (I would sightsee or shop!) we would have to park up in laybys on the way while he went through all his new emails and dealt with anything urgent. I don't think a lot of people understand what some jobs are like. Even now he gets calls from his schools well outside working hours. They seem think you are on standby for them 24 hours a day. Technology hasn't helped in some ways.

Sun Mel, what's that I've forgotten? Down to 5 degrees here and dull as dull can be all day. Was your meal you did in the slow cooker ok?

The alarm man came this afternoon and it was one of 3 fuses that the first power surge blew. He left me 3 more fuses just in case but doubts we will have any more trouble. If we do we should phone him and he will talk me through what to do so we could fix it ourselves.

You are quick getting your Christmas decs up AnnG. It must look nice and christmassy at your house now with the tree decorated too. I must get a shift on and make a start soon. :-)

Ah yes I recognise it now but did somebody else sing it. I don't think it was ever one of my favourites.

Snng I put the link up for you to hear the song. The original.

Been in the garden as the suns been out for a little while and we are now up to 9 degrees but pc says mostly cloudy.

I have done the big pond filter today and let some water out of the pond and have the pump on from the well to fill it back up with some fresh water. Did'nt realalise the time so have come in to eat something.

Maybe if I heard the tune I would recognise it although with a young baby from 1961 we were not really into pop music.

It has got up to 7 degrees now but is very grey and miserable here. I have done a load of washing and decorated my little tree. It looks quite pretty I suppose but seems odd after the one we used to have in the same place. (No other place to put it).

Morning All,

6 Degrees here and dull again.

Vera is right. The Unit 4+2 version of the song was the first in the 60s that I remember. I remember it well as it was played at the big city hall where I would don my roller skating boots as a teenager and wearing my fringed, bell bottom jeans would skate with my friend to the latest hits. :-D One of the few happy memories of the time.

BBL as course is about to start.

Anng try this and see if you remember the song from the sixties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CEQ640sHr8

Good morning ladies

6 degrees and grey again.

We don’t know if the water went off yesterday or not. We weren’t aware of it so, if it did go off, it must have only been for a short period.

Mel, I am going to have that song going round in my head all day now. AnnG, it was a big hit in the 1960s though I think it might have been originally sung by a group. I think the Randy Edelman version was later - 1970s?

The new Strike is Troubled Blood which I think is the latest book in the series. I have read it and enjoyed it but I hope they tone the language down a bit for television. There is a lot of swearing in the book.

Harry Ram is so cute Mandy. I agree with Ann. Your work is so even and neat and to do it with your wrist problems is a real achievement.

Son rang last night to remind me he’s off on holiday today for a week of winter sun. Dil is not happy as he has to take his laptop and have Zoom meetings and phone calls. He gets good money but, by golly, he earns every penny. There’s absolutely no let up. We’ve even been in the car with him when he has been conducting a Zoom meeting, with dil driving of course. Anyway, in his phone call he was able to suggest what I could get daughter’s son for Xmas which was very helpful. I haven’t got all the presents yet but at least I know what I am getting.

I had a big Tesco order yesterday and was very pleased. There was nothing missing and just one acceptable sub.

I’m still in my jammies and cosy dressing gown so I had better go and get dressed. Have a good day folks.

weather map says snow could reach some parts of the south west next week.

Morning Anng and all,

Greyish bright here too and it 6 degrees and light rain again.

Nothing planned for today but I must do a bit of ironing. Not going anywhere today but next week I shall need chickens food so a trip to Mole Valey is on the cards.

Hope you all slept well and had enough sleep to keep you going.

good morning all ooh warm this morning, 5 degrees, dry and greyish bright.

No Mel I don't remember that one, Not sure I have ever heard it. How old is it?

I don't know why but I have had this song going around in my head all afternoon and could'nt think what it was called so I looked it up.


Randy Edelman – Concrete And Clay Lyrics
You to me
Are sweet as roses in the morning
And you to me
Are soft as summer rain at dawn, in love we share
That something rare

The sidewalks in the street
The concrete and the clay beneath my feet
Begins to crumble
But love will never die
Because we'll see the mountains tumble
Before we say goodbye

My love and I will be
In love eternally
That's the way
Mmm, that's the way it's meant to be

All around
I see the purple shades of evening
And on the ground
The shadows fall and once again you're in my arms
So tenderly

The sidewalks in the street
The concrete and the clay beneath my feet
Begins to crumble
But love will never die
Because we'll see the mountains tumble
Before we say goodbye

My love and I will be
In love eternally
That's the way
Mmm, that's the way it's meant to be

The sidewalks in the street
The concrete and the clay beneath my feet
Begins to crumble
But love will never die
Because we'll see the mountains tumble
Before we say goodbye

My love and I will be
In love eternally
That's the way
Mmm, that's the way it's meant to be

And that's the way
That's the way it's meant to be

Anyone remember it?

I hope its not Strike Back as thats not the one I like.

O Strike is back I hope its not repeats. I liked that series and there's not much I watch on the tv now so I mostly watch something on iplay or prime.

All the good old fashioned things sem to be on now tv or something you have to pay for.

Looking forward to Kirstie and I meant to mention it on here and forgot.

Thanks for mentioning Kirsty Mandy! I notice Strike is back too, next week I think......I must check when. I know Mel likes that too.

Evening All,

It was foggy here this morning, then damp and dull and hasn't been above 5 degrees all day. I had a hair appointment first thing so was up early to shower and be there for 9.00am. She must have done a particularly good job as one of the waitresses complimented it where we went for lunch. We ended up having F&C in the end and very nice it was too if pricey! As OH said we don't eat out much now so it's still cheaper really. We went to the nearby garden centre then and OH got some plastic wallets he wanted from the works and I got some of their detail paintbrushes which I find very good. We had a look at the Christmas decorations and I forgot to get some of the heathers that are 3 colours for the 2 front wallpots.

I emailed the alarm man and he will pop round tomorrow. He thinks the fuse may have blown with the first power cut so will check that first.

I've ordered a small Turkey Crown from the farm shop for Christmas lunch. They didn't even want a deposit. I'm glad we didn't need a large one as they are charging £7.95 a pound!

Mandy that was lucky you happened to try the back door of your car as you say. I wonder how long it had been like that. At least now it is being sorted so that's good. I wonder if stocks of the fat quarters are low then. We'll be going to Aldi again in the next week so I'll see if any have come in. Harry is fantastic and your knitting is so neat and good, even with your poor wrists that are still recovering! Thanks for the mention about Friday and Strictly. It's the musicals isn't it. I can't quite think that it's fair that Kym automatically goes through as she had covid though. Someone could be asymptomatic and have a nice rest and learn the steps of the following dance at home.

Are your pretty cottages and snow scenes in place now AnnG? Your visitors must really enjoy seeing them. I must admit we are making a bit more effort this year.
Did you see the news where around 39,000 PCR tests were wrongly reported as negative by a Wolverhampton Lab test centre for about 6 weeks last autumn. Most of the cases were in the South West including Gloucestershire. All those people unknowingly infecting others!

How annoying Vera to have planned around the water cut off so it didn't cause inconvenience to you only to find it didn't happen. I hope it actually happened today!

Well it's official now that white people are the ethnic minority in the city near here. How quickly the balance has changed since I started work in the city in the 60s. Not an easy job for teachers with all the different languages spoken.

Mel we never know when Our Asda order will turn up and never get told how many stops away the driver is, so you are lucky! I bet your slow cooker meal will be fine and tasty. Little to wash up after too.

Well after attempts at 3 sketches for class tomorrow I've given up! We are supposed to do several quick sketches, check the proportions and start painting one tomorrow. It's driven me mad as it seems a back to front way to go about it, like building a house without a plan, then finding the windows and door are in the wrong places. The idea is to capture 'something ' about the person in our quick sketch which I understand, but then trying to correct anything after makes something else wrong and so on and mine have lost the likeness completely. I'll be interested to see how the others got on.

Mel we had something called London Cheesecakes from Adi they were puff pastry with a little jam inside and had lots of shredded coconut on the top , they were very sweet ,why they were called cheesecake I don't know as they were nothing like the cheese cakes we have now .

New series of Kirsties Handmade Christmas on channel 4 Friday 9th December.

I have the slow cooker on with chicken and lots of veg in it and a can of chicken soup. Just have to add some peas later on and a stock pot thing.I put it on so it would be read about 7.30pm so hope Iv'e done it all right.

I was remembering a cake my dad used to like which I hav'nt seen now for years. It was called a cheese cake but was puff pastry with I think sponge in the middle covered with white icing and topped with shreded white coconut laces. Do any of you remember these??

And the results show is on Saturday.

8 cottages Mandy but one is battery but 7 lots of wires and plugs.