General Chat

The DVDs I've been loaned are
The Lion King
Finding NEMO
UNSTOPPABLE
Marley & Me
WHITEHOUSEDOWN

I've given her some of mine.

You know a man could become lazy in my predicament. I've a Television, DVD player
PC and an assortment of books and newspapers.

Have we not seen that pic before David?

Oh has given me a job...............................cut his hair. He said I'll go in the shower and then it will be nice for you to cut it but I told him he would be beter to go in the shower after and get rid of all the ahir clippings. So he is just washing up for me and then I shall do it for him.

He told me I was missing out on lunch out as he won't go out with his hair this long!!!!!! :-S

Mel, you had better bring you scissors up here, mine needs another trim. also my eyebrows. I'm beginning to look like "DENNIS HEALY" (silly billy)

Have just spoken to SHIRL. on Skype. She is just off to the hospital to see the latest photo's of her eyes. She had an injection last week. It looks like she will be leaving Genes as she can't get on here without going from page to page. She only gets page 200 with no "MORE PAGES" icon. Her subs are up in January, and if she can't get sorted out she won't renew. I told her I will keep in touch on Skype and pass any news to you all.

David if ever you get short of DVDs to watch I have a good collection. !!! I remember watching "finding Nemo" on a flight back from Charlotte South Carolina, after out trip round the Caribbean. I must have watched it THREE TIMES.
I've just been out to put the line up for Ros, It's blooming cold out there, especially as I am only in shorts. BRASS MONKEY'S comes to mind !!! :-( :-(

Frank, thank you.
When I was hospitalised all that time I watched a lot of TV and films.

Think I saw Centurion and Forest Gump back to back for days better than morphine

Frank oh won't let me do his eyebrowes he does those himself.

I'm sure it was David. I know when I had my stroke Ros bought me a battery operated CD player with headphones, I would sit/lay for hours listening to music. What a great relief from just laying there being bored. The T.V. was at the other end of the eight bedded ward, so I couldn't watch that.

Any news on the boiler Gill.?? I know when my boiler packed up I joined Ideal Insurance I think Jane has it. I did have to buy the heat transformer thingy. But all the other parts with all the labour was covered by the policy. Might be an idea to PM Jane for details. I'm sure she will be of help. The policy is for a year, so when my thermostat played up I got a new boiler and room stat. under the policy. It cost in the region of £295.00 but if your boiler needs a lot doing it will be worth it.

Still a very bright but cold day out there. The leaves on the cherry tree are starting to turn colour and falling from the tree. I will use the mower set very high to collect them from the lawn, and use the leaf sucker for the flower beds and gravel. I will wait a while until more leaves fall.

I bet you just let them lie in the orchard don't you Mel. I think the smell of a forest on an autumn day takes some beating. Will have to go to the local forest for a short walk, Ros will have to take me, when she has time and the inclination !!!

Yes Mel, I am sure we have seen David with his brothers before. Oh those grey flannel short trousers were a real turn on, and when you had chapped legs, they rubbed like mad. We were glad when we were old enough to get into long trousers. ;-) ;-) ;-

I have done a Beef casserole for dinner tonight. put the beef on at three o/clock to tick along at 140 degrees ready for six. It should be done to a turn, as the saying goes. Mash, runners carrots and sweetheart cabbage. That will warm the cockles of the heart. :-D :-D :-D (where do all these old sayings come from) ???

Well Christmas Present for Ros is all sorted. A new sewing machine that is computerized for embroidery and patch work. Will be here Wednesday or Thursday. I hope she likes it. It's what she chose, so I can't take any blame. Now I will have the job of selling her current machine which hasn't had a great deal of use, and is in excellent condition. Will have to take it to Post office to see what it will cost to post. Then photo's and description to put on eBay.

Meat is beginning to smell nice throughout the bungalow. It's started to get my mouth watering.

Afternoon All

FRank Ros's 'old' machine would make a great Xmas present for someone.Just the right time to get it advertised.
I don't have that insurance for the boiler.We are with British Gas for that,so I'm afraid I won't be any help to Gill on that one.

I have a couple of Rotisserie Chickens in cooking.They are not massive ones and I thought one might not be quite big enough ,so whatever is left will be to have cold :-DI think I will slice some Aubergine,Courgette and griddle that with lots of Asparagus.

How did the hair cut go Mel All neat and tickety boo? I don't think I have ever seen your OH .

Gill I will keep everything crossed for you and hope that you get the grant for the new boiler and that is is installed ASAP.How has the viewing gone this afternoon.Was it something you liked?

I better make a start on slicing up this veg now.

David all those DVDs will keep you out of trouble for some time :-D

Yes we have seen Davids pic before.Doesn't he look sweet :-D ;-)

Oh I do hope Shirl can get genes sorted so she stays with us.There must be a way of getting to the right page somehow.I would hate her to leave :-(

Talking of short trouser for the boys.James and Hannah went to Wellingborough School for a while and James had to wear these hideous brown Corderoy shorts.If he had stayed there he would have been 11 when he would have gone into long trousers !!!.How ridiculous.He was a tall boy for his age and quite chunky so would have been a laughing stock if he ws still having to wear those shorts until 11.We moved him to the local Primary School when he was about 7 and he was so excited to finally be allowed to wear long trousers.So was I .The only thing then was he went through them so fast by going through the knees !! :-S

Dark ,Dark ,Dark now.I hope that Thomas stays out for another hour or 2 because if he comes in now I won't want to let him out again and then it will be another early hours wake up.He hasn't eaten today and I think he has been feeling a bit off due to having his flea treatment yesterday.He probably licked a lot of it off his fur :-S :-S

The Chickens are cooked and look scrummy.They are resting now in the top oven.I've done some cut up Salad Potatoes to roast so will pop them in now.
I just remembered that I haven't caught up on Downton yet.I will watch that in the morning with my first cuppa.Then I will have to watch the final episode From Darkness AGAIN as I fell asleep right at the end :-S :-S :-S

I keep having a little chuckle at the pic of Ruby in the side on pose as a Pumpkin :-D :-D.I thought it was great :-DAll the pics were brill.

The photo of 3 little boys was in the days of our innocence, long gone.

Those clothes we are wearing went from me to Dennis then to Ralph if they

weren't worn out. My Mother must have been working all the time washing and

caring and doing other jobs to make ends meet. Jumble sales were not to be missed

and I recall Paddy's Market on a Saturday morning sold used clothes and shoes.

Dads overcoat on the bed when it was cold. Here I am recollecting <3 <3

Both my cousins went to a prep school and they wore shorts (dark blue corduroy) till they were 13!!! It wasn't too much of a problem as all the boys wore the same, but I think the were quite glad to finally go into long trousers when they moved up to a senior school!
Our two went to a C of E junior school, shorts for boys till they were 8, then long trousers or shorts! and then they both went onto Grammar School, just before the reorganization.
I haven't got any pics of Cas at the show Gill, at least not any good ones. She is so far away you can't really see her. I will take some of her though for you to see.
Lovely day here, garden nearly tidied up for the winter, so that'll be one less job!

As I mentioned Liz, the leaves are falling everywhere, so that's a job for later. Ros managed to get the borders finished, so we can forget the garden for now.

What's all this about Bacon and Sausages causing CANCER. It will get to the stage where we will only eat these battery chickens and fish. I'm sure that won't do us a lot of good. I have been eating RED meat all my life with a bit of fat round the meat. As yet I have lead a healthy existence, so I can't see me changing my eating habits any time soon. These Bl##dy Scare MONGERS make me sick !!! Moan over.

Soaps and more soaps, I will watch some programmes tomorrow on "CATCH UP" while she is out with Carolyn.

The meat tonight (BEEF) melted in the mouth, and Ros always has a mug of gravy and said that was delicious, So not all bad.

David the winter of 1947 was so bad, we would sleep under the feather mattress to keep warm. The windows were frozen on the inside, and we had icicles hanging from the roof almost to the ground. Lino floors, and only the one fire in the back room.

My mum would have to pawn her rings and dads suit at times just to keep us fed and clothed. So you could say times were hard in those days.

I wore short trousers throughout primary and junior school, but had long trousers when I went to Secondary Modern. (most grown up) lol lol

Going for another shower before Doc Martin, then to bed for a read.

See you all in the morning.

Evening All,

Well the house advert still wasn't on t'internet this morning and the agent hadn't emailed the contract, so after lunch we went to see them. Reviews on the company I looked at before we went were not good!!!! We were surprised to see the chap we dealt with sitting at his desk after being told he'd be off sick till this Wednesday, but he'd come back to work early. (sciatica). He got us a copy of the contract, which I read through while he showed us the photos he'd been and taken this morning, so the manageress hadn't gone to take them on Saturday morning like she'd told us she would do after all! :-S He tried to make excuses for his manager, but I cut him short by my smiling observation that I doubted the company had ground to a halt for all their customers while he was sick. It was all very pleasant as we went through a lot more detail I asked about, but I had to respond to him keep saying to have faith in them by pointing out that having faith hadn't got the house on the market in the past week had it!! Anyway, we've another week before the 14 day cooling off period is up so will see how things progress this week. After looking at the contract , even going elsewhere now would incur some extra cost for us. I think our visit did some good as he certainly knows he can't rest on his laurels now and I've just checked the internet and the house is on there now. I do wish we'd known earlier about the company the clearance man recommended........glowing reports on their service!

We nipped to the next village this morning to take prescriptions to the surgery and have a look round a few shops. We went in a few of the charity shops as well and I saw a set of 3 matching light oak wooden picture frames about 18 inches square that would go nicely in our lounge or hall. I didn't like the pictures in them and might paint something to replace those. Anyway I decided to pick them up on our way back to the car and then forgot!!! :-S I'm going back in the morning and just hope they are still there. I wonder if Pat's found any local charity shops yet!

What a shame if Shirl leaves us. I suppose it may be difficult to read the posts for her at times too. She's had a lot of trouble with Genes though and couldn't get on with the password she'd always used for a long time.

We are wondering why the mice don't get get caught in the traps in the garage near the walls. They seem to pass them and climb into the loft and then get caught in the traps up there, yet the bait is the same?

You seem to be coping Gill and it is surprising how you can manage when you have to. You need to fill a few containers with warm water ahead of when you need to rinse your hair so you don't need to use the cold tap. I know how it made me gasp when I had to have that cold shower when our boiler broke down. It's good you will get a grant for your boiler, even if you have to wait a little while for it and the estate agent said it was a big plus for selling when we told him MIL's boiler was nearly new, so now you will be able to tell people viewing your place that it will have a brand new boiler soon. :-)

Frank, we still have plenty to do............catching up on what we've neglected here for a start! lol. That's good you have sorted out a sewing machine that Ros wants. I bet she will be doing all sorts with those new stitches when she gets it. You should sell her old one easily with it being in good condition too. I have been advertising a few things in the freeads like the lawnmower. It will clear a bit of space in the garage if that goes.

My main recollections is the winter of 1962/3! and boy was it cold!! I was working in Oxford then, and living with a friend in a bed sit! It was so cold that I moved back home and went in and out on the bus and it was a nightmare as everything was frozen for weeks on end, and the bus took about 2 hours to get home which was 6 miles away!! The inside of my bedroom wall was frozen (no central heating!) and my stepfather insisted that I kept the electric fire on day and night. I was glad to be at home!! 1947, I don't remember very well as I was only 4! but I can remember being cold and being told to rub my hands by a glowworm of a gas fire to keep them warm! My mother and Iived in one room then, she had to work and I went to the day nursery. I do remember very high snow drifts, again week after week.
My mother remarried in April 1947, and we were alright after that.

Evening all

I'm absolutely shattered, I've been so busy today, this is the first chance I've had to sit down all day.

I nipped to my mum's earlier after doing my hair colour and drying and straightening my hair, that took from 9.30 till 1.30 in total with having my morning wash first, then after mum's we went to view the property but the agent was half an hour late so we didn't get inside the house until just after 3.30. There was another couple viewing at the same time as us and the woman wasn't very happy at all with the agent being late. After looking at the property we've decided not to bother with it as it's to small and needs so much doing to it we don't think it's worth the price they are asking, besides they have already had 4 offers made on it so far and we don't want to get into a bidding war.

Then after the viewing we had to go and do the weekly shop which took around 2 hours, everywhere was so busy and we had three shops to go to, then it took me a while to put everything away, I had such trouble trying to put everything into the freezer. I should remember NEVER to go shopping when I'm hungry again, I bought far to much stuff, in the end I had to take two big bags of my apples out of the freezer to accommodate the extra food I'd bought, so I'll be making apple crumbles and pies tomorrow ;-) ;-).

We all nipped back to mum's after that to have a shower, mum kindly said we can use her shower until our boiler is sorted and it was gone 7pm by the time we came home, so dinner was quite late tonight and now I'm washing all the dirty clothes.......I'll sleep tonight and probably half of tomorrow, I'm that tired :-D :-D

Talking of the insurance for the boiler Frank, a letter came through the door today with an offer on for insurance and I'm sure it was Ideal, the one you mentioned. I'll wait a bit longer incase we get a new boiler as it will come with it's own guarantee, but if we don't get a boiler for some reason then I'll give them a call.

I look forward to seeing some photo's of Cass when you take some more LIz and I know Sandra would love to see some too.

I'm going to watch my soaps now then I'm off to bed, I can hardly keep my eyes open. I'll catch up properly with the post tomorrow, when I'm not so tired.
Night Night

Oh wants to know if there is a sleeping pill he can take to make him sleep through the winter tillthe days get longer again!! It's only been two days and he is fed up with dark nights already. Stupid thing.

I tried the hoover again today and the first time I put it on to suck up the spiders I forgot and put my foot on the thing that releases the head by mistake and pop out went all the leccy. I started by using Henry and his pipe cam eoff and I could'nt get it screwed back on so oh came out and did it for me as I was very close to tears again.

The shop has said they will give me a good price on my Dyson if I buy another from them but what the point getting another one that may be a bit bigger and that knocks it out too!!?? They said I coud have it on trial for a week but the one I have worked ok at first and only started this after I had had it a while. I wish I had never put the old one in part exange now.

Going in the hsower now as it's donkey day tomorrow and I want to get out early so I don't have to come home in the dark.

Ann I meant to say hav'nt you an auction place near where you live you could put some of the things in from MIL's place??

See you in the morning night night.

Yes the winter of 1962/3 is vivid in my memory too Liz. My parents moved out to the countryside, a quarter of a mile from a village in the January, just after Christmas. I was aged 15 and still going to Grammar School in the city which was 2 bus rides to get home and took an hour. The house we had moved into was in a row of just 6 houses with fields back and front and faced east. The garage was over 2 car's width away from the house and boy did that east wind howl through the gap in winter! No snow ever settled there and you had to lean into the wind to walk through it when it was bad. The hinged garage doors had obviously snapped off with the wind in the past as they had reinforcing bracing on them. The house had no central heating till dad had chance to put it in before the following winter and as Liz says it was freezing with patterned icy windows every morning and extra blankets on the bed were topped up with my coat. I used to wear an old jumper over my PJs and socks some nights. There were snowdrifts all across the lane from the village to our house so you didn't know where the edge of the lane met the verges either side some days and then it got worse so the drifts were as high as the field hedges in places. The bus from the city, that wound through the villages would drop me in the middle of the village and I would have to walk the last quarter of a mile home from school. I'd only done a few trips home from school to the new house when the bad weather and snow started. Well it snowed all day one day and the bus conked out in the village where I actually live now, all frozen up and we all had to get off!!! I was about 3 miles from home, it was dark and I wasn't really sure what route the bus took and I just had my laceup school shoes on my feet. We had no landline in those days, let alone a mobile so I couldn't let mum know I'd be late. I had to walk from this village to the next, passing the Black Pad where Colin Pitchfork chased and murdered that poor girl, then through the next village to reach the village where I lived. It was impossible to walk on the pavements, where there were any, as the snow was too deep and drifting, so I had to walk in the roads where the cars had made frozen furrows through the snow. Boy was I glad to get home with my frozen wet feet after lugging my satchel all that way. Mum's only comment was 'Oh I thought you were late.' That winter just went on for ages with the snow lying and freezing and I remember helping dad shovel the snowdrifts away from up the garage doors each morning so we could open them to get the car out. It was always a relief when the engine fired as well as you'd see stranded cars at the roadside where they'd frozen up. People were covering their bonnets with old sacks and carpet at night and I think I recall someone in the row of houses where we lived putting a small parafin lamp under their engine at night, the ones you would put in an outside toilet to stop pipes and cistern freezing.

Ann, I was 20 in the January, and as you said everywhere was SO frozen! The diesel in the buses was frozen, pipes were frozen, my room mates's boyfriend bought her some tulips and the water froze in the vase!! The Thames was frozen solid for weeks on end. Ian was in the a Fleet Airarm then and was posted in Plymouth, and it took him 10 hours standing on the train to get to Didcot, and then another hour to hitch to our house for a weeks leave! My stepfather took him back to the station for the return journey, which was also a long one!!! I don't think he'd walk to the shop these days!
The next year we were married in Feb, and it was lovely warm spring.day! What a difference a year made!!!
I can remember my mother insisting that I wore Morland fur lined boots, (very uncool in those days!!) long johns and buying me a sheepskin coat for that bus journey!
Your OH has got a long wait Mel!!! Can you not buy a less powerful hoover? It might be less heavy on your leccy and be more efficient and not cause you all this hassle.
OH has appeared with a COT, and it's a murky morning!!

Good Morning all. The weather here recently is no where near as bad as the

weather forecasters promised last week. It is cold, but then it is October.

It would be nice to indulge a fantasy. As I've no mortgage and no debts (that I'm aware of) it would be very nice to lease my home for six months Nov - Apr and
during those 6six moths rent property in France or Italy where it's several degrees warmer and a lot prettier than here.

Why not just sell and move? Well I don't there's any chance of that happening Ellen
couldn't agree on the subject before my accident so it's not going to happen now.

You'd need to go quite a long way south David to guarantee a warm winter My S.I.L lives in France during the summer, and rents a place in Spain for the winter months as S.W France can get pretty cold in the winter. I think bearing in mind your bad leg, it would be quite a hassle to rent out your home, sort out any potential health problems, move all those miles, and then move back again in the summer. I'd turn up the heating and stay put if it were me!!!
We're off to look at beds this morning! Ours really needs replacing so today's the day!!