General Chat

Afternoon all ,
What a dreary day its been raining most of the morning ,I sat and wrote my Christmas cards this morning and we did a little on the jig saw ,we're hoping to get it finished before Christmas so we don't have to roll it up as we'll need that end of the table .

Oh dear Vera I didn't read it back to check and this tablet adds its own words.and I never noticed Mel had mice coffee.

Ann that was awful that poor chap slipping in the shower ,that was what happened to Colin's brother he slipped and knocked his head ,he never came round and passed away the next day .


Anng thank you for your christmas card it came this morning ,sorry to see you had a bad night ,its awful when you lay there and just can't get off to sleep ,hope you can get a better night tonight .

Just a reminder for those that like it It's Kirsties homemade Christmas on channel 4 at eight o'clock tonight .

Morning t

Morning Anng and all,

Pc says mostly cloudy and its 7 degrees.

I had 12 female pheasents in the garden this morning and one male, what a luckky boy! I bet he'll be tired tonight.

Good morning all 7 degrees and raining at the moment and still very dark.

That will teach me not to get complacent. I was congratulating myself on having 5 really good nights. Last night was awful, I could not get my leg comfortable, then I was over tired and couldn't get to sleep, I think I had about 2 hours sleep all night. And then I was dreaming. 3 O'clock I was reading my book.

Ann, I remember the fuss over talcum powder and have not used it since.

Vera, I had a chuckle at your optimism at 'only writing a few words'. Please don't, I love your long epistles. Enjoy your coffee morning with your friends, that is what keep you 'young'. And your OH too. Those two men have the right idea, chatting is good for them.

I thought I was going to have to cancel going to the U3a social meeting today, but feel a bit better about it now I am up,washed and dressed, I will be tired later but. I will go I think. Leg is still sore, but no worse.

Good evening all

I hope you have rested your back Mandy and it is feeling easier now. The mention of the muntjacs reminded me of when we lived in our old house. OH had bought some Actinidia plants to cover a trellis behind our fish pond. We had seen some growing up a wall in Harrogate and thought how good it looked. Our plants took a while to establish but OH nursed them along and eventually they took off and were doing well. They had grown about half way up this 6' trellis. Then one day we walked into the garden and every single one had been eaten right down to the ground. We couldn't think what had happened till the next day I looked out of the window and there was a muntjac strolling round the garden as though he owned the place. OH was not amused. He never did plant any more Actinidia.

I chuckled at your mice coffee Mel and, although this wasn't funny, I did have to think twice about the lady in Mandy's post with bread cancer. It was so sad to hear that such a friendly lady had died. It was also tragic to read about that poor man who slipped in the shower, Annx. A terrible decision to have to make. I can't imagine how bereft his family must have felt.

It's been dry and bright all day though I have felt very shivery. I keep putting another layer on. I did one or two little jobs this morning and then OH said he wanted to go to Tesco to fill up on diesel so I decided to go with him and get one or two bits and pieces. The car park was packed and there were long queues at every checkout. Needless to say I spent far more than I meant to though some of it was Christmas stuff to take to my daughter's as we will be there for a couple of nights.

This afternoon 3 of us went to another friend for an afternoon cuppa. I am so behind with things at home that I didn't really want to go but I've recently turned down two invitations from her because I had other things on so I felt I couldn't refuse a third time. Anyway, it was a pleasant couple of hours.

We'll go to our Thursday coffee meet tomorrow morning, partly because we haven't been for the last two weeks and partly because our friend M asked if we would be there. Her OH, V, is in very poor health and she has noticed he perks up mentally if she can get him to go out a bit. He doesn't want to come out for coffee just to sit with a lot of women but he will come if my OH is there. They get on well and sit themselves at another table and chat. There is another man who sometimes comes but not very often. Anyway that will be tomorrow morning gone so I must spend the afternoon trying to write a few cards and maybe get a bit of cooking done.

I only intended to write a few words so did this straight into Genes instead of my usual copying and pasting from Word. I'm now going to press Submit and hope it posts and doesn't get lost.

Afternoon All,

Lovely sunshine earlier here but quite chilly. I took ages to get off to sleep, but then slept till after 9.00am this morning.

Thank you for your card Mel which arrived this morning as did a four figure tax bill for me!! ERNIE has also forgotten me this month as well. :-( I see you are drinking mice coffee now. Can't say I fancy it.

AnnG I'm sure the hospital would be aware and only use contaminant free kinds. It was because someone else said they used it that made me think not everyone knew. The same happened with talcum powder which I stopped using in the 70s when I first read about it. I was surprised MIL still used it when we cleared her house, Now I think they use cornstarch instead for the baby powder. I hope you had your trip out with a friend and daughter.

I'm not surprised you had backache Mandy after doing the lights then shopping. Lots of bending and carrying. I bet the tree and bushes look nice when it gets dark though. Those little Muntjacs are getting more common now and are what OH saw on one of his nearby walks recently. It would be amazing to watch them jump a fence like that.

The Co-op I go to was still in a mess this morning with them re-organising it. Lots of shelves completely empty with stuff all in the gangways. The magazine rack was emptied, but I did find some fish today. They seem to be building a mountain of beer and lager cans near the tills.

A friend sent a photo of an albino squirrel on her birdfeeder today. I wonder if other squirrels accept him like his mother obviously did?

Sound like you have overdone things a bit Mandy rest now! <3

No I don't think it's real Mel , they have a sign up saying please don't touch the horses as they may bite and they shout at people if they touch the reins.

Decided to go shopping so we're just back ,got to put it all away now ,I have got the fridge stuff away just they other bags to do after I've had a cuppa , I just had to sit down as my back was aching , I got all the Christmas lights sorted this morning and they are on the tree and the rose bushes.

Do you think this is real?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BDS4m7YXntA

Yes they are very agile and being so small thyean jump greatheights.

I have been up the post van and banked the 10 old pound coins and popped in the shop and got two bags of 20p's and two bags of 2p's changed up. I asked for two fivers as I always give the posty Tim £5 in his card for Chirstmas. Then went down the woods past the big house and into the forest bit and collected some cones. I forgot to take a bag with me so only got about 15 and they were so very wet I put them on the rubber mat. As I went down past the big house there was a huge cable laying across the road I wondered if it was electric and thought I better report it when I got home but when I drove up the hill I could see a man in an orange coat dragging it up the road. I stopped and said to him I was going to report it when I got home. Hesaid it had already been reported and it was safe for me to drive over it as it was'nt electric. Have no idea what it was but it may have been to do with Openreach.

Morning all,

It was very foggy this morning but the suns peeping through so it might be a nice day , I want to get the lights on the tree outside and put the lights on my big rose bush along the fence ,should be wrt for the next few days so i need to get them on today .

Oh Mel it must be lovely to see the deer in the garden ,son was saying they have a Munkjac in the school grounds he settles in the trees behind the school bus they have as a library reading bus , my friend that died a few years ago lived right by the school playing field and she had a lot of Munkjac in the garden and has seen them jump her fence into the school field ,the fence was really high ,must have been at least six foot .

Morning everyone,

Very frosty here but the suns coming out now and there's blue sky wall to wall and no wind. Came in the kitchen this morning and turned on the heating and looked out the window to see 4 deer in the garden up the border. Just had my pill amd a mice coffee and I have to get myself into gear to go and pick some stuff for a ring and posies.

Slept well and up just the once in the night. Hope you others did as I see Anng did.

good morning all. Slept well but couldn't lie there after 0700 as leg was sore and I needed to get moving. 0 degrees out there,Some of the roofs look like there was a light frost but dry.

All being well hopefully going with friend and daughter to a garden centre for coffee. Got to wash my hair first so that is the first exercise for the day.

The vaseline I am Using (petroleum jelly) is in a tiny tube given by the hospital and told to only use this one and not to use it on anything else. But thank you for the warning.

Watching Master chef so will reply to the rest tomorrow.

OH has done it again. He keeps popping in for a chat before I can finish a post and by the time I post it I've missed some later posts.

Vera that was very nice of you to include the lady and have her sit on your table. I've found with some groups I've joined that some don't mix much with others and stick with a particular friend they've come with. More will join if everyone is welcoming. It sounds like you have a good spread of food to enjoy and it must have been funny hearing them sing that song! :-D

Mandy, good idea to raise the tree up like that. It might mean less bending to fix the lights which is good too. What a shame about Carol. She sounded like a lovely, friendly lady as well.

Evening All,

Please ladies that use Vaseline check the following. ' While Vaseline is marketed as a high-quality product, it is essential to check for labeling that states "100% pure" and "100% contaminant-free" to ensure safety.' My gynaecologist told me about 8 years ago to never use it which shocked me at the time. Some contaminants that may be in it from the crude oil it comes from when manufacturing petrol are known to cause cancer. Look it up as it can cause other problems like breathing/lung probems if used round the nostrils which I used to do, can trap in bacteria etc. I've used coconut oil since that is antibacterial, anti inflammatory and anti fungal.

Well I met up with a friend this morning and we were chatting for hours so had lunch as well. She was telling me about the brother of a close friend who had slipped on some shower gel and fell in the shower recently, resulting in him being in intensive care on life support. The hospital had to tell him the dreadful news that he would quadriplegic. He told them to switch off his life support which they did. What a sad and awful decision for him to have to make and so sad for his family too all caused by some spilt shower gel.

It was really busy there by the time we left with people in a queue waiting for a table to be free and I decided to have a look at The Works, then in EM and a wander around the Christmas decorations before popping to the shop and home. OH had filled his car then gone for a walk along Whistle way, which was an old mineral line years ago going from the quarry to the station.

It will be nice to have a new toaster Mel. I know I forget just how long we've had some things. It will be good if you can sell your OH's pc and mouse and get a reasonable price. I take it BIL managed to fix yours so it's ok as well when he came.

It was handy being able to get the red bulbs AnnG.I can remember when we had a fire with them struggling to find a replacement bulb. Good you got two as well. Those kinds of handy little shops are few and far between now, but they stock so many different things that the big shops don't.

It's good you got the advent ring done in time Gwyn and handy you were given some greenery for it too plus some help under your instruction!

Better get off to bed now. I want to watch Kirstie, but OH wants to watch it with me so I'll find something else.

Evening all,

I thought I had posted earlier this morning but I had just started when son arrived to do the outside tree , it's in the stand and as it's not as tall as we usually have we have stood the tree in its stand in one of my big pots that has a Hosta in , it's lifted it up nicely and won't hurt the plant as its now died down.
Son stood the old dishwasher outside so I could give the floor and wall a good wash ready for the new one ,he said he'll take the old one to the tip when he comes to connect the new one .
I then went to Tesco with him to get a few bits .

Ann hope you enjoyed your meet up for lunch with your beading friend .

Anng we used to have a hardware shop in town that was like an aladdins cave , you could get anything in there even one screw if you wanted ,stuff hung from the ceiling and I don't know how they knew where everything was ,sadly the chap retired and the shop closed but a chap bought some of l the stock and opened another shop in the middle of town but it just wasn't the same and that's now closed .

Mel thats good the chap is interested in the gaming screen and mouse , its just knowing what price to ask , does BIL know what they sell for .

Gwyn I watched the one show with the ships coming in , did you hear the little one say ,he didn't want anything for Christmas, just happy to have his dad home bless him.

Vera hope your OH has had a better day today after his off day yesterday ,I think we all have days like that.
Hope you've had a nice Ladies club Christmas tea today ,did you have something nice to eat .

I meant to say when we were outside doing the tree a neighbour stopped by to tell us that Carol the little lady that I knitted the gloves for and gave a lot of my tomatoes to had passed away she had bread cancer and had been in hospital she then came home and had a fall so had to go back in ,her daughter said she was going into a nursing home but sadly she didn't make it there , she was such a friendly soul and loved waving to everyone and said it made her day to see people wave back she would even wave to son as he was just going in to work as she had her daily walk by the school .

Evening everyone

Considering we are in to December now it has been a glorious day, sunny and bright and not too cold although there has been a bit of a chilly breeze. I hope it’s been pleasant weather where you are and Gwyn was able to get out for a walk.

I hope you like your new toaster when you get it Mel. We only have a 2 slice one but even with 2 of us here we seldom want any more. If we have visitors I stick a few slices under the grill.

You sound as though you had a good trip into town AnnG and got some more bits and bobs. Those little independent diy or ironmongers shops are a boon. We don’t have any round here anymore. I agree with you that people have suddenly realized it’s Christmas and they need to get shopping. We went into town this morning and the car park was pretty full and not all drivers were being very careful. I was just walking past the disabled parking and a chap started reversing straight out without even looking. OH shouted and banged on his rear window and he managed to stop with the car bonnet just touching my thigh. It wasn’t hard enough to bruise me even but I could feel the car against me. If OH hadn’t managed to stop the driver and I couldn’t get out of his way quickly enough there might have been a nasty accident.

I took the last of one of my pills this morning and as the pack only had 28 in and our docs only issue enough for 28 days at a time I had to hope that the pharmacy had got them ready. Luckily they had and that particular pill was in one bag, the others all in another bag and both bags contained an identical script. Goodness knows why. I can never understand the system now. It used to flow very smoothly but then some administrator who thought he’d better earn his salary decided to fix it, even though it wasn’t broken. It’s not worked well since. I also got some Christmas crackers and a couple of birthday cards in Roys and we came home. This afternoon OH tells me that we need more compost which we get from Roys so why couldn’t he have mentioned it this morning? Men!

When we got back I had a shower and did a better job of washing my hair although I am still having to avoid getting water in my eye. Then I had a quick slice of bread spread with some pate before going out at 1.15 to the Ladies Club Christmas event. Usually everyone takes a bit of food and we have a Secret Santa and maybe a party game or a bit of music. This year it was a bit different. Mulled wine as we arrived and then we had a couple of fellows to entertain us with music of the 50s and 60s. They both looked around 70 themselves but they were very good and sang for an hour. Ladies were joining in and getting up and dancing around. I had to laugh – at one point the men and several of the ladies were singing “Why must I be a teenager in love” and I doubt if any were under 70.

Then we had the buffet. We didn’t take any food this year as Club funds allowed for it to all be bought in and it was quite a spread. Waitrose provided all the sandwiches and platters of fruit, all the little cakes came from Iceland and there were mini pork pies, cocktail sausages, crisps, mince pies etc which I believe were bought at Tesco. We helped ourselves to tea or coffee.

Then the Secret Santa gifts were distributed. I got Badedas bath gel which was nice but you pour it under running water when you are going to have a bath and you get lots of bubbles. Unfortunately I don’t use the bath these days so my daughter will probably get that. My friend M also gave me her gift for my daughter as it was a box with 3 mini bottles of pink gin. Friends don’t drink gin so that is going daughter’s way as well.

At the last club meeting there was a lady sitting on her own that I hadn’t seen before. I’m sometimes a bit reserved with people I don’t know but she looked so lonely that I went and chatted to her for a while. As we were going into our meeting hall this afternoon she was just in front of me so we said hello. One of the committee members asked me where I was sitting and I pointed out the table where our little “gang” were and she asked if this new lady could sit with us. Of course I said yes and found a spare chair and we all shunted round a bit. I introduced her round the group and we tried to include her in our conversation. When we were leaving she walked up the road with me and thanked me so nicely for letting her sit at our table. There are well over 40 members so we do tend to split into our own little groups but some of them are so “cliquey” and not very welcoming to newcomers so I was pleased she enjoyed sitting with us.

It's my baby boy’s birthday today. He’s 59. I always feel very old on my kids’ birthdays as I realise just how old they are now. I think I’ll go and cheer myself up with a glass of wine while I am getting us something to eat. I’m only going to have soup but I have some cold pork and salad that OH can have to follow his soup.

Craft stuff always keep the kids quiet Anng good stocking fillers.

Had the same driver this week as last dear old Carl. He took a look at oh's gaming screen and the mouse and if I can find a good price he's interested in both.

A parcel arrived and I sorted all that out and put it all away and Iv'e not done much else. I have just corned the chickens and its really cold out there and pc is saying 6 degrees. There's a lovely moon shining tonight and reflecting on the big pond.

Trying to think what to eat tonight now as I did'nt get any meals for one the last few weeks.

Think I'll sit and do my pills forthe week.

I only have a two slice toaster mel, I don't remember the time I ever needed three slices.

It is 11 degrees here now and still dry and some weak sun.

I got all I wanted/needed in town. There is a small DIY type shop in the indoor markey (called aladdins cave) T always used to go there for odd bits he needed and the man who owns it is so helpful. I wanted a replacement red fire light bulb for the next time the current one goes. Nobody else selld them, even B&Q don't now. anyway I bought two. He only takes cash but they were only £1.99 each so no problem.

I also got a few odd bits and pieces and another pair of the pull on trousers 25 length from Bonmarche. Unfortunately they had sold out of the ones like I bought before but managed to get a black pair, And, for the second time I got 10% off.

It was really busy on the bus and in town. As if everyone had suddenly said, 'Oh it is December, we had better get some Christmas stuff'. One man had a huge basket full of childrens craft type stuff and toys, he was just shoving anything he saw into the basket I reckon he was mentally filling a couple of stockings.

I have ordered a new toaster from Asda its a light green one from George and its a bit smaller than the one I have now somore room on the work surface. It should come with my order today. The one up the caravan was only a two slice one.