General Chat

It’s very hot here as well Mandy though every so often there’s a bit of a breeze which makes it more pleasant.

Thank you for sending the pictures Mel. It’s lovely to see the swallows and Robbie. Your girls seem to be laying well and I bet you enjoyed the extra large egg.

I’ve been thinking of you since 3 pm AnnG. There’s nothing worse than a long wait when you are feeling nervous so I hope you were seen on time and the news is all good.

I’m feeling a little better today though still not right and I’m tired now and resting my back again. I have done quite a lot today but won’t be doing much over the next 2 days. Tomorrow we will have our usual Thursday coffee with friends and by the time we’re home and have had lunch I know I won’t feel like starting any h/w. On Friday I am going on a Ladies Club trip to the Gardener’s World Autumn Fait at Audley End. It should be a relaxing day. There’s a coach there and back and it’s only about 30 miles from us so not a long journey.

I did some gardening this afternoon and found an elephant hawk moth caterpillar - at least that’s what I think it was. It was on the earth under a shrub and may have been looking for somewhere to burrow down and become a pupa. I’m not sure what plants it would have been eating in our garden as I don’t think we have any of its favourites growing.

Having said that I know it likes fuchsia and we do have a fuchsia like plant in a pot, but we don’t think it is a fuchsia. OH took a photo a couple of days ago and I must send it round in case one of you can name it for me.

Although our neighbour no longer cooks with grandchildren on Zoom so we don’t get something every week, he enjoys cooking and gives us goodies every now and then. Yesterday he knocked with 4 pieces of Lemon and Blackberry Cake. We had 1 each last night and another 1 at lunchtime today. It was delicious.

I hoped that OH might make a cup of tea but I suspect he has dozed off so it had better be me making it.

Afternoon All,

A dull one with rain forecast soon and 20 degrees but feels cooler. OH had a webinar to discuss a case earlier and is out at a meeting this afternoon. I hope I get some motivation to catch up with some jobs while he's out.

I hope it is good news today AnnG. I expect you will be glad to get rid of that bulky dressing too. It's good Cynth is able to take you.

Yes we are ok thank you Mandy, just busy chasing our tails. lol. You grew up in such a lovely spacious house with a big garden to play in. So handy for the town too and I love the name it used to have. :-D It's amazing that you live close by and that you, your son and now grandchildren all went to the same school. I often pass my teenage home that has a similar sized garden, and that I loved. Now it is covered in scaffold as they are completely changing all the front of the house and building rooms above the garage.

Thanks for the photos Mel. The baby Swallows are so cute! A good lot of eggs from the girls now and a double yolk too! Nice photos of Robbie and are you tempting him onto your hand like the previous one?

i was busy yesterday, 3 phone calls to Asda as my attempts to log on eventually led to me being blocked from their site. All to do with their new security Cloudflare! I tried all sorts including changing password and waiting overnight to see if it worked.....NO! They emailed me a complex set of instructions what to do next in case that didn't work and they are way beyond my IT skills! There is no problem on another browser I tried that doesn't use Cloudflare security and why is a customer expected to sort out something that the company has changed anyway? It seems my choice is to keep swapping to the other browser to do my orders for now or to order from Sainsbury's or another supermarket instead. Annoying that I have just paid for my annual delivery pass.

Well I got some Alliums from the factory shop yesterday, all one kind, so that will be something new in the garden next year to add to the three we have. OH did more weeding yesterday and I am impressed how he's stuck at it and made such an impact now. He's getting a lot of aching in his legs, even at night time and we are wondering if it is more than gardening stiffness and more due to the statins he recently started taking. He should be ble to tell once he eases off doing so much in the garden.

Better get on again now. We still haven't had the promised £10 a day compensation for the 4 days we were without the internet!

Afternoon all,

Phew its warm here just turned the fan on .

Anng hope you get on OK at the hospital appointment this afternoon.

Lovely photos Mel and a nice lot of eggs been laid by your girls ,I bet the double one went down treat.
Went out to QD for a few bits we needed a spray bottle to spray some patio magic on the front path where the moss is growing and then home again ,now its nearly lunch time and I don't know where the morning has gone.

Vera hope your feeling a little better now ,don't try and do to much and set yourself back again .

No Ann yesterday ,hope she's OK.

Thanks Mel I am so nervous as to the results.
Thanks for the photos, baby birds as so cute as is Robbie. And Wow!! that was a large egg!

Meant to say hope you get on ok today Anng and also hope you don't have to have another dressing on like the last one. Praying for good results. X


Sent some pics of the Swallows and Robby nd my big egg.

Thanks both, yes Mel Cynth is taking me.

It’s cloudy but already very warm and getting hotter. It should be around 27 degrees again later on.

Good luck this afternoon AnnG. I hope everything goes well for you.

Have a good day everyone.

Morning all,

Cloudy here this morning and 16 degrees pc saying expect light rain about 3pm. What a miserabl;e summer we've had down here in Devon. Nothing really to speak of but I know some of you have had hot days.

Thinking of you today Ann and I do hope its healed ok under the dressing. Is Cynth taking you again?

I must ring for my pills today as I meant to do it yesterday but the holiday threw me out.

Good morning all. 14 degrees here at the moment quite bright no sun at the moment.

Vera sorry that you have been under the weather for a couple of days, hope that you are beginning to feel better today.

I have to find something to do to pass the time until I leave for my hospital check up. My appointment is for 3pm, definitely not looking forward to seeing what is happening under this odd dressing. I am quite nervous about it.

Evening all

Mandy, your childhood home looks wonderful. I am jealous of the lovely places you all lived when young. I would have loved a more rural spot rather than the fairly gloomy downstairs flat in an old terraced house in a London suburb. Still, I had a happy childhood and there were lots of youngsters in our road so there was always someone to play with.

A day of memories for you AnnG. I know you will have many happy ones and hope they are a comfort on these anniversary days.

I haven't been too well the last couple of days. All I managed to do yesterday was change the bedding and do the washing. I'm still under the weather today but felt I had to try and get on with things as I seem to be getting further and further behind. I got the ironing done, did some admin like paying bills and cooked the beef joint that we didn't have Sunday. Then we had an errand in a town about 12 miles away and, of course the road we take into the town was closed off and we had to make a big loop to get to where we needed to be. After we had eaten tonight I managed to do half an hour in the garden and then came in and set up a Tesco order for Saturday. Now my back feels as though it's breaking so I'm going to get into bed with the pillows set up behind me and read for a while.

AnnG <3

Mel
Won't the vinegar still be alright for cleaning purposes.?It can be used for lots of things.

Like Ann, I have moved around quite a bit, but was born and grew up in an area where my parents had moved to as newly-weds and Mum was still living until she died in 2006.
Our bungalow was on a hillside and it was a long walk down hill to the village with all manner of old fashioned shops. Mum usually shopped in the Co-op with it's old little cash cannisters darting about the shop on overhead wires, but someimes we went to the village baker.
I loved going there, down the cobbled courtyard and into the shop door. Mr Wheeler the baker was often working alone, so there were times when he apologised and asked would we wait a minute, while he took something out of the oven, He opened a big hatch in the wall and we were treated to the most wonderful smells of fresh baking, as he carefully lifted the goods out on a long flat sort of paddle. No health and safety to worry us then.
Occasionally Mum treated us to one of his lardy cakes, but usually she made all the cakes we had at home.
Like some of you, we also lived near open country. If we went to play with one particular girl in our road, her garden had a back gate which opened onto a small patch of waste ground and beyond that to the hill slopes. As the hill was quite steep there, it was a popular spot if we had snow, because there was a good long slope down, then it evened out slightly, before dropping sharply to a lower slope. This caused many a tumble, but was exciting :-0
Gypsies used to camp on the top of the hill sometimes, so the womenfolk could collect branches to make pegs. I don't remember them causing any trouble or hostility due to rubbish etc. They just stayed a while then moved on. Their children would play with us on snowy days, their tin trays or old oven doors going much faster than our normal sledges. ;-)

Yes a great name for that house thats for sure.

I have cleaned the little loo and had the top shelf of the cupboard out that is under the water tank. You should have seen what came out!! I have been trying to get people to get me the bin bags with the draw string tops as Asda don't do those and I found three packets of them in the cupboard so I shan't need to buy those for a while. Loads of cotton rags I kept for when oh did the mowers so they are in a black bag now and are going out to the garage. Now I can get my plenty rolls in there. I also found my newer pair of rubber gardening shoes so I am going to throw the old ones away, more room in the bottom of the cupboard. I know there are two gallons of white vinaegar in the bottom too so that will be out of date so they can go too. Perhaps now I can get some different stuff in that cupboard. Next I need to have the things on the room divider down and give it a good wash and then the plate rack.

What a lovely name for a house Mandy.

I just looked at the meaning of Arcadia, it says ' a place of rustic innocence and simple quiet pleasure ' and it was . :-)

Yes Mel its a little river and we use to have wooden planks to drive over ,when I could see dad coming down the hill I would run to meet him and ride on the running board of the car ,just over the right hand side of the river was a well and beyond that was dad's allotment ,we use to have geese running about and I hated them as they chased me and pulled my hair .
When we had the house it was called Arcadia .

We nipped out to Tesco's and then called in to see son for a coffee had a good chat and came home, nowhere to park to go into Boots so we'll walk up tomorrow.

Morning all,

Cloudy here this morning and its 18 degrees .

Shopping day so I must get my box and sack barrow out so the driver can load it for me.

I opened a bottle of tonic water last night and the top was so tight I had a job to get it off. This morning the two middle fingers on my right hand really ache and are very stiff. I know how I did it and must remember not to do it like that again. They say we learn by our mistakes and its true.

Mandy the house looks lovely and do I see a little brook running by that you had to have a little bridge to drive in over? A lovely place to grow up in.

Woke at 6am for the loo and went back to bed and woke again at 9.12am so I am all behind today.

Gosh It is lovely Mandy, I could live there (if I could afford it). Still it is sold as no longer on the market.

Morning all ,

Cloudy here this morning but should get out and be about 23 degrees, then tomorrow should be up to 27 .
I have two bags to go to the clothing bank which we'll take today and I need to call in to tescos to fetch a few bits .
If I can park in town on the way back I can go I to boots for our tablets ,it's market day today but last week we only had the fish man ,I did read that they are reducing the cost of having a market stall I suppose they are hoping to get some market traders back but I think its a bit late they should have done that years ago before they all decided to go .

A day of memories then Anng make them all happy ones <3

Mel we had a willow tree in the front of the house ,dad made me a swing from some rope with a wooden seat and hung it in the willow tree and mum use to stand my pram ubder it and i would lay watching the leaves swaying in the breeze ,that tree has gone now but there is another over to the right of the house ,have a Google of the house its Brook Cottage Washbridge dereham .

Lots of memories today. It would have been our 64th wedding anniversary.

Good morning all. 15 degrees here and the sun is just coming up. Yesterday was a lovely day. I did manage to spend half an hour pottering in the garden, cutting off some of the large tomato leaves so the fruit could get more sun, and cutting down my large fuchsias because I think they have been attacked by fuchsia Gall mite. I wondered what was wrong with them as the plants have hardly flowered this year and Monty don showed us gall mite. I am hoping it will die off in the winter, if not the plants will have to come up next year,

I can't imagine what it would be like to live in the area that you grew up in. I have lived in 4 different counties, one of those twice. We/I have lived in my first home until marriage 20 years, then first year of marriage same town four different flats, Since then; six different houses. Hampshire, (two towns), Essex, Gloucestershire, Bedfordshire/Herts border, Gloucestershire. Longest house lived in is my current one (32 years). The minus to all the moving, and to being an ex Royal Navy wife, is that friends are scattered.