General Chat

Morning Anng and all,

Its 11 degrees here now and expected to get to 20 by 1pm but another lovely morning again. Not too achey after yesterdays efforts in the garden. Have to water the things in the shed today. Did some potting up of last years baby Strawberries in a long planter, managed to get 5 in there and I am going to see if they will fit on the greenhouse shelf as I have a squirrel problem with the others on the barrow. Trying to think of a way to get wire netting on it as it goes through the plastic netting and eats all the ripe berries.

I washed the other end of the car yesterday and cleaned two big soak trays and some pot trays with the pressure washer before putting it away.

Shed Robby is coming for worms when I am in there and another one is coming to the patio for worms too so there are babies on the way.

Yesterday the Swallows were in and out of the filter shed and I think cross that a Jenny Wren has nested once again on the Swallows first nest they built years ago.

Think it may be clearing the front of the bungalow today just a little at a time.

good morning all sunny and 4 degrees at the moment. there is such a drop in temp overnight from the heat in the day at the moment Plants are either shivering in the cold or wilting in the heat, not a good situation. And already I am watering pots. No sign of any rain at all. No doubst by five weeks time it will be constant rain (when I am iin the Lake District).

Nothing planned for today, hopefully will get out in the garden before it gets hot (if it is going to get hot that is).

Afternoon All,

It's just reached 18 degrees here but was much cooler this morning. We went for my doc appointment this morning and I need more blood tests and have re-booked my covid jab. She checked my heart and I was pleased to know that after more than 10 years since diagnosis, she couldn't hear any sign of my heart murmur, so it hasn't got worse. It was picked up on an echocardiogram, but my doctor then couldn't hear it with his stethoscope either. OH had walked to some nearby charity shops and found himself 4 books! Then we called in the garden centre and had eggs florentine that cost an arm and a leg, but were nice. In case I ever have to use the big carpark with the surgery one only having nine spaces now, I walked to look at the pay machine to see the instructions and had it all fathomed except four yellow squares with arrows pointing up on two and down on two. I think/hope it will be obvious what they are for (times?) once you start the process. I see they are contactless or coins now. It's been ages since I've had to pay and display.

Mandy, thanks again for telling me about photos and Timsons. I checked online and the one in Sainsbury's down the road does the passport ones so I'll pop there next week. There are some keys we want cutting and OH says he could take his suit in for cleaning as well. It's good you have the logs stacked away now.

Nice to hear from you Gwyn and I have been inundated with spam emails this last week or two. Like you say you get a few identical ones from different senders as if your details have been sold to a group of people who then all start sending them to you.

I hope getting there and the funeral turned out as well as it could for a sad occasion Vera.

Oh Mel I wouldn't have liked the meal either and it sounds like it might not have been cooked enough which isn't good with prawns. It didn't sound at all appetising and as for the loud music right behind you! Apart from anything else, what a conversation killer! You'll have to say you are washing your hair if you get another invite. :-S I bet you look a picture in your OH's wet suit trousers going fishing. :-D They've come in handy for the job though.

Just back from the shop and now I am going to wash the inside of the greenhouse because I did'nt do it the end of lst season.

I have had a little fish in the bog pond to get some of the husks out and this morning I pressure washed some of the decking where I walkl and where the little greenhouse goes then washed most of the car. I shall do the ret of it after washing the greenhouse as I have to get my wet suit trousers on first. They were oh's and come up to under my bust so keep me dry and clean. Iv'e also fed both lots of fish so quite a lot achieved today so far.

Afternoon all,

Lovely sunny day again but it was so foggy first thing ,the wood delivery came a bit early but son and Jake soon got it all barrowed round and after they had gone Colin and I got it all stacked away before lunch .

Nice to see you back posting again Gwyn.

Oh dear Mel that didn't sound as if it was your sort of meal last night ,I bet you wished you had stayed at home for your chicken meal.
Thanks for the pattern it came in the post this morning .

Anng it must cost the garden centres a fortune for water those greenhouses get so hot with all that glass ,I don't know if they have guttering on some greenhouses as those big glass roofs would catch a lot of rain water .

Hope all went well with the funeral Vera .

Just going to make a cup of tea .

Its 19 degrees here now. BIL tried to get the pump for the well to work but he thinks maybe the pump has gne so he's going to have a look online to see what one it was as its lost all its stickers.

I just get a bit of money comeing in and then different things go wrong to be replaced. That is now the pump to my pond and the pump above gropund for the well to top the big pond up once I have cleaned it out.

He did help me put the cover on the greenhouse now I need to wash it down on the inside and find the ties to anchor it to the decking. He also mowed the front lawns for me again and went up the shop and bought us pasties and sausage rolls for lunch.

Anng its 13 degrees here now.

I only met him las week at Stu's he stayed to dinner with us then so maybe he asked Stu to dinner this week. Yes he is old and is very proud of his vynal collection which is vast!

Just heard the mower and BIL is here. I bet he will do it as quickly as poss to get away.

I have been on the phone for 30 minuets to EDF about my solar money. I sent a reading in on 18th March and not heard a thing. I had to send a photo of the meter with the reading on and a pic of its serial number as you could'nt see it on the one with the reading on.

The lady I spoke to said my payment was on hold as they could'nt see the number of the meter on the two photos I sent before. Also there is no phone number for the solar to ring anything through it all has to be done on paper is what the lady said. Its my money they are holding on to and I don't think this is fair. They did not get in touch with me earlier and I hve sent the photos twice and they said they could'nt be read but I could clearly see the reading but I did'nt look at the meter number so why did'nt they say they wanted that too and I could have taken a pic of that too like I have this morning.

So all in all that phone call has cost me for half an hour.

Well I do like paella and prawns etc but I would have been very wary eating it as he doesn't sound to have been cooking it properly And bad manners to invite company and have loud music on. Is he young? sounds as if he is not your type of person Mel so best stay away from his cooking I think. It is still only 3 degrees here, was 2 earlier and is really chilly. I have just had to put a cardigan on.

Morning all,

Well pc says its 17 degrees already so I wonder what its going to go up to today. At the moment its not windy like it has been over the last few days. Think pc was having a fit as now it says its 8 degrees which is a bit more believable.

You've all been asking about last nights meal...... it was awful for me as it was paella and he had'nt cooked it so we had to wait ages for it. I never liked paella and he had red peppers, some green stuff chicken, prawns which I don't eat or like, peas rice and olives which I do like. He put seasoning in it but I don't know what and kept adding thing and much water but it was'nt creamy but watery. O and also I saw a tin of tuna go in. I don't like tuna in cooking only cold in a sandwich or salad. Came home and had a bowl of cereal and some fruit.

I shan't be going there again for a meal. He also had loud music on with the speaker right behind me I had to put my fingers in my ears and Stu noticed and got up and turned it down. Then when that music had finished he put on something else and up went the sound again to which Stu asked him to turn it down a bit. I'm afraid I'm not one for loud music anymore and having senitive ears dos'nt help.

I did cook the chicken I had got out of the freezer for when Stu came so thats cooked and I canhave it tonight and for the next few days put some in the freezer.

Slept well and got up twice then the second time I had a lie in as it was 7.15am.

Welcome back Gwyn. I haven't noticed an increase of spam on line but did notice an increase in spam phone calls this week which made me thing details had just been circulated.

Good morning all

A fine start to the day with a forecast of more sunshine.

So many postings and e mails to catch up on and so much spam to get rid of :-|

I think a lot of it is coming from America, because I've noticed before that when America sleeps, there are hardly any spam messages.
I don't open them, but can see enough from the first line to see that there are also several messages about the same subject. ie. Quotes for John about renewing his insurance.( no idea who John might be)
The prices I can see are £s, so has someone perhaps sold our address to many people?
So annoying.
I'll be busy catching up today.

good morning all. Vera, hope all goes well with the funeral today and that the journey both for your daughter and for you is uneventful.
I have kept my tomato seedling, which are growing well, in the kitchen as the conservatory is getting too hot for them. Difficult when we get 'wrong' temperatures for the time of year.

Mel, I hope it was a good meal last night. what did you have

Mandy, last week visiting various places with plants outside, I noticed they were all in need of attention. These stores that are not garden centres seem to forget the sun means plants need water. such a waste. However some of the garden centres are not watering as much as they used to. Or it seems that they are not. I wonder if the water bills increasing has affectedthis?

Ann hope you can get your photo taken ok.

I have read all your posts so I'm up to date with what you have all been up to. Today has been hectic again. I hardly slept last night so got up feeling groggy. I then got an email saying a delivery was on the way so instead of getting out early I had to wait in for that. Then it was meeting our coffee group where we had a quick coffee and brief chat before getting away to do some shopping. It was then a quick lunch, a bit of h/w, a shower and hairwash and a sort out of what I am going to wear to our friend's funeral tomorrow. I also repotted and tidied up a couple of plants for daughter to take back with her tomorrow.

After cooking and eating our dinner I brought back into the conservatory all the cuttings and small plants that I put outside this morning. Unfortunately I had a tray of tiny seedlings that aren't ready for outside yet and while we were out the temperature got so high in the conservatory that they have completed scorched and withered.

Daughter is leaving home at 7.30 am tomorrow so should be here about 8.15-8.30 to pick us up. We just have to hope there are no traffic problems or hold ups on the way. We've left ourselves a little bit of leeway just in case. Not sure what time we'll be back, I guess late afternoon but we have to be out again before 7 pm. A couple of months ago I bought tickets for a performance at our local theatre and, of course, it is tomorrow night. It's called Masters of Swing and it's an evening of big band music and songs. I'm not sure we're really going to be in the mood for that, particularly if it's been an emotional day but we will see.

I'm just going to water some indoor plants and then I think I'll take one of my headache pills and go to bed. I probably won't be back now until Saturday so have a nice day tomorrow everyone.

Thanks for mentioning that about Timsons Mandy. I know the Sainsbury's opposite the retail park near here has a Timsons and there is a large Tesco not far away, so I'll ring them tomorrow and see if they can do a photo. Yes it's been hot here today and very still, a bit too hot for me to be honest, but it's supposed to be hotter still the next few days. I went to the garden centre in the sticks this afternoon and a lot of their plants in their greenhouse were wilted. It's a shame sowing the seed and nurturing them, to just let them die then for the sake of turning their hoses on.

Well I'm off to bed now. An early start in the morning to battle with the traffic to the next village! I hope you all get a good sleep.

Evening all,

Anng its a worry when you can't lock up but the chap soon came and sorted it for you and at a good price too .

Ann have you got a Tesco with one of those little Timpsons cabins outside as they do passport photos while you wait ,they did mine for my driving licence and if it doesn't look right after taking it they do another one , its better than a photo booth because if they don't turn out OK you have to pay again , what I can remember I think the price was the same as a photo booth .

Oh I wonder what you'll have to eat tonight Mel .

Shopping day today and I was hoping that Aldi would have some more plants in but they didn't and what they did have there were all just about dead, there was another lady looking and she said think I'll give them a miss ,I said yes I will too ,you'd think someone could have given them a little water .
I watered all my pots this afternoon as they were really dry ,also did a bit more weeding ,we sat out and had our cuppa and it was really hot in the sun we could have done with the canopy across but son hasn't put the new canopy up for us yet , think we'll have to get a garden parasol out of the shed .

Gosh Anng that was'nt bad for that work. You better keep his number.

I have done some fishing in the p[ond, fed the girls and put the chciken in the slow cooker but had a phone call from Stu to say that could he bring Bram round tonight or would I like to go to Bram's for dinner. I said yes I will go to Bram's so Stu is picking me up tonight. Not the foggiest what he will cook!! Hope its not too spicey.I was told thzzt Bram does gardening for £20 an hour.

Still lovely and sunny but o such a cold strong wind which makes it quite unpleasent out.

Done a wash and thats blowing on the line so that should dry.

Afternoon All,

Another glorious sunny day. I was due to go for my covid jab, a blood test and see the doc all this morning, but OH was dashing to the white friend in the night and I felt off colour, so I phoned and left messages to cancel at 7.00am so others could have my appointments. The schools seem to be suffering tummy bugs at the moment, but thankfully we both feel ok now. I also have another appointment in the morning anyway so can rebook the jab and blood test then.

I've been watching the robotic AI table tennis player beating an elite table tennis player on tv. It looks a bit crude at the moment but it shows that even some manual jobs may be under threat with AI.

Mel you don't want a stew with leaks in it or there won't be any left! The soup addition will make a nice sauce. I just add a drop of cold water or milk if drinks are too hot.

Your group meeting sounds like something I would enjoy AnnG with being at Nature in Art and with some cake I miss and coffee. That was great service from the locksmith. It's a worry, as I know when doors won't lock.

Mandy those boxes of Freesias must have smelt so nice! You must have looked forward to them coming from your nannies sister. It's good to get the logs delivered tomorrow while Jake is around to help your son and I see the wheelbarrow is ready for action now too.

I've had a letter and form to renew my driving licence and it needs a photo this time with so many rules about the size, lighting etc I might use a photo booth if I can remember where I've seen one. OH sent his application for his ages ago and had to chase them up a few weeks ago to get an extension on his old one as it had expired early in March. He's still waiting.

My patio door to the conservatory refused to lock this afternoon. I had to go out so locked the outside door. Left the radio o loud and went out. At &.30 when I got home I phoned a local person called affordable locks and fifteen minutes later he was here, a further fifteen and it was sorted and then he fixed the front door which had been sticky for a while.(apparently that door had dropped and screws had worked lose in the patio door and see jamming it underneath.

Fantastic service for £45.

Morning Anng and all,

Nice bright morning so hope it stays like this for your visit its 13 degrees and pc says tomorrows high may tie with 24th April.

Made my coffee too hot and hate that as I always like a few gulps to get me going.

Stu's to dinner tonight so I got a nice big pack of chicken thighs out and may do them in the slow cooker if I can work out how long to do them for. I shall do carrots, cerlery, leak and onion with them all in a can of soup, either chicken or chicken and mushroom. New pots or rice hav'nt decided yet.