General Chat

My eye op is here in my local hospital in the day surgery unit. All being well, i should be able to go home after lunch.

Had a lovely day out but....the town was full of snow on the pavements so we were careful where we went and was lucky twice to get a parking space outside the 2 places we wanted to go to.

I managed to find a new washing machine and that has been ordered and should be here next Thurs/Fri. i got an 8kg 1400 spin for the same price as the 6kg 12oo spin, so a real bargain and free delivery too.

So glad Im home now as its starting to freeze outside and its cosy indoors as daughter had put on the heating at 3pm.

Coffee time, then a read of the paper and then tv.

Florence in the hebrides

We must have posted at the same time Florence, it is great news that your eye op is going to be earlier than you thought.
I have spent the morning reorganising the kitchen cupboards. When the new kitchen went it, I put the things where I thought they should go, but I realised that there was too much stuff in the larder unit. By rearranging things, I managed to free up a deep drawer which now has all the pasta in it. That gave me two free trays in the larder unit to spread out all the tins and bottles. I don’t do much baking these days, so I could throw out a lot of baking tins and I have too many casserole dishes, but they can stay put until the next time I feel enthusiastic

I asked my daughter if Esme has gone to school and she has. The school bus normally comes down their drive to the house gate, but as the drive is so bad, Esme had to walk to the road. Apparently that took a long time to do, so her mum is going to take her large buggy to the end of the drive to bring her back . That won’t be easy to push or pull, but it will be safer for Esme .

Have a good day shopping florence.

Linda, I think, as we get older, we are more aware that it is easier to break bones and having done so it is an inconvenience while they heal. I am also aware that, because I am nervous about it, I am more vulnerable as I don't walk with confidence.

Great news about your eye op, Florence!
Where do you have to go for that?

But 8.30! I don't know why appointments like that always seem to be so early.
From here we have to go to either Glasgow or Inverness for most operations, and sometimes clinics too. Even though that's a drive of at least a couple of hours, and more by public transport when there is any, appointments always seem to be early in the morning - which can often mean going the evening before and staying overnight.
They don't seem to take distances into account.

I have to go along to our village hall at lunchtime today. I hope their carpark is OK. It's a gravel surface, but even so, can be really slippery when icy.

It is boring to be stuck inside Ann, I am going to miss playing with Esme this afternoon.
I should have gone to my slimming class this morning, but I haven’t. I normally drive to some free parking just outside the town centre, then walk in, but the pavements are just hard packed ice. There is a paid car park right next to the hall where the class is held, so I could park there, but I saw a photo of that on the local Facebook page. It hasn’t been cleared at all, so is treacherous and not worth the risk.
We went to Morrisons on Monday when it was deep slushy snow, they hadn’t cleared any of their paths, my daughter went yesterday and everywhere was just lethal, so thank goodness we got all our shopping in earlier. I wouldn’t have thought twice about going out a few years ago, but now I worry about falling. Luckily we have a long open porch on the front of the house, so no snow could fall there. There is just a short section of snow to walk on before I can get into the car , so I don’t like that. I have a friend who was getting out of her car a few years ago, when she put her foot down on the ice, she fell and broke her hip, so I am very wary now.

Morning all


Well it didn't snow overnight and the roads are clear so my friend is coming to take me out. The pavements in town are a bit tricky but Ive flat shoes on today not heeled boots so will just have to be careful.

AnninGlocs, I know what its like to be stuck inside as I haven't left the house since 7 Dec!! I was beginning to get a bit tetchy with being stuck inside so glad im off today .

I received some fab news yesterday in the post to say, I'm get my eye op now on the 29 January at 8.30 so don't have to wait until after April like I was told. A taxi is collecting me and taking me back as far too early for Patient Travel so that is marvellous.

I hope everyone else looking in is well and keeping warm.

Yes Ann I agree, this site is a godsend when one is on their own indoors as there is always someone around on here to chat too.

Have a good day all

Florence int he hebrides

I am sure that Esme benefits from your games with her Linda.

I hate it when it is icy as I am then really a prisoner in my house. As I need to walk everywhere unless I can get a lift it would be lethal to walk on the icy paths. Still I am grateful that I can afford to heat my home and also grateful for technology that gives me the opportunity to communicate with people so I don't feel lonely. Friends on here are a godsend in these icy times.

I do admire your patience and stamina, Linda!

About 2cms of snow fell here yesterday evening. Beautiful to look at in today's sunshine!
No more has fallen, but it hasn't thawed either.
It's supposed to be about -8 tonight.

Brrr!

It is due to be minus nine here tonight.
The roads are OK once you get to the main roads, but the paths are treacherous. It is just hard packed one. The snow is so frozen that it just crunches underfoot.
We went to play with Esme again this afternoon. I made some biscuits with her and we played schools of course. She has a large white board, so we do lots of writing, spelling and sums. She has lots of resources, so we test the ten “ children” in the class on days of the week, months etc. The ten favoured dolls and stuffed toys all sit in a circle, so we start off by having circle time, complete with the good morning song.
Her school is open tomorrow, so I won’t have to go. She is very cross about having to back to school tomorrow I plan to stay in, it is just too dangerous to try to walk outside.

Hello to all.,
Still very cold here & still have some snow.
It did start to thaw a bit on Monday & what we had started to turn slushy but first thing yesterday morning the snow came on again & made things difficult.

My living room has 2 windows the front obviously & a smaller one at the side, & when the snow started yesterday it completely covered the side window, it snowed for most of the day.
This side window lets me see the surrounding fields & the bottom half of the house road/track plus the main road in the distance; but I couldn't see a thing for most of yesterday, eventually the snow slid down the window & I could see out of it once again.
Being claustrophobic it wasn't a nice feeling not being able to see out !

Today it has been a very bright sunny day but soo cold, the sun hasn't done anyting to shift the snow,.
I am not going out tomorrow to do the shopping, my daughter is going on her own, I can't face it.

Not had any more problem re the pressure pump freezing thank goodness, just have to keep an eye on the weather forecasts re freezing temperatures !

Joan.

Afternoon all
A few light snow showers but its not lasting here although in other parts they have quite a bit!

Glad everyone is well and keeping warm.
Joan, hope you still have water and not too much snow. I saw on the news there are plenty of schools shut in the NE.

Im hoping to go off for a trip with my pal tomorrow to town. i have several boxes and 2 large bags to get rid of to the charity shops but a friends birthday present to post too. So hoping it isn't white when i wake up in the morning!

Strange but the wind has gone and its flat calm here and that means it doesn't feel as cold so haven't had to put the heating on yet.

Well coffee time for me now and a snack.

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

We had a very hard frost but only on the roof tops and anything high off the ground. roads and paths appear to be ice free. But it is very dark and very cold 1 degree here at the moment, no wind though. I am staying in still a lot of jobs to get done after being away for three weeks.

I am sure that it takes a lot of patience to play schools so long at a time Linda, so well done for endurance. Are you able to introduce any learning opportunities into the play aspect?

Well, it isn’t getting any better here. It is still so cold with hard packed ice everywhere and all the schools are still closed
It did thaw slightly just before lunch time yesterday, so OH managed to dig the snow out of the tyre tracks, so we were able to get the car out of the garage. We only had a couple of hundred yards of icy estate road before we were on a bus route which had been gritted, so the roads were fine after that. Going down my daughters track was difficult, but we managed it, so I could spend the afternoon playing with Esme
She is off school again today, so we will go again this afternoon . OH isn’t allowed to play schools, much to his relief. Yesterday he mended one of their kitchen blinds which has been broken for ages. I am sure that he will find something else to do today.

We are getting off very lightly compared to you others - so far, at least.

It's very frosty, with blue sky and sunshine. The roads and pavements are dry, so not slippery, thank goodness.
The hills are white, but no snow down here at sea-level.
We had a handful of half-hearted flakes of snow this morning, but they didn't lie.

I had homemade leek and potato soup for lunch Florence

It was minus five here overnight and all the slush is frozen solid now, it is going to be even colder tonight. I was supposed to be going for a hygienist appointment tomorrow back where we used to live, but I have cancelled it as it is just to dangerous to drive all that way.

The local schools are all still closed, so Esme if off again. She wants me to go and play, but I don’t think that the car will come out if the garage. There is quite a slope down to the garage and yesterday when OH was trying to back it out, it was skidding in the slush. The tyre tracks from yesterday are now solid ice. He went out to try and clear it, but he couldn’t. It is due to be even colder tonight, it isn’t due to get above zero until the weekend. It was a good job that I planned the weeks menus and went to the supermarket yesterday as I don’t normally do that until Tuesday.

Afternoon all
Gosh it really is freezing today and blowing a gale with hail and sleet thrown in for good measure.

Yes of course, it was bin day too grrrr. Daughter put them out and the neighbours as he was away to work and forgot but i had to get them back in all 4 wheelie bins as daughter suddenly decided to go to town!!

Anyway all safely back in their places once again.

off to make lentil & veggie soup plus a salmon on croute with cauliflower cheese bake for tea later. Def a day for hot food and soup.

Hope everyone looking in is ok and keeping warm and safe.

Florence in the hebrides

I need to have a declutter in my smalls drawers Florence, I have too much stuff which I never use.
OH came with me this afternoon and we went to the superbfirst, then to p,ah with Esme. Once we had gone a couple of hundred yards, we were onto a bus route and that had been gritted, so was fine. The Morrisons car park was awful with very deep slushy snow, but what was worse was that they had made no attempt at all to clear the paths in front of the store. At least we are reasonably fit, but I saw an older lady with a stick who was in the disabled parking right next to the store struggling to walk on the paths which hadn’t been cleared. Also they hadn’t collected any trolleys to put at the entrance as they normally do, so having trudged through the deep slushy snow, we had to go back again to find a trolley in the car park.

Getting down my daughter’s drive was difficult, they share a private track with two other houses. It is full of potholes which are difficult to miss at the best of times, but today being covered in snow was even worse. Still, we made it and I occupied Esme for an hour while her mum had an online meeting.

Morning all
ArgyllGran, I went online and read about the earthquake in your area. It must feel quite frightening really even if it was only a small one!. Don't think we have ever had one up here that i can remember.

Woke up to see it snowing!! However although it was coming down quite thick to begin with, the rain has now come and its all melted. When i opened the from t door though, the cold air was just Baltic, soooo cold and its very very windy as well.

I am going to make a start on ging through my drawers this week and decluttering but instead of taking stuff out, sorting and then putting it all back.....some has to go!


Hope everyone is keeping warm today and Joan hope you still have water!

Florence in the hebrides

That is interesting AG. We had one when we were on the beach in Zante in September, it was strange.

We still have a lot of snow, but it is becoming very slushy. Most of the local schools are closed, but Esme’s school had a teacher training day today, so she wouldn’t have been in anyway. Some of the bus services in the area have been cancelled because the estate roads are just too bad to drive on. I was planning to go and play with Esme this afternoon, but I will see what my daughter says about the roads. They drove Eve to her school this morning and Esme has a hospital appointment this morning, so they will have been out and about

We've just had an earthquake , about an hour ago - a long loud rumble with slight vibration.

Apparently 2.9 magnitude.
Reports of it over quite a wide area around Oban/Fort William and district .

https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/earthquakes/quake-info/10097931/quake-felt-Jan-5-2025-Near-Oban-Scotland-United-Kingdom.html#reportsSection