General Chat

Joan, our ‘landline’ has been cordless for years, the danger in Not putting it back in the cradle properly. That can mean the call is still live and clicking charges up.

We have now gone digital but have kept our old handsets. Luckily we are no longer anywhere where the power goes regularly - just hope we never get a power cut just before our mobiles need charging.

We like being able to spot all the calls from our old friend ‘ nuisance?’ One of the advantages of the digital system. :-D

Happy New Year to everyone.

Just another day for me, not doing anything different from other days, lol.

Freezing cold today & a lot of rain through the night, some snow was lying around the edges of the garden & surrounding fields,when I got up today but some more rain this morning has shifted it .

A new top loader washing machine on order from a local store, not easy to install in my kitchen (long story) but hopefully it will get done asap.

I have got a new phone !
Our eldest son has been dealing with my new broadband contract & it has taken in the new digital phone.
The landline will be obsolete in time so my phone would have to be changed at some point so I now have what looks like a mobile but is cordless.

I am nervous of it, having had a much bigger "easier" to use "normal" phone for many years, I have to be so careful when taking it off the rest as I tend to catch the various buttons on it, which sends me into panic mode!

I suppose i will get used to it, in time !!

Joan.

Happy New Year to all. Hope 2026 is a good year for us all.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could have a war free year .

Happy New Year everyone <3 <3

Happy New Year, all!

Let's hope it's a peaceful one.

A Happy New Year to you all <3 <3

A very happy new year to you all <3

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYBODY!!!

I haven't been on here for a while, been reading the last couple of month's posts.

Joan I didn't know you could still buy top loading washing machines.

And Florence, I remember jokingly calling you a rock chick a few months ago - now you're proving me right! Guess what - I'm also going to see Bon Jovi in Edinburgh next year! Good news about your blood results too.

Well that's another year over with, Best Wishes All, I'll try not to leave it so long next time to pop back and say hello.

Your new craft cupboard sounds good Florence, you will need steps to get to the top shelves.
I hope that everyone will have a good New Year.
We are going to stay overnight with our daughter, so that we can see the new year in together. Our son will be there as well. We will have a fake new year earlier for Esme, watching a recording of the fireworks from last year. We will all troop upstairs to pretend to go to bed, then sneak down again :-D

Morning everyone looking in today.

So another year nearly over and the 2026 almost knocking on the door.

For me personally, 2025 has been one of the best years in a long long time as so much has changed and happened for the best.

Some of us will reflect on people we have lost and loved but remember, we all have our memories of those people and be happy when you think of them.

Its a terrible gale and pouring rain here today so no venturing out for us but there is plenty to do as we are rearranging the bedroom furniture to accommodate a new storage cupboard for all my craft things! But before we assemble it(its 6ft tall), we have to declutter etc and that will be quite some job.

I wish everyone on here a very Happy New Year and hope 2026 brings us all good health and happiness.

Florence in the hebrides

It is getting colder here as well Florence, but at least it isn’t raining or snowing.

I discovered this afternoon that my mobile has just been going to voicemail for the past few days, yet it wasn’t telling me that I had any new voicemails. I spent ages trying to find out why, yet there was no obvious reason. I tried everything I could think off, but nothing worked. Then all of a sudden , it was normal again, so goodness knows what was going on, probably something to do with Giff Gaff my mobile provider.In theory we still have a landline number, but our old phones didn’t work with the new router, so we have ditched them . No one knows the land line number in any case. When we moved here, we were given a new phone number, but they made such a mess of the installation, that we were without a landline for a month, so we just used our mobiles and no one got the new number. The only time the land line ever rang, it was a spam call, so it is no great loss.

After noon all.
Its been a busy few days and just back from town a wee while ago. Another trip to the recycling centre tom as it isnt open on Mondays grrrr. Didnt find that out until we had loaded the car up with loads of carboard and rubbish bags!

Out visiting tom afternoon to friends who live locally from 2pm so another afternoon taken up and then til NYE, we havent anything planned.

Was very misty here first thing and no wind again!

Hope everyone ok and keeping warm as its a tad chilly up here and going down towards end of year with some snow promised,

Florence in the hebrides

I am glad that you had a fun day Ann.

Yesterday lunchtime we all went to watch the towns annual tug of war race, it is the first time we have been. The town has two bridges over the river. One of them has a pub on the river bank on each side of the bridge. The Mother Shipton Inn is on one side of the river and the Half Moon on the other. They have an annual tug of war race on Boxing Day and hundreds of people turn out to watch. Lots of people stand on the pavement on the bridge, a bit dangerous as the road is still open. There are sloping public gardens on one side of the river packed with people and vantage points along a road at one side of the river. The rope goes over the water, there is a men’s competition and a woman’s. It is the best of three tugs and the teams change river banks for each tug so no one has an advantage. The banks get very muddy, so sometimes they end up in the river, but not today, it was honours even with the men from one pub winning and the women from the second one. They have a commentator on the bridge with a loud speaker so everyone knows what is happening. The pubs do a roaring trade selling beer and hot dogs etc.Apparently up to a thousand people are there, so it was a very nice atmosphere and something different to do.

We came home last night, we have only been away for two days, but the house was so cold, I put an extra cover on the bed to keep us warm. That will have to go tonight once the house has warmed up again, or we will roast.

Linda your OH is so clever what a wonderful piece of play equipment lucky Esme.

Pleased to hear that you all had a good day. And sounds as if all stayed healthy as well.

Joan I hope you had a good Christmas and an enjoyable birthday.

Our Christmas, five adults and a 15 month old in the morning plus two more adults, a four and nine year old in the afternoon was noisy but lovely. Nice presents and lovely food..

I hope that you enjoyed your birthday Joan and that everyone had a good day.
Our start wasn’t too early, it was 7.20am before we were summoned. Esme though had been awake from 4-5 am, before going back to sleep, but had awoken for good at 6.15. She was very tired during the day, so had a few meltdowns. Despite that we had a very nice day with lots of presents all round and far too much food. I was required to spend most of the day playing school bus with her using the present which OH made. It is a bit difficult to explain, but it is a flat board about 5ft by 3ft, mounted on castors. On the front is a toddler bench which is big enough for two toddlers to sit next to each other. Behind it OH has constructed a frame, so the bench has real car seat belts. As part of our game, she uses two very large stuffed teddies which are as big as small children , so now she can strap them into their bus seats. At the back, there is a hinged piece of wood which acts like a tail gate. It has a number plate and red reflectors on it. When she lets it down, it forms a ramp, so she can push one of her toy buggies onto the “bus” Set into the flat board are four rings with Velcro straps attached to them She uses these to tie down the four wheels on the buggies in the same way that they tie down the wheelchairs on the real school bus. She absolutely loves it, so I am destined to spend many hours playing with her. In her real school, they use hoists to transfer the disabled wheelchair bound children.She wanted a hoist to play with, but they don’t exist of course, so OH made a wooden version which she still uses all the time to transfer her teddies and dolls during our school games. The bus is just a great new addition to her play.
Incredibly, it is 9.14 and no one is up yet, OH is snoring away next to me and I have been reading my iPad for an hour. I am going to sneak down to get a coffee as I am hungry

And a happy birthday to you, Joan.

A very Happy Christmas and a Peaceful New Year to you all <3 <3

Happy Christmas to all on here. Have a lovely day.

I hope that you get your washer sorted out Joan, it sounds like it won’t be soon, which will be difficult for you.
The plumber came back and took the flow restrictions out of the shower, which solved the pressure problem, but when we refilled the tank and heated the water up again, we discovered that even on the highest setting the water wasn’t warm enough. We thought that we would have to get him back again, but OH read the instructions and discovered that there was a way to turn the temperature up. So he drained the tank again and altered the setting, so now thankfully we can have nice hot showers again.

My daughter had arranged to pick up her Xmas order from Asda at 7pm last night. They sent her the list of substitutions at 5.30pm That was when she discovered that there was no Turkey or ham joint. She went rushing to another local supermarket ,but could only get a turkey crown, so she bought that. Annoyingly when she went to Asda, they brought a turkey out with the order, so why they told her that she wasn’t getting one, we have no idea. Of course she had already bought the turkey crown by then so they took the turkey back. I went to get my haircut this morning and popped into Aldi to buy a couple of last minute bits and discovered that they had lots of turkeys with 30% off.

We are going go this evening and stay over for two nights, my son will be there as well, so we will all be together. It is only a mile from here, but we will be able to have a drink, knowing we don’t have to drive back. No doubt we will be up at the crack of dawn as Esme’s is so excited.

I hope that you all have a lovely time, whatever you are doing <3 <3

Well its nearly here folks.

Been busy prepping for the dinner tomorrow and getting organised as one does.

I hope everyone has an enjoyable day whatever way you choose to spend it.

Eat, drink and be merry all

Happy Christmas

Florence in the Hebrides