General Chat

Hello Gill good to see you. I hope your laptop can keep going now so that you can stay with us and keep us up to date with the bungalow, it is starting to sound as though you are well on the way with it now. Did you get anything at all done in the garden?

Vera pleased that you had a nice time with your friends yesterday. I expect M felt better for it too.

Well I had just cooked my lunch at 2pm so that I don’t need a meal tonight, when the door bell rang and it was the young fellow from the house of the get together. He was sadly having to cancel the evening as his wife is I’ll. so not going out after all.

Good job I have mince pies left over from yesterday. I won’t starve.

Lovely to hear from you Gill and know you are OK. Your bungalow will be great when it’s all done and I expect you’ve added a lot of value to it. I only got my last few cards posted yesterday and I think yours was amongst that lot so I hope it arrives before Christmas.

I hope your car is OK Mel. We had a similar problem 3 or 4 years ago. The engine didn’t want to fire up if we had only stopped for a few minutes to pop in a shop or something. If we waited a little bit longer it would start again. That turned out to be the starter motor. Perhaps your car man could at least check it for you. You don’t want the car letting you down when you are a long way from home.

I saw the National and local news as well Mandy. That poor lady’s family, they must be distraught. We shouldn’t speculate but I do wonder what will come out at the inquest. If she accidentally fell into the water she wouldn’t have been able to take off her rings and glasses and lay them with her coat and phone. It’s just so sad.

Our friends came to lunch yesterday arriving about midday and staying till after 4 pm. We had a really enjoyable time and M didn’t stop talking. I think she needed the break as she has had such a stressful time over the last few weeks.

Today we got the Christmas decorations out of the garage. The artificial wreath I bought last year still looked good so that has gone up on the front door and the cards are up in the hall. We have about 30 so far which is about half the number we usually get.

We put the artificial pre-lit tree we bought last year on a low table in front of the window in the lounge and I still hate it. It’s not the sort of tree you can hang baubles or anything on. I’ve put clusters of red berries from an old garland in among the little branches but I’m not happy with it. Up till last year we always had a real tree but I think OH wants to stick with artificial now. However he has said we could go out tomorrow and see if we can get a better one. We have some outside lights that we just string along the eaves so OH will also put those up tomorrow.

Time to start cooking dinner I think. It’s meat pie tonight. It’s a shop bought one but heating the oven and cooking it from frozen will take an hour so I’d better get the oven on. I’m going out to the kitchen anyway as it’s now wine o’clock and there’s a nice bottle of rose in the fridge with my name on it.

Hi all

Pleased to see the Christmas card arrived okay Mandy, I sent everyone a card so maybe the others will arrive tomorrow.

Yes my laptop kept having a blank screen and with being so busy paying for all the jobs that needed doing I couldn't afford to get it fixed. Luckily OH's friend offered to take a look at it for me and now it's fixed. He said he just restarted it and the problem fixed itself so I hope it stays working now.

We're still plodding on with all our jobs and have our bathroom floor being laid 8th January, we were told to leave the bath panels off until the floor is done so once those two jobs are done our bathroom will finally be finished.

We had our kitchen delivered today so have been busy making a start on putting that in. It looks so different now we have some units in there. We only had one 500 unit with no door and a built in sink which is stuck to the wall and supported with two metal bars. We can't put the units in where the sink is until the old sink is taken out, but all the other cupboards are now in place, we'll finish them off tomorrow with the doors then all we need to do is buy some worktops and have the new sink put in. The worktop I liked didn't come in the extra width I wanted so we'll have to try and find another one.

We need the extra width worktops so we can put cupboard doors in front of the washing machine and dryer which will make the kitchen look much better. I don't like the built in machines as they are to small so hiding our own machines behind doors means we don't have the expense of having to buy new appliances which wouldn't be suitable.

I haven't had a chance to read the posts yet so I hope everyone is okay.

Take care :-D :-D

Yes car was ok I started it up and let it run for a while before I left and it started fine when I came out of the docs.

I have had DaVE HERE AND HE HAS FINISHED OFF NOW AND PUT THE WOOD THAT WAS OVER IN THE LEANTO. Sorry hit the cap lock. I told him to leave all the old wood and I will get the trailer round when BIL comes and move that myself to save a bit of money.

Just made a tray of sausage rolls and having one with a cuppa. Still 10 degrees here but the wild birds have been feeding like crazy again so it may be a cold night.

I could never understand why Gill did'nt get a new laptop when they sold the house as they must have spent an awful lot having the new bathroom, front door etc.

I expect Gill has had a lot to pay out for with all the alterations on the bungalow and the garden so the laptop has had to wait .

I see on the news that they have found a body in the river in Norwich where that lady went missing ,her poor family having to wait all this time ,so sad.

Mel hope your car is OK for you this afternoon, sounds like it might be the starter motor playing up .

We nipped out for some milk and it was so cold ,temperature should be up a little tomorrow.

Nice that you heard from Gill Mandy.

Been up the post van and did the little parcel came out and went to start the car and it would'nt start! Tried three or four times and it did'nt sound right so I rang Stuart my car man who lives down the road from me and while his son was getting him I tried it again and it started. Had to tell Stuart I was ok but I do hope its not going to do it to me when I go to the docs this afternoon for my toenails.

Thanks for the message from gill Mandy. that laptop has been broken a long time I think. Wonder what is wrong with it.

Yes I will probably do that eat a late proper lunch so I only need a snack this evening.

Morning all,

Another dull morning here and a bit chilly .
Sounds like you have a busy day Mel .
Anng could you have a good lunch so you can then go out to the neighbours get-together.
I had a christmas card from Gill today she said her laptop is still broken and that she hopes to come back on line when she can get it fixed ,so it's nice to hear that she is OK.
I have stripped the bed so thats in the washer and I want to give the upstairs a good hoover and dust today .

Good morning all. slept better last night, finally woke around 8am. 7 degrees here and very grey. Yesterday turned out to be a nice sunny day, no rain. Meeting went well 8 of us. Mince pies and sausage rolls went down very well.

Sorting for packing today. Then may go to a meet the neighbours get together this evening. It is awkward as it is for 'any time after 6pm'. which clashes with when I eat and then you don't know how long it will go on. I will have to see. Fairly new young neighbours with two under three year olds.

Morning all ,

Builders here and I was still in bed but I heard the door of his van shut.

Its 8 degrees here this mroning and pc sayas near record high for the 16th Dec.

I have to go to the post van this morning and to the foot man this afternoon so a full day for me and I don't know how long Dave will be here.

Mel I think it is not something you should have clicked on. google secure web search and it will hopefully give you advice. It is some sort of suspicious extension.

I clicked on it and now I can't get a page up

11 degrees Mel? That's nearly tropical weather. It's only 4 degrees here. It's very brrr...

Can't help you with your green screen message as I have never seen that. Maybe someone else can advise you or could you contact whoever you get your virus protection from - Norton? McAfee? - and see if they can help?

Morning Girls,

Its dull here too this morning but now its 11 degrees. There was a frsot last night after the lovely day we had yesterday.

I have fed the girls and the wild birds just need to clean thier bird bath out and do some house work.

This morning I have a green screen come up in the corner of my screen which tells me my secure web search is off shoiuld I click on it or not?? When I turned the pc off last night it updated could it be to do with that?

Morning all,

We had a beautiful sunrise here this morning ,I was so surprised when I pulled the curtains back and saw the sky now its as dull as dish water .
I did sleep a little better last night I soon went to sleep where as the last couple of nights I laid for over an hour or more before I slept ,I did wake a couple of times but soon went off again.
Anng it could be related to covid , I still feel so tired at times it just seems to sweep over me .
We're off later to see Colin's sister and take christmas cards.

Good morning AnnG and all
It’s cold here today, 3 degrees and drizzle. Only a week to go now till the shortest day. I slept better last night so am a bit more “with it” today. I’ve not got much to do, just a bit of tidying and then our friends will come for lunch.

good morning all. 4 degrees here this morning still darkish outside with heavy cloud cover but not raining. Not that I am going anywhere today. Meeting here this afternoon so a bit of tidying and chair shifting this morning. sort of slept ok but still woke three times.

Sound like a nightmare journey in both directions Vera. Hope you had a nice time with your friends anyway,

Strange isn’t it that so many of us have trouble sleeping. If I remember correctly my sleepless nights only started after zcovud. But I can’t think that had anything to do with it. Maybe it is an age thing. Which it could be for me and maybe Vera but not Mandy

Sorry to hear you’ve been having bad nights as well Mandy. I hope you sleep better tonight. I wonder why several of us aren’t sleeping well at the moment. I had 2 appalling nights which meant I had a stinking headache all yesterday. Last night was just slightly better so I’ve lost the headache and just feel tired and zombie like.

It’s a shame you have such an expense just before Christmas but the rotten wood would have made your decking unsafe Mel. We don’t want it falling to bits and taking you down with it.

Weather here has been much the same as Mandy’s, not very nice at all. Yesterday it poured all day and we had arranged to go to Southend. Our normal route is cross country through the back roads to join the A12 just south of Colchester. As we were driving along a bus came round a bend and flashed its lights at us so OH slowed down. Just as well. Round the bend there was a small queue of cars stopped by a long stretch of flooded road. The driver at the head of the queue wouldn’t venture into the water so had just stopped. Everything else had to try and get round her in a narrow road with cars coming through the flood in the other direction. I don’t know if it’s right or not but I was taught that driving through water you keep the revs up and the speed down but some people seemed to think you had to get through as quickly as possible and cars were aquaplaning and sloshing waves of water everywhere. Anyway we made it through and drove on.

Next problem: coming over a bridge we could look down on the A12 and it was at a standstill. We got to the roundabout where we move on to the A12 and the slip road was closed. No diversion signs or indication where we could join it. In the end, having driven south, we had to go a long way north again by a different road in order to get us on to another route to Southend. The journey normally takes one and a quarter hours. It took two and a half.

I won’t bore you with the saga of getting home again except to say OH planned a route carefully to avoid all the known hazards and delays. Unfortunately for us so did everyone else so for at least half the way we crawled along bumper to bumper in an endless parade of cars. It took another two and a quarter hours to get back.

When we got home our friends M and V phoned and OH blithely invited them to lunch tomorrow. Guess who’s the one sorting out the lunch? They won’t expect a full meat and 3 veg type dinner but I must give them more than a crumpet. So as well as the other jobs I had planned I’ve had to dash to the supermarket and make some soup. I’m giving them soup with sourdough bread and then salad with sausage rolls. We can finish with coffee and cake.

All this talk of food is making me peckish to I think I will go and prepare our dinner. It’s salmon tonight and that’s always one of my favourites.

I thought he was coming today to screw the boards down but he never came and I have had a day of doing nothing except feed the chickens and the wild birds which are eating me out of house and home.

I took the bin bag up a little while ago and thought I would drop off Hazel and Jonathon's present so parked in the car park and went to ring them and after faffing about becuse the phone kept giving me up strange colours and only my favorite number I at last got into contacts and rang Hazel as they keep their big gates locked because of the dogs, anyway what did it do to me? rang my SIL and when she answered I said Hi its me I'm in the carpark!! Hello said Heather are you here? then i clicked and had to say sorry the phone had rung the wrong number. We chatted a bit and by this time I was at the gates to Hazel so said bye and rang Hazel. Had a lkittlke chat with them and a couple of choccies and came home. So all in all a real nothing day. Now its time to cook dinner.

Its been a dry sunny day today but there's been a bitterly cold wind and I expect frost tonight cos the sky is still clear. Pc is telling me its mostly cloudy so its got that wrong, so much for technology (sp). its still 7 degrees.