General Chat

Afternoon all,

Oh my word it is so hot ,we went shopping first thing before it heated up ,it was lovely and cool in the shop with the air con but by the time we came out it was roasting out .
Got all the shopping away and have just sat in front of the fan since lunch .

Vera hope you've got all your packing sorted where are you off too ,hope you have a safe journey and the traffic isn't to bad .

Oh Mel what are the water company doing with your bills the sooner the leak is sorted the better ,what a worry for you .

Anng your week has soon gone ,it sounds as if you've had a good time with good weather safe journey home for you too.

Morning Anng and all,

Quite bright here this morning buy the sky is grey its 21 degrees and pc says mostly cloudy.

Had another bill this morning from SWEB for £1,400 and something which I will not be paying.

Good morning all. Sun is shining, blue sky with whisky white clouds, cows are contentedly munching having been moved to a new field.. just a last visit to the local town, Castle Douglas today then packing :-(

Raining at 10pm but not a lot.

We had a good day today. First we went to Kercudbriight and had coffee in a lovely garden of a cafe, with a toasted tea cake. Then we had a wander around some of the little shops and managed to buy some Christmas presents that were a bit different. This is known as the artists town of this area of Scotland and there was more than one shop selling paintings.
We had a walk round the harbour, the trawlers were out as it was low tide but there wa plenty to see.
Next we drove to Don beach, a lovely rocky cove where we had our packed lunch sitting looking out to sea. Then we spent time walking across the sands and watching people in the water. Not really a lot of people there but that has been the same all over this lovely corner of Scotland. I am so impressed with this part of Scotland, so beautiful, very rural and the people are lovely very friendly.

I did pick up a few small shells Mel but not sure they are small enough for you.

We came back then about 4pm to spend time in the hot tub while looking out over the loch. And soaking up the sun.
Just one day left now :-(

I have just had a good laugh!!!

Had an email from the leccy board telling me the prices are going down on the 1st October.

Now read this.



Ofgem has announced that prices are going down for a typical household*.



Great news - your energy unit rates are going down. However, we need to make you aware that your daily standing charge is going up slightly, in line with Ofgem’s cap. This is to reflect increases in the cost of getting energy to your home. Most customers, who are using energy, will find their overall spend goes down. Take a look over the page for our estimate on how this will impact on your annual energy spend.

There's nohing like the smell of a rotten potato is there. We've got sausage and mash as well tonight Mandy. I'd usually have baked beans with it but I want to use up some carrots and broccoli before we go away so we'll have veg and gravy. It's a bit warm for that but I'm trying to use stuff up.

When I say warm I really mean hot. iPad is saying it is 30 degrees and feels like 36 and is likely to rise another degree or two before the temperature starts going down. All the blinds are drawn and I am wearing dark glasses as my eyes are sore today so I am moving around the house hardly able to see where I'm going.

We had to go into town this morning so I could pick up my meds and OH could fill the tank. The system that operates between our chemist and our doctors now is hopeless. I used to go in, pick up my meds which were waiting for me and leave within about a minute. Now I am lucky if I get out in 15 minutes. First everything is checked on one computer at the counter., then as I am on a special repeat system another bit has to be checked on a different computer. Then, if I have ordered something that I only order when needed rather than regularly, that will be ready and handed to me but the stuff I have every 4 weeks like clockwork won't have been put together yet. So I have to wait while one of the assistants goes round assembling all the tabs etc that I need, then wait till the pharmacist can check it and sign it off before I get it. Added to that patients are only allowed 6 repeat scripts and then they are stopped and we have to ring the surgery and ask for them to be reissued.. I understand the reason is to stop people ordering tablets when they no longer need them but there must be a way to program the computer so that people like myself who have needed the tablets for a long while (in my case the last 21 years) and are going to be on them for life don't have all this faffing about. We have an annual review anyway. I'd change pharmacies but the only other one in town is Boots and friends who use that are constantly having problems as well. Rant over now - I am grateful really that can get my meds foc through the NHS.

I went down to the Ladies Club last night to find the speaker had cancelled at the last minute so the hall had been set up with tables for Bingo. I don't enjoy Bingo at all and I was hot and headachy so I came back home. 10 minutes later the doorbell went and it wa another friend asking if she could come and sit with me. She is deaf and although she has hearing aids if there is a lot of noise she can't hear individual voices. We sat out in the garden with cold drinks as it gradually got darker and had a good old chinwag. I live very near the centre we use so the lady who had driven her there just stopped off at mine on the way back and picked her up.

It's getting on for 5 pm so I had better get on. Still got things to do before Friday and I want to go for our usual Thursday coffee with friends tomorrow. Hope you all mange to stay cool tonight.

That happened to me Mandy when the fridge went up and froze some sups I had to throw the lot away. Can you imagine the stink in Ireland when the potatoes went bad and they had a famine. I did have a rotton one in my new pots this week too so they went in the bin.

Its 27 degrees here now and I was going to cut some stuff back but its too hot to go out there. Maybe when the sun goes round a bit I can get out there.

Salad for me tonight as I am not cooking.

Morning Mel,morning all,

Phew it's hot here ,yesterday was hot but there was a little breeze, no breeze out there today .
Had the children here while son and dil went into school for training dil had first aid training and son had safe guard training ,all back to school today ,I bet there's a lot of mums breathing a sigh of relief that the holidays over.

We did sit out and have our coffee this morning but we're in now as it's really heating up ,I have some ironing here but no way am I doing that .
I have sausages out for tonight we'll have mash and baked beans with them ,I now peeled the spuds and there was a rotten one in the bag talk about stink so that's gone in the bin.

Its 24 degrees now and feels like 28 out there.

Done the pond filter and been up the post van. I was going to do something in the garden today but it is so nice and cool in the house I don't want to go out there again.

Morning all,

Got up at 6.23am fpor the loo and it was all grey and very misty out there. Tyhrew myself back into bed and work up later to bright sunshine. Its 18 degrees and pc says mostly sunny.

I don't know what happened to my last post as it would come out as I tped so I went back and retyped some of it and its still not there!!

It should have read My post arrived today and went straight in the bin as it was two circulers.

Have to get up the post van this morning so have a nice day all of you.

BBL

My post arrived today and went staight in itwass two circulars.

Done a bit of painting today but not mucchh else apart from fishing laves out of te big pond and now I am gooing to do a parcel up to post tomorrow.

Good afternoon all. It has been a beautiful day. Car was telling us it is 27 degrees but I think it was even hotter in the gardens of Thrueve Castle.When we got there we had a coffee first and Lyn and I shared a very nice cheese scone, in fact we think, the best we have tasted. Beautiful extensive grounds and we walked over two miles, not always flat either. We did sit in the red squirrel Hyde for a while but sadly we didn’t see one, it was too hot for them I think. We took a picnic and had that in the grounds. We were there four hours and my legs and feet know that. It is a bit hot to go I. The hot tub at the moment but it will be good to go in later.

We have just seen a heron and an Osprey flying over and circling the loch. Both with such a big wing span.

Good morning ladies (and any men looking in)

Clear blue sky with just some wisps of white cloud and wall to wall sunshine - it really is a beautiful day, so it seems wrong to complain but it is so hot that it's uncomfortable and I can't sit out and enjoy it. I always think of Jane when it's like this. She hated the heat and would sit inside with 2 or 3 fans blowing on her.

I did a bit of ironing first thing before it got too hot but don't seem to have done much since then. I am a last minute packer but I've usually got some idea of what I am going to take away with me but I haven't even thought about it yet. Perhaps I can rouse the energy this afternoon to pack up medical supplies and washing gear.

We're on watering duty next door this week but OH helps out with that. It takes ages as they have a lot of pots; it reminds me of Gill with her 400 or more pots. They will check on our pots next week as they come back as we go asway.

Tonight I've got a Ladies Club meeting to go to. The speaker is a woman from the recycling company our council contract out to. I've heard her before at another club we belong to and don't really want to listen to her again but I will go along.

Just heard the post arrive - earlier than usual - so I'm going to see what exciting things have come. What's the betting it will be bills?

Good morning all, another blue sky sunny morning here. The loch looks lovely, so calm the surface is like a mirror with reflections of trees etc. the ducks and moorhens are parading around, the cows are peacefully eating and the sheep have just been moved to another field by the three dogs.

We are just off out to Thrieve, a NT property not too far away.

Morning all,

Another bright morning here and pc is saying a record high but its quite windy and 19 degrees at the mo going up to 28.

Shoppings coming today and they have subs the pegs I ordered so they will be going back or one lot at least and I ordered the ferrorro sharing bar in milk choc instead of the plain one so thats going back too.

Nothing else planned for today except to do a parcel up to send an order on Ebay.

It has been very, very hot here. The weather app this afternoon was telling me it was 25 degrees but feeling like 28. The sun was blazing down and there wasn't much of a breeze at all. I haven't done anything in the garden today. Too hot for that and I had other things that had to be done.

We are going away for a week on Friday so I got most of the washing done as I will need to iron and pack some of it. I also had to go into town to the opticians for an eye test that the hospital now wants me to have. I put on a loose, cool linen shirt and still sweltered walking from the car park to the opticians. The optician was pleased as my bad eye hasn't deteriorated as much as he expected. I can get by with my existing glasses though his suggested change of lens did make everything look brighter and sharper. So it is left to me to decide whether to change my glasses or not. I told him that I will get them changed but not immediately as we have got a lot of expense at the moment and the lenses I have to have are very pricey. I'll probably go back in 4 or 5 weeks.

Mel, I hope the Water Authority can get your leak sorted out quickly now. It's a worry when you have big bills like that hanging over you and you know it's not your fault.

It sounds as though you are having an enjoyable holiday AnnG. It's good to be able to just relax for a while. We will be self-catering but OH knows that I don't intend to spend my holiday cooking so we'll be eating out most of the time.

How sad that your swans didn't manage to raise a brood this year Gwyn. Ours seemed to be very late starting to lay eggs but I believe I said in an earlier post that they have successfully raised 5 cygnets who are now nearly as big as mum and dad.

We had a nice easy meal tonight; cold roast lamb and a big salad and I feel very full up. I'll definitely be having my big floor standing fan on tonight to try and keep cool or I'll be sleeping downstairs on the couch where it's a bit fresher. I hope you all manage to stay cool and get a good night's sleep.

It was lovely here today. We drove to a little rocky beach called Southerness. We took our coffee and biscuits and found a sear to sit on. We went to look at this beach because it is at the narrowest point of the Solway Firth, from there we could see across to Siloth and Allonby where we were last week. We sat here in the sun for quite a while before driving back to Kippford where we had a very nice fish and chip meal at a hotel called The Anchor we then came back here about 4pm to sit and read after fifteen minutes in the hot tub.
I slept really well last night so hope I do the same tonight.

The watereboard just said they would put it on hold till the end of September. I hope they come soonand fix this blimmin leak. Then I have to ask them to read the meter and give me a reading and read it again 7 days later to calculate how much water I use in a week.

I have spent most f the day fishing leaves out of the pond. We had a very hot wind here and it is still 25 degrees and mostly sunny.

Hope Vera dos'nt have it as hot as we do. Its lovely and cool in the bungalow but when Istep outside the heat hits you.

Good afternoon all,

Mel,
I will keep a look out for shells too, when I go to the beach.

Gosh it's hot here ! I was going to go out and pick a few blackberries, but will wait until the sun has moved round a bit.
It is a bonus having some late summer sunshine, but it must be very hot in some buildings.We keep the windows and curtains shut in our sunniest rooms until early evening in this weather and just open the windows on the north side later...seems to work.
School started back last Friday, so I will go in this week to listen to readers. I will still work with Year 4, so will have a different set of children to get to know and learn their names.
Some of you wanted to know about our local swans.
Sadly, this year, they didn't raise any cygnets :-(
The mother laid eggs back in April, but they never hatched. She laid a few more eggs in the same nest, but sometimes left them.... and then she laid some more and eventually sat for a while on the whole clutch, but none hatched and they eventually abandoned the nest and went off swimming to their summer haunts.
I really don't know what happened to cause this strange change in fortunes.
I was telling my sister in Hampshire about this about a fortnight ago and she said a pair of swans local to her were swimming in the park with a very young cygnet.... from a photo, I would say no more than about 3 weeks old..... All very unusual :-S
'Our' swans swim a mile or two into the nearest town and I saw them there recently, looking hopeful for food near a group of people at the water's edge, so we will wait and see what happens next spring.

Our area has been asked to keep a lookout for Asian hornets, as there have been several sightings in Kent this year. I haven't seen any, but a feature on the lunchtime BBC news warned of the dreadful impact they could have on honey bees and many pollinators. That could devastate Kent's fruit crops, so it's good to be aware.
There have been reports of sightings futher afield, as they can hitch a lift on lorries and sometimes cargo coming from the continent, so they could spread anywhere :-0
Mel
I hope you get sorted with the Waterboard.... any luck talking to them?