General Chat

Well what a good job I have that tiny pool. James and friend with children are on their way here. Chris has emptied the pool (after my feet) and put clean water in and put the pool in the shade. I dont have any toys though so wlll just have to get an empty plastic water bottle and a tupperware box . The eldest child is not quite 3 and the baby is just a couple of months old. How lovely it will be to have children here :-D and to maybe have a bit of a cuddle with the baby :-D The toddler is called Beuala but don't know the Baby's name.I think it a girl too. Better go.

the sun came out here late morning and its quite hot now. I see Jane has been having a foot cool off andnow James's friend is coming over to yours with the children so they can have a play in the pool. Well not baby perhaps but I am sure the three year old will enjoy herself. I loved my tin bath in the garden on a hot day when I was small. It was mums mangleing bath, oval with a handle each end.

Stay safe indoors Gill.

We enjoyed our big breakfast so no more cooking for me today. I shall have cheese and biccies tonight and oh will have scotch eggs so nice and easy.

Mandy I think thosse spikes you can put on a fence etc are plastic so not such a deterant as the paint. The paint sounds a good idea to me and oh had suggested you put some nice thick grease up there. I'd move the bench too so its not so convienient to get down onto or out back over the wall.

VERA yes silly me I was getting muddled with Kentwell Hall silly old fool.

Trust it to be you who went through the bench Frank!! Hope you had a nice time with your friends for coffee. Some bamboos can be very very invasive.

Yes most bamboo is invasive. We have several bamboos in the garden but all in pots, I love to see them moving in the breeze.
I envy those of you with fresh beans and new potatoes etc. For some reason OH wouldn't grow beans this year, he was put off by last year when we had to dig them up as they were absolutely covered in black fly. I love fresh runners. Pippyn I didn't know you could freeze courgettes, I thought they would go mushy. How do you freeze them? sliced?
We have roast chicken new potatoes, broccoli and French beans tonight. Plus I managed to find a couple of apples to cook (fallers that had been pecked by the birds) so they are stewed with the last of the blackberries (OH has cut the blackberry back now) and we will have those cold with ice cream.

How lovely to have the children at yours Jane, a cuddle with the baby sounds just the thing, and watching the little girl playing in the pool will surely put a smile on your face. I hope James is a little more cheerful, now he's spent some time with his friend and family.

I've got the news on and they've just said it's the hottest bank holiday in August on record since 2001. I'm so glad I stayed in doors today. Tomorrow is suppose to be hot to so that'll be another day sitting in the shade or in front of a fan. I think Tuesday is forecast for a bit of rain and after this heat we may well have a bit of thunder with it.

I meant to say I saw a sea plane yesterday flying around, I've only ever seen one on TV, it did look strange flying around in circles above our bungalow. OH said he saw it to at his friends. I wonder what it was all about.

We only have a few apples on a small apple tree to pick next month, all our tomatoes are finished now and I never got around to planting any potatoes this year. All your home grown veg and fruit sound delicious.

We have Bamboo's, we had them in pots but they weren't doing very well so we put them in the front garden. We were told they were the clump ones so hopefully they won't end up being evasive. They have thickened out since last year and now make a nice screen between us and Mr Grumpy. Everyone who sees our garden says how nice it is, so we're really pleased. I must admit now everything has become established it does look good.

Ann, I slice and blanche the courgette. I minute in boiling water, then plunge (!!) them into cold water for about 30 seconds, leave them to completely cool, bag up and freeze! delicious cooked with tomato and garlic sauce or as an addition to a casserole.
Hope you enjoyed the children Jane. Nothing like little ones to cheer you up!
The chap doing the combining finished last night and has completed baling today, so only the bales to pickup in the morning! Its been a right old marathon, but he's got there, he must be exhausted!

Afternoon All,

Another hot one, but I slept quite well last night.

AnnG we take it in turns to buy 2 goes on the lottery each week too. It sounds like you have better luck, but it was a shame about missing that win! It took us quite a while to realise that you get a free go if you get 2 numbers so we lost out there for a while. Yes I think I would hate seeing all my work rained on too! There is a gate at Lutterworth that is still covered in knitted/crocheted poppies from last year and seems to be holding up well up to now.

Yes bamboo, even the dwarf varieties can be invasive, I was given a tall one by a friend's mother in the 80s and brought a clump of it here, but it was impossible to contain and would have needed a huge pot. Getting rid of it wasn't easy either, even with a machete and saw on the roots! The lady in the then new bungalow opposite when we moved here had a gravel front garden planted up with different dwarf bamboos and a tall black one which crept all under her block paved drive and lifted a lot of the blocks. She had to get rid of them all eventually as the runners were popping up all over the place. They do look nice as a screen though and rustle nicely in the breeze. I still use some of the canes I saved in the garden.

Jane, Fitz was lucky there and will have to make sure he stops that happening again. He will have to keep his wine glass a bit further away!! lol ;-) ;-) Is he driving again now?

I suppose James will have more options with where he lives or works if he's made redundant now he's split with Jess. I must admit I wouldn't have had the courage to deal with both stresses at the same time or I'd have been in no state to have job interviews! It will take a while for his sadness not to be all consuming, but time does help eventually. It's a shame they couldn't work things out after being together so long. I was only thinking yesterday about your recipe and that I must make some with the runners now there are plenty!

Gill it sounds like you had sunstroke as your symptoms were like I had in the south of france on a canoe/camping holiday aged 15. Apparently I was talking a bit of nonsense too......nothing new there. :-) You were sensible to get cooled down and to stay out of the garden today. It's a pity we can't see pics of your garden Gill as it sounds lovely after all the work you have put into it. The seaplane might have been going to an airshow?

Oh Frank, you must like bruising your BTM what with the injections and now falling through the slats. It's a wonder you didn't damage anything else!! lol.

I thought that paint that never dries might work Mandy, but then thought if they are determined they might bring something to lay on top of it once they realise it is there. Great that the police came up with Pigeons!! I wonder why whoever did it came back at all, unless they just go around spoiling things for everyone. :-( Did the police have any ideas or know of any other damage done nearby? It's such a shame as you hadn't had the pool that long.

Vera it's great you can get out and about a little more as your OH improves. The smallest change in scene can be a pick me up and I agree these impulse things we do are often the best! I'm fancying a sausage roll now and it's the only sausage I eat these days! I bet there was lovely scenery to look at too.

OH had some sad news on his way to Scunthorpe yesterday. He got a phone call from the brother of a footie pal he had known for over 40years. He hadn't been to footie for a few years but OH used to take him programs. He was taken into hospital on Friday with abdominal pain and deteriorated and died the next morning. He is the one who OH reckons has one of the biggest/best football program collections in the country and he told OH in front of his brother a couple of years ago that his collection was to go to OH when he died in thanks for his friendship and taking him to all the matches over the years. Now we don't know what will happen and doubt he put it in his will.. It would be awkward to bring it up so OH will probably not mention it himself and just see what happens. I asked OH how big his collection was and he said he knew he pruned it down a bit when his brother moved in with him and gave 10,000 programs to his old footie club shop!!!! I said you better start clearing the garage then, just in case!! It's such a shame really as he never married, gave up work early to look after his mother with dementia and worried about her all the time he was away from home and so his own dream of retiring to the seaside became impossible. Just before she died he started to lose his own mobility. He was only the same age as me.

Since I got badly stung by those wasps a while back, instead of wearing some nice perfume like I used to, I have taken to wearing Parfum Deet 'Jungle strength' in the summer at wasp time. It goes on with a rollerball and what I didn't realise till I looked today was that I have shiny trails where I applied it. I looked like the snails had had a field day!! :-0

I think I've strained your eyeballs enough now, but did anyone see that fascinating prog about the octopus that was kept in a living room to observe? If not it's worth watching if it's on catch up.

Morning all

Cloudy but still very warm here today.

Sorry to hear the sad new your OH had Ann. It'll be nice if he does receive the football program collection, but he's right it would be awkward to mention it. I hope he's okay. I did smile when you mentioned wearing Parfum Deet Jungle strength and how it looks like the snails have had a good time on you :-D Better to be safe than sorry though.

I finally found some people I could prove are OH's ancestors yesterday so I'm going to put them on his tree today. The other bit I was looking at has no real proof the children belong to this couple, so I'm not going any further with them for now. Many years ago I had two children (cousins) with the same name born and married in the same years and ended up putting them with each other's wives and children it took me a very long time to swap them over, so I don't want to make a mistake like that again.

Going to have a cuppa first then I'll make a start. OH has taken the grass cuttings to the tip then he'll clean the garden bin. We've noticed if we leave the bags of grass in the bin for to long it starts to smell and it's not a nice smell. In this heat it's just worse. Next door seems to have the same problem, he was cutting his grass yesterday and must of left his bin lid open. I had to shut all our windows and doors as the smell was really strong. OH said he doubts the neighbour will clean his bin. Luckily he has his emptied so at least the grass won't be around for long, but the bin will still smell every time he opens the lid........yuk :-| :-|

OH must of heard the kettle as he's just come back from the tip, talk about good timing, he does like his tea ;-)

Good morning all, What a scorcher it was yesterday, and today looks like being the same.

I went to bed and read for a while around 9.30. Just laying on the bottom sheet with the top one filed back. I went to sleep like that at around 3.30 am and was awake again by 6.30 am. So got up opened everywhere up and just sitting in my u/pants. Eos is still sleeping, howe she does it this weather I just do not know, and she's undertake covers.

So NANNY Jane had a cuddle yesterday. I bet you are wishing that was your own Grandchild. Sorry my sweet it was meant to come over different to how it sounds. XXXX <3 <3 <3 <3 ( I would't hurt your feelings for the world). How is James doing ?? I bet it was nice for him to have a friend and family over to visit. It's tomorrow that her hears about his redundancy isn't it.

We went for our Carvery at 3.00 pm as planned. We couldn't believe the place. The car park was empty and there were so many empty tables. To think Last week, we had to queue for half an hour, yet yesterday we were served in minutes. The waitress said they had a lot of cancellations. I expect the so-called customers, were doing BBQs.

When we came home I put the fans of and stripped off, Ros changed, and went into the garden weeding again, until 6.30 pm. I don't know where she finds the energy.

Mandy that was a crafty remark by the policeman about the spikes on the wall. Do it my love, and any other thing that's within the law, to deter this/these idiots who have been going this to you. !!!

I reported this SCOOTER RIDER to 101 yesterday afternoon. He was screaming up and down the close six or seven times. The noise makes to keep up from your chair. The police woman said "Don't get involved Frank" the local PCSO will keep his/her eyes open on their rounds. YEH !!!!

You have been very lucky with large crops of Runners. I would think I have picked about 25 beans, if it wasn't for Carolyn, we would be buying them. I gave Pam a load of windfalls from the Bramley yesterday. She will make something with them, that doesn't include PASTRY as she said. lol lol

Saw Tony in the back garden this morning, Valerie is just the same. which I expect with this Parkinson's there's not much they can do. It's her birthday at the beginning of Sept, with Tony's a few days later. Then Ros will be 74 on the 19th. I had better start thinking of booking stable somewhere for her birthday. I will need to speak with Conrad, as he is flying back for her birthday, and also an exhibition at the NEC Birmingham. So I am not sure if he will want to join us.

Please be careful in this sunshine, I don't want to hear that any of you have fallen asleep in the sun, and got burnt. xxxxx

Yes, we saw the programme about the octopuses! As you say, it was fascinating from a scientific point of view, but OH and I had ethical and animal welfare issues about the way the one creature was kept in such a small tank and the tasks it was asked to do. The photography in the wild though was amazing, and very interesting.
We also watched a prog about food wastage!! The stuff the supermarkets chuck out is nothing short of criminal, same with restaurants and hotels. The general public didn't escape unscathed either!! If people would only be a bit more aware before filling their plates and then leaving half of it, it would be helpful!
Good luck with the show today Mel, I hope it all goes well!
OH is painting the fence -at last!!

Good idea not to get involved with the scooters Frank, let the police deal with it. I'm sure now you've told them they'll keep an eye out for them and make them stop. They maybe doing it elsewhere to, so the police will have an idea of where they are.

So you had a quiet meal out then by the sounds of it. At least you didn't have to wait to long this time. You're probably right and everyone cancelled with the weather being so nice. Sorry to hear about Val, Parkinson's isn't very nice. My late FIL had it.

OH is watering the garden, he forgot to do it last night and with it being cloudy he thought it best to do it now, he's then going to clean the bins. I think he might paint the living room doors today to. He has times when he keeps going for a while then he'll do nothing for a few weeks.

I'm going to have to make him an emergency appointment with the dentist tomorrow, he needs a back tooth out and has an appointment for next month but he's been in pain with it for a few days so hopefully he'll be able to have that done tomorrow. His mouth is still sore from the other teeth he had out, he needed two taken out in the end. I think it's all the sugar he has in his tea that is making his teeth bad, but he hates tea without sugar. Like I said earlier he loves his tea and drinks lots of it each day. I say he's a tea aholic. To be fair he has cut the sugar down since I met him, he used to have three teaspoons in each cup of tea, now he has two, so that's a start.

Right I've had my cuppa so I'm going to have another go at OH's tree, it's the last day Ancestry have their records open for free and with getting stuck on the other couple I've not done much for most of the time I had access to the records, so I'm hoping to get through quite a lot for him today.

I see your OH is in the painting mood to Pippyn, it's the right weather for it so it should dry quickly. Hope the sun doesn't get to him like it did me though. I agree with you about food wastage and we only cook the amount we can eat. We did go through a stage of not eating everything on our plates so I cook a little less now, which is working and we now have no wastage. Food isn't cheap either so we can't really afford to be throwing it away. Our food bill has now come right down to, which is also good.

I didn't see those programmes.

Gosh so many posts already.

Morning all hav'nt caught up with todays posts yet . I was still awake at 5.30am this mornning. I just could not go to sleep. It was getting light and with the window open I heard the Robin sing a lovely little tune and then I must have dropped off. Woke at 10am.

Good morning all staying off the roads today, no doubt they will be busy with people returning from the holiday weekend.

Misty here still, it will burn off later but we always get it for longer than most areas. At least it is cooler but hope it increases a bit from the 17 degrees it is at the moment.

Just nipped round to the local Tesco for a few bits and some cash as we will be out for the day tomorrow for our wedding anniversary.

When you sleep you certainly make a good job of it MEL. lol lol I can't remember ever sleeping until 10.00 am. Not even as a teenager. It just wasn't allowed in our house. On Sunday mornings, I would put my head round Conrad and Harvey's bedroom doors and say if you want BREAKFAST get it before 9.00 am. They never seemed to bother. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Just had a phone call from a friend to say the old Chairman of the football club has Liver Cancer. I saw his wife getting him out of the car yesterday, as we were going for lunch, so put a bit on my Facebook page asking how he was. Another friend has the BIG C in his SPINE. So not good news all around.

Ros is just ringing Jan. So they are back from their holiday. Conrad flys back to Spain tomorrow. She has just reminded them that it is Harvey's Birthday tomorrow. THEY have remembered.

I think we will be off to the Antique centre in a while. I expect I will come back a lot poorer than when I went. ;-) ;-) ;-) <3 <3 <3 She's worth it, I will never find one like her again. She is saying Jan that if she can't find a BRACELET she likes, SHE WILL FIND SOMETHING ELSE. So I am in a no WIN situation.

Have a nice afternoon folks, see you soon. xxxx

Could you send some of your cooler temperatures, mist, cloud etc over here please. It’s about 29 deg. at the moment but feels even hotter as there is not a breath of air anywhere. It was unbearable last night. Even with lying on top of the bed and with a fan going all night I didn’t get much sleep.

We went to our summer party yesterday which was very nice; only about 20 people had been invited and the food and the company were good. The hostess had put up a large gazebo type thing in the garden and put chairs all round it so we could sit in the shade but it had clear plastic windows in the sides and the sun was shining straight through this plastic. It was like sitting in an oven. About 7 pm a bit of a breeze got up and then it was much better. We stayed till about 9 pm.

Frank, I am sure Ros will find something she likes at the Antiques place. If she is anything like me the thing she likes will turn out to be the most expensive item there :-)

Gill, can I borrow your OH next time I need some decorating done? My dearly beloved is such a perfectionist that it takes him forever to do a bit of painting. All our paintwork is white so it’s not as though he is trying to cover a different colour but first it will all be sanded down, mostly by hand though he does have a sanding machine. Then we go through the ritual of primer, undercoat, at least two topcoats etc. etc. To give him his due he does a really professional job but sometimes I’d just like him to slap on a bit of paint to make things look a bit brighter.

AnninG, happy anniversary for tomorrow. I hope you have a lovely day. Is it 58 years or have I got that wrong? Just think, our Gill wasn’t even a twinkle in her Dad’s eye when several of us got married.

Must go, I’ve just heard my fourth load of washing finish so I’ll go and get it on the line. Stay cool today everyone.

EDIT. Jane, I meant to say that I am thinking of James as he finds out about his job today and hope he is not too distressed by the outcome.

Afternoon all,

Just a quick look in again which is all I seem to do lately lol I have been busy this morning getting things sorted for a BBQ ,the family should be here about three o'clock so iI'm just having five minutes sit down before they come.

Are you going to look in on the dog show Mel ? hope it's not going to be to hot for them and they can find a bit of shade under the trees

Hope everyone can stay cool and enjoy this weather while it lasts .

Vera glad you enjoyed the party even if you cooked in the gazebo.

It is 59 years this year Vera, yes, I think Gill is younger than both my children. :-( :-( :-(

Frank, hope that Ros finds something she likes/needs/wants. And that you are not too shocked!!!

Afternoon All from a right sweaty Betty. This heat is too much .I have done absolutely nothing at all today other than sit in front of the fan ,and it could even be a degree hotter tomorrow :-0.

Vera it is tomorrow that James will know about his job. I am sure he will be dreading going in and we will be here on Tenterhooks :-S It must have been unbearable in that Gazebo yesterday,but it sees liek you had a really lovely time.

Happy Anniversary for tomorrow AnnG <3. Have a smashing day out.

Mandy you are good doing a BBQ in this heat today. Who does the cooking? I have Burgers,Sausages and Kebabs but all that will just go in the oven. Although I am not sure that I will need to cook all that.

How has the Dog Show gone Mel.? At least it does look cooler down your way so hopefully the Dogs shouldnt have been too overheated.

Frank,I knew just what you meant this morning and I wasn't upset at all :-) You were quite right really :-D. It was lovely though seeing the little girl who is only just 2yrs old playing in the water and with some Octopus thing attached to the end of the hosepipe.Water was spraying out from the arm of the Octapus . The little baby is just 8 weeks old!!!.. So cute and she hardly made a squeak :-D

Tomorrow morning first thing I have to ring the garage about getting my car picked up.
The n in the afternoon a chap from Zenith Windows is coming to sort out a couple of locks on 2 of the windows .The springs or something have gone in the handles and have locked so they cant be opened.

I am going to go and run my hands under a cold tap as they feel so sticky ,and then fill a hot water bottle and bung it in the freezer ready to put in my bed later :-D

Hope a Bracelet has been found for Ros :-D

What a complete waste of time and petrol. The place is a BIG WAREHOUSE that houses I would think over 100 outlets, The trinkets were mainly white metal, I don't think there was much that Ros fancied. She did find a small necklace to go with some ear rings,she was wearing. So I bought her that. As for finding GOLD Bracelets, they were non existent. I said to Ros, I bet most of the stuff there, has been there for ever. The one good thing that came from the journey was, on the way back we found a village TER WESTON, which had a nice little pub that did food. I asked if they were still serving, and the barmaid said you have 10 minutes before the kitchen closes. I ordered a home made Beef, onion and mushroom pie, that was delicious, and Ros settled for Scampi and salad with chips and peas.

She wanted to go in the garden to do more weeding. BUT I put my foot down and SAID NO. !!! one it was TOO HOT and Two she needed to sit and relax for a while, she ended up going to sleep, and has only just woke up. I have made her a COT and cake, she is now watching David Attenborough.

I hope the BBQ went off O.K. Mandy, you couldn't have picked a better day. Other than it being to HOT to sit out.

I hope things go alright for James tomorrow Jane, give him my trgards. I fee; as I know your two children, after all these years of talking about them and their growing up. How many years is it now. ?? lol lol. I bet you enjoyed having the little children around.

We spoke with Jan and Conrad earlier, they had a wonderful holiday and got back yesterday morning. Kerry (Jan's daughter) went down to Devon last Thursday with Alexander, and stayed with her sister Jo and Ella. Yesterday lunchtime they all went out to lunch, then onto the beech, where Conrad made sand castles with Alexander. Ella haven't taken any swimwear, so went in the sea with all her cloths on. TYPICAL !!!

It is still so hot here. If and when it cools down a bit, I might go out snd do some watering. I DID SAY MIGHT. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Have a great evening all, and not too much wine. !!!

Jane, I think the heat has addled my brain. I have been thinking it’s Tuesday all day. Silly moo. The trouble is once you retire one day seems much like another. I also seem to be having more and more of those senior moments. Well, whichever day it is, I am sending James my very best wishes.