General Chat

It is all go here today. We both slept fairly well last night and were up in time to be a Tesco just after 9am, had a coffee(no hot food available as no chef!), did the shopping then stopped at the village community centre to share a sausage sandwich. back to unpack the shopping. Now have to have lunch and get to the hairdresser for 1pm and then to Photography group (U3A) for 2.15 pm. Phew, should sleep tonight!!

I shall be off in an hour .Just need to do my nails and Im ready.

What a hectic day you are having today AnnG :-D You may need to unwind a bit before bed otherwise you might feel you are still on the go :-D Nice G&T maybe ;-)


I often wish someone would look surprised when I say my age. Sadly it never seems ot happen these days. Maybe they just think I am older :-S :-S

I wondered if Mandy had posted with any news on Lewis this morning. I hope he is doing well and has not had a return to hospital.

I will be able to read posts when I am away but not post as I will just have my phone and I dont know a passsword for GR.

Have a good weekend everyone . :-D

Afternoon all,

Lewis had a good night and seems a little better today ,his voice is still very croaky though he's not eating much but is drinking plenty they just have to keep an eye on him for 48 hours .

Jane have a lovely weekend away, i wonder what you are going to see tomorrow :-D

Oh Mel cramp is so painful it leaves your leg feeling really sore for ages after , you need some muscle rub .

Glad to see you back safe and sound Vera how are you now after your fall ? not to sore i hope and i hope you got a good nights sleep . last night .

That was annoying you didn't get to see your own doctor Frank but it's good you don't have to wait to long for your appointment .
i bet it made Ros's day them thinking she was much younger :-D

Ann ,was it beading class day today ? what are you making now Hope OH's baracade has stopped the mice from getting into the garage

Wow AnnG you'll meet yourself coming back :-D you do have a busy day ,i think you will sleep well after all that .


I have just made some more Piccalilli ,now the house stinks of vinegar ,i bought a huge Marrow the other week and i've done two lots of pickle now and there's still some marrow left .
We want to sort out all the old tins of paint in the shed as it's this week end that you can take paint to the tip for free , i think they only have two weekend in the year that your allowed to take them at other times they charge you .

I can never understand them chargeing for dumping stuff when nobody else will take it. Its so silly. Just think of all the decorating people do.

I'm so pleased Lewis seems a bit better today poor little mite and hope he gets over this quickly now. Sending a gentle (((hug))) and a big X.

I know what you mean about the whole house stinking of vinegar as even when I used to make pickles in the microwave it still stank. I was thinking the other day I may just make some more Pan Yan but it takes so long to cut everything up in such tiny pieces I need a good day with no interuptions and I don't get many of those.

Gosh AnnG you have had a busy morning but I am sure now you will sleep tonight after all that charging around.

Safe journey Jane and I know you will enjoy yourself whatever you are doing there.

So nice for Ros being told she looks much younger.

Well remember me telling you that the chicken I picked cos I felt sorry for her but she dos'nt lay much? She is the one who pecked me on my nose but this morning I forgave her and you will see why when I send you a picture. I have taken a pic of the bridge of my nose but its not so noticable today.

Mandy, No wonder people just SLING their old paint tins in the Countryside, FANCY the local council charging to take your rubbish there. It must cost them an arm and a leg clearing rubbish from the hedgerows etc. Where is the sense in that. Pleased that Lewis is coming on, lets hope with all the fluids he will soon get his voice back, then they will know he's on the mend. lol lol

Absolutely HISSING IT DOWN here. I have just put all the side lights on in the lounge. It's so dark and miserable looking, out there. I can see we will want some heating on tonight.

I am doing something for dinner tonight, that we have never had. "BANGERS AND MASH." I made a beautiful onion gravy this morning from a receipe from the BBC. It is made with Butter, Onion, sugar, and flour all mixed and cooked together. in a OXO gravy. It tasted devine, and smells lovely. The reason I am doing this is, that Ros called into a nice family butchers yesterday, for a home made Pork Pie, and saw these sausages. The idea being we would have a sausage sarnie this morning, which we didn't, so not wanting to store them, I am cooking them for tea. In fact I am quite looking forward to them for a nice change, from the usual Friday nights STEAK.

Mel, CRAMP is something that I suffered a lot with when I was young. But I have noticed that my right leg is getting it two or three mornings a week lately. I must start drinking TONIC WATER. to see if that helps.

Certainly glad I haven't got to go out tonight. It can't even tempt me to go for a pint. !!!

Oh you can see where she gave you a nasty peck Mel ,but goodness the size of that egg !!! :-0 :-D that must have taken some pushing out ,got to be a double yolker .

It's madness that they make you pay for the paint tins ,if they are empty we can put them in the bin but any paint in them and you can't bin them .
Colin has no end of tins in the shed that he's acumilated over the years so he's finally got round to sorting them out .
They make you pay for all sorts now ,any thing classed as DIY you have to pay for so it's no wonder you see so much dumped on the side of the road .

Well we had a nice sunny dry morning so all the washing got dry then lunch time we had a few showers and since then it's been sunshine and showers ,both together at
times so there must have been some rainbows .

I don't think we have to pay for anything that we take to the tip, unless we take it in a large van as they do charge those.
Pleased that Lewis seems to be on the mend now, as long as he is drinking his appetite will return later.
Jane, more like two G&Ts I think. All done now today and quite tired. Tomorrow we have our flu jabs to look forward to.

Vera, pleased you got home OK, A shame that you didn't have good weather. At our photo group somebody was there who had not planned on being there as they were on holiday in Cornwall. They came home early because of the rain.

Mel, quite a nip then, and as I said that egg would make a large omelette.

Frank not a very nice day here either with all our coming and going we have also been dodging the heavy showers. Cold here too and I think the heating might be on for a while this evening.

Just done a long post and it has totally disappeared before I could press Submit :-|. This second attempt might have to be a bit shorter than the one I was going to send.

I am glad little Lewis seems to be improving Mandy. You feel so helpless when little ones are poorly. I bet his Mum and Dad will be on tenterhooks for a few days.

It’s also nice that you are going to have a meal with your Lewis after all Frank and good that he liked his signet ring. You haven’t got long to wait for your doctor’s appointment. At our GP practice we can get a same day or next day appointment if we are happy to see whichever doc is available but if you want to see a specific one you might have a couple of weeks wait.

It made me giggle a bit getting a picture of a nose, though I don’t suppose you felt like smiling at the time Mel. Still, you’ve probably forgiven her now she’s provided that whopper of an egg. All I can say is Ouch!

Jane, have a lovely weekend. I wonder what you are going to see. Don’t forget to let us know.

You’ve had a busy day AnninG. If you’re like me you probably like to keep active and have plenty to do. With luck you will sleep well tonight.

Someone - Ann? - asked me what instrument my daughter plays. Her main instrument is clarinet but she is pretty good with saxophone, flute, piccolo etc. She did a degree in music and then went into education, but still keeps up her playing evenings and weekends. She has a number of clarinets and saxes, including a bass clarinet and a baritone sax, so gets offered lots of work. Some she does for love and for some she gets paid.

So if your child or grandchild comes home from primary school saying “Our new teacher is going to start a recorder group. Please can I have a recorder?”, be wary. You might be looking at years and years of horrendous expense, not to mention giving up all your spare time driving to music lessons, practices, exams and concerts. And the end result was worth every penny :-D

Time to think about getting a meal ready. Hope you all have a good night.

Evening All,

We were lucky and just had one sharp short shower this afternoon, otherwise it's been quite sunny.

That's great that Lewis is a bit better Mandy. Once the infection starts to clear he will be more his old self again. We were aware the tips rules were tightening when we started sorting MIL's house 4 years ago. You had to get permits to take any tins of paint and not all of the local tips would take them anyway. Now it's even worse and like you say you have to pay to leave DIY stuff. Our tip charges for slabs, fence panels, rubble, bricks, tiles etc. Large panes of glass are charged for. They are also reducing the opening hours to 9.00am to 5.00pm so when are working people supposed to visit the tip? Any household chemicals like weedkiller, creosote, oven cleaner, paraffin, white spirit have to be taken to a special recycling place 15 miles away! It's all getting ridiculous and people will be burying toxic stuff in their gardens and pouring it down drains at this rate to get rid of it. Our council has even put 7 cctv cameras on each of the bin lorries and is considering charging people if they leave their bins out too long and for over filling their bins so the lid sticks up.

I haven't finished my rope necklace yet and think I shall need some more of one of the beads, so I started a very different sort of bracelet with crescent beads. I'll send a pic of both when they are finished. The lady whose house we were at and who is the one who does DIY and all sorts of other things despite being aged 77 had just finished making a dress and altering a top that matched for a golden wedding do tomorrow and today finished off a beaded rope in all the pinks in the dress to wear with it. Before I left she took me in the kitchen to see the cake she had made for the event. It was fantastic! She had made lots of bright yellow sugar icing roses, some in bloom, some in bud and had made and painted sprays of variegated ivy. It was all so realistic!

Yes it was me that asked what your daughter played Vera. I admire anyone with musical talent to play an instrument as I can't play anything! It sounds like she really enjoys it too and it must be nice to play together with other people as well. I can imagine the expense to get where she has though. The instruments aren't cheap for a start.

Oh Mel, she gave you a nasty bruise there, but then said sorry with a most likely double yolked egg for your big breakfast!! Oh I hate it when you get cramp in your calf like that! I find it strikes when I lift my leg to turn over in bed and there you are with your leg in the air, dying to put it back down but daren't move it anywhere for a few minutes while you suffer. You read about all these remedies that are supposed to help, but how do you avail yourself of any of them when you are stuck with your leg in the air? lol. Then there's the aching soreness after as you say.

You have made me tired reading all you have done today AnnG! I hope you had a nice rest tonight. What do you do in your photography group if you don't mind me asking. I have thought of joining one, but worry I will be blinded with science as I'm only used toa point and shoot.

That was a nice compliment for Ros Frank. I think she keeps young with all she does too. After hearing about mammograms yesterday I got on the phone again today and was able to book one this time. The earliest appointment was in a month's time, but at least I have one booked now. We used to see those road sweepers mostly in the city as there was plenty there to sweep up. Nowadays they seem to have those ride on ones with the rotary bristles.

I'm hoping I have a better sleep tonight. The roofing people across the road arrived before 8.00am this morning. Why do they seem to need the noisy angle grinders as soon as they arrive?

Evening all

I've been so busy today, this is the first chance I've had to come on here. I finished the screening yesterday then went out and bought a few plants, we also called in to MIL's, she gave me some apples. So today I've been busy baking, I've made an apple crumble and two Victoria sponge's, one of them has been eaten already. I'm so tired now, as I had another bad nights sleep last night and haven't slept during the day. Hopefully I'll have a better nights sleep tonight.

I'm so sorry to hear about Lewis, Mandy, I hope he recovers quickly. At least he's home now where he'll feel more comfortable. Sending get well wishes from Sandra and I <3

It took me a while to get on here, kept getting the error page again so I'd better send this and hope it goes through okay.

Well that is today almost done. Luckily we bought a pizza for tonight so Ididn’t really have a meal to cook. Tomorrow is the flu jab but nothing else planned.

Ann the photography group is quite a small group, if we are all there, 14 or 15 but today only 9. The photos we show are taken on anything from phones through point and shoot to full sized digital SLR and our competence is as varied. Our group technical leader (I am admin leader) is an ex MOD photographer. Basically we have a subject and once a month when we meet we show three photos of that subject loaded onto a USB and shown on a big screen (that sure shows up any problems. Our leader then chats about what is good and what could improve the photos, meanwhile covering all sorts of technicalities like depth of field, apature, speed etc. A couple of times we have been out and about taking photos in a group. Mainly we have a laugh, it is friendly and light hearted and not like a serious camera club. Our ages also vary from a just over fifty year old to T and another man in their eighties

Your photography group sounds interesting AnnG. We don't seem to have anything like that round here. There was a shooting club up in the village hall once and I was going to join that but they did'nt get enough people to start it up. Its a shame when that happens for those of us that were interested. Oh was a game keeper once so he would'nt have had to go and he taught me to shoot.

Yes the egg is a whopper and I have had a triple yolker in the past. Sunday will tell though as I am saving it for then. No way is that going to Em's. I also had two more today so nearly 100% out of four hens. Todays soft shell is holding up and it did'nt get broken so that will probablygo in a cake.

Morning all,

We have bright sunshine this morning but there are a lot of clouds in the sky too so how long we have it for remains to be seen.

I keep thinking about that egg. I should'nt be surprized if I don't get another for quite a while. I should think she will be too scared to lay another. No wonder she moans a lot.

Egg delivery today and I must remember our scripts at the shop as well as my paper. I thought there was something else I needed at the shop but have forgotten what it is.

Ooh is watching the qualifing of the Ruyssian Grand Prix so he's happy and I am going to do some more crafting this afternoon and some ironing as I have a large pile again.

Morning Mel, morning all

It's very windy here today and we've had some rain. I've only just woken up after having a good nights sleep, it makes up for the two bad nights I had. I felt so tired yesterday, but feel much better today.

It sounds like you're doing well with your eggs Mel. I've never seen a triple yolk egg before, I wonder if the big one will be another triple one, it's certainly a lot bigger than the others and a nice sorry present for her pecking you on the nose. OH and I will watch the F1 later on the highlights programme.

I hope Jane's enjoying her weekend, I wonder what she went to see. Let's hope she has Mel's nice weather and not our wind and rain.

Your photography group sound really good AnnG, I'm like Mel though and don't have anything like that around here.

How is Lewis feeling this morning Mandy? I hope he had a good nights sleep, they always say sleep is a good medicine. We don't have to pay anything to take old tins of paint to the tip, I bet it's busy on the free weekends.

With being so busy these past few days I don't really have much to do today so I might have another go at OH's tree. I took a little look last night but was to tired to concentrate so shut the computer down and went to bed.

We've just had to move one of our new plants out of the wind, it's blowing that hard and I'm sure it's the one that said it would keep it's leaves if it's protected, so it's now down the bottom of the garden nearer the big conifers out of the bad weather.

Morning all,

Quite breezy here this morning a lovely day for getting towels all dried so they are out with a few extra pegs to keep them on the line, I've now put Max's bedding in the machine .

Lewis had a fairly good night he did wake a few times for some drink but it's no wonder with a sore throat and cough bless him.

We took the paint cans to the tip this morning there was a few other things that we weren't sure if they would take so we left them and asked when we went and they could have gone so we'll take them tomorrow, by the time we came out there was quite a queue of cars waiting to go in .

Ann my SIL used to make some beautiful cakes with all the sugar flowers and leaves ,she made sons wedding cake .

Good morning Mel, and All.

I trust Jane arrived safely at Hannahs, and she will enjoy her mysterious trip this afternoon.

Yes Mel, my eyes watered, when I thought of that poor chicken. You will be disappointed if it turns out to be a single. lol lol I bet she won't be looking forward to laying another like that !!!

Hows Lewis this morning Mandy. I hope he had a good night and his parents too.

A chap I was stationed with in the RAF was a bandsman. He was always in demand at local pubs, playing all his different instruments. So yes, it must be a talent I wish I had. My brother bill started to learn the VIOLIN, he could play "Twinkle, twinkle little Star" but that was it. He gave it up as a bad job. ;-) ;-) ;-) Everyone in the household was pleased. !!

Well the first and last. NO MORE BANGERS AND MASH for us. Neither of us enjoyed it, and most went in the waste food bin. The onion gravy was overpowering with taste, and the sausages seemed a bit spicy for our taste.

Was in bed soon after NINE, and up again by 11.30. Ros was watching her Jewellery Programme, and I sat and read. She went in just after Midnight and I followed around 2.30 am. Was awake again by 5.00 and up and about by 6.30 am. No wonder I don't feel as though I have a hapeth of energy, and feeling tired all the time.

Ros is shopping with Martine this morning, and will bring lunch back with her.

Unable to shower this morning. The blooming thing just wouldn't stay on HOT. So I stripped of and had a good wash and shave. Will try again tomorrow. When I mentioned fitting the new shower to Harvey, Julia put her nose in and said. I'm still waiting for the ceiling to be put up in the dining room. He was doing it while she was in France, but still hasn't finished it. So I had BETTER NOT MENTION IT AGAIN. !!!
\
Chilly morning out there today, with plenty of clouds, so we can expect a wet weekend, as forecast.

Stay dry, whatever you are doing today, and I will see you later. xxx

Frank I would have thought your shower was priority to Julia's ceiling. She sounds like my mum. She hated dad doing anything for me and if I wanted him to do something she had to have what she wanted first.
You have been waiting for a long while to have that shower fitted.

Mandy,Gill, and I all posted within 3 minutes, that's a bit unusual.

Have heard from my Nephew this morning. My sister in now bed ridden, so I can expect a NASTY PHONE CALL SOMETIME. Haven't heard how my SIL is doing, so I expect I will have to phone them. THEY NEVER RING ME. !!!!

Val's son is here today. Looks like he is working on the decking. He is certainly taking his time. I can't see her sitting outside anytime soon, the way the weather is changing. If she's lucky, I think it will be next SPRING. lol lol

I think I will make myself a coffee and have a read, before Ros gets home. She is bound to want to watch something on T.V. this afternoon.

It is coming over VERY DARK. I can hardly see my screen. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Frank that is a shame that Julia put her foot down, although looking at it from her point of view, it must be annoying if there is a half finished job and he goes off and does other things. Maybe he will get his ceiling finished first. However, it might have been nicer of her to wait until they were on their own before she said it.

Mel, we had nothing here until the U3A group started up over two years ago. That has been a godsend to our village giving us all so many things to join if we want to. We wait with baited breath to hear if the egg was double or even triple yolk.

Mandy, Hope Lewis continues to improve, it sounds as besides the croup, he has a nasty throat virus.

Gill I had another rotten night last night and even when I dropped off OH started twitching and tossing and turning (in his sleep). So I am a bit weary today.

We have just had our flu jabs so that is that out of the way. They are only doing the over 65s at the moment but there was a long queue so a good take up which is good to see. The more that have the jab the fewer to pass flu germs around.

Hope Jane is enjoying herself, wonder what she went to see?

I have just spent twenty minutes out in the garden tidying up the window boxes out side the lounge window. We have moved the geraniums and now have the winter boxes in place with grasses etc in so I needed to tidy up the grasses. they are looking good so far. OH had covered and tied up the roll out blind over the patio ready to protect it from the promised gales and rain overnight. I might do some Christmas cards this afternoon.

You'll just have to wait another day AnnG to find out what yolks are in my egg but I expect it will just be a double yolker.

I had my usual one nice brown egg this morning and a broken one again.

WE've had lunch and oh has watched his qualifying and has got down the bedroom to watch the back of his eyelids I expect but his telly is a bit loud. I am going into the uti room to do more bunting and hopefully get those out of the way so I can start something else or finish the other things I was doing before I started these fairy bed things.

I keep looking at the garden and thinking I will go up and do a bit and then it rains and its a bit windy today too.