General Chat

Morning All well afternoon now

It is just so difficult now as to know whether to go out anywhere !!. I did nip to the co-op this morning It is just a small one and was very quiet. I made sure I wore my gloves and stayed well away from any other customers. I was about 6 ft behind the person in front of me at the tills :-D.
Ann I do hope you can still go on your holiday .But do understand the worry with it being a 6 hour journey home should you not be well. Gareth was supposed be going on a stag do to Chaminey ( I have no idea how to spell that) ski resort in Northern France.But Rhodri the stag has decided to cancel it now. Rhodri is Gareths future Brother in Law. Hannahs friend who lives in Valencia is in virual lock down now .

What a to do :-S :-S

Vera I am so glad you had a lovely day yesterday :-D :-D. Your friends may be best to cancel coming to you especially with the man having just had chemo. I will still have to go to the hospital for my appontment with the consultant on the 23rd and then Chemo on the next day. Just going to a hospital is a bit of a risk but the wing I have to go to has it s own entrance and means I wont have to go through the main part of the hospital.

So what will OH do then Ann with no sports on the TV???? I am sure you will find some jobs for him :-D :-D

Hannah says I need something to do SO I have just ordered a beginners cross stitch thing :-D :-D.. Never done cross stitch so it will be interesting LOL I may become crafty :-D

I think too that Frank and Ros have gone to Southend.Fingers crossed they have a lovely time and come home virus free.

Has anyone been watching Noughts and Crosses on TV? I didnt think `i would enjoy it but have watched all the episodes on iplayer .

BBL time for lunch

Jane that's good there's a chemo entrance doorway at the hospital you won't have to pass by lots of people on the way in .

I think you'll like doing the cross stitch ,just remember you have to start in the middle of the pattern and fold the aida to find the middle too that way you don't start the pattern and have no edge to the aida .
What is the cross stitch picture ?

That's a good point about the supermarkets AnnG. We could take a lot of food with us, but not everything, and if most other holidaymakers decided to self cater rather than eat out, there could be food shortages. We would happily avoid busy places, sitting in the car reading on a clifftop would suit us and driving round taking photos and enjoying scenery, but we would get more peace of mind reading in the back garden! lol. :-D

Mandy I think a lot of surgeries will follow suit. OH is due to see his doctor after next week so I think his could well be a telephone appointment by then. I have had my new appointment come for the hospital this morning, but think I will ring them on Monday and see if I can put it back a few months. I need more time anyway to see more results from the exercise bike and losing weight so it seems a waste of their time to go when their hands will be full once this virus affects many more. I can't say I'm happy at sitting in a cramped waiting room with others as it gets worse either.That's good you are in a separate wing and entrance for your chemo Jane. You must have to be extra careful while your immunity is less good.

OH has found a footie match as he describes it 'in a field' where hardly a soul will be watching and he will keep well away from everyone. I asked him about toilets and he replied that there would only be ones for the players at that level, for everyone else it is the 'hedge' :-S Well at least he won't be touching any handles. I think it could be the last match he will be able to see for a while. I hadn't thought about tv sport for him AnnG! He has lots of historical, political and other things recorded though.

Mel that colour paint will be beautiful for your dragons. I like the violet as well like Mandy. I'm looking forward to finishing things off and doing more painting as well as catching up with some jobs.

Jane that is good that the entrance at the hospital for you is separate. Will this be the last chemo or have yo got more to follow. I am sure that your break will do you good and you don't have to go out to eat.

I think Frank must have gone to Southend. I do hope he stays virus free he can'e be very resilient as he is often unwell. Anyway Frank if you went, hope it was worth it.

Annx I think it is the supermarkets for self catering food and also loos on the motorway etc that decided us.
I hope the field is not too mudy for your OH I guess he will be standing to watch as well. He really is keen isn't he?

My OH has spent all morning in the garden and greenhouse, came in for lunch and has gone back out again now. I did a load of washing, dusted all downstairs and cleaned the kitchen and also all the door handles (again).

I have to say if we don't avoid this B virus it will not be for want of trying!

Brass door knobs/handles if you have any of those AnnG kill off any bacteria and viruses in 8 hours, so those don't need doing in the morning till after they have been touched. They have to be unvarnished though. I think most of the varnish has worn off on the ones we have.

Yes, he will be standing at the match and I hope it isn't muddy as well. At least he changes his shoes before he drives home now and puts the muddy ones in a cardboard box before he drives home. He wears thick soled ones with deep treads that hold chunks of mud that drops out everywhere.

I just heard some banging over the road. The neighbour diagonally opposite is planting a tree as tall as himself that has red stems. It will make their lounge window more private which is good, but I hope it isn't something that will grow big and drop leaves that will blow everywhere. Don't I sound like an old fogey! With gravel in place of a lawn they are hard to get up though.

Here's a blast from the past. Did anyone used to listen to Sparky the Piano Player on the radio as a child? We were talking about vocoders that distort your voice like in ELO's Mr Blue Sky and OH remembered listening to it.

Ah, I used to love Sparky.

Good that he is trained to change his shoes then ann.

Wonder what that tree is?

No gill for a couple of days, do hope all is OK.

That is good you have a seperate entrance to the chemo department. You should get on ok with cross stitch. What have you ordered to do? You could have a go at making cards too Jane. Not something you could take with you for treatment though. You can buy blank cards with their envelopes and you can just decorate them with cut out of others cards or bought scraps.

I have been having a paint of some of the things I made. I do have to be carefull though as time runs away with me once I start. I have varnished a few bits too and done more painting on the journel dragons eye front I made. Not sure if I like it or not.

It has started to rain here that horrid fine stuff and the sky is grey.

On our local news , 3 cases of the virus in the Queen Elizabeth hospital Kings Lynn ,i spoke to soon .

Could be a cherry tree, a flowering one and then you will get all the petals as well as the leaves.

It looks like it's spreading everywhere now Mandy and very quickly too. I keep nearly touching my face and then remembering! I need one of those lampshades on like they put on cats and dogs after surgery to stop them biting at stitches. :-D

I hope Frank is enjoying himself if he did go to his party, and is not spending the time worrying about what might happen. It’s hard to draw the line between being sensible and panicking. OH and I decided that we will take precautions such as lots of hand washing etc but beyond that we are living as normal a life as possible. We met our friends for coffee as usual in Wetherspoons and will go to our club on Monday evening but will be avoiding theatre or cinema visits where we will be in close contact with a lot of strangers.

It is possible that my granddaughter in Cambridge may have had Coronavirus or it may have been flu. She was pretty poorly for 3 weeks but wasn't tested as she didn’t need to go to hospital. The young Lithuanian boy she works with a lot also had it but hopefully it was flu as it doesn’t seem to have spread round the college much. It was bad timing for her as she and the boy were working together on their dissertation for their finals. Part of it is a practical, and they were doing a film. They have had phone or email discussions but have really only had a few days since they came out of isolation to work together on it. It had to be shown yesterday morning so fingers crossed that the university bods liked it enough to give it a good grade.

Now a question: what are you using to clean or disinfect things like door handles? Ours are ordinary chrome plated handles but there is conflicting advice on the best thing to use. I haven’t worried much while it is just the two of us. If one of us gets it we’re going to infect the other one anyway but I would like to be sure things are clean enough for the sake of anyone else who comes in.

You’ll have to show us your cross stitch when it is done Jane. You might turn out to be good at it. I seem to remember you saying you had an adult colouring book and had done some of that so you might be quite artistic and “crafty”.

Sparky’s Magic Piano - that was a blast from the past. I remember it used to be played very regularly on Children’s Favourites. Did any of you listen to Children’s Hour on the radio? I used to like Jennings and his friend Darbyshire and May We Recommend which was a programme about books.

I haven’t done anything too energetic today but have done some cooking and got tomorrow’s dinner all prepared. It will be a lamb casserole and I’ve prepared plenty of meat and veg so there will be enough for Monday as well and that will save me a bit of time. I’ve also done a bit of general tidying up and putting away. OH says his neck is OK now and he will do a bit of bathroom cleaning for me in the morning so I might even manage to hoover round and, if it's dry, do a bit in the garden. I think I’ll do as you suggested Ann and just start with 15 or 20 minutes rather than go mad and end up with back pain again.

I hope Gill is alright. We haven’t heard from her for a day or two have we?

I’m going to have a look at the crossword and then maybe go to bed early with my book. Hope you all sleep well.

Iv'e been using Detol multi surface cleaner on my door handles. Some are brass but have got some kind of varnish on them but some has been worn off. Some are alliminium. I am using Carex anti bacc hand wash and I wash my hands a lot. Also in the car I have the little bottles of anti bacc which I use before and after shopping.

Vera it sound s like your grandaughter may have had the virus and her friend if it lasted three weeks. Flu dos'nt usually last that long does it?

Good morning

Dry but dull and still a bit windy today. Thanks for the cleaning advice Mel. I don’t have the Dettol surface spray but I have others. I do have Dettol antiseptic and if necessary will use that but it does make the house smell like a hospital. The trouble is that a lot of these products are good on killing bacteria but not so effective against viruses. Still I suppose anything is better than nothing.

Flu can definitely last 3 weeks Mel. I’ve only had it twice in my life and hope never to have it again. The first time I was in my teens and I remember feeling very ill but I expect I got over it fairly quickly. Then OH and I both had it two years ago and it really knocked us out. It was 3 weeks before we felt we were getting over it but we were quite weak and tired for another 3 weeks after that. The annoying thing is I had the flu jab, OH didn’t, but we got it equally badly.

Better go and have some breakfast I suppose and start the day. Have a nice day whatever you are doing.

Good morning, wet here today. I will answer the posts later but just wanted to say Vera there is a dettol antiseptic spray which states on the label antibacterial and anto virus. It does mention Coronavirus but I gess that could mean pre Covid19 but it does say viruses as well.

Thanks Ann. I will have a look for that though at the moment our shops seem to be out of most cleaning and hygiene products.

Morning All,

Showery here this morning, but the sun's out now.

I see the latest news this morning is that the over 70s definitely will be asked to self isolate in coming weeks and it said for a long time. I think we will need to do a bit more shopping for things that keep. OH said that he has come into his own being a toyboy, although I think he is best to stay in as much as possible too. He thinks as quite a few school governors are in their 70s, that the schools will stop the meetings then if not before. Our neighbours who are in their 70s too are away, so I hope they were stocked up with food as they were away and only home for a few days before going away again. OH thinks funerals will be on line when gatherings over 10 are likely stopped after the talks tomorrow, but he had decided not to go anyway in case he brought it home. I shall see what comes out of the talks tomorrow, but it looks like my hospital appointment would be cancelled anyway with me being in my 70s.

Vera I use anything that says it kills viruses but am using the dettol one too at the moment. I was wondering what to use on our hands if we ran out of hand gel and couldn't get any more and might get another bottle of Dettol in as we could use a cloth soaked in it diluted to take out with us. OH took a tissue with him to wrap round the basket handle when he fetched the papers and some milk this morning.

I hope Frank enjoyed the do if he went and that he stays well on his return.

Better go and put the veg on now!

Afternoon all,

Dull and grey here this mroning as I think it has been raining a bit.

Things are not looking good for us older folk are they? I need to go and get chickens food and think I should get double at least if we are all to self isolate. as to food shopping I think I need to clear the freezer out so I can get more up to date stuff in there. I must admit its all a bit frightening.

Jane the cross stitch looks good and interesting and should be ok for you to start on. Love the giraffs. Is it this week your last chemo session?

Got up late today so I must get on.

We have just driven to Hobbycraft, OH stayed in the car and I went in, got what I wanted and came out again managing to avoid everyone in there and I wore latex disposable gloves. I also remembered something I saw the last time flu was around and recently saw it again. When you go up put vicks up your nose, it helps to stop bugs entering. As soon as I got in the car I took the gloves off ready to bin and used hand gel, then washed my hands as soon as I got in. We will all be paranoid soon (if we are not now).. It is chucking it down with rain here. And the roads were getting flooded so not a nice day to go out. Still seemed to be loads in Sainsburys and Aldi

We could possibly last a month except for bread and milk but Our neighbour has offered to get shopping for us if necessary. Hopefully on line shopping will be OK after the big panic is over. Don't know why younger ones are panicking though they are not likely to be completely incarcerated.

Annx at least your OH will be able to get the shopping but that is dicey in case he brings it home to you. I reckon they are using the over 70s to show the rest how it is done because we are the ones with strong resolve.
I actually bought a small set of watercolours this morning, not tubes just the old fashioned cakes in a tin. I thought if I am going to be stuck in I might want to try something different. I checked out my existing paints and a lot had been used up but I did find some oil pastels. Any tips on using those? And some more ordinary pencils. I do have watercolour paper. Will have to see if I kept any 'how to' books.

Vera that does sound like a bad dose of flu but it is difficult to know without knowing what her symptoms were. Any way, whatever it was I am pleased they both recovered.
So did you go to Wetherspoons yesterday? that is the last place we would go at the moment, too many of the potentially great unwashed in ours and the old men who don't look as if they know what a bar of soup looks like let alone use it for 20 seconds.

Hope frank gets home OK today, if it is as wet where they are as it is here it won't be a nice journey.

. Not sure how they are going to work this over 70s stay home bit though. Will we be arrested if we are seen out? Gestapo comes to mind. Rosemary raised a point about her car battery after 4 months we would have the same problem. We have left a car for a month before when in Tenerife but not either of the cars we have now.

It is all very confusing. I see he is still saying 'up to' 4 months, but not yet as it would not be sustainable. A bit puzzled about that, if it is not sustainable now how will it be later?

Good here innit, wish I was a dormouse I would be asleep now!

Afternoon All

Just back from having a coffee over at Hannahs. As you can imagine most of the conversation was about the Virus and how we all all be self isolating . James went to Tesco for me and said it was manic and he was really quite concerned about actually being there.Said it was worse than Christmas. He got the last 2 packs of rice and Pasta.

Vera I do think it was probably the Flu that your Grandaughter and her friend had .'proper 'flu can last a good 2/3 weeks . I hope that they were able to complete their disertation and that they get top grade.

It has rained all morning here but now seems to be brightening up.
I think I will be cancelling my Dental appointment on Thursday and also Hannah an I are booked for some pampering beauty treatment (for Mothers Day) .That will be postponed too now. I am to go to the hospital on friday to have bloods done and to drop off a 24 hr Urine collection that I have to do.

It definitely looks like over 70's now will be told isolate from next week.Fitz is coming for lunch on Tuesday.That will have to be the last time for the foreseeable.

My crossstitch is arriving later today :-D

I do hope that Gill is ok as we have not seen her now for a few days. Frank and Ros wll probably be on their way home now. Fingers crossed bug free :-D

Time for a nice Hot Cross Bun :-D

Sensible decisions Jane. We all have to make them but more important than most that you do. Poor James, I would have hated to have been amongst that crowd. I was bad enough going to Hobbycraft but there was plesnty of room to avoid others in there. I only went because of the thought of being incarcerated for up to 4 months, I would run short of supplies if I had not gone.

:-D Thinking of the delightful collection you have to take on Friday. Have you got a bucket?? :-D

Ooh Oh must be bored (no sport) I can hear some sort of cleaner, - hoover or carpet shampooer or mop. Have to go and see now!