General Chat

Shampooing the conservatory carpet.

Did you see In Italy (I think it was Italy) where everyone has been told not to go out they are flying drones with microphones in the streets and people that are seen in the streets are being told to go home.

We intend to be up really early to shop at Sainsbury's first thing (if anything is left!) including batteries for the Wii.Then I want to be in Grantham to take some things back to the retail park for when it opens at 9.30am. OH's car warning light came on again yesterday so I need to take my car, but he is coming with me. They are the last trips I need to do apart from give OH a lift home when his car is being fixed. If it turns out to be 4 months I was wondering how long my hair will be by then!! :-0 OH will be ok as I cut his.

Jane I forgot to say the cross stitch looks really nice and I love the colours. Hannah has some good ideas and is very thoughtful. Mandy does some lovely cross stitch, and I think you will enjoy it and it will be something new for you to try and you will be really chuffed when you complete it. It is something that I have never tried.....well not yet!

What a good idea to get some watercolour paints to try AnnG. I must say there are some good videos on Youtube to show you how to paint watercolour pictures. I haven't tried watercolour painting yet. That's good you have a neighbour offer to get bread and milk for you.

It does sound like ordinary flu they had Vera and it can be nasty and last a while. I hope their results won't be affected too much by it.

Mel I think I am going to see if I can pack things better in the freezer to get more in. I can take things out of their boxes and put them in freezer bags together with instructions and best before dates cut from the boxes.

Yes where is Gill? I hope she's ok and has heard from Sandra and has not had any more panic attacks.

Hubby is watching a match on tv now, and he made me laugh this morning. He opened the food cupboard and said ' I shall know things are getting bad when we are down to the tin of lentils.' He hates them lol :-D

Lol Ann We have a tin of lentils in the cupboard too. Not sure why I bought them, must have been for a recipe that I didn't actually make.

I have played with watercolour before but I am not very good. I thought I might try and copy a flower photo. I don't sare try drawing one myself. what paint do you use? Oil?

I haven't opened them today as I need to be in the mood but I wanted them here for when the opportunity and mood strikes. The paints are not very big and were not very expensive as it is an experiment.
Our hair is due cutting next week, mine is so thick and wiry it has to be cut every 5 weeks. Goodness knows what it will be like after 4 months.

I have my hair cut too Ann every 5 weeks.I am having to leave it 8 weeks as Nigel is going to America t ose his daughter. But I just realise he wont be going now as he Trump has banned us too now.We will all look like hippies soon :-D :-D

Mel it is my last chemo for havng the 2 different drugs,but i wll still have to go in every 3 weeks to have Herceptin by drip.At least it wont be a 7 hour thing.I think it will take about 30- 60 minutes. But if I have ot have the Magnesium again then it will be another 5 hours :-S.

Ann I have a jug with a good spout for pouring into the big bottle :-D :-D

We all seem to be in the same boat with this dratted virus. We are just curtailing our activities a little bit at the moment but I am not going to get scared or panicky. Worrying about it won’t stop us getting it or help us to recover if we do so we will just take each day as it comes. I am a bit angry at people stockpiling so much, particularly younger people. I wanted a bit of fresh air and exercise this morning so decided to walk to our local co-op, which isn’t usually busy at all. Today it was packed with a queue halfway round the shop to the checkout and half the shelves were empty. All I wanted was a tin of pineapple rings and a couple of lemons so I decided not to bother. Across the road and up a side turning is a tiny little East of England co-op. It has 3 staff and they normally outnumber the customers 3 to 1. Even that was busy but I did get my pineapple and lemons in there. I do have an order from Tesco’s being delivered tomorrow but this is a normal 4-6 weekly order that I have done for the last 10 years. I expect by the time they pack it in the morning half the stuff I ordered will no longer be available. I did have a little giggle to myself in both the co-ops this morning as about the only thing not in short supply was alcohol. So if we have no food, and we can’t keep our house clean, we can at least drown our sorrows.

It will be fun if most of us on here are in isolation for several weeks won’t it? I don’t do crafts to occupy me so I guess it will have to be spring cleaning, not before time lol. You never know I might even get around to writing up about our Russian holiday and printing out some of the photos. I’ve been promising myself I would do it since we got back in September 2017. We’ll be relying on Tesco and Amazon for deliveries as all our neighbours in this little Close and virtually all our local friends are the same age as us and we have no family near enough to help. Well, ladies and Frank, I may be on here chatting to you all to keep me sane.

Jane, I have a dental appointment on Tuesday as well. They will probably ring tomorrow to confirm it and I did wonder whether to cancel, but my appointment is to repair a broken tooth and I am wondering how I will manage if it starts to get painful and we are in isolation, so I think I will probably go.

I also have a hair appointment in about 10 days so I might ring and see if my hairdresser can fit me in earlier. Like you AnnG, my hair is short, but thick and wiry. The thought of not getting it cut for several months fills me with horror. Perhaps I had better lay in a supply of hair grips. You are lucky to have an OH who cleans carpets without being asked. Mine will do any job I ask him but he never thinks of these things for himself and I feel if I am nagging if I’m constantly asking him to do things.


I hope Frank is safely back now and has had a good time. I expect he’ll be glad to be in his own bed again tonight. I’m a bit concerned that we haven’t heard from Gill for a few days. I hope she is OK. Perhaps she is having problems with her internet connection. I hope it’s nothing worse than that.

Well, I am now going to have a little lounge in the bath as a change from showering and then have a read of all the bits that come with the Sunday paper.

Evening all,

Little bit of rain here after a nice dry sunny morning .

Family never came this morning they decided t stay in ,we nipped out to the farm to get eggs and called at Tesco to get money from the ATM it was about half past nine and people were queuing to go in the shop not a huge queue but still several people ,we noticed most people were wiping the handles of the trolleys before going in .
We think we will go and get a few bits tomorrow , we need more dog food ,we buy the big bags of that so it should last him a while .
We should have our hair appointment the week after next ,it's also my sisters birthday that week so i might get her card tomorrow and maybe a plant or some thing and take them to her while we can still go out ,Colin will be the one who will have to keep in but i could go out as i'm under seventy but then i could get the virus and bring it in to Colin !!! just don't know what to do for the best .

Jane has the cross stitch arrived :-D
It must feel nice to be able to just pop and she Hannah and Gareth when you like now ,are they very far from you ?

Hope Frank and Ros got home safely and enjoyed the weekend .

Jane just don't lose that bottle on the way as someone may think its juice. Well it is I suppose wee wee juice!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-S

I have been trying to shop online for the weekly shop and it has taken the both of us all afternoon to work out how to register and do the shop but we did manage in the end. We had to go with Asda as Morrisons dos'nt deliver in our area so we tried Tesco and they did I think but we went with asda in the end. The only thing is we have to leave boxes and bags outside the front door as they don't supply carriers anymore and don't take them back either. I have a few plastic boxes I am not using at the mo so they will go out on the step.

I need to go to Holsworthy tomorrow for chickens food, shavings and oh wants some petrol for the mower so I think that will be the last time we will go out. Now it will be like living in a prison with these stone walls all around us but at least we do have some land to walk around. Well I can walk round but oh can't walk very far.

AnnG its good you have bought some paints to have a go. If you feel you can't draw a flower trace one and then paint it. Even off of a photo you could trace one. Also when you start painting and mixing colours have a piece of scrap paper to try the colours you have mixed first to make sure they are what you want. I think Ann paints in acrylics and I have only just atarted with those as I always used water colours before when doing my dollshouse miniatures and painting on plaster.

Vera Jane is now trying a craft so I hope you will try one now???????? What do you think?

I shall be watching the new Belgravia tonight later on wehn its quiet and the good karma hospital. Belgravia is written by Julian Fellows who wrote Downton Abbey so it should be good.

We still hav'nt been able to get on the grass yet to cut it and its getting longer by the minuet. On the grass on the right hand side of our road you can still see the stripes in it from last years cuts.

No I've never used oil paints AnnG and think I would make a right hard to clean up mess with them! Mel is right it's acrylic paint that I use. I don't use it thick though and water it down so it is like watercolour. My paint has been cheap buys from The Works up to now. Mel's tip about keeping a scrap of paper to try out colours on is what I do. I would even try painting a flower on some scrap paper first. It will help you when you do the proper thing. You could do some nice cards with flowers. One of the first paintings I did was of Allium flowers.

Crikey Mandy and Vera, I hope a lot of people will have gone to work when we go to the supermarket tomorrow! :-0

Mel I think I am going to register with another supermarket so we have 2 options. Thanks for mentioning about the bags and boxes. I hadn't thought about that.

Off to bed now ready for our early start! Hope everyone sleeps well.

Morning all,

O what a beautiful morning o what a beautiful day.

Yes we have sunshine and its lovely with a clear blue sky.

I saw something this morning I hav'nt seen before AGAIN. I was watching a Long Tailed Tit looking under the overhang on oh's filter shed and it flew out with a big long string of spiders web and flew up the orchard with it. I lost sight of it up by the caravan at the end of the box hedge where there is a big conifer so I am hoping its building a nest in there.

Nothing else to report yet today. I have ordered our scripts so thats out of the way and I don't have to go out tomorrow so I hope its nice weather tomorrow too.

Trust you all slept well and Frank is home safely and virus free. We need to hear how he got on.

AnnG I have used oil paints when I was younger but could'nt stand the smell of them in later life as I have CSS. Can't take many kinds of smelly things cleaning products included and most things of today have some kind of smell.

Mandy hope that Max is being a good boy.

Love to Jane <3 <3

Morning all

Lovely and sunny here today.

OH had a few days off work so we've been spending some time together, which was nice. The F1 didn't start yesterday because of the coronavirus, apparently one driver tested positive and also a few other people connected to the F1. I'm not sure when the next one is on as the news said it was suspended, although it's showing up on the planner for next weekend, but that'll probably change I should think.

Good job you mentioned Belgravia Mel, I forgot to put it on my planner, luckily it repeats tomorrow night so I'll watch it then. I almost forgot to put Gardeners World on to, but have just done that now.

Good luck to James for his interview today Jane, how did he get on with the last one, did they call him back for a second interview? How are you getting on with your cross stitch kit? That's reminded me, I have a cross stitch kit, someone bought me for Christmas last year.

What a shame you can't change your holiday dates Ann and to lose the money to if you decide to cancel. A few family members in OH's family have had their holidays cancelled, one to Mexico and a couple of cruses for the other's.

Pleased to see you had a lovely time with your brother Vera, nice to hear he's feeling much better now.

I hope you can still keep your appointment with the nurse tomorrow Mandy. I'll keep my fingers cross for good news on the results of your blood test and Hypertension review.

I meant to ask AnnG, how is your conservatory roof now, no more leaks I hope? That's nice of your neighbour to help you out with the shopping. I have a water colour kit, well it says teach yourself how to water colour, so I might take a look at that when I'm not so busy. I really need to catch up with a few programmes I've recorded first, I haven't watched anything for a couple of days and my planner is almost full now.

I hope Frank and Ros had a nice time away, if they went in the end.

Going to get a cuppa now then watch the "Last tango in Halifax", I recorded, I think it's the last one.

Good afternoon Gill and Mel.

Neing curious Mel, what is CSS? Not nice if so many smells upset you. Does that include nice perfumes as well. Can you tolerate any?

Gill great to see you and hopefully the weekend with you and OH spending time together will have boosted your spirit. I expect you ahd a lot to talk about having practically been 'ships that pass in the night' the previous week.

The sun is shining here too and I just sat out in the garden for about 10 minutes, it was so hot I couldn't sit there any longer.

We went to our small local garden centre this morning (besides the staff there were about 8 of us in there so didn't come into contact with any other than staff. We bought 4 bags of compost so that we can do the hanging baskets in April which is good to get out of the way. We also bought a tray of 6 lovely mauve and purple pansies which we have put in tubs where we can see them. OH then spent an hour pottering out there. It was so good to walk around the garden centre without worrying about other pwople.

My cardmaking magazine came this morning too so that is something else nice.

We slept OK last night as well, we definitely sleep better with the new mattresse.

Pleased to see you and your OH had a better nights sleep AnnG. It must be a relief when you go out for things and there aren't many people around. Yes, it was nice to spend a bit of time with OH, even when he was on days he'd fall asleep pretty much as soon as he got home, so we haven't spent much time together over the past few weeks. He's off tonight but is still asleep after his night shift last night. He's back on nights again tomorrow night. He said he feels tired all the time, but I suppose that's to be expected for a while, until he gets used to it.

I noticed on the news people over the age of 70 might have to stay indoors for 4 months. I can't see that going down well and doubt most people will do it. My mum is in that age category but I can't see her doing that, she gets fed up if she has to stay in doors for a couple of days. She's having her other eye done tomorrow, unless they cancel, so she'll need to stay indoors and not drive again like she was told to do last time, mind you having said that the last time she had her eye done she was out and about driving within a couple of days, so no doubt she'll be the same again this time.

Just catching up with a few programmes I've got on the planner, I need to be quiet when OH's asleep, so can't really do much until he wakes up.

I've just watched the last episode of Last tango in Halifax, it's the first series I've watched so it took a while to get into it with not knowing the back story, by the time it finished though, I'd just about got the gist of it.

Enjoy reading your card making magazine AnnG.

Gill I doubt we will have any choice and really it is for our own good to keep us free of infection. They may well do the same as they have done in Spain. They used drones to watch the streets and ordered people back indoors. Is your Mum not concerned about catching the virus? Living on her own she would find it very difficult.
Not sure how many on this thread it would affect, I know besides myself and OH probably Mel, not sure about her OH, Annx but not her OH, Not you Gill or your OH,And really don't know about Mandy and her OH. I think we will be very grateful for the internet.

Good to see your reason for being off the boards for a couple of days Gill. I expect spending a bit of time with your OH has given you a bit of a boost. Why do you doubt that most over 70s won’t self-isolate? That’s certainly not the impression I have got and I think as a group the “elderly” are a pretty responsible lot. We have phones, we have the internet, there are food deliveries. For us the biggest problem will be topping up on things like milk. All our friends and neighbours are in the over 70s group and our nearest family member is 25 miles away.

Our weekend visitors are still coming as we haven’t seen them for a long while and this might be our last chance for a while as well, but we have had a discussion over the phone and agreed that we won’t eat out at all and if we do go out it will be somewhere like a walk in the country park which is never busy and we can keep away from other people.

I am seeing the dentist tomorrow. The practice rang this morning and we discussed it. But our dishwasher now isn’t coming till Friday instead of tomorrow so OH will come with me and after the dentist we’ll try and get some bits for the garden, more compost and one or two other things, and I am running low on stuff for the birds so I’ll try and stock up on that as well.

It’s been a dry day here but very grey until about an hour ago when the yellow stuff appeared. OH has cut the three buddleias right back and done some other garden jobs.

Mel, many moons ago I did make most of my clothes and my daughter’s. In fact I even made the wedding dress for her first wedding. I’ll have to see if I can find a photo to show you. I also knitted and I have done a bit of cross stitch but I can’t say I ever really enjoyed doing these things. I think anything I try these days would be a total disaster, what with my wonky eyes and sometimes shaky hands.

Jane, I hope you got on alright at the hospital with your bloods and your bottle of you-know-what.

Frank, we want to know you are OK and hear about your weekend.

Tesco are delivering to me today between 4 and 5 pm. I wonder how much of my order I’ll actually get or whether half of it was missing from the shelves by the time they came to pack it for me. I think I’ll go and get the washing in while I am waiting for them.

Afternoon All
Lovely sunny day here.I actually sat out in the sun for a while with my kindle :-D
Good to see you Gill.We were all getting a bit worried as you were missing for a few days. You sound in good form and spending time with OH must have been good for you.
Hope your Mum gets her eye op tomorrow although I think a lot of hospitals are cancelling non emergency ops.
I have managed ot arrange with the Dentist to keep my appointment on Thursday,I will go in at 12.30 when only he will be there .Everyone else will be on lunch breaks.So no need to be in the wiating room with a load of people :-D. He had said last time `i was there he wanted to see me every 3 months whle `i am on Chemo. The sad thing is he will be retiring in August and I am gutted . He is a brilliant Dentist and we have all been seeing him for at least 30 years. Not looking forward to seeing anyone else :-(

Our boiler has packed up :-S :-S :-S I have a feeling we will have to have a new one as it is past its sell by date .Luckily I have managed to get an engineer out from British Gas tomorrow afternoon. Good job we have the wood burner and a couple of heaters.

Im not tht impessed with the Giraffe Cross stitch as the colour of it is different than the pic.All the colours are different and the coloured threads dont match the numbers !!!!!
I have put it all back in the packet for now.

I hope we hear from Frank soon.

Mel I keep getting email form you which I assume are pics.But they go through on Bt internet and they go straight into Junk but no pics.It is all chinese gobbledy gook .Can you try and use my iCloud and they should come through fine on there.
Time for a cuppa now.My mouth is really dry.

James has a second interview for the job he went for last week :-D :-D :-D. He has to do a presentation but it will be by skype as they are shutting the office for now because of the Virus concerns. He wasnt sure about todays interview . He also has another interview next week. So hopefully things are looking up now. He would love the job which he is having the second interview for.It is an Environmental Consultancy .

Jane I always send to Icloud!! What a shame the colours arn't the same as the ones on the place you bought it from. Thats the trouble with buying things online sometimes. Are they darker or just completely different?

I have been to Holsworthy this afternoon and got two sacks f corn and two sacks of pellets so that should last me a while if the pheseants don't eat me out of house and home. I also bought a big box of fat balls and two largish bags of nuts as I don't have anywhere I can keep a sack full safe. Oh said to buy a jerry can in Mole alley and make sure I could open it while in the hsop. I forgot!!!! Then I went to the garage through town for a drop of deisel for the car and a couple of gallons of petrol in the new can for the mowers. Could I get the can top open???????? Not on your nelly. I paid for my diesel and asked the girl behind the counter if there was someone who could help me and she looked at the chap behind me and said "Gerry can you help this lady?" He did and I knew him from when I went to Safeway before they changed it to Waitrose. Out of the car came the bright green new can.............. Do you think he could get the top off?? no so we had got the pin out but the other top of the cap would not budge. He managed to get it undone a little tiny bit and then another man came up to the pump beside us and he had a go but still no joy. Then another chap came along and he seemed to knwo all about these cans and how to open them and after a lot of struggling he did it. :-D I then put just a couple of gallons in it and Gerry lifted it into the back of the car for me. We must have been there about 20 mins trying to get the top off. Anyway he then said I should put a bit of grease on the lugs soit was easier next time. I thought I had somem vasaline in my bag but could'nt find it and looked in the car too so when I went in to pay I bought one of those little round tins. Coming back to the car Gerry was talking to another man who had put some grease on it for me so I had bought a pot of vasaline at £2.09 for nothing. Its a good job I have to use that on my hands when they crack open.

O and on the way there the road was closed at dipper mill and I had to turn round and go round the long way to even get to Holsworthy so you can see I am just about fed up with my shopping today but we have quite a stoke now and only have to go and get more mower petrol as oh uses a lot mowing the grass with all the grass we have.

We have sental appointments on 24th April but not sure whats going to happen with those yet.

Gill My aunty Joy who lives in Bideford is a person who can't stay indoors so I don't know what she is going to do with herself. She's 86 I think with a birthday in April. She dos'nt drive but goes down town in a taxi to work inthe charity shops. She was just the same when her hubby was alive but she has a son and two daughters living quite nearby. Her son is just outside Bideford and the two daughters are in Bideford.

I hav'nt seen the Last tango in Halifax yet so I shall watch that tonight.

Glad you enjoyed your days with hubby Gill. He'll soon get used to the night work but it must be hard.

Its so good James has another second interview for the job he thinks he will like Jane. Good luck with any others but I hope he gets the one he wants.

Off to shut the chickens in now and get soemthing for dinner. I have a fancy for a nice sausage toad............. so think thats what I will do.

Jane did you get the mistletoe pendants and the pics of poor old Robby?

Evening All,

What a nice Spring day! Good to hear from you Gill and know you are ok. I will be surprised if your mum gets her eye op now and they were going to rush through legislation to arrest people if they didn't stay indoors. Today's PM update says we ALL should avoid any unnecessary social contact for now, but they haven't said the elderly should self isolate yet. Not sure what the position will be by next Monday though when OH's car has to go in for several days for repair as the warning light has reappeared. If the over 70s can't go out by then, I couldn't give him a lift home and he might have to use a taxi.....not ideal with the people that are in and out of them all the time.

After 20 years of no problems with any taps one has started dripping today! What timing! I managed to turn it off really hard to stop it and have tied a polythene bag round it or OH will forget and turn it on. We are on a water meter so It will have to stay like that now till we are safe from this virus again.

We were at Sainsbury's by 7.00am and hardly anyone about. We got most of what we wanted, including Dettol, but no honey and lemon or paracetamol. The till operators were using hand gel. After offloading the shopping we went to Boundary Mill at Grantham to find they had reduced their hours due to the Coronavirus so we had to sit in the car for half an hour. There were just 2 other couples when we went in and we did have breakfast in the empty restaurant, but I used wipes on the table and we took our own knives and forks!! After the advice today, we shan't be eating out at all now till it is safe again. I just got my refund then and we came home.

Oh Jane, I was only thinking today that I hoped the boiler would be okay till the warmer weather! I hope they can fix yours easily tomorrow. Hopefully James will get one of these jobs and it's good he has a second interview. That's good your dentist is being so helpful. What a shame about the cross stitch being different colours to the picture.

OH has had an appointment for his bone scan come through today, but I think his and my appointment will be cancelled as non essential.

I have signed up with Asda on line shopping as well now Mel. I wanted to sign up with the Co-op as well, but they don't deliver to our postcode, yet there are 2 Co-ops in our village? How lovely to see the Long Tailed Tit gathering spider webs for it's nest. We know they use them, but how many of us actually see them collecting them. What a lovely surprise. What a game you had opening the can. It's a good job those chaps could help.

Vera, I have bought some tins of evaporated milk to dilute for our tea if the worst comes to the worst. I bought a small amount of dried milk before it all disappeared. OH will drink happily drink black tea and coffee, but I like milk in my tea unless it is Earl Grey which I have somewhere in the back of a cupboard. I think I will have to try a quiff and DA when my hair gets long. :-D My hairdresser is obviously worried about business and sent me an email today detailing all the precautions they are taking and asking customers to re=arrange appointments rather than cancel them. There you are, it takes some talent to make a wedding dress Vera and I'm not sure I could do it! I hope you can find the photo to show us.

OH seems oblivious to what needs doing too and I have to keep asking him! He has done well today though and got most of the big weeds up in the front and back garden this afternoon. He had plastic sacks of garden waste from last year that are ready for the tip, but he has emptied them all into the new garden bin along with the weeds for collection tomorrow. He's also oiled the outside door locks and the side gate lock as they were getting a bit stiff and put washing out and fetched it in. His 5 meetings this week have all fallen by the wayside except tomorrow's, but he thinks that will be cancelled tomorrow.

That's good your new mattress is helping you sleep better AnnG. You can never be sure till you actually sleep a few times on a new one. Good idea to get some nice plants (especially pretty Pansies!) to cheer up some pots.

I hope Frank and Ros are home now and enjoyed their trip.

Off to watch Belgravia that we recorded now.

Tesco arrived in good time. Several items had been substituted for similar things and they were all acceptable substitutions. But there were no eggs and no tea, though the tea was my own fault. We like a particular brand and on my regular online orders I have this marked as not to be substituted as I can usually get it elsewhere if Tesco haven’t got it. I forgot to change this so they haven’t sent me any tea and I shall have to go looking for tea and eggs tomorrow. I am going to the dentist who is in a different town where there is a Co-op and a Morrison’s so I’ll have a look there.

Jane, that’s brilliant that James has got a second interview for that job and another interview lined up as well. Well done him. Your dentist sounds very understanding. I understand how you feel about him retiring as our dentist retired about 15 months ago and I was dreading finding a new one. He was a one man surgery so we were going to have to register elsewhere. In fact he asked another surgery in the same town if they would take us and a few other patients who had been going to him for a long while. We are registered with a lady dentist there and have found her very good .

We went to our normal club meeting tonight and had a talk on the Citizens Advice Bureau. Meetings are now suspended until further notice. We will also not be going to Wetherspoons for the foreseeable future. I can see me spending a lot of time on the phone.

I am feeling very tired tonight so I am going to get a drink and take my book to bed. Sleep well everyone.