General Chat

Pleased to see you and Ros are okay Frank, like you said it's best to stay in as much as you can. Good idea to buy ready meals especially with you feeling so tired. I hope you have a better nights sleep tonight.

I checked the Coronavirus map earlier and we have 8 people with the virus, I don't think anyone has died of it around here though. Let's hope it stays that way. That was nice of Jonathan and Simon to ring you Frank, it's nice to know people are looking out for each other isn't it?

The sun is still out but there are a lot of really black clouds coming our way, so I think we might be in for some rain soon.

Just watched "Hunted" with OH what a brilliant end to the programme, all four of the remaining fugitives got away and each have a share of the prize money of £100,000 pounds. It's the most exciting one we've seen and we're looking forward to the next one in 2021

Gill I think they have got quite a lot of episodes already filmed of Eastenders so to make them last they have dropped down to twice a week, I think it is Mondays and Wednesdays but not sure and of course the programme magazines are still showing the original times. I am sure, if this goes on we will lose all the soaps and programmes like Holby and Casualty. I just hope they don't use it as an excuse to do away with them all altogether.

Well done for getting the toilet rolls, surely 18 will last the two of you quite a while.

Mel, taking the pills in the wrong order once would probably do no harm but you are right to put them in different places so that you can't do it too often.

Frank, good to see you, Ros seems to be doing ok with the shopping, I don't know her age but as you are self isolating shouldn't she now be doing the same to protect you?

Jane I guess I will be making a banana loaf at some stage as we sseem to have a lot of bananas.
I don't hear the smoke alarm battery bleep in the night as I don't have my hearing aid in. Yes I know! I might just hear it if it went off for real as that is louder.

We did go to the hairdresser this morning. They were very busy but I stayed in the car while OH had his cut, then he did the same while I had mine done. In fact as we were parked right outside I stayed until my hairdresser called me. she told OH to ask me to stay their while she disinfected her 'station. Apparently they do it thoroughly between each customer.

Afterward we nipped to McColls which is a small shop and only usually has two or three customers in at once, we got a few bits, a small tin of ham, jar of marmalade, bananas, crisps, newspaper. Then on the way back to the car OH went into the bakers and bought a loaf and a large snail bun which we had between us with our coffee at home. when we got home our neighbour popped out of her door with 6 eggs for us, she had been to the big Tesco Extra which sounds as if it was well stocked.

OH is, at the moment, trying out the Wii, we have had it a long time but it has not been used for quite a few years. It seems to be working ok, anyway that is keeping him occupied as it is too cold to go out in the garden.

Sorry you had another bad night Frank lets hope tonight will be ok and you get some good zzzz's in.

Hav'nt even thought about tonights dinner yet!! I have been claying playing.... Having great fun. Its like painting with coloured clay. I am making another pendant but a bigger one this time. It has everything on it.

Washing is nearly dry so I may bring it in now before the damp comes down with dark.

Jane its good your appointment and drop off only took a few minuets this morning. Are you making soup with your chicken stock? A nice big pot of soup woud be nice with this cold easterly wind blowing. I have just turned the heating back on as its got quite chilly in here.

Oh mowed this morning in two lots. The first time he came in with freezing hands and put them on my face!! The second time he cut the west lawn and now it all looks like someone has cut it for silage. I hope the worms take a ot of it down.

Where's our AnnG today? Hope they are both ok.

Afternoon All,

We both slept like logs again and I seem to be dropping off to sleep more quickly now as well. OH's cough is less too. Now I have a small abscess near a tooth that took ages to settle after it was filled a year or so ago, but it isn't painful and seems to almost disappear at times so unless it gets painful I shan't go to the dentist in the circs, and it will be getting salt washes instead.

I love to watch Hunted too Gill. What a shame they didn't give more detail in the prog about stress. I did say to look on-line though and it is worth trying some things and Jane's mention of CBT and looking for support groups are good ideas. Maybe you need a 'Thomas', as stroking a pet is supposed to lower your blood pressure and reduce stress! It's good you have some loo rolls now. I hate it when the smoke alarm goes off as my OH is usually out when it happens. You did well to reach it to get it to stop. Maybe I should get a few more batteries? Have you heard from Sandra lately? I suppose you won't be seeing her on Mother's Day now.

Oh Mel, I worry about taking things the wrong way round too as it's so easy to do. My panic is having a 100mg and a 25mg thyroxine tablet to make up the 125mg when they keep changing the sizes. I seem to have a lot of baby long legged spiders now and they are rebuilding their webs days after I get rid of them.

That's good you were so quick at the hospital Jane. I think it's a good reminder to people to see masks and gloves, as there are too many not taking things seriously enough. The banana loaf is something OH would love.

A few ready meals are a good standby anyway Frank . I have a few in the freezer. It's good folk are checking up on you to see you are alright. We are half a mile out of the village so we don't exist to people in the village!

Gosh your son has a few family worries doesn't he Vera. Still, it's good he doesn't have to worry about you and your OH as well.

Two things cheered me up today. One was that the free Turkey in the garage freezer is still in date, so that's Sunday lunch sorted and using it will make more room in there. Then we got a call from the Valuation Agency after chasing up what was happening about our council tax band appeal last year and not hearing anything since. They have agreed to drop our council tax band from Band E to Band D, which will save us £400 this year and will refund us back to 2015 when the new houses were built, so we should get about £1,500! It was a good job we appealed against their first refusal!

O Ann thats a great saving on your council tax. OUrs has just gone up £10 and we are on a band E. Bet you miss gong to your friends today don't you? It dos'nt feel like a Friday to me with the shopping coming yesterday. They change the size and colour of our pills because they try to get away with giving us cheaper ones. I always ask for the Teva brand with most of oh's and mine.

I'm glad you are sorted in the toilet department now Gill :-D No kitchen roll or newspares needed ;-)

AnnG, I think your hair looks very nice.its the same colour as mine too :-D

What a good job you rang about the Banding Ann.£1,500 .That will be a great pay out for you :-D

Mel I am going to freeze the stock and use it for a couple of my casserole dishes.

We have Sausage and Gnocchi tray bake this evening with mixed peppers ,mushrooms and tomatoes.It looks nice but I have never done Gnocchi this way before.

I see now everything is closing now from midnight Restaurants,cafes ,pubs ,Gyms !!
We will just have t oget used to enjoying the fresh air and good weather when it arrives. At least we have a big garden .Might get the croquet set out :-D :-D.I think it will be ok to have Hannah and Gareth around then as we can stay 6 feet apart :-D

I was looking at the website for where we are going next month and see that they can provide pre cooked meals that can be delivered to the Lodge.I think I shall order some for a couple of evening meals rather than cook for 4 nights :-D It might be a good idea to actually contact the people to see if they are carrying on with having people holidaying in Lodges.

Vera it must be a worry for your Son not knowing when his wife will be able to get back from Florida.Where is she staying.I cant remember if you said she had gone with work or if she was visiting family/friends.

Must go and check on dinner

I am feeling so tired tonight. I can’t stop yawning so I might be in bed very soon. I have just read all today’s posts so I’m keeping up with all your news.

It seems to have been a bit of a hectic day today. Yesterday I was printing something when the black ink ran out. Checked in the cupboard, no spares so I went online, found the company with the best deal for genuine Epson inks, checked carefully 3 times that I was ordering the right ones for our machine and placed the order for the complete set of colours and an extra spare black. It was great service as they arrived this afternoon. OH went upstairs to change the black ink and came downstairs very grumpy as I had apparently ordered the wrong ones! So I went back online and checked again. No, they were the right ones. He showed me a spare colour one from the cupboard which was obviously a different size. I asked what he had done with the ink cartridge he had taken out of the printer. He hadn't taken the old one out to compare that with the new one. Yes, you’ve got it................he was comparing it with one he had found at the back of the cupboard which was for our old printer. Why is such a bright man sometimes so dumb? All this took best part of an hour and left me thoroughly irritable. If I had changed the cartridge myself it would have been a 5 minute job.

Then a neighbour rang and I couldn’t get her off the phone. I didn’t want to be rude so that was another 40 minutes gone.

Next my new dishwasher arrived. I stayed in another room while the men took the old one out and installed the new one but they called me to the kitchen to check I was happy before they left. WRONG DISHWASHER, or at least right model, wrong colour. I ordered white, they delivered a silvery grey. They said they would report it when they got back and the company would ring to arrange to change it but in the meantime I could use it. When they ring I am going to tell them that because of the virus situation I don’t think we should have them coming back again so we will keep the one they have installed. In fact, if I am honest, I think the silver grey works better in the kitchen than white but it was another irritation today. Then I spent a little while going round the door handles and anything they might have touched in the kitchen with antiseptic wipes.

Jane, my dil went to Florida to give some help to her late first husband’s mother. After he died she kept in close touch with his parents as she got on well with them and, of course, they were also her sons’ grandparents. In fact they came over for the wedding when she married my son. Her ex-mil has since been widowed, wants to sort everything out in her large house and move somewhere smaller but was finding it hard on her own. DIL flew out to help her and now can’t get back. I heard from dil this evening. She says she is very concerned but can’t do anything about it so she is carrying on sorting out cupboards and drawers for her ex-mil

Eldest granddaughter rang tonight to check we were OK. Uni is closed, apart from some online tutoring, a practical part of her finals, involving some sort of show, had to be abandoned and will be assessed differently and her final dissertation has to be submitted online. As her part time job was to do with school lettings for clubs and other organisations and the schools have closed, she now has no job. She’s coming home and staying with her Dad (he and my daughter are separated). Dad lives about 15 miles from us and she has offered to drive up from there with shopping etc. if we need anything.

I really am off to bed now. See you all tomorrow.

Morning all,

What a day you had yesterday Vera. I could'nnt have got any worse could it?

Its extremly windy here today and the sky is grey but with some brighter patches but its still very cold in the wind.

I am going up the shop as usual for my paper and delivering Em's eggs and then I am in for the rest of the day.

How was your nights sleep? I slept like a log and did'nt get up early either. I think this will be the last Saturday we have a steak night as I like to pick my meat and I have a piece of rump in the freezer.

Good morning all, sunny here with a cold wind 7 degrees outside so not very warm,

OH has just filled the hanging baskets with compost and left them in the greenhouse to warm up. I just walked down the garden and back but it is too cold to linger. I am a bit cross because when he was doing something out there with cement he got some of the cement powder on the steps up to the lawn and the wall of the bed outside the conservatory and, I guess he didn't clean it up and now the steps and wall are stained with a white mess that he can't get off. It looks really messy now.

Goodness that was an irritating day you had yesterday, I hope today will be better for you. Good to have Granddaughter not too far away so she can help if necessary. But frustrating for your DiL to be stuck in USA. I have just seen one person on facebook who was having trouble getting back from Florida as her BA flight was cancelled, she has got a flight with American Airlines.

Annx well done getting the council tax reduced, a bit more in the bank for you. And a bonus to find the turkey ok for Sunday lunch (and probably several more afterwards.

I am going to try and get this on line shopping started off, even if it is going nowhere at the moment.

:-D :-D :-D

Morning all ,

Lovely bright morning here the washings blowing away in fact i should think it now dry it was out early .

AnnG i asked Colin about the cement powder on the steps and he said you need Brick Acid remover or Mortar remover both should get it off ,pity you weren't nearer he's got a gallon of it in the shed that he used for his work.

Oh Vera what a day you had yesterday ,today can only be better .

Gill i thought of you last night when i watched Gardeners World ,the lady on there had over a thousand pots in her garden ,i think you've got a bit of catching up to do to keep up to her :-D

Oh and i see a new lot of The Sewing Bee is soon back on

Thats some good advice for AnnG that she can get the cement off the wasll and steps Mandy. I wondered if vinegar would remove some of it.

Thanks Mandy for the good advice. Will tell OH.

Now, those who on line shop I have just gone through and added quite a few items to an online Tesco shop, no problem setting it up as already have a Tesco card. However, there are no slots available as far as I can see at the moment. Do I have to do anything to hold the orders I have put on there or do I just shut it down? i.e. if I shut it down will it all be there when I ipen up again.

Good afternoon to you all,

I see you have all been careful, only going out for the essentials . Like Ros, she went to Tesco at 9.00 am yesterday and filled up with fresh veg. Neither of us will be going out until it is urgent to get more food etc. I have considered going on line, but the slots are well into APRIL and who knows what I will want then.

Harvey rang this morning to say A parcel/Mothers day Present will be delivered tomorrow. He is staying well clear of us, as he has been mixing with a few people at work.

Jonathan and Maureen across the road, have both offered to get anything we need, which is kind of them.

Ros is busy once again in the garden. I am staying indoors, out of the way, with my book and T.V.

I have left a message with BARRY to come and cut the lawns, when he is available, they seem to be growing quickly as the weather warms up.

I hope you are all staying Well and being careful when you go out. KEEP SAFE.xxxx

AnnG yes it will still be there but keep looking for slots.

Thanks Mel so do I have to log out or just shut it down? I know, I know, daft question staying indoors brain fog!!

When I went to Em's this morning with the eggs I asked them if they would be my Buddies (as the surgery called them) to pick up our scripts for us if we do really get shut in. Em's Ed works in Shebbear and goes to the shop so he will be able to get me anything I want, scripts, bread or the paper. I forgot to get oh some yoghurts!!

Got my paper from the shop and managed to buy 4 nice bread rolls. The only things that seem to be missing are toilet rolls and kitchen rolls and they have most other things. I forgot to get oh some yoghurts!!

You have to say you will pay for it by clicking on the checkout thing and also if you add things to it. Thats what I did'nt do and why only half of what I ordered came.

AnnG oh has just told me to look and see when you can add to your order as it used to be up until midnight the day before delivery but Morrisons have now made it 48 hours before your delivery.

OK thanks Mel

Good job you mentioned it is 48hrs for Morrisons now Mel as we are adding to Hannah's list for us until we get our first delivery from Tesco on the 5th April. Must add the last few bits to Hannahs now as her delivery is on Tuesday.

What a chilly day it has been even though quite bright.The wind s quite biting.
F&Cs for us to night with Cauliflower Cheese.James is having a Curry.

I had ot laugh at a message from my Sister...Larry is on Toad Patrol every Friday evening for the next few weeks. He has to pick up hundreds of toads trying to go over the bypass and take them back to the Nature Reserve.It must be breeding season as there are so many and they will get squished by tthe traffic :-( I said I hope Larry has a Lollypop that says TOADS CROSSING :-D :-D

Oh Vera what a day you had yesterday. No wonder you were grumpy.I hope today has been a much better one for you and that you will get a better nights sleep tonight.I could tell by your post last night that you werent quite tip top.

I have tried to make a start this afternoon on the Cross stitch.Not the Giraffe one but a small one of 2 Blue Tits that Hannah bought me.I have done 3 small rows so far and am no cross eyed !!I think `i shall have ot get one of those magnifying lamps.I watched a thing on You Tube on how to begin the Cross stitch which was very helpful.

Next doors new roof is coming along (the bungalw that caught fire ) It s been months now since the fire.It must have been back in October.
I see John Lewis are now closing all their stores !!.There won't be anything left open soon other than the Take Away places.
Had a lovely delivery today of Tulips and Daffs from Hannah and James.I have filled 3 vases !!.

Vera I am sorry your Grandaughter has no job now and will have to go home to her Dad.What with Uni closing and her disertation she must be feeling pretty low right now.
I worry about how some families will cope with children not being able to go to school.Especially those with single parents who have to work .I just hope we dont satrt to hear of neglect :-(

Frank loved your email of back in the days of Tanners and Bobs :-D :-D Hope you have plenty of books to read on your Kindle.I keep buying books and must have getting on for 20 now all lined up ready.I tend to get the ones for 99pence .Mainly Psychological Thrillers and Crime.

Mandy I hope Max has not been able to get hold of any more of your loo rolls :-D
How are you feeling now ?

No Ann so far today.I wonder if she has been busy in the garden.
Have we heard from Gill today?
I fancy a Sherry now :-D