General Chat

Yes Gill its what Anng said. My friend Di has it and she's always cold.

We had a beautifull morning with not much breeze and it was nice and warm. Oh mowed the top field and then after we had lunch the sky has turned grey and the breeze is up and its bitterly cold.

Oh has ordered me a back warmer for me to wear in the lounge while we have no heating. Hav'nt heard anything from the oil people as to when it may come. They did mention Monday and we were hoping it would be today but they hav'nt been yet. The weather machine is saying its 10 out there.

How's the back today AnnG? I hope its getting better.

Enjoy your roast gill. don't fall asleep while eating it. Why were you up so early, should have been catching up with the lost hour.

Mel, back no better unfortunately it usually takes 2 or 3 days. Wouldn't mind if I knew what I had done.

Despite my back hurting we did do the rest of the freezer between us this morning. I was a bit embarrassed as some stuff had got buried at the back of the fast freexe space at the top, and a couple of things in other drawers. Stuff I didn't like the look off and a couple of things with 2016 on I have put in the food waste bin for collection tomorrow. So I have a bit of space in there now and have written down everything that is in there. That makes it easier to plan ahead for meals. And our lovely neighbour has done a shop for us today too.
Our neighbour's 27 year old son lives in cardiff, he stayed there after Unit working. One of his friends, not a house sharing friend, died yesterday from this awful virus, 27 years old, not sure if he had any underlying health problems. Fortunately neighbour's son has had no physical contact with him lately.

Afternoon All
I have had a lazy day and have finished the Blue Tits Cross stitch :-DI made lots of mistakes but you can see it it 2 Blue Tits :-D

What lovely news wit h2 babies on the way :-D :-D. It will be a bit of a worrying time for the new parents to be but a very exciting time to look forward to.

Oh dear AnnG I wonder what you did to make your back painful.Hope it resolves soon.How sad about that young 27yr old friend of your friends son :-(. He was far too young.

Mel have you had the oil delivered this afternoon? I do hope so.The house will get really chilly without your heating.

Vera you sounded very chipper this morning :-D. That good sleep must have done you the world of good. Fingers crossed you sleep well again tonight.
James stayed up late last night to try and get another slot for Tesco .He managed to do it at 12.30 just before the site crashed again. So we now have 3 slots.Our forst one is on Sunday.

AnnG it feels good to have a good sort out with the freezer doesn't it.I too found things that `i had no idea how long they had been in there.I did chuck a couple of things out just incase they were too old.

Tonight we have a Chicken Tonight meal.French Country.I have chucked all the veg that needs to be use up into it.So Green Beans,Asparagus,Mushrooms and carrots. We will have a load of fresh veg tomorrow night when Hannah and Gareth drop our order off from Morrisons

It has suddenly got really darkand looks like rain .At least the wind dropped today even though it has been really cold .

AnnG, it’s good your neighbour can help you out with a bit of shopping. I wouldn’t go if I didn’t have to but all our neighbours and local friends are over 70 and many of them have other health issues. I know granddaughter would help if I asked but it would be a 30 mile round trip for her without time spent in the shops and she is trying to complete her final dissertation in difficult circumstances, so I won’t ask her unless we are desperate. Sorry to hear you have back problems again. Have you any heat pads or something like Voltarol that might help a bit. It’s horrid when it keeps waking you up. Try and rest it if you can. That’s so sad about that young man dying. 27 is no age at all. His family must be devastated.

You were up with the lark this morning Gill. Have you had a doze this afternoon? It’s nice of your OH to do his friend’s shopping for him as well as your own and I’m pleased the lady at Iceland let him in. Yes, the Co-op had everything marked off in zones as well this morning. The biggest problem was at the checkout. To protect their staff they had put these cage things in front of the counter so you had to lean across them to put your goods on the counter by the till and then lean across again to pick them up the other side of the till. I’m tall with long arms and it was a stretch for me, in fact I seem to have strained my ribs a bit and it must have been there as I was OK when I got up. I’m not sure how anyone small would manage. I hope your sewing has gone well today. Let us see your painting when you have done it. Have you had your roast yet?

I’m getting a bit concerned about my cousin who lives in Spain. She is nearly 83. Her husband is late 70s and had a kidney transplant not so long ago after years on dialysis so he is not in the best of health. I sent a message to her email address 3 days ago and have had no reply so this morning I sent another message to her husband’s email. If I don’t get any response from that I am not sure what I will do. I am sure someone, probably her older sister in Cornwall, would have let me know if there were something wrong but I am a bit worried.

Any news of Fitz’s OH, Jane? I hope she is beginning to come out the other end of this horrid virus now. James did well to get you another Tesco slot. We still only have the one for next Monday. I did look at the site just before 1 a.m the other night and all slots had gone. I think I shall have to be like James and log in just before midnight and hope for the best. I am also registered with Waitrose and they have nothing either.

I’d better come to a quick end as I am suddenly getting everything underlined and I can’t get rid of it.

EDIT: Now that is odd. I typed this on Word and then did a c&p to here. On the sheet I have been typing on everything from "Waitrose" on is underlined but it seems to have pasted on to here without the underlining :-S

Afternoon All,

Sun and showers here, so I left the garden today. I just went up to the greenhouse to water the seeds I planted then walked around the garden a few times to stretch my legs and watched a helicopter circling. NEXT in the village own one, the Police HQ just down the road have one or it could be Everards near the retail park, although their pad has been demolished while they relocate next to the Police HQ. It was red and yellow and I haven't seen it before. I tried to look it up and apparently Western Power have been flying their all yellow helicopters in the area to inspect cables when investigating faults. I wouldn't have thought helicopters and power lies were a good combination at all. :-0

Gill you were like my first MIL this morning. She would often say she'd washed, dried and ironed before 9.00am when we visited and she was almost my age too. She was never one to lie in bed though and would often be down the village visiting the 'old folk' especially if they weren't well. She was a kindly soul and off she'd trot to see someone with a gift of her home made peppermint creams. I remember she felt sorry for one old lady who hadn't much money and she would often come home with one of the knitted coathangers the lady used to make and sell even though she already had more than she could use! I think we had a few too! My sister developed Reynauds as she got older too. It sounds like you are doing well with your sewing and I hope the roast went down well! :-) We didn't watch Bohemian Rhapsody last night after all as we watched a prog about what your urine can tell you about your health instead!! We might watch it tonight.

What a shame you have hurt your back AnnG and as you say, as we get older we get slower to heal. I find aa hot water bottle helps if you have one. I had a sort out in the freezer bit of the fridge freezer myself this morning too. I chucked out some iced lollies that must be 2 years old and found some lamb chops over a year old, but I may still use those as they looked ok. I've got some cooked lamb mince in a tomato and onion sauce in there that we can have with pasta and some veg tomorrow and we can also use up a garlic bread stick in there with it too, so that will help make room for the delivery. I've grouped like with like so I know what drawer to look for things in and must do the same with the freezer in the garage tomorrow.I hadn't thought to do a list like you have, which would save keep opening the door to look! What a shame about that young man only aged 27. I think since some younger people have died with the virus, it has made others that weren't being careful take more notice now.

I sent OH to look for the big coolbox in the garage, It's lime green so you can't miss it. He came back without it, so I went and looked but no joy! It's either buried under all his mother's things or I must have sold it when I moved here. So I have fetched a variety of soft cool bags I have in the car boot and OH has a couple in his boot that we could use if needed.

I like those Chicken Tonight Sauces Jane, they are very useful for using up bits and bobs. I can't find any now. I was wondering when new slots were released so I will look at Asda's around the same time as James did for Tesco. Once I can get another Asda slot I can make it a recurring one like Mel has. My online Asda trolley must have big holes in it the way things I order keep falling out (of stock!) In case it's useful to anyone else, although Sainsbury's is only click and collect delivery for most of us unless you are in the especially vulnerable group, if you are over 70, you can ring 0800 953 4988 to get a priority delivery slot.

I was watching the Health live show this morning and Chris Van Tulleken was on in place of his twin who has the virus. His twin had to have a procedure to regularise his heartbeat as a result of the virus (which can happen with a bad infection he said). His mother also has it and it showed him delivering food on her doorstep. She looked ok after 5 days with it but still has the cough and no sense of taste. Chris said that because the virus can last a while on plastic, if anyone is worried about it to wash packets with soapy water before putting them away.

Well, it's true Vera, I speak as I find! lol. I think I might have guessed what your second thought was.......all I will say is yuk!! Glad you had a good sleep last night. That's quite worrying about your cousin in Spain. I hope they are both ok. Congratulations to your cousin's son and his wife! It's nice to hear some happy news. Yes, they have been very clear about face masks on the news.

OH is having his conference call now. He even got changed, put a shirt on and trimmed his beard for it. Keeping up appearances! :-D

Evening all,

A lot colder today and we've had some rain too .
We went to Aldi this morning ,well i shopped Colin kept in the car ,Aldi was very quiet ,i wiped all the trolley handles ,in the shop everyone kept their distance and if some one wanted to get some thing where you were they waited and i did the same .
Got every thing i wanted the shelves were all stocked ,plenty of everything as far as i could see .
At the till you stood back on the line ,loaded the belt and then pushed the trolley through and loaded everything back in the trolley ,they now have screens round the tills with just a hole where the card machine is and where they push your goods through .
I pushed the trolley to the car and loaded my bags ,wiped my hands with a wipe and took the trolley back wiped my hands again and the first thing i did when i got in was wash my hands .

AnnG i hope the pain in your back soon eases ,i wonder how you dd that .
How sad about that young 27 year old friend of your friends son , he had his whole life ahead of him ,so young poor chap.

Gill you got on well this morning :-D

Mel are you sure OH has ordered the oil ,it might be that he's enjoying all the cuddles to keep you warm :-D

Ann ,Colin wondered if it was some thing in a bag that was thrown over the
fence :-0
Perhaps that helicopter was keeping an eye on people ,making sure there was no gatherings .
Some one told me the Tesco's slots were released at random times throughout the day so it sounds as if you just have to keep checking .

Thats awful about the 27 year old lad. It must so so sad for the parents too.

I have been cooking all afternoon. I made 12 small pies of mincemeat and cherry. Only 4 mincemeat left over from Christmas and 9 jam tarts. Also cook roast pork loin and a full roast dinner and yorkshire puds. We hav'nt had a roast for ages and I just fancied it. Now I feel worn out so shall be watching the telly soon.

No oil yet and it was me who ordered it and I told the man we have no emersion heater for hot water either and no open fire anywhere in the house. I shall ring again tomorrow to see whats happening. I have my BIG sauspan on the cooker which I boil up for washing up and I got one of those funny heater out of the garage where oh had taken it and not brought it back. That was when he was doing the work on his lathe so quite a few years ago now. Anyway I washed it all down and brushed out all the wood chips out of it and I had it in the lounge yeterday but oh came in the kitchen and asked if I was using it today and I said no so he took it down to his study. He's felt cold today and its not like him to feel the cold its usually me.

So thats what I have been up to today. I wonder how many pies etc will be left int he morning if I don't hide some?

Yu have got on well with your nighties Gill. If you had got the machine out you would have had them done in no time.

Jane we shall want a pic of the cross stitch you've been doing. Did you enjoy doing it?

I am going to see Belgravia tonight as I only watched The Good Karma Hospital yesterday.

Mandy have you watched the latest Chateau programs?

Morning all,

Bright here this morning but then grey clouds come over and then it clears again. Funny day.

Heard from Frank and he says he can't get on the thread but they are both ok. Come to think of it that may have come through yesterday and as I could'nt get on here or anywhere yesterday morning..... forgot to look at the date.

Well thats a quarter of the new year gone today. It travelled along very quickly this year so lets hope it carries on like that and this virus goes.

Oh has always said that the planet will clean itself and its all of us that are ruining it and he's said this for years and I think he could be right.

O meant to say good cross stitch Jane and lovely bread can he bake us one please.

Just about to put washing on the line.

I have sent pics of the latest makes and the painted journel cover.

Afternoon to you all,

Ros has been a real busy bee. She has made face masks, in excess of THIRTY so far, and handing them out to all the elderly neighbours. She offered the postman one this morning, who was very grateful. The Post Office aren't supplying any protective items to their staff.

What with all the knitting she is doing for the new baby, and these face masks., she hardly leaves the lounge table, where the sewing machine is. Fortunately she has lots of material laying around, from "STITCHERY DO" So she is keeping everyone safe. She



I see that British Airways are stopping all flights from Gatwick. So it looks very unlikely that Conrad will be returning to Spain, anytime soon.The death toll out there is getting very serious. So Ros is so pleased that he might have to stay in DEVON.

I am doing Liver and onions for tonight with mash and garden peas. I have a lot of meat in the FREEZER, so we won't go short. Both fridges are full with Veg. of all sorts, so a good variety to choose from.

I am trying to make sure Ros doesn't need to go out at the moment, until we start to run short. Even then we have two bags of SPUDS and loads of BIG SOUPS. We could manage on them for a while also.

I trust you are all taking great care, when going out PLEASE STAY SAFE xxxx

Click on the green type and it will take you to it.

Afternoon all,

Lovely sunny day and i have washing out .

Oh Mel i think that link has sent the page funny :-D

I've had a good hoover through ,got the bread machine out and had to give that a bit of a wipe over as it's been in the cupboard for a while ,made a Lasagne for tonight .

Mel we have watched some of the Chateau DIY from last week as we record them .
I'm just waiting to see when the Sewing bee is on .

Sounds as if Ros is keeping busy Frank ,i haven't cooked liver for quite a while .

Yes once you have had a look at it I will delete it so the page goes back to normal.

They were all good singers especially the little boy he had a lovely voice .

We have just come in we've been out in the sunshine having a cuppa it's so warm out there ,Max must have got hot as he went and laid in the shade , he looked so funny he found a feather from a pigeon and he was walking about with it sticking out of his mouth ,I tried to get a photo but as per usual he moved and dropped the feather when I went to take it

Afternoon All,

A bit of sun is breaking through so I will go outside after posting this. I think your journal cover is absolutely fantastic Mel and looks very professional. The colours really suit the dragon! I love the pendants too, especially the twiggy border around the hare. You are getting very good you know!!

I already have a 12 month pass with Asda but you don't automatically get a weekly delivery, you have to request it and, as I said in an earlier post, I didn't click on that as I thought you HAD to have a weekly delivery which I wouldn't need. It was only after digging deeper into the conditions afterwards that I saw you could skip weeks if you wanted. It's because you can only request it once you have a new slot that I need to find another slot first.

I agree with your OH Mel and the bigger the population gets the more easy it will be for these pandemics to wipe swathes of us out to reduce the numbers again.The more dense the population the more disease spreads especially with how mobile the population is nowadays. The air quality statistics are showing such improvement now we aren't all driving around and there is less public transport. I'm hoping more people will understand the importance of washing hands after this experience and will carry on. Too many go in and out of hospitals without doing it and it's the same in toilets and not using the sanitiser provided in doctor's surgeries. There would be far less colds, flu and norovirus if everyone did.

Ros doesn't let the grass grow under her feet does she Frank. I think the baby will be a very well dressed one by the time she finishes.

Hubby had another unsuccessful trip to get our medication. He thought he'd struck lucky going at lunchtime when he hoped there would be less of a queue. Only 4 people waiting including himself, then someone came out of the shop to say they had started closing for an hour at lunchtime and turned them away! The woman in front of OH said this was her 4th time she'd tried queuing. Not only have they started closing for an hour at lunch, they are shortening their opening closing times by 2 hours as well, so you can't get there really early. What a time to be less available for people! He's going to try again in the morning.

I had a letter from the hospital from the knee surgeon today to tell me he is retiring before my next appointment and letting me know who is taking over from him. It also made it clear my next appointment in August depends on the situation then.

I see Colin's mind was on the same wavelength as Vera's with what flew over the fence Mandy! lol :-D :-D Good idea to did your breadmaker out. We have recorded the Chateau prog too as well as the Repair shop. I'm looking forward to the Sewing Bee too. I must get some washing on as well.

If that was The Marsh Family Mel, I put it on my FB page earlier. It is brilliant isn't it and so clever with the words.

Good afternoon all. late today. I had set aside this morning to check the bank accounts but needed to print the accounts off the PC first. Two hours later OH managed to get a print off. The printer needed ink, I changed that, it didn't see it, so we took it out and it said it needed a different one, then it didn't. We had iks going in and out of the printer and finally manged to get one print but OH is going to look at it later when he has finished what he is doing. He is better at printer maintenance than me. Actually it is the first time I have had a problem and I rather think it is the ink cartridge rather than the printer. IT is a dedicated Epson cartridge as well, and the last black one I have so it had better sort itself out. Anyway I did eventually get the accounts done.
Then thought I had better show myself on here.

Had a fairly good nights sleep but by the time I went to bed my back was really bad and (I don't know if you will understand this) it kept spasoming a really clenching pain that made me jump. I finally took 2 nurofen and rubbed on plenty of deep heat then stayed in one position all night and it is not too bad today.

Love the pendants Mel and th colur of the cover. You are getting really good at it.

Very frustrating about the medications Ann, If they are shutting early or shutting for lunch they should give advance warning not just leave people standing outside the door, a notice on the door would help. I suppose they are short staffed but sometimes you do just wonder if they are taking advantage of the situation.

Mandy it is lovely and sunny here but definitely not warm enough to sit out. I walked round the garden taking photos and OH is pottering out there, but the wind is bitterly cold.

Frank, well done for organising it so Ros doesn't have to go out. enjoy your liver! We have Pork fillet cut into cubes in the slow cooker with a cider and apple sauce and some mushrooms and butter beans. Not sure if that will be served with rice or potatoes.

Oh your poor back AnnG. When you get those spasms you hardly dare move or breathe. I hope it soon settles down as you hardly dare move much till it does. How is your OH's head now? I bet he will have some bruising. I never trust printers! I've had trouble with cartridges fitting properly sometimes and remember with one it was fine once I prised the tab that clicks out a little, but I hadn't realised with the first one I tried. Ours never sounds healthy while it's printing either. Your meal sounds very nice. I like pork loin with apples or a cider sauce. We have had some minced lamb with veg that I had frozen and I added some butternut squash and a lonely pepper that needed eating and we had it with that frilly pasta.

The helicopter just went over so I suspect Mandy is right and they are keeping an eye on who is out and about.

Better go and listen to the update now.

The Marsh Family video is great. I saw it this morning and called OH to take a look. We both said the same thing. “That could have been E a few years ago”. E is our youngest granddaughter who is now coming up 14 but when she was little she could have been a twin to the smallest Marsh girl. It wasn’t just looks but body movement and facial expressions too. If any of you haven’t seen it just put Marsh Family into Google and you’ll find the video.

Mandy, as Ann said, Colin and I had the same thought with what came over the fence but I can tell you why that came into my mind. Some 15 years ago a middle aged couple and their three dogs moved into the house next door to us. I never once saw the dogs taken for a run but we were always finding them in our garden and having to clear up after them. At the time we had young grandchildren who visited regularly and one day I had enough. I went next door and told her to keep her dogs on her property as I wasn’t prepared to risk my grandchildren slipping in her dogs’ mess. Her answer was to tell me to scoop it up and throw it back over the fence! I was telling this story to another neighbour who was always having to clean up her drive so the next time one of the dogs left a package on the drive she scooped it up, walked to the dogs’ house and threw it on the drive there. The husband was not amused when he came home in the dark and stepped in it. They only stayed about a year because they found our little hamlet too unfriendly. Horrible people but the dogs were all lovely.

I cleaned a couple of our kitchen cupboards yesterday and washed all the glasses in one and jugs and things in the other. Today I did some shelves that hold a load of tankards and lots of cookbooks. I’d forgotten I had some of them so I might be sorting out some new recipes to try soon. I also did a cupboard of plastic storage containers that I use in the fridge and freezer. I do have quite a lot but why do the number of containers and number of lids never match?

What a performance your OH had trying to get your medication Ann. It wasn’t Boots by any chance was it? So many of my friends have problems with their scripts there. I had a lot of difficulties with them myself so I changed to another chemist and haven’t had a problem since.

AnnG, I’m sorry that your back is giving you so much trouble. I hope you get a decent night and it feels easier tomorrow. It sounds as if you had a frustrating time with the printer and the ink recently. OH also likes the genuine Epson inks rather than the ‘compatible with’ type but they are pretty expensive aren’t they? When we needed to replace some recently I found a company online called Cartridge People. I got the 5 colours and a black, plus another spare black for £62 and they arrived the day after I ordered them. Price varies a bit depending on your printer but they might be worth looking at. My order would have cost nearly £90 at PC World and I would have had a round trip of 30 miles to collect it as they wouldn’t deliver.

Ros isn’t going to be bored is she? She is always busy making something. I do admire her. I expect she is rather pleased that Conrad is stuck here for the time being. The situation in Spain looks pretty dire at the moment. I’m getting really concerned that I haven’t had any response from my cousin or her husband to emails I have sent.

Love your new bits of craft work Mel. That journal cover is a bit special.

I am not sure that Tesco do release delivery slots at different times. For the last couple of weeks I have been checking about 5 times during the day and there is never any change. I check last thing before going to sleep and when I check again in the morning another day has been added and all slots gone. My feeling is that as the current day ends at midnight, that day drops off one end and a new day appears at the other end. That’s only a guess though. I shall just have to try to get online at midnight one night and hope for the best.

I’d better go and start peeling the spuds for dinner. It’s going to be sausage and mash. Then it’s a toss up between veg and onion gravy or baked beans, but I am feeling a bit lazy so I might opt for the beans.