General Chat

We have both been up the garden doing the lawn edgeing. I have been mixing up cement as oh can't stand for long but he did help sitting in his chair. He put the sand and cement in the tank I brought across the garden to mix it in and I got the three cans of water to mix it up with. We both mixed it and oh put it in between the boards and the edge of the grass. He let me do the smallest bit and told me to write my name in it. I wrote Melly as thats what he calls me.

We put the boards up to hold the cement AnnG they are not staying there once the cement is dry. We also filled in two big potholes in our road to use up the last of the bag of cement. Both worn out now so I went down the freezer and got oh out a chilli I made the other week and he had that and I had a three egg omelet and bread and butter.

Hope you're not getting another migraine Vera. You have a nice rest and have some me time to relax.

Gill you've both been busy today too I see. Its nice when jobs get done and out of the way. I started this morning on the kitchen hoping to get it all clear for the hsopping arriving tomorrow but as oh needed a hand I went out and helped him and when I got back indoors I finished the kitchen. Most work surfaces are now clear apart from the washing up from dinner which I am going to do now.

Gill I bought some cheap compost in Lidl once at the same price as you paid but be carefull because I have all sorts in mine like glass and plastic and other bits not too nice on your hands and it did'nt hold much water but seemed to run staight through the compost.

I had to laugh at you putting your email up at the window of the car Ann with your name in big letters on the back. Good idea. It must be nice to get some plants back in your wall pots and some over for the rest of the garden.

Morning all my lovely friends,

Hope you all slept well and feel refreshed this mroning.

Not nice weatherwise out there today as there's a brisk wind fromt he east and it wet with grey skies. Not sure if it raining at the momen t but its been raining in the night.

Toes ache this morning and my calf still aches from when I had cramp the other night. I'll get over it as I usually do.

I shall be wiping all the shopping this morning and it will probably take me all morning so see you all later. Be careful whatever you are doing.

Good morning Mel, good morning all. Sunny here but, as Mel says a cold east wind. Got to find something to do today, I was very lazy yesterday. Slept reasonably well though. Meal tonight is curry with the roast chicken that is left so not much to do there. Probably housework then. Sound like fun, but the sharp wind won’t entice me outside.

Asda have not sent us any bread.

Its still grey and miserable here and the winds quite strong as well as cold.

Afternoon all

Lovely and sunny here, it's a bit windy but not cold.

I've just finished painting the first coat of paint on the wall I done yesterday, OH said he'll do the second and possibly third coat later.

I'm pleased you said the compost doesn't hold much water Mel as I had no grit left and needed to pot up 23 succulents so they'll love the compost and I don't need to worry about them being to wet now. 1 of the other 4 plants which was potted in a very large pot doesn't like to much water either, so that one will be happy as well. So it looks like I'll just need to keep an eye on the 3 conifers I re-potted and make sure they have plenty of water, thanks for letting me know. Those pots are quite big so they all had 7 litres of water each yesterday, (one full watering can). I did notice one tiny piece of glass and a small piece of plastic, but apart from those it was fine. Given the price I wasn't expecting much, but my conifers and the Hebe desperately needed re-potting, so anything was better than nothing and the price, I thought, was really good. It sounds like you were busy yesterday with your OH to.

I'm hoping to have another go at my family tree today, I don't seem to be getting very far with it lately, so will have to see if there are any other gaps I can be getting on with.

Going to have a cuppa outside until this paint dries, it's given me a headache, even though I've opened the windows. Once my head feels a little better I'll get on with my family tree.

Hope you find something to do today AnnG once your housework is out of the way. Pity about the weather or you could of gone in your garden.

Actually Gill it is not too bad out there now, still breezy but not as bad as it was amd 13 degrees. I did spend about 20 minutes wandering around, seeing what OH was doing and sorting out a few things. And I did actually stop and smell the roses which smell lovely and are right by the arch at the end of the garden.

We had coffee in the conservatory which was very pleasantly warm, in fact got a bit too warm. Then our neighbour came back with the few bits I had asked her to get for me.

I cleaned both bathroom and cloakroom and dusted the bedroom and cleaned all the upstairs mirrors so that is the housework for today, also wiped down the kitchen surfaces after the stuff was disinfected.

Thankfully the garden bin was emptied and an extra bag of garden rubbish was also collected so we can put the stuff in the shed in the bin now.

OH is making jobs down the garden by making a new path round by the compost bins and little plastic greenhouse. He had temporarily run out of other jobs.

OH dear Mel does that mean you have to go to the shop now. Was it left out in error?

Afternoon all,

Yes, it's cold and breezy here too. I went to the garage to get meats out of freezer (steak and Kidney.) for a pie tonight, also Pork and leeks. Ros is making a leek pie for tomorrow. She has made one of each for Valerie also.

It must be difficult for a person on their own, having to decided what to eat each day, without getting to repetitive .I suppose these Companies who do the ready meals, delivered to your home, must be a good thing during this "LOCKDOWN" period. Not sure of the quality, having never tried them.

I have done the potatoes, Runners, peas and carrots, with a few Brussels for tonight. I assume Valerie has here own veg, if not she will have to let me know, so as I can do some for her.

Just finishing the last few pages of a DAMIEN LEWIS book, about the Afghanistan War. I do like his type of writing. I have two others to read, then I will get more from EBAY.

Barry should be here around 5.00 pm to do the lawns. My, they do look as though they need a cut. !!! Ros has now put in ONION, RADDISH, CARROT, PARSNIP seeds. All the runner beans are climbing the canes. So will add more seeds as she asks for them.

Time for a COT. My mouth feels a bit dry, after having THREE FILLETS of SMOKED MACKEREL for lunch. with horseradish and bread and butter.

STAY SAFE ALL. xxxx

Afternoon All,

After an iffy start of breeze, sun and dullness, it seems to have settled down and is sunny now. I need to do more planting this afternoon, but it already looks less bare with more pots planted. We had an easy lunch of potato wedges with a garlic and herb crumb, cauliflower cheese grills, scampi and some frozen mixed veg. I have been having more potato this past 2 weeks to help use them up but I'm hoping the extra exercise is cancelling the calories! :-)

Gill, did you see that ANCESTRY is free now till the 10th May? You have been busy repotting things and the compost you got was a very good price! If it drains too fast you can always mix a bit of soil with it. I'm lazy and tend to recycle old compost that isn't full of old roots by soaking it with Jeyes Fluid and adding some fertilizer. How are your Red Robins now?

Mel it is heavy work mixing cement by hand.......I did plenty at my old house before we got a concrete mixer. Where there's a will there's a way though isn't there and it will make a much stronger job this time. Yes, my impromptu name sign made the man laugh too and OH!! lol.

I still haven't quite got the hang of the Asda site yet. I updated my order for next Sunday today and it was asking me if I wanted to skip my recurring slot due in the next 2 days.......but the next one isn't due till the 24th? Anyway, after putting items in my trolley for the 24th, the message disappeared so maybe there is a time limit for adding something to that basket? I'll see if it happens again when the slot shows. What a shame you got no bread!! I noticed today on the site that they were low on bread, so maybe it is everywhere?

Frank I know your sandwich would have given me indigestion, but I'm sure you enjoyed it! lol. Ros's beans are doing so well, while mine are only just waking up slowly! My next job is to go and pop some more of the plants in that we got. OH has been levelling off the tops of the old raised beds as that is where I shall plant the courgettes. Might as well put every space to good use and they can scramble where they like there. :-)

AnnG, at least your OH making a new path should mean his feet keep off any mud. He really enjoys his garden doesn't he. My OH enjoys it, but I have to watch at times as he can be too ruthless with things like cutting things back and he has trouble distinguishing what is plants and what is weeds with tiny seedlings. He has 2 Zoom meetings today, so I can get on without interruptions now. :-)

They sent me a 300g coleslaw instead of a 600g one and still charged me for the bigger one. It is only 11p cheaper but if they did that to everyone think how much more money they would make?

Ann it sounds like you have done what I did and paid for your order. You can still add to it by clicking on Your Order and look for Amend order. You can do it up until two days before your delivery.

All I have done today is wipe all the shopping and I had to go up the shop for some bread as we had'nt any at all. I did enjoy my lunch though. I had sardine and tomato paste on toast. Yes it was a large jar so I shall be having it again soon. Yes you don't see the small jars of paste now Ann as I used to like those too. Do you remember the Princes Spread in white jars?? I think they did salmon, crab and beef in those.

The boat comes in for the last of the bloater paste
A sad day for connoisseurs of a great-smelling spread.


7:00AM BST 25 Aug 2010

SIR – I have learned this week of the sad demise of bloater paste. The last supplier, Shippam's, now owned by Princes, has informed me that its production has been discontinued.

It is a sad day for connoisseurs of this great-smelling little spread, with a special taste that I grew up with.

I have one small jar left. Should I eat it, sell it on eBay or donate it to a museum?

B. J. Simmons
Birchington, Kent

Thank you for that and I must tell OH about his Bloater paste demise Mel! He still looks for it if he sees pastes on the shelves. I'd forgotten about the white Princes jars, but bet I have some in the loft as they were perfect seed pots when I bred canaries.I think it says you can amend up to 5 days before now Mel and it let me amend next Sunday's delivery today. There were very few biscuits or cake mixes available and still no antibac handwashes.or avocados. Maybe they will have had a delivery before I do a final amend on Saturday.

I used to use the white pots for my water pot when painting. Was never a fan of crab paste or any kind of crab or shellfish or lobster and all that family. Like Jane there.

Ann does G know that a bloater is a herring with all its innards left in before smoking? That put me off for a start. If I open Pilchards I have to take every bit of the innards out and fins off and bones and tail. Like pilchards on toast though with thin slices of tomato on and popped back under the grill. I like vinegar on mine but oh dos'nt like it on his. He says he dos'nt like vinegar but will happily eat 4 pickled onions at a time or neat mince sauce on lamb.

Afternoon all

Another lousy night but, in spite of that, I am feeling quite a bit better today. I have managed to stir my stumps a bit. I've stripped all the bedding from two king size beds, washed it and ironed it along with the ironing from yesterday's wash, done some general tidying up and prepared tonight's meal. I even had a leisurely bath.

I have a couple of friends now who have had disappointments with their Asda order. It’s very naughty of them to charge you the higher price on your coleslaw. If Tesco make a substitution then they charge the lower price whatever it is. On my last order I had 6 large free range eggs and a couple of small slices of lemon cheesecake packed as a desert. They didn’t have those so they sent the very large eggs and a lovely lemon tart which cut into 6 pieces, but they charged for what I had ordered so I saved about £3. I’m registered with Asda but haven’t managed to get a slot. I think I’ll stick with Tesco.

I see several of you have been busy in your gardens. Ann, I laughed when you said your OH could be a touch ruthless when cutting back. Those who knew me on the gardening thread before I joined this one know that I have my very own Mr Crewcut. This afternoon he appeared with various clippers and cutters and announced he was going to prune the two viburnams. That made me tremble but, in fact, one is perfect and I think the other one could still do with a bit more taken off, so he gets a gold star today.

Frank, I have emailed you.

We are supposed to be on a coach trip to Osterley Park tomorrow but that’s not on now and my chiropody appointment for Thursday is also cancelled.

Well, I am going to end now as I am still limiting my screen time quite a lot. AnnG, I don’t think it’s my eyes. I have regular tests with all the pressure tests, photos of the back of the eye etc. and it’s only a few months since I had my glasses changed. I think my problems over the last couple of weeks are related to migraine and it may be that my preventative pill dose needs upping a bit but it isn’t a good time to go to the surgery at the moment for a review, which is due.

Will be back tomorrow I hope. Stay safe

So oh was in charge of the shopping list for this week and we had a lot of beer and crunchy peanut butter and masses of fig rolls and ginger biscuits and jammy dodgers but NO BREAD AND NO MILK was ordered. So another trip down the shop for more milk now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Evening all,

We've had a lovely sunny day here the wind was a bit on the keen side but we did sit out and had a cuppa this afternoon although we sat there with out old fleeces on as we did a few little jobs in the garden .
I did my shop in Aldi and it was so quiet i was the only one in the first aisle as i went in ,we called and got two bags of compost i really wanted some grow bags but they didn't have any it was nice and easy payment was done outside and compost put in the car .

We use to have the Peppered Mackerel fillets from Morrisons ,like you Mel if we have Pilchards and we haven't had the for a while i have to take all the bits out and scrape all the tom sauce off .

Ann your lunch would have suited me i like the sound of the cauliflower cheese grills too, i have just put my tin of milk in the fridge ready to make a milk jelly tomorrow.

Did Asda miss the bread off your order Mel ,hope they didn't charge you for it ,i haven't had any meat paste for ages always had meat paste in the cupboard i liked the Ham one .
Talking about the Sandwich Spread i don't mind the Heinz one but didn't like the Tesco one i tried and when i have that in a sandwich i like some lettuce in to give a bit of crunch .
I make my own coleslaw in my processor ,chopped onion ,carrot ,white cabbage if i have it ,light mayo, some times i add a little grated cheese or a little curry powder .

Vera sorry to hear you had another rotten night but it sounds as though you have still been busy today ,i had to smile at your Mr Crewcut :-D when you said he appeared with various clippers and cutters i had visions of him saying i could give you a hair cut :-0 :-0 :-D :-D

On no Mel ,now no milk , you'll have to keep a list of the main things you order each time and then check you have ordered again ,poor OH i bet he got told off :-D

I do hope you have a better night tonight Vera. It's hard to get going in the morning when you have little sleep. I see you also get nervous when you see your OH with pruners too! :-D Before we got together, I had a carefully nurtured mint that I had cultivated in a partly sunk bucket to stop it spreading. Well OH stopped it spreading alright by yanking it all out, every bit of root as he thought it was a weed!! You'd think he would have smelled it was mint wouldn't you? :-S His pruning has resulted in several disasters. When asked to trim back the sides of the bottle brush, he though it was easier to cut the stems right out from the bottom, so it was then top heavy and didn't serve it's intended screening purpose anymore.

Oh Mel, I can imagine the pig's ear OH would make of ordering the groceries too!! It sounds like a trip to the shop for bread and milk and you would think he would have put them on the list first! I've always put some things in my basket and paid for them as soon as I have had a slot up to now, then added things nearer the time. It must be because it is a recurring slot now that I got the message about the following slot, but as the message went as soon as I added something and paid for it I will do the same in future. I daren't tell OH about Bloater paste!

It looks like there will be a few milk jellies tomorrow! I think I may do one too.

I see you were wiping down today AnnG. It soon comes round! I decided to buy a hand steamer today and found one that is supposed to be good for grouting. They can be used for making shopping safe too as they kill viruses..........I couldn't get this particular one anywhere as they have all sold out.

I've ordered more of the cauliflower cheese grills Mandy as they were really nice. That was good how quiet it was at Aldi and that you got your compost ok. There seem to be no queues at the local shops here now.

I had an email from my hairdresser today to say they hope to open soon, once they can. All of his staff have done an online Barbicide sanitising and disinfecting training course. I wonder how it will work and if we will have to wear masks and there be less customers at a time?

Good morning everyone :-)

I had a better night last night and managed to go to bed and wake up in the same room as OH.

I haven’t been outside yet but it looks bright but chilly. I’m not sure what I am going to do today. I have a list as long as your arm but several things need me to go on the computer and I am still being very careful not to look at a screen for too long.

I will probably bbl. Have a nice day.

Good morning all. Lovely sunshine but not been out of the door yet, to tell the truth only just had breakfast, although there is a wash load going in the machine.

Had a good night last night so I am pleased about that.

Ann although I was wiping down, it was only for the small amount our neighbour got. The next big load is Saturday. It makes it more difficult with ordering having son getting the slots as any extras ha e to be entered by DiL she is very good but I think if I could do it myself it would be easier. I don’t think she pays anything until the delivery day but I am not sure.


I won’t be making milk jelly as I don’t have any jellies :-)

Mandy I had not realised that you were actually going to Aldi shopping. When you had the bug I said it was strange as you were not going out but maybe you caught it in Aldi if you had visited there up to about five days before. That makes more sense as only you had it.

Mel did you get your bread and milk? I notice he didn’t forget his beer :-D :-D

Vera pleased that you had a good night, maybe the migraine has finally lifted, even though you have lots to do don’t overdo it.