General Chat

I think it's supposed to be good for us to not eat later than 3-4 hours before we lie down, so our food is digested and acid won't run into our gullet. OH tended to snack too much in the evenings and eat a meal after his evening meetings which could be very late so he recently decided to do the same as me and not eat after about 6.00pm. The improvement for him was immediate. so he sticks to it as much as he can now and just has a yoghurt if he really needs it. The trouble with reflux is that you don't always know it is happening. I think you would have to have something if you were diabetic though to keep blood sugar stable, but not wine, caffeine, fizzy drinks or fatty food that would increase acid production most!

Well we are under lockdown, even though the school and traveller site less than a quarter of a mile away aren't! Even though we wouldn't be going to shops anyway it is annoying that we are at higher risk in the area because of those that haven't been as careful. I have just read that they think social distancing may not have been kept in the city and may be one cause. Well it certainly wasn't kept with the visiting asian family at the bottom of the close or people we have seen queuing locally. This could go on and on now and is likely to get worse with the easing carrying on around hot spots and people travelling into those areas attracted by the shops and pubs. Hubby said he spotted our window cleaner driving in the city yesterday and he had 3 other chaps with him in the car???

OH is happy watching footie now. I need to order a few things online so will do that.

We had just a few gleams of sunshine this morning but mostly it’s been another grey day with a lot of rain on and off this afternoon. No gardening done again today. We both had a better night until OH got up for the bathroom at 5.30 am, then neither of us slept much more so we were up soon after 7.

I’m sorry that tick bite is still giving you problems Mel. Hopefully the new antibiotics will get rid of the problem once and for all.

You’ll have to tell us how you get on with your leek Gill and whether it grows into anything edible. It could end up as an ornamental plant. Let us know what happens to it.

What did the doctor say about Ros’s arm Frank? I hope it’s less sore now. You are very good to make meals for Val as well. I am sure she appreciates it. Enjoy yourself if you do get down to Devon – it’ll be a change of scene for you both – but take great care. We don’t want to hear that either of you have ended up at hospital again.

I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to Dobbies today AnnG. I haven’t ventured to our nearest one yet (about 20 miles away) but I have had an email today to say they are re-opening their restaurant on Saturday. I think I’ll be giving that a miss for a week or two yet. What are you planning to do with your acrylic paints?

I am pleased that the hospital didn’t find anything seriously wrong with OH Ann. That must be a relief for both of you. It’s a shame that the photography session didn’t turn out to be as good as you hoped. It’s disappointing when that happens. From what you said it sounds as though you will still be able to get your hair done. I can’t wait as mine is looking such a mess now. The back isn’t too bad as it’s flicked up at the ends automatically – a bit like the flick-ups of the late 1950s and 60s but the sides are an awful in-between length and the top is so thick and heavy. At the beginning of the lockdown OH ordered some clippers/hair cutters online. They were out of stock but he left the order in and yesterday they eventually arrived. Today he cut his hair. He always has it cut very short even though I like it a bit longer but now he is nearly bald!! He assured me he only set the thing to cut his hair the length the barber does but I am not convinced. I think that now he has paid out for the cutters he will want to go on doing his own hair. I am not happy.
I had a little break from the typing to go and have a cuppa and have come back to your latest post Ann. What a pain to find you are in lockdown too. It’s always the same isn’t it, the actions of a few spoil things for the majority.

We went to the shops today as I decided I’ve got to face it sooner or later and I’m beginning to need to replace some non-food items. I made a careful list and worked out what shops I needed to go to and the order we would go round and off we set. I was quite nervous but I needn’t have worried at all. The car park was barely a quarter full, there was plenty of space to walk through the town because on non-market days there are usually cars parked right in the centre where the market goes and at the moment that parking area is being left for pedestrians, and all the shops were very well organised. Everywhere had sanitizer just inside the doorway and after we had sanitized our hands for about the 6th time OH said we must have the cleanest hands in town. We get 3 hours parking free but you have to get a timed ticket from a machine and I did think it strange that no-one seemed a bit worried about pressing their finger on the button on the machine. I folded a tissue up and covered the button with that before I pressed it. I am not sure if I am just being a bit careful or if I am being silly and neurotic.

One of my granddaughters is 18 today. It’s the one working in the home for dementia patients, the one who was in the photo like an old-fashioned portrait. I may already have told you that as the grandchildren become 18 we give them money to use as they please and also a nice gift to keep. The two older girls have had necklaces with their birthstone. Both of them were born in June with pearl for a birthstone so fairly easy to find something nice for them. They both had modern silver necklaces which incorporated a couple of pearls but the birthstone for July is a ruby which is a bit out of our price range. I decided to go for ruby coloured and found a really nice garnet pendant on a gold chain online. I ordered it and had it delivered straight to dil who wrapped it to give to granddaughter this morning. I was worried as it was pretty expensive and just seeing it online I didn’t know how good it really was. I had a phone call at 8.30 this morning from granddaughter and she was over the moon with it so that was a relief. I said that it was a pity she couldn’t party with her friends and she said she was meeting a couple of them outside for a socially distanced chat and giggle so some of the youngsters are being responsible.

I think I’ll go and look at the crossword or read for a while now. Sleep tight, sweet dreams everyone.

Good job you have us to chat to anyway Ann. Oh is that your hair appointment gone?
I don’t often get the reflux, jus about once every three months but I do get heartburn if we eat too late. We normally eat at 7pm then nothing except 2 small squares of blur vile dark chocolate.

Vera, I had a play with the old watercolour paints last week and thought I might like to try acrylic. Not sure what I will do may play around at first and see where that leads.

Well done going to the shops. Dobbies was our first step and being so big I was nervous but it was so empty I didn’t get within three metres of anyone at all.

Might go to Hobbycraft next week. We had five new cases in the county yesterday which is worrying but it is a big county so hopefully they are not where we are.

I woke at five this morning then couldn’t get back to sleep. Annoying isn’t it?

I think that's what we need to do Vera and plan our routes for a while. The days of browsing are over for the time being at least. I think it was sensible to use a tissue on the button as you don't know how many fingers have pressed it before you. OH said he was pushing the hospital doors open with his sleeved arm yesterday. You can't be too careful. Happy Birthday to your granddaughter and a garnet would make a great present for her and obviously went down very well. Good that she managed to meet a couple of friends and as you say, some young folk are being sensible which is good.

Happy birthday to your grandaughter Vera.

I helped oh with his tool chests today. He has mounted them on a metal tray he made and has put casters on it so he can wheel it out of the garage if he needs to to work on the mowers etc. After that I went up the border and dug a bit more. The rain has ruined the roses on the wall and the New Dawn one has black spot again and looks dreadful so I started by cutting a lot of that off that I could reach. The Mascarade climber next to it has taken itself straight up the wall to the top and the stem of it is so thick I have decided to cut it off and oh said he will get his gloves on and pull it down for me. It may come from the bottom again then although it was badly broken at its base some years ago but I hope it survives as mum planted all the roses on the wall. We did lose the Golden Showers one which was my favorite as I had that outside my cotage in Suffolk and one year it was flowering in the snow.

Ann I am so sorry you have all been put in lock down again and just becasue of some selfish people taking advantage of the let up. It just goes to show that it has been eased much too quickly and should have been kept for much longer. 140 cases today and thats a lot. We have one case in Devon today.

Anng I have had some of the acrylic paint from The Works and did'nt think much of them.

We had a reasonable afternoon here with sunshine blue sky and big clouds so it was quite comfortabel up the border in a vest top and denium shirt. Oh brought me up a drink which was nice again. I had taken him a coffee to the garage as I went up the border.

Must off now as I want to watch a bit of telly.

Sleep tight all and love to Jane. <3

Oh I didn't spot you there AnnG. I found the number of cases near us on this site.

www.inyourarea.co.uk

I have 1 or 2 squares of the Lindt 90% dark chocolate for 'medicinal' purposes as I tell OH, as it's supposed to be good for you isn't it. Tastes too horrid to overeat it though, which is a good thing in my case!! Hobbycraft have been having some good offers on line lately so it would be good to go and have a look.

I see the RAC site says that 10m or the equivalent of a 31% of drivers are planning to go away this weekend with the restrictions being lifted, so good luck to them as it sounds like it will be awful on the roads!!

Morning all,

Dry this morning but with some bright patches.

Have to go and collect my new script this morning.

Hope you all slept well last night.

I won't say GOOD MORNING. I had the worse night in years, last night. I went to bed soon after 10.00 pm. Laid and laid, Ros came in at midnight, and still I was wide awake. I finally got up at 2.00 am and red my book until 3.30. Went back to bed and was still awake at 5.00 am. Eos for out to the loo, and I said to her don't wake me I need to sleep in. Oh Yes, 8.00 am was awake and as bright as a button. (NOT)

I have showered and dressed, now ready for another day in paradise, sitting doing nothing.

Vera, Ros's arm is all the colours you can imagine.The local Drs. couldn't believe how she could be so bruised from have an angirame (sp)I must look the spelling up. lol lol. She is putting ARNICA on it 4/5 times a day, but says it's very sore to touch.

The clouds are building up again, so I expect it will be rain,rain, and more rain.

Ros is now standing doing the ironing. I said I would do it, but it's all clothing and needs doing properly. (AS SHE SAYS) !!!

No Idea what we will eat tonight. I think a delivery might be a good idea, as I don't feel like cooking, and I'm not sure that Ros doesn't either. We could pop to Towcester for F & C as we haven't had any this week. Will see what MADAM says.

Carolyn is going to water the greenhouse next week, so we will water all the pots well on Sunday morning, and they should be O.K.

I think I will sit in the conservatory, with my book, and get forty winks while I can.

Keep sake dear friends. xxxx

Good morning all, showery here with a little bit of sun. One load of washing in the drier and the slow cooker on cooking a bolognese type sauce for dinner tonight. smell alright!!!

OH ordered a new computer screen yesterday as one of his went wrong, he bought that one a few years ago second hand and very cheap because it could be used for a TV and CCTV screen, ordered it late yestrday afternoon and it arrived before 11am this morning. Couldn't ask for better service than that. He is now trying to fix it, the instructions came on a disc, luckily his (and my) PC has a disc reader.

Annx We won't be travelling anywhere tomorrow or Saturday (I think people will jump a day for overnight stays, most people want to go for a weekend. We will wait until the end of August before going anywhere.
I have just seen that Merseyside has a lot more cases than thought because of the lag in the reporting of cases from the testing by the private firm. Pillar one tests are the hospital and those are the results we get quickly but Pillar 2 ar the private firm and they don't return results very quickly. It all seems to need sorting out I think

Regarding the Acrylic painting. I have not had a go yet, could you sometime email me the things to look out for, differences from Watercolour etc, the right paper to use, best brushes etc. So far I just have some cheap brushes and 12 tubes of paint and watercolour paper. I have never used Acrylic paint so not sure what to expect although I have watched a video on it. If it is on here I will lose track of it so if you could email it please.

Mel, didn't sleep too badly slept from ab out 11pm to 0515, then lay awake or dosing for about an hour and then slept until about 8am so not too bad. did you get your script ok. Life seems to consist of food, picking up scripts, housework and gardening at the moment doesn't it?

Frank Sorry you had yet another bad night, it is awful to need sleep. Have you asked the GP again re not sleeping. I am sure it is probably not getting any exercise but not sure what you can do to help that.
I expect Ros keeping on with ironing etc takes her mind off her sore arm. It must be bad if the GP said so.

Still no rain here, but as BLACK AS YOUR HAT.

We have confirmation that our booking at the TOBY will be waitress service, and not SELF SERVICE. Great idea, I just hope they have enough waitress's to cope. If it looks a bit IFFY I won't take the chance of going in to eat. Instead we will drive to Devon and eat when we get there. We can phone Jan, so she can prepare a meal for when we arrive.

I do hope that everyone adheres to the rules,and I am sure it will be safe to go about your business , as normal as possible.

AnnG, I hope you can get all the advice and information you need, regarding ACRYLIC painting. Tony next door is an excellent water colour painter. We have a few of his paintings on our lounge wall. I don't know anyone who paints with ACRYLIC. So power to your elbow. lol lol


Our dear neighbour Jean was cremated yesterday. There was quite a gathering on the corner of the close, to see her off. Ros and I stood on the doorstep right away from people. Better safe than sorry.

I think it's time for a coffee and something to eat. No breakfast again. Ros had her crumpets and marmalade.

Still thinking of what to do about food for this evening. DECISIONS,DECISIONS. lol lol

See you later.

So Frank you don't know Ann then or me cos we both use acrylic paint. Its not much different to watercolour but with the thick ones you can get texture like oil paint.

As to brushes the best ones are sable brushes. Oh bought me some nice pointed ones for Christmas but they are what I call plastic bristles and they don't hold the paint like the sable ones. Its well worth buying good brushes. I have loads of sable one for when I used to paint the minitures for the dollshouses.

I wonder if someone on here can help with a query?! OH and I are desperate to visit our daughter and our grandchildren! They live a quite a long way away so we would stay overnight which we know we can do! OH is certain that overnight means that we can stay for more than one night, but I think it's only one! Government advice does seem a bit ambiguous as no one seems to quite know! Any ideas would be welcomed!!

I spoke to soon. The rain and hail is one of the worst we have had in a very long time. The win is bouncing off the road unto 6 inches high.

Flappergirl, I think if you are staying in one residence with family, you should be alright. We are going down to Devon for few days to stay with my DIL on Sunday. So if I am wrong, then I am breaking the advise given, but I think I am safe to do this.

My dear Ros has prepared the meal for this evening. Pork chops, home made stuffing (her dads receipe )New potatoes, peas,carrots, runner beans, and a few broard beans for her. I have never liked them.

Well the storm is finally going over. The poor guttering on the conservatory, just couldn't take it. It overflowed everywhere.

From 4 July:

you can meet in groups of up to two households (your support bubble counts as one household) in any location - public or private, indoors or outdoors. You do not always have to meet with the same household - you can meet with different households at different times. However, it remains the case - even inside someone’s home - that you should socially distance from anyone not in your household or bubble. This change also does not affect the support you receive from your carers

when you are outside you can continue to meet in groups of up to six people from different households, following social distancing guidelines

additional businesses and venues, including restaurants, pubs, cinemas, visitor attractions, hotels, and campsites will be able to open - but we will continue to keep closed certain premises where the risks of transmission may be higher

other public places, such as libraries, community centres, places of worship, outdoor playgrounds and outdoor gyms will be able to open

stay overnight away from your home with your own household or support bubble, or with members of one other household

It will be against the law to gather in groups larger than 30 people, except for a limited set of circumstances to be set out in law

Moving forward, from 4 July, people will be trusted to continue acting responsibly by following this and related guidance, subject to an upper legal limit on gatherings (as described above). The overwhelming majority of the British public have complied with the regulations, and the wider guidance on how to keep them and their friends and family as safe as possible. Taking this into account, we trust people to continue acting responsibly, and to follow the guidance on what they should and should not do.

You should not:

stay overnight away from your home with members of more than one other household (your support bubble counts as one household)

As hotels re open I assume you can stay overnight there and I can't see anywhere it says only one night.

Hope this helps.

Its raining here too but only lightly and I wanted to go up the border this afternoon but I suppose now I shall have to do the ironing.......boo hoo. :-|

I cleaned the little loo this morning and cleaned some mirrors so thought I had done enough HW for today.

I must go and get my script first though as I hav'nt been up there yet.

Flappergirl where abouts are you in the country?

Morning All,

Showers and now sun so it's a bit mixed but quite warm outside.

Frank I had a bad night too and was still awake when I heard the birds start singing at 4.50am. I ended up adding things to my Asda order in the end, especially some treats for my birthday, a nice desert and some choccies for a start. Then about 5.15am I heard a car and someone come up our drive. I thought it must be the local paper delivery and wanted to see who it was, so I threw back the duvet and lifted my leg quickly to get out and go to the window........oh what a mistake that was!! I suddenly got paralysing cramp in the leg that was in the air and daren't move. My arms started aching as I was leaning back on them, so I gritted my teeth as I tried to slowly straighten the afflicted leg........second mistake! The cramp then shot right up my thigh as well (that hasn't happened before) so I just had to bear it with my face screwed up till it eased enough for me to slowly get the leg back into bed!! Even when I got up later the leg was sore and still is a bit so I am not attempting any gardening today.

Frank I think you have forgotten that our lovely Maureen that used to be on the thread also painted in acrylic paint. Remember the christmas cards she painted? It was Maureen that encouraged me to have a go at painting. She used to tell me that if she could do it anyone could, but I didn't believe her then! Yes Ros's arm must be rally bad for the GP to say that. A break and change of scene will cheer you up I think and hopefully the patio is finished now!

AnnG I can't be of much help really as I still use my paints and brushes from the Works, but have bought one or two brushes from W H Smith for fine detail. I have emailed you with some things that might help.

I'm hoping this lockdown will be lifted in time for my hair appointment or shortly after as I can rebook. Wait and see now I expect. Local places just outside the lockdown are telling people in the lockdown to keep away. I read somewhere that council tax bills will have to be produced at some places before you are allowed in! Letters in the local paper are expressing anger at those who haven't followed the rules causing us all to be punished. The rules are getting quite complicated now some areas will be locked down and others not, which won't help people follow them.

I've set up another zoom meeting with the beading ladies tomorrow. Two are locked down and two aren't.

That's a good idea to make your OH's toolbox mobile Mel. Shame about some of your roses though.

I better start tackling this list of things I need to do. OH is catching up with work and I want to do some craft stuff later. :-D

I hope it has stayed dry for Jane and Fitz.

Annx Ooh that sounds really painful. cramp is horrible anyway but that sounded worse than normal.

I did see where there were verbal reprisals against some of the people thought to have caused the lockdown. That is the problem when it is done for a reason people will turn against everyone from the area thought to have the problem people, whether they are involved or not. It is horrible all round so best you stay home I think.
do hope you can get your hair done ok after waiting so long.
Thank you for the email it was a great help. I will have a good try with the cheaper paints then I have not lost a lot if I am (as I anticipate Lol!) no good. In which case I shall stick to my camera and card making. :-) :-)

Thanks very much for your help. As you say it isn't that clear as overnight does imply one night, but then what about hotels?!! I think we shall play it safe and have an overnight visit and plan for longer when things are clearer.!
We live in Weston-Super-Mare Mel, retired of course but still pretty active! We have a ground floor flat with a pretty courtyard garden, + a garage, which was once part of a big house, over the road from a Park. Back from the sea front but convenient for town and shopping. Luckily neither of us were shielded so were able to make use of the early morning shopping slot at the supermarkets set aside for the over 70's! We do a big shop about once a fortnight and it has worked really well. With relaxation we have ventured a bit further!!! but we are being careful!!
Again,thank you for your replies.

Hi All
I don't think I've looked in here before but was drawn to 'flappergirl' wondering if it was someone for way back.
Had a quick scan and see - so this is where the arty folk hang out! I gave up broaching on painting and craft elsewhere as it drew a blank. Anyone???? :-D
I don't bite.

Hello Island good to see you. Was it the hobbies board where you mentioned painting, I am afraid it is a struggle to get anyone to post on there. Several on here interested in crafts and we will chat about anything so you are very welcome. We are a very non confrontational group so it is relaxing sometimes to escape here. You probably know (or maybe not) that my interest is card making I am just trying dipping my toes in the water with painting.

Annx and Mel are multi crafters. Mandy doe crochet and needlework and I think other things too.