General Chat

Morning all

Not too bad here today. Sunny spells and light cloud but at least it’s fairly warm and it’s dry.

Island, you haven’t got many slugs because they’ve all moved here, along with every snail for miles around :-|. My neighbour was moaning yesterday that she’d planted marigolds and now only has a row of stalks.

Another post lost Frank - you must feel really frustrated. Can you work out what is causing it? Do you accidentally hit a delete button when you are typing or submitting?

I have had a real treat this morning. I’ve been to the chiropodist. It did seem very odd as the reception/waiting area contained two chairs well apart instead of several chairs, a table with magazines and shelves displaying products for sale. I had to wear my face covering, answer some health questions and have my temperature taken (34.9 so quite low). I wasn’t allowed to touch a door. The chiropodist opened them all for me using medical wipes. I couldn’t have felt safer. I used my bought mask rather than my home made ones and the chiropodist asked me where I got it as it was the best fitting one she had seen on anyone. I mentioned that my glasses didn’t fog up as other people’s seem to and she said it was because the mask fitted so snug over my mouth and nose. It seems the couple I bought, one for each of us, were worth the price I paid for them (I think it was about £13 or £14 each).

Must get on. Lots to do today.

Forgot to say that I think your mixed media picture is amazing Ann. I can’t believe what you have done with those materials. Superb.

Goof afternoon all. Oh dear Frank, another post lost.

Mandy, do you mean that the courgettes grown from the seed are bitter etc? I read it as if you ate the seed!!!

Vera, what a shame that your Dobbies is not any good. The plants at ours were lovely, the nly reason we didn't buy anything was we felt they were a bit more expensive. And trollies were at a disinfecting station outside. Once we did it ourselves the other time somebody was doing it for us. On the till the l;ady didn't wear a mask but wore a visor and was behind a screen.

Mel I type fast but I don't touch type hence the errors!

Too cloudy last night for the comet Island. We are supposed to be in for a good weekend so maybe that will help the toms (and everything else. It seems our weather has resorted to normal July weather.

Vera so you have comfy feet now. I need to make an appointment to get mine done.

Annx I did email you and say but to repeat. That mixed media is really good you are sol talented, ells done.

We have been out to Trioscape a garden centre about 10 miles away. We did both wear masks this time. I managed to get round the fogging of glasses by wearing my previous glasses which are narrower in the lens area. Still hate wearing them and didn't have a clue what the girl on the restaurant door was saying , we were doing it all be guess work, she was talking fast and had a soft voice. Goodness knows how I am going to get on when I go to the hospital to have the place on my face checked in 2 weeks time. Even OH couldn't hear. I could hear him when he spoke though.

Well, here I go again. Good afternoon to you all,

Another iffy nights sleep. My dear old DAD kept me awake for a few hours, remembering back to my childhood. Even though he was at sea during my younger life, I did have some great times listening to all his "TALES" of his life at sea. I suppose I was the fortunate one of his children, spending the last months of his life, totally dependant on Mum and myself.

Not sure what the weather is going to do. The clouds are getting quite thick with a look of rain. Ros has just bought some sheets in, that are almost dry, only leaving a couple of things to get in, if the rain decides to come. I did ask "Alexa" about the weather, and she said to expect rain at 11.45. How precise was that, and it didn't rain either.

I have prepared a nice Chicken Casserole for tomorrow. All the veg is done as well, the spuds are in a saucepan of water, that I will change a few times before tomorrow's dinner. Tonight is Fish and Chips. Ros will have Ham and Eggs with a few of my chips, as she doesn't eat fish. But loves SEA FOOD. At a push she will have a Plaice, but can do without it.

Madam got her phone sorted out this morning by Val. Ros has just picked an armful of Rhubarb, some, she will take to Valerie, as she likes it, but doesn't grow any.

While putting the washing line up this morning, I noticed that the Runner Beans are full of flowers, and almost over the fence to Pam and Denis's. I will have to retrain them back along the top of my fence. All other veg seems to be doing fine. The Raddish are putting out lots of leaves, so I expect they will be ready for pulling.

It's Simon and Sally's Wedding anniversary today, I did ring them this morning, but not sure where they are. They have two of Sally's grandchildren with then until Friday.Then, I think they will go off again, until the 27th July. Also Simon will be 55 on Sunday the 19th July, so must not forget to ring him then.

Harvey drove back from France on Sunday, from what Lewis said. He usually needs a day in bed asleep to get over it. It's a hell of a journey to do inside a week. Julia will stay there now, until Harvey drives back in August for his holiday and to bring her back. Alright for SOME.

Lewis said he is going up to see a friend in Manchester, and will fly out to France for a couple of weeks to stay with his Mum. I really don't know how Julia's Son Jammie, and his wife, are going to manage when she gives birth in late August or early September. If Julia is in France she won't be around to help. Ros has made lots of baby jackets and shawl, and booties, and other baby things , She has also put together a box of baby needs, of talc. shampoo, etc. Harvey will have to collect it from here next time he is up. How he will get it to Bristol is another thing, as Jammie being disabled is not able to drive.

I think I will see if I can find a game to play. I have just finished Martina Coles latest book, which was up to her usual standard.

See you all later. xxxx

gosh that was a long post Frank, a lot of typing if you did it twice.

How nice to be able to pop over to France for holidays, bet their weather is better than ours. ros is very good providing all that for the baby, (well you are too of course). I am sure ros enjoys putting it all together.


Ooh I THINK I have secured a slot for 31st July (I already have one for 22nd so that fits in nicely. Not sure I have done it properly to retain it. I have added a few items and checked out and then gone back in and it is still there Now, if I add more items do I have to check out again? And repeat this each time I add to the list? feels stupid to not know what to do, comes of having it all done for me. Tried to contact DiL but she must be busy.

Yes Ann, you will need to go through checkout again but you don’t have to re-enter all your details, they will still be there but will only show the last 4 digits of your card number.

Thanks Vera, all sorted now. will update it next week after I get the order on 22nd. My email from them said, "thank you for making your first on line shopping oreder with Tesco". Not for want of trying I am muttering. costs me more doing it myself as Son doing it has some special 'thing' that removes the pick, pack, deliver fee. this one will cost us £6 but we still think it is worth it. :-) :-)

Afternoon All,

I have just done the same and lost a post Frank so you are not alone. I went to sort lunch mid post and had left my laptop on battery which must have been low and it closed down!

I'm glad you liked my effort, but please say if you get sick of me sending things to you. (send a pm and I will stop). I worry you might think I am showing off but I'm usually far less impressed with what I do myself. I just like sharing things and seeing what what things some of the rest of you make or hearing what you are doing. I find it all very interesting.

Thanks for mentioning Yorkshire Farm Mandy. I found I had recorded it already, but had forgotten about it so was glad you said about it.

It seems wiping down days come round too often now! Mel and Mandy and it will be my turn again on Sunday. :-S Hubby does the bins now and he uses them the most so an incentive to do a good job, although he also wears gloves when moving them. It's my turn again on Sunday, but I think some things will be left in the baskets to decontaminate if we don't need them for a few days.

I have had my locks shorn at last and it's been chilly round my neck today! I had to sit in the car till they texted me and you couldn't get in the door they unlocked without walking around 2 stands with sanitisers on them. All masked and visored and perspex screens between the wash basins and customers. Each hair station had a big glass container full of a blue disinfectant that all the haircutting combs, scissors and shaving heads were kept in till used on each station. The products were behind perspex so no-one could touch them except staff, so I felt quite safe on my first solo trip since March! The disposable towels did the job but were quite small. The owner Barry popped in with supplies and spoke to everyone at a distance, asking the hairdressers if everything was alright. He had sent 2 that normally work in his locked down city salon to help and everyone was cleaning if they weren't hairdressing. The salon is very minimal and spotless normally, so the extra work really was wiping the seats, tops and mirrors. As the gym isn't open yet the drop down gate wasn't operational so no number pad to touch to get out of the car park.

How nice to get your feet pampered Vera. I still do my own but have to use some foot cream now as the skin is quite dry on the heels.

Island you asked about the art session. It was the last of 2 today and was fully booked. They hope to do more in September, but there may be a charge then. They are on the WEA site and they have run all kinds of free courses all through the lockdown. I have done photography, wool felting, paper beads and mixed media art. I also have 2 more, one is introduction to watercolour, the other about learning on line.

Evening all,

Yes sorry AnnG I meant the courgette grown from the seed ,now tonight Thompson and Morgan courgette seed is being recalled too ,again the courgette can give you stomach cramp and diarea .
They say if you cut the end of the courgette and it tastes bitter don't eat it , it's only courgettes grown at home the ones front supermarket are fine .

Ann lovely picture ,you are so good with all the crafts you've done ,I wasn't sure quite what mixed media meant with not doing arty things but I can see now with your picture.

Vera I bet with having your feet done today you now feel as if your walking on air :-D

Today started off nice and sunny but by lunch time we were getting the showers and it's still coming down.

Glad you are light headed now Ann even if a tad chilly.

Mandy has anyone said what has affected the seed? Never seen that before.

Vera I bet your feet feel wonderful after your appointment. I must get around to doing mine. I too do my own like Ann. Mum used to have a lovely lady come every 6 weeks to do hers and we were going to have her too but she retired so we lost out. she was cheap too.

Thats awful about the home grown courgettes. I bet there are a lot of people disappointed as a lot of people were growing things for the first time and they are a good thing to grow at home.

I got the big girls deep cleaned out this morning as the blasted red mite are now in the new house. Its the hot weather and they come from wild birds too. At least they have solid wood perches now whereas the old house had two bits of wood stuck together and the mite loved the gap between.

Ann did you take another pic of how long your hair had grown please? Did you manage to get it coloured too?

Picke dmore blueberries this afternoon only another 2oz but considering I knocked a lot of themoff getting them inthe shed they have done well this year. 7oz altogether and still more to pick when they ripen. I too use them in cakes Vera.

British supplier Mr Fothergill's has recalled batch of courgette seeds after finding they contained unusually high levels of compounds that are poisonous to humans.

These 'cucurbitacins' — which give a bitter taste — are steroids produced by the gourd family including courgettes, cucumbers and pumpkins to deter predators.

Cultivated gourds are bred for low levels of the toxins and are safe to eat — but accidental cross-fertilisation or stress can produce unsafe concentrations.

When consumed in high enough doses, they cause so-called 'toxic squash syndrome', which can trigger nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and even hair loss and death.

Mr Fothergill's is offering free replacements to any customers who purchased seeds from the affected batch — and encourages taste-testing of any fruit grown from them.

Good heavens I've never heard of that before Mandy! I must see if I can check where my courgette seeds were from! :-0 I hope I haven't thrown the packet away. The one we ate didn't give us any symptoms so hopefully they are ok.

I bet Lewis enjoys his weeks in France. Which part does he go to Frank? It sounds like the baby will be very well dressed! Has Lewis any ideas about what he would like to do now he has his degree?

AnnG I saw my first Peacock butterfly this year, resting on the fence. It flew off before I could get my camera though.

Mel I did manage to take not very good photos of 'before' and 'after' with my hair so will download them and see if they are worth sending. Yes I did have colour done as well. I was at the hairdressers nearly 2 and a half hours!!

The latest on the city covid spike shows the 3 main areas of infection being exactly the areas we would have predicted. We should hear tomorrow whether there will be easements in any of the city areas. Some businesses have already decided to close. Leaflets have now been distributed by the council in 16 languages!

Off to bed now and see if I get another good night's sleep. Hopefully Vera and Frank will too! Our treat tomorrow is a trip to the chemist. :-)

Good morning all. an adventure today, first small shop at Tesco in over 16 weeks. Hopefully means we can take back our shopping from our lovely neighbour. Not that she bothers about it but it would give her a break I am sure. :-)

Morning Anng and all,

Another grey day here but it is dry but nothing else to say about it really.

Nothing planned for today but I have some washing to do and some windows to clean and I'm sure there are a lot more other jobs to keep me occupied.

Hope you all had a good nights sleep and feel refreshed this morning with lots of get up and go or am I asking too much?

Its a bit worrying about those seeds and I can't get it off my mind............

It seems our day out has started with going to get petrol for the mowers.

Back now, greyish here, no sun but 18 degrees and warm out.

well we have had our adventure for this week. We have been to our local Tesco Metro. It is medium sized and was very quiet. we wore our masks which is not pleasant A lot of people still not wearing masks or not wearing them properly. One woman our age had hers under her nose!! some people making us leap out of the way as they forgot about the 2 metre rule. Managed to spend over £60 which is quite a lot for an in between shop but we were like kids in a toy shop buying things we had not got on line. anyway felt ok so we will continue to do an in between shop with an on line one when we can get it.

So you,ve had an adventure this morning Anng like us. We have been to Hatherleigh for petrol for the mowers and I got a pack of 9 T rolls for £3.50. We can only use Andrex Classic Clean as all others seem to have a blocking affect on our septic tank. Ok now for a couple of weeks.

Along the hedgerows there is Cow Mumble out and Honeysuckle and Meadowsweet. Some other things too and plenty of nettles. I miss going shopping to see what is flowering in the hedges. Saw some little black butterflies too which we have had in the garden but they are too quick to get a photo of.

Better get some lunch now.

Afternoon all

Dry here today after lots of rain yesterday and through the night. OH is jet washing the flags, we have loads so it'll probably take him all day. I might watch some of my programmes on the Royal family while he's busy, he doesn't like those type of programmes so I can watch them in peace.

Still to cloudy to see the comet, so if it wasn't the comet I saw the other day then I doubt I'll see it unless the clouds disappear.

Thanks everyone for your advice on how to make face masks and thanks Mel for the video. We have some at the moment but I'll have a route around for some material and make some more in case we need them when the ones we've got run out.

I was going to wash the bedding today, but now OH has water splashing everywhere I've decided to leave it for now. I missed the postman before, I didn't know it was him and my phone rang at the same time the door bell went, by the time I got to the door he'd gone and there was just a card for us to pick the parcel up, so OH will do that in the morning. OH did walk down the street to find him, but he was to late and the postman had gone.

I touch type and still make errors, I don't think it matters though as we can always work out what each of us are saying. It's just nice to have people to chat to.

You hair looks much better now you're had it cut Ann, I bet it feels good having it the way you like now. Love the pic of the mixed media you did. You're so talented.

You're not on your own Island, I'm wondering if all I'm going to end up with, is a small jar of green chutney to. The flowers just don't seem to want to turn into toms and we're watering them everyday. Maybe they'll surprise us soon and grow better. I hope the Blackfly gets rid of your bindweed, that'd be a result wouldn't it.

I see you've been to the chiropodist Vera, it sounds like they did everything they could to keep you safe even opening the doors for you, you must of felt like the Queen LOL. The mask you bought sounds really good, money well spent there.

That's a bit of a worry about the courgettes Mandy, I don't grow or eat them, but other's do, they'll be grateful of you telling them, I've noticed from time to time people have a look at this thread, so the information will go further than just us lot.

Pleased to see Val could help Ros with her phone Frank, she can start spending her credit now LOL.

You hair looks lovely AnnG, you've done a good job of it yourself. I bet most people will be like children in a sweet shop on their first venture out.

Going to watch my programmes now while OH's busy sorting the drive out. The water was collecting in the back, so he's leaving it for a while to drain away, we don't want it coming into the bungalow.

Afternoon all,

Very overcast again, but no sign of the wet stuff. Still very warm also, I have the windows and doors open in the conservatory, and the fan on low. AND I am still hot.

I had a call back from the doctor this morning. What a waste of time that was. I have been getting very bad turns, of OVER HEATING,Memory loss, being very upset over the smallest things,causing me to CRY, totally tired one. After a good EIGHT HOURS last night, I got up at 8.00 am, had my toast and Marmite, Showered and shaved,

Continue:- Sorry about that. I had a phone call from my bank,regarding FRAUD SUSPECTED ON MY ACCOUNT. There has been someone in LUTON trying to withdraw £250.00 and another payment to Littlewood's of over £100.00. They showed up as suspect, so were flagged up as FRAUD. They were on the phone so long asking security questions, that the phone ran of of BATTERY. That is now on charge, and I am awaiting another call. OH WHAT A Bl@@dy set too. !!!!

Good old Ros has missed all this, as she went to have her nails done, and pick up some bits and pieces, from Tesco.

I am just about shattered now, so I am signing off, perhaps be back later. xxxx