General Chat

Hubby said Boris has changed the Christmas rules! Three households can only meet on Christmas day now in Tiers 1, 2 and 3. London and South east move to the new Tier 4.

I've just watched the news and noticed the changes for Christmas Ann and the new tier 4. I wonder how many people will follow the rules, my mum's never followed the rules and I think she has plans for boxing day so it'll be interesting to see if she'll listen this time, I doubt it though.

I didn't think of the word trauma Mel, it would make sense as the hospital in Liverpool deals with the eyes, brain etc... but the one they're transferring her to doesn't. OH still hasn't rang the hospital and I think his mum is being moved on Monday. I think he's to worried to ring and I don't want to push him. I'm pretty sure it's not a tumor as like I said they wouldn't be moving her. Hopefully he'll pluck up the courage to ring the hospital soon. If not I might try calling them when he's in bed off nights, whether they'll tell me anything though with only being the daughter-in-law I don't know, but it's worth a try. Not sure what I'd say to him though if she's right and it is a tumor, he might not be happy at me for ringing them, but if it's good news I can let him know and he can stop worrying. No one in the family have rung him to let him know what's going on, he found out when his brother's wife told Michelle, she then told us. Since then no one has told us anything.

I bet that was a shock Mel, finding out your neighbour had tested positive, at least she told you before to you got to close to her. I hope she has a speedy recovery.

My neighbour had a family wedding acouple of weeks ago at the church. It was being on a video link thats why I had to make the advent ring quickly. B who got married has three brothers so I expect they were there and of course my neighbour who is their mum.

I'm still feeding my wild birds as they rely on me and I am still getting the long tailed tits every day as well as the nuthatches blue tits great tits black caps sparrows the woodpecker marsh tits and wood pigeons. The blackbirds are still eating the aples inthe orchard and the fieldfares.

Oh bought me a box of 150 fat balls for the birds and told me to use them as he was'nt wrapping that one up. It was so heavy and it had coloured pictures on the box they came in so he could'nt hide that from me as I took the delivery! They have gone through three of them today and they already had one out there this morning before I filled it up.

Gill oh should really ring the hospital to find out about his mum as that would put his mind at rest.

Evening all,

Oh AnnG here's a (((hug))) from me too at least you now have a better idea as to whats going on ,lets hope they can soon move OH to a community hospital and hopefully they will work with him and get him mobile again .

Oh Goodness Frank not another fall ,i hope your ok <3

Gill ,the sooner OH rings the hospital the sooner he'll know whats going on with his mum ,it will put his mind at rest and it may be she has got it all wrong anyway and he's worrying about nothing .

We watched Boris Ann hoping that we might have christmas day with son and family ,they will have lunch and then go home so they won't be here as long as they usually are .

Oh Mel that was a bit to close for comfort :-0 i hope she soon feels better .

It's been quite milder today and we even saw a tiny bit of sun just after lunch .
I've made the Viennese fingers today only broke three so not to bad they are so crumbly so break easily .

OH said he'll ring the hospital tomorrow, so hopefully he'll find out exactly what's wrong with his mum. I'm still not convinced it's a tumor or they wouldn't be moving her to another hospital in a different area, so I'm hoping ringing tomorrow will put his mind at rest.

That's a lot of fat balls Mel, the birds are going to love you this winter.

I'm watching the final of Strictly with Sandra, it's been really good, I'd like Bill Bailey to win, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for him.

Bill Bailey won Strictly, I'm so chuffed, it's about time someone older won. It's well deserved, he is a great dancer. :-D :-D

Ann I have emailed you.

Gill we wanted Bill to win and we were so pleased wehn he did. Well done Bill and oti (sp)

Arrrgh! I had it recorded to watch later! Glad he won though. I have watched Bill on TV for years with watching QI and always liked him. He isn't showy or full of himself.

Oh that is a shame Ann I am always wary not to give out the results of things in case people are recording and watching. Still be worth watching though as the dancing was all good.

I'm so so sorry Ann, I thought everyone would of been watching it. I wouldn't mind but I don't normally give out results, but with everything happening with OH and his mum my mind is all over the place at the moment. Like AnnG said it's still worth watching though. Sorry, I hope you forgive me.

Don't worry Gill, nothing to forgive. I bet l've done it myself sometimes too! I watched later and l think it was one of the best finals there have been.

I think s lot of people are like your mum! People have been visiting neighbours today and some have been going inside (not allowed in Tier 3). I bet so many won't have thought to get some food in just in case rules changed.

AnnG I have noticed this past week that lots on my order is sold out. There were 10 items today alone! Even a turkey crown, so I'm glad I ordered an alternative. It does seem wrong that online customers suffer but I suppose they couldn't save things with sell by dates coming up. OH has a theory that they often substitute things with their own brands when they haven't run out as well!

Oh yes Ann, I agree with OH, I am sure they are told to do that. I shall have to keep checking mine and re-ordering today as my delivery is tomorrow. As it is only me I am not too bothered but it must be awful if you have visitors expected for the meal.

I had a strange thing this week. Two weeks ago I ordered cornflour, the order came, I wiped down and put away. A couple of days ago I needed the cornflour and when I looked it was Birds Custard powder. I had not noticed and am sure the sub was not noted. How can they substitue custard powder for cornflour.? I never make custard, and certainly won't now for just me so I gave the tin to my neighbour who shops for me so it doesn't get wasted but how strange!

Pleased you were still able to enjoy Strictly it certainly brightened up the evening a bit for me.

Morning two Ann's and all,

We've got sunshine again this morning here in deepest Devon, whats it like with you lot?

Just been looking at my lovely cards everyone has sent me. Nice lot of red and green ones this year and some with glitter just as I like them. Nice lot of robins too.

While I have been typing its come over dark out the front and its started to rain and we have a rainbow right over the garden to the south.

Morning Ann and Mel,

It's sunny here too!

No Sunday lunch for us today as I am still a bit out of sorts without much appetite. I think some soup will be enough and OH will sort himself out with a jacket potato and salad. We can have a nice lunch tomorrow.

OH is in the loft looking for tinsel! His back was twanging after going up there the other day so I hope it doesn't set it off again.

Better get showered and dressed now.

Well at 0915 it was dry and sunny with blue sky so I did an almost mile walk to the post box on the next estate, not that it will go out today but it was a bit of exercise. while out there was a little sprinkle of rain and the most beautiful rainbow and I didn't have my camera with me.

I have since tidied out the bottles (alcohol) cupboard in the kitchen, got dinner in the slow cooker for tonight, checked my on line listing for things crossed off (just one third week running tempura prawns) and applied for a credit card in my name. I can still use the cards that we already have but it is difficult when they are on line to check and pay them as they are in OH's name and on his bank account. Just have to wait for it to come in the post now. A bit laborious to apply but it all went ok and I was accepted with no problem.

Had coffee and a piece of shortbread and now off to dust the bedroom.

Ann hope you get your appetite back soon and hope OH has not hurt his back. I could get up into our loft if I could only figure out the knack of opening the trap door, OH's job (one of many) so a good job I don't need to go up there.

It's nice and sunny here, but I think it's forecast for rain later.

Thanks Ann, I felt bad when I realised what I'd done. I'm pleased you enjoyed it, I agree it's one of the best finals I've seen to. I hope your OH's back isn't set off again going in the loft. I'm sorry to hear you haven't got much of an appetite and hope it changes soon. I've been like that since February and have lost over half a stone, the doctor is a bit concerned and wanted me to go into the surgery to be weighed, but I'm to nervous to go out so I'm weighing myself at home and will let him know how my weight is doing. I have phone consultations. He's put my daytime meds up and is going to do the same with the night time ones in a few weeks. He doesn't want to put them both up at the same time incase I react to them or he won't know which one I've reacted to. I've been suffering with anxiety and depressions with everything that's happened this year and have not been eating or sleeping properly, hopefully the new meds will help, he said when the night time meds go up I should get my appetite back.

I'm pretty sure my mum won't change her plans, she even goes into other areas for a game of bingo and then complains when we go into lockdown. It's people like her that are responsible for lockdowns and the rest of us who do everything by the book have to suffer to, but she won't be told and has excuse after excuse for her bad behaviour. My sister is just as bad and visits mum all the time, I wouldn't mind but she's a carer like my OH and has also refused the vaccination. I don't understand them as mum is thinking of not having the vaccination as well, they're both as bad as each other.

I haven't seen mum for almost a year trying to keep OH safe, knowing what his job is and the potential of him catching it and passing it onto the home. I'd never forgive myself if I caught the virus and passed it on to other people. Maybe I just have a different outlook on the situation. All I can do is keep my fingers crossed, my mum and sister don't catch it and decide to have the vaccination later down the line.

You've been busy today AnnG, you'll sleep well tonight. How lovely to see a rainbow, pity you didn't have your camera with you though. Fancy having custard powder as a substitute for cornflour, silly people. At least your neighbour had it so it didn't go to waste.

I see you've had a rainbow to Mel. Your cards sound very festive.

Sorry to hear your neighbour has got Covid Mel. I hope she has a mild dose and soon recovers. It’s very unlikely that you will have picked anything up as it doesn’t sound as though you were close enough or with her long enough.

That was nice of the lady to bring you the roses AnnG. Have they got much of a perfume? I had to smile at your custard powder sub. I suppose it is mostly cornflour but did the packer think you’d want sauces or your baking sweetened and coloured yellow? I only had one sub in my order on Tuesday. Tesco sent 12 large free range eggs and just charged me for the 6 I had ordered so I came out the winner there.

Gill, I hope OH’s Mum is improving. I don’t suppose he’ll hear much over the weekend but hopefully he can speak to a doctor or nurse tomorrow. There’s quite a few people around like your mother. I am not sure if they don’t really understand the rules or whether they think the government is just giving advice which they can choose to ignore or whether they are being pig-headed or what it is, but they just seem to go their own way. My next door neighbours are like that. They are lovely and apparently intelligent people but they worry the life out of me. They are on the government vulnerable list and have access to delivery slots with Tesco and Sainsbury’s, yet they are always out shopping. There are people in and out of their house all the time, painters, bathroom fitters, carpet layers, a hairdresser, a nail lady and a lady to do the ironing!

I am sorry you seem to have lost your appetite Ann and hope you are feeling less out of sorts now.

Frank, have you had that bang on your head checked over yet? What is happening about your trip to Devon tomorrow?

After yesterday’s new rules I had a long chat with son in the evening and with daughter this morning about Christmas plans. Son is now very unlikely to come south as he had planned. We were only seeing him and family for an hour on 27th but, not having seen him for 14 months, I was really looking forward to it. I am sure he has made the right decision and we are now planning a family get-together at Easter. Well, we need something to look forward to.

We are still going to daughter on Christmas Day but will no longer stay overnight. There will just be the 2 of us, daughter and granddaughter. They are only a 40 minute drive away, we are both in Tier 2 and we don’t have to go through any other tier en-route so we should be OK.

Btw, OH seems to have sorted the kitchen heating so we will cancel our Jan 4th visit from British Gas. He may not go in for big, romantic gestures but, by golly, he’s a handy fella to have around.

I can’t believe this is the start of Christmas week and presents won’t wrap themselves so I’d better get on.

Vera you look after that handy fellah, They are much missed when no longer here.
I was cursing last night as I unloaded the ‘coals’ from the electric fie and took it apart to get to the bulb that had one to change it. Another job I have not had to do before.

I am sure you have made the right decision about Christmas. I know it is sad for people and inconvenient, short notice and an expense but it is better that we try and contain this mutant virus.

The roses are beautiful, they have a very slight perfume but being dark yellow they really light up the room I love them

Dear All

Hello

Hope your week goes smoothly and that you have magic moments.

Take gentle care
Love Elizabeth, EOS
xx