General Chat

Morning Anng and all,

Good you had a better Knights sleep Anng. See what I did there!! he he. As you say it must have been the exercise and fresh air . Hope its the same for you tonight.

Suns out after another hard frost but oh said the weather is about to change so make the most of it.

BIG wipe down today on TUESDAY so I shan't be able to go out and do something in the garden this morning. I want to sow my tomato seeds as I have a packet of my favorite Sungold which I got from Mole Valley with my chickens food and wild bird food order. Four subs today onthe order two acceptable and two definately not. They changed my Jamesons Irish whisky to Grouse and thats a no no and my ciggy papers and I have never even heard of Bull Brand papers before. I have a job with the gum on papers so have to stick to what I knwo.

I had a dream about moving last night and leaving behind my childhood desk which is what I did when we moved down here and I had painted it mauve!!! not in real life but in my dream. I went back to collect something from it, a pencil case and the person who had moved in had taken all the mauve paint off and it was back to its lovely wooden self. I think it was teak but can't be sure. Came out here this morning and saw the pencil case on this desk with the lavender fairy on it so that must have been why I went back for it.

Well I better get on as they will be here before I know it.

Morning All,

Slept well so feeling quite chipper today.

It's Sandra being so trusting that makes her so vulnerable with so called friends and AnnG is right about the bank when she gave out the details herself. She needs to be careful to keep her card safe too and make sure she uses a different pin for the new one. How awful to be robbing her like this though.........despicable behaviour!

I watched H&M but wasn't impressed or convinced about all they said. Most of us in our young lives are trapped by necessary and not always enjoyable work we have to do to pay our bills and I don't believe anyone would not research how their life would be if they joined an institution like the royals. You would know you couldn't do what you wanted, go where you wanted and say what you thought for a start.

I have to get things ready today for the birthday boy's turkey lunch tomorrow. I wonder if he will be so keen when he realises I will be doing my course in the morning so he will have to be watching timings and basting the turkey etc!!

My sense of what day it is has gone to pot too Vera! You get few subs with Tesco don't you, much better than our Asda here. I wonder if our other supermarkets are just as bad here though.

Better get on and get started now.

good morning Mel and Annx Just back from walking three bags down to the charity house, two of shirts and one of jackets and coat.
Yes Mel, saw what you did. Lost count of the times we have had to spell our surname when buying something.
Hope all was well with the shopping. You seem to know subs before they come, I only get told when they arrive.

Annx I have an idea that Sandra might find using a pin difficult so will rely on the touch screen however, this is going up to £100 soon which, I feel is most unwise, we will all need to take great care of our cards.

So, what exactly does lunch consist of tomorrow besides the turkey?

Anng we order online from Asda and they send us an email telling us what subs we have. We can also track our order and it gives you a rough time of arrival.

Oh is out mowing the grass as he said this is the last day of sunshine and then its back to grey sky rain and wind.

Sandra's at the police station at the moment reporting the mis-use of her card. The bank was shut today so the police are helping her ring the bank to put a stop to the card and re-issue another one. She said she'll ring me back when it's done.

I had a terrible night's sleep last night, probably because I was worried about Sandra, so I feel shattered now. I'm trying not to sleep during the day so I sleep better tonight.

Sandra's on the phone

Well done Sandra for going to the police station, I hope they have manged to help her and that she remembered to draw some cash to tide her over. Yes, try not to sleep in the day Gill, If it is dry try and get out into the air for a few minutes to help you stay awake.

Mel, yes I order on line and if anything is out of stock it tells me immediately but, Unless I check my order the subs are only mentioned when it is delivered. I do get a reminder the evening before.

The bank have cancelled her card and have given her the money back, she's just waiting for the police to ring her as they need to speak to her again, then they'll go around to her friend's place and have a word with her friend's husband as Sandra thinks it's him who has been using her card. At least he can't use it anymore. Sandra's going to ring me back later to let me know how things went. She's very lucky she got her money back and she feels a lot calmer now.

That's good Sandra was brave and went to the Police Gill and she was lucky the bank gave her her money back as you say. As this has given her a bit of a fright as to what can happen, hopefully she'll be careful now as it could be someone emptying her bank account another time. I agree AnnG, and why make the new limit more than double? We will all be paying in the fees they charge for the extra losses the banks will be refunding.

I remember you having the Sungold tomatoes Mel. Do you start them off inside or do you still have some cold frames? I am hoping for some more self set ones in the greenhouse. In fact I must go and water the pots in there to see if it will start some off.

AnnG, With the turkey there will be stuffing, pigs in blankets, roast potatoes, brussels, carrots and cauli. He did the veg this morning and I have parboiled the potatoes and drizzled oil on them in their dish ready to pop in the oven. I will get the turkey ready next. We have decided he will put the turkey in and adjust the temperature, then pop the trimmings and the potatoes in the oven half an hour before my course finishes. I can do the rest then.

You are doing so well keeping up with clearing things to take to your lady. My friend whose husband died early last year did the same kind of clearing things at first and also grew things in the garden. She's also had a good sort and organise of her craft things and is now making a start on painting her kitchen cupboards white! Don't forget to have a little drive around in your car to keep the battery topped up will you.

Afternoon all ,

Thats good that Sandra has got her money back Gill ,has she checked to see if any more has gone out of her account ,that was probably a big amount for a bill so she noticed it but if they have had small dribs and drabs she might not have noticed poor girl i think its dreadful taking her money like that ,no friend would do that i hope the police do some thing about it


Ann what time is this birthday lunch tomorrow we'll all be round :-D it sounds very tasty and like having a christmas lunch again only there's no Crackers lol

Nice and sunny here today we should have a wet day tomorrow so we have been outside doing a few jobs ,i got my tomato seeds in the pots as Mel said she wanted to get hers done ,i have them on the window sill in the conservatory they will get the sun there .

Anng if you check yopur order thats coming the next day iot should tell you on there whether or not you have things out so stock and so you will get subs. Mine tells me on the delivery day so I can send things back. This week my bloomer loaf was flat again as someone had but two bottles of tonic water on it and 8 bottles of beer. The driver said straight away I'll refund you that and said he did'nt kow what the people who pack the orders were thinking when they did it and then promptly put frozen foods on my bag of potatoes!!

I am so pleased Sandra went to the police and got her money back too and I hope they are NOT her friends anymore and get whats coming to them.

Not done the seeds yet. I shall have them indoors in the uti room at first. Oh did soup for lunch as ~I had'nt finished the wipe down. We had some of the bread with the soup and we will be having very skinny sandwiches this week as I am not throwing it to the chickens.

Well done the bank for refunding Sandra's money. It sounds as if she will be ok now once she gets her new card. Hopefully the police will charge somebody with theft if they can prove who used the card. and no doubt the electricity firm will be doing something as well. goodness knows how they hoped to get away with it.

Mmmm Lunch tomorrow at yours then Annx.
Yes it is in my head that I have to take the car for a drive. Probably the next dry day. I did notice that it needed cleaning as well, that is going to come as a bigger shock than mowing the lawn

Mel sometimes I have checked and nothing is out of stock on the evening before and yet when it arrives something is out of stock. But having said that, things being unavailable doesn't happen very often. :-

Oh came in frozen so I turned the heating on a little while ago and now I want to drop off to sleep. I have to go and corn the chickens so that should wake me up.

The sun went in and now its back out again but there is such a cold breeze a freezey breeze so |I shall be putitng my scarf on first and then my hat and coat.

Just taken a scrap book out of my filing cabinet and inside were the 3D pictures you used to get inthe papers. One of them is dated 23 Dec 1995. I may take them to the boys and see if they can see them.

I hope you've got a big turkey Ann as I'm coming to lunch too.

That's good that the bank have repaid Sandra. I'm surprised they did as Sandra had given the chap the card details but perhaps it helped having the police involved. She did the right thing going to the police. I can think of another name for the couple who did this and it wouldn't be "friends".

That decanter sounds a lovely present Frank. I am sure Harvey and Julia will be thrilled with it.

That was a funny old dream about your mauve desk Mel. I had a strange dream last night as well. I was looking at some carved furniture and utensils with the sculptor who made them. For some reason everything was red. Looking at a red hammer I saw it was really tiny and realised everything was for a doll's house but I still didn't understand why it was all red, till I saw the sculptor at work and found that he was carving everything from................tomatoes :-S Where did that dream come from?

Thanks for the reminder that it is Tuesday today AnnG. I will be sending OH down the road with the bins in a little while. He ordered himself another case of wine this morning so he's keeping on my good side today. This morning he cleaned the wood floor in the lounge with the stuff the flooring people gave us. They said to do it once a month and it's about 6 weeks since I did it last so that's another job out of the way and he's got a few brownie points.

It has been a lovely day today so after I had done the ironing and a bit of tidying up I did a few jobs in the garden. It was so nice to see the sun for a change; it seems to improve everyone's mood.

I'd better go and chop a few veg. We're having a stir fry tonight. We had roast chicken on Sunday, chicken salad yesterday, chicken stir fry today and chicken sandwiches for lunch tomorrow. I shall start clucking soon.

Ha ha Mandy, I'm sure there will be enough! lol. :-D :-D OH chuckled away when I told him you said it was like Christmas without the Crackers. I just reminded him he has some wine to go with it and his cookie dough icecream to follow. I can't believe he'll be 68 and neither can he. Now I see we have more guests for lunch too and yes there will be plenty of Turkey to go around. :-D :-D Like Vera's chicken, it will last a few days and some to freeze too I think.

I hadn't thought about the conservatory windowsills......good idea! I could put some of the soil out of the greenhouse pots into small pots and try them in ours too. There's bound to be some seeds in the soil as we had little forests of seedlings last year. Were the children looking forward to being back at school this week and did you finish the pencil cases and take any pics? You know we like to see the great things you make for them. ;-)

OH went out and half filled the garden bin this afternoon with Fuschia twigs he pruned back and lots of those horrid little weeds that have small white flowers.and then thin pods of seeds that explode everywhere. They are just coming into flower now so a good time to pull them out. We also get lots of a short black grass in the rockery plants and they even grow in the gravel.

I didn't have time to do anything outside and am just sketching tomorrow's picture.......they are getting harder to draw! A view from Fountains Abbey this time to practice the water technique on the bricks??

I think my hair is longer now than it was in the previous lockdown and harder to do anything with! It's gone heavy on top and has to be tucked behind my ears now. I'm reluctant to get the scissors out though because if you chop at it yourself I think they charge you for a restyle which costs more. :-S

O Vera you did make me laugh at your dream of the sculptor crving Tomatoes. Funny we both had dreams with a prominent colour in them. You'll be sick of the site of chicken after all that but I do love a chicken sandwich. I remember when I lived in Suffolk and popped into Boots to get my sandwich to take to work and they used to do a chicken sandwich with lemon butter and it was delish.

I am dying to knowi if they charge the husband for theft. I wonder how much the bill was for as leccy is now expensive. Hope he had'nt used it for other things too in small amounts.

Sandra rang me again, there's no more news at the moment as the police haven't rang her back yet, so she thinks they may ring tomorrow. The police have told Sandra not to answer her phone to her friend or her friend's husband, or to reply to any messages they might send.

My mum has been back in hospital, she's got to have more tests to see if she needs a stent. They kept her waiting for hours before they did x-rays and blood tests then sent her home telling her to see her specialist on Monday. She's really fed up now as this is the third time she's been in hospital in as many weeks. They've changed her meds again, so now she's confused on what she's taking and will have to ring her doctor about them. At least she's home now instead of sitting around at the hospital waiting to see what's going to be done.

I've mentioned to Sandra to keep all her receipts then she can check them against her bank statement each month. I'm pretty sure her friend's husband has used her card at Asda but with Sandra shopping there and not keeping her receipts she's not sure what she's spent and what he's spent if anything. So from now on she's going to keep all her receipts and check her bank statement each month.

She said she wouldn't of been brave enough to go into the police station if I hadn't of been on the phone with her, but once she starting talking I could hear everything that was being said and she explained herself very well. The police asked me if it was a direct debit payment as Sandra's posts is coming here at the moment with her being in a shared building, so I checked her statement and it said card payment. Sandra was grateful of me checking her statement and letting her know about the electricity payment. Sandra checked her phone and her friend's husband has done it again, it didn't show up on her statement as it was done after the end balance date on her bank statement, but she showed the police as it comes up on her phone, so now they know he's done it twice. We don't have 100% proof it was him but I'm sure the police will find out for sure, after all it's their job to find things out, then I should imagine they'll interview him and press charges, unless Sandra doesn't want to press charges. She's worried her friend won't talk to her again. Personally I think she could do without friends like that, but it's up to her what happens next unless the police or the bank press charges themselves. I'll have to wait and see what happens. I told her I was proud of her for going to the police as I knew she was scared to do it and even though she only did it because I was on the phone with her, I'm sure in the future she'll have the courage to do things on her own. She knows I'm always here if she needs me though.

The payments were £50 each Mel, but like I said I think he might of used her card for shopping as well but with Sandra shopping in the same shop and not keeping the receipts she'll never know if he did use her card for shopping now. She's going to keep an eye on her bank balance from now on and when something comes up on her phone she's going to pay more attention to it.

I'm just watching The Circle, I watched that programme before Covid came and it was quite interesting. At the moment Celebrities are doing it for Stand up to Cancer, so I'm not sure if it'll be as good. At least it's raising money for a good cause.

Gill the only way her so called friends can use Sandras card is if they shop online and register the card details with Asda. You can pay bills over the phone by giving the card details but they ask what names on the card and the expiry date and the long number and the three diggit code on the back so they must have taken all those details to be able to use her card but they can't use it in shops as they hav'nt got her card only the details.

I didn't think of that Mel, I'll let Sandra know when she rings me again, she'll be pleased to know. She needs to keep an eye on her own spending so keeping a record each month won't do her any harm, after all she's going to have a lot more than shopping to pay for when she gets her flat as she'll have all her other bills as well. At least she's learn't a valuable lesson not to give her card details to anyone again.

Going to see if I can get some sleep now, I've not been sleeping very well lately and now I think I've got a chest infection as I'm finding it a bit hard to breath and I'm starting with a cough. I haven't been out anywhere or met up with anyone so I don't think it's Covid, it's probably because this place is quite cold. Mind you I always feel ill when I'm stressed and with Sandra and my mum I'm stressed again. At least I'm not as bad as I was this time last year so the meds I'm on are doing their job, well, to a certain extent anyway.

Regarding what Mel has said Gill and I am not sure how you would check but if they had registered the card details with Asda for on line shopping I assume, if it is like Tesco, Sandra would have paid for their Asda shop until the card was cancelled.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRYTHDAY G <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

Have a lovely day and enjoy that turkey dinner. I shall be thinking of you two tucking in.