General Chat

Morning Mel,

You popped in there as I was typing. That's good you aren't too achey after yesterday. It looks like another good day for being out in the garden too. I just can't stay tidy. I get everything organised and it looks good, but it seems pointless tidying everything away that you know you will need out again the next day. The study where I do my craft tends to be the worst and things with no home get dumped there or in the conservatory. Drawers tend to stay tidy as I keep and cut small boxes to fit and store things in those so they don't jumble together. Wardrobes are another matter as I hang onto old clothes and shoes too long.

Morning everyone

It’s a grey day again but so far it’s dry. I didn’t sleep very well but don’t feel too bad at the moment. Towels are in the washing machine and nearly finished, there’s a wholemeal loaf cooking in the breadmaker and I’m just going to prep. the veg to go with our roast pork. Then if I’ve got the energy I’ll cut back the hydrangeas we have either side of a bench.

The previous owners of our house didn’t garden at all so they covered a strip beside our garage with a black liner topped with gravel. Over the last 5 years I have put troughs and pots there with some Sarcacocca and colourful annuals, but we’ve always meant to do something with it. Now OH has taken up the gravel and the liner, dug out loads of builders rubble and filled it with soil and loads of the leaf mould that I have made over the last couple of years. Now he’s planting it up. So far it has 4 Sarcacocca, a grass and a couple of Gaura plants but he has a load more stuff on order, probably too much for the size of the strip though he assures me he has taken eventual size into consideration. The stupid thing is we can’t see it from our house at all so it’s the neighbours who will benefit.

AnnG, I am surprised you haven’t received your car tax refund yet. It appears to be sent to whoever is the legal next of kin on the “one stop” form, which I assume is you. I would give it a bit longer and then if you haven’t received it try and contact them.

I see it’s coffee time and the veg won’t prepare itself so I had better get a move on.

EDIT. Had to do a quick correction as I apparently had an oaf cooking :-)

I like oaf cooking better Vera.

I should get my bread maker out of the uti room and try that again. I love the smell of bread baking.

I too tend to hold on to old clothes and shoes so youre not on your own there Ann.

Had our big breakfast and this morning I changed the bed and washed it and got it on the line.

Ann you asked about my tiny fish a while ago and I keep forgeting to tell you I have seen one little pinky one with the orange head and a lot of little black ones. Not seen any of the other pinky ones.

Suns out here now and its qquite nice out so I am going to carry on with some more tidying. I did put more wires on the new set of lights round the patio an d fed the hungry.

Frank this is just an excerpt but it might give you an idea.

From 29 March:

People will be allowed to meet outside, either with one other household or within the "rule of six", including in private gardens
The stay at home rule will end, but the government will urge people to stay local as much as possible
Outdoor sport facilities will reopen, including golf courses and tennis and basketball courts, and formally organised outdoor sports can restart
Weddings attended by up to six people can take place in any circumstances

Stage two (no earlier than 12 April):

All shops allowed to open, along with close-contact services, including hairdressers and beauty salons (including in people's homes)
Restaurants and pubs allowed to serve food and alcohol to customers sitting outdoors
Gyms and spas can reopen, as can zoos, theme parks, libraries and community centres
Members of the same household can take a holiday in the UK in self-contained accommodation
Weddings attended by up to 15 people can take place

Mr tesco was on time, two subs a 700g shampoo instead of a 250 for the same price which is very nice except the huge bottle doesn't fir where the shampoo bottle go. And no lamb shanks but ready cook brisket instead, cheaper than the lamb and with a good long date so no problem with it.

I also did a load of washing then I cut the lawn, That will be easier when I get the new mower put together. At the moment I find it awkward having the lead attached and, because of the centre island I have to go back on myself to get both sides done, not a problem but aggravating.

It is a case of not knowing where to start when I get out there. I have not done the edges though.At the moment I am playing catch up because T stopped doing anything in September which is when all the tidying up jobs are done. yesterday I started to tidy the greenhouse, didn't finish it today because I wanted to do outside jobs while it was sunny, it has come over cloudy now

. I also teak oiled the wooden seat and planted some tomato and lettuce leaves seeds which are in the conservatory. And started to tidy the side of the house as I have got Charles coming on Wednesday to rebuild the storage shelter that is there. That is a days job in itself, lots of things like tomato feed, ant killer etc..

And another job I did was the cracks between the patio slabs, I weeded them all with a gadget T had.

so, jobs for this week, finish the greenhouse, clear the shelves down the side of the house, tidy the shed and get rid of some of the junk.

Vera I will give them another week and then maybe contact them if nothing has come through. I wouldn't mind but I paid a years tax about two days before T died.
Looks like your OH has been busy as well Vera.
and you making bread and Mel in the garden and Ann tackling her painting or the sketching for it. what a busy lot we are.

Not got back out there as the suns gone now and its a bit chilly. I have sowed my tomato seeds, only four of them as I have'nt really any space for anymore. I am hoping oh will let me put my little plastic greenhouse at the end of the decking which is a bit lower than the actual deck, but he has'nt finished putting the new netting round the end of the upper deck yet.

He has washed my car for me this afternoon with the prssure washer which meant I could'nt do the washing up till he had finished.

I am now going to corn the chickens and have a little sweep up round the front door and along by the tubs.

You got a nice lot done Anng you should be proud of yourself.

Exhausted more like and back aches a bit. I planted all the seeds in the pack, 12 I think as T never got them all to grow so I doubt I will. After lunch I cleaned some of the windows in the conservatory couldn’t reach all of them.

Thanks Ann for the builders web address's and phone number's. I'll ring them tomorrow and let you know how I get on. All I want is for one to pick up their phone or reply to messages I leave. I'm beginning to think I'm never going to find one. Hopefully I'll have more luck with the number's you passed onto me.

I'm feeling a bit sorry for myself today as I have a sore tum. I think it might be a bit of stress with having so much to do and not getting anywhere with things at the moment. I'm drinking plenty of water, but it doesn't seem to be helping with my headache.

At least we managed to get the electric fire and surround into the hall last night, so now this place is a bit warmer.

OH has taken some more rubbish to the tip today and only has a small amount of the pampas to take now, so I should be able to get into the garden myself soon. He's bagging some rubbish now so he can take it to the tip tomorrow as he's off work tonight so won't be asleep all day. I can't wait to be able to get near the massive hedge and start cutting it down, then we'll be able to see the size of the garden better.

I noticed there are horse's in the field to the side of us and now OH has taken some of the rubbish from behind the garage I can just about see them eating in the field. It's so much better than seeing houses behind us like we had in our old place.

Next door's cat is watching OH cut up the old shed that had fallen down, I think he's getting used to him now but is still wide eyed when he see's me. I'm sure he'll get used to me when I can finally get into the garden to help.

It sounds like you've all been busy, I feel lazy only making phone calls all day. At least the gas pipes are being done on Tuesday and Wednesday so hopefully it won't be to long before we have our boiler put in and finally have some hot water. I just hope trying to find a plumber for the central heating isn't going to be as hard as trying to find a builder is.

I bet you're looking forward to Tuesday and Wednesday and loads of hot water. Good luck finding a plumber and hope you have more success in getitng one than youseem to be having with a builder. Keeping my finger crossed for you.

Best of luck with them Gill and I hope you are successful. A tip might be to let them know when you ring that you have more work needing to be done later in the year too. It might make them more interested and you will have no obligation to them other than consider asking them to give you a quote for the other work when you are ready to go ahead with it. It sounds like you are making progress with things in the meantime and are a bit warmer now. The gas work will soon be done and you will have hot water and it will make a difference to how you feel once each thing gets done. It sounds like you will soon have a kitty friend coming to see you once the cat gets used to you. We have cows to look at which are not quite as nice as horses, but still better than buildings though.

AnnG I want some of what you are on! You have blitzed through so many jobs today and are really making progress. We never finished cutting back and tidying the garden last year either as OH had so much more work than normal so we need to catch up too, OH has pulled more weeds up today and I have checked my seeds to see what I need. I'm not sure about 2 packets of courgette seeds with no labels! Is one those Pattypan that came from China? I thought I'd thrown them away. I think all I can do is plant both as I will know as soon as the leaves appear as the chinese seeds had yellowy green leaves.

I only grow 2-3 tomato plants now Mel. It is enough for us with plenty to blitz and freeze as well. Our cars haven't been washed for over a year now and mine has a few green bits on the window rubbers and it shows with it being a white car. I bet yours looked good after a clean.

I had another look at sorting these SKY boxes out as I had seen online that some were waiting 3 weeks for an engineer. I told OH we had nothing to lose as he doesn't like me messing with things! From what I gathered the minis would only connect via the main box but although that played through satellite ok it needed resetting to enable the minis to connect to it if it isn't a SKY router. Nothing seems to tell you this anywhere. Despite OH looking doubtful with all the switching off and rebooting I got him to do, I got everything working again. Now he thinks I am a 'star' as he was able to watch 2 matches on the tv he wanted to see. :-D He didn't think I was a star though when I dropped the lid off his eardrops and it managed to roll straight under the bed to the middle!! Oh the dust and fluff under there! Another job we need to add to the list.

I managed to get my sketch done for tomorrow too and OH has put 2 lots of window cleaning money in an envelope to leave out for the window cleaner tomorrow. This way it saves having any change to handle as we couldn't make up the right money for just tomorrow.

Your late on here Ann. Did you see I said I had seen my tiny fish?

Good luck with doing under the bed. My new cordless hoover goes under ours fine and if I wiggle it about I can do all under the bed. Mind you we have a bed with legs so there is a space of about 8 or 9" which the corded vac won't go under.

Gosh you were late Ann. No doubt I will not have as much energy two days running. I slept well and woke up at 0600, forecast was for a nice day today so I need to find energy to get the patch of ground for wild flowers weeded.
good that you got your Sky fixed. Now that would have confused me, I don't think I could have sorted that out.

Anyway, good morning all, hoping for a nice day.
Went to bed expecting nightmares after seeing the atrocious scenes on TV of the riot in Bristol. These so called peaceful protests are anything but. The organisers should realise that these days they are always hijacked by people out to cause unrest. and 'peaceful' they are not. It reminded me of Ireland and the scenes from there with the IRA etc. Still I didn't have nightmares so must have been tired. I also watched Midsummer Murders which was one I was not keen on. too many bees!!

Morning Anng and all,

Not a bad morning here either with sunshine now and then but grey sky to the north.

I too watched Midsomer Murders last night Anng. I used to like Sykes the dog in it but this new one is quite good too.

Yesterday was World Down Syndrome day and I had a lovely video from our niece of all the troup dancing.

Oh is out painting the fiddley bit off my shed and today he is going to put the furniture back on the window so I can close it. He did'nt want me to close it and get the paint stuck together so the back window has been open for about three nights.

I am planning to go out in the garden and do a bit more today so see what happens later. Must get some washing in first and get the chicken crown out of the freezer for dinner tonight.

I have done a wash load and had a bacon sandwich, now gearing myself up to get out in the garden but it is still only 6 degrees out there so a bit chilly.

Morning All,

Yes it is a bit chilly here too and very dull. I was late last night, but I did sleep well and the window cleaner has been and on the right day so that was a bonus! I have changed the bed and sliced up some leeks and chopped up a half courgette that need using, so we are having a 'make do' sort of lunch with big soups and the veg microwaved and added. :-) I have also ordered a couple of square buttonned seat pads in a sage colour for our arbour. The seat is a bit high under the knees for me and the pads are just long enough to fill some of the dip at the back of the seat and raise me up! They will make it comfy too. :-) I have a problem with most seats being too high as well and we had to saw some off the legs of the arbour so I could reach the ground with my feet.

Yes I did see you say about your little fish Mel. I'm glad the Heron didn't get them all. I expect they will develop some more orangey bits as they grow. How many Koi does your OH have now, some of them must be quite big by now I would think? I bet the video of the children was nice as they always seem to be so happy don't they. Good luck with the garden. Our bed is only a couple of inches off the floor with having drawers each side so no chance with the hoover! I have to push it across and turn it to reach all the patch it covers. I will be glad when we lose the carpet and have a hard floor as I think the wide floor mop would go under it then and save having to lug it about so much.

I see you have your day planned AnnG with weeding the wild flower bed. I like the sound of that, but watch your back and don't overdo it. You can always finish it another day.

Painting the dreaded Roses this afternoon in class. The teacher said for this last week she has selected an anonymous gallery of some of our work and we shall be discussing them which will be interesting as we don't see each other's completed pictures we send to the teacher.

I can't believe the awful behaviour to the police and animals in the Bristol protest yesterday. Causing so much work for the emergency services and spreading the virus around in the middle of a pandemic. Words fail me! Why don't they spend their time and energy into doing something useful for society instead of all this me. me, me and what I want attitude.

ann I am pretty certain that the ones causing the real trouble were notning to do with the original protest but were a large group set on causing anarchy and unrest. Hopefully those who were not wearing their masks will be identified and charged. But it was disgusting and like pictures of the IRA in the fighting then.

I have done half the weeding, then came in for a coffee and to wait for DPD who was on time then when I went to open the garage door it would not unlock T mentioned something about a part broken but he had fixed the problem. The last ime I opened it it wouldn't unlock first time. This time it won't unlock at all. so now I have to fine somebody to fix that and had to drag the chair into the house and out to the conservatory and it is not very light (I couldn't lift it in the box if I tried.

Arn't all weeds wild flowers???

Ann yes his kio are huge now I shall have to see if I can get a picture of them but the light on the water is not good I need a really dreary day or the sky gets in the way.

I have two lots of washing on the line fed the wild birds and the chickens, hoovered the kitchen diner hall and little loo and bathroom. Picked up some sticks in the garden and some weeds (wild flowers) and am about to go back out there and do some sweeping.

What a bother with the garage door Anng. Hope you can get it fixed.

It will be nice to see others attempts on your course Ann. I bet yours are the best.

Finished weeding the two p;ots, bin out now for collection tomorrow. spent two hours out there.

Yes the garage door is a real nuisance. Luckily there is not a car stuck in there.

No All weeds are not wild flowers in my book, some are thugs and spread everywhere choking other flowers. Anyway have thrown the wild flower seed over the garden, don't get many seeds for your money these days. I am hoping all the digging and raking will have encouraged any poppy seed lurking to germinate. Sadly T didn't like the poppies and pulled a lot up after flowering last year.

Thanks again Ann for the number's you gave me, I've spent all morning ringing them and have left a message with one, two only do extensions but one of them said he might be able to take the chimney breast down in the kitchen and is coming here tomorrow to take a look and the final one asked me to text him my details and he'll ring me back later, although quite a few builders have said that so time will tell if he does get back to me or not.

OH had to go and pick his glasses up from the opticians and while he was there he noticed a van outside for a plasterer so he asked him if he knows a bricklayer which he does so he's going to pass my number onto him. OH gave me the fella in the van's number and while I was speaking with him I mentioned there a downpipe from the gutters where the rain water comes down onto a path as there's no grid and he said he could do the grid and drains for us, so he's coming here tomorrow around 4.30pm to take a look.

He also said he'll look at the bricks while he's here so he can let the bricklayer know how bad they are. He's also going to take a look a the hall ceiling as that needs plastering. There were polystyrene tiles on it and when OH took them off all the glue is still on the ceiling. I've tried taking glue off before in our old place and it took forever to do so it'll be a lot easier to just have the ceiling skimmed.

Why are workmen like buses, you can't find one for ages then they all turn up at the same time lol :-D :-D

We've got our gas pipes going down tomorrow as well and I've been called in for my first vaccination, so we're going to meeting ourselves coming back tomorrow. Poor OH is on night's tonight, so I don't expect he's going to have much sleep with everything going on.

Anyway I thought I'd let you know how I got on with the number's you gave me Ann and to say thank you again. I was just about to give up, so I'm really grateful and to everyone else who has helped me as well.

I had BT ring me today wanting me to change our monthly payment plan to a whole bill instead, but I stood my ground and even managed to cut our monthly payments in half. I can now use that money towards my electric bill as that's going to be high now we're using the electric fire all the time.

The woman from BT was like a dog with a bone and tried everything she could to make me change our way of paying, saying I would get into debt, which was silly as they owe us money. I could tell by her tone of voice as we'd finished our conversation she wasn't happy. Maybe she gets some sort of commission for us moving to a whole bill payment plan.

I wouldn't mind but I pay £5 a month for 500 free UK calls to both landline and mobile numbers and I'm not going to be using all those minutes forever. I know I've got a lot of calls to make to workmen but the money they owe me will go towards that. Once all the jobs are done I'll hardly use my phone. I said we'd reassess the situation in June when the next bill is due and could she ring me back, to which she replied you ring us. Talk about moody. At least I halved the bill and saved us £60 a month which I don't think she was expecting :-D :-D

Going to have a drink now as I've let all my drinks go cold so far today and I'm really thirsty now.