General Chat

Morning Anng and all,

Grey to the north and brighter out the back to the south with some sun. I think we are supposed to have some rain today and the winds coming back and colder by the weekend.

Nothing planned for today so shall see what I want to do later.

Good morning all, I thought I had better pop in, I don't want you worrying. lol lol

Nothing to report from this end. Was in bed by 10.00 pm last night and up again at 12,30am couldn't sleep. Sat and watchedT,V. till 2,30 and was up again by 7.00 am

Johnathan was in court yesterday and again today.He is in dispute with a local builder who did a lot of work for him. I don't know the ins and outs of it. But I believe there is a large amount of money involved. I will ring him tea time, to see how it went.

Conrad is driving up from Devon today to see us, before he goes back to Spain on Sunday. What a long journey he will have, just to see us for a few hours.


Will try to catch up again later. xxxx

Morning all,

Lovely and sunny here sides still a bit sore so I don't think I will be doing much again just sitting resting it .

Gill is the gas pipe in ? hope your all sorted now so you can get the boiler in and get hot water .

Oh Frank I hope Conrad doesn't get stopped we're still not supposed to be travelling to far , it will be a hefty find if he's stopped.

I thought that about Conrad as well Mandy. another three weeks or so and he would have been safe.

Just take it easy Mandy, that sounds like a real wrench you did of your side. I was extra careful cleaning my windows.

Gill, has the gas man finished, have you been able to order the boiler yet. I suspect that you may be out in the garden attacking that hedge. What hedge is it by the way. Quite a few more trips to the dump I expect.

Morning All,

I slept like a top last night after so little sleep the night before and feel quite refreshed now. Sunny here too so we may be able to have a brekkie/lunch in the conservatory today.

OH had a Teams interview for one of his Independent Person posts with a council this morning. They can only do I think 4 years, then have to apply again and be interviewed along with new applicants. It was funny as he had trimmed his beard and put a new shirt on with tie and suit and then, as is usual with Teams, it didn't work properly and the video didn't work so the interviewers couldn't see anyone and he couldn't see them! They might as well have done telephone interviews.

I have updated my 'to do' list and must get on with some paperworrk today as time is running out for changing my bank account and OH's laptop has started freezing and he wants a new one soon, also the printer is creaking and keeps losing the blue ink despite cleaning the heads. These are things our parents and grandparents didn't even have to think about. I also need to email some pics of my grandparents to a rellie I have traced recently and he is doing the same. It's on my maternal grandmother's mother's side of the family. They are the ones that married into Sir Bernard Ingram's family.

I hope your side eases some more today Mandy and I agree about Conrad and travelling so far. People know they aren't likely to get caught breaking rules though, with all the traffic back on the roads now.


I hope we hear from Gill today with how things have hopefully been progressing!

Just got back from getting petrol for the mower and some deisel for my car. Went to Hatherleigh and when we got there they had no petrol so we put deisel in the car and had to go all the way to HOlsworthy for the petrol. All in all about a 50 mile trip so the cars had a good run.

I agree with all you have sais and hope Conrad has a safe journey without any trouble. You've been waiting a long time to see him.

Must make a drink.

Frank I too hope that Conrad has a safe journey and a trouble free visit but I do think he is silly to consider it. Apart from the journey itself you are only meant to meet outside at a distance which isn’t practical for you for any length of time. The other thing is that it is thought 1 in 3 people can spread the disease without even knowing they have it so he could be risking your health.

However i’m not unsympathetic. I really understand how you feel. It’s awful not seeing your loved ones. We’re desperate to see our son and his family. It’s nearly 18 months since we saw our granddaughters and the only occasion during that time that we’ve seen our son and dil was very briefly at my brother’s funeral when we weren’t even permitted to have a cup of tea with him. Heartbreaking times, aren’t they?

Well I feel like a wet rag this morning. I fell asleep around midnight but woke at 2 am and that was pretty much it. At 5 am I was sitting in our lounge with a cup of tea watching the sky lighten. I have cleaned the rest of the downstairs windows but don’t have the energy to do the upstairs today. I’m just sitting in the conservatory and drooping.

Looking out of the windows the garden is looking very springlike now. The daffs have been in bloom for about 4 weeks now and are looking great because they are in a mass. In front of them are about 20 little tête-à-tête daffs. There are patches of white wood anemones and blue glory-of-the-snows, viburnum is coming into bloom and there are 6 pots of mini tulips which are all open. It makes you feel better when it all looks so pretty. The daffs are “tossing their heads in sprightly dance” because it s really windy out. There’s not much sun today but it hasn’t rained yet.

Mandy, have a gentle relaxing day and give your side time to mend.

OH has just called that lunch is ready. I asked for a banana sandwich so I’ll go and enjoy that now.

Yes I can see that we are beginning to get to the point where we can relax and meet up with friends and loved ones. Hopefully frank will be ok and hopefully conrad is not carrying the disease. It is actually difficult to see where the difference will be between one week and another, I mean that on such and such a date we can do one thing and a week later we can go a bit further. difficult to know why the weeks wait I think but we will do it because we are scared not to. I will feel happier when there are a few more people vaccinated, But then as Vera says, you can be a carrier even though vaccinated so why will it be a bit more relaxed. I get my second jab tomorrow.

I had a bit of an iffy night last night too, not as bad as you Vera but went to bed and was asleep by 10.30, woke up at 1240, got up for the loo, back to bed and slept until 2.30, back to bed after the loo and slept off and on until 0615. so a very broken night although I feel ok today, tidied up a bit more round the side of the house, showery so no gardening. Sat in the car while I ran the engine for 15 minutes and finally found how to re-start the clock that stopped when the battery went flat. Tried to tune the radio but didn't quite sort that out and have just now sorted my sock drawer.. Got rid of some and should probably get rid of a lot more but in the end just put them back in the drawer. :-D

Clouded up here now ,some of the clouds are really black so I don't think rain is far away .

AnnG I had a tidy in my sock draw a week or two back ,any that were getting a bit thin i keep back and I use them for washing the window sills outside and then throw them away ,they are handy for cleaning your shoes too and Max loves them if I knot a couple and he pulls them to bits .

I can just pipcture Max with the knotted socks Masndy.

Suns still out here but we have a chilly breeze with it.

Oh is racing to get the lawn done before it rains. He has spiked it and put sulfate of iron on it to kill the moss.

I am about to wash up the lunch things and then go into the garden and have sa bit of a cut down on the bit opposite the kitchen window which I call the rockery. The pheassdents have started walking al over it again so I need to move the empty hanging baskets I put on there to keep them off of my plants.

Do any of you know if I can cut back a new Lithodora (that was its old name) that has gone a bit stragerly or will I just kill it or not get any of the lovely electric blue flowers on it this year?

I just googled it and it says I can cut it back if it has gone stragerly. I shall maybe do half and see what happens.


this is what it says:-

As for the care of Lithodora, water the plant regularly and don't allow the soil to become bone dry. However, beware of overwatering and avoid soggy, waterlogged soil. Apply mulch in autumn if you live in a cooler region. Prune Lithodora lightly if it looks straggly, or if the leaves are damaged by winter cold.23 Jul 2020

I had to look up Lithodora Mel. What a lovely blue colour.

The window cleaners came just after lunch so now the insides and outsides are clean and we can actually see out :-).

It’s been raining on and off all afternoon and is very grey out. It looks as though there is plenty more rain to come.

I’ve heard from the consultant at the hospital to say that, after my failed colonoscopy last week, he has requested a CT scan instead. No details yet about when it will be or what prep I’ll have to do this time but I was surprised to hear anything this quickly. I thought I’d have to wait weeks.

Its good you don't have to wait and it may be better to have the scan instead. Hope you get on ok anyway Vera. Yes the little Lithodora is a very bright blue. Always nice to see it out of the kitchen window when washing up. The old one is there too and is so long and grows over the old lavender which I think I may take out this year as a lot of it have died off. Its been in there over 23 years as I put it in before I was with oh. I think that really cold wind and the frost have done for it this year.

Done a lot more cutting back and dug some of the bonfire ash out and put that further up on that side and picked up more sticks off the lawn which have fallen off the ash tree and picked up all his grass cutting stuff that fell off the mower and rebuilt the bonfire. Came is at 3 mins past five and had a drink.

Pasta I think tonight with mushrooms furters and tomatoes and whatever I can find in the fridge all in a cheese sauce. May find a bit of cougette.

Well OH soon heard to say they have chosen him to continue in his post!

What good ideas for old socks Mandy! I really like the idea for cleaning shoes so must remember that. Our Doberman years ago liked a knotted sock. I used to stick one in her mouth when she was eyeing up our trainers as a puppy!! :-D

Mel I dug up an old leggy Lithodora a couple of years ago. It was the pretty blue and white one and I did used to trim the length off it when it encroached on other plants and that didn't seem to do it any harm. It got so the flowers were very tiny though and didn't look healthy which is why it went! I got a plain blue replacement last year for the top island bed so will see how that does. Did he get the lawn done before any rain? We've had no rain and the washing dried outside, but there was a nasty black cloud for a while. I got a reminder about my next Asda order slot today and had completely forgotten to do it so thank goodness I looked at my emails.

There is real concern that people will stop taking any precautions after the vaccine because they are protected themselves and, if they don't bother about the rules now, they certainly won't after the vaccine will they. Some experts suggest we should continue with masks, social distance etc as if we haven't had the vaccine. The prevention isn't against getting the virus so much as preventing it making us seriously ill as far as I can understand. What I don't think is understood yet is how asymptomatic people spread it. If they aren't coughing to spread it, is it spread by others touching what they have touched after touching their mouths, noses or eyes? I think they are doing the relaxing in the stages to watch what happens. Within a week of the children going back to school there were cases in some of OH's schools and others in some city schools and, as I said yesterday, one school has had to close till after Easter because there are so many with the virus or having to isolate. I don't think it is realised in areas where there is less infection, how bad it is in others. The city here has been under some kind of restriction ever since the first lockdown started, so what will happen when so many are refusing the vaccination? Several friends just will not travel to certain areas of the city, even to get their vaccine, preferring to wait and go elsewhere.

Vera your garden is sounding very pretty at the moment and I can vouch for how good the Viburnum is this year. What is blue glory of the snows? It isn't Chionadoxa is it? I have some pink ones of those. Men have no idea of our garden designs and colours have they. It's good you will get a scan this time as it will probably be sooner as they don't usually take so long.

I wonder how Gill has got on this week. We hav'nt heard from her and I want to know how she got on with her jab.

I have a pink Glory of the snow and blue scillas in the tubs and on the rockery. They are lovely little flowers and so brave to come out in the cold weather and winds we've had lately. My Magnolia up in the border it just bursting into bloom and the camelia at the west is flowering but the frost has damaged the flowers but it looks ok from the house.

Morning all,

Grey dull dreary and wet wet wet. So whats it like with you?

Definately nothing planned for today so shall see how it goes. I can't believe its Friday again. Where did that week go and I am still waiting to hear from Gill to find out how she has got on with the work on the bungalow.

Good morning all, wet here too, a few minutes ago it was lashing down so that will test the conservatory leaks again!!

Nothing planned except my second jab this afternoon. :-) :-)

Morning, Mel, AnnG and all

Showers rather than steady rain here. At the moment the sun’s out and it looks a bit blowy but I haven’t been outside to see how warm it is.

It’s good you are getting the second jab AnnG. I hope we’ll hear about ours soon as it’s now 10 weeks since our first one.

No plans for today, apart from sorting out my Tesco order for delivery on Monday. I’ll just see how the day goes.

It is only 10 weeks since I had mine on 15 January Vera, but I had to make the second date when I made the first. (I think they stopped doing that just after I had my first). My time is 2.21pm. So have the morning for jobs if I want (I don't particuarly) will probably just sit around doing nothing. Yes have my order for tomorrow to sort as well. Hoping this jab doesn't have a reaction tomorrow as well.

Charles seemed to have stopped that leak successfully Can't see any others at the moment. Hope we hear something from gill and she has not had a reaction to the jab.

It was only fine rain we had and now the suns out so I'll send it your way Anng.

Vera you must get your second one soon if its 10 weeks since your first and Anng is having hers. Hope it al goes well Anng. Is your neighbour taking you for your jab?

Can't seem to get going this morning. Hav'nt even done my hair yet. I am dressed and must get on as I have a lot of ironing to do with having the dry weather I have been doing the washing but not the ironing.