General Chat

Glad to see you posted Linda and the move went ok. Oh what a pain not having the internet...you have my sympathy, I was without for 6 weeks!!

The Artex swirley, oh my mum has this on her ceiling. Was all the fashion years ago.

Hope you continue to get things done bit by bit,

Its freezing here tonight and had heating on full blast. Of course its bin day tomorrow and its blowing a gale....never blooming fails its become a joke here
:-D :-D

I re-potted all my seedlings and my Red Robin shrubs into bigger pots so a good job done.

Right off to make a coffee now

Florence in the hebrides

Well good morning all.

Never slept a wink last night as the wind & rain kept me awake. Daughter has put bins out but just now a really heavy shower came and wind was gusty. Thankfully, bins haven't moved and i'm wishing the lorry would hurry up.

I'm sitting in my waterproof jacket, scarf & gloves so the minute the lorry comes, I shall go out and put the bins back asap once they are emptied. I wanted to leave them them but it would be another 3 weeks and they are 3/4 full so they needed emptying.

Was blue recycling and organic which is full of cardboard so has to go.

Then another disaster with a bin! This time with the non recyclable kitchen bin. Daughter decided to empty that too except when she last emptied the bin she forgot to put a bin bag in first grrrrr. So Got a bin bag and tipped the bin upside down and had to shake hard to get all the stuff out. The bin needed a clean so is now upside down in my bath drying out( she washed it outside with the hose first).

Seriously, I think I am jinxed with the bins, there is always a disaster or something and the weather doesn't help the situation lol

So home alone until Friday afternoon so a very quiet house and all spic and span.
I have a few small chores to deal with and then will decide what i shall do this afternoon.

Seeing Openreach along the road at the junction box so hopefully they are sorting out the internet as ours has been very slow and keeps crashing. My friend in the north of the village was complaining too so its not just our line.

I remember when I moved to the previous house and we had to wait 6 weeks for a new number and the internet, I couldn't get 4G either so always sat in the supermarket car park on way home from work to check and send emails! Was a right pain.4g just wasn't working in the village where I was or until I got 6 miles up the rd which was unbelievable. I did ask my neighbours about it but they were all over 70 and none had a smart phone!
......

Right lorry just came so had to leave this and glad message was still here!

So windy but the guy took my bins up to my gate for me which was very kind of him.

Hope everyone else having a good day.

Shall look in later

Florence in the hebrides

It snowed today, with more thought to come over night :-0 :-P

Good morning all. Sylvia hope you don't get too much and please don't send it this way, we are not so prepared as you. even when warned we are surpised when it happens. I think this area is still on a flood warning.

Thank goodness for mobile phones. When we moved into our previous house the phone hadn’t been reconnected and there was a power cut that night. Overhead wires would touch and everyone would go off. Over a week for a phone, the few neighbours we had were all away and the phone box was mikes away,

Morning all and what a morning!

No ferries and yes Im suppose to get a Tesco delivery tomorrow.

Here's hoping as they would have had a delivery last night, that not too many items will be out of stock. Haven't had any avocados for 3 weeks and they are good for my heart as contain Potassium.

Oh well we shall see.

Chores all done and my knees were aching so Im now having a rest with me coffee for 1/2 hour. Not sure about the rest of the day.

Seen aa report of heavy snow but not for us. Anyone else got snow apart from poor Sylvia. Hope you havent a lot?

Hoping Joan is ok. Maybe she still has lots of things to deal with? <3

Florence in the hebrides

No now he re but it is bitterly cold because the builders have all the doors and windows open to dry the plaster on the ceilings. It is going very well, we have the lounge back now with a dark pink wet plaster ceiling.
Good news on the internet, it will be up and running on March 12th :-(
It was supposed to be the 24th Feb, so fingers crossed they will actually do it this time. The annoying thing is that tgey are giving us another new landline number. I have already changed it in lots of places, so I have to do it again. In the meantime I am having to use my phone data to get online

Hey Linda, glad you are ok. Yes each move out with the area requires a new number. Think I had to let about 70 organisations know and that took ages!!

Dark pink ceiling, certainly different from white!

Just been wet & windy here all day but further stormy weather later....just the usual.

Been trying to work out some of my DNA matches without any success grrrr. Most of them are 4 cousins etc so quite distant but I can go back 5 generations on most of my families but not having much luck.

Waiting on a phone call with a friend I haven't spoken too in ages for a catch up an then sort out my evening meal.

Take care Linda

Florence in the hebrides

Oh Lordy Lordy...what a day!! Its stormy here and very gusty winds. Tesco is several stops away and i don't envy the driver carrying my boxes to the back door, poor person but I shall be extremely grateful.

My dad is very breathless again but has an appointment with the cardiologist tomorrow which is good. He was also in his workshop using a grinder and managed to slice a bit of his finger!!! Blood flowed quickly as he's on blood thinners but he grabbed a cloth and then wrapped insulating tape around the cut. Seems it has healed ok now but honestly, he won't listen about taking it easy!

He is not a dressing gown & slippers man and says he will keep going until his demise much to the worry of me his daughter. I just said to try and take care when using these machines. What else can I say.

So today I'm just pottering about as not much to do until after food delivery. Laundry all up to date etc.

Hope everyone else looking in is well and ok.

Shall look in later on

Florence in the hebrides

Hello all, well it's not raining today so an improvement on yesterday at least.

Hoping everyone ok , not seen Joan for a while so really hoping she is ok .

Always seems to be a problem with something when moving and the internet is usually the one it seems. Hope all goes well and it gets sorted for you Linda.
You are definitely motoring on with your new house. Soon be just as you want it.

Your dad sounds like my OH Florence. My OH doesn't take advice easily and I've lost count of all the minor( luckily) cuts he has inflicted on himself because he 'knows' best.


Done my shop for delivery tomorrow, nearly forgot as this week has gone so fast but then I say that most weeks. lol.

Take care all

Ginnie

I wish that my house would soon be as I want it Ginnie, but it is one step forward and one step back.
The builder is doing very well with the ceilings, he only has the main bedroom, en-suite, hall, landing , kitchen and utility room to do. We have to give up the main bedroom tomorrow which I am not looking forward to. It is the only room in the house which is cosy and warm. We have a tv in it, so as soon as we have finished dinner, we have been going upstairs and using it as a cosy lounge for the evening.

The real lounge has the fireplace ripped out, I had hoped they would put the new one in this week, but they are too busy and it is going to be a week tomorrow :-(. to make it worse OH has started taking the skirting boards off in preparation for when the wood floor goes in. That means there is just raggy looking concrete on the bottom of the walls :-(

I had to go back to the old house yesterday to collect two parcels. I had ordered several batches of blinds and a few days later some curtains.. I payed using PayPal as I normally do. I had changed my address on both PayPal and on the credit card which pays PayPal, but it was only when I ordered the curtains that I noticed that PayPal was dispatching everything to my old address. I thought that I had messed up the address change, but when I checked, I hadn’t. I googled it and it seems to be a recognised problem when if you have dealt with a company before and they have your details in their system, PayPal will revert to that old address . I had to ring Pay Pal up and they removed all traces of the old address from their system. To be fair to them, someone in America answered on the first ring, unlike most of the UK websites where I am on hold listening to canned musak for ages. Most of the orders hadn’t been dispatched yet, so the company altered the delivery address, but two blinds had already gone to the delivery company. They did try to get them diverted, but it didn’t work, so I had to go and collect them. It was a good job it was only half an hour up the road and not a long distance move.

I hope Joan is alright as she hasn’t been posting

Morning everyone.
Oh my Linda, its not easy is it? Hoping your painter gets done fairly swiftly. But at least you have 1 cosy room you can use.

Its amazing re the addresses when you think its all sorted and then.... it still presents problems. Glad you got it sorted swiftly though.

Have you not arranged with the PO to redirect for a year? I did it and it worked so well, cost around £60 if i can remember? But it was worth every penny. If you haven't done so already. maybe worth it and then at least you will get all your mail & parcels etc.

Sunny day but when I popped out to the bin, my golly it was cold and a chilly breeze too so didn't spend any longer than I needed to outside!

Admiring all my plants growing on the windowsill. The geraniums seem to be growing by the hour!! They will soon need repotting into a larger pot.

Linda, I'm thinking maybe Joan just has had a lot of things to deal with recently and maybe isn't up to posting? Here's hoping she will be back soon and hope she isn't ill or something.

Nothing special on today so pottering around tidying up etc. Might throw out some washing as its dry & windy, save the tumble drier lol

Have a good day all
Florence in the hebrides

Hello to everyone.
First of all I am sorry for not coming back to the thread sooner, I have been deseperate to get back & chat to everyone but I have been really struggling with the loss of my husband Jack, I am finding it all really difficult to deal with particularly at night.
I don't like the long dark nights at the best of times but at the moment I am finding the nights very difficult to deal with, I am having a big problem with not being able to sleep, & when I do manage to drop off it's just snatches here & there.

With the help of our eldest son & eldest daughter I have managed to get the various paperwork in order apart from one company !
Jack had a private pension with the Royal Mail (he was a Postie for over 25 yrs) & trying to speak to someone at RM about his death etc has not been easy.

At first no-one would talk to us & said because there is no will we needed the courts permission to make a claim on the pension, (hat turned out to be untrue!, ( the estate isn't big enough) After several days passed our eldest son eventually managed to speak to someone about the situation& pointing out that RM were still putting the full pension money into the bank !

He was told that a bereavement pack would be sent out to me & I would have to fill in the relavant forms & send them back along with the original death certificate before any alterations to the pension could be made & in the mean time.pension money would cease.

That was almost 2 weeks ago & still NO forms have been sent, not only that the FULL pension is STILL being paid into the bank !!
I dare not touch it as I am not entitled to the full amount & likely as not I will have to pay back any over payment.
It's causing me untold worry as I only have my own State Pension to live on at the moment,( my savings went on the funeral costs) my hubby always told me I would be ok should anything happen to him, as I would be entitled to 1/2 his Post Office pension & all I had to do was contact RM pensions & they would sort it all out.

My son is going to phone them again tomorrow & I don't envy the person on the other end of the phone !!

I am trying hard to keep myself busy with things in the house, & have spent much of the time cleaning out drawers & cupboards, hubby was a bit of a hoader & never really threw anything away !
I have lost count of all the little things that I have come acrosss this past 2 weeks, several small baccy tins concealing soo many old screws, nuts & bolts & old batteries, you wouldn't believe what I have come across on my clear out !

Some things I have kept as they meant a lot to Jack & though not much use to me I have known them for so many years & they were part of him & I can't bear to part with them'
..............................................................................................

On a different note, the weather has been reasonable here, several sunny days, with rain holding off until the night time, but it has been really cold which has stopped me getting outside.
I bought a few Primroses recently, & have managed to get them into the flowers borders without freezing my socks off, I still have several lots of branches to clear away but it will have to warm up somewhat before I can do that job.

We had snow yesterday & I thought the daffies would be damaged but fortunately, though it was a heavy shower it didn't last too long, it happens every year, just as the Daffies are about to bloom we get snow !
....................................................................................

Linda... so happy for you that you have moved into your new home, you are still being kept as busy as ever with the various jobs needing to be done in the house, I really hope all will go to plan & that youu will get things sorted quickly.

I hope all is well with everyone on the thread, take care of yourselves, & THANKYOU once agian for thinking & asking after me..

Joan.

Relieved to know you're OK, Joan - though obviously it's a difficult time for you.

After my husband died, I found a whole drawerful of assorted batteries in the shed, large numbers of screwdrivers, and lots of other stuff, too much to mention here.
And of course, all the little tins and jars of old screws, etc.

I hope your son manages to give RM a good kick in the right direction. You don't need money worries on top of everything else.

Dry and sunny here today - and even some warmth in the sunshine. Lovely!

Quite warm and sunny here and I have spent an hour in the garden weeding and cutting back a few things ready for the brown bin men this week. On Thursday at the garden centre I bought 6 Primulas in a back reduced to £1.99 They are all in flower although a bit leggy but they brighten up a dark corner and they might take for next year. Their root system was not brilliant but £1.99 I can afford to lose.

Glad that you are OK Joan although you will be finding the winter is not helping your mood. These first months are hard, and you don't need problems not of your making to pull you down. Good that your son is going to sort out RM. They should have a bereavement department to deal with.

Linda, I can't say that I envy you all the upheaval but I am sure it will be worth it in the end. Hopefully things will move forward at speed.

Florence hope you got your washing dry and that it didn't blow away. There is absolutely no wind here at all today, it is really spring like. Sad that it is not going to last.

Ginny these on line shops seem to come round really quickly don't they. Always something to add to them though.

Not looking forward to Tuesday this week. I have to go to Cheltenham hospital to the medical photography suite. I have the beginnings of a basal cell carcinoma on my nose so I have to see the photographer before seeing the consultant. I know what it is as I have had almost 20 more previously over the last 20 years or so. But have never had one in such a worrying place as outside of my nostril. Although I believe it is a very common place to get them. I don't like to think about the effects of the op to remove it, not going to be a pretty sight. Anyway I usually go to Glos royal hospital so Cheltenham is different and harder to get to. I have to go by bus into Glos bus station and then catch the hospital bus, so a new experience. Appointment is at 15.15 so I need to leave home at 1300. If going by car ir would take half an hour tops.

Afternoon all

Sunny & bright day but quite cold in the wind, however it is dry and good for the washing. Yesterday, managed to get all the towels dry and they didn't blow away lol

So just when you think you are nearly there with selling your property, something else crops up to keep you back grrr

I was sent an email with loads of attachments from sol. A copy of the search shows when my dear mum got a disability grant to have the bath removed and a shower put in in 2013 and another grant to have new central heating put in through something called Coldbusters in 2010. These grants were given by local council.

So upon reading the search info, it says, if the property is sold, then the grants have to be repaid in full???? My mum was reg disabled and on pension credit. They checked her bank and at the time had less than 3K so she met the criteria.

At no time was she told that if she sold the flat, then both grants would have to be paid back. So now we shall have to pay them back around £8600.

I have tried to speak to someone today but all I got was a recorded message saying due to sickness and staff shortages, there is no one to take your call, please leave a message! So one more thing to keep us from completing but in anycase, its our problem not the buyers but they need written confirmation from the council they we will be repaying it on completion of sale.

Anyway shall try phoning again tomorrow and hopefully get it sorted.

Ann I hope you got on ok at the hospital. Are they able to remove the thing on your nose? Sounds very painful and in an awkward position too.

Joan, so glad you posted as was a bit worried, you might be unwell.

I hope your son managed to get through to the Royal Mail Pensions Dept today and get that sorted. You said there was no will so i'm guessing your house is in joint names? But now you need to consider making a will yourself so if anything happens to you, your estate can be dealt with more easily.

All these things take time, but as you said, you have dealt with most things now so nearly all sorted. You may now qualify for Pension Credit, just a thought to look into.

Hope your snow has gone. We def dont have any over this way and dont want any either.....Spring is here and winter has gone hopefully.

I finally finished my friends family tree and daughter took it today to post it for me. So that's another one complete .

Well I need some lunch and a coffee as not eaten yet.

Hope everyone else looking in is ok.

Florence in the hebrides

That condition of your mum's grant sounds very unfair, Florence.

On a Google search, I see that if the property is sold within 10 years of the Coldbuster grant being given, then the owner (or landlord if the grant was to a tenant) does have to repay it.

"COLDBUSTER GRANTS
Currently there is a repayment condition attached to Coldbuster Grants given under the local scheme where the application is from an owner-occupier. The South West London Housing Sub Region attach a condition in respect of the Universal Coldbuster Scheme for South West London whereby if a grant is given to an owner-occupier or a private tenant and the property is sold within 10 years of the completion of the works, then the grant is repayable. In the case of a grant given to a private tenant on this Scheme the grant is repayable by the landlord and it is proposed that a similar condition should also apply in respect of applications from private tenants for new enquiries under the local Scheme."


But your mum got her Coldbuster grant in 2010, so that clause shouldn't apply - assuming that all councils have the same rules.

The same seems to apply to Disability Grants - though again, maybe different areas have different rules:

Do disabled facilities grants have to be repaid?
Not usually, but if you are a homeowner and you have a grant of more than £5,000 you may be asked to repay some of it if you move within 10 years. Check the conditions with your local authority.
https://www.foundations.uk.com/library/dfg-faq/


But I'm sure you've looked into all that!

Hello to everyone.
Florence what a worry for you, but, could it be that any repayment could mean within a certain time limit, though I don't know for certain I have never heard of anyone having to repay any home improvement grants !

Yes our house is in joint names & even without a will from hubby the various things have gone through quite quickly, but his private Royal Mail pension has not.
I received the claim forms today (it's like a book) & our daughter came over to look through them, we discovered from the letter with them that the claim can be done on-line but ONLY by filling in the paper forms first & then sending to the relevant people via an email !

My daughter arrived at 10-45 am & it took her until 1-45 pm to fill it all in & then submit everything, 3 hours ! unbelievable, & my hubby always told me it would be simple enough to make a claim should anything happen to him !
I am just hoping that the claim is in order & we haven't missed out anything, I'm not sure I could face further questions, I could never have managed to make the claim on my own !

Our youngest daughter (in Lanark) phoned me yesterday to tell me our grandson age 6yrs was in hospital, he had woken during the night with 1/2 of his face swollen & was admitted, the DR seemed to think he had an infected Lymph node & would need IV antibiotics & scan of his neck.

Eventually a Cannula was fitted & he had 1 dose of antibiotics, he was due the scan sometime today & it would depend on what it showed as to whether he would need another dose of AB.
Daughter stayed at the hospital last night & she might have to spend another night there, grandson seems well enough but for the swelling he is happy & eating !
Always something to have to deal with.

Another nice day here, dry & sunny but still a bit on the chilly side.

Joan.

It does seem as if it is outside of the repayment time Florence so you may be OK.

My hospital appointment is tomorrow. I don't thinkthere is any doubt about whether or not they can remove the BCC, If it is left there is the chance it could become malignant. It is how they will remove it that concerns me really.

I have relooked at the local council site and for the disability grant, it says repayable only if within 10 years. Both grants are now out with the 10 years so I don't understand it. But until I can get through to someone, I cant deal with it. No one has tel me back since I left a message!

EDF have tf to a new system and i couldn't log in to the electricity acc for the flat.
I eventually got through and explained and was told, we tf to a new system but are having problems! I will send you a link to change your password. Hmm still waiting for that too.

Bit of a non-productive day really and haven't managed to tick off all my things to do except pay the last instalment of the c tax for the year.

Joan so sorry to hear about your wee grandson. I was going to say it sounded like mumps? Here's hoping the AB will get to the bottom of the problem soon and he will recover and go home. Such a worry when they are young.

Sadly these forms do take ages to complete. They never make anyone's life easy at difficult times. I'm sure your daughter checked it thoroughly so hopefully will get sorted soon.

Sorry Ann, got the day wrong! I suspect under a local. Freeze the area and cut it out? I had a stye once that got infected and was like an aniseed ball under my eyelid. They flipped my eyelid, injected to freeze and removed it. All I can politely say is Ouch! But in 5 minutes, it was all sorted. So here's hoping your visit tomorrow goes well for you.

Daughter left another pile of washing grr, she's away until Wed.

On Sunday, she decided to wash her single fleece duvet. Before i knew it, there was soap suds coming out of the machine and spreading over the lino grrrr Used 4 towels to mop it up and stop soap from spreading out.
Just like before, she put too much liquid in the machine. The fleece duvet cover really absorbs the soap and creates so much you really only need a tiny amount.

Took 3 washes, 3 spins and a final rinse, spin & drain to get rid of the suds. To say, i was not a a happy bunny doesn't cut it and daughter got the sharp end of my tongue as this is now the 2nd time she let this happen.

Just as well she has gone away today, far away from the washing machine!

The time is moving so fast cant believe it neary 3.30 already.

Off to hang out some washing for the last time today :-D