General Chat

Don’t you find that the day you don’t get dressed or are very late doing so, that that is the day you get a surprise knock at the door :-D

Added Brain nit in gear - should have put this on ZZzz’s thread.

Good morning chit chatters

Its overcast here and looks like it is going to plummet down any minute :-(

I'm waiting on my Tesco delivery which is between 11-3 but daughter gets a message and we can track them on the map however she's not up yet!

I'm okish today but can feel the golf balls under my neck so my glands are up but my temp is ok now. I did think because I'm not out very often, my immune system is low and its very hard to try and build it up.

I'm going on my Greek yoghurt diet starting tomorrow which is layered strawberries and blueberries in between the plain fat free Greek yoghurt and then on top crushed pistachios. I lost a good bit of weight when I was on this before and also with lots of fruit, it built me up too. I do eat a handful of nuts now and then and my dried apricots as they contain iron. Gonna have lots of beetroot too as that's a iron rich food.

I have received my appointment for brain and full spine MRI in Glasgow 23 May. My Neurologist wasn't sure if I needed one but has obviously decided otherwise but at least it gives me reassurance and I want to know if the covering on my spine has grown back at all, however as I have no feeling in my left leg, then I rather think the answer is no but we shall see. my appointment is at 11 and its an hour so hopefully we may get to go for lunch afterwards.

Linda, I hope Esme got home and is ok now. never a dull moment with your family so always keeps you busy. I agree about not knowing the best tradespeople when you move, its quite difficult. But putting down sheets before you paint is not rocket science is it? Think I might well have sent him packing but then you would have to find someone else and that may not be easy.

Daughter has just got word its 11-30 so another hour. Always feel i cant get on with much until they have been and gone so shall make another coffee and chill for now.

Hope everyone else looking in has a good day with some sunshine as it has now started raining here.

Florence in the hebrides

OH had to tackle the painter on his own because I had to help my daughter. Esme was off school again yesterday because she was being sick, this is something which often happens to her. She has some medication prescribed by the hospital which helps. This time she was ill all night as well and was refusing even to drink. So my daughter rang 111 and they said she had to go to A& E as she sounded to be dehydrated. Annoyingly her school had her wheelchair, they have had it for over a week and didn’t know where it was. As we needed it for the weekend, my daughter had chased them yesterday and they had found it in a cupboard off site whatever that means.
She took Esme straight to the hospital and I collected the wheelchair and took it to the hospital. Esme wasn’t very well at all, but she is on a ward now with a cannula in her arm and is having fluids. She has perked up a lot and had eaten four grapes. They will be there for a quite a while and eventually someone will make a decision , so hopefully she will be let out.

When I got back, the painter had only just arrived, that was about eleven, he only stayed until three because he had to take his father in law for a hospital appointment :-( He had tried to fob OH off with feeble excuses, so I spoke to him and he apologised. Even so I had to make him put sheets down in the hallway while he was painting the stairs. Then he only stayed until 2 pm because he had to take his father in law for a hospital appointment :-(
The trouble is that when you move to a new area you don’t know who the good tradesmen are.
On the other hand the electricians were excellent.

OH has taken half the hedge out where it was all ivy. There are enormous gaps now, so we have ordered a hundred hawthorn whips to plant Poor OH has already been to the tip twice today and is going to go again once he has had a coffee. :-D

I'm fine, thanks, Florence.
My back was certainly sore by the time I had finished in the garden yesterday, but it's OK today.
The garden doesn't often look as cared-for as it does at the moment, because we seldom have a long enough spell of dry weather to allow all the jobs to be up to date at the same time.

As AnninG says, your immune system does seem to be at a low ebb, when you're catching all these bugs. Take care.

It's still dry and fairly sunny today, so far, but there's more cloud around, and a chilly wind.
I'll sow some salad seeds, and then, as the bin was emptied yesterday, I'll start filling it up again with chopped up bits of twiggy branches. The heaps of branches are very slowly diminishing!

I hope Joan has managed to deal with more of her overgrown hedge.

I'd like to be a fly on the wall when you and OH tackle the painter, Linda!

good morning all still only 8 degrees here but it is sunny and dry.

Sorry to hear that you seem to have another virus Florence. It seems that your immune system iss not so good and every time you mix with people outside the home you are catching bugs. Hope that you feel better soon. AG that was a marathon in the garden that you did. Well done I bet it looks good now, very satisfying as you say.
Linda, why has the painter not put down sheets where he is working. I hope the flooring is not permanently marked. Have you asked the painter if he is insured against damage. Hope he manages to continue without spattering more paint. Did he come well recommended? Very annoying that he is not taking care.

Morning all

Lovely and sunny here but the clouds are white and really huge so hope they are not going to empty down on us later. Its glass bin day for us today and they only come now every 3 months but we have very little glass as we dont drink so really just sauce jars etc.

When I went to bed last night, my head and neck were hurting again and temp was up grrrr. So never slept very well and this morning unbelievably, i have a cough and very croaky and hot. I cant believe that after having a flu type virus for nearly 3 weeks, I feel as if its back again grrrr.

We were supposed to going out tonight to the bingo but my neighbour is unwell so sadly she couldn't take us but actually, I don't feel well enough to go anyway even if someone else offered. There are so many viruses going round at the moment, its unreal.

My Sister in law has had a temp of over 39 for a week now and really unwell with shivering, coughing etc yet my nephew and brother have not got it??? But they had it had xmas so maybe they are immune to it?

Anyway, I shall just gently potter round the house and rest later on.

Linda, I think i would get another painter once he has finished unless you gave him a contract? He doesn't sound very competent and if he got paint on my floor because he didn't put a sheet down, he would def get the sharp end of my tongue!
From what you have said, I wouldn't want him painting my bedrooms at all as the paint would be everywhere !

Argyllgran, you were certainly busy in your garden, well done you but I hope you are not feeling sire in your back etc today?

I decided after I had repotted my Red Robins to put them straight outside but sheltered near the back door and they seem to have taken so here's hoping they will grown well. I got 4 bags of peat free compost so i can now fill my newly painted planters and then they can go outside ready for plants early June.

Well I hope everyone is having a nice day but I had better do something rather than sit on here too long.

Florence in the hebrides

I hope your daughter gets her TV back soon, It is nice just to e able to relax and watch something for a while.

It does sound like more bad weather is on the way, so you were lucky to get out in the garden while you could.

The electrician turned up at 8 am this morning, Luckily I had just come out of the shower before he arrived. He is well on his way into putting a new consumer unit in. Once he has done that, he is going to sort out the security light on the garage.

The dopey painter hasn’t turned up yet, he doesn’t start until 9.30, then disappears about 3pm. There is still paint splattered over the dining room floor despite OH trying to clean it off last night. He is going to get a good talking to when he arrives. He still has the hall to paint where there is more of the wood flooring. I dread to think what will happen when he moves into the ceilings in the bedrooms, especially as the first coat on the new plaster has to be watered down. We can’t move the furniture out, so it is going to have to be covered up with those large polythene sheets, but I doubt that he has any.

That's so annoying, Linda! I hope you managed to get the paint off without damaging the wood.

My daughter's landlord is having her house roof retiled at the moment.
It's mostly done, but today the contractor moved the scaffolding along to the last section , and that has blocked the signal to the satellite dish, so she can't watch TV.
Not the end of the world - but hopefully he will finish the job soon.

We've had several dry days, so he has been able to get on well with the job. I hope he manages to finish it before the weather breaks, which is supposed to happen this weekend - or maybe even tomorrow afternoon.

With that in mind, I've had a marathon day in the garden. I've cut all the grass in this good-sized garden, and also the grass on "my" section of the verge of the track along to the house. Re-potted a couple of plants, and moved one from a pot into the ground. And some general tidying up while the weather lasts.

Satisfying but tiring!

I am glad that you managed to get out today Florence, but it is not good that your temperature keeps going up.
The painter was here again today, but he isn’ t very careful Despite the fact that we have told him about being really careful with our new wood floor, when he had gone today we discovered that he had left his tins of paint and a tray full of paint just on the wooden floor in the dining room l He has splattered paint on the floor as well, so we will be having words in the morning.

Afternoon all

I have been out for the day to town with my good friend. We had a fab day in and out of the shops etc. I managed to buy a pair of summer trousers and a top in peacocks so shall try them on tomorrow and hope they fit ok.

had a nice lunch out and off to the supermarket for a few bits and bobs.
All in all a good da out with only a couple of quick showers but no wind!

Wasn't on yesterday as had bad headache and my temp was up. Also my neck was sore so had to stay off the PC as the screen was hurting my eyes. I am much better today but just started feeling hot and took my temp which is 38.1C so not happy with that.

Anyway my dinner is nearly ready so off to eat now as quite hungry.

Glad eveyrone is ok.

Joan, hope if you are looking in, you are feeling a bit better this week.

Florence in the hebrides

Quite a nice idea to have a mixed hedge Linda. Is Quick thorn, Hawthorne? If so the birds will like it. when we had hawthorne in a previous house we used to get a lot of Bullfinches.

It was supposed to be raining here today Ann , but it has held off until now. We have been out to tackle the hedge which is probably a good twenty metres long. On closer inspection, it is about ninety percent ivy. There are a few valiant bits of the original trees poking through, trying to survive. We have done quite a long section, sawing the thick ivy trunks off at the bottom and pulling it out. What is left is decidedly see through, but if we keep destroying the ivy at the bottom, hopefully the spindly trees will have a chance to thicken up. There is a long section where the trees have collapsed all together, so there is just a gap. We are going to buy some quick thorn and see how that goes. If we can, we will put some in among the sparse hedge as well.

good afternoon. I thought it was going to be a pleasant day today but although it started off dry it has drizzled off and on since about 11.30 this morning. It is 10 degrees but feel colder. I needed to go out and post a letter, got halfway there and it started to rain so I got a bit wet. Not doing much else today.

Has everyone run away from the thread? I hope everyone is OK.

It is another really cold day today. I am psyching myself up to go outside after lunch and tackle the hedge

Good morning, although technically it is afternoon. It is bitterly cold here, it says it is eight degrees, but it isn’t, it is much colder. I have just put some bubble wrap over the seeds in the greenhouse to try and protect them a bit.

The painter is here, painting away, I want to put the heating on, but he would be too warm, so I can’t :-(

I hope you feel better soon Sylvia. It is usually bunged up ears which make me feel dizzy. Having hearing aids doesn’t help as it tends to keep the wax in.

I had a lovely day out today with my friend at the seaside where she used to live as a child. We went for a very long bracing walk along the beach. I was very cosy in my padded coat. It has a hood with a very good drawstring which keeps my head very warm. She had a woolly hat, but it didn’t cover her ears, so she was cold. We treated ourselves to fish and chips in a restaurant, delicious, but not good for my diet.

The painter didn’t turn up until 10.30 as he had to take his dog to the vets . I nearly replied to his text by asking him if our plumber was there as well as that is the excuse he uses when he is going to be late. I refrained as it was his first day. Apparently he only worked until one o’clock when he went to the dentist. He painted the walls of the lounge and dining room, but they definitely need a second coat, so I hope he will be doing that tomorrow. OH wasn’t pleased because he got paint all over the curtain rail supports, so he is going to have words with him tomorrow :-(

You get a P60 for each of your sources of income, except the state pension, Florence.

I have two tiny work pensions (one of them pays £2.24 per month!) and a small annuity, and I receive a P60 for each of them.

Ah names, yes you are correct as I remember now I have 2 private pensions as don't get the state pension yet and they send me one but I do get a benefit which is taxable so I thought my P60 showed all my income? Last year I got a letter from the tax office saying they owed me £28 which I claimed online and that stated my total earnings.

It’s the employer or the pension provider that does the P60. You don’t get one if you only get a state pension.
My ones from my private pensions have started to arrive.

Afternoon all.
Well first thing it was grey and overcast and felt chilly but suddenly, the sun has come out...yay :-D

I may just take a gander round and see how the plants are doing and get some much needed fresh air.

Oh Sylvia, how lucky you didn't fall down the stairs! Gosh you were very lucky indeed. Thinking about what you said, yes I agree the salt does affect BP and maybe that was the cause unless you have an ear infection and your balance was off?

Aw you will be looking forward to your daughter's visit in may, how lovely.

I'm glad you spoke about tax affairs as it reminded me that I haven't received my annual P60 showing my earnings and tax deductions but then I remembered I think the tax office don't send them anymore. You can go online and access them to print out so I did.

Hmm it said the P60 for 23/24 hasn't been produced yet as too early but it has reminded me to check back in a months time and look so ty for that.

I have seen an offer at Tesco for compost peat free 40 litre bags 2 for £9.00 with club card but online it says sold out so my friend who is taking me out on Thursday is in town with her son today and will go and have a look and if they have it, she will get me 4 bags, such a good bargain compared to what I paid online!

Linda, so glad to hear you live up high! At least you have one chatty neighbour.

Well my supplies for my crafts came today so shall be busy at the weekend making more candle centrepieces. Hope we have enough this time to finish off.

Well Im off into the garden as the sun is now shining brightly.

Hope everyone else is well today

Florence in the hebrides