General Chat

I hope your electricity supply (and mine!) holds up, Florence.

Very windy here, roaring past the house, and grey skies, but no rain so far.
Clouds of leaves flying off the trees, which are suddenly almost bare.

We're at the southern edge of the Yellow Warning area, so it will be worse further north and east.
AccuWeather says the wind is twice as strong with you as it is with us, Florence.

On the plus side, after a couple of dry windy days, yesterday the grass was dry enough for me to give it its final cut for the year.
I had given up hope of that, as it's been so wet and soggy that I haven't been able to get at it for several weeks.
Yesterday it was long and still slightly damp, and therefore very hard work - and slow, because I had to keep stopping to unclog damp grass from the underside of the mower - but I'm so glad to have done it at last.

Morning all.
Thought I would pop on here whilst we still have power as there are a large number without in the North and West of Scotland. You can see if you go on:

SSE Power Track map

Its over 50 mph here but sunny and dry. One of my little flower pots has moved but im not venturing outside to get blown over!

So not sure what to do today??? Knitting, strip bed, family tree research maybe...such choices lol

Anyway, hope everyone is safe wherever you are if you are in the path of Storm Babet.

Take care
Florence in the hebrides

Well done Linda and so hope you do find somewhere quick as I can see you strangling a certain person if you you don't ;-)
Ii have been cutting my hair for years and now as i'm housebound, I don't have any choice but my old hairdresser always said I actually did a good job. I did buy some proper hairdresser scissors.

Well the wind is now picking up and blowing hard so shall keep me torch handy for later.

Joan, I shall be thinking of you and hubby. Hope you have a supply of candles!

Well better cook something quick and fill the kettle now.

Stay safe everyone

Florence in the hebrides

That's so quick, Linda! Congratulations!
Houses here were flying off the shelves, as it were, during the summer, but since the mortgage interest rates went up, it has slowed right down.


I'm so envious of people who have buses "only" every two hours.
Only two buses per day here. A car is essential.

But swings and roundabouts; pros and cons!

The forecast looks dreadful, so please be careful up north. I don’t think you will have many leaves left on the trees after this Joan.

You are brave cutting your own hair Florence, I had mine cut yesterday as well, but it is shorter and layered, so not a DIY job. Having said that during the lockdown my daughter cut mine for me. I bought some proper hairdressers scissors and she watched a video on YouTube. She did a good job, I sent a photo of the back to my hairdresser and she was very impressed

We formally accepted one of the offers on the house yesterday and I sent off all the forms to the conveyancer so it is starting to happen. Not that we have anywhere to go. We have decided against the house we saw a few days ago as it is too far out of the town and only has a bus every two hours. We are going to see two tomorrow, one I am hopeful about. It does need work doing on it, but nothing immediate. Fingers crossed it will be suitable. If it isn’t , we are going to have to move in with our daughter, but we really don’t want to do that

This morning, I went through my wardrobes and took out lots of my clothes for the charity shop. They are all piled up on the spare bed as I had to stop to take OH to the hospital for his annual eye check. It was fine, but as they put drops in, he needed me to drive back. While he was there, I went shopping and managed to buy a pair of knee length tan boots. I am very pleased as last year I left it too late and couldn’t find any anywhere. I have some black ones, but the brown ones are harder to get. Plus I have wide feet, so that doesn’t help in finding any.

I have just had coffee, so had better go and pick the clothes up and get rid of lots of coat hangers.

Hello, well it's a bright day just now but the wind is beginning to get a look in, I worrry a lot when high winds & storms are forecast, I hate wind at the best of times but seeing the forecasts when a storm is brewing scares me silly.
I am not going outside Florence, not worth lifting leaves for a couple of days at least.

I was sooo cross with myself re unpicking the wrong section on my crosstitching project, it takes such a long time to unpick or frog as it's known as, lol.
I was on the verge of removing the whole thing from my stand & not doing anymore to it, but I have done such a lot of it, it would be wrong to just scrap it.


Lentil & Bacon soup for tea today, there's a nice smell coming from the kitchen.

Joan.

Afternoon everyone.

Well the wind is already picking up here and the rain has started. Pretty awful forecast for the next few days with Storm Babet coming. The north of Scotland is set to get it worse so for all of us in its path, please be prepared and take care.

Joan dont be outside sweeping any leaves! What a pain you had to redo some of your cross stich, how very annoying!!

I am going to get a small basket of ironing done and dry off the load from the washing machine before it gets any worse as we may lose the electric.

Ferries are on amber or cancelled.

Home alone again until Friday or next Monday so very quiet here but Im getting things done at a gentle pace. i just showered and washed hair and then decided to cut 2 inches off all round. I checked with my small mirror to make sure the back was straight and it looks fine.

Well off to make a cuppa before ironing and then lunch.

Shall look in later.

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

Good afternoon.
Another lovely sunny, calm & not too chilly day for us.
I did venture outside but only to empty my 3 garden sacks of all the leaves I have lifted so far, I couldn't be bothered sweeping up the leaves from the front garden, just not in the mood for taht job today.

I wanted to get back to my crosstitching project which has been ongoing for a looong time, it was put to one side about 6 years ago when I had a nasty fall & then took ill & unable to stitch.
I recently made the effort & took it up again but after a few hours of stitching I realised I had made a BIG mistake & had to take out 200 stitches !! not a happy bunny having to do that as it takes a long while to do it, & carefullly.

Anyway I am now back on track & now following the correct sheet (9 sheets altogether ) & looking as it should.
It's a large picture (Edinburgh Castle) & if I hadn't had to take such a long break from it it should have been completed by now.

Good luck with your house sale etc Linda.

I hope everyone else is having a nice day,

Joan.

Good afternoon all.
Lovely sunny Autumnal day here an dry!

I have a line of washing out and the breeze is enough to get it all dry but oh my it is chilly. I have a thick cardigan/jacket on and I didn't hang about very long as felt the artic air.But it's good to get the washing out and save the drier.

JustGinnie, I wrapped all my gifts I have bought so far yesterday and also wrote out about 20 cards. it really does pay to be organised! I still buy my son a selection box and he's 28 lolI he kinda expects it so if I didn't buy one he would wonder why! As for socks, they are always a good present for men as I find, they don't go out and buy new ones very often.

Joan, you will have a full time job there with the leaves for awhile, just don't overdo it and take breaks.

Linda, are you sure you want to move into a house that needs so much doing to it? The house you saw sounds like a really old house that hasn't been updated for years and will be a huge job. Even at my age, I think I would want a fairly modern house and not need major overhaul, I wouldn't have the patience or the energy now.

Anyone watching the Long Shadow about the Yorkshire Ripper? It's every Monday ITV1 at 9pm. It's very interesting how they went about finding him. And I noticed that the policeman in them days smoked far too much!

Well I'm off to check the washing as some may be dry by now.

Hope everyone else has some sunshine :-)

Florence in the hebrides

Well, we have had three offers on our house today :-D
One from the couple desperate to move with a chain all ready to go. One from a couple who have a buyer, but their buyer hasn’t got a buyer yet and one from a friend of ours who hasn’t even put his house on the market

The first two offered the same price, the friend a bit more. We have asked the first couple to up their offer and they are sleeping on it.

We went to see the house we drove past yesterday. It turns out to be chain free, I thought that it had just come onto the market, but it has been on for a few months. When we got inside we discovered that it needs a total refurbishment. New flooring, new boiler, some of the double glazing panes in the conservatory have blown. Some of the ceilings are artexed, so will need skimming. We are going to put in a low offer and see what happens, but it seems to have belonged to an old lady, her passport was in one of the wardrobes. It must be an inheritance property, but if it has been on for a few months, whoever the money is going to seems to be unrealistic about the asking price.

It is all so stressful
:-( :-(

Hello Ginnie.
It doesn't seem that long since I was sweeping up leaves last time, & even though we have had some of our big trees taken down there still seems to be as many leaves this year as before !

I wouldn't like to be buying/selling a house nowadays, such a lot has to be done these days, the last house we sold was in 1985 & though there was plenty of paperwork to deal with & it took long enough it wasn't anything like it is today !

Joan.

Hello all,

Expensive week for me last week my dryer decided to stop working It had given me a good few years of working so brought a new one as didn't fancy a winter with damp washing around the house. I don't tend to dry straight in the dryer but if it's possible I start it off on the line and finish in the dryer. . We don't get much sun in the rear garden but sometimes a good breeze get the washing partly dry.

Ordered a few small gifts , toiletries and of course sock and selection boxes. It is a bit of a standing joke that they have to have new socks for Christmas and the chocolates . I have also ordered a book for my daughter. Must get some wrapping paper and cards as well.

There is always a lot of paperwork to do when selling a house , there are very few houses near us on the market at the moment and they are ones that have been on for a while and need a lot of work.

Linda I hope your house hunting goes well and of course the selling of your house.

Florence it's such a shame that the flat isn't selling It does seem to be dragging on for you I hope the agent is wrong and it sells before next year.

Joan it's back to sweeping leaves again . Autumn is here in all it's glory.

Take care all

Ginnie

Good afternoon to you all & what a nice afternoon it is.
The day started off much better then yesterday, bright & calm & starting to dry up , the sun came out before dinner time & it is quite mild, as a result I managed to get out & sweep up the heaps of leaves that had gathered around the house.

Only managed the front path & the driveway at the back ( both big & long ) so it took me some time to shift them, hopefully I will be able to get some lifted tomorrow from the main front garden, an even bigger area to do but it's all "good" excercise, LOL.

Baked tatties with something ! for tea today.

Joan..

Yes Linda, when new properties first come on there is always a flurry of interest and then it does die down unless you reduce the price like we did but now it all quiet!

The sun has come out but its brrr outside. i only went outside in my fluffy cardigan to get the bin in and oh my it was soooo cold.

Daughter on her way back to the airport but running late so hope she gets there on time. The taxi was so long...she waited 30 minutes for one! She needs to be at airport by 2pm and thankfully she is already checked in.

She will need all her time to go through security but she has special assistance anyway so they will get her to the gate in time.

I wrapped 7 presents earlier so all up to date with that.

Well, we haven’t heard anything from the estate agent so far, so that isn’t looking good. :-( :-(

I rang to make appointments for the two houses we are interested in. Amazingly we have an appointment to see the one I like this afternoon It has only just come onto the market , but will go very quickly. The other one we can’t see until Saturday, but it has just had an offer made on it, but it hasn’t been accepted yet.

The good houses are still selling quickly round here, but others are on the market for ages. We have had a very good initial interest in this house, but I suppose that will settle down now. Good job we don’t actually have to move

Good morning everyone.

Early rise today as daughter went away 6.45am!! She has an appointment in Glasgow so caught the first plane.
I didn't go back to bed and just pottered with my coffee.

Just phoned the estate agents and reminded them that we havent had any updates recently and what are they doing to market the property? They said the market is very quiet and dont think it will pick up now until after New Year.

I had a look online and there are the same properties for sale that have been on since we put up for sale. So not a lot of flats selling at all.
I have some wrapping to do so better crack on. By doing the xmas gifts as I get them saves a huge task in November.

We have got transport for 2/3 for the fayres, so thats a relief .

All calm here after the gales but looking ahead to mid week/weekend is looking awful with huge amounts of rain in many areas eeeek. The river will flood again no doubt.

Just waiting on the bin lorry to come so I can get it in asap. Neighbours cat was on top of the bin one day trying to get inside it :-D :-D :-D

Fingers crossed Linda with your house hunting and viewing. I remember very well the pages I had to complete earlier in the year!!

Hope al is well with anyone looking in today and yes its very chilly again so heating will def be on later in the afternoon.

Florence in the hebrides

Since 2008, in Scotland the seller (ie - the current owner ) has to have a Home Report done by a professional surveyor before the house or flat can be advertised for sale.

The Home Report includes a survey and valuation, an energy report (EPC) and a Property Questionnaire. It can cost several hundred pounds, depending on the size of the property.

This is good for potential buyers, but an extra expense for sellers.
A neighbour had to pay £660 for a Home Report about 3 months ago, before advertising their 4-bedroom house.

A buyer can still pay for an independent survey, if they want to satisfy themselves that the seller's Home Report is accurate.

We spent quite a lot of time today driving round Harrogate ruling out areas where we had seen houses which could potentially be of interest. We ruled them all out because we didn’t like the areas, either because they were a bit run down, or in the case of the modern estates, they were choked with cars parked everywhere.
In the end we decided to look in Knaresborough which is actually closer to my daughter that some of the parts of Harrogate we were looking at. There are two houses we are interested in, or at least OH is. We will try to go and look at them, although one I am not sure about. Of course we can’t do anything until we get an offer on ours, fingers crossed for tomorrow.
I have just been wading through the numerous pages the solicitor needs for the sale. All filled in now, apart from the buyers details. We needed three types of proof of identity each. Passports and driving licences are fine, plus a utility bill each. Most of the bills are in OH’s name, but thankfully the phone is in mine. I will make sure the utility bills are split between us, so we both have things for proof of identity

Linda, I'm sure your daughter & S in L would take you in should you get a good offer on your house & had to move out before finding another, :-D

Joan.

The viewing went well and they are going to talk to the estate agent. No doubt they will make a low offer, but we won’t accept it.
If they do offer something acceptable, we would put our furniture into storage and move in with our daughter, payback time for the two years they were with us :-D
I have just spotted a nice house which has just come on the market today, on a good bus route as well. It is on the opposite side of Harrogate from where we would ideally like to be. Of course, there has to be a downside, when we looked on the map, it backs onto a pub beer garden. Honestly, you just can’t win.