General Chat

All wiped and put away.

Morning all,

Sun keeps trying to peep through the clouds but it's really chilly out so nothing will get done outside today .
Just got the usual things to do a bit of hoovering and dusting and meals to get ,my side is still a little painful so it will be easy jobs for me and Colin will do some of the other jobs I can't.
I made a shepherds pie yesterday and there's enough for today so just need some veg done to go with it .

Hope Gill gets her gas pipes in today with no problems, that will be one job of the list .

Time for coffee so BBL

Shopping arrived just as I posted so now I am on the wipe down.

Come over cloudy now a bit out the front sun still out the back but the winds bitter.

Cleaned the sink and done the work surfaces with anti bac. Fed the wild birds and chickens. Put lots of stuff away and am just having a sit down before I start again.

Only two subs today and one is the same stuff but in two smaller containers and the other is a tin of potatoes instead of baby potaoes.

Oh is out in the garden fiddling with his big sprayer for the lawns as far as I know or doing soemthing else.

it is cloudy and a bit misty, no sun and 8 degrees here.

Morning Anng and alo,

We have sunshine at the moment and the thermometer is reading 16 degrees! can that be right? The skies blue with white clouds so I hope its going to be a nice day.

Shopping comes this morning so Big Wipe down for me today then perhaps back in the garden if it dos'nt turn too cold.

Well todays the day Gill's gas pipes go in. Hope everything goes smoothly and they get the job done quickly for her without too much mess.

Our scripts should be at the shop today too so I may go down there to pick those up.

No, I know it is ok for you to have them Mel but Not for us with near neighbours. For us the garden bin is a god send, I know it sounds expensive at almost £50 but that is less than a pound a week and normally saves a trip to the dump.

god morning awake early again, actually woke before 5 this morning and only dozed since then, difficult to know what the weather is like today it is 3 degrees out there but looks a bit grey. I think it is going to be cloudy according to the weather forecast. Have a U3A friend (she is the president of our U3A at the moment) calling round for a socially distanced chat this morning. I will let her into the back garden I expect and both will wear masks.

Ann I never have one during the day and only when the wind is'nt blowing. Its mostly dry stuff so not a lot of smoke and we have got about 5 acres and a big field next door before the big house. It dos'nt go anywhere near Em's as its 2 acres down from her house.

Bed a bit earlier tonight then Ann. You were up late last night for you posting at past 11pm. Have we seen your Daffodil, snowdrops and primrose?

Forgot to say I treated myself to 6 little violas on Saturday. The lady who sells plants outside her house has started again. She is asking for pots and trays and I can help her there so must get some ready for her for next Saturday. I have a stabel full from when I had the nursary.

Vera I shall have to count oh's koi as we lost a couple last year. We lost the biggest one and one of the first ones I bought oh. It was Big Bertha. They hav'nt all got names but we have Gilly who we had at about 4 inches long and with a turned out gill and |Blue who was the very first one I bought oh but he has'nt grown much. It was the 18 5 inch ones that have grown the most. We also have Gobby a yellow one and Daisy because she has an orange daisy on her side and Tangy who is a lovely tangerine and white one with smooth skin but she's a bit strange and dos'nt always feed well. Then there's Baby Blue who has also gone a bit strange and spends a lot of time nose down to the bottom of the pond. Sometimes it jumps right out of the water about three times or lays on its side on the bottom. Then we have an orange one who jumped out of the swimming pool we had them in when oh made their pond deeper. She had lost the colour on her sides in patches where she hit the tarmac road so I call her Patches. I found her and had to pick her up and get her back in the pool. I did'nt think she would live but she did. There's other too without names. I shall have to count them tomorrow and see how many we have got now.

Ann it is not the lock the key unlocks it and locks it. It is the actual door mechanism the is jammed. Charles will look at it on Wednesday. I just have to hope I don’t need to get to the boiler or fuses.

Pleased that your pictures stood up well, but then we knew they would.

Mel I could not be doing with bonfires, too antisocial in small gardens..

Gill, well done on finding prospective builders etc.

Well things seem to be progressing a bit better so that is good Gill. Let's hope it leads to some quotes for you. If so, don't forget to ask them if they have mates who do plumbing, electrical work etc. and write their details down. It was a good idea for your OH to speak to the plasterer when he saw his van too. Why not get your OH to get some earplugs from the chemist? It would help him sleep through any noisy work in the future. Tomorrow your gas pipes will be in so that's a start! Good for you sticking to your guns with the BT lady. I bet they do get commission if they get you to change. It's a good saving you got and will help to pay for other things instead.

AnnG, try some oil in the garage lock first as it may free it. Use cooking oil if you can't find the right stuff or it's locked in the garage. Pour some on the key to get it into the lock.........silly question I know but I take it you checked you were using the right key this time? What a nuisance it happening now. Yes it does seem troublemakers attend these events that are nothing to do with them. I still wonder about people who think it is a good idea to have a non-socially distanced protest about lockdown during a pandemic though. It's good you got your wild flower seeds scattered.

On the subject of the virus, OH walked up the close to the postbox at the top end to post a letter for me earlier. There is a bend and then a straight bit with no houses before the junction at the end of the close and the bend hides our view around the bend. OH spotted no less than 3 facemasks that had been thrown in the road. We see the odd car parked there at times, usually a carer in their uniform when they are too early to make their visit to someone in the old folks bungalows the other side of the junction opposite our close. I can't say it is them but no-one else parks there except those of us in the close if we need to move our cars off our drives for any reason.

I bet your shed looks smart now Mel with it's paint like OH's. I still wonder if Vincent will be decorating it later. I see you have been busy inside and out and both you and Vera have been clearing moss. I must seen if my pots have any that needs turfing out. I noticed my stripey Camellia is in flower today so will see if I can get a pic tomorrow.

Vera has been busy too I see. How nice that you get these baking deliveries from a neighbour and what a good idea to connect with his grandchildren like that! I hope your new neighbours are nice and fit in well. I think I have had my fill of tech this last week! lol. I even got black ink up a fingernail changing the black ink in the printer today and OH is making noises for me to find him some options for a new laptop as his is so slow and freezes and he has seen how bright my screen is compared with his!

I think we have got quicker with the wipe down too Mandy. You get into a routine of the best way after a while which is good. Pity we can't change how often we have to do it though! Are the children liking being back at school now? I bet it has helped DIL have a break to get thjings done while they are there.

The gallery of our paintings was interesting to see how differently we all did them! Someone did a good one of the Clematis that I ended up using as scrap paper with mine. Mind you she just did 3 big flowers whereas I tried to do the whole trellisful. I did spot my Daffodils, Snowdrops and Primrose. I still haven't done my Poppies yet. I thought my pictures stood up pretty well which was good to see as it isn't a beginners' class.. This was just the Flora class, so I will be more interested to see the Landscape ones as she is doing a gallery of those on Wednesday. :-)

Off to bed now. I hope Frank is ok.

I wish someone would drop cake of to us on a weekly basis. It must be good to find out what you have each week and he dos'nt seem to repeat himself.

I cleared up the stuff I had swept up and all the dry grass oh had dropped off the spikey thing that he has been going over the lawns with. He will leave it and it makes me annoyed cos if it rains it sticks to the grass and then I get yellow patches where its been.

Had a bonfire and got rid of that lot. I am afraid a green bin would'nt be any good in this garden.

Gill you're getting things going now so thats good. Hasve you heard anything about Sandra's flat?? We are all dying to know how she is getting on.

Must look at the veg. I asm running a bit late......... :-(

Evening all,

It's been a nice sunny day but its been to cold to do much outside ,there was a sharp frost this morning .
Went shopping and all wiped down and put away i think i'm getting quicker at it now .
I've pulled my side i think i did it cleaning the kitchen window i really stretched while doing it and it's some thing i know i shouldn't do but i just needed to reach the corner bit and now i'm paying for it , it usually takes a couple of days to get right

Ann that good you've managed to get the sky boxes sorted and got the tele working again after all these months i bet OH was pleased you had a go at them as you say there as nothing to lose as they weren't working any way .
What were the paintings like as the others have said yours will take some beating .

Gill ,things are getting sorted then thats good ,i hope you don't have to long to wait for your new boiler t go in .
How are things going with Sandra any sign of her moving in yet ?

So your shed painting is coming along then Mel ,is OH painting any flowers on it like he did his .

AnnG you've had a busy day , a devil the garage door not unlocking ,do you know some one who could do it for you .

Vera that nice getting a cake delivery each week and having the surprise of what they have cooked .

It sounds as though you are on a roll now Gill. You must feel relieved that things are moving a bit at last. Let’s hope one of the builders or bricklayers can do the work you want.

Well done on getting your Sky fixed Ann. I know where to come now when I am stuck trying to use a bit of technology. What did you think of your fellow pupils’ artwork on Zoom. I bet not many were as good as yours.

Gosh, AnnG, you are getting a lot done lately. I feel tired just reading about it. Whatever you’re on, I want some! Seriously, well done you for keeping at it.

It would be lovely to see a picture of some of your koi if you can get one Mel. It was about 10 years ago that we rehomed ours and I often wonder if they are still doing OK. We were quite attached to them and I had a little weep when they went. Stupid isn’t it – they are fish fgs! We had 20 but we were most fond of 4 of them that we had named; Oscar, Frank, Sybil and Carrot. Oscar was the biggest of them all and I can’t remember how he got his name. Frank had the brightest blue eyes you can imagine so he was named after “Ol’ Blue Eyes”, Frank Sinatra. Sybil was named after Sybil Fawlty in Fawlty Towers because she always had such a sour expression and one of the grandchildren named Carrot. We didn’t really know which were male and which female.

It has been a beautiful spring day here. Wall to wall sunshine with just a bit of a breeze. It was a bit nippy but it is still only March. OH decided his back was playing him up a bit so slept in the spare room and I thought I would sleep well on my own, but I didn’t so ended up reading half the night, but I got myself moving this morning and got quite a lot done. First three loads of washing, and that all dried nicely outside. Then I did some more in the garden. We grow the best crop of moss in town so I cleared four troughs and some pots of all the moss, tidied them up generally and topped up with fresh compost and did a bit of pruning and cutting back.

Our neighbour knocked with his usual Monday offering. I think I told you he cooks via Zoom with his grandchildren who live overseas. Today we have chocolate and banana cake. He is not doing our waistlines any good at all.

Oh, we had a bit of excitement today. The new owners of the bungalow that has been empty for nearly 18 months moved in. I hope we’ll meet them soon and I hope they will fit in OK. With only 6 houses in the Close we all need to get on well and it is such a friendly little road that it would be a shame if there was any friction. I am sure they will turn out to be very nice.

I’d better go and do something about food now. There’s plenty of cold pork so it’s just a question of deciding whether to have it with salad or with chips and beans.

Just a quick update.

Ann the builder I text got back to me to let me know he had received my message and said he would ring me again later to sort out a date and time to do the quote.

We've had the gas people here today to measure up for the pipework they're doing tomorrow. They wanted to look inside our place but I was in the shower at the time so they had to wait. They were really good about it and have even said they'll remove the redundant gas pipe out of the cupboard for us at no extra charge, so I'm glad I asked if they could do it. All I need now is the water tank taken out and we can extend our bathroom and have the double walk in shower we want installed.

I had to ring the council as I hadn't received the permit for our garden bin, we have to pay to have it emptied here and it's due to be emptied tomorrow. The woman was very good and said to put the bin out and she would email them to let them know to empty it without the sticker on and she's going to chase up the permit for us.

I then rang our insurance as we hadn't had any paperwork come through to be told it was emailed to me. I hadn't received it so changed it to them posting it to me instead then I can keep it in my file, that should be here by the end of the week.

I'm going to get something to eat now, with being so busy I haven't had anything all day and I'm hungry. Once the gas pipe goes in I'll then get in touch with our utility provider and have the metre installed, then we can hopefully find a plumber and have a boiler put in so we'll finally have some hot water. What a luxury that'll be lol :-D

Been outside and taken all the old stlaks off the bean frame as I wait for them to die over the winter as they are easier to get off. Pulled up a lot of dead grass and scraped up lots of moss off the road down to my shed. It was like a green carpet down there.

Off out again in a min to pick up what I swept up earlier and then get the dinner on.

I have cleared up in the kitchen too around the sink as things get put there to be washed and left there till you know who washes them. Took some things out to the shed to.

Oh has finished painting the shed and has put the door and window furniture back on and I need a new latch to the door which he has ordered and it should come tomorrow.

Had to come in for a drink.

Roast chicken crown tonight with roasted veg I think all in one pan.

Sounds to me like things may be happening for you at last Gill. You will feel better when all this in out of the way and you can get on with your gardening. Just think how big your kitchen is going to be once the chimney breast is out. Is your kitchen bigger than your last one anyway? I know you said it was very small where you were before.

Had lunch and oh is off out mowing again. I did a bit of sweeping and now I am going to go and cler up the piles I have swept up and do a bit of cutting back of the alchemilla mollis that grows in front of the bungalow.

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.

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.

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.