General Chat

So oh was in charge of the shopping list for this week and we had a lot of beer and crunchy peanut butter and masses of fig rolls and ginger biscuits and jammy dodgers but NO BREAD AND NO MILK was ordered. So another trip down the shop for more milk now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Afternoon all

Another lousy night but, in spite of that, I am feeling quite a bit better today. I have managed to stir my stumps a bit. I've stripped all the bedding from two king size beds, washed it and ironed it along with the ironing from yesterday's wash, done some general tidying up and prepared tonight's meal. I even had a leisurely bath.

I have a couple of friends now who have had disappointments with their Asda order. It’s very naughty of them to charge you the higher price on your coleslaw. If Tesco make a substitution then they charge the lower price whatever it is. On my last order I had 6 large free range eggs and a couple of small slices of lemon cheesecake packed as a desert. They didn’t have those so they sent the very large eggs and a lovely lemon tart which cut into 6 pieces, but they charged for what I had ordered so I saved about £3. I’m registered with Asda but haven’t managed to get a slot. I think I’ll stick with Tesco.

I see several of you have been busy in your gardens. Ann, I laughed when you said your OH could be a touch ruthless when cutting back. Those who knew me on the gardening thread before I joined this one know that I have my very own Mr Crewcut. This afternoon he appeared with various clippers and cutters and announced he was going to prune the two viburnams. That made me tremble but, in fact, one is perfect and I think the other one could still do with a bit more taken off, so he gets a gold star today.

Frank, I have emailed you.

We are supposed to be on a coach trip to Osterley Park tomorrow but that’s not on now and my chiropody appointment for Thursday is also cancelled.

Well, I am going to end now as I am still limiting my screen time quite a lot. AnnG, I don’t think it’s my eyes. I have regular tests with all the pressure tests, photos of the back of the eye etc. and it’s only a few months since I had my glasses changed. I think my problems over the last couple of weeks are related to migraine and it may be that my preventative pill dose needs upping a bit but it isn’t a good time to go to the surgery at the moment for a review, which is due.

Will be back tomorrow I hope. Stay safe

I used to use the white pots for my water pot when painting. Was never a fan of crab paste or any kind of crab or shellfish or lobster and all that family. Like Jane there.

Ann does G know that a bloater is a herring with all its innards left in before smoking? That put me off for a start. If I open Pilchards I have to take every bit of the innards out and fins off and bones and tail. Like pilchards on toast though with thin slices of tomato on and popped back under the grill. I like vinegar on mine but oh dos'nt like it on his. He says he dos'nt like vinegar but will happily eat 4 pickled onions at a time or neat mince sauce on lamb.

Thank you for that and I must tell OH about his Bloater paste demise Mel! He still looks for it if he sees pastes on the shelves. I'd forgotten about the white Princes jars, but bet I have some in the loft as they were perfect seed pots when I bred canaries.I think it says you can amend up to 5 days before now Mel and it let me amend next Sunday's delivery today. There were very few biscuits or cake mixes available and still no antibac handwashes.or avocados. Maybe they will have had a delivery before I do a final amend on Saturday.

The boat comes in for the last of the bloater paste
A sad day for connoisseurs of a great-smelling spread.


7:00AM BST 25 Aug 2010

SIR – I have learned this week of the sad demise of bloater paste. The last supplier, Shippam's, now owned by Princes, has informed me that its production has been discontinued.

It is a sad day for connoisseurs of this great-smelling little spread, with a special taste that I grew up with.

I have one small jar left. Should I eat it, sell it on eBay or donate it to a museum?

B. J. Simmons
Birchington, Kent

They sent me a 300g coleslaw instead of a 600g one and still charged me for the bigger one. It is only 11p cheaper but if they did that to everyone think how much more money they would make?

Ann it sounds like you have done what I did and paid for your order. You can still add to it by clicking on Your Order and look for Amend order. You can do it up until two days before your delivery.

All I have done today is wipe all the shopping and I had to go up the shop for some bread as we had'nt any at all. I did enjoy my lunch though. I had sardine and tomato paste on toast. Yes it was a large jar so I shall be having it again soon. Yes you don't see the small jars of paste now Ann as I used to like those too. Do you remember the Princes Spread in white jars?? I think they did salmon, crab and beef in those.

Afternoon All,

After an iffy start of breeze, sun and dullness, it seems to have settled down and is sunny now. I need to do more planting this afternoon, but it already looks less bare with more pots planted. We had an easy lunch of potato wedges with a garlic and herb crumb, cauliflower cheese grills, scampi and some frozen mixed veg. I have been having more potato this past 2 weeks to help use them up but I'm hoping the extra exercise is cancelling the calories! :-)

Gill, did you see that ANCESTRY is free now till the 10th May? You have been busy repotting things and the compost you got was a very good price! If it drains too fast you can always mix a bit of soil with it. I'm lazy and tend to recycle old compost that isn't full of old roots by soaking it with Jeyes Fluid and adding some fertilizer. How are your Red Robins now?

Mel it is heavy work mixing cement by hand.......I did plenty at my old house before we got a concrete mixer. Where there's a will there's a way though isn't there and it will make a much stronger job this time. Yes, my impromptu name sign made the man laugh too and OH!! lol.

I still haven't quite got the hang of the Asda site yet. I updated my order for next Sunday today and it was asking me if I wanted to skip my recurring slot due in the next 2 days.......but the next one isn't due till the 24th? Anyway, after putting items in my trolley for the 24th, the message disappeared so maybe there is a time limit for adding something to that basket? I'll see if it happens again when the slot shows. What a shame you got no bread!! I noticed today on the site that they were low on bread, so maybe it is everywhere?

Frank I know your sandwich would have given me indigestion, but I'm sure you enjoyed it! lol. Ros's beans are doing so well, while mine are only just waking up slowly! My next job is to go and pop some more of the plants in that we got. OH has been levelling off the tops of the old raised beds as that is where I shall plant the courgettes. Might as well put every space to good use and they can scramble where they like there. :-)

AnnG, at least your OH making a new path should mean his feet keep off any mud. He really enjoys his garden doesn't he. My OH enjoys it, but I have to watch at times as he can be too ruthless with things like cutting things back and he has trouble distinguishing what is plants and what is weeds with tiny seedlings. He has 2 Zoom meetings today, so I can get on without interruptions now. :-)

Afternoon all,

Yes, it's cold and breezy here too. I went to the garage to get meats out of freezer (steak and Kidney.) for a pie tonight, also Pork and leeks. Ros is making a leek pie for tomorrow. She has made one of each for Valerie also.

It must be difficult for a person on their own, having to decided what to eat each day, without getting to repetitive .I suppose these Companies who do the ready meals, delivered to your home, must be a good thing during this "LOCKDOWN" period. Not sure of the quality, having never tried them.

I have done the potatoes, Runners, peas and carrots, with a few Brussels for tonight. I assume Valerie has here own veg, if not she will have to let me know, so as I can do some for her.

Just finishing the last few pages of a DAMIEN LEWIS book, about the Afghanistan War. I do like his type of writing. I have two others to read, then I will get more from EBAY.

Barry should be here around 5.00 pm to do the lawns. My, they do look as though they need a cut. !!! Ros has now put in ONION, RADDISH, CARROT, PARSNIP seeds. All the runner beans are climbing the canes. So will add more seeds as she asks for them.

Time for a COT. My mouth feels a bit dry, after having THREE FILLETS of SMOKED MACKEREL for lunch. with horseradish and bread and butter.

STAY SAFE ALL. xxxx

Actually Gill it is not too bad out there now, still breezy but not as bad as it was amd 13 degrees. I did spend about 20 minutes wandering around, seeing what OH was doing and sorting out a few things. And I did actually stop and smell the roses which smell lovely and are right by the arch at the end of the garden.

We had coffee in the conservatory which was very pleasantly warm, in fact got a bit too warm. Then our neighbour came back with the few bits I had asked her to get for me.

I cleaned both bathroom and cloakroom and dusted the bedroom and cleaned all the upstairs mirrors so that is the housework for today, also wiped down the kitchen surfaces after the stuff was disinfected.

Thankfully the garden bin was emptied and an extra bag of garden rubbish was also collected so we can put the stuff in the shed in the bin now.

OH is making jobs down the garden by making a new path round by the compost bins and little plastic greenhouse. He had temporarily run out of other jobs.

OH dear Mel does that mean you have to go to the shop now. Was it left out in error?

Afternoon all

Lovely and sunny here, it's a bit windy but not cold.

I've just finished painting the first coat of paint on the wall I done yesterday, OH said he'll do the second and possibly third coat later.

I'm pleased you said the compost doesn't hold much water Mel as I had no grit left and needed to pot up 23 succulents so they'll love the compost and I don't need to worry about them being to wet now. 1 of the other 4 plants which was potted in a very large pot doesn't like to much water either, so that one will be happy as well. So it looks like I'll just need to keep an eye on the 3 conifers I re-potted and make sure they have plenty of water, thanks for letting me know. Those pots are quite big so they all had 7 litres of water each yesterday, (one full watering can). I did notice one tiny piece of glass and a small piece of plastic, but apart from those it was fine. Given the price I wasn't expecting much, but my conifers and the Hebe desperately needed re-potting, so anything was better than nothing and the price, I thought, was really good. It sounds like you were busy yesterday with your OH to.

I'm hoping to have another go at my family tree today, I don't seem to be getting very far with it lately, so will have to see if there are any other gaps I can be getting on with.

Going to have a cuppa outside until this paint dries, it's given me a headache, even though I've opened the windows. Once my head feels a little better I'll get on with my family tree.

Hope you find something to do today AnnG once your housework is out of the way. Pity about the weather or you could of gone in your garden.

Its still grey and miserable here and the winds quite strong as well as cold.

Asda have not sent us any bread.

Good morning Mel, good morning all. Sunny here but, as Mel says a cold east wind. Got to find something to do today, I was very lazy yesterday. Slept reasonably well though. Meal tonight is curry with the roast chicken that is left so not much to do there. Probably housework then. Sound like fun, but the sharp wind won’t entice me outside.

Morning all my lovely friends,

Hope you all slept well and feel refreshed this mroning.

Not nice weatherwise out there today as there's a brisk wind fromt he east and it wet with grey skies. Not sure if it raining at the momen t but its been raining in the night.

Toes ache this morning and my calf still aches from when I had cramp the other night. I'll get over it as I usually do.

I shall be wiping all the shopping this morning and it will probably take me all morning so see you all later. Be careful whatever you are doing.

We have both been up the garden doing the lawn edgeing. I have been mixing up cement as oh can't stand for long but he did help sitting in his chair. He put the sand and cement in the tank I brought across the garden to mix it in and I got the three cans of water to mix it up with. We both mixed it and oh put it in between the boards and the edge of the grass. He let me do the smallest bit and told me to write my name in it. I wrote Melly as thats what he calls me.

We put the boards up to hold the cement AnnG they are not staying there once the cement is dry. We also filled in two big potholes in our road to use up the last of the bag of cement. Both worn out now so I went down the freezer and got oh out a chilli I made the other week and he had that and I had a three egg omelet and bread and butter.

Hope you're not getting another migraine Vera. You have a nice rest and have some me time to relax.

Gill you've both been busy today too I see. Its nice when jobs get done and out of the way. I started this morning on the kitchen hoping to get it all clear for the hsopping arriving tomorrow but as oh needed a hand I went out and helped him and when I got back indoors I finished the kitchen. Most work surfaces are now clear apart from the washing up from dinner which I am going to do now.

Gill I bought some cheap compost in Lidl once at the same price as you paid but be carefull because I have all sorts in mine like glass and plastic and other bits not too nice on your hands and it did'nt hold much water but seemed to run staight through the compost.

I had to laugh at you putting your email up at the window of the car Ann with your name in big letters on the back. Good idea. It must be nice to get some plants back in your wall pots and some over for the rest of the garden.

Frank your sing along should be lovely on Friday.

Mandy I had forgotten ideal milk and jelly whisked until frothy and set, we used to love it.

Mel sounds like your OH has a job on his hands replacing bricks with planks, probably be more sturdy though.

Annx sounds like getting your plants worked out well, and almost all planted so you did well.
We always avoid pollock but sounds as if it is not too bad.

Vera do hope your migraine is not returning. Do your eyes need testing by any chance? Hope you soon feel better.

Gill sounds like the meds are helping which is good. Sounds like you worked hard on the garden. That compost sounds ridiculously cheap.

I really didn’t do much at all today. Made two cards and spent most of the afternoon
Listening to Jack Jones on you tube. Playing all my old favourites.

Hi all

Lovely and sunny here today, we had some black clouds looming about an hour ago and thought we might have some rain, but nothing came of it.

I've been so busy today I've only just come online. My mum rang to let me know Aldi had some compost 40L for £1.99 so OH bought me 5 bags, it's the cheapest I've ever seen and I've wanted some for a while now so I could re-pot my plants, so they've been done, all 27 of them. I've also sorted out some insulation that had come off the wall in the spare bedroom, but we had to take the bed down and move it out, along with some bits of furniture. That job and some filler that needed doing has been done, and tomorrow or the day after it'll be painted, then we can put the furniture back before OH is back in work on Thursday. The place looks a bit of a tip with everything, everywhere, but it'll be back to normal soon.

I had BT text me reminding me I need to do the router, I'm still nervous so it hasn't been done yet. They did say on the text I could reply and they would help me, so when I'm ready I might do that and they can talk me through it. I think I know what to do as far as the wiring now, but haven't got a clue how to do the bit that makes it work on my laptop, I should imagine I'm going to have to go online at some point to connect it, but it's way over my head. So if I'm offline for a while, you know why. The switch over isn't until 15th May so I've still got 11 days to go.

What a lovely idea to mix up a yogurt with a jelly Mandy, I might try that one day.

I watched the 14 year old girl with her mum and was in tears myself Frank, it was very emotional. It sounds like you're going to have a good day of singing on Friday for VE Day, I hope the weather is nice so you can enjoy it.

Loved the video Jane, so funny LOL :-D :-D :-D I think I'm starting to get used to the extra meds now, I haven't had a headache today, which makes a change, I had one for two days on the run.

Sorry to hear you've had a sore head, I hope you don't end up with a migraine Vera.

It sounds like you're busy with your garden and planting up all the plants you got from the garden centre Ann. Good idea to put a note up to save you having to open your car window.

OH's just finished watering the garden, we haven't eaten all day, didn't realise how late it was, so we're eating a bit earlier tonight. I'm absolutely shattered I haven't sat down all day, so I think I'll sleep well tonight.

Going to grab a drink before I start cooking, I haven't drank much all day either. I made myself drinks but then kept forgetting them and they went cold.

A bright sunny day but still with a nip in the wind. It is quite breezy so the washing dried well but next door’s wind chimes got on my nerves when I tried to sit in the garden.

Thanks for the video Jane. It made me laugh :-D. You’re as naughty as Frank.

Loved your garden photos as well Mel. That wisteria is gorgeous and I love the old wall, much nicer than our modern fence.

I have read all the posts bit by bit but I am really limiting my screen time as I am still having a lot of trouble with my head so I may not be posting much for a few days. I’ve been a bit bad tempered with poor OH which isn’t like me so I need to give myself a talking to and buck my ideas up a bit.

Stay well and safe everyone

Afternoon All,

A bit mixed here weatherwise but not very warm. We collected our plants from the garden centre at 10.00am and they were so efficient with a coned off route in the carpark. We stayed in the car with the windows up all the time and I made one of the chaps smile when I held our email up to the window with my name I wrote in big letters on the back! :-D They put the plants in the boot and off we drove. I have planted up my wall pots front and back and pots at the sides of the arbour and will decide where the rest of the pansies will go tomorrow as my knees were achey by then. The runners are through at last and lots of the nasturtiums and french marigolds, so I need to get the marigolds pricked out.

Mandy what a good idea for a slimming treat. I have the low fat yoghurts and buy the low calorie jelly but never thought of putting them together like that. I used to make milk jellies with the light evap years ago, where you mix the 2 and whisk like mad till it is all frothy. When it sets it has a frothy mousse on top and a lime jelly one was my favourite. I hope you are feeling ok again now.

Asda had sent Pollock instead of Haddock so we had it today with parsley sauce, mash, leeks and red peppers and it was ok, not as tasty as Haddock but ok.

I only watch BGT rarely so didn't see the singer and her mum. I think a singsong may be just what you need Frank and will do you good. I doubt anyone will be stirring in our close though. I have been watching The Great British Sewing Bee but have thought some of the makes were a bit, well, unwearable and strange. lol.

OH has fetched the cube storage thing with 9 holes from the garage and I'm going to move stuff around to see where to have it. Some of my beading polythene boxes fit in nicely, so it will help me get straight in here. :-D

OH is filing his paperwork on the dining table.

Hope the sore shoulders are feeling better, also the headaches. Must go and take my hayfever tablet now.

The sun's out again now so I hope it is staying fine for your OH doing the drive edge Mel. I loved your video of the Pheasants following you for some food.

Meant to say the mother and daughter brought a tear to my eye too and even oh was wiping his eyes.