General Chat

Morning all

Thanks everyone for all your messages of support. OH is going to do a ring around on Friday, to see if any care homes are taking anyone on. He thinks his police check he had done in February will still be okay, as it's only around 10 weeks old, so if that's the case and he's luckily enough to find another job he won't have to wait for another police check to be done and can start straight away. His boss said he doesn't have to give any notice, but if he can that would help them, so that means he can start straight away if he has to, rather than having to wait the 4 weeks and possibly lose the new job.

I had a quick look online last night and think I've found somewhere in Chester that are taking people on, well that's what it said online, but whether it's been updated or not he won't know until he rings them. He's in work today and tomorrow and doesn't finish until 8pm, so he can't ring anyone until Friday when he's off. I'm going to make a list of care homes and phone numbers ready for him, it'll save time with him not being able to do it himself for two days.

Sorry to hear your tooth has been playing you up Mel, I hope it doesn't hurt to much when you eat your toast. At least it's feeling much better this morning.

How nice to find the scrap books AnnG, I bet that brought back some memories. Yes the training OH did will stand him in good stead, he also has a file full of certificates which will also help. Care homes do their own training but it's pretty much the same in every home, so even though his training was somewhere else, they will be able to see he's done it and knows what he's doing, not like someone who's never worked in care homes before.

The problem the care homes have is no one is putting their elderly relatives into them at the moment for fear of them catching Coronavirus and it doesn't help when it's all over the news now. That's the reason he lost this job because the place is half empty, so they had to many staff for the amount of residence who are there. The new part wasn't done because the builders couldn't get the materials to the second floor without having to walk through the home, which wasn't safe, so that bit hasn't been done yet. If it had and people had moved in there, as originally planned, OH would still have his job.

Yes Ann he'll take any job he can, but prefers being a carer, so will look for those type of jobs first. I find it hard seeing all the babies who have passed away when I'm doing my FH. We don't know how lucky we are do we? While I've been doing my family tree lately I've noticed how poor that part of the family was and they were in and out of the workhouses all the time.....very sad.

I've got to set up a new router for BT but I haven't got a clue what I'm doing, they mentioned a filter, what is one of those? There's nothing in the box, do I have to buy one and if so where do I buy one from? The router I have now is connected to a telephone extension lead, but when OH's friend set it up for me he did it from the main telephone socket, then moved it to the bedroom where it stayed. All it says on the instructions is Single master socket use a filter. I have a single master socket but no filter. Can anyone help please? :-S :-S

Afternoon all,

We have sunny spells here but there is a wind and blue sky with lots and lots of big white clouds.

Hurt my tooth again last night when brushing them. Could'nt go to sleep and got up twice for the loo and then that was about 5am and I got up and swilled with Corsydil and went back to bed and oh asked me if I wanted to hear the dawn chorus with him and promptly started snoring again. I must have dropped off then and he woke me at 10am and asked if I was staying there so I got up a little after that. He had been making toast and I could smell it. We only had ready meals last night and we're always hungry next day. I have only had a cuppa though so may have toast for lunch if my mouth will take it.

It does feel much better this morning so it will be a good swill before lunch.

Morning All,

I had to empty the trays full of water with my cuttings in today and it is raining again now and quite cold. I've left the greenhouse shut.

I'm sorry about your OH losing his job Gill. He was doing so well too. At least it shows they valued what he was doing if they want to keep him to cover sickness etc. If he can't find another care job what seeing if he could do some delivery driving for one of the supermarkets? They have been taking on thousands of staff and there isn't heavy lifting as they use tall, wheeled trolleys to bring your groceries to your boxes outside your door. It would keep the bills paid till he found a job in care again if that's what he still wants.

AnnG I still have my Mrs Beeton's cookbook I got with either greenshield or pink S&H stamps when I was first married. It has sticky tape holding it together, despite me covering it in brown paper when I got is and the page edges are all brown now. I still use it though as I find books like my Delia one, use much more butter and cream for some recipes which I try to limit for me. Mrs B is nice and basic and was a boon as my mother had no patience and too much control to teach anyone anything. She was a good cook though and made lovely pastry. I can still drool over her Bilberry or Apple pies!

I have come across lots of FH notes in various notepads so I am adding those to my tree today. The traveller history from my dad's side is both fascinating and often sad. Last night I found one poor chap born in 1820 was imprisoned and whipped at age 15. Then he and his brother were found unlawfully sleeping in an outhouse and got a week's hard labour. Then at age 69 he was found dead in a barn and had been there 4-5 days. The inquest said he had died of starvation. No-one gets such harsh treatment these days do they, although I think some get off far too lightly and very few die through lack of food. We are so lucky, even staying in like we are now is hardly a hardship when you read of the sad stories and suffering that happened in the past.

raining again now so the lawn should be OK.

Gill luckily your OH was able to complete his training, is that something that will stand him in good stead for getting another job?

Dry here so far but very cloudy although we did have some sun early on. OH has put fertilizer on the lawn so will be pleased to see a bit more rain later. I have been tidying up two small scrap books I made when first married between 1960 and early 70s. Interesting to see some of the recipes in them, some I had forgotten I ever made when scratching around for money to feed us in the early 70s. But My favourite is the first in the book. how to cook a roast dinner. It is cooking by gas too which I only did for a year or so. Obviously dictated by Mum as the greens would have been cooked to death when finished if I went by that timing. I had to stick a lot of the recipes back in as the cellotape had crumbled away. Hopefully they will give grandchildren a smile after i am gone

OH has made coffee so better fetch it.

Gill I am sorry to hear about OH's job. And I hope he manages to find something else. Does he qualify for universal credit do you think? Not sure what the criteria is for that. At least he has another 4 weeks to work.

Good morning

Another grey and wet day. I am not sure what I will be doing today; I won’t be gardening, that’s for sure. I feel like a day or two’s break from spring cleaning so I might just run the hoover round a bit and then have an easy day. Whatever you are doing, have a good day :-)

Oh Gill i am sorry to hear that ,so he might get a few hours if he has to fill in for people but that would be a bit here and there .
Has he ever thought of going into peoples homes as a carer ,they always seem to be crying out for carers like that here ,i hope he can find another home that will be able to take him on .

Oh Gill, I am so sorry to hear this; just as he seemed to have got nicely settled in the job too. Sadly it’s not a good time to be hunting for work, but he’s going to get a good reference so that should help. Tell him to stay positive and be open to any opportunity that comes along. I wish you both all the luck in the world <3

Oh dear Gill its a shame as he seemed to like it there. will he be able to apply to the job centre? for money. I'm so sorry to hear your news.

I meant to say I saw a blue tit this morning with a beak full of grass it was collecting for its nest. I don't think I have ever seen a tit with grass in its beak its usually moss.

Someone round here has Peacocks and they are calling the heads off today.

Just to let you all know OH has been given 4 weeks notice, so he lost his job in the end. The boss said due to the lack of occupancy in the home they've had to let OH go. There is a bit of positive news, the home have put him on their bank to fill in for sickness and holidays, so he may get a few days here and there in the future. Not sure what he's going to do now, but he'll get a good reference so that's something, even if he can't use it yet. He's going to phone around some homes to see if they are taking anyone on, but most homes are not having any new residence at the moment, so have probably got all the staff they need already.

I have my fingers crossed for your OH and his job Gill. He's been so good doing extra shifts it would be a shame if they don't keep him on. I expect with 2 of the residents passing away there is less work and extra cost for the home with all the PPE and extra cleaning needed now.

I like the sound of your sonic thing Vera, but no good if it was a disappointment! I had bought some Milton at the start of the virus problem but also found a bottle making room for bottles of bleach. It seems we both got the pink bird with googly eyes for Sandra then! :-D :-D It has rained all day here too.

I seem to have come across umpteen notepads with little notes for recipes, to do lists and websites to look at, FH finds etc, so have set up a few notebooks and am keeping like with like in each. I did find a note of how to change my desk top wallpaper, so now I have an Anglesey Oystercatcher to look at.

My hair should have been cut yesterday and I can do the fringe and round my ears but not the back. I told OH I will look like Mick Jagger in another few weeks and did the lip impersonation. I was wondering how folk who use chiropodists were managing and had visions of unintended claws! We can still just reach ours thank goodness, but I imagine when they are back in business they will have to wear the full gear.

Mandy I will have to threaten OH with the basin if he getts lippy when I cut his hair next time! The jigsaw sounds like a nice one. I end up upside down as I can't always reach right across or the light reflects badly sometimes. Sky is hard to do as well!

OH made me smile earlier. He said he has become Carson, the butler, and I have become Mrs Patmore, the cook! :-D

Oh Gill i do so hope your OH can keep his job ,i hope it helps that he was one of the first ones taken on ,and just as he was settling into it too.

We both like doing a puzzle and usually do a bit together when we have our coffee ,Colin sits one side of the table and i usually sit the other so it makes it a bit harder as i'm doing at it upside down ,i end up doing the sky each time ,this picture is a seaside one with a cottage and boats .

Vera you do have the clearing out bug and i see you've found some treasures too :-D i have an old bottle of Milton i found in the cupboard mine has the date 2016 so i'm not sure if it will be any good now .

I've been quite lazy today ,i did hoover through ,i have to do it every day as Max leaves his hair every where even with a good brush every day .
I also washed my hair ,i should have had a cut just as the lock down started ,i might take the scissors to my fringe and the little bits at the side near my ears ,can't do the bit at the back of my neck that getting quite long now ,no way will i let Colin have a go at it although he has a straight eye for doing things so might cut it straight .
I did put the clippers round his neck and cut a little off the top of his hair the other day and i think i did ok ,push come to shove we'll have to get the old pudden basin out and cut round it :-0 :-0 :-D :-D

Oh dear Mel another hog caught in the trap, good idea to chuck it in the corner and not set it. The hogs will be frightened away from your garden if they keep getting caught. I hope it was okay. I'm the same as you Mel and hardly ever go out, I haven't been out since 3rd March and that was only because I had a doctors appointment, the time before that was the 6th February for the same reason. It's the not being able to go out that bothers me as I would of gone and bought some compost and large pots to re-pot my plants and of course I would of bought my tomato plants I buy each year. It looks so bare in the greenhouse with nothing in there now, but there's always next year isn't there.

What are you making with your clay, anything nice? Are you going to do another Christmas fayre this year?

I'm just watching Kirstie I recorded yesterday and then I'll watch the one from today, tomorrow. It's still strange spending all day on my own with no one here, it's very quiet, so I like to put the TV on for a bit of background noise while I'm doing the housework. I've done a load of washing today, mostly OH's clothes, so that's pretty much finished, just a bit longer on the radiators. It's to wet to peg it outside.

It's still raining here, so maybe the plants will have enough if it carries on like this. I watched a little Wren have a drink from our waterfall before, it was so cute, the top part of the waterfall had some rain water in it. (The waterfall isn't on) I don't think the birds like drinking from the big pond bit at the bottom as it's to deep, but with two tiers to drink the rain water from, they have a little ledge to sit on. That's what I wanted the bottle brush for, so I could clean the inside of the pond bit, it's starting to go green, that way the muck will go inside as it circulates around. The pump is up off the floor so should be okay. It's a self containing waterfall so has a lot of water inside, to much to empty for such a small job of cleaning the bottom bit, plus I'd have to move all the plants I've put around it, then drag it out and empty it, all for a five minute cleaning job.

Well I'd better get back to Kirstie, I've got it on pause. I'll come back on later if there's anything to report on OH's job, but I think he might be told later in the week, which I think would be a bit cruel, but they do have other's to see over the next two days.

i think your oh stands a good chance of keeping his job if he was the second on ein and has done the training. I hope he is ok Gill.

I cleaned the bathroom this morning and it took me up to lunch time so we had that and oh had a snooze after and I had a fiddle with my clay bits I had baked. Then I corned the chickens and walked around the garden as I saw the rabbit trap was set off. When I got to it it was another hedgehog so now the trap is chucked in a corner and NOT set. Seems they are using the pop hole in the fence across the top garden. Its the pophole I put the trap against. Last time it went off it was coming down from the top garden so this time I set it as I had seen two rabbits go through into the top garden I put it round the other way and STILL caught a hog!

Hope the over the phone eye examination goes off ok Frank.

You all talking about having hair cuts, it just the sme for me as Gill never have it cut and if I do want to have a bit off the bottom I have no trouble reaching it. It is getting longer though as I am having trouble combing it as my arm and the long handle comb are just a bit too short now. In fact the lockdown dos'nt really affect us as we don't go out much anyway. Just me on a Tuesday shopping and up the local shop on Saturday for the paper and deliver Em's eggs. The rest of the time we are in our own little kingdom within these walls. I still have two sacks oc chicken food in the back of the car and still some in the bin from the last time I bought it and doubled up.

I dar'nt get a jigsaw out as I would'nt stop till I finished it. I have some lovely ones I bought mum all those years ago still sitting in the lounge behind the fireplace so could do one any time I wanted.

I missed your post there Frank, I gather Ros has fixed her sewing machine if she's making more masks and scrub bags. What was the problem in the end, did it just get to hot and needed to cool down? I watched the Chaser programme last night, OH wanted to watch it so put it on. The woman was so excited when she won £25k wasn't she? I wonder what the next woman is going to go for tonight, she's seems quite brainy, so might go for the big amount. Good luck with your eye examination over the phone lol ;-) ;-) ;-) I'd like to know how they're going to do it to. The NHS are brilliant aren't they.

Thanks everyone for your good wishes, OH won't be home until after 8pm so I won't know anything until then or even later in the week as there are 20 staff having meetings over 3 days, so I doubt anyone will know what's going on until they've all seen the boss. OH told me the big boss is staying there this week, maybe he's going to watch the newbies and see how they all work. OH said they were suppose to have the builders in the do a new part of the home and that's why they took on extra staff, but because of the lockdown the builders can't do the work, so now they're over staffed with taking the extra 20 people on that they don't need now. OH was the 2nd person they took on, the other 18 were after him, so with a bit of luck he'll keep his job as he knows more than them, some of them have only been there 2 weeks. Luckily OH finished all his training, he went in on his day off to finish off the last few bits he didn't have time to do the day before. Hopefully that will stand him in good stead, but no one knows anything at the moment. If they do lay him off they may well need him back once the lockdown is over, we can only hope, or better still they keep him on, as that would be the best thing for us. I don't have any money coming in now I'm no longer Sandra's carer, so if OH loses his job we'll have no money coming in to pay the bills. Luckily OH still has some of his wages left over from the work he has done, but that won't last for long. I'm so anxious at the moment and the time feels like it's going so slowly because I'm waiting for him to come home.

I hope your blueberry bushes produce some fruit now the heavy rain has taken all the blossom off Vera. It's started raining heavy here now and I have blossom on my apple and plums, so I'm in the same position as you and wondering if any fruit will appear this year and just when we need it to. I know you weren't having a go at anyone on here, I just felt for you with someone saying to just take a paracetamol, they don't do anything do they, you might as well take one of those Smartiies sweets for the use paracetamol are for migraines. Nice to know the sickness will ease with age, at least I have that to look forward to. I see you've found a few things hidden away, the sterilising fluid will come in useful, like you said. You just reminded me I need a bottle brush, I hope our small shops sell them. I did smile when you called yourself Tatty Bonce lol :-D :-D :-D I have long hair, which I colour, it'll need doing soon, but I do it myself, which means I don't need an appointment. I also use the home colouring and have a box ready, so I don't need to worry about finding it in the shops this time around. I buy them in pairs, it works out cheaper that way. It looks like we're all going to have long hair by the time lockdown is over. ;-)

You made me smile too AnnG when you said you'll look like you've had an electric shock if you don't have a hair cut lol ;-) ;-)

Good idea to do a puzzle, especially with the way the weather is, what puzzles are you both doing Jane and Mandy's OH? I put a pile of puzzles in a box in the wardrobe but to get the box inside OH had to take the door off, so I can't get to them when he's not here as the wardrobe door is to heavy for me to do.

Well, I'm going to take another look at my tree, I haven't got anywhere so far today, I just can't seem to concentrate, all I'm doing is clock watching. I wouldn't mind but the whole point of doing my tree was to take my mind of things.......that didn't go to plan did it?

Just skirted the posts.

Any news on your OH job Gill. ?? I hope it's safe, as you say, finding any jb now will be very difficult.

Ros just won't do as she is told. !!! She has ironed lots of BED SHEETS and cut them out, into the bag sizes, ad made a load more. She's also made some more face masks.

I asm expecting a phone call from the nurse at 9.30 in th morning re my Testtostrine. Also a call from the Hospital, regarding my eyes. How on earth can they examine the condition of my eyes OVER THE TELEPHONE. This will be interesting. lol lol

"Lazy old begger " That's been me today.. I haven't even opened my book today. But did prepare dinner for tonight. Which I will be putting on in the next half hour or so.

I watched the NEW CHASER last night, didn't think I would enjoy it, but I did, It's on every night this week, I think.

The CORONAVIRUS programme is on now, o will catch up on the latest news.

STAY SAFE, my dear FRIENDS. xxxx

Oh I know how you feel Vera, our hair appointments were for last Friday and mine is now making its way up and outwards as well as down. It is not curly but is very thick and a bit wavy so I will soon look as though I have had an electric shock. The second chiropodist appointment since lockdown should have been today so it is 16 weeks since I last went. I am just about coping with that. He is open but it means going into town and, for the life of me I can't think how, if he is doing me feet, he can be 6 foot away from me.

You had some good finds then. I did find a new handwash when I climbed on a stool to look in the high cupboard in the cloakroom (where bleach etc is kept away from Grandchildren when they wee frequent isitors when they were little.

Afternoon All

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SANDRA <3 <3 <3 It sounds like she is going to have a lovely birthday Gill with party food and balloons.

I am keeping everything crossed for your OH and hope that he keeps his job.I am surprised how overstaffed they are as usually Care Homes are very understaffed.

What a miserable day.Non stop rain.The garden will be lapping it up :-D

I have started a new jigsaw too today Mandy .I did nt know your OH liked doing them too.it passes a bit of time on a day like this. I shall get back to mine now .