General Chat

So your decking is all nice and clean now Mel, your OH does work hard in the garden doesn't he? How are your chickens are they still laying eggs?

I'm desperate for a pair of shoes AnnG, the sole of my shoes are falling off, good job I don't go out as I can only manage them around the garden if I'm careful. Sandra lends me her old pair of trainers if I need to go out but they are to big for me so move around when I'm walking. I did try to find some shoes before Christmas but couldn't find any that fit, they seem to be quite low on the back of my feet so they kept slipping off when I tried to walk, not much good if they don't stay on your feet. My mum gave me two pairs of shoes but again they were to big, I tired to wear two pairs of socks with them but then they were to tight. I might try the Charity shops and see if I can find a pair that fit in there as I've tried everything else.
Hope your OH can fix the leak properly tomorrow and it's not to cold for him. It sounds like you've had a nice day out.

Oh dear Frank, good job you spotted the scam and didn't fall for it, like you said they would of just emptied your bank account, not put any money in there.

Thanks Ann, I'll keep an eye out for your reply.

Just been back to page one of the thread.Started May 2010. Trying to think who Maureen was.

Good afternoon all. We went to Cheltenham for a look round, had a coffee in M&S and lunch in Wetherspoons (nothing new there!). Bought a blouse and a long sleeved T shirt in M&S (The T shirt reduced to £2.99. Still one or two good bargains especially if you wear larger shoe sizes (6 upwards).
Lovely sunny day although quite a hard frost and a bit nippy. Makes a change from all the wet.

OH will look at doing the leak a bit more tomorrow. I wanted him to have a day off.

Glad that you slept better Gill and that OH was in a better mood. (Maybe he slept better as well). Pleased too that Annx has been able to help you with pension information.

Pleased to hear that you slept well too Frank, wonder if it is anything to do with your medication being changed?

We still have a lovely sunny day but its a bit on the chilly side out there.

This morning oh pressure washed the decking. I was going to clean the chickens out but had to move some of my plants for him so I got lunch after he had a shower and now I am going to give the chickens some mash I cooked them and clean them out now. Then I am going to play.

Afternoon to you all, I don't know about a FROST, as I didn't wake until 9.00 am Went to the loo and got back into Bed until 11.15 So slept like a log.

I was in bed when Ros came in last night 10.15 pm She came in the bedroom as the light and radio were on. She said I missed a good evening. They sang loads of old Londoner's favourites, "SHOW ME THE WAY TO GO HOME" and lots more.

I have used FIXODENT this morning and the new teeth are fine, except when I chew on the back eft hand side, where this tooth is loose. Ros got me a bowl of Tomato soup with a filled crusty roll, which I was able to eat. So well pleased with myself and my teeth. Ros said I look TEN YEARS YOUNGER, with the new teeth.

I had a SCAM email yesterday from HMRC telling me I have a TAX REFUND of £386.78p. I have tried to send it to PHISING at HMRC, but have had no confirmation to say they have received it. In the letter, they ask for all my Personnel details and bank account details, so they can credit my account. EMPTY IT RATHER THAN PUT ANYTHING IN IT. I expect. Please be warned that this is going around.

Lovely sunny afternoon here with very little breeze, but they do say MINUS 2 degrees tonight due to the HIGH PRESSURE.

I have heard that two of the three who died in the village had the dreaded CANCER. Over 60 years ago when my dad died of Cancer. The Doctors said there will be a cure in a few years. WE ARE STILL WAITING. :-( :-( :-( :-( :-(

Off to read the paper that Ros bought back from shopping, see you later. xxxx

Morning All,

It was a hard frost here too this morning Mel and we had the fern patterns on the cars too! I bet the deer were glad of the apples and it's a brownie point for them for clearing some of them up for you!

We've just been to the garden centre and I saw 2 Manchester terriers in there which I hardly ever see. They are one of my favourites as they look like miniature Dobermans.

I have to whizz out now so OH can move his car otherwise he will be blocking me in till he goes to footie. He normally parks to the side of me but has to leave that free for his footie pal to put his car today.

I will reply to you when I get back Gill, as I know the answer to some things you are unsure of to do with your pension. :-) :-)

Morning Mel, morning all

Nice and sunny here this morning. We had a few flurries of snow yesterday but only for a few seconds and last night we had some hail. The hail was so bad Sky kept flickering, luckily we have another system we can use so we switched over to that until the hail had gone.

I'm going to go through the cupboard in the dining room today as lots of things have been put in there so I'm not sure what's in there now. It hasn't been sorted for quite some time so it's over due a sorting. It's only a small cupboard so shouldn't take me to long to do.

Thanks everyone for your help on pensions and thank you Ann for your email.,I've replied to it.

I had a good nights sleep last night and have not long woken up, I feel much better for it after two nights of bad sleep.

Sorry to hear about your wobbly tooth Frank, that must be painful with your new set of teeth making it worse. The Fixodent Mel mentioned sounds as if it might do the trick.

How are you getting on with your new oven Mel, I hope the new one is working well for you. My OH is being nice so far today, I hope it lasts. I've learnt not to ask him for help as that seems to be when he gets in a bad mood, so it's easier if I do everything myself, at least it'll be quieter. I'm sure he'll do something when he feels like it but I'll leave it up to him. I can manage most jobs on my own and the other's can wait if Sandra can't help me. It sounds like you had the same weather as us yesterday, sun, hail and then rain later on in the day. I don't count the snow as it only lasted a short time.

I see the temporary fix on your conservatory roof is working AnnG, is your OH going to finish the job today? They say it's going to be nice for the next few days but a bit cold, hope he won't be to cold if he does the job.

Morning all,

We have a very hard frost this morning and the suns out too. there are all ferns patterns on my car and the deer are in the orchard eating the apples.

What's it like at yours?

Frank the fixodent works as I have a loose one and I jarred it the other week and I used the fixodent and it helped a lot.

Even though the suns was out some of the day its been very cold here.

Watching a bit of telly now so see you all inthe morning night night sleep tight all.

Hi all, I thought I had better pop in to ley you know all is well this end. Slept like a log again last night, didn't rise until after 10.00 am.

Got my new teeth this afternoon, but unable to were them at the moment as one of my teeth has worked LOOSE, and when I bite down it gives me lots off pain. He said try a bit if Fixodent, that might cushion the tooth a little. Will try that tomorrow. I smiled at Ros, and she thought they looked GREAT.

We have had THREE people in the village die this week, they seem to be dropping like FLIES. !!!!!

Ros is out this evening, it's the Choir's get together. She has done a large platter of salad and a ring of prawns, each woman is doing food, so they won't go hungry.

I'm off to have a cold beer and a bit of Tele. See you tomorrow. xxxx

Evening All,

Gill I am just going to email you as I know quite a bit on the subject having worked on the state pensions section in DSS for over 8 years. They have overhauled the scheme since then and people can fall into the old or new scheme depending on their retirement age and then the married woman's NI election can affect things and women relying on a housewife's pension may not get what they expect if the man doesn't have a full NI record because eg he has blank or incomplete years due to not signing on for credits if he was not working or eg having had a spell at her majesty's service! At least the new scheme means less years need to be paid now so don't be worrying as everything may be ok, but it's never too soon to get to know what some of your retirement income is likely to be. :-)

It was still windy here last night Mel so whatever he did as a temporary measure paid off. Sunday is going to be sunny and dry if the forecast is right so it will late.

Iv'e been playing with my clay.

I did stop to do the chickens and then get the dinner on. Irish stew tonight with dough boys. Hav'nt had that for a while and I just fancied it. Oh just came out to make a coffee and moaned as the water jug was empty and made a fuss about going out of the way into his study so your not the only one whose hubby gets in a mood easily Gill. It probably because he told me to make some shapes and see how thye bake and I hav'nt done that I have started a little dragon.

AnnG maybe the wind is not blowing the water in the conservatory now its died down. I hope he can get it done properly tomorrow if its going to be dry.

We had a bit of hail this morning after I posted and then some more sun and then more rain.

Gill, no-one is going to stop talking to you so don't get worried about that. A day or two ago you were concerned about your state pension and whether you would get one. You will certainly get a pension of some sort, even if it is one based on OH's contributions but if you are getting Carer's Allowance you will automatically be credited with NI contributions. This is from an Age UK factsheet:


8 National Insurance Credits

If you are entitled to CA and have not yet reached State Pension age, National Insurance contributions are credited automatically to increase your future entitlement to the State Pension, unless you have retained the right to pay married woman’s reduced-rate contributions. If you are under State Pension age and you become sick, you may qualify for ‘new style ESA’ based on National Insurance credits from when you received CA.


I know Carer's Allowance can be affected depending on what benefits/allowances are given to the person with the disability so if you are unsure it would be worth giving the Department of Work and Pensions or the Citizens Advice Bureau a call. They will let you know what you are entitled to.

Is it just you looking for somewhere new to live or is OH taking an interest? I am wondering if a potential move is one of the things upsetting him. Whatever you do make sure it doesn't look as though you and Sandra are ganging up against him.

So where is everyone today? It seems very quiet on here. OH has been backwards and forwards to the hospital with our friend again and is out at the moment collecting him. I should think he'll be back around 6.30 pm. In between the hospital trips I took the car off to Tesco and did the shopping. I don't know why but I seem to get through it much more quickly on my own. I suppose I just make the decisions rather than discussing whether to have beef or lamb, cabbage or cauliflower etc. I'm doing the raffle at our club meeting on Monday and I even managed to get a couple of bits for that and I bought myself a new indoor plant as well, so I came home well pleased. Otherwise I have just done odd jobs such as descaling the kettle and steamer.

Better go and put the oven on now so I can get dinner underway. Hope you all sleep well tonight.

I need to find Sandra's paperwork to see how many points she got for the bit she needs to apply for a bus pass, then I'll need to sort one out for myself. Thanks for your help and support it means so much to me. Good news on the leaky roof situation, I hope it stays dry for you. Your OH is very busy and now fixing the shelving, you have a good one there AnnG. :-)

My OH didn't blame me for the dryer, so I should be grateful of that. I wouldn't mind but he can be lovely when he puts his mind to it, but lately he's just so moody and nothing I do or say seems to help. He can't understand that I was worried when I saw the sparks coming from the dryer, I think he thought I was going to interfere when I came into the kitchen but that wasn't the case at all. At least the dryer won't work now so he's safe and I can stop worrying about him now.

I've still got my headache from this morning, thankfully it hasn't turned to a migraine. I'm quite tired with having a bad nights sleep last night, so I think that might have something to do with it. An early night is on the cards for me I think, then hopefully I'll wake up feeling a little better.

Going to sort out dinner now, then settle down and watch a bit of TV before bed.

So your next move Gill is to apply for Sandra's free bus pass, than yours.

Don't mention to your OH when you tell us things then he won't be able to comment. No way will we stop talking to you that is showing how he doesn't know how our support system works. so do stop worrying.

And I suppose it is your fault he can't fix the tumble drier. I think his bad moods in a way are because he feels guilty about not having money but he won't admit it.

My OH is still fixing the kitchen shelving so I think the leak will wait until tomorrow. I think it supposed to stay dry now for a few days. It rained this morning but it didn't get in so it must be partly fixed. Although that rain was not too heavy.

I hope your OH can fix the leak AnnG. We have lovely sunshine now, I hope you have the same then he can get on with the job.

Thanks for letting me know about free bus travel, I knew Sandra could get it but didn't know I could. Again Social Services not doing their job properly as I asked about it and they only mentioned Sandra. Bus fairs are really expensive around here even with a weekly ticket which is why we could never go out as Sandra can't travel on her own which means her free bus pass is rendered useless if she was to get one as it would cost to much for me to travel with her.

OH's in a bad mood again as he couldn't fix the dryer and now it's definitely broken. He said you would all stop talking to me if I say how I'm feeling, so I'm worried about that now. He's stormed off out again so at least I'll have a bit of peace for a while. Sandra's getting fed up of it and told him to be nice to me, maybe that's why he was in a pleasant mood this morning, pity it didn't last though. I'm sort of getting used to it now. I mentioned about him getting a job again, but he's refusing to even look for one, I'm starting to wonder if he even wants to work again.

I've been looking for somewhere else to live and have found a few nice properties around the UK. One was just what I was looking for but when I looked at the street view there was a massive tin garage next door with lots of vans and cars outside, so I've changed my mind on it now. It would of been perfect to as it ticked all the boxes and sat in half an acre of land. I'd of loved that and had already started dreaming how I would of done the garden if we were lucky enough to buy it. Never mind I'll keep looking.

good afternoon. We have just been to The Range and B&M for bits OH needed for the leak job and for the kitchen reorganisation for the air fryer, also in B&M picked up a few groceries that were cheaper than Tesco and which I needed.

The conservatory is still leaking a bit so OH will have another go at it today. He has bought some new sealant as the stuff he had had hardened a bit in the pump.

Gill It looks as though you have looked for things for people with disabilities to do. Maybe you could write to your Parish or town/borough council to ask their advice. (you could probably email them), It is very wrong if there is indeed nothing provided, even if you had to pay.

regarding bus fares, see below:

Disabled person's bus pass
You could get free bus travel in your local area if: In England, Scotland or Wales you have been awarded at least eight points for the moving around activity in the PIP test.

Carers travel free
If the person you care for has a National Entitlement Card and they need your help when they travel by bus then you will be able to travel with them for free.

Contact your local council to find out who issues disabled bus passes in your area as part of the English National Concessionary Travel Scheme. You're eligible

I am pretty sure that you will get a pension, it will be basic but, depending on how much you and OH get you would probably be eligible for various benefits. (That is as now of course but that will be quite a few years time and things could well change). It depends who OH has worked for whether he is eligible for any 'company' pensions, only he will know that.

Mel, good luck with your 'cooking'.

Morning all

Another damp and rainy day. I'm looking forward to next week as it's suppose to be lovely weather for a few days, that'll make a change.

I'm feeling a little better today, thank you so much everyone for all your support. A few years ago Mandy a lot of libraries were closing down, ours was one of them but they changed their minds in the end but now it's only open a couple of days a week. I did have a look at what's on there but it's a baby and mother group and something else for younger children, (I can't remember what it was now) so nothing for Sandra to do for her age group. Because that happened I contacted Social Services to see if there was anything in the area Sandra could do, after a couple of days they got back to me and said there was nothing. To be honest I wasn't impressed with the lack of help off them, but there's nothing I can do about it. This is another reason why we want to move to a place with more going on. We live in a small village and there's nothing to do. I looked into bus fairs and they are so expensive, even the travel tickets you can buy and we don't have many buses going out of the village without having to change buses all the time, so it's difficult to do anything without a car. I've also been trying to find things we all like so at least we can have a family day out, but the few things I have found we've done over and over and we're getting fed up of the same places. This is why I do so much with Sandra in the bungalow. I tried looking for properties online last night but couldn't' seem to find anything suitable, most properties we can afford need a lot of money spending on them which we wouldn't have, so I'm going to take another look today in different areas up and down the UK, I'm sure I'll find an area that suits us all with a property that suits us to. I'd like to live in the country but close enough to somewhere with things to do. Easier said than done on our small budget, but I'll keep looking.

OH has woken up in a good mood, let's hope it lasts. He said he'll take another look at the drier today as it's blowing out cold air rather than warm, he thinks he knows what the problem is, so hopefully, even though we have to turn the drum ourselves before switching it on, it'll blow out the right air soon.

I hope your OH managed to sort out the leaking roof in your conservatory AnnG. What is the weather like by you, I hope you don't have the rain we've got if the leak isn't fixed yet?

Your oven sounds just the thing Mel, I'm looking forward to hearing and seeing the things you make in there.

I'd like to know more about the pension Ann, if it's okay with you can you PM me? I'm a bit concerned about what you said and now I'm wondering if I will get any pension with not being able to work properly with looking after Sandra from when I had her at 18 years old. I'm 53 now. OH is the same age, but he's worked whereas I haven't really done many years to contribute, which is a bit worrying. I don't know anything about it so don't know who to talk to or what to ask, I hope you don't mind me asking you to PM me about it?

I've woken with a bit of a headache so I'm going to take a painkiller, the last thing I want is another migraine. I didn't sleep very well last night and kept waking up every couple of hours, so it's no wonder I have a headache now.

Morning all,

Quite brightish here this morn ing but at least the wind seems to have subsided but the sky is now grey out the front.

Am hoping to have a go at cooking something in the oven today. Just some test pieces to see how they come out before putting something good in there. As its not twindy today I may try it in the kitchen with the back door open.

Hope Frank slept well last night and is not to dizzy this morning and that you all had a good nights sleep.

Thinking of our Jane and hope she is getting along ok after this second lot of treatment and that she is more comfortable now. Sending best wishes and love. <3 <3