General Chat

I bet that was interesting Anng. Fancy the cloud staying for 16 days you would'nt think a cloud could do that.

Just been up the road to post a little parcel and on the way out I saw my neighbour whose been away all April into May. She said she had a little something for me and went and got it. Its a nice bottle of French rose' wine my favorite when I want a glass. I took that wine when I went to dinner iwth her at Christmas. Its the one who sent me the postcard that looked like plastic.

The talk was very interesting quite a lot of information to take in and the reasons why it happened as it did. The speaker was excellent Dr Tin Brain who was Chuef Constable at the time of the floods. Seeing all the photos reminded us of how frightening it all was. Interesting was the reason for so much rain. It was mainly a huge cloud that through various weather situations settled over Gloucestershire and didn’t move for 16 days. There were a lot of facts and figures that my brain has not retained (of course).

Hope it was a nice lunch Vera. My first hubby did'nt do anything in the house but he did mow the lawn and that was it. He never cooked or made a sandwich or even feed the dogs and I had three at the time.

I have made myself a huge pot of soup should keep me in lunches for the rest od the week at least. Just need to add some broken vermicelli and a tiny bit of cornflower to thicken it a bit or I may just add porridge oats. I have carrots, onion, one potato, parsnip and celery plus a tin of Batchelors mixed veg which I like in soups. It has beans in it and turnip I think. I have a nobby of wholemeal bread to have with it too.

I found the same information as AnnG, plus some other info on Mr Google. The legality issue seems to be a very grey area; it's mostly guidance to GPs on what is expected of them. Of course we don't know what was said but In the case of Annx's OH it sounds as though it was a receptionist overstepping the mark and making decisions herself rather than the GP refusing a face to face appointment. Whatever the rights and wrongs of it I hope G gets the help and reassurance he needs.

I'm not sure I do cope very well on little sleep Mandy. Everything seems to take me twice as long as it should and I get tired and frustrated and grumpy. Poor OH is sometimes on the receiving end of a snappy tongue. He is driving me mad this morning but so far I've been able to bite my tongue and not say anything as I know he is trying to help. My neighbour complains that her husband doesn't lift a finger in the house so I suppose I am lucky. I do have to laugh as, when she is complaining, my neighbour forgets to add that her OH pays for a cleaner and an ironing lady and sometimes a gardener to come in so she's not too hard done by.

OH has just called that lunch is ready so I'd better go. Might be back later.

Perhaps illegal is not completely accurate but this is what I read.

PATIENT GUIDE: From NHS rules to misdiagnosis concerns, the guidance that could help you push back (Image: Getty)

Patients are being reminded of their rights to request in-person GP appointments, as legal experts warn that some surgeries may be falling short of national guidance. Under current NHS rules, GP practices are expected to offer face-to-face consultations where patients request them, unless there are valid clinical reasons not to do so.

An NHS GP said: "Practices in England must offer face-to-face appointments if requested. GPs who fail to make the necessary arrangements for patients to make an appointment without having to spend hours on the phone or who are not available for face-to-face appointments are, in the strictest terms, breaking the law."

Morning all,

Up at 6am for a bathroom visit and back to bed as it felt quite cold and could'nt drop off again but must have done eventually as I dreamt of Tom Jones singing and others singing the song and sayng to oh " He sings it best dos'nt he" and then he was using our loo!! woke again at 10am. My sleep pattern seems all out when the morning are dark and grey and pc is still telling me temps to rise tomorrow so I hope its right.

Its good Max seems more like normal now after his visit to the vets. Does he know when he's going to see the vet like some dogs do?

Hope G got to see a doctor today to get this sorted out. Its not good keeping him waiting for everything all the time. Tell the receptionist what Anng said thats its illigal to be refused a face to face appointment with a doc if you ask for one.

I was reading yesterday that it is actually illegal to be refused a face to face appointment with a doctor if you request one.

Morning Anng ,morning all,

Bit overcast and I don't like the look of the sky ,looks like it could rain , we are off to Tesco to get a few bits and then call at Roys to look at the plants .

Anng Max seems OK now thanks, he's going out and doing good wees so hopefully the tablets are taking any inflammation down .
It's a job to know when to put plants out ,I was hoping to get the tom plants in the bigger pots this weekend ,they really need to go out now as they are getting quite big plants.

Ann thats badness that OH can't get an appointment with a doctor ,honestly how bad do we have to be to get to see a doctor ,these poor nurses seem to have more and more pushed on to them and then when you finally do get to see a doctor they say you should have come and seen me sooner ....... you just can't win .

Vera I hope you managed to get a better night's sleep last night ,you do so well managing to keep going on just a few hours sleep ,I certainly couldn't keep going like you do .

Mel hope the secateurs turn up ,you might have to ask BIL if he's seen them ,say you laid them down somewhere and wondered if he's picked them up .
How are the baby Robins?

good morning all 11 degrees a bit windy and a grey sky, no rain at the moment. I am hoping we had our share yesterday. I could do with a dry morning to get the new plants sorted out. Although I think the main work with those will be at the weekend. Trouble is with another temperature shift it looks as though it is going to be a bit hot for planting new plants on. Just can't win.

I slept okish did wake a lot but I was test running the new alarm so that was expected. And it did work, went off as planned and could feel the vibration through my 2 pillows.
Vera hope you got a bit more sleep last night. I think the trouble is when we do have a run of bad nights, our bodies adjust that to the normal.

Ann hoping your OH can get his problem sorted today.

Mandy is Max OK now?

This time 57 years ago my son was 10 minuets old.

Oh my goodness Annx, how much more is your poor OH, and you, going to have to endure? You must be feeling quite stressed but stay as calm as you can. Often these things seem a lot worse than they really are. That receptionist certainly needs more training. Even if OH had seen a nurse the day before these were new symptoms and needed to be medically assessed. Sometimes people round here will have a moan about our doctors practice but compared to some of the things I hear from other people ours are wonderful, a real “dream team”. I hope you both get a good night’s sleep tonight and OH gets some help and reassurance from the doctor tomorrow.

Yesterday was not a very good day. I only had 2 hours sleep on Sunday night, got up at 6.30 am and had a cup of tea, felt very shaky so went back to bed and got up again at 7.30 as I could tell I wasn’t going to go back to sleep. I got a lot of washing done and hung most of it out, did a bit of tidying up and cooked our main meal at lunchtime as we needed to be out early evening. By mid afternoon I had such a bad headache I knew I wouldn’t get out in the evening if I didn’t get an hour or two of sleep but I was expecting two phone calls on my mobile. So I left my phone with OH with instructions to answer it and took myself off to bed. I had just fallen asleep when my iPad woke me up – I had forgotten that my phone and iPad are synched so when the phone rings so does the iPad. In the end I got about an hour’s light sleep.

In the evening we went to a club meeting where the speaker was talking on “What does a celebrant do”. She lives miles away in Norfolk but, for some reason, operates mostly in our area conducting weddings and funerals and pretty much any other legal ceremony that’s required. She spoke for 75 minutes non-stop and was so interesting that the time passed very quickly.

Today we had really heavy rain for most of the morning, then sunshine and strong winds this afternoon. It’s looking quite black and heavy again now. OH had an opticians appointment this morning and I had to go with him in case he had drops in his eyes and couldn’t drive home. Even with umbrellas we got soaked walking from the car park to the opticians and then we were there for an hour and a half. I wished I’d taken a book. OH said the optician he saw was very thorough and the upshot was that he has been prescribed with new reading glasses and been told he has blocked ducts. He has come home with this eye mask thing which he has to heat in the microwave, strap round his head so it covers his eyes and keep it on for 10 minutes or so. This has to be done twice a day. He’s in his element, lying there like Lord Muck in his fancy eye mask. Needless to say, he dozed off this afternoon and I had to wake him when I realized he had been there for rather longer than 10 minutes.

This afternoon I’ve been doing admin jobs and sorting out some plants that are still in the conservatory but will need to go out soon. I also cooked a shepherd’s pie for tonight and an individual one for the freezer. I should have said cottage pie as it was minced beef but my mum called it shepherd’s pie and so I still do. I’ve also been trying to get my head round our new recycling system. It seems to be all change with what goes where. Our Council has been good with general waste in that nothing goes to landfill but they have been a bit backward in collecting and recycling as much as they could so we are playing catch up. I shall have to draw myself a chart of what goes out for collection when. We now have food bin out every week, garden bin every 2 weeks and the other 3 bins every 3 weeks. They each have a different start date so these 3 never go out together. I’m confused enough but at least I can go through the instructions carefully and draw myself up a chart but I can see some people really struggling to get to grips with it. Oh well, I suppose we’ll get used to it in time.

I’m hoping to get lots of h/w and gardening done tomorrow, weather permitting, but right now I’m going to get myself a drink, make some overnight oats for my breakfast, have a nice wash and take my book to bed. Sleep well everyone.

I too have felt cold all day and Iv'e not even been outside much and not in the shed either.

Not done much at all today and am cross with myself now as the day is over.

BIL bought me a lovely sharp pair of secs but so you think I can find them. I am wondering if I gave them to him to cut down brambles sticking out when he's mowing and he took themhome thinking they were his as he has them too. Darn'nt ask him incase they turn up but I am usually good with all my secs and put them straight back in the kitchen draw for gardening things.

I don't think thats a very good service you're getting from the docs Annx. They should at least get the doc to give you a ring with a phone appointment. Our doc will ring you after surgery if you have questions. I hope you get better answers once he's seen the doc tomorrow. Its not G's fault afterall. Was he warned there could be these serious side affects?

Ann I think you missed my post. But yes garden centre was good. Just want the rain to stop now so I can pot up what I have bought. The plants looked really healthy, lots of stock in so I was pleased I went.

That was bad of that receptionist, I am sure a doctor could have been called to at least speak to your OH. Sounds as if more training is required.

Vera loved your dream, I am sure I will have caught the bus and we will have enjoyed that coffee :-D

Afternoon All,

Sunshine and showers here again and I have felt chilly but OH is hot so I've had to wrap up to keep warm.

I only had about two hours sleep as OH developed a new symptom last night, severe aching in the calves of his legs and tingling. He just couldn't sleep and was pacing about concerned. I looked things up and both the the new meds and antihistamine can be the cause or have more serious effects from the injection and say seeing a doctor is imperitive. So he rang the surgery first thing again this morning to explain and all the receptionist would give him was a telephone appointment that would be in the afternoon and with a nurse again. OH said despite his insistence, the receptionist seem to have it in her head he didn't need to see a doctor as he'd seen a nurse yesterday. He then tried the rheumatology helpline at the hospital again as no one got back to him yesterday and no one even answered the phone today.! The nurse from the surgery did ring him at 4.00 pm and when he had explained again she started saying he should have asked to see a doctor for a face to face appointment, as if it was his fault!!! Give me strength, he did try and why do they assume it's the patient's fault and not the receptionist! She's concerned now about DVTs and of course phoning so late in the day, there were no doctors' appointments left. She's managed to book him in with a doctor first thing tomorrow and we are to go to A&E if there's any breathlessness in the meantime. OH is always calm and polite and explains himself well, but I'm beginning to see why they need signs up saying abuse won't be tolerated, as carrying on like this would make some people lose their rag. Anyway OH left off the antihistamine today till he hopefully knows tomorrow whether it's safe to continue. I can't help but wonder how much harder our lives are getting and will be when they stop us driving and we only have half our wits to cope with all this hassle. It was so nice when you could just go to your surgery without an appointment and just sit and wait your turn.
Anyway there seems to be more improvement today, no 'tomato face' and the legs are not red now either, but he's still 'in the pink' elsewhere and needed a nap this afternoon after the last few days.

We did manage to squeeze in having coffee and breakfast baps at a garden centre this morning, but had quite a shock afterwards browsing round as The Works has gone and there's just a big open space being refitted there now.

Now the stick hoover seems to be going wrong. I've given it a good charge so I will give it a good test tomorrow.

Mel, they match the price not the number of bars.

I hope you had a nice catch up with yur friend at the garden centre AnnG. Did you get anything? You are lucky your windowcleaner usually lets you know when he is coming. We are lucky to even be told what day or even the week!

Sorry I’m a bit late responding to emailed pictures and the posts again. It’s been another couple of hectic days.

Mel, that was a good picture of Jane and you won’t want to get rid of it. You’ve been busy again with all your sowing and potting up.

Mandy, that was a pretty purse and I can see how useful it might be. You are so skilled at making things. I hope Max has recovered well from his problems. Yes, I’ve been to the Chelsea Flower Show as well but I wouldn’t go again. It was a few years ago. We went by public transport and we left here at 6 am to get there when it opened. We made straight for the show gardens and I’m glad we did because by 11 am it was so packed you could hardly see a thing. Some of the marquees looked lovely with all the different plant displays but they were hot and crowded as well. I think the biggest problem with Chelsea is that it’s so overcrowded. We have a couple of small shows not much more than an hour’s drive from here, Hyde Hall which is an RHS garden and has a show in August, and Audley End which hosts the Gardeners’ World Autumn Fair. I stick with those now.

Gosh AnnG, I hope you don’t have any more flooding. You are doing well with your plant buying and saved a bit of money there. I hope you have managed to get your alarm set up now. I had a weird dream about you last night. OH and I were walking through a busy town centre – I’ve no idea where it was – when I saw you in the crowd coming towards us. Although we’ve never met I knew it was you so stopped and introduced myself and OH and we decided to go for a coffee together. Every coffee shop we tried had queues coming out of the door. In the end we just joined one of the queues and it was moving so slowly that you were getting a bit wound up. I asked you what was wrong and learnt that you had to get a bus to Gloucester and there was only one bus a day so you couldn’t risk missing it. At that point I woke up so I never learned whether we got a coffee or whether you caught the bus.

Annx, I hope OH is feeling better and his rash is fading. Those are very strong antihistamines that he’s been given. Have rheumatology been in touch with him yet? They do seem to be a bit lax. It sounds as though he hasn’t lost his sense of humour in spite of all he is going through.

I’ve just noticed that it is nearly 5.30 pm and if we want to eat at 6.30 pm I’d better get a wriggle on and start preparing and cooking. I’ll try to come back after we’ve eaten to tell you what we’ve been up to the last couple of days (don’t hold your breath; we haven’t done anything exciting).

Rain has been horrific here. tomorrow's talk at U3a is about the 2007 floods. I am hoping it wan't be about this week's floods!!! My patio was well under water. It has gone down a bit at the moment anyway.

Just back from the garden centre sat for almost 2 hours talking and also managed to buy some plants and a couple of small compost bags.
Bought One nepeta Persian blue, 2 Nemesia coral kiss and Lilac quees.4 basket plants bacopa, and callabrochoa, and one lilac Osteospernum. Has a £25 Christmas gift card and tuesday is Gold card discount day so that lot only cost me £11.60.

Just realised I hav'nt posted this morning. I have been trying to answer question on Ebay about an item and Asda came with one not available and two subs., I ordered a pack of 9 twirl which they did'nt have so they sent me 2 packs of three. Why did'nt they send me three packs of threes which would have been the same as what I ordered, 9 bars of Twirl?? The other thing was square crisps I ordered in three flavours they sent one pack of plain hulu hoops original. One good thig though I got something I did'nt order and have never had so I can try it for free and see if I like it. Its in the freezer.

Enjoy your trip oput with your friend Anng and have a nice chat and a coffee.

Its been chucking it down here and there's grey sky and its 14 degrees so feels a bit warmer today than yesterday. Pc is telling me temps to rise by Thursday, we'll see if they are right when the day comes.

Hope hubby's rash is a bit better today and is fading now and that the pills are doing their job and taking away the itching.

Better get on as I too have some ironing to do like Mandy. I need to have a hoover too.

yes, rain doesn't seem to stop them. or affect the windows afterwards.

Morning all,

Raining here ,well drizzle really I just put the bin out while it is drizzle in case it gets heavy later ,I don't want to get soaked.

Ann thats good you checked the leaflet as that is a high dose compared to the everyday ones we take for hay-fever, it's good he's thinking of going to football ,he must be feeling more relaxed now he's seen someone about it .

Anng will they still come to clean the windows in the rain, enjoy your garden centre trip .
Better get hoovered up and then I have some ironing to do , keep me busy for a while .