General Chat

Hope that poor chap is ok for Christmas if he was,nt badly injured and it was nice people waited patiently.

Just about to get something to eat.

Been trying to cover a box all afternoon for the boys for a Christmas Eve box as I hav'nt got their stockings and with them having Covid I hav'nt been round there.

Thanks Vera. People are so vulnerable on a motorcycle, but it sounds like he had a lucky escape. It was good people behaved and waited without hooting.

I haven't been able to access my emails all day. It is odd as OH has had no trouble with his. I even tried my tablet but still no joy. :-S

Glad you got your scan date Ann.

I've just seen online that the problem this morning was a collision between a car and a motorcyclist who was injured. He is in hospital but thankfully his injuries are not life threatening. The police have posted something online thanking the community and saying they didn't hear one car horn honking or a single moan from shoppers who were stuck in the car parks or the poor people stuck at the bus station.

I don't know but I suspect someone came out of the car park without looking properly. The road is only one lane each way. Like many places our old market town was not designed for all the traffic it now carries.

It could have been worse.

Afternoon All,

A good sleep last night and OH decided to watch footie on tv today, so we had a lie in. I think he was quite exhausted with all his meetings in the week and the trouble with his car. He's done some hoovering, emptied the shredder and fetched some things out of the loft so that was good. I have done the bathroom floor and am now back to paperwork.

I didn't spot the anagram either Island! The boosters those are getting from now on will barely be up to strength by Christmas when they will be mixing and I expect mine is starting to wane now, Also alcohol weakens the immune response against covid, so Christmas won't help! We have local cases of Omicron now.

I got my scan date this morning, next Sunday first thing in a mobile scanner.

Thank you for your lovely card Vera, also Fiona if you look in. I see what you mean Vera about taking on too much for the old chap. Helping rather than taking over responsibility is best as you say. I have seen things go wrong where family have been accusing and MIL ended up with all the shopping for a neighbour she helped a few times and that had two local daughters. I wonder what all the traffic problem and Police was about.

I missed you there Vera, we are now all wondering what is going on there. I hope it is not anything serious.

Your mention of B&Q reminded me of something I just saw on facebook.

"fancy playing hide and seek all day and getting paid for it? Become a member of staff at B&Q"

Island, yes I had seen that on facebook. :-) :-)

I won't let it disrupt my life except that I will stay away from people en masse until I am safely up at my daughters. As she is as much as she can too. If just one of us catches it, it could throw a lot of plans into chaos.

Love the anagram Island :-D

Morning all

It’s quite a bright, dry morning here but very cold still. It’s supposed to start warming up this afternoon.

Yes, I had read that report in another paper AnnG. Our 3 jabs were all Pfizer. Get your booster as soon as you can Mel but you don’t mix with crowds so I’m sure you’ll be OK. I had a phone call yesterday inviting me to a Ladies Club lunch on 11th Jan in a local pub, but I’ve turned it down on the basis of not knowing what the situation will be at that time. Perhaps we’ll all be having our fourth jabs by then ;-)

Ann, the chap OH is helping has given his electricity company permission over the phone to talk to OH and the phoning is done from his house so they can hear OH relaying their questions and the chap’s answers. We really don’t want to get more involved. We’ve known him for several years but we’ve never been close friends and don’t want his nieces or nephews to be able to accuse us of influencing him or being after his money. I hope I’m wrong but people can be quite nasty sometimes.

OH has just come in. He was gone for ages and I was starting to worry as he was only going to B&Q. Apparently he came back through town and traffic was nearly at a standstill. W hen he eventually got near the road towards our area he could see that police had closed the road leading to the station, the main town car parks, the leisure centre, Roy’s shop and Waitrose and there were police cars and flashing lights everywhere. So we’re wondering what’s going on.

Midday already. I’d better get on as I’ve just fiddled about this morning. Enjoy your day folks.

Morning all

There are so many conflicting reports around the omicron variant - including suggestions that it could be a vaccine against covid. It has spread pretty rapidly but has mild symptoms? Set against the reported Tory shenanigans I am dubious about whether this variant has any affect.
I'm not going to be sucked into panicking - it's easy enough to avoid crowds without it disrupting my life. I believe prolonged isolation will do more damage.

Anyone noticed that omicron is an anagram of moronic?

hope you can get your booster soon Mel. However you are quite well isolated there so try and stay away from shops until you get the booster. Yes, sorry I forgot you had not had yours.

Thanks for that infomation Anng I happen to be one of those people who ar eNOT boosted and so is my oh.

Morning all,

Dull and dreary here this morning just have the shop to do and then I may pick stuff for Phyl's ring as she wants one for Friday. She was telling me she went to Holsworthy on the 4th to have her booster at the drop in center and got there at 11.30am and qued for three hours in the cold and wet so I am glad we did'nt go that day. This is a person who is very thin and dos'nt drive so how she got there I don't know.

Just seen the following. Good job we are all boosted


Vast majority of Britons have NO PROTECTION against Omicron: After 100 days two AstraZeneca doses offer virtually zero defence while two Pfizer jabs provide just 37% protection against new variant – but boosters cut risk of falling ill by 75%

People with just their first two AstraZeneca jabs have almost no protection against the Omicron variant But getting third shot can boost protection against the highly-transmissible strain to above 70 per cent

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10298323/Vast-majority-Britons-NO-PROTECTION-against-Omicron.html

Strange we mostly seemed to, as Ann put it yesterday, faffed about. I did too but looking at what I did, nothing was particularly important but all needed doing sometime so maybe we did achieve something,

good morning all, another dull December dat althoug to be fair yesterday was sunny mostly.

I fully expected to wake up to a hard frost. when I got up in the night and looked out of the window (as you do), the sky was clear and absolutely full of the most beautiful display of stars. I am so ignorant when it comes to stars, T used to tell me what they were. I just wish I could have known what I was looking at but I stayed looking dor quite a while, so lovely.
But it is 3 degrees this morning, cloudy and no sign of frost at all.

You and me both Mel. I seemed to have faffed about a lot of today, I tried sorting out some art magazines, but got sidetracked reading them! :-)

All these new ways of doing things can be very upsetting for older folk I mean what is the poor chap to do if he can't do it himself and there's nobody else to do it for him. He is lucky he has your hubby to try and help.

Can't get into anything else today so I think I will download the pics and perhaps send you all some.

P60s may be evidence you need, certainly until you get your correct state pension and maybe other benefits you claim before that. The P60 is the employee's proof and will be asked for in a benefit claim to speed up payment if NI is missing for a year that counts for their benefit. I still have all of mine, (although I could chuck them away now), just for interest in how wages changed over the years. It's better to keep too much than too little.

Well the new mop gets up to the edges and in the corners better than my steam one, but I still think it will be good to get the steamer out occasionally as, it's probably better on any greasy patches by the cooker. OH stumbled across the allan key that fits the bolts on what's left of the old exercise bike today, so he's been dismantling more of it to go in the bin!

I hope you get a better night's sleep tonight Vera. It's awful lying awake hours when you are tired but unable to drop off. I'd forgotten about a black car 'not being seen easily'. I noticed with my last car (sort of metallic browny grey) that people pulled out in front of me unexpectedly at times. I saw a big difference when I changed to the current white one. (but it does show the dirt badly!). Could your friend send written permission naming your OH to deal with this issue with them if he and your OH are happy to do that? There must be some way around it.

Thank you Mel and Mandy for your cards.

I didn’t get to sleep till about 4 am but then slept till nearly 9 which is late for me. It’s been a fairly bright day and no rain so far but it is very cold and there is a bitter wind.

The name Flappergirl isn’t ringing any bells with me but it’s lovely when you hear from old members. I’ve been a member since Jan 2005 but didn’t post on any board till 2012 and I think I’ve only been posting on this one for about 3 years, so perhaps Flappergirl was before my time.

That oil leak sounds quite nasty Ann and I hope it can be fixed soon. We have a black car and you are right about it showing the dirt and scratches and, what’s more, I am convinced black is invisible. We have had so many people manage to drive into our car; front, back and both sides. These were not minor little parking scratches. In one three year period the car spent more time at the body shop than it did in our garage. And don’t start me on people not reading letters and emails. I sent for an expensive pair of trousers from a company whose “regular” size is the right length for me. When it came the label on the package said “regular” but the trousers inside were “short”. I did try them on and they looked ridiculous so I sent them back with a letter explaining that the trousers were in the wrong bag and asking them to exchange them for the correct size. Yesterday I got an email saying they had received my returned goods and a refund would be made. No mention of an exchange!

OH is also still having trouble with the electricity company he’s dealing with on behalf of our friend. Today he’s had another email saying that as he is not a secondary account holder they cannot deal with him and so can’t give him any advice about a smart meter or paying by direct debit………..except 5th January has already been organized as the date for someone to fit the smart meter and the direct debit is supposed to have already been set up. OH is feeling very frustrated. This chap is not a close friend at all but we are only a couple of minutes walk from him and he doesn’t seem to have anyone else to help so he usually rings us when he has problems. His wife who had Parkinsons died about 3 years ago and their only child died in her 30s. I think he has a couple of nieces or nephews but they don’t seem to come near him very often. He really needs to either move into a care home or have a live-in carer but he won’t consider it. We do have to smile sometimes as he seems to consider my OH a young man. At 84!

That was nice of you to put the rings on the graves and photograph them Mel.

Thanks for putting up the Good Housekeeping article about keeping documents AnnG. These days I usually keep stuff for 2-3 years although anything that might involve tax I still keep for 6 or 7 years.

We had our main meal at lunchtime today as I had half a casserole from yesterday left so I just reheated it on the hob and threw in some dumplings and put a green veg with it. I also made a dozen blueberry muffins which smell good. We’ll have a sandwich and a couple of muffins tonight.

It’s getting dark and colder again so I think it’s time to put the kettle on – it’s seldom off in our house. I just fancy a cup of tea and a ginger biccy.

I copied the following from Good Housekeeping.

Documents to keep for ever
*Marriage/birth/death certificates, wills, house deeds (if you’ve paid off your mortgage), and adoption records are only issued in paper form. Losing any of these is a major hassle and can be costly to replace. Keep the paper copies in a locked and fire-resistant security box.

*Your car's V5C logbook is also a paper document, which you must pass onto the new owner if you sell on your car. Keep it safe!

*Life insurance: Make sure your beneficiaries know where your insurance policies are kept and who the main contact is. The same goes for your will – tell your family where it’s kept.

*Pensions: Make sure you keep all your documentation, otherwise you could end up missing out on hard-earned money. Don't forget to tell your pension providers when your contact details change!

*Medical records: A medical exemption certificate lasts for five years or until your 60th birthday. Keep a note of your NHS number as you will need this when if you change GP. Keep hold of your Children’s Personal Child Health Record (the Red book), if you have a paper version (there’s now a digital version, the eRedbook).

It might be an idea to hold on to your Covid vaccination card too although you can also download your Covid pass from the NHS app.

*National Insurance number: If you've lost your NI card you should be able to find the number on a payslip, P60 or on a tax return. If not, you can apply for a replacement card.

*Pet vaccination record: Keep proof of all their jabs and make a note when they need boosters. A pet passport lasts for ever, provided rabies vaccinations are up to date.

Documents to keep for their lifetime
*Passport: This goes without saying. Even if you don’t plan on travelling abroad, your passport is a useful piece of ID.

*Driving licence: The paper counterpart to a driving licence has had no legal status since June 2015. You should destroy yours if you have one but keep your photocard driving licence. However, paper-only driving licences issued before 1998 are still valid and must not be destroyed.

*Vehicle documents: Whether it's car insurance, road tax or proof your car has passed its MOT, you need to hang on to documents until they expire. Either keep hard copies in a locked box or store digital copies in a safe place. Make sure you keep a note of when your MOT is due for renewal as not all garages will remind you!

*Rental agreements: Keep until you have received your deposit back from your landlord or letting agent in case you need to argue anything. Keep evidence you have paid utility bills on rental property too.

*Extended warranties have different time limits depending on the manufacturer so make a note of the expiry date.

Make sure your filing system is clearly labelled - bank, utilities, travel, for instance.
Documents to keep for two years

*Tax records, including your P60, coding notices from HMRC and proof of interest paid on bank accounts.

Documents to keep for one year
*Payslips only need to be kept until you receive your P60

*Utility bills: Keep a record for a year, in case of problems and so you can compare when it comes to deciding on a new deal.

*TV licence: These, too, can be done online now, so if you pay by direct debit there's no need to worry. Otherwise, make a note of when you need to review.

Important documents for the self-employed
Keep records of your business income so that you can fill in your tax return and for five years after the 31 January online tax return deadline.
If you’re a director of a limited company, you need records of the company itself and its income. You need to keep the records for six years after the end of the relevant financial year. If paperwork isn’t your strong point, don't be an ostrich. Hire an accountant or business manager to help.

There's oil all under the car on the drive now AnnG. After the last service they said a cover under the engine had come loose which has already caused drips and since this there are more. The engineer did say it looked like the oil filter is cracked which is why OH wants the garage who did the service and put a new one on in October to put it right. You and Mel are both right though that he needs to get it swapped now. The only colour I can find in the car he wants is black though and neither of us fancy that as it shows both dirt and scratches. At least with him using my car, and me warning him the the low tyre pressure light might mean a puncture, meant he got cracking and blew the front tyres up for me and the low tyre pressure light has gone out now.

Those leccy bills are pretty old Mel! Mind you Martin Lewis says he keeps all of his old bills and bank statements in case he needs proof of something from years back. I keep about 3 years as they take up so much room. OH has to keep his work stuff about 7 years. I keep telling him to scan things onto a flash stick, but he is still clinging on to paper records and I can't say I blame him really.

I still haven't done my 2 floors yet either. so better go and unpack this mop first and see if it needs putting together. Then I must see if I can finish writing my cards. As someone said, it is the writing of notes to go with some that takes time.