General Chat

Gosh thats a big bill, is that for all the work and parts that have been replaced and the service too?

Its raining that really fine stuff here and the winds bowing quite a bit too and I have had to put a guide rope on my blueberry frame as it was bending in the wind and leaning over a lot. Picked a few more blueberries while I was out there and I had one whole egg this morning.

I am also playing so will get on with that now and see if I can get them done before I have to get lunch.

Morning Mel and Vera.
Vera son is picking me up Sunday for a week in Milton Keynes so that I am there over my birthday. I come home on the 14th.

good job I am not broke.
Still no hot water but new pump fitted. So that is fine, then he turned the clock on in the airing cupboard, that is now ok. goes out to check the boiler, nothing happens so he takes the boiler apart and the circuit thingy has burnt out so needs a new one.  cost will be in the region of £450 just to warn me he says. But he will also service the boiler at the same time - he was going to do that in September.  He could be back tomorrow or Saturday morning (luckily he doesn't have the boys this weekend.)
I suppose looking on the bright side I am saving money on gas and electricity. He really is good for a young bloke as not once has he talked down to me and always explains what he is doing.
Consolation is no amount of button pushing etc would have solved the problem and even T would have had to call him out. :-)

Morning AnnG, Mel and all

I hope your boiler repair goes well AnnG. I’ve forgotten what you said you were doing at the weekend.

It’s bright but quite breezy at the moment. We’re not supposed to get rain till this evening but I’m going straight out the garden now in case it rains this afternoon. I need to do some weeding, deadheading, and cutting back of a few plants. My mollis is like yours Mel and spreading all over the paths and looking a bit of a soggy mess so I want to cut that back.

Better get on with it I suppose. Instead of just talking about it.

Morning Anng and all,

Dull and cloudy here and quite windy with it.

Hope it all goes swimmingly with the boiler today and he get the hot water on for you.

Oh is not happy with the weather forcast thismorning as he says its rain rain and more rain.

good morning all, quite bright so far but rain forecast for later.

Changed the bed, bedding in the wash. up early as heating engineer will be here at 9am.
Probably need to sort packing for the weekend. and if it stays dry do anything else in the garden that needs doing.

Hope all goes well wiht your boiler Anng and they get it done quickly.

Vera sounds a good idea to have that coffee morning with the four of you. Must be nice to be able to meet friends again now.

I was up very early this morning so shall be going to bed soon as I am tired out.

Enjoy your time with Lacey Mandy and tell us what you have been up to together when you get time. I expect she will want to make a bracelet having seen what you did.

Sounds like you had a good day Vera and it is always good these days to make plans. Despite or maybe because of being busy I have had a good day, yesterday for no obvious reason I was a bit down and sad but today was a good day. :-)

Vera several people I have spoken to have not had any luck with cucumbers I certainly haven’t. T didn’t last year either but no obvious reason. I also have one tomato with no flowers or fruit on it and one with very little fruit, one is a tumbler and one is a bush tomato. Luckily there are plenty for me.

Sounds like we are in for a wet day tomorrow, not good with a tradesman tracking in and out, still it will be good to get it fixed.

It sounds as though you had a busy day AnnG and you had a nice walk. That’s a nuisance about your pump. MORE EXPENSE as Frank always says. You’ve got a nice holiday to look forward to now, even if it is nearly a year away.

You all sound as though you have been busy in your gardens. Mel, I’m glad your back and hip are feeling a bit better but go carefully for a day or two. Are you likely to hear about your hip soon? Ann, you go carefully too as you don’t want more pain in your knees.

I’m very jealous of you all picking lovely tomatoes. Mine are a disaster this year. The plants don’t have as many toms on them as usual and they are showing no signs of going red. At this rate all we’ll end up with is a small jar of green tomato chutney.

We haven’t heard from Gill for a while now. Maybe she has been lucky enough to get someone to do her building work at last and I expect she is busy getting her garden in shape.

OH’s neck is quite a lot better and he could turn his head well enough to drive today, but the poor man has a mouthful of ulcers. He’s been using bonjela and mouthwash stuff but surprise, surprise, he finds swilling whisky round his mouth works better. I suppose it does act like an antiseptic and probably numbs it all a bit but it’s also a good excuse for a glass of the hard stuff before bed.

We’ve had a really nice day though I haven’t managed a walk or any gardening. This morning we picked our friends up and drove to the farm shop and café. It was a lovely place with a very large shop selling all sorts of food and things like soaps, shampoos and conditioners made with natural ingredients, so I will bear it in mind when I want bits for my eldest granddaughter who is vegetarian and very environment conscious. Outside the shop a fish van was parked and when I had a look it was the same people that used to come every couple of weeks to the little hamlet where we used to live. The fish is fresh from Lowestoft and it was always really good quality. The chap who used to come round to us has retired now but his son runs the company and told us he is at the farm shop every Wednesday from 9-1, so I will be going there once a month or so to stock up with fish.

The cafe/restaurant is very large with quite a good size outdoor area and we were lucky enough to get a table there. We all had coffee and the four of us shared 2 cookies. They were on the menu as biscuits but they were home made cookies and pretty large. We had ginger, apricot and cashew nut and it was lovely. We are pretty certain our big coffee group is never going to start up again so the four of us have decided that we’ll go out for coffee together about once a week, depending on what else is going on, and we’ll take it in turns to choose where we go.

This afternoon I’ve mostly been cooking. Daughter gave me some beetroots from her garden so I’ve cooked those, then I made a shepherd’s pie (or rather cottage pie, it was beef) for our meal tonight and an individual one for the freezer. As I was cooking and mashing potatoes for the pie and cooking cabbage as one of the veg with it I did a load extra which is now all mashed up for bubble and squeak tomorrow.

Once I start typing I don’t know when to stop. If there was an Olympic medal for rabbiting on I reckon I’d win the gold. I hope we all sleep well tonight, me included. Night, night, sweet dreams.

EDIT: You snuck in there while I was typing Mandy. Enjoy your time with Lacey

Evening all ,

Had Internet trouble its been off and on but luckily it seems ok now .
Son came today and set our security camera up and tomorrow were having Lacey for a few days so I won't be around much .

Anng more expense as Frank would say but hopefully you'll be up and running with hot water again tomorrow .

Ann that was a very early delivery fancy him just leaving those boxes like that, I think they take a photo now of where the parcel has been left ,theres no signing now so I suppose it covers them .

Vera hope you enjoyed your coffee and chat with your friends this morning, was it a nice farm shop did you buy any thing.

Still picking runners and dwarf beans ,we've been eating and sharing out the runners but the dwarf beans I've been freezing .
The toms are very slow but we have had a few ,don't ask about the cues they look half dead goodness knows what's gone wrong with them this year.

I'll try and get on here but once Lacey gets here the day just goes ,I expect she will want to do beading and cake making and she loves watering the plants so plenty of things to keep her occupied.

Its just giving me a pain again now and right in the front of my ankle.

I walked the long way round to post the letter and back through the woods and park. Still nobody in the park, no children or teenagers and it was very peaceful when I sat for five minutes..

The heating Engineer came and Pressing any buttons would not have helped as the pump has gone and needs to be replaced. The old one is proving hard to shift so he has covered it with oil (probably WD40/and left it to soak over night. He will be back 9am tomorrow. Cost is going to be about £100+. He is such a nice young man I do wonder why his marriage broke up, he has eight year old twin boys. He laughed when I sympathised with him over that. One of my Great Grandchildren is 8.

Today daughter booked us a week in West Bay Dorset in June next year.

Afternoon All,

Hot and sunny here, so I have a strappy top on today and knee length shorts. I took ages to fall asleep last night but didn't wake till Mr O left in his big van at 7.15am. OH said a big van came down the close at 6.00am, but the gates in front of the new houses were closed, so he unloaded 3 what looked like flat pack boxes and left them propped against our neighbour diagonally opposite's tree!! I don't think he woud be impressed!

Mrs O appears to be having another move around of her few plants she left in the front garden and has some what look like rhododendrons to put in.

I hope your back and hip stay good today Mel. These things are a nuisance when they stop you getting on with what you want to do. Have you heard about your hip yet? You and OH are getting things done. I pruned the fronts and sides of 3 shrubs after lunch but decided not to aggravate my knees clambering across the border between things to get there. I will do those another day.

Enjoy your walk Anng it should be nice under the trees. Its so hot here blue sky and big white clouds.

I have done three lots of washing and tied up the sweet peas and the clematis in the tubs outside the bungalow. Fed the chickens and the fish as we have just had coffee by the pond. Saw a very drab damsel fly laying eggs in my pond and a green dragponfly flew over a few times too.

Oh has sanded more of the mower parts and painted them and they are drying in the sun ready for the top coat. He is now mowing the back lawn. I am now going to do the big bathroom before lunch but if I don't get around to it I shall cut back the mollis which has gone over.

Vera, hope you enjoyed your coffee trip out. Sorry you didn't sleep. I woke just after twelve (in bed before eleven), went to the loo, and back to bed and woke up next around 5am then dosed until 0615 when I decided to get up.

The last couple of times I had a shower, I couldn't work out why the water was only luke warm, given that I have a problem with no hot water I was beginning to wonder if there was a connection. although I was pretty certain there was not. Bear in mind I don't have my glasses on so things on the dial are not clear bu the dial knob seemed to be in the right position. After washing my hair and finishing showering I got right up close to the dial and could then see the little raised bit which indicates where the dial is and realised that instead of pointing to 8 it was right back on 4 so the end of the knob was pointing in exactly the opposite direction to which it should be, turned it round and Yay! lovely hot water. Not sure if it was son in law or daughter who turned it that way, Joe had a shower and Lyn washed her hair. The only good thing was it was luke warm not cold.?? I have been caught with it icy cold before as he always turns it to cold at the end of his shower.

I have mowed the lawn this morning and cleaned the bath. The trouble with showering and not bathing is that I forget to actually clean the bath. I did it with cold water but may need another go at it when I have hot water.

I then phoned the plumber/heating engineer (note the 'phoned') to see if he was coming today and it was obvious he had forgotten, he was very apologetic and is coming today at 5pm. I think I need to book him for September to service the boiler.

then I did an hour in the garden, cut back some more blackberry, plus an overgrown hardy fuchsia, then moved to the end of the garden and cut back a clematis that is very pretty but very out of control, also lemon balm and hardy geraniums. Plus a couple of long rambling rose branches which I had not noticed. I did manage to get all that into the brown bin but it is really really full now.

Probably walk down to the post box in a minute and may walk round the park.

Morning Anng Vera and all,

Bright morning here with blue sky and sunshine. Its suppose to get nasty tomorrow so make the most of the day as rain and wind is forcast. The jet stream has moved down over us.

So far this morning my back is not playing up or the pain down my leg so if I watch it today I may be ok. we will see, time will tell and all that.

Enjoy your little outing Vera and have a nice chit chat.

Morning AnnG and all

Sunny here at the moment and about 12 degrees. I didn’t sleep much again last night and have been up since 6.30 though I don’t seem to have done anything much yet. We’re going out for coffee with friends this morning. It’s a farm shop cafe about 8 miles away so we can have a nice little drive there and back and, provided it’s not too cold, we can sit outside. Otherwise we have no plans for the day.

Good morning all, 11 degrees here, looks quite bright so far. Hope it stays dry as I could do with cutting the lawn.

I picked a large handful of toms yesterday afternoon but I didn't weigh them.

I did pick 4 oz toms this afternoon.

I think we had a geyser in our first rented flat, but you are right Mel at home we had an Ascot.

They have a pay meter in our village hall at the top of our driveway so you have to have pound coins ready. I think its pound coins or 50p's.

Been having problems with my right hip today and backache but it turned into sciatica so I threw myself on the bed and fell asleep till 20 to 6pm.

Ascot that was the other thing I was thinking of. When the flames came round the side of our boiler they made all the tiles in the kitchen black. Dad put a different cowling on the chimney as he said it was the wind blowing that made it do that. I felt much safer wehn we had the boiler moved outside and had a frost stat put on it.

I have nearly finished the four little things I have been making this morning Just have to put hangers on them now.