General Chat

Morning Vera and all,

Bright and sunny here this morning too and I hope it stays that way as I do want to get into the garden today if thats at all possible. There's alway lots that needs doing. The roses all need deadheading and the one down by my pond is a rambler and oh want to cut it right back this year as it is all over two Rhodo's and its pulling the fence down.

Better get on as I am not dressed yet.

Morning all

17 degrees and sunny at the moment. I think it is supposed to cloud over later but stay warm and dry. It’s getting hotter at the weekend which is just what my dil doesn’t want. She is doing the Northumberland Coast Mighty Hike in aid of Macmillan Nurses on Saturday and walking 26 miles in 25 degrees won’t be funny.

It sounds as though you had a nice day out AnnG and had a good spend up. What will you be doing today?

Tesco this afternoon but otherwise I have no plans for the day. Have a good day everyone.

You had a nice day out then Anng. A good spend up always does you good and it sounds like you bought some nice things in the way of plants and craft supplies.

There's a pink haze over the trees to the north .

Hope the poppies grow ok Mel, I had loads this year.frank sorry you feel so poorltpy. Just look in and let us know how you are when you feel like it.

Ann shame she is so popular obviously everyone though the same as you. Still you had a nice ride. Maybe your OH needs physio on his neck. Hope he can find a solution.

Good evening all. Did quite a lot today. So good to get out and about.

Lyn and I went to a large garden centre near Carlisle. We had coffee and shared a cheese scone then visited a small but well stocked craft shop on the premises and both stocked up with quite a lot of things. We then went round indoors the garden centre buying bits and pieces for ourselves and presents before going outside to look at the plants, bought a pot and a nemesia plant for Step granddaughter’ birthday. Next stop was Hobbycraft for more craft stuff and finally a farm shop for meat and Cumbrian sausage rings. Really enjoyed a good spend up. None of the places were busy.
It was quite a long drive for Lyn and we had to follow a slow tractor that didn’t bother to pull in when the opportunity arose.
After unpacking all my purchases I sat in the sun down the garden reading with occasional visits from Millie the cat,

Ear is better now thank you.

Yes I would like some mauve poppy seeds please. I am hoping the deer won't eat poppies. They did'nt touch the big flowered poppy or the peonies or the delphiniums so I try to plant things they won't eat.

Anng's poppies are coming on a treat and I think I shall be able to plants them out now.

Evening All,

I couldn't drop off to sleep last night till about 2.00am Vera. We had a preview invitation to a 50% off sale at the jeweller who makes her own the other day and OH said we should go before it is open to the public on Saturday, so we needed to be up early which usually means I can't drop off to sleep easily. We weren't sure whether to go as it is a small shop 8 miles away in one of the villages and I thought it might be busy on the first day, but that's the best day to have most choice so we decided to get there at opening time. OH said we needn't stop if they were busy. It occurred to me that a jewellers wouldn't be having the door or windows open either as the door locks after they let you in. OH made me chuckle when he said it looked bad going in a jewellers with a mask on too but obviously better to go while masks are compulsory. When we got there 2 minutes after opening, there was just one parking space, but we could see at least 5 couples in there already. OH wasn't keen himself as he said we would be falling over each other and unable to see anything anyway, apart from extra virus risk so we came home again. It was a nice ride anyway.

Sorry you aren't feeling up to posting Frank. Just keep in touch when you feel a bit better.

Mandy I went up the garden to water the cues, toms and beans this morning and was so proud when I noticed we had some, well a lot of tiny runners about 2 inches long. Then you come along with your first boiling already!! lol. They will be lovely, my favourite! :-D Sorry you have a stiff neck and I hope it soon eases. Maybe it was using the lance that caused it. OH still has his and was struggling to turn his head with driving today. He thinks his must be to do with how he lies in bed. It's a palaver these days having to go to big hospitals all the time so I hope your DIL's injections have worked. You are getting into your beading now! :-)

What a game and waste of time Vera! I have found the same trying to ring banks and not being able to speak to someone easily because their security asks you for the thing you are trying to get! They always say they are improving customer service as well. I've got the same problem in that I need t open a savings account as well. I have one linked with my old bank account at the moment but that will close as well when I switch my current account. I use it to top up my current account like you or to cream off surplus in my current account so there isn't too much at risk in there. I really must do my switch this week, but just have that feeling something will go wrong.

We have just the same with our doctor Mel!!! What a pain sewing the leg to a pocket , It's the sort of thing I'd do as well. You don't mean my pinky mauve poppy do you Mel? You are welcome to some if you do. I hope your earache is better again.

I knw just what you mean Vera. My bank suddenly would'nt let me see my statements online and said I had to use a card reader. I had'nt got one but oh said |I had but I think he was thinking of the Barclays account I had some time ago. Anyway they sent me one and now I can get in to see my statements. I am just waiting for them to say I have to pay a sum each month as I don't at the moment.

Nice to see you call in Frank and hope you feel better soon and come back when you can.

Well I sowed up the gongalongs by hand as I could'nt be bothered to get the sewing machine set up and out of its hiding place. What did I do in the first one and a half inches? sewed the pocket front to the repair so I had to undo all that and start again. Needless to say the buttons on the two cardies are still not sewn on as I was fed up by then.

I have done the rubbish sack ready to go up the top when I get the F & C's tonight but now I only have abut 20 to get in the garden so I think I will get two thistles out of the puddle pond growing in the side and a brimble.

Sorry you are not feeling very bright at the moment Frank. Take care of yourself and come back when you feel ready <3

My bank saga continues. The postman brought a letter for me at lunchtime . It was from the bank but OH didn’t get one nor was he mentioned on my letter, even though it’s a joint account. Apparently our account is being changed and we can no longer use it the way we did. Why couldn’t someone tell me that this morning? So OH rang them again. It now appears we might have to close the existing account and set up a current account with them and from there we can transfer our money to our normal current account in another bank. We may be looking at a different way around this. We’re going to discuss it and they are ringing us next week. It seems wrong to me that we have to jump through hoops to access our own money. I think I might stuff it in a sock and put it under a floorboard. At least I’ll be able to get at it then.

Sorry friends, I haven't been unto coming on here. I am giving everything a break.

See you soon.xxxx

Well what a bl**dy mess with your account Vera. I would'nt mind but they charge you for a long phone call too. Its like when I try to ring the docs to speak to a receptionist I can never get through. You have to listen to all the corvid bumpf then it tells you to press 1 for emergencies press two for prescriptions press three to speak to a receptionist and four for something else. I do that and then a vioce pops up with Sorry your call cannot be tranfered please try later. 5 times I tried the other day and still did'nt get through. Whats really annoying is that I was just sat on the loo the other day and the phone rang. Yes you've guessed it I did'nt get there quick enough to answer it so did the 1471 and it was the docs number!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I still hav'nt heard from her about my gynea thing or my xray or the blood test she took. Its like trying to get a call through to fort knox or the queen.

My fish are all laying eggs in the pond today and where they have done it in the weed the baby fish are all around it eating the eggs not interested in their fish food at all.

Smashing beans Mandy you lucky girl. They would go down a treat with my lamb leg steaks.

I am now going to sew up this split in my gongalongs and sew two buttons on to different cardies.

Oh Mel earache can be so painful I think your doing right by keeping it warm so the wind doesn't get in ,hope it soon feels better .

Oh dear Vera what a performance you've had on the phone ,its so annoying to have to spend all that time but that's technology for you its suppose to speed things up but then takes double the time, deep breath relax with a coffee :-) hope your gets better.

Oh poor you, Mandy & Mel. I hope your sore neck and earache get better quickly

I've just been tearing my hair out over a telephone call to one of the banks. Years and years ago OH and I set up a savings telephone account. Our money earned interest and we could transfer some to our current account at another bank by telephone when we needed to top up the current account. Over the years, banks have been taken over, merged, unmerged etc and each time there have been changes to the account. A while ago OH was told he had to set up a special security number with them, which he did, and they told him that as it was a joint account I had to set up a number as well.

I kept forgetting to do it but this morning got around to it. What a waste of an hour :-| It started well. An automated machine asked me to tap in my account number, sort code and date of birth. No problem. Then it asked for my security number - I don't have one yet but you can't say that to a machine. It had 3 goes at getting me to put in the number, then came up with "OK. Let's try something else. Tap in the 3 digit security number on the back of your card". I don't have a card, it isn't that sort of account. So the machine had 3 goes at getting me to put that number in. By this time I swear the machine was as fed up as I was. I could almost hear it sigh as it told me to say why I was phoning. I said "Set up security number" at which point it told me I would have to speak to an adviser. Grrr, that's what I have been trying to do :-P

Now I had to hang on and hang on while the machine periodically told me that all their advisers were busy. It didn't even play me a nice bit of music, just the sound of a phone ringing every few seconds. Eventually I got a human voice, a very nice lady with a very broad Scottish accent that I struggled to understand on the phone.
Guess what she told me. I didn't need to set up a security number for myself as it is a joint account so I should also use the one that OH had already set up.

It's very frustrating to have all the stress and waste all that time because someone gave OH the wrong information in the first place. Thanks for listening to my ranting. I feel better now :-D

Morning Vera and Mandy and all,

Overcast here today but Iv'e not been out so can't tell you what its like out there.

I don't know all our aches and pains, I have woken up with earache. It feels like I have broken that bit of gristle that sort of covers the hole in your ear. Iv'e had it before and this week too but it went away if I did'nt touch it. I turned over in bed and lay on it and thats when it hit me again. Now I shall have a day of trying not to touch it and I may even put my hat on to keep it warm. I did wonder if I got a chill in it sitting at the pond yesterday as it was quite breezey there.

Hope the neck is better later on Mandy. It could be the lance if you were lifting it any length of time. Try to get Colin to do it for you.

O suns out as I type so maybe a nice day after all.

Morning Vera, morning all

Very overcast here ,windy too and when I went out you could feel a slight drizzle in the air .
We need to go to the tip some time today to get rid of a load of rubbish from the shed,I seem to have woken up with a funny neck it feels like I've strained it ,I did use the new lance on the hose for watering yesterday and I noticed last time I used it my neck hurt on the side I hold it ,maybe the reaching out with it is pulling my side ,we got it to save stretching with the hose head but it looks like its not helped after all.

I've got a bit of ironing to do and the bedrooms need a hoover and then i think I'll do a bit of beading ,tomorrow I'm off to Norwich with dil she has to have a blood test to see if those injections she had to have for her job have worked something to do with hepatitis, if they haven't worked she will have to have more injections the doctors don't do them here so it means going to Norwich every time.

Good morning everyone

It’s quite warm already but overcast and that’s pretty much the forecast for the whole day.

I had another rough night. I got up a couple of times and read from 2 till 4 am and was wide awake again at 6.30. I don’t feel too bad this morning though I expect I’ll be a bit droopy later on.

I haven’t got any plans for the day. I ought to do a bit of h/w but I’m not in the mood for that. There are things I want to do on the computer but lately I seem to get a bad head if I stay on it too long. Shower and hair wash first I think, then I’ll see what I feel like doing.

Have a nice day whatever you are doing. Might bbl.

May I have the mauve poppy too please? I have seedlings up of Anng's red one so they would be nice together. Maybe the deer or rabbits won't eat those.

Signing out now so goodnight everyone see you all in the morning and I hope you all sleep well. <3

Right Mel I'll collect some seeds for you ,I have some of the purple poppy seed too,if any one else wants any just let me know .

Glad you arrived OK Anng sounds as if the roads were busy ,I hope the weather is good for you while your there ,we should have better weather by the end of the week it should be getting a lot warmer.

Vera I think your garden looks good i like to see all the plants just growing naturally maybe just a little trim here and there but I think it looks nice.

I've watered today too Ann I was quite shocked when I looked at some of my pots on the wall they were beginning to droop they were really dry so I gave them a little water and left that to soak in and then gave them a bit more ,I thought as we'd had a little rain they were OK but I think the rain just rolled of the leaves and hadn't got into the soil .

I seem to have been on the go all day, I had to pick my tablets up and put a prescription in ,my tablets have got all out cink I for got to order one lot when a scrip went in so now I can't order that one with the others its ordered separately now .
While in boots she said they are now booking flu jabs in so I booked ours , they now booking for September already.

I went on the market and got new potatoes,strawberries and nectarines.
When I got home I then decided to go to Aldi to do my shopping ,part one aisle was cordon off as some poor lady was on the floor she seemed to be talking but when I left they were still waiting for the ambulance.
I had stripped the bed this morning and I only realised I hadn't remade the bed so I've just been up and fond that.

We got here ok, traffic was quite heavy until we got north of Manchester and was worse going south. There were a lot of heavy lorries on the road. Apparently the traffic was even heavier yesterday, took them much longer than usual.

We took a detour to visit a favourite garden centre at Beetham for coffee and bought a few bits for presents as they have a very good shop there we didn’t have room for plants though.

Ann I have a list Of clothes to pack when coming here I started
Planning packing on Saturday and finished Monday. :-D