General Chat

Good to see you Frank. I hope your back feels better soon. Enjoy your lunch out tomorrow.

AnnG, good advice re. writing up family history but it would still be a daunting task I think. You double the number of grandparents in each generation and in a couple of my lines I go back to my 6 or 7 x great grandfather. I suppose I could be really disciplined and start with me, then my father, his father, his father etc and ignore all the maternal branches and all the side shoots of the tree. The trouble is a lot of the good stories, including a couple of really funny ones, involve people on those branches. Well, I’ll get my Russian story finished and then think about it.

WE HAVE A FUNCTIONING BOILER :-D. It’s set up for us now but we will need to read all the literature about it and get to grips with the controls in case we want to make any changes. The engineer has left us his personal mobile number and said if we have any problems to call him direct and he’ll probably be able to talk us through what we need to do over the phone. He said someone will arrive sometime next week to collect the old boiler and pipe work etc but I’m not worried about that as we can take the stuff to the tip if necessary.

Frank are you using your scooter? YOu hav'nt said if you are getting on with it ok.

Good morning all,
Iffy sort of morning here,no sign of the SUN.

Ros has gone to meet Martine for shopping,so home alone. I MIGHT go for a pint at lunchtime, depends how my back is, It's been a right Bu±±±this past few hours.Had a job turning in bed, so got up at 6.00 am.

Glad to head the boiler will be installed today Vera, it's horrible not having HOT WATER on tap.

Have booked a table for lunch out tomorrow.It's one of our favourites, but can't get in until 3.45 pm. A bit late for us, as we like to eat around 2.00 pm.

I hope you and yours are all well, speak again soon. xxxx

Good news Vera. Hope he gets it all done today with no further hiccups.

With the FH. Start by writing your own life story, within that you can bring in parents, grandparents and other relatives. That is something that future family will find interesting rather than the whole family history. I have written my ife story, it is broken down into chapters so you only work on one aspect at a time. (I have not had it published.

I'm so pleased for you Vera and the rest of the day will be yours to do what you want when its all finished.

NEWSFLASH. The gas engineer is on his way with the boiler that he has picked up himself rather than wait for it to be delivered. He rang from Ipswich just after 8 am and said he was just collecting it and reckoned to be here in an hour or so. Expecting to see him any time now :-D

AnnG, I have thought of writing up some family history but I don’t think I’d know where to start - there is just so much of it. I’d need a year or two, not an hour or two. My brother and I both researched for many years and have so much information, particularly about the Devon side of the family. We spent a couple of full days in Devon record office with me sorting the documents they have there, spreading them out and generally being dogsbody while my brother photographed them all. We have stuff going back to Elizabeth 1 and it’s not even all been transcribed yet, so there are plenty of things I could be doing.

I am struggling at the moment to sit at the computer for long spells as my back gets too painful. I have however decided I will get back to writing about our 2017 Russian trip as it is about time it was completed. I am up to page 35 and reckon it will go to about 50 pages, not all text I hasten to add. I have put in quite a few photos to break it up.

GAS ENGINEER IS HERE :-D

Morning Vera Anng and all,

Yes I thought of you when that came on Gardeners World and the Astilbes were gorgeous. I have one of those Japanesse iris up the border and keep meaning to take a pic of it but miss the bloom each time I go up there.

Quite bright here this mroning with enough blue sky to make a sialor a pair of trousers so it may turn out nice.

The usual up the shop for the paper this morning then I need to clean the big girls out.

Hope you all slept well. Hope to the boiler arrives so you can maybe go out Vera.

Good morning all 13 degrees here, dry but dull, supposed to be the best day of the weekend and tomorrow is wet. I have a delivery from Tesco 10-11 this morning then I think if it has stayed dry I need to cut the lawn and do a bit of tidying up out there.

Vera, one of the things you do well is write entertainingly. Have you written your family history out for the grandchildren (or even for your own pleasure). If you haven't, once you start you will be surprised how much you have to write about. If you have already done it, do what I do, have a re-read and see if you can embellish it, add to it etc. that could pass an hour or two. :-)

did anyone watch gardeners world last night? Marwood Hill garden was the one we went to in N Devon in May, sadly it was before the Astilbes and Japanese Irises were out but the tall yellow primulas were out. Weren't the Astilbies beautiful like a brilliant rainbow carpet. And you will I think have seen the statue of the man who started the garden.

Good morning all

At the moment it’s cloudy with the occasional gleam of sun but it’s dry and supposed to get quite warm this afternoon.

I think it’s going to be a long boring day. I think one of us should be here just in case another boiler turns up, OH says nothing will happen till Monday, so we could go out. Not being a crafts person I don’t have that sort of hobby to turn to. I do read a lot but there’s a limit to how much reading you can do. I shall have to get my thinking cap on and find myself some interesting task.

OH has gone out for his walk and I am still sitting in bed with a cup of tea even though I’ve been awake since 6.30 so I’d better get dressed and have some breakfast. Have a good day whatever you choose to do.

I have just watched Piers Morgan interviewing Joan Collins she was born in 1933. My goodness she is so sharp and quick witted and her 56 year old husband obviously adores her. It was actually a very good and interesting interview celebrating 70 years as an actress.

ann we were just taking anything that was around I haven't looked at mine yet but if they are any good I will send some out. It is a park next to a park which is next to the 'play area. the latter has a skateboard ramp thing, a cycle BMX track and another lower track where small scooters can go as well as the childrens playground The first park is where dogs are exercised the part where we were is a nature park with ponds and swamps and where dogs should be on leads.

Don’t put yourself down Ann. You are an artist. That’s another lovely picture from you. I know you do it for your own pleasure but I think a local shop or gallery would be happy to sell your work. It’s more than good enough.

Wonderful moon as well

Another winner Ann and take notice of my email. I would definately call you an artist.

Well that's one thing that turned out ok then Vera! Fingers crossed the rest falls into place quickly.

The window man rang and came just after lunch to say he was having a coffee then coming to fit the sealed unit that was missed before. I double checked with him about the bathroom window and he's going ahead to order it for us. There will be a narrow opening window at the top as there is now, but the bottom pane of glass will become a window that opens as well. He's putting a latch that can be locked with it open a little way or we can open it wide. He also adjusted one of our other windows that was catching for us. Another job done!

AnnG OH used to do 25-30,000 miles a year in his car before he retired so he always bought new reliable diesels that hadn't had chance to suffer any neglect. by a previous owner! Plus it made sense to buy new when you could haggle a few thousand off the price and be comparable to buying a 2 year old car.

You were right then about the carpark being full with vaccination people so it was a good job you went on the bus. What were you taking photos of today? I really must go off on a little photography jaunt somewhere!

Yes, I cringe when OH calls me an artist as it makes me feel a bit of a fraud because I don't see it myself. I just try to improve and am happy if I can.

I’m pleased you had a nice afternoon AnnG and it’s good that you got a lift back.

No, we haven’t heard any more about the boiler. We both feel we might not hear anything till Monday and even then we might be chasing them. We don’t need heating and we’ve got an immersion heater to use for hot water so it’s not desperate but at the moment we are in limbo. We can’t go out, at least not together, in case anything or anyone turns up and we can’t plan anything for next week until we know exactly when the work will be done.

No good sitting worrying about it so I’ve been trying to find things to do this afternoon. I think my back is just a little bit better so I’ve tidied a small cupboard and done a bit of gentle gardening but I’m bored now. Oh well, as Captain Tom said, “tomorrow will be a good day” :-)

Love the painting Ann you never fail us, I don’t think you know how good you are.

have you heard any more about the boiler Vera?


That was a good afternoon. I decided to get the bus as I found out there was a pop in vaccination clinic in the community centre and I was right as the car park was full when I got there. I was all set to get the bus back as well but John our photographer leader said he would take me home, he lives near our local shops so I said to drop me there and I could easily walk the rest of the way but he insisted on bringing me to the door. He is a very kind person (as well as being vague!! He laughed about the emails of mine that he had missed because he said as he forgets to check his emails he didn't know the AGM had been cancelled so was surprised when he turned up and nobody else did.

It was a nice afternoon sunny with blue sky and clouds. we had six of us there so we sat on a seat and tqo had brought chairs, John sat on the grass. we were able to have a meeting before we went off taking photos so it was good

Luckily the electrician said he usually tests the electrics just before the fitters connect everything up but he could do it while he was here. So our electrics have been passed and he won’t have to come back. The first thing that’s gone right :-)

Oh Vera you have a right saga going on! I hope they can get the boiler you need and fancy them not letting the electrician know. I bet he's fed up.

Vera you could write a book on all the goings on you had over the last couple of days. I do hope they have your kind of boiler in stock so you don't have to wait much longer for it.

Hope it stays dry for yuor meeting Anng the suns out here with a stiff breeze.

Not touched the Clematis this mroning but have a barrow load of dead heads off the orange poppy. The Clematis is a Nelly Moser that mum took a cutting of and left it in a pot down on the bit of garden we had there at the time. It rooted through the pot so we can't get it out but its ok where it is and has been beautiful this year. So has the Albertine rose and it smells wonderful when I go down to the tom plants. I have two courgettes coming on my one plant in a pot.

I think this afternoon I shall have a go at all the docks that are around the big ash tree. I am thinking of having that cut down so goodness knows what thats going to cost me as its huge. Oh wishes mum woukd have lket him take it down when he cut the bottom branches off but she said she liked it and it was staying. Now he is not up to doing it and wishes he had done it when he was younger as he's no good on ladders now.

I think between us on this thread we could write a book. :-D