General Chat

Did you get out in the garden Tec, or did the rain come?

I agree with you entirely Sue - there is a serious problem here, and throughout Europe, with unemployment among young people, not helped by people having to work longer into their old age.
Some people prefer to of course - but it would be good to have the choice.
I believe everyone should be able to look forward to a long and healthy retirement, not made to work till they drop.

Hello Linda - my brother and SIL were born in 1962 so are happy they are safe but of course their 3 boys aren't.

In Australia it will be anyone born from 1965 who will have to work until they're 70. So where will the jobs be for younger people? It makes me angry that my children will be lucky to have 10 or 15 years of retirement and may not be healthy enough to enjoy those years.

Do we really want older bus drivers, construction workers etc.

Hello Linda - Be careful - they'll send you back to the classroom :-D

Good job we are already retired :-D

Good Morning Sue :-)

I am very surprised to learn that Australia has an ageing population, and would have thought it was the other way around.
It is the same here, and quite soon the elderly will be the majority.

The Government here are also meddling with elderly State Benefits, and have raised the retirement age for men and women.
67 for men is ridiculous in some industries and occupations. Construction workers, firemen, and many others.
I believe there are plans to even raise that retirement age in future, on the basis that we are living longer.
:-(

Good evening my friends :-)

Good to see you had a good journey and have arrived safely, Linda. I hope your daughter and little Esme are over their colds.

The local councils and government bodies do a lot to keep people in their own homes. As you say Tec - it is cheaper in the long run. In Australia we are an ageing population and the government look very closely at what can be done to ease the "burden" of so many oldies. Like putting the pension age up to 70 and playing around with medical benefits :-( A great help :-|

Hello Pink Lady :-D - thanks for the sprinkling of "Happy Dust :-D

Just a quick hello to you lovely people , sending you cwtches and happy
dust to you all <3 <3 <3 :-D

Linda - glad that you arrived safely :-)

Hello Diane - yes I have had a lot of help since I came home. I didn't ask for any, but Social Services together with the County Council arranged many things to make life easier.
I guess that in the end it is cheaper to help me stay independent in my own home than to maintain me in a home, which I wouldn't want anyway.

I did sleep well last night Diane and I had an uneventful journey down.

Hello :-)

Linda I hope you arrived safely and that you had a good restful sleep last night :-)

Tec I hope the fish tank arrive's tomorrow, it is good when the council help people to remain at home as independant as possible :-)

We often call goose grass sticky weed as well. In fact my daughter phoned me yesterday when she was at the park with Eve. Eve was having a great time throwing it at her mum

It is bank holiday here today and amazingly the sun is shining, although I think it is going to rain on your side of the country Tec.

I don't catch my train until 4.45pm so I have most of Monday at home. I am going to spend this morning sorting my summer clothes out. As OH is coming down on Thursday, I will be down there for ten days, so need to sort some extra clothes out so he can bring them down for me

Tec, we also have that goose grass here in NZ. It is also called cleavers. Latin name Galium aparine. I got that from my dictionary. I am sure I have some other books of wild flowers with it in, but cant find the book I want. Yes, I have just found the book I wanted. It doesn't mention the name goose grass, we usually call it cleavers, but I think I had seen it called that name somewhere, and I certainly recognised your description.

Goodnight Tec <3

I will have to look that up. We have a vine of some sort that grows in a few gardens around here. I don't know what it is but it gets in everywhere. We get funny seedlings from all over because of the bush behind us.

I am off to my bed now - all that outdoor activity has made me tired :-)

Enjoy your day Sue, however you spend it,

Goodnight,
Tec :-)

As far as I know, we don't have onion weed here, but what we do have is something I think is known as goose grass. Nothing like grass, it is a climbing weed that is very sticky and clings to everything. If allowed to seed it grows little round brown seeds that also stick to everything, clothes, pets, and have to be picked off. I have it in my garden now - if not careful,, and not checked, it will choke everything.

We find that feeding the birds causes odd looking plants to sprout up, too. The bane of my life is onion weed. It has a false root and you think you ave it then it pops up again. I have a weed killer gel that is good for the odd weed that is sitting in the middle of other plants.

I worry about the lizards and birds that come into the garden and keep the nasty bugs away so we tend not to use many chemicals in the garden or veggie garden. We lose some tomatoes to the birds but not enough to ruin the crop.