General Chat

Well that is the garden sorted and all looks clean and tidy. Nothing gets the patio in the back really clean as the slabs are really old but they do look better.

Oh dear Vera what a shame, after waiting for so long too. I am still keeping fingers crossed that I won’t develop the cold. Problem is they may think I have a cold as I have had a silly aggravating cough since I had Covid in 2023.

A good start to the day this morning when one of my hearing aids came apart. The tube snapped. I have to admit it was very brittle and well past the time it should have been checked. Luckily I still have my previous pair and they still work. And I contacted hearing services by email and had an immediate response with an appointment on 13 November, the same date as you average. Such a difference to the two other departments I have been in contact with. Unfortunately I’d is after 4pm but I will have to cope with crowded buses and a short dark walk.

Thank you all for your good wishes but they won't be needed now for another 4 weeks as it's all change again here. For a couple of days OH has been slightly off colour - not ill, just not right. I think we assumed it was a bit of a reaction to the jabs he had on Saturday but this morning he got up with the mother and father of all colds and I also have just a slight sore throat. It's likely I will get the cold so I googled about cataract ops and colds. Some sites said no problem, others said no way must you have the surgery and the NHS site, which is the one I would rely on, indicated that it depends on other factors. In the end I rang the eye treatment centre for advice. They said that if I feel OK in the morning I can go but I must wear a mask while in the car with OH in order to avoid infection. How silly is that? I live with the man and even (whisper it quietly) kissed him goodnight. I don't think half an hour in the car will give me any infection I haven't already got. Anyway I pointed out that he will have to hang around all morning in order to bring me home again so he will probably go for a coffee in the main hospital and then be in the eye centre waiting room and could be infecting people who are quite vulnerable. At that point the lady on the phone said she would rebook me. I asked if that would mean going to the bottom of the waiting list again and she said she would slot me in as soon as possible. She then offered me 31st October. Would you believe that OH has an appointment for a brain scan that day and I need to go with him? The next available slot was 13th November, 4 weeks today, so I am now booked in for that.

All this made me late meeting a friend for coffee but we had a nice chat. Another lady turned up as she had just popped in for some shopping and saw my car in the car park so came up to the cafe. I did a bit of shopping too before coming home. I did have plenty of healthy fruit and veg and then I got tempted by a small, crusty baguette and a large Belgian Bun which was a bit naughty. I just told myself that the bun was one of OH's favourites and he deserved a treat.

After we'd had a late lunch I did a couple of small jobs and then managed another hour in the garden. I picked the last of the tomatoes and put the spent plants in the garden bin, cleaned the canes a bit and put them away and cleared another trough of annuals. As long as I can do a short stint out there most days I might manage to get it sorted for the winter

Just an hour in the garden makes my back sore so I'm going to get a nice hot drink and sit on the bed with a couple of pillows behind me and a nice warm wheat bag on the most painful bit. Enjoy the rest of your day.

Morning all,

Another grey day but it doesn't seèm as chilly out, I have wiped all the sills in the conservatory there was a bit of dust and a few dead flies ,I've put two loads of washing in and took some linen from the airing cupboard and put away ,cleaned ths kitchen sink and worktops and put away lots of other bits that have been laying about ready to go upstairs , Colin has hoovered through and we've now stopped for coffee.

Vera I hope all goes well with you cataract op tomorrow <3

Morning girls,

Its 9 degrees here and cloudy and grey but I did have a little sun between the time I got up for my second visist to the loo and I went back to bed for a lie in for a while and between 7.23am and 9am that was the sunny spell.

Nothing planned for the day so shall just see how it goes and what I feel like. Could finish what I was doing yesterday or I could start soemthing completely different today who knows??

Hope Vera gets on ok with what she has to do over the coming days And the op on Friday is ok. Sending love xxx.

good morning all. still no sign of the horrid cloud clearing and it is 8 degrees. I noticed last night that none of the lights in the garden that are all solar, were alight. I really is depressing. At least hopefully it will stay dry for Jake to finish the job.

Yes Vera and the problem was that I was sitting in the front row to be able to hear and he was walking down the centre aisle so over my head each time.

Mandy hope jake soon adapts to using injecrions, my daughter seems to have no problem with them so hopefully he will be OK.

Mel, you are right to be prous of your OH our firement and police do a wonderful job for us.

I'm sorry to hear that Jake now has to self inject. He's a good lad and injecting will soon be second nature to him and will help him to feel well.

That sounds an interesting talk AnnG but I agree with you. Constantly walking up and down can be quite distracting even when you can hear well. It must be very irritating when you are straining to hear what is being said.

It's good that your OH had his bravery recognised Mel. I can understand that not everyone would find it easy to talk about what they have seen and done. We have had a number of police and one fireman amongst our family and friends. As you say, Annx, they are generally still quite young when they retire and a lot go into jobs in security but they don't always find it easy to settle to civilian life.

My OH also wears the thicker check shirts in winter and I never have to iron those so it would be good if he was wearing them now, but I don't want to wish the colder weather upon us. He will iron if he has to but is so slow and hopeless at folding anything. It's strange because he had to do National Service so for 2 years had to iron his shirts and press his trousers etc. I can't really complain that he doesn't do the ironing because he will hoover and dust and he does most of the floor washing.

I did manage to do a bit in the garden after lunch so there's a few more troughs either emptied of annuals or at least tidied up a bit. After that I decided to have a look online for a piece of outdoors wall art to go up on the front of the house where it just looks a bit bare. I found a very nice tree of life sculpture (a nice price too!) but when I saw a proper picture of it it was a wishy washy pale grey which won't look right on the plain cream wall. Then I found another nice circular piece, again a tree design, with a slightly weathered "rusty" look, checked the measurement and it was too big. My next choice was out of stock and, as they weren't mass produced, no indication if it was ever going to be in stock again and so it went on. Eventually I gave up looking.

Oh, I nearly forgot to say, my lunch was a surprise because I actually got the banana sandwich I had asked for and OH got a gold star :-D Tonight we had sea bass fillets with mash and veg. It was tasty but the pieces of fish weren't very big and OH got a black mark to go with his gold star when he managed to knock over a jug of milk

I'll try and post tomorrow but I have a busy day so may not manage it and on Friday I am having my cataract done so definitely won't be on the computer for a day or two then.

Yes Mel, your OH was brave to save the girl. She might have pulled him over with her if she'd grabbed at him and fallen or jumped. It's good he was awarded the medal.

It sounds like it was an interesting talk AnnG and he was a good speaker despite mooching about as he spoke which didn't help you hear him. With hindsight I'm glad I was too short for the police force, having seen since how some behave and also how the public have changed and are less respectful of authority of any kind. Being able to retire in their 50s I found from my job that some would then do security work like nightwatchmen, which is what my cousin's OH did. What a palaver about your next appointment at the hospital again and such a nuisance for you when they change the hospital for it. I hope you can sort something better for you. At least your new water butt is easier for you to use and looks neater and when they come back to finish off the weeding and water butt your garden will be ready for winter.

Vera, once my OH learned to do the ironing and took it over he got more fussy about whether his shirts were easy to iron. Now he buys ones that are non iron and in winter wears a lot of flannalette tartan patterned ones like EM have, that don't need ironing and especially when they have a sale on!! :-) :-) You have got plenty done today and I'm wondering what your surprise lunch was.

Poor Jake Mandy. It can't be easy him having to do injections now, but hopefully he will at least start to feel better soon.

OH's footie friend who he swaps books with has been in hospital at the weekend with sepsis poor chap. He's home now with antibiotics, but what with his ear trouble recently he's not had an easy time lately.

The talk was interesting among all the actual serious info there was a lot of humour. He has retired after doing 33 years in the police. Almost madr to join the police force despite the fact he wanted to be a professional footballer and even had an offer. He never rose above constable and said he had no ambition to. Lots of stories about speeding motorists and catching them. He included himself having been caught speeding and having to attend the course to avoid the fine. Which, he said was ironic as he had to sit through the whole four hour course, Which he had in fact written himself. He was quite pleased that a number of our members there had attended the course as well and found it interesting and informative. He was a good interesting speaker but he couldn't keep still, all the time he was speaking her was walking up and down which is hard for people like me with hearing problems.

Afternoon all,

Shopping day for us today and we had several places to go to ,post office, so watch for the post Mel , wool shop for Chelseas wool for the blanket ,Tesco's hole in the wall for some cash and then onto Aldi so all done and put away.
When we got in the door we heard the phone it was son ringing to say they were back from the hospital as Jake had his diabetes check up ,he now has to go onto insulin one jab a day and he has to go back to the hospital within 48 hours to be shown how to inject himself , he has lost lots of weight lately so I hope he can get sorted and feel a bit better.

Just saw a little bit of sun peep through the cloud but it's looking quite black out there now looks more like it could rain .

I'll have a read of the posts now as I didn't post yesterday.

I want to know what you got in the end Vera?

You had to wait for oh to tell you stories of the things he did and the train crashes and the escalator fires etc. You could'nt ask him. The fire service is the first lot to go in at a train crash and I remember him telling me the smell was awful and there would be limbs and body parts everywhere. He was at the escalator fire in the station and was injured in a fire in Woolworth once whre he injured his shoulder getting out past one of the checkouts when a big blast went off. He suffered with that injury for the rest of his life. There are many other stories but they only come to my mind occasionally.

I had toast and marmite for my lunch........

Afternoon ladies

I'm getting a bit fed up with the endless grey skies. The sun hasn't had his hat on for some while; in fact, it's been so long that I think he must have lost his hat. I feel more motivated to get up and do something if there's a patch of blue sky or a gleam of sunshine.

OH has been doing things in the garden. I'm not sure what he's doing but it seems to involve a lot of sieving earth and not much cutting back or clearing pots etc ready for the winter. While he has been doing that I've done some hoovering, got tonight's dinner prepared, hand washed a couple of jumpers and done a bit of admin. I might try to get into the garden for a short while after lunch which OH is preparing now. I've put an order in for a banana sandwich. It will be interesting to see if that's what I get. It's not unknown for me to ask for one thing and get something entirely different, lol. Life with OH is a bit of an adventure.

Mel, as AnnG says both the police and the fire service are careers for brave men. They never know quite what they will be facing. What would we all do without people like your OH?

I remember you had a bit of a to-do over appointments before AnnG. It looks like you have got the same problem again. I hope it gets sorted out quickly for you. Enjoy your U3A talk this afternoon.

I am being called for lunch. I wonder what I've got ;-)

And he was very brave. He sat on top of a high rise flats roof trying to get a girl to stop jumping off. They had a ciggy together while he talked to her and after a long while and two ciggies he offered her another one and as he passed it to her he pushe dher backwards and off the edge of the roof. He got a medal for that.

Afternoon Ladies :-)

Slept so well last night and was up late, but I actually feel more awake now. I sent the few rweaks to the plan for the bedroom cupboards and am waiting for Ted's reply so I can book the fitter to check the measurements.

Lunch is a quick one today, lamb ready meals with carrot and potato with cabbage in and I've used up some broccoli to add with some peas. Then I will nip to the shop and hopefully they will still have my paper.

Mel you put me to shame and I should get outside in the garden and clear the rest of my pots and cut more of the shrubs back. I wanted to join the Police in my teens and they told me I was too short!!

The talk should be good AnnG. It's surprising what you can learn from going to talks like that.

Lunch is ready so BBL

Both jobs for very brave people Mel.

Morning Anng and all you lovely girls,

Its grey here but I would'nt say its any darker than we have been having and it 9 degrees also pc says partly sunny so we will have to wait and see.

If it stays dry I may get out in the garden again today will see how I feel later on. Enjoy your meeting and life as a policeman Anng. It was either the police force or the firebrigade for oh when he left school and he chose the fire brigade in the end.

Good morning all. Darker then ever this morning but 10 degrees.

U3a talk this afternoon something about life as a policeman I think.

What you all got for tea tonight? I am having mac cheese with a sausage and toms from the garden. Yes I still have a lot of my toms in the fridge. A small piece of coffee and walnut cake after that.

Just tried to light a bonfire but the cardboard boxes were too damp so I gave up and came in and now I stink of smoke.

Well yes the garen is tidy Vera, but not neat as there is so much in it, I have never had or wanted a manicured garden. But tidy is good.

Yes I did say that about the plumber Vera but it was sort of said without thinking, I really meant I wanted him to check the rads over as they are mixed and a couple quite old. I do have a key.......... somewhere I know but they actually then came full on and the old one in the kitchen was just as hot so they are ok and that is on the back burner.

At the moment I am having a feeling of dejavu as, remember the kerfuffle over appointments with ENT 16 months ago. Well a n ew appintment then never did materialise and I have ignored it. Until two days ago when an appointment letter came through (I assume for a check up), but it was very close to Christmas and I will be at daughters then so had to refuse it. wonder of wonders (all done by email) a replacement came through. BUT, it was for a community hospital in Tewkesbury at 4.15 in January, no way can I get there by bus and taxis would be extorionate so I have gone back to them again. I actually don't need this appointment, there are no problems and it is the female doctor who I cannot understand a word she says, I now wait to see.

Oh dear, another grey day and, although it hasn't been raining, the air feels damp. This morning I got the bedding washed but didn't bother to hang it out. It went straight in the dryer. Then I ironed all OH's shirts that got washed yesterday. I'm not letting him go shirt shopping by himself again. A few months ago he went to buy some long sleeve cotton type shirts and he did come back with several nice looking ones but, being a man, he didn't check on laundry instructions. However carefully I dry them they all need ironing but some have to be done with a warm iron, some with a hot and they are driving me mad . :-|

This afternoon I have managed to do best part of an hour in the garden but there's still so much to do. Can any of you advise me about fuchsias? I want to move at least one and possibly two. Is it best to do that before the winter sets in or should I leave moving them until the spring?

Your garden must be looking very neat and tidy now AnnG. Did you say you were going to call in your plumber to bleed the radiators or have I misunderstood what you said? For goodness sake don't pay out for a plumber. They are so quick and easy to do yourself; even I can bleed a radiator and I've got two left thumbs. You've probably got a radiator key somewhere, if not they are easy to buy. Get Jake to do them while he's there or to show you what to do. I apologise if I misunderstood you - I don't mean to be teaching my grandmother to suck eggs. (I wonder where that expression came from?)

Did you get to a different bathroom place Annx? I hope your hairdresser doesn't close. You've reminded me that I need to ring mine to book my next couple of appointments as the nearer to Christmas it gets, the busier she gets.

OH picked our neighbour up from the garage where his car is serviced and we've been hanging around all afternoon for OH to take him back to collect his car when the garage ring to say it's ready. Of course we're happy to help a neighbour out but not knowing when you will be needed is a bit of a pain. Until J asked OH to take him I had planned to go into town this afternoon. In fact I could have gone and been back by now. Oh well, never mind, there's always tomorrow.

I'm now going to walk down the road to post a birthday card to a friend who will be 93 at the weekend. Physically she's fit as a fiddle but is in a care home for people with dementia. I dithered about sending a card this year as I suspect she will no longer know who I am but I can't not send one, if you know what I mean.

Can't really get on with much when Jake and riley are here but I did manage to change the bed and get the bedding washed and dried in the drier.

They have gone now, all the greenery has been cut down so the garden now has its winter cloak on I think they have picked up most of the rubbish that was cut off, a huge amount which went off in their large trailer together with a load of old pots a bucket the old water butt and all the fittings, The water butt is in position and fixed to the down pipe. They showed me the pipe to the old butt which was completely gummed up, no wonder it didn't collect much water. I think the gale that blew that down has done me a favour as it will be much easier to use and more efficient now next year. It looks neater too.

they are coming back Thursday morning as they still have all the patios and the gravel weeding to do as well as finish off the water butt.