General Chat

I have cleaned the bathroom and walked down to Irenes with a pile of books. They mount up quickly.

I disvovered more mould behind the bath taps, shower end of the bath so now I have to find something that actually works to remove it.

It was good they let you know Annx so now you will be on the hunt again for one that does do the blackout.Forgot to say this morning hope Vera gets on ok with the eye clinic today.

Hav'nt heard anything from Stuart about the car and its still on the market cos I have seen it this morning.

Could'nt find anyone to take me up the post van to bank my cheques but Em saidshe could take me on Wednesday.

Its now 14 degrees here and I have some washing I could put in so I better get that done before anything else then hoover and dust the bedroom.

Morning All,

I slept well last night Mel with just one trip to the toilet and feel less tired today. I was surprised to see our bedroom windows all misted up this morning too, so out came the cloth to wipe them down.

It's a good drying day again AnnG so your washing will soon be dry. I might run our lightweight anoraks through the wash today as well before endless rain begins again. I need to tidy up in here too.

Vera you do have a busy week so I hope it all goes well for you at the eye clinic. I see your bank is to close shortly. We lost our nice thatched one in the village and in the next village we have lost two more since.

It was chilly here too when we went out Mandy. It sounds like we all have jobs to do today. I have done a little list! We went for a coffee and cob at Costa first thing, then on to the farm shop and I got meat and veg to fire up the slow cooker with today for some freezer meals. Also some nice large eggs and muesli and fruit including nice big cherries and victoria plums. We then called at the shop for some bits and to collect a CD for OH. He has done the carrots swede and parsnip for me so now I've had a sit down I'd better get cracking and do the onions, beans and mushrooms, before I start on the list. :-)

Had a phone call just to say the ensuite blind I chose doesn't come in blackout, but that it will 'dim' the light. (but don't they all do that?). It means another 30 mile trip there and back to choose something else and fancy them leaving it till now to tell me. Still, at least they let me know and just didn't go ahead.

Morning all,

The tablet says its 13 degrees here ,it could be as the suns shining away but when I let Max out first thing it felt really fresh .
Got a load of washing in the machine and I need to clean the bathrooms so that a couple of jobs to be getting on with .

Vera I hope all goes OK at your hospital appointment today ,it sounds like you have a busy week ahead.

Has Stuart heard anything about the car you mentioned Mel, let's hope you can get one soon so your back on the road again .

Morning Anng and all,

Nice brightmorning here too and its 6 degrees. My bedroom windows are all misted up again this morning. Got up for the loo and went back to bed for a little lie in and watch the rainbows go round the walls from the crystal hanging in the window and then got up.

I would really like someone to take me down the post van today so I can bank these two cheques I have that if the man has got the Nat West banking envelopes. I do hate having to ask people to take me places. BIL did'nt take me down the shop on Friday either so no nice ham this week.

Hope you all slept well as I did.

Good morning all sunny and looks bright and dry out there but I am not loving that temperature which is apparently 2degrees. doesn't feel too cold in here and I amnot dressed yet but that is winter temps. They did say there may be a frost in some places (in September??!) but it doesn't look as if there was one here.

Vera hope all is well at the eye clinic and that you are not there for too long.

You got a nice lot done yesterday and looks as if today will be a lot done in town.

I have a wash load in the machine but no plans for anything else today other than general tidying etc.

Good evening ladies

I haven't been on for a day or two as I have been really busy. I've been trying to catch up with h/w and gardening that I haven't done in the last couple of weeks for one reason or another. I'm also trying to get ahead with a few jobs as this coming week is going to be a bit hectic.

On Monday I have an appointment at the eye treatment centre at the hospital. Sometimes I can be out in less than an hour but other times I might be there for 3 hours or more. On Tuesday I have an appointment at the surgery for blood tests, then on to the hairdressers for a cut and tidy up. Our bank is across the road from the hairdressers so I want to go in there and sort out one or two things before the bank closes for good on 30th September. I've also just organised a Tesco delivery for Tuesday afternoon. On Wednesday OH has an appointment at the Health Centre. That's at the memory clinic and I need to be with him so that will be another chunk of the day gone.

Our garden table and chairs and a bench that we have in the garden are also metal so they stay out all year. We put the cushions out when we need them through the summer but they will be brought in and put away for the winter shortly. I noticed today that OH has taken down the big parasol that slots through the centre of the table and that's stored in the garage.

You certainly don't want Japanese Knotweed anywhere near your house Annx. One good thing is that I believe the owners of the land will have to completely eradicate it before they will be allowed to build their warehouses. One of our friends moved into a lovely house that had a nice bamboo plant in the garden. It's not nice any more - it not only pops up all over her garden but has got under the fence into the property next door. It is costing her an arm and a leg to get it cleared from the two gardens.

It's good your blood sugar level has dropped AnnG even if it's not quite as low as you would like. I wonder what mine will be when I have these blood tests on Tuesday. I'm not sure it's ever been checked before but it will be this time. I have to admit I have a cake most days with our lunchtime snack and I like a biscuit now and then.

You were all talking about Strictly. I used to love it but stopped watching it 5 or 6 years ago as it seemed to be less and less about the dancing and more about the "celebrities" and all that silly screeching started.

How sad that little hoglet died but you did your best for him Mel and at least he'd have spent his last hours with a bit of warmth and comfort. Enjoy your cheat's dinner; I'm all for a bit of cheating if it makes life easier.

I'm now going to read the local paper. I took out an online subscription for it when it started going up and up in price but seemed to have less and less in it. It was costing me £2.20 a week so just over £100 a year. I think the normal online sub is about half that but I managed to pick up a special offer so paid £27 for a year.

It's very quiet downstairs so I shall go and see what OH is up to before I read my paper. What's the betting he's dozed off over his book?

So sad Sonny Curtis has died. He wrote some great songs and played with Buddy Holly and the Crickets years ago. I went to see him at a local club with OH and a work friend once. John Stapleton passed away in hospital as well, but he had pnuemonia and already had Parkinsons. His son is often on Morning Live I record and he was on video on Friday's programme as he was staying with his dad. We are losing all our contemprories bit by bit.

I like cheats Mel. Even Jamie Oliver does them and it saves time and work.

Must go and record some progs.

Made scones this morning and had a cople for lunch. I am going to do myself a cheats roast now for tonight. I have mixed up a yorkshire pud and am having roast tatoes runners carrots and a pack of cooked roast beef which I put in gravy in the oven.

ann I am pretty sure my blood test is from an aggregate of the previous three months, which is why it is not good being good for just the week before. I actually think mine had gone down this time because in all that hot weather I didn't feel like eating anything'heavy' like potatoes, rice etc and ate a lot of salad stuff.

Afternoon All,

Sunny here still and a lovely blue sky with a few fluffy white clouds. The second wash is on the rotary drying so I'm glad that's done before the next lot of rain. Even the Buzzards are riding high on the thermals.

Our tables and chairs are aluminium so rustproof as well as the tables. We take the little round table in as the wind can blow it over and the top on that is glass as well. I left the chairs out one winter and the seats are woven plastic so they took a lot of cleaning in the spring and the birds had left theiir mark on them too, so I decided it was less work to put them way after that. The big table is too big and heavy for us now and so we ought to get a smaller one.

AnnG our surgery used to do the blood test that sounds like yours which I think give the reading of that moment when you have the test. I think yet another test, the continuous monitoring one shows the glucose spikes which can be useful.

Yes, I watched Strictly too and like Mandy haven't enjoyed it as much as I used to. It does seem to be more about stars trying to promote their public image now and I've been disappointed at the amount of gymnastics in the dances in recent years. With one or two male exceptions the men get away with doing less. That's just my opnion and I know they have lifts to do but they are stronger than women usually. As for all the screeching noise from gaping mouths!!! I'll see if it's any better next week.

I see All Creatures Great and Small is back this week, so that will be good to watch.

I'm having an easy day now too after doing some dusting and spider swatting after cleaning the ensuite.

It has been a lovely sunny day here today 0nly 15 degrees but no wind now (there was apparently over night but I didn't hear it) and very warm in the un. I spent half an hour cutting back one large hardy fuchsia, some more ivy and the lower branches of one of the buddleias. I have Jake coming when I get back from holiday , he will be here all being well on 13 October.

Suns out here now and BIL has arrived to change the mower collection boxes over so the new mower can go in for a service and be put away for the winter.

Morning girls,

It was quite bright this morning but that soon disappeared. I woke when it was dark for the loo so went back to bed but not to sleep. I lay there ages and was wanting to go back to sleep and have a lie in. Before I dropped offi was quite bright out but when I eventually woke it was dull and grey. It was a lovely starry night last night with all the stars shining. This is the first time I have woken and have condensation on the windows. Its 12 degree and pc says light rain. No change there then. I don't think we have had one sunny day in September so far.

My table and chairs stay out and always have as they are metal and Iv'e had them since the 70's.

Morning Anng ,morning all,

I can see a little bit of blue sky now as it was cloudy when we got up ,we had rain in the night and the wind must have got up as my tomatoe plants in a stand by the greenhouse had gone over ,Max grab one green tomato that got knocked off and I found another big one by a pot so I washed it and put It in with some ripe ones .

We're off to sons later for coffee then back to just have a relaxing Sunday, no roast today I'm going to make a toad in the hole.

Anng we watched strickly and thought how noisy I was ,I'm not as keen on it now it used to be more about the dancing now it just seems to be about the so called stars
Will see what next week is like and if its just as noisy and silly then we'll watch something else .ar

good morning all, quite bright here ans only 8 degrees, definitely autumnal, nothing planned, strange how the days weem to pass quickly even if you don't seem to be doing anything.

Ann I was curious as to why different scales are used. daughter's area use the same scale as you. I checked on google and it doesn't explain why they use different. But this is what I found (beside a lot more).

HbA1c is your average blood glucose (sugar) levels for the last two to three months. If you have diabetes, an ideal HbA1c level is 48mmol/mol (6.5%) or below.
So that is why those figures are used for pre-diabetes.

Good you and Mandy have got your summer furniture stacked away (sad too as that is the end of summer). My chairs and table stay out as they are metal, supposed to be non rust, about 8 years old now so doing OK.

Did anyone watch strictly last night? what a noisy programme that was, quite enjoyed it for a satursay evening though. Hopefully they will all have calmed down by the start programme next week.

Afternoon All,

We had that fine misty rain this morning for about five minutes, then it was heavier for a short time after lunch. I could see how the leaves are changing colour and some trees are shedding them now. I can't believe how fast we have gone from baking sun to autumn.

Yes the Japanese Knotweed could eventually cause us problems if it spread into the field AnnG. It has stems like bamboo and it grows 10 centimetres a day to over 6 foot high in the summer, the roots go down up to 10 feet and spread by rhizomes sideways up to 23 feet all in just a year. It can knock tens of thousands off the value of your house and grows through concrete, the foundations of buildings and breaks up drains. It costs thousands to be eradicated by professionals and still needs monitoring afterwards. As it devalues a house so much an owner can claim against the person whose land it spreads from once it has spread one metre onto their land. So it is a potential costly risk anywhere I would think. I was a bit concerned when I first saw it in all the scrub and undergrowth along the little used public footpath down the old Roman road a few years before the pandemic, but as it didn't appear on the maps of where it is in the UK, I thought what I'd seen couldn't have been it. I can understand the planning people wanting it dealt with before the digging and earth moving starts. A lot more plants have been designated invasive since 2016/17 including Mel's Parrot Feather in her pond which mustn't be released into the wild or given away and it's not allowed to be sold now.

I am 5.9 on the HB1Ac scale which is prediabetic too and I think similar to your reading from the different kind of measurement. I've put weight on too after losing a couple of stones after Christmas. I think cooking things to tempt OH to eat more tempted me as well! I haven't had any cake since Christmas and the only biscuits I have are the couple of Biscoff ones I get at the Hairdressers and that Sharon gives us. Sugar is in everything like you say though and you have to study the labels. When I did make cakes in the past I always reduced the amount of sugar. It's the same with salt as that is high in a lot of ready meals too. I've never added salt in any cooking since I was first married in 1969 and would be quite happy if restaurants saved some money by not adding any! People can always add some afterwards, but I can't take it out! lol. I see people when we eat out adding more salt all over their meal before they've even tasted it to see if they need any. It's just become a habit.

I haven't really got anything done today and OH saw the rain and decided not to go to footie and had a nap instead between watching footie on TV. He did get the garden chairs and little table in the garage before it rained though like Mandy was doing. We have to leave the big round glass table out as we can't fix the top onto the base and it's heavy to carry.

I just checked and our surgery doesn't seem to have changed to that appointment system yet. Can you fill in the online form before their phone lines open? I was just thinking if not that you might have to wait for an hour for them to ring back and then allow time to get there which would mean you couldn't be there in time for the earliest appointments anymore.

What a shame about Hoglet Mel, but like you say it sounds like he must have been struggling on his own for too long to survive. I hope the car Stu found turns out to be good and that you are soon mobile on 4 wheels again.

The winds really come up here and is blowing all the leaves off the trees.

Iv'e not done a thing today so far. Keep thinking I will make some scones but don't actually start.

Mmm! I don't very often eat cakes Mel, never cook them either. very occasionaly might eat teacake when out, I do eat about 1 or two biscuits a day. I also have one small twix a day (not a double one).
Until I reached my 80s I didn't have too much of a problem but age doesn't help with controlling blood sugar rising
It is all the 'hidden' sugar that is the problem. to beat that you have to study all the labels very thoroughly and not eat anything with sugar over about 5g per 100g. Culprits are, bread, rice, pasta, some veg (not green veg like cabbage that is ok), many fruits are high in sugar including nectarines, peaches, apples, bananas and others. tinned/processed foods have to be watched as well. It is a full time job which is why I fail. also being over weight is a problem. I have managed to lose about 7 or 8 pounds in 9 months but I am still over weight.

however I am happy with the result this time.

You'll have to cut out those biccies and cakes Anng and see if you can get it down a bit more.