General Chat

Wishing you luck Vera with your order.

Well its happened and I told the dentist it would. My plate has cracked right across the front teeth so now I only have the few back ones on the plate and it dos'nt really stay in properly so its a phone call in the morning to see what can be done. I was only eating mince for dinner so no real pressure on them.

I've come back for a third attempt at posting without being interrupted.

You seem to be making progress with getting your jobs done Annx. Have you had any joy getting the bodywork on your car sorted?

I had a bit more sleep last night which pleased me. We didn't go to the group Thursday meet-up for coffee as OH had gone for a walk and was out longer than expected, then he decided to repot a hosta and then it was getting a bit late to go. I did some filing and a bit of shredding and paid a few bills, all boring stuff.

This afternoon the phone hasn't stopped ringing. First it was an old school friend who lost her husband earlier this year. I haven't seen her since well before lockdown and we've only spoken a couple of times in recent years so there was plenty to chat about. Then the opticians rang to say my new glasses are ready for collection. Then it was our friends M & V. M was due to have an op in a private hospital in November but got Covid so it was put off till this Monday. Getting the paperwork etc ready the hospital realised that the pre-op tests she had in November are out of date so some have got to be done again and the only possible day is tomorrow. She does drive but the hospital is about 30 miles away and she might be somewhat shaky after the tests she has to go through. V isn't allowed to drive because of his medical problems so it's my OH to the rescue again. It means him leaving home before 8 am but he doesn't mind as we know M would do the same for us if necessary.

When I had trouble with the Sainsbury site a few days ago I booked a slot with Tesco and put enough of an order in to hold the slot. This afternoon I made a proper list and a little while ago I went on to the Tesco site to update the order. Would you believe there's a problem there now. At least they have a notice up saying something has gone wrong and they are aware of the issue and asking me to try again later.

The computer and the phones have been a bit strange all day. I wonder if they are affected by the heavy winds and rain in any way. Some of the flooding I've seen on TV looks awful. Gloucestershire. seems to have had it bad in places. I hope your houses are safe where you live AnnG.

Well, I am now going to make another attempt to update my Tesco order. Wish me luck!!

Enjoy your chilli and your plain mince Mel. Like the others I’d be inclined to give the WI another go. Just try one or two meetings and see how you get on.

Sorry, phone call I must take. Will try to post later.

I think thats awful to park in a charging point when you don't need to they should be given a hefty fine for doing that whether their car was electric or not. Someone could have been desperate to use that point.

Done a bit of my next Tudor man it seems to be taking me ages to do this one but other things are going on as well I suppose.

I was going to take the decs down today but that will have to be tomorrow now.

I am just about to do dinner and I am going to halve the pack of mince and do a chilli with one half and mince with the other.

Iv'e got glue on my fingers and I hate it as you can't feel properly I shall have to get that off before cooking.

Isn't Noel Fitzpatrick the Supervet from TV?

Oh, OH just called lunch is ready. BBL

Afternoon all. I went back to sleep after getting up for the loo at 6am and finally woke at 0950. Not that it mattered it was raining so nothing planned for today..

You had a busy and productive day yesterday Ann. Got lots done. I have not heard of that author. Noel Fitzpatrick, what sort of books are they?
Good that you have had the boiler fixed seems a reasonable price too, as does the Dyson service etc.
Hope you can get the car fixed too.
Are you going to be doing any painting this year?

Mel one thing I will say in praise of electric cars. Although I hate the fact they are hard to hear, daughters does make a noise when reversing. And hers definitely saves me money up here normally I pay half fuel costs when up here and driving around using her car costs me nothing, it is very cheap to charge on their normal electric bill and they don’t tend to use public chargers. I do wish though that selfish people would not use the charging points as public parking places. Yesterday at the pub which was very busy, somebody had parked at a charging point, We had not needed it but it could be that somebody would have done and would be stuck without it. We may not agree with them but electric cars are still transport fir some people it was obvious that person did not need the point as their car was not plugged in.

O I missed your post there Annx as I turned the pc off early last night.

At least you are getting things done now but I laughed when you had to get backk out of bed and dress to let the boiler man in. Still its one job done now and with it getting colder you'll be glad you had it done now and not have to wait. As to the car repair well are these electric cars really worth it I ask myself??? Wait till the clocks change and we see more badgers dead on the raods as they won't hear the cars coming.

Hope the hoover is repaired soon too so you don't have to get the big Dyson out much.

Right I better get on and feed the hungry.

Morning all,

Late on parade as I have had to do 2 parcels up and get to the post van.

Not much breeze today which makes a change but there is rain in the air and it bl**dy cold. I don't mind the cold its the incessant rain and wind I can't stand.

I need to feed the chickens now and the wild birds as their feeders are nearly empty.

I may if I am lucky get some craft done today and I need to pay the leccy bill.

Evening All,

Some progress made today. We were cosy in bed enjoying a lie in when the phone rang. It was the boiler man, he was working close by, finishing a job, so could he pop round in 20 minutes!!! We weren't expecting to hear from him yet, so we flew out of bed, washed, got decent, flung curtains open and unlocked the side gate. He soon sorted the problem and showed us the part that was clearly faulty and replaced it saying he was amazed the boiler still managed to run at all. He also checked the boiler over and charged us £135. Our usual service costs £75 like you AnnG. The reason he only does repair work in the winter is so he can help more people who may have no heat in the coldest weather. Repair work must slack off a bit in the summer when we aren't heating our homes, so he can also then do less urgent servicing work. I was fancying your F&C which sounded very nice and good sized portions.

Next call was The Works where OH picked up some work diaries he needed and also treated me to a Noel Fitzpatrick book. We then picked up some food bits we needed, called in the newsagent and then called at our local garage. They don't do bodywork either, but they recommended someone quite close by, so OH is ringing them tomorrow. AnnG I suspect that many garages won't do bodywork now since electric cars. I read an article some months ago saying car insurance repairs were suffering delays, the reason being they can do fewer at a time because the electric cars have to have much more space left around them due to the possibility of them having battery damage and the fire risk to other cars near them. I agree with you that covid has been an excuse for poor service in general and standards have stayed lower now.

We then took the dyson to the shop I found and saw a nice young chap there who also thought it was likely the battery, but he will service it and give a 6 month warranty as well for £83, so we decided that that was cheaper than a new one and left it with him. Parking was awful there though so we'll collect it very early in the morning when we go to get it. We think parking at places has got much worse with people working from home now and leaving their cars on the road.

I thought about the delays with your car Vera and just hope they can get any parts needed. We had some rain this afternoon, but were able to get home in time to remove the door wreath before it got another soaking. While we were out so many fields were flooded worse than I've seen them before. I've also taken down our few decorations now.

Mel why not give the WI another try like AnnG suggests. There's nothing to lose and if it is years since you went before, there will be different people of a younger generation that might become friends with the same interests. I bet Pat was impressed with your makes, as they are very good. Nice to have someone to chat to for a while too. I'm going to see what kind of barrel the man brings for the door so I know what kind to order if the back door one ever needs replacing.

I could do with hoovering round but don't fancy lugging the big dyson out to do it. SKY are here between 8.00am and 1.00pm tomorrow, but they will add to the mess. so it can wait!

New Father Brown on Friday at 1.45pm. Looking forward to that just good entertainment with no swearing etc. I watch it in the evening.

I made 21 mincemeat pinwheels this afternoon. Still not done any craft.

When you get a good fish and chips it makes all the difference and I can tell you eally enjoyed it and the pud.

I am thinking of making an Arc if this rain carries on much longer. Just big enough for me and my girls and maybe the wild birds so I have some company.

Back from a really nice lunch of fish and chips, mushy peas and tartare sauce. Beautifully cooked and a huge piece of haddock. Lyn and I then shared sticky toffee pudding and ice cream. This was my treat to them so I am pleased it was good. The weather is a bit drab but it did give us a window of brighter sky and sun as we drove through the mountain-scenery. The pub where we ate is in Threlkeld right at the foot of Bencathra.

Vera your OH does like to put his mark on the garden which is why he likes to move pots around.

Mel that was nice to have a friend to chat to, never mind about losing crafting time. You can get that back any time. A few minutes spent talking to a friend is worth a lot. Interesting to hear about the person she knows who does needlework in miniature. It is a pity you don’t want to give WI another chance. There might be people there that yo could be friends with. :-)

Good afternoon all

Have you had anymore rain Mel? You’ll have to buy baby sized rubber wellies for the chucks so they can keep their poor little tootsies dry

The wind was terrible yesterday evening and into the night, then thankfully it died down a lot and the rain eased up. When I went out this morning it was quite sunny and there was just a breeze. We’ve had a few light showers since. OH tells me he did some tidying in the garden while I was out. I haven't yet looked to see what he’s done but he can be quite heavy handed. I did notice that he’s moved a pot of hellebores but I’m not sure why as it was fine where it was.

I had a good hour in town by myself and got my meds and a bit of shopping with no problems. I also put an order in with Tesco last night and their site was working fine. I’ll need to add a few bits to it but I don’t want it till Saturday so I’ve got time.

Annx, I hope you manage to get your car sorted more quickly than we did ours. Ours was damaged in mid-July, it was mid-September before it went in for repair and then the body shop kept it for over 4 weeks. That 4 weeks without a car made us realise how difficult our lives will be when we have to rely on terrible public transport or expensive taxis.

We normally take our decs down on 5th or 6th January but OH took down the outside lights a couple of days ago as they were being blown up into the gutters with the wind and I think I’ll take down all our cards and put away various decorative candles and bits that I put out. I’ll just leave the tree and the wreath on the front door for another couple of days.

I’m now going to make a coffee and take one to OH. He went upstairs to the computer a couple of hours ago and hasn’t reappeared. I know he hasn’t put any heating on upstairs so he’s probably turned into an ice sculpture by now. Either that or he’s dozed off at the desk.

EDIT I missed you there Mel. I see you have had more rain. Will it ever stop?

My friend Pat came round this morning and brought back the advent ring from the church as they were clearing out the Chirstmas stuff so I don't lose it this year. I asked he in for coffee and she gladly came and we had a good natter. I showed her my little Tudor couple and some of my miniatures and she said she had a friend in Bideford who does dolls house needlework pictures and things.

Its thrown my day of crafting out though but it was so nice to have someone call in. She is trying to get me to go to the WI but I have been before many years ago when I first came down here. There are a lot of the women I don't get on with so I sha'nt be going there plus you now have to pay after three free sessions.

We had a lovely morning with less wind and sunshine but then it spoilt itself and poured with rain and now the sky is very very grey. I suppose we must be glad that with all the water that has fallen out of the sky in the past weeks that it was'nt snow! or we would all have been snowed in.

Good morning all dry so far but full so probably as forecast, rain later.

Looks like a frustrating time Ann. Annoying when you have to involve two garages over the car. It was always so much better when one would sort out all problems. When we had the two cars, our local garage would tske a car in then, if anything needed doing that they didn’t do they would phone and ask if they should take it to the person who did that job and sometimes it didn’t cost any extra for the organising and transport for that job. Covid seems to have been an excuse for providing less service.

Strange too that the boiler man only does services between May and September. As service is usually annual that makes it awkward if you buy a new boiler between September and May. He obviously doesn’t need the money from services currently £75 a time for me. So we both have boiler problems. I am hoping I can get mine going again when I go home. At least until I can get my boiler man out.

Vera well that tea would have lasted you a long time but the bananas would have been a bit soggy by the time you ate them all. That is when on line shopping is not helpful. Hope you managed to get a slot with Tesco.

Mel yes I had to do without my denture when I had a new one done. I hated it and didn’t go out. Although why I should bother I don’t know as loads of really young people have no teeth in the front of their mouths around here. I assume they can’t afford the dentures.

The girls were very good. Played together and then sat at the table colouring.

Morning all,

It was brighter when I go tup but now its clouded over once again amd is looking miserable out there again. Pc says 8 degrees and light rain so I don't think we are going to have a dry day and it will probably rain all afternoon. Iv'e had a little lake in the corner of the orchard over the last few days just where the snowdrops start.

I had a little lie in this morning as I did'nt shut the girls in last night so had'nt to go rushing round to let them out. I put a big bowl of water in the house yesterday and they had food in the little trough in there but they knocked it over and when I righted it and put more food when I went to shut them in the food was gone and they had messed all in tthe trough. Thats gratitude for you trying to keep them safe fed and watered in this awful weather. They hav'nt laid and egg for two days now so I hope I get one today.

Annx we had trouble with the lock on the back door and oh bought a barrel on the internet and fitted it and now it fine in fact its the one I go in and out of all the time . If I go out the front door and shut it I can't get back in as it only opens from inside. The times it catches workman out and they knock on the door to be let back in.

Hope you all slept well last night with all the trapsing about I did yesterday I slept like a log the moment my head hit the pillow. Not one thing went through my head just sleep. Lovely......

Evening All,

It's still lashing down with rain since last night here Vera, but the wind has dropped. The gravel has more puddles and the water is creeping onto the patio a bit, but at least the ditch water hasn't come into the garden like it did once. I'm wondering if the river has covered those house gardens down the hill now.

Not much joy with our phone calls today although OH did get his car booked in for the recall, but they don't do bodywork now, and they are a main agent! It looks like the village garage we have started using do, so OH will ring in the morning. One hoover repair shop I rang sounded like the phone was disconnected, so they may have closed. Another shop had a message to ring later, but no joy so we may just go there tomorrow as it's only 10 minutes from us. The boiler man said he only does servicing between May and September, but when he heard we were having a problem he said he could do a repair, if we we knew what the error message was. I rang him with it later and he was driving and said he'd just fetched a pump as his house is flooded! We left it that he would ring later this week, unless we let him know that the boiler had packed up altogether. I looked up changing the conservatory door lock and it looked a simple, 5 minute job of replacing the barrel..........providing you know the type of barrel. We don't, so I rang the man who replaced the fogged double glazing we had and he will ring me back and also come and measure a narrow little window that now needs replacing as well. I did manage to book us both a hearing test. lol.

Yes it was annoying about the car Mandy and they can't have been going slowly and carefully either, as it's a deep dent along the door and sill, probably from their bumper. OH said the fans pack cars in at footie matches and he gets there really early so he can park near the entrance, as they just block people in otherwise. The car's not 2 years old yet. No point claiming on the insurance to lose no claims and be classed as a greater risk at next renewal just from being involved in an accident. I've told him his footie is getting too expensive! lol

Nothing else done today as we didn't wake till 10.00am. We seem to be so tired lately and struggle to be up early despite going to bed early. I thought it must be all the less healthy food we've eaten the past week so we had a jacket potato with tuna and cottage cheese and mixed salad today.

I didn't get a Christmas card from an old schoolfriend this year. Her husband used to play in a local Blues band in the 60s and she is the one who has the New Forest ponies and a few sheep she keeps in the next county. I knew he wasn't very mobile when she wrote last year and I saw in the local paper today that he passed away a fortnight before Christmas aged 84. He never learned to drive, but was a keen cyclist and years ago would think nothing of cycling 90 miles at a weekend.

I had to smile at your 94 bananas Vera and hope your next attempt is more successful.

What a waste of your poor step granddaughter dragging herself into work AnnG. I hope her employer felt guilty when she was too poorly and had to go home. I hope she feels better soon. I hope the littlies didn't wear you out.

An early appointment then Mel. Still that gets it all over with early and you can relax then. I expect you will be more comfortable with the loose teeth gone.

OH has spotted an African Grey Parrot in next door's conservatory!! We wondered if it belonged to the farmer who recently died as he was a friend of theirs. I suppose it could be just staying while it's owners are away over Christmas. OH thinks it looks sad there all on it's own, but I suppose they need to keep it away from the dog.

Better get some shuteye now ready for tomorrow's adventures.

Annx

The appointment is that early as they have to get my dentures off to the technition (sp)

I will be without them for two days.

Oh dear something wrong there with that Sainsburys site Vera ,I should think the slot would just be cancelled as you wouldn't have any thing in your trolley ,well apart from 135 packets of tea and 94 Bananas :-D :-D

Gosh Mel thats an early dentist appointment, no lay in on that morning you'll have to set your alarm .

Seems to have stopped raining now and not to windy at the moment , lots of flooding on the A47 again , the lights have been flickering so I went in the cupboard and got the torch just in case we need it .