General Chat

It was lovely here today. We drove to a little rocky beach called Southerness. We took our coffee and biscuits and found a sear to sit on. We went to look at this beach because it is at the narrowest point of the Solway Firth, from there we could see across to Siloth and Allonby where we were last week. We sat here in the sun for quite a while before driving back to Kippford where we had a very nice fish and chip meal at a hotel called The Anchor we then came back here about 4pm to sit and read after fifteen minutes in the hot tub.
I slept really well last night so hope I do the same tonight.

The watereboard just said they would put it on hold till the end of September. I hope they come soonand fix this blimmin leak. Then I have to ask them to read the meter and give me a reading and read it again 7 days later to calculate how much water I use in a week.

I have spent most f the day fishing leaves out of the pond. We had a very hot wind here and it is still 25 degrees and mostly sunny.

Hope Vera dos'nt have it as hot as we do. Its lovely and cool in the bungalow but when Istep outside the heat hits you.

Good afternoon all,

Mel,
I will keep a look out for shells too, when I go to the beach.

Gosh it's hot here ! I was going to go out and pick a few blackberries, but will wait until the sun has moved round a bit.
It is a bonus having some late summer sunshine, but it must be very hot in some buildings.We keep the windows and curtains shut in our sunniest rooms until early evening in this weather and just open the windows on the north side later...seems to work.
School started back last Friday, so I will go in this week to listen to readers. I will still work with Year 4, so will have a different set of children to get to know and learn their names.
Some of you wanted to know about our local swans.
Sadly, this year, they didn't raise any cygnets :-(
The mother laid eggs back in April, but they never hatched. She laid a few more eggs in the same nest, but sometimes left them.... and then she laid some more and eventually sat for a while on the whole clutch, but none hatched and they eventually abandoned the nest and went off swimming to their summer haunts.
I really don't know what happened to cause this strange change in fortunes.
I was telling my sister in Hampshire about this about a fortnight ago and she said a pair of swans local to her were swimming in the park with a very young cygnet.... from a photo, I would say no more than about 3 weeks old..... All very unusual :-S
'Our' swans swim a mile or two into the nearest town and I saw them there recently, looking hopeful for food near a group of people at the water's edge, so we will wait and see what happens next spring.

Our area has been asked to keep a lookout for Asian hornets, as there have been several sightings in Kent this year. I haven't seen any, but a feature on the lunchtime BBC news warned of the dreadful impact they could have on honey bees and many pollinators. That could devastate Kent's fruit crops, so it's good to be aware.
There have been reports of sightings futher afield, as they can hitch a lift on lorries and sometimes cargo coming from the continent, so they could spread anywhere :-0
Mel
I hope you get sorted with the Waterboard.... any luck talking to them?

Good morning all. Sorry Mel I only saw the message about shells when we got back from the beach. I will keep an eye out in future

Morning all,

Another lovely morning with sunshine and blue sky but pc says high winds today starting at 3pm and its 17 degrees.

Must ring the waterboard today about this bill.

ope you all slept well. I slept right through to 8am. done that a couple of times lately. Also have some bills to pay so I better get on.

Its 22 degrees and really warm and sunny.

I have also had a load of leaves out of the big pond with the huge net which takes some shifting and bringing out.

Anng if you go to a beach look for some really tiny shells for me please or seaglass thanks.

I shall ring tomorrow and I had a man down and my meter in the road is painted blue and a place under the arch where you come in the bottom garden where the bungalow is.

Got washing machine trouble again. Got a load more grit and sand out the filter and am going to see what happens this time as I have put it on a rinse as it had'nt done the final rinse. If it works I shall have the filter out again and see if any more grit has come through.

Ah yes Mel it will be aerospace.

That is worrying to be still getting threatening letters re the leak. I thought that had been checked out and proved to not be on your land so someone should be sorting it. Maybe chase that up tomorrow and ‘suggest’ you are going to consult your solicitor.

I actually like shopping Vera especially if finding bargains and, as one shop had a sale on there were bargains. I got a really nice heavy weight cardigan for £15. Beautifully made too. The shops remind me of shops when I was a child. Especially the small department store. However I am sure, if I didn’t have money to spend it would be different. This is very much a farming area. When we arrived there were yoghurts and a glass bottle of pasteurised blu top milk plus granola and biscuits and lovely roses all given by the owners.

It is sunny with a bit more cloud, the air feels cool but the temp is 18 degrees. We are going to take a short drive down to the beach to see what it is like.

O I forgot to say BIL was'nt in the RAF only working for I think its Aerospace or something like that. He has worked on aircraft and helicopters all the time I have known him.

Morning all,

Not too achey this morning as I thought I may be. Its a beautiful day withy blue sky and one very wispy white cloud like a feather floating on the breeze. Its 16 degrees and pc says sunny. BIL says we have this weather till Thursday. I hope it last a bit longer.

The water board sent me another threatening letter yesterday and said to pay it immediately the outstanding balance is now £1,242.94.Honestly they don't know what they are doing they must have a clue I can't have used that much water since February. Its not my fault they hav'nt sent anyone down to fix this leak yet. They are threatening a debt collection agency. They need to get their act together and realise there must be a leak. You would think I was filling the lake up at this rate. Don't these letters always come on a day when you cannot get in touch with the water board. I shall be rining first thing in the morning as I am finding it very worrying.

Good morning

It’s promising to be a hot, sunny day. In fact it looks as though it will be a hot week.

Castle Douglas seems a lovely place AnnG. Are you there for the week? It’s good to see some independent shops rather than the chains and it sounds as though you have had a good spend up. I’m unusual among my friends as I really hate shopping and rarely buy anything new for myself.

You’ve been busy clearing brambles and thistles Mel. I don’t know how you manage it all with your bad arm and dodgy hip. Is the arm feeling any better lately? I am going to try to do a bit more outside before it gets too hot but I’ll be lucky if I can do an hour’s gardening before my back tells me to stop. Thank goodness we’ve only got a pocket handkerchief of a plot now.

Apart from gardening I have no other plans for today.

Good evening, I thought I had posted this morning. Mel was BiL in the RAF if he worked on Chinooks?

Had a good day, weather was lovely blue skies and sun. We went to Tescos to buy food for the week we had a good shop in Castle Douglas buying several Christmas presents and clothes for ourselves. Really I predded bit the choice of clothes in individual shops, not chains. Also very impressed to find at least three really good butchers and a great shop selling all sorts of alcohol and things like curry paste and garlic butter and other garlic provisions from the garlic farm on the Isle of Wight. Apparently Castke Douglas is the food risn of D&G.

Spent the afternoon on the patio overlooking the loch in the sun with time spent in the hot tub.
Last night was a fantastic sunset tonight’s was l little more subdued.

Just come in from an afternoon in the garden. I cut off all the brimbles sticking out of the box hedge and pulled up all the nettles sticking out too. Two wheelbarrow loads. I also started to get the ivy off the big ash tree but my arm started aching so I gave up.

I also did the pond filters today and must remember to turn the scimmer off.

BIL cut all the lawns and went at 6.30pm and I am just having a cuppa before going in the shower.

O you must have popped in while I was taking this mornings pills Mandy.

Morning all,

We had a beautiful pink sky at sunset last night so I was hoping for a lovely day today and it has delivered. We have sunshine and blue blue sky.

I wonder if BIL will turn up today?? He said last week it would be this weekend so I expect he will come later on. It was his first week back to work agfter his eye op and he only does a 4 day week. He checks aircraft engines before they are aloud to fly. Quite a responsable job I should think. He used to work on the big shinuck (sp) helicopters.

Its so lovely to see the sun after all the dark and rainy days we've had lately.

Morning Vera ,morning all,

Lovely blue sky and sunshine here ,just a few jobs to do and then I'm going to sit out and make the most of the lovely weather as it should get hot next week and will be to hot to sit out .

Vera that sounds a lovely birthday gift I'm sure she will be pleased to have wine and nibbles on her birthday .

Anng could you get a chair by the hot tub to hold onto while you get in ,it's a pity they haven't got a rail or something for those that need to steady themselves to get in and out ,I'm sure you'll love it when you get in .

How are your bites this morning Mel so far this year I haven't been to bad for bites I usually get some overnight .
Sounds as if the scimmer is gradually getting the pond clearer if it's gone from green to brown .

Better get my washing out on the line I think the washer has just finished .

Good morning

It’s fairly warm but overcast today. The forecast is for it to be like that all day but I don’t mind the lack of sun as long as it’s dry. I want to get a bit more tidied up in the garden if I can.

Our friends arrived for a cuppa with us at 2.30 yesterday and didn’t go till nearly 6 pm. They have had a very stressful time lately with family problems and Illness so I was glad they felt able to relax a bit with us.

I suddenly realised that OH’s sister will be 80 this week so I spent the evening online looking for something to have delivered to her. There were some lovely afternoon tea packs and lots of gifts with chocolates and sweet things but she is diabetic and needs to be very careful what she eats. Eventually I came down to a choice of 2 things: a wooden box with a bottle of a quality red wine and various packs of savoury nibbles or roses in a ceramic planter. In either case she’ll have the wooden box or the planter to keep once the contents have gone. I asked OH to choose and he opted for the wine and nibbles.

Apart from a bit of gardening and a Sainsbury delivery after lunch I’ve no plans today. I hope you all have a good day and the weather is being kind where you are.

We actually left at 1140 and got to Gretna at 1245 where we had a table booked in Pizza Express for 1.30. As we had time to spare we went into M&S where I found some trousers I had been looking for £10 cheaper. This is an out,et mall. Lunch was good and afterwards we visited Sketchers, for trainers and several shops daughter and son in law wanted to go to. We eventually got here about 5.30. It was 22 miles down the Cumbrian side of the Solway Firth and 80 miles up this side because the road winds inland more.

It is a really nice lodge. Daughter has already been in the hot tub. It will take a bit longer for me to get round to that as it has no hand rails to help you in and out.

We had a brightish spell a while ago but its now clouding over again. Pc says 18 degrees and mostly sunny.

I have two bites on the inside of my left arm and they are itching like crazy.

Had the scimmer on on the big pond all afternoon as I am still hoping to clear this water. The green has gone but now it just looks browny.

Good morning

Very wet and dreary here. According to the weather app on this IPad it’s 19 degrees and feels like 22. Yeh, right, in Cloud Cuckoo Land perhaps. It’s true I haven’t stepped outside in the rain but it is freezing in the house. We’ve both put warm jumpers on. This is when I miss our old house as I could just pop the heating on for an hour if it was needed, but that’s not practical or economical with the heating here. I can do it upstairs where we have normal radiators so perhaps we should turn the house round so our living areas are upstairs. I can just see OH’s face if I suggest that.

I still talk about our old house but it has just struck me that we moved in here 10 years ago this month. I can’t believe how quickly that 10 years has gone.

It’s been a morning of h/w. OH hoovered round all the downstairs while I dusted everywhere and cleaned the downstairs cloakroom. I also did a few tidying jobs and prepared tonight’s meal. We have friends coming for coffee and cake this afternoon and they often stay for a long while so I wanted our dinner ready to cook as soon as they go

AnnG will be well on her way to Scotland now. I hope the roads are clear and the weather good for them.

Better get on and sort out a cake for us to have when our friends come. Have a good day everyone

PS. Just having another blooming cloudburst. It’s bucketing down again :-|