General Chat

That’s an author I haven’t come across AnnG so thanks for mentioning him. I’ve just checked on my Libby app and Suffolk libraries have 5 Douglas Kennedys in e-book form so I can borrow them to read on my iPad. I’ll wait till I’ve finished the 2 books I’ve got downloaded at the moment and then I’ll borrow one.

yes, oh to be as young as Gill with all her energy.
I have not been out into the garden, it is really damp and cold feeling although the temp is supposed to be 8 degrees. So well done Vera on persevering.
Shame about th.e dodgy tum but better to stay home
I walked down and got six books to last me the next month although the selection was not that good for me this time. Even though there are literally hundreds of books. I was hoping to find another book by Douglas Kennedy as I read a really good one by him recently (Leaving the World) but I couldn't find one so I seem to have ended with several book with authors unknown to me.

Good morning everyone

It’s very overcast but it’s dry and not too cold so a reasonable day. When I got up I was going to suggest that we had a drive to either Ickworth or Anglesey Abbey and walk through the grounds. They both have lots of snowdrops and I thought we might spend an enjoyable hour but I’ve got an iffy tum this morning. I don’t feel too bad but decided not to risk being too far from a bathroom.

Instead I spent a bit of time in the garden doing bits of tidying up that I could manage without setting my back off. I was OK with a hoe as I could stay upright and not have to bend and stretch too much so I got rid of some weeds and moss like that. At least I feel I’ve done a bit and not left it all to OH.

That sounds a good day out at Tetbury AnnG. I think I would have enjoyed that.

Your bungalow will be lovely when it’s finished Gill. I wish I had your energy.

I’m now going to go and hunt for the instruction book that came with my kitchen radio a few years back. Not watching what I was doing the other day I reached out to put it on and must have hit the wrong button. Trying to get back the programme I wanted I made it worse and now all I get is the display saying “Now tuning..”. It never gets beyond that so I think I’ll have to start from scratch and set it all up again. I remember it was quite complicated. O for the days of a switch for on/off and a knob to turn to tune it to the station you wanted!

Morning all

It sounds like you had a great day out AnnG and managed to see lots of interesting places. I was thinking of doing the garden bit by bit but it's unlevel everywhere so needs to be levelled before we can do anything. We've been levelling it bit by bit over the last two years, so not much left to do compared to how much needed doing at the start so we might as well plod on and finish it ourselves as we can't justify £7,000 for that job.

Well, we hit our first problem with the boards yesterday, the hearth isn't level enough for the board to sit straight and the board kept popping off the screws so we've decided not to board that bit and go around it then cement the hearth so we can level it with the surrounding boards, if that makes sense. With a bit of luck the boards will all be down today and I can cement it tonight when OH is in work.

We've been working so hard lately we're both sleeping better, which is good.

OH has just got back from the shop, he went out to buy the cement as the shop is only open half day today and closed tomorrow.

Going to grab a drink then get back to work, once the living room is finished we'll make a start on emptying the bedroom into there then we can board the bedroom. They'll only be the hall and kitchen left to do then we can start on decorating and buying some carpets, with a bit of luck next winter will be a lot warmer here with no more drafts coming up through the floorboards.

I am on a meter Anng.

Morning all,

Dull and dreay again this morning and pc says 9 degrees and mostly cloudy.

Just got to collect my paper this morning and do Em's eggs as usual then I can do whatever I want.

Your trip sounds very interesting Anng. Fancy having to pay £16 for a bar of soap in the HIghgrove shop. I bet they don't sell many of those. Glad you all enjoyed your visit and had fun.

I have realised that I didn't mention my day out yesterday, I was really tired when I got home so not thinking straight.

I had a really good day yesterday. Went with friends to Tetbury (Near Highgrove). There were 7 of us. after a good coffee stop when we first got there (about a 45 minute journey), we went to the free Police museum. It sounds boring but it was really well done and very interesting. It is situated in the old Tetbury Victorian police station. It is not very big but they have a huge collection of all sorts of things like uniforms, truncheons, handcuffs through the ages, who knew there had been so many different ones? then there were photos and also upstairs a whole room set out as a magistrates court, with life sized figures and a recorded hearing.

After the museum (we had only paid for 3 hours parking and we do chat such a lot as we go so time is important), we walked through the town. A small group went to see the Highgrove shop but didn't buy anything. Apparently a bar of scented soap was £16, We walked back to near where we had parked the car as we wanted to go into the Parish church of St Mary's the 186 foot church spire is the fourth largest in England.

It’s thought to be one of the oldest places of worship in Gloucestershire, being founded in the 7th century by King Ethelred of Mercia. He ordered for a monastery called ‘Tette’s monastery’ to be built on 15 acres of land. Although none of the original monastery is left today, St Mary's is a medieval church on the same site that was built in the 12th century.
Following that, the huge church spire was added in the 14th century. Over the years, there have been many improvements made but the church spire and tower have remained a constant!

I had been there a couple of times before and am always so impressed by it. It is a beautiful church which has the feel of a small cathedral. we all loved it ans spent quite a bit of time in there.

Good morning all a bit grey out there but it is early so who know what the day's weather will bring. Alexa says it is 6 degrees and PC says it will be 12 so quite mild. Maybe I will do a bit more weeding. Not quite got the enthusiasm for the garden yet but it has to be done to keep it under control. I will probably walk down to the free book stall as I have some books to take her.

Mel I guess you don't have a water meter or you would not be having long showers. I try to make mine brief as I seemed to have used more water last year so they upped my monthly payments. However I then remembered that there was the time when I left the tap running in the cloakroom that was probably what did it.

Just made plans to go and see snowdrops with the group on 22 Feb. so something to look forward to. and might also be going to another garden (the one where we saw the Michaelmas daisies ) in a couple of weeks. that is for snowdrops as well.

My blimmin thumb cracked open last night and has been painfull all today. I hope its not a sign for cold weather on the way as it usually turns really cold when that happens to me. My hands have been rough all week.

I have not achieved anything much today just a nice long shower this morning and feeding the chickens. did'nt even put the washer on. I did take some pics of the things I have made over the last few weeks and managed after a fuss to get one bowl on ebay.

I was going to go to Holsworthy this afternoon for chicken food but did'nt even manage that. I did empty the bins from the bathrooms and tidied the kitchen a bit and made some mash tato for dinner on my sheep sh*t pie and some for the freezer. It works well doing mash for the freezer and the dinner bits too as its so easy to get out in portions what I need for that night and just heat it up.

You sopund like you have got on well with the cement boards today Gill. You'll soon be there at this rate and can start decorating. Its a good idea what Anng said about doing it a third at a time and then the next third later or next year that way you get a bit of garden to sit in or get your plants sorted and displayed.

I am going to watch a bit of telly nowand then bed. It feels like its been a long day today without much to show for it so I shall be glad to get in bed and cosy.

Mandy yes I got it thanks for that very helpful. I am tired tonight after being out all day so I will have a go tomorrow.

Gill, do you need all those jobs done at once? Could you not have the most important jobs done first maybe.
With the garden, you could divide it into ‘rooms’ say a trellis across a third of the way down with a gap in the middle for a path through and then just level and develop the first third. That way you are not tackling the whole space at once.

Yes AnnG, we thought the same and they didn't want the job, but I've got a feeling who ever we ask to level the ground is going to be expensive as it's a massive back garden. I think the quote for the new drive and the quote for the side gate and fence panels was about right though, but it's still a lot of money so we'll have to save a bit more before having those done, but like you said I think we'd be better off levelling the back garden ourselves even if it does take the next two summers to do it.

Going to do the dishes now, I don't have a dishwasher, unless you count my OH ;-) ;-) :-D

Anng I have emailed you .

I think you managed to catch up with the posts Gill. Well done and it sounds as if you are getting on with the boarding. Gosh that is a horrendous amount for the garden. Sort of makes me think that they don’t want the job. I am sure you will be able to do it yourselves.


Thanks Mandy, with the next stitch do you go across horizontally ior at a slant?

Received tracking details for my air frier and not overjoyed that it is Evri given the mess they got in with parcels over Christmas.

I'm splitting my time helping OH and finally going through my emails and noticed some off the thread. I've not had any spare time to go through them so sorry if my comments are a bit late.

Love the knitted animals Mandy, you're very clever I wouldn't have a clue where to start and I can knit, mind you I've only knitted jumpers and cardigans so not a lot and I haven't knitted for years. I fancy doing a bit of knitting now, pity I don't have the time, but something to do again once we're all sorted.

What lovely flowers off Don, AnnG, they're very pretty. Enjoy your day out.

Love the paintings Ann, is that Alan Sugar? It looks a lot like him if it's not. You're very talented, I wish I could paint, although I do a good stick man :-D :-D :-D

All those fox hounds Mel, I'd of been a bit nervous if they had come to close to me but I suppose you're used to it. Lovely photo's though. What a pity you missed the library.

What a nice thing to do for the family Mandy, the sponges will go down well. Your dil sounds like me........very busy. She's going to be so grateful of your kindness.

Well I'd better get back to the cement boards, I'll be glad when this room is finished as we're down to the fiddly bits now around the chimney breast and into the alcoves, so lots of measurements for me to get my head around and it doesn't help when the boards are 4 foot square. Luckily one of the cut off pieces I used for right in front of the chimney, which made measuring a bit easier.

Just either side into the alcoves to do then the room will be finished and we can make a start on moving our bedroom furniture into there so we can cement board our bedroom next. All that'll be left to do then is the hall and kitchen, then we can start decorating and sorting out a new kitchen. I just need to contact the fella who did our back door to straighten it then the boards should go down okay.

It's taken me ages to write this post with having to keep stopping to help OH. The photo's were worth it though. :-)

Hi all, sorry I didn't post yesterday I spent 8 hours doing DIY in the kitchen and by the time I'd had something to eat and a shower I was so tired I fell asleep and didn't wake up until 7am this morning. I had to watch The Apprentice on my laptop this morning as it didn't record on the freeview box last night, the machine kept turning itself off every 2 minutes so we gave up in the end and decided to watch everything on catch up. Normally we don't have any free time but we were waiting for the plumber to arrive to fix a couple of leaky radiators so OH didn't want to set up everything to do some more cement boards until after he'd gone, so we actually spent some time together without working for a change ;-) ;-)

Needless to say we're doing the cement boards now. I measure the boards and he cuts them and screws them down. Talking of him cutting it's gone quiet so I assume he's ready for me to measure up the next one so I'd better go.

Oh I nearly forgot we finally got the quotes for the garden levelling, the new drive and a gate plus two fence panels and the total cost was £15,100 Just to level the garden was £7,000 so we've decided to level the garden ourselves. You could of knocked me down with a feature when I saw the quote. The double glazing people sent a quote to which was just under £2,000 and that was just the front door, they said they couldn't do anything with the back door so we're going to ring the fella who put the back door in to see if he can straighten it.

Well, I'd better go OH has just asked me to measure the next piece of cement board, he's hoping to have it finished today.

Morning all,

Very cloudy here today still thars better tan the white stuff , yesterday was a lovely sunny day .

Anng I didn't realise you hadn't finished the gloves, I stitch them up right sides up so you go through the v bit of the stitch on one side and then the other side it gives z nice even finish.
You'll be on your way now so I hope you enjoy the trip out .

Mel thanks for the photo's I'm glad there was no damage done in the garden ,the horses could have chopped up the ground with their hooves .

I've just made the family a couple of sponges for the week end ,dil has been helping out at the school, she's been doing days for about three or four weeks now and with her job at the doctors she's been so busy so I thought I'd do a bit of baking for them .
The school is so short staffed she has been helping in the nursery and hearing the children read ,thats an extra bit of money for her so can't be bad .

Dil has an air fryer it's a Breville one that has the shelves in rather than the draws so they can cook more in for a family ,it has a rotisserie bit and a drum to do chips in ,last week end son did a chicken it took just over an hour so much quicker than the oven and it heats up much quicker too ,it did look good lovely and brown with crispy skin.
I watched a bit on you tube or it might have been fb where they cooked a piece of gammon in the air fryer and the skin on the gammon came out just like the crackling on a pice of roast pork.

Morning Anng and all,

Enjoy your day out with friends Anng. It was quite bright when I got up but now it has come over cloudy and pc says 9 degrees. My thumb tells me it is going to get cold again as it has cracked open at the side of the first joint before the thumbnail. I have put some vasaline on it so hopefully it will clear up in a couple of days.

Guess what? I forgot the library again yesterday!! I had it in mind the day before and I was going to put my books on the counter in the kitchen but I have tiny rubber moulds all over that. I should have put them in a bag in the doorway. I am on the last book of four and am not very interested in it as the first tape would'nt play at all so had to start it on the second one so not sure who's who and theres a mother to someone called nellie and she has a daughter called Mel and both names sound the same by the reader.

Better get on. Let us know how you get on with the air fryer Island.

Good morning all. up early as being picked up at 0900. Will be out all day so have a good day everyone. As usual when I set the alarm I didn't sleep well once I woke around 3.30 for the loo. :-)

Vera that was a lovely day, store those memories up. That is the type of day I miss. I have lovely days out with friends but they don’t really match up.
I am going to Tetbury 7 of us going. We hope to look round the police museum and the town, maybe go to the royal shop.

Mel thanks for the photos, they could have done a lot of damage. Glad they didn’t.

Mandy I have just finished the fingerless gloves. I had forgotten I started them and put the knitting away. Just need to sew them up now. It says use mattresses stitch I looked that up and couldn’t fathom it out. Did you just do a regular seam?

Island have you used it yet?