General Chat

WE have a mobile mammogram unit that parks in one of the car parks in Hosworthy. The step are quite steep up to the unit so be careful and take it slow.

I think I should make a booking for the next time the van comes as they say you are not called after a certain age.

See you all inthe morning.

Yes, it's a shame to lose good workmen. I asked him what he would be doing after he's retired and he said he does a lot of woodwork and showed us one of the pens he makes. It was one made in Olive wood and had beautiful markings with the grain of the wood. He makes bowls too and puts a coin with the person's year of birth set into the base. He also makes skeleton clocks. He rents a shelf in our village garden centre and at another small newish garden centre near the quarry that we haven't been to yet to sell them and hopes to do some craft fairs. He said his business is really taking a hit and work has dropped by 2/3in the last 12 months with people trying to save money.

Greaseproof paper was a good idea Mel and I do have an old roll of it, but I put my hands straight on a pad of tracing paper in the cupboard above me, so that was good. I really don't know what we will do in the first lesson, but the teacher has sent us photos of 12 faces and said if we want to sketch one out today ready, to do so. It sounds much like the Landscape class in that respect. I thought we would be shown how to go about it, but 2 other people who have introduced themselves have done his portrait class before. I'm sure he will give us resources and videos to watch so, like with the landscape class, I think I will just listen and jot down a few notes tomorrow and attempt my portrait afterwards!

I can remember also using that thin tissue toilet paper as tracing paper as a child Vera.........remember that scratchy stuff? We had that sort when I started inthe Civil Service and every sheet had something like 'Crown Property' printed on it! Same with all our notebooks. You certainly have made up for sitting yesterday! We said how tired we felt last night. No we didn't make it to the carvery as we both forgot about OH's appointment at the hospital till he looked in his diary at bedtime and it would have been a 40 mile trip between the carvery and hospital. He's home again now and has the date for his operation next month, which is only 5 months from when he saw the doctor. Apparently if he had chosen to go to the main city hospital for his first appointment it would have been a 14 month wait instead. I hope your OH's MRI scan on Thursday is speedy and it's a good idea to pop in Dobbies after and then to your friend's. As you say it might be a bit much to go to the theatre as well.

AnnG I would have loved seeing all those Michaelmas daisies and would have come home with some as well. Were there butterflies on them?

Mandy it sounds like Maisie will soon be finished now she is getting her stuffing and her little sneakers sound lovely! I bet you were pleased to get the fat quarters from Aldi before they sold out. Things like that are so popular they soon go. Some of their bargain wool too ready to make some more animals.

I didn't know that about the post Mel, I must tell OH. As you say why do they have to keep changing things. Our Asda orders always say in the morning on the day of the delivery that they are being processed. I've just assumed our orders aren't picked till then being as they are afternoon deliveries.

A surprise when I booked my mammogram today. Instead of driving a 16 miles round trip to the hospital and paying parking, they now have a mobile unit that calls and parks up at a supermarket carpark a mile away, so free parking and less fuel and time saved as well. It should save me about £7. :-)

That was a good day out, bit of an inconvenient start as the way we were supposed to go was blocked by an incident, the police came through and advised us all to turn round and that meant going the long way round, It was ok on the way back and the journey there was through lovely scenery with a view of the Malverns in sunshine, beautiful. It ended up being a warm sunny day (20 degrees now) but it was quite shilly when I left at 9 degrees so I had about 4 layers on. And subsequently was quite warm.
Picton Garden at Old court nurseries is situated at Colwall not far from Ledbury.The garden is 1.5 acres and is very compact superbly stocked and very pretty. there is no cafe but not far down the road is a local cafe that was very good. They are not open every day except in September and October. They are home to the National collection of Michaelmas Daisies and I have never seen so many sizes and colours. there are, apparently more than 430 varieties and I came home with two of them. There five groups,European Asters, New York Asters, New England Asters Small flowered and other species. The nursery has specialised in michaelmas daisies since 1907. The garden was a mass of colour and doesn't seem to have suffered from the hot weather, it was a really peaceful garden to walk around, we walked in smaller groups but there were nine of us altogether but only 6 of us stopped at the cafe for lunch and a chat. I took photos on my camera but I did take a few on my phone so will send a few of those later.

Vera hope OH's MRI went ok and that you got to Dobbies and also to your tea party. I think we all needed some sort of relaxation today after yesterday. We all said how tired we were after watching TV all day.

Mandy good that you got you fat quarters and some wool. That will keep you busy.

Ann, aggravating when those workers we rely on retire isn't it? We have had it happen more than once in the past. Hope you can find somebody as reliable. They seem to be few and far between these days and have a different attitude to the old workers.

Mel, hope your order eventually turns up.

15 degrees here but no sun and hardly any wind so all the washing I have done this morning is just hanging there. I have also given the bathroom and en-suite upstairs a mini spring clean and cleaned all the upstairs windows. Now I am shattered.

I was trying to make up for doing nothing yesterday. Like most people I was glued to the television all day. It was certainly a moving and memorable occasion. I'm glad the Royals are getting a few days off to have some private time to get themselves together after the loss of their mother, grandmother, great-grandmother.

Did you and OH go to the carvery today Ann? I hope the art class is good tomorrow. Mel suggested greaseproof paper if you can't find your tracing paper. I remember using that for the children when they were young but you might be lucky to find any these days. It's all that brown baking parchment now.

I hope you enjoy your trip out AnnG. You'll have to let us know what you think of Picton Gardens.

I want to try and get a bit more cleaning done tomorrow and a bit of gardening if possible as Thursday is a busy day in other ways. OH has another MRI scan late morning and I usually go as well just in case he doesn't want to drive home. There's a Dobbies not too far from the hospital and he wants to go there and look for some tool he has seen that he thinks will be useful. We'll have to get a bit of lunch as well so I hope they aren't busy as I am supposed to be at a friend's house at 2.30 pm for tea and cake. OH can drop me there on the way home from Dobbies and my friend M will be there so I am hoping she can drop me home. Our little local theatre is also showing a live screening of Much Ado About Nothing from the National Theatre and I would like to go to that but I haven't ordered tickets as I think it will be too much of a rush. It starts at 7 pm and we would need to be there well before that if we want to get a parking place.

I've got a fairly easy dinner tonight. I'll stir fry lots of different bits of veg and throw in some cold pork cut into thin strips till it's properly heated through. I'll probably do some noodles with it. It's strange that I can't eat pasta but I have no problem with noodles.

Afternoon all,

We've had a little sun today so we've been getting the hanging baskets down and emptying them ,we've saved all the compost and bagged it up .

Enjoy your day out at the gardens Anng sometimes these smaller gardens are better than the big ones .

Ann thats a shame your chap is retiring you get use to the same people coming and having to find someone else is not always easy so thats good he's recommended someone else.
Hope OH gets on ok this afternoon .

Mel you asked if anyone was watching Ridley, we've recorded it is it any good .

We watched the queens funeral yesterday and thought what a long day it was for everyone , all that marching for them they must all be so tired today but what a send off for her ,it really got me when the little corgis stood there like they were looking for mum to come home .

I have started to stuff Maisie and have knitted one of the little lace up sneakers they are so cute .
I managed to get three lots of fat quarters from Aldi and they had wool in there too so I got a bag of cream wool as I thought i could use it on some of the other animals.
I need to find some small buttons now .

Is'nt it a nuisance when a trusted person retires. It happened to us way back our boiler man was lovely and he retired.

Its 13 degrees now and the suns been out for a while. I have been up post van to send a reg letter as I was told and the man in there said there is no recorded or reg post now its all called Signed For! Why do they keep changing things.

Hope the new art class is a good one Ann and if you can't find your tracing paper use some greaseproof.

Been trying to track my order as not had the usual track your order to find out how many stops he was away and it said my order was being porocessed so it must be that because of the Queen's funeral they were'nt working last night.

Morning All,

Dull here and 13 degrees now.

Have a nice time at Picton Gardens with your friend AnnG. I must look them up. I like to keep a note of places I think I might visit one day.

Mr O's van has been gone 4 weeks now so we wonder if he has retired. Either that or he has a lot of leave to use up. At least the workmen have finished there now and the skip has gone.

I need to have a tidy up in here today as the art course starts tomorrow and the teacher has suggested we may need tracing paper, so I need to find that as well. I know I have some somewhere! OH has his Hernia assessment 20 miles away this afternoon and also a meeting tonight.

The boiler man has arrived to do the service and on the fire and cooker hob. Bad news for us he is retiring at the end of this year at age 67. He's been coming for about 15 years, but he recommended someone else we used when he was on holiday once, so we will use him instead even though he charges a bit more at £60.

Morning all,

Third time .lucky. I was typing but the words were'nt coming up then a couple of letters did. Strange I think I may have a gremlin in the works.

Anyway misty moisty morning here and 10 degrees but it really feels chilly.

Enjoy your day trip to Picton Gardens with youir friend and have a lovely day.

Shopping comes today so I better get the box on the step and get dressed.

good morning all. 9 degrees here so far so quite good this morning bright and try. I am off out this morning, being picked up at 0930. Visiting somewhere called Picton gardens, near malvern. Apparently small but interesting so we shall see.
Have a good day everyone.

yes good to see.

I was proud of them too. Young men at their best, taking pride in what they do and upholding standards.

I wondered what sort of pony Emma was. I couldn’t help but be proud of the young sailors pulling the gun carriage and the young soldiers carrying the coffin I bet their parents were proud.

I agree AnnG. They were so lucky with the weather too. They've done so much walking the last few days, like you I am tired with just watching. It was a nice touch to use flowers from the royal gardens as well. I wish the commentator had got the queen's pony Emma's breed right though. She is a Fell pony not a Highland pony. The military were so smart as you say, lots of brasso and boot polish and the accuracy and timing with everything was amazing.

Nobody made an appearance on here all day. I went to my friend over the road at 1015 and came back here at 4.30. I thought it was beautifully organised, the pageantry was great the military so smart and goodness they must be tired tonight. That long road at Windsor must have been a killer to march down and the horses were so restless. The flowers on the coffin were beautiful and wasn't it lovely to see the Queen's pony, Emma and her Corgies standing by?

I am tired now just by watching, goodness knows how tired the participants must be.

12 degrees here now.

Morning Anng and all,

Dry and bright here too thismorning with sunshine and blue sky and 7 degrees so a bit colder than you this morning Anng.

It will be nice to go to friends and watch the funeral together.

More sorting for me today as I had the weekend off.

Good morning all, chilly but dry and bright, 9 degrees. Cynth and I are going over the road to another neighbour to all watch the funeral etc together. Better than siting on out own watching it.

No sorry Mel

Anyone watching Ridley?

Yes we had to mop tears from our eyes Vera and OH said he hadn't laughed so much for ages! We usually buy each other more than one card, so at least the others were ok. The card I customised came ages ago and I can't believe I never noticed I had the number of years wrong. Thank you Mel, yes it woud be good if I was lucky enough to be able to use it in another 10 years! ;-) I think the trouble in the card shops is that the different sections tend to overlap, get mixed together or that people pop cards back in the wrong place after looking at them.

OH was up really early before I was awake and has burnt nearly all the papers he wanted to now and will do the rest on Tuesday. There's a big pile of ash to spread over the garden now.

I've had a lazy day and OH has been watching sport. We are going to watch the recording of 'All Creatures' and then Frozen Planet later.