General Chat

It sounds as though you have had a nice day Ann. I am glad our cards turned up in time.

AnnG, your daughter's side bed looks so pretty and colourful. She must take after you as she obviously has a good eye

Good to see you post on here Gwyn. It must have been lovely and cool inside the church and the teachjing staff must be very glad of your help with the children. I wonder if the cygnets you saw were the original ones. They probably were as swans can go quite a long way up and down the river.

I'm not surprised you slept this afternoon Mel as I expect we are all having restless nights because of the heat. I wish I could sleep more. OH seems to have no difficulty in watching the back of his eyelids.

I don't know if I mentioned it but the other day OH picked well over 300g of blueberries from my two bushes. Today he picked another 660g so we have had about a kilo so far. Not bad for 2 old bushes in pots.

I went to the hairdressers this afternoon. Gosh, it was hot. I was glad to get home. On the way back to the car park I walked through the little shopping precinct and there was not a sign of the pop-up PO. It's either not popped up at all or it's popped off somewhere else already.

Tonight it has RAINED. Mind you, it was only a light shower. There was barely enough water to wash a dolly's face but it settled the dust a bit and the air smelt nice for a few minutes. This is the driest part of the country anyway but they were saying on the local news that since January it has been abnormally dry.

Can you believe my granddaughter has been in Greece for 6 weeks? Where has that time gone? She was supposed to come home next Wenesday but there has been a slight change of plan and she is coming home tomorrow. She is coming to stay with us for a couple of nights before going back to Yorkshire. The arrangements were made by text this morning and are somewhat vague. She is going to make her way from Gatwick to our nearest main station about 15 miles away and we will pick her up from there but we have no idea what time. With the chaos at the airports at the moment she could have to wait ages for her luggage to arrive in the baggage hall. Thank goodness for mobile phones. I suspect it might be late evening before we meet up with her.

It is so hot and muggy still. The weather app is saying that it's 24 degrees but feels like 28 and it doesn't look at though the temperature is going to drop more than 2 or 3 degrees during the night, so another night with the fan working overtime. I hope we all manage to get some sleep tonight. Night, night, sleep tight.

Mel thank you for your lovely card which the nextdoor neighbour has just brought round. She said she doesn't look every day in her post box on the outside wall and the postman had put our post in her postbox, probably a few days ago!! She had to tape up the letterbox in her door as the dog (the barker!) rips anything to shreds that comes through the door. :-S

We had a few spots of rain when we got home AnnG, but that was all. An automatic will be easier for your friend. A friend of mine loves hers and my sister liked hers too. As you say, longer trips are not so good with an electric car just yet. I was reading about these speed limiters that are on all new cars ordered from the 6th of July this morning. Apparently if you don't reduce your speed they cut the power to your engine so the car slows down anyway. I hope there's plenty of warning or they could be downright dangerous if you were overtaking when your speed was cut. OH's car was giving it's warnings this morning. A new one we've discovered is that if you are turning left and the traffic in front of you is queuing at say traffic lights, if you get anywhere near the car in front, even if there is room to do your turn left behind it, it warns you you are close to another vehicle.We think all these distractions from your driving aren't good really as you have to take your eyes off the road to read the messages and some are just not necessary.

An early night for me I think. A chap is calling in to quote for the drive at 8.30am in the morning. We are on his way to a job he's doing so fingers crossed he will turn up!

I threw mself on the be this afternoon and I have just woken up!!

I am going t read your posts now.

Sounds like you are having a nice day Ann.

It is raining, not hard but gently and steady.

TV just lost its signal so have had to switch to the aerial.

No she didn’t buy electric she doesn’t just drive locally, does some longer trips. She has gone from manual to automatic.

Afternoon All,

Just lost a post as I finished it! Slept well again last night but did wake up hot once and opened a window despite risking it letting pollen in. I had to rinse my face and eyes last night as they were so itchy.

Thank you for all your birthday wishes and for your lovely cards Vera and Mandy which both arrived today after all. I also have a lovely one made by AnnG too and in my favourite colour! :-)

We were up and showered early and at the garden centre first thing for a tasty brekkie. It's a nice drive through pretty villages with some houses and churches in that yellow stone. I must get out there and take some photos as they might be nice to paint. It's been overcast today so not as hot. We had a good mooch, OH got slippers at the Pavers outlet and a book! I bought some cards and a jigsaw. It's very steep in the plant area so I didn't venture far to get hot and bothered. We got an icecream on the way out and remembered to look at the garden rooms this time, but thought their display wasn't as good as when we went before the pandemic.

On the way home we called at the pharmacy I found that was doing covid jabs. Guess what, they couldn't do it! Apparently they were told last week that anyone reaching age 75 after June 30th now has to wait till they are called in September. The pharmacist showed me their instruction and apparently it is because there is less covid in the hotter weather and if I had one now it would have waned by autumn when they expect covid to be worse. If I don't get called till October it will be a year since my last jab so I'd better be extra careful till I do get it. I haven't seen any publicity about this change either.

Mandy the Owls are fantastic and Lewis will love giving them to his teachers who will love getting something a bit different and cheerful I'm sure.

Vera, that book is fantastic and so professionally done. You will have to do another one about your other holidays next!.

It was good finding the M&S offer with their half price cake AnnG. Has your friend Anne bought an electric car this time?

Nice to hear from you Gwyn and the church and it's coolness was ideal in this heat wasn't it.

I must get on with painting for a bit now. OH is resting his eyes!! ;-)

Happy Birthday Annx <3
I hope you have a really lovely day.

Thank you everyone for all the e mails showing your lovely walks, plants, paintings and craft work.
You are all so talented ! :-D
Vera, your book is such a special gift and I'm sure will be treasured.
What a lovely thought of your grandaughter.

I am just back from a morning in a church....... It was lovely and cool in that ancient building and it's on a hill too, so we were able to benefit from the gentle breeze this morning.
It was a morning when local Year 4 schioolchildren visited for a time of fun and activities and I was asked to help a group learn more about the vestments and colours used during the church year.
We had worksheets, so not too taxing on my old brain !

Home now to pottering indoors, until it's a bit cooler to do a bit of dead heading, when the front garden is in the shade this evening.
The grass is like hay, but will have to take it's chance at survival, as we have been asked to think about use of water, so only certain things get a drink, these days.
Even hotter days forecast !

I haven't been for any walks lately, but when I was in town about a week ago, there was a pair of swans with 2 well grown cygnets. Whether they were 'our' swans from nearby, who knows, but I know they do travel quite a way some days.
The swans we waited for locally had several eggs, but were down to 3 young quite soon after hatching. Unfortunately, one more was lost later, so only 2 reared in total. They are a good size now, so hopefully will survive to adulthood. There are pike, mink and the usual foxes nearby, so sadly any chicks etc. have to fight off these natural predators at times.

Strange Mel, it is 25 here and cloudy and I had to come in from gardening because I was too hot. It is really clammy, hardly any breeze at all.

That sounds nice Mandy I could just go a nice gammon salad.

Finished all the shopping nice and early so I am having a sit down.

Its 25 degrees here and cloudy so it dos'nt feel so hot. Dos'nt say anything about rain now though.

Mandy I loved the owls and I am sure teachers will be pleased with thse as a present from Lewis.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Happy Birthday Ann <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
Enjoy your day and I hope OH spoils you

Morning all,

It was a hot night but I didn't sleep to bad woke a few times but soon went off again .

I thought of Jane too she would have had her feet in a bowl of cold water sitting out in the garden with her hand fan bless her.

Vera good luck at the haidressers hope they try and keep you cool while your having your hair done .
I find I can't eat when the weathers hot ,I keep trying to think what to have that I haven't got to have the oven on for so I have a nice piece of gammon cooking in the pressure cooker and I always have salad in the fridge so that and new potatoes will do for today .

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANN <3 <3 and wishing you many more too. Have a great day,

Vera I meant to say, as I said on my email, that is a lovely book for a keepsake, what a clever Granddaughter to think of it.

It is now 22 degrees and PC says rain coming although last nights weather forecast said we would be lucky to see it.

<3 <3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANN <3 <3 <3 <3

Have a wonderful day and enjoy every minuet of being spoiled. xx

Morning all,

Bit vercast with cloud this morning but I am hoping it will be a little cooler than yesterday. Pc is saying 20 degrees and light rain which the garden wiould be glad of if it appears.

Shopping day today so I shall be tied up with that for the morning. If it cooler I may get in the garden this afternoon.

Vera your book is beautiful and what a lovely surprise I can see how you were pleased with it.

Morning AnnG and all

Weather app is telling me it’s 20 degrees and feels like 23. This afternoon when I go to the hairdressers it will be 31, feeling like 34. Are you like me, struggling to eat in this heat? I have much more ironing this week than usual but I can’t face it. I think I’ll be ironing a bit at a time when we need something to wear. I was remembering our Jane last night and how she hated it when it was very hot and she would have 2 or 3 fans going.

:-D :-D :-D <3 <3 <3 HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANN <3 <3 <3 :-D :-D :-D

Have a lovely day. Stay cool and treat yourself to lots of cold drinks and ice cream.

Good morning all. 19 degrees here, sun and light cloud. A very hot night but I didn't sleep too badly. Now have the bedding in the wash. sitting her in shorts pyjamas and strappy top, still hot!!

Nothing planned for today so maybe in the shade in the garden a bit of a potter, or maybe just potter indoors.

I think many med think they are too macho to need suncream Vera. It was only in later years that I managed to get T to wear suncream when playing golf..

We still don't know what will happen with our post office. Our McColls has more and more empty shelves each time I go in. the lady there has worked ther for 25 years, she said the date they were given for closure is the 27th. But then she said, with a very puzzled look, 'this morning we had a delivery to restock some shelves..

I went with Anne to the garage where she had documents to sign for the car she has bought and will get on Thursday. then we went to Next to return something for her, then into Matalan where surprisingly I bought a top, and then over the car park to Sainsbury's for a few bits. and then drove down the road to M&S Home where we had tea in their cafe and apparently they have this offer (we honestly didn't know) where after 3pm you can buy a full size piece of cake for half price. so we had a piece of carrot cake each and it was really nice (and very naughty).

Mine won't wear a hat Vera but he does wear his sunglasses and never puts sun cream on. He tans beautifully.

I have just done the ironing!!!!!!!!!!! got hot now so went and corned banty who has laid her 15th egg now.

Mel, it’s not the outlying villages that need postal services. On the whole they are well catered for. It’s the town itself that now has no post office. I do feel a town of this size (about the size of Barnstaple) should have some sort of post office even if it has limited opening hours. It’s not so much for things like stamps but for pension payments, bill paying etc. Not everyone has a computer nor is everyone confident online.

It’s been a busy day. I stripped 3 beds and remade 2 of them and got 4 loads of washing on the line which dried very quickly so I was soon bringing it back in again. I’ve done various tidying up jobs and got tonight’s meal prepared. I’ve even deadheaded a few geraniums. At one point, I think it was around 1 pm, I caught sight of OH kneeling in full sun weeding. It was in the hottest period of the day but had he used any sunscreen, was he wearing a hat or sunglasses? Of course not! I love him dearly but sometimes I think he was at the back of the queue when common sense was handed out.

Its 28 degrees here now and oh is watching the back of his eyelids and I am about to do another wash.

No hedge cutting today again its much too hot to be up a tower in the sun.

You would think they could have a post office van for some of the outlying villages Vera. Ours is only here from 8.30am I think till 11am and then he goes somewhere else. There is one day he dos'nt come at all but I am not sure which day that is and it woud be a weekday as it dos'nt come on Saturday. they just expect everyone to have cars nowadays and its the older people who need it more and some don't have cars or as you say a reasonable bus service.

No pharmacist today in Boots again so they suggested taking the prescription back to the spine and then I could try another pharmacy, so i waked up to the doctors where dil works and used their pharmacy ,luckily they had all the tablets Colin needed .
But the silly thing was the couple behind me in the boots queue had been to the doctors and the doctor had sent their prescription through to boots wouldn't you think boots would have told the doctors they had no pharmacist for the day that way their queues would have been smaller .
I didn't bother to do the sane with my prescription as she said they hoped to have a pharmacist there tomorrow and I don't need my tablets for a day or two ,it would just mean more work for the girls in boots .

Phew we're in now for the afternoon it is too hot out there now ,might get some stitching done I'm making owl desk tidies for Lewis to give to his teacher and head teacher as he leaving that school and starts his new one in September.

Never mind Vera, I am getting to the age when any card, whenever received, is very welcome! We both had a chuckle and are glad we are not the only ones having these senior moments. :-) You have had a lot going on lately as well, but the post may surprise us yet! The schools round here broke up last Thursday.

Well the man didn't turn up or ring after all. :-S He did suggest Monday or Tuesday when he rang so I am wondering if he has the days mixed up. I did repeat Monday to him before I rang off though. If he just decided not to bother coming he is silly as the Mybuilder site vets people and asks for feedback from customers. We won't be here tomorrow morning anyway.

Two post offices here within half a mile of us closed a few years ago. In both cases the postmasters retired and they couldn't get anyone else to take them on. What happened with the village one is that they incorporated it within a corner of the Co-op which is useful. In a nearby village they combined the pharmacy we go to with the Post Office so that is very handy. Many have closed over recent years as they have lost a lot of business. Sale of stamps for employees' NI cards went, then self employed NI stamps, faxes, then emails came along meaning a drastic reduction in posted items, pensions, child benefit and other benefits are largely paid into bank accounts now so there are none of the books they were paid for cashing and dealing with and lots of courier services have sprung up in competition for parcel delivery. Most postmasters were/are employed as well as self employed and sell cards and stationery etc. Our Frank, bless him would remember all this. :-) I wonder if Ros is still doing her pretty garden.

Ann, my card might also be late. If so I apologise now. I had a senior moment. I sent the card early but stupidly sent it to AnnG. She has kindly agreed to keep that one for her birthday and there is another in the post to you but our one collection a day isn't till 5.15 so the card may not reach you in the morning. I hope your man turned up or at least contacted you.

Post offices are a nightmare at the moment. A few years back we had a large main post office in town which was always busy. In their wisdom the powers that be decided to close it and a corner of W H Smiths was turned into a sub PO. Now Smiths have closed and a town of about 20,000 people was left with no PO. The answer to the protests was that residents can go to the one in the area where I live, so someone living near the town centre has a wonderful choice. They can catch the very infrequent bus or walk a good mile and a half in each direction, either way it is going to take a chunk out of their day and they could have to wait an hour or more for the bus back to town just standing at a bus stop as there are no shelters or seating. The PO here anyway is one little counter in the corner of a very small McColls which has been taken over by Morrisons so we don't know if the PO bit will remain. There was such an outcry that last week a "pop-up" PO was opened in one of the empty shops in a small shopping precinct but it can be closed or moved elsewhere at any time. I sometimes wonder if the officials making the decisions live on the same planet as the rest of us.

Rant over :-) Better think about getting some lunch ready now.