General Chat

Just popping on to say a quick hallo. I’ve read your interesting posts but haven’t time to comment. The last two days have been very busy and I’ve not been sleeping much again so I feel like a wet week.

Tonight we have a club meeting and it’s our turn to provide raffle prizes and make the half time coffee. Our turn only comes round once a year but I always forget till the last minute.

We had a fair bit of rain yesterday and it was very dull and grey all morning. Now the sun’s out and it’s 21 degrees but feels quite muggy. Never happy are we ;-)

Enjoy the rest of your day.

He certainly isn't he does know that I will give him a very small snack but he has to have what I have got I don't buy special for him. He eats cheese, any meat, ham, sometimes small amount of postato in other words he has left overs. I tell him if he want a meal he has to go home. He always looks as though he is listening to me but who knows?

Computers are such a pain AnnG. Mine kept showing a warning that 'security actions were needed' yesterday. Then later in the day it flashed up a scan had been done and showed no risks. I looked online and it seems the message I was getting was a glitch that happened to some with windows 11. I think the updates sometimes cause these problems and then they get sorted out on a later update. So Skinny may know what to do to get a snack another time. They aren't daft are they! :-)

I have seemed to have a problem with my main computer. I think it must be Firefox. I have been trying to get back to say the Secret drummers I think may be Swiss not Norwegian although I am sure the commentator said Norwegian.

I had to make Skinny leave by bribing him with a couple of bits of fat off my lamb chops.

Morning All,

We had more rain overnight which will be good for the beans, but it's been dry and overcast all morning. PC says cloudy and 13 degrees now.

I've been to the dentist and climbed the stairs to the surgery, but was sent back down again as now you wait downstairs to be called, so I had to do them twice! The dentist left the broken tooth for now. He agrees I need the results of the adrenal tests before doing any treatment, as changes in the hormones might cause a medical emergency at the dentist. You'd think someone would have warned me about this wouldn't you, but I found out online. I don't see the specialist again till October but they should get the results from last week's test I did in 6 weeks so I will see if I can find out then. If I hadn't had the scan I wouldn't even have known about it.

So you have been busy in the garden too Mandy. It will save some work if you can leave the gazebo up and still protect the rails from the weather. Would some of that stuff you push over pipes to insulate them work if it was waterproof on the outside?

We thought the Queen seemed steadier than we expected last night and she did enjoy all the horses and the drummers didn't she. I had never seen drummers do all the stick throwing before. It was very clever as one slip would have ruined it. Those riders doing the stunts were amazing too. I could only just about vault onto my pony when he stood still, let alone at the speed they were going.

I bet Skinny slunk out of the conservatory after his 7 hour nap was cut short AnnG!

The young man doing the drive next door seems to be getting all the moss and mess onto our drive now, but maybe he will clear it off when he's done.

Better start lunch then back to painting rocks!

Morning all,

Our leccy has been out this morning so I had no internet until now.

Very grey with a little rain here today and pc says 17 degrees so no up the border today for me. The ground should be getting a bit more workable now with the rain we've had as it was rock hard when I was up there on Sturday.

Washed my hair yesterday afternoon and ended up with a painful neck and shoulder on my right and it has'nt gone this morning.

I did'nt see the queens celebration yesterday but I am going to watch it on iplayer then as Anng said I can skip through the bits I don't want.

Morning Mandy. Yes first the Norwegian troup when they were playing were passing on stick to the next person but when the R Marines and Norwegians were mixed up in the group they were throwing the stick up and catching it without missing a beat. What amazed me was the commentator said they had only had a very short time to work that out and practice it. they are all so talented. And what about all those beautiful horses from Oman all brought here on Two planes I think they said. Yes the Queen really enjoyed it she was smiling and laughing and her eyes were sparkling. So pleased that she could be there.

Morning Anng ,morning all,

Bit overcast here and we have puddles on the toad so it rained in the night .

Anng I loved all the show but as you say those drummers were so fast ,did you see where they changed the sticks flinging them in the air to each other ,the look on the Queens face told you she was enjoying it especially all the horses .

We hope to finish off the gazebo this morning and I need to go and get some milk and a few other bits so I shall just walk up into town for those.

Good morning all still looks overcast but dry at the moment 13 degrees. I was horrible yesterday afternoon and evening, after the lovely sun of saturday, it didn't stop raining. supposed to be better today but the weather man said it was difficult as things kept changing.
Did anyone else watch the Jubilee show.I recorded it so was able to fast forward the bits I didn't want to watch. The actual show (horses, military etc) were great, really enjoyed that part, Just didn't need some of the talking bits. My favourite, besides the parade of The Queen's horses and ponies was the drummers. Always love the R Marine drums but the Norwegians were fantastic and the 'drum off' between them was so fast. Unbelievable

I finally had to show Skinny the door after he had slept for seven hours, even then he didn”t want to go but I needed to shut the conservatory up. Hopefully he went home because we have had more rain.

Evening all ,

I'm here Ann just been busy in the garden and tired out as I had a bad night was still awake in the early hours ,we've been putting the gazebo up today it seems to get harder to do each year ,I said to Colin we'll leave it up at the end of the year and just take the canopy off we could put dome plastic bags over the runners so they don't get to wet .
Lovely photos of all the flowers on your walk Ann love the Cowslips .

Sounds as if your nearly there with your next project Mel looking forward to seeing it .

Anng Skinny knows where to come to get some peace and quiet and keep dry ,no flies on him .

Tomorrow Jake has to have his ingrowing toenail taken off I cringe just thinking about it ,it will be a good job done though as he has had so much trouble with it hes been backwards and forwards to the doctors having it dressed and it looked so sore.

Going to watch the Queens jubilee show now, I think its just starting .

We had a short, sharp shower this afternoon. I did some more of my painting and not much else! OH did some of his work.

I see you had the company of 'skinny' the cat today AnnG. As You say cats know the best places to be if it's wet or cold. You are doing well with the garden jobs and the delivery was good today.

Are you nearly finished with your project now Mel?

I have just moved my car onto the gravelled area at the front as the nextdoor neighbour is having her drive jetwashed in the morning.

No Mandy again? I hope she is ok and just busy with her plants or playing with the kittens. :-D

Clouded over here now and we've had a few spots of rain and pc now says 15 degrees. Not sure I want to go up the border this afternoon now if I am going to get rained off every few mins so I am going to get on with my craft. I did do a little tiny bit this morning.

Or I may go down the shed and sow some seeds.

Tesco shop today 2 subs and a couple unavailable. One sub ok, one returned.

After putting stuff away I went out in the garden fro an hour, very overcast and eventually got rained off. Not heavy rain, just spitting. skinny the cat is asleep in the conservatory, first time since I came back from daughters. He has been around but not stopped. When I stroked him his fur was wet so that is the answer, not daft that cat.

I planted up my Tagetes, weeded a little bit more. Planted my cherry )Makoska) tomatoes into their outside pots by the house and planted a butternut squash that a friend gave me into a tub in the greenhouse. Oh and planted up a new parsley into a pot.

Morning All,

It's 17 degrees here and the PC says rain is coming! We have weak sun and it was warm outside when I was watering. I just read on the PC it will be a mini heatwave next week with temps in the late 20s and thunderstorms!

It seems to be happening everywhere doesn't it AnnG, the little shops in the villages closing. It has a knock on effect too when councils ramp up the parking costs as we used to enjoy a browse round the 3 charity shops in the next village, but even they are opening less hours now and it is easier to take goods to the dogs home shed for them to sell in their shop than worry about parking to take things to these 3 charity shops. With everyone getting used to shopping more on line since the pandemic it isn't a wise move on the council's part. Empty shops won't bring in any council tax for them and neither will the parking costs if people shop elsewhere.

Yes there is a sense of satisfaction when you get some of the garden looking nice again isn't there. My greenhouse could do with a clearout and some new brackets for the fold down shelf in there. I might go and plant the last of the big Geraniums after lunch and then I can plant the cues in their tub. I daren't do too much bending as my knees have to get up the dentist's steep stairs in the morning.

I've never heard of a sea kale pot Mel. I must look them up!

Better put the veg on now to go with the lamb shanks.

Morning Anng and all,

Suns out here at the momentand the sky is blue with white clouds here and there. Pc says rain coming and 18 degrees.

Not too achey this morning which is good as I may get a chance to get up there again today if the rain keeps off. Did some digging and weeding yesterday and can see brown earth creeping along the border but I hav'nt reached the worse part yet with the twitch. Broke the lid on my sea kale pot yesterday as I knocked over my border spade and it took a chunk out of the lid. Oh said he could glue it. My border spade was mums from years ago and has a metal handle and must be about 50 odd years old as dad bought it for mum when I lived with them. He bought her all the wilkinsons garden implements and I also have a border fork with a metal handle.

Also forgot to shut up my little greenhouse yesterday and went out at 11.30 when I remembered.

So that was our heatwave, yesterday. We have gone from clear beautiful blue skies to really overcast cloud, looks showery but not rained yet this morning and is 16 degrees, no wind. Hope nobody made plans for a barbecue after yesterdays lovely weather. Looks like they will be disappointed. PC is saying mostly sunny but I guess that is probably in Wiltshire.

Weather forecast gives showers all day for Gloucester and cloudy with some sun for Churchdown Gloucester after 2pm/ We are about 5 miles at most from Gloucester. :-)

Good morning all, looks like we had a shower earlier but not very much, still even a little helps the plants.

Vera Although the hard work in the garden makes the muscles ache, it still makes us feel good when we see what we have done. I worked quite hard out there yesterday in half/forty five hour snatches but my garden will never look 'manicured' especially with the wild flower patches which are, of course, nothing but weeds.
I think the fact that the free out of town shopping areas have spread in this area, with shops like B&M, Home Bargains, the Range, Dunelm etc, means that village shops where there is a charge for parking will not survive. Especially not banks and sub post offices are closing.

Our little shopping centre is slowly diminishing. It is only a row of shops but for ages one has been empty and we are left with a hair dresser, a bakers (Jane's Pantry, a betting shop, a charity shop (Barnados), a Funeral Parlour, McColls/post office, a chiropodist, a chemist and and optician. The post office can't always open for lack of staff since Covid when one of the long serving ladies retired and we wait to see what Morrisons will do with McColls. There is no charge for parking and the dentist is 50 yards down the road.

Ann I too find steps that have been put in to 'help' us down slopes are too high and quite frightening if there is not hand rail. That is one reason I tend to use my walking pole (stick).

Mel, I find the bit you kneel on on those stool/kneelers is very hard on the knees it needs to be a more 'giving' foam.

I went up the border this afternoon and got on quite well. I took my kneeler stool thing up with me and was able to kneel and do the front bit of the border but my knees are telling me this evening that they did'nt like it. Came down at quarter to 7pm and had acoffee and a shower and then did dinner.

Vera the next village started with machines and a 10p charge for parking half an hour a few years ago and that was refundable if you bought things from some of the shops. As you rightly say, it wasn't long enough for queuing in the banks and certainly if less mobile only long enough to visit one shop. Even walking to pay at the ticket machines is additional walking some find an added problem. It still isn't the most expensive carpark but is a big jump in price and there are less shops as 2 of the 3 banks have closed and Waitrose have gone. I noticed yesterday that a pizza place has replaced Santander. I have a feeling some people are using the free carpark at the park where I go walking as some days there seems to be a lot of cars there for the few that are walking in the park. It seems to be all cafes and fast food outlets lately, yet we are led to believe people are struggling to pay their mortgages etc. The council have also put up charges in another village the other side of us. A useful sewing and laundry service shop there has closed and a new cafe is there instead. Someone was enterprising though as it is 5 minutes from the rail station and they have put up train timetables inside.

I notice that a lot of steps that are put in on walks to 'help' must be put in by 6 foot + men as they are often too high for me and some are nearly up to my knees. It's the trouble when you are only short!