General Chat

Well posts have been creeping in ahead of me! How lovely it would have been Island if you had found that box when you cleared the house. OH found his corgi and matchbox cars when we cleared his mum's house, plus his bagatelle. He really thought they were gone. I managed to get an 'o' level in maths, but am hopeless at mental arithmatic and could never have worked in a shop or pub! Geometry was more my thing. MIL was a whizz at it after working in and managing a local Co-op for most of her life. She would soon pull up a shop assistant if the added things wrong after she retired or have the answer before they had worked it out. She used to tell us a tale about someone she'd worked with. Remember when shopkeepers would chant their totting up out loud and quickly when they were adding up the amounts for your groceries? Well this man would do that and add things like 'and one and sixpence for me' in the middle of the list and no-one would notice!!

Afternoon All,

It's 6 degrees here and cloudy according to the PC which is about right although it felt colder outside first thing! I slept well last night and we had lamb mince, onion, mushroom and lots of oddments of veg with our liquidised tomato added and some wholegrain rice for lunch. OH is out again tonight but should be home much earlier than gone 10.00pm like last night.

I have been ringing the bank, and various other places this morning and managed to sort a few things. I just happened to be looking at the 'About' section on FB and noticed they have put my mobile no on there and available to anybody! They never asked or told me and I would never give my mobile out on something like FB. I've now changed it so only I can see it. When I went to remove it it said I may not be able to renew my password if I forget it if I do! So have a look ladies if you are on FB and don't want your mobile no available to everyone in the world including scammers! :- Since I've had Windows 10 I've noticed you only have to start entering something and it pops up with all your details, very convenient to not have to fill them all in, but not very secure in the wrong hands. Some sites show the last 4 of your bank or credit card too. On the subject , why do organisations give your full name or middle initial on letters they send and why does your NiNo need to show on your pension payments on your bank statements? All gifts to those wishing to commit fraud. Well that's my moan for the day.

Well it's your decision whether to do the rings Mel, as it is you, not OH who does the work making them. I can see why he thinks that, if they don't want your rings, but maybe the flower decorations will sell better. As they would say in the 60s, tell him to 'get knotted' if he keeps fussing. :-D

I have returned the wellies with zips and the wrong little christmas tree they sent today, so it looks like we will make do with the one again this year now. My next job is to get writing Christmas cards. I am all behind everyone. :-S

Island what a shame you didn't find the box of treasures.
I still back my on line bank accounts by having a ledger in which it is all recorded then I balance that against the on line. It does come in handy when I want to check something paid in or out in a previous year. I can go back years.

You got in ahead of me there AnnG. Ten minutes to type my post :-0 Very different careers I think but I continued with mental arithmetic when doing my accounts - in case the calculator was wrong!

Afternoon all

I'm pleased you're feeling better Vera :-D

Going back, if I may, to button tins. I missed out there LOL - how interesting is that?.
When I was about 8 I was given a box of fabric scraps by a granny age lady. She was an accomplished dressmaker who lived next door to my mum when she was little. The box was about 10 x 8 x 3 inches, covered with dark pink fabric with a padded lid. I loved that box of scraps and mostly just got them out to look at and re-arrange. I made some dolls clothes out of them but not many as I didn't want to spoil my 'treasure trove'. I am surprised that it didn't turn up when we had to clear the family home, I would have been so happy to have been re-united with it.
I did find another box of doll clothes which I'd made though and still have them.

When I worked for the Admiralty in 1956-61 was when I became aware of punvh cards and computers (as I said below). I didn't punch the cards then but all our wages work which was done manually using to add up Vera a Compometer (The Comptometer was the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator, patented in the United States by Dorr Felt in 1887)

We would have the work sheets and the clock cards of employees, they would be balanced against each other then the wages calculated by hand using a large book which was also called a computer I think or something similar. this was in the form of tables each page for a different wage e.g £3.50 per week. and the number of hours worked listed down the side. So we would check e.g. 42 hours against whatever the wage for the grade of the person and that would be the weekly wage before tax I can't remember the next procedure for tax etc (well it is over 60 years ago.) The weekly wages for each station would be listed on paper and added first in our heads and then checked on the comptometer
And I can still run a pen down a list of figures and add them in my head.


Pleased that you are feeling better Vera, I hope you have big plans for the Christmas bonus""" However, laughing aside I am sure there are people who would benefit from £10 extra.

I laughed at your triple and then double posting AnnG. It did look funny coming after the talk of drinking gin, but we've probably all had posts appear multiple times for no apparent reason.

Mel, I can see where your OH is coming from as well but, if you enjoy doing it and you have materials to use up, you go ahead and make your arrangements.

Ann, my £100 WFP did eventually end up in the correct account. It only took 5 months for the DWP to get it right! I think comptometers were a sort of glorified adding machine. Were the punch card machines called tabulators? I'm not really sure. We didn't punch the cards, just got them when there was an error on them. Then we would have to find the relevant questionnaire (out of thousands sometimes!) and try to tie up the questionnaire answers with the holes in the card to find out where the error had occurred. It all seems a very long time ago. It was a different world then.

I am busy this morning catching up on all the jobs I haven't done while feeling unwell. I had a reasonable night and feel a lot better this morning though I still feel muzzy and a bit drained. Ironing's done, last of the cards written, banking checked and our £10 Christmas bonuses have gone in. I've also bought another Christmas gift online. I only have my grandson to buy for now.

The wind has dropped quite a bit and first thing this morning it was dry but it wasn't long before it started raining again and it's really miserable now. I'm feeling a bit chilly too so I think I'll go and make a coffee to cheer myself up.

And you enjoy doing them Mel so tell OH it is your hobby and you like doing them. I can see where he is coming from but also no point worrying about something that you can't change.

Morning Anng and all,

You enjoy your gin Anng I am only kidding. Rotton morning here as its still windy and wet but we have had a little sunshine too. Pc says 8 degrees and a pic of a cloud with a rian spot on it and light rain.

Must finish off the rings today and get them up to Erica and then I may do a couple of flower arrangements for the shop. Oh is not happy with me doing them as they don't take my rings anymore. Thing is I have to get rid of a lot of wreath flowers and ribbons as I have boxes of it.

Goodness know why that posted twice again, it seems to happen when I am on my Ipad as opposed to the main PC so it could be without knowing it my finger touches the screen twice. and rest assured Mel, i am only having the same amount of gin as I did pre calendar and that is two small singles with a lot of tonic

Good morning all I have been up but not dressed for an hour reading the local news on the PC and checking my bank. I will be OK financially now as I have just had a Christmas bonus from DWP a whole £10 Wheeee!

Nothing planned for today, still wet but the wind has dropped can't see any damage in the garden from here will wait until it is dry before going out to check. 6 degrees here now, it has dropped as it was 7 just now.

Have you been on the advent calender again Anng? posting twice.

I completely missed a couple of posts on the other page and could'nt make out what Mandy was talking about with the beans. I had to go back and read them.

Lovely to see Island posting and yes not long now till the nights start drawing out again and don't we really notice it once it starts?

We had hot dogs and chips tonight as I felt I had been on the go all day today.

I need to get up the post van and send this little parcel off to Mandy for the children. Also HAPPY BIRTHDAY Katie where have the years gone? Please pss it on to her Mandy.

I think I must have clicked on reply to all. No problem anyway.

Vera glad that you found your post. Sound like a nasty migraine, I wonder why you suddenly had that?
I would think computerisation made things easier for those surveys. And then the advance of computerisation. I used to do some work at home for T’s department on punch cards in the 70s but when I started work the wages were punched into cards and then put through a computer that filled a room. Today she was entering answers directly into her laptop. The company head office is the same as the census in Titchfield near Fareham. I know exactly where it is as my sister worked there some time ago,

I'm glad he thought it was marvellous and liked it straightaway Mel. Hopefully I am improving with all I've been learning on these courses. We get a strange selection of photos to choose from sometimes, but I really liked this one as well. The week we did those reflections from lights, one photo was the back of a bin lorry with it's lights on! lol.

Mandy I like painting trees and snow which is partly why I chose to do this one. I don't know myself sometimes how I manage to get the right effect, but it's good when it happens. :-) :-D HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Katie :-D I can't believe she's almost a teenager!!! Where did all that time go? Do the girls have very different characters and interests?

Oh that was a nasty migraine then Vera. Good idea not to go to a noisy function as you wouldn't have enjoyed the noisy part. Were those machines that read those punched cards called comptometers? Some areas in our work read those punched cards, but not where I was. I keep meaning to ask if you got your winter fuel payment in the right account in the end?

An early night for me again. I hope this wind doesn't keep us all awake.

Evening all,

Wet and very windy here now and today has been so dark I actually closd the curtains at half past three today because it was so dull.
Katie's birthday today she's 12 today ,we went down to she her with her presents after she got home from school ,she picked a chinese takeaway for her birthday tea and they will have that once son gets home from work.

Anng I had the email too that you sent to Ann so perhaps you sent it to all of us .
I was going to say exactly the same as Ann bout the little bottles 7t seems a shame to throw them away .
He's a very handsome grandson with a lovely smile and I do think he looks like you .

Ann another lovely painting with both my favourite things snow and your trees ,I love how you have the snow pushed to each side of the path ,I don't know how you do it but it's another lively one .

Vera so annoying when the post just goes, hope your feeling a little better today .

Oh yes Island I need to get some beans ordered too what were the climbing french beans you had last year called ,they were good weren't they ?

Found my post. Here it is:

Well, I am feeling half human again. It was very definitely a migraine but the worst one I have had for a number of years. The sickness has gone now though my digestive system is still a bit up the creek and I am over the worst of the pain. I just feel as though I am wearing someone else’s head.

I was supposed to be at a Ladies’ Club Christmas afternoon tea and secret Santa today. I had been dithering about going as it is quite a big group and had decided I would go, wear my mask all the time except when eating and leave if I felt uncomfortable. However, they usually have a quiz and a game and it can get quite noisy and I decided my head couldn’t take it, so I had a good excuse not to go.

It’s been the same sort of weather here as most other places i.e. cold, wet and windy. The rain is lashing down now. Dustmen come tomorrow so, when the rain eased a bit, OH took the bin down the road and left it on the edge of the field which is what we have to do. I have my doubts whether it will still be there by morning. The way the wind is blowing it could be in the next county.

I was interested in the survey you did AnnG as between 1974 till we moved in 1986 I worked for a company that did a lot of these government surveys. I think the company is still going but under a different name. In those days we didn’t have computers to pick addresses at random. Addresses were taken from electoral registers and we had to find our starting point from a book of random number tables – I can’t remember how it worked – and then take, say, every 5th name or 7th name, depending on how many we needed to end up with. I didn’t often get involved in that part of the work though I sometimes helped when needed. My work was involved in going through the questionnaires when they came in from the interviewers and coding them all up. Originally it was all done on punched cards and was a real pain trying to peer at the little holes and work out why the answers didn’t tie up. Later we worked directly on the questionnaires and coded them for entry into computers. I worked on the British Crime Survey and the Social Attitudes Survey which are both still being regularly done and the biggest one I worked on was a housing survey with half a million questionnaires. I also had to sign the Official Secrets Act. Gosh, AnnG, you’ve brought back some memories for me there.

I’ve got a Tesco delivery on Thursday so I’ve been doing the order this afternoon and have certainly noticed how prices are going up or, if the price is staying the same, the quantity is going down.

I hope you get your scan soon Ann. Sometimes the waiting is the worst bit. Your OH has to do quite a bit of travelling around, doesn’t he. He certainly won’t be wanting the air con on!

I think I am going to have a nice, quiet, easy evening now. I hope you all sleep soundly tonight and get up bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning.

Done it Anng.

Mel as I have not got a clue can you send it back to me please and I will sort it. Thanks. How strange though.

I don't believe it!! I was typing a post on Word and was going to c&p when it just disappeared as I was typing. Goodness knows where it's gone but I can't find it anywhere. I don't have time to re-do it as I have to go and cook our meal but if I can find the energy I will try and post later.

Ann I have just showed oh your picture and he said marvelous I like that and its not often you can look at a picture and like it right away.

Anng I think you sent a reply to me instead of Annx. Do you want me to send it on to her or will you email her again?

Just going to have a cuppa as I feel like I hav'nt stopped today witht he shopping coming late we had lunch inbteen and then I carried on and then I fed the chickens and then I cleaned out the dark hole in the corner where we keep oh's beer as it gets a bit moldy there. Then I haad to shut the chickens in and the bantam and came in and sat down.

Sorry I thought I had said. I had a letter a week or so ago addressed to the occupier which nearly went in the bin until I spotted across the envelope “on Her Majesty’s Service” so I opened it. It was basically from the ONS and was regarding a family resources survey. Normally done by phone that I knew would be too difficult for me so,I wrote back and eventually Jon the local interviewer Contacted me by email. She said she could do it by actually coming to see me providing we had all the safe guarding in place. So doors and windows open, heating off and we were over two metres apart both wearing masks. It took an hour and was very interesting and hopefully will be of use. Totally anonymous.

I have a feeling that when we signed off the OSA there was a phrase reminding us that we were bound by it for life. In the MOD we still had to get permission in those days (2000). To go to Southern Ireland.