General Chat

You have all been busy chatting. Welcome back Frank, pleased that you had a good time Hope you feel better for it.

Ann, if you are learning new things it will probably be worth sticking with it and maybe it will all fall into place as you absorb more.

Vera, you will have to get ear defenders when OH is about to do a job around the house. Glad the xray and blood test are all done, hope the results are good. Gosh that poor woman, well done her daughter for exaggerating re the ambulance 13 hours sounds a bit excessive.

he Apple tree is no more. Took all of about 20 minutes for three of them to cut it down load up the truck and shred the branches and clear up all the fallen apples, then to blow away the sawdust and it cost £150 so cheaper than he said. It does look so much lighter out there.

Other than that I cut down the peony this morning and found some more blackberry growing so cut that down, plus an old honeysuckle. The this afternoon Anne came round to see how she would make Christmas cards. So I took a load of stuff downstairs and now I have to clear it all away again.

Good afternoon everyone

It’s a nice day here, bright and sunny but there is quite a strong breeze. In sheltered spots it’s warm but when that breeze blows there’s a real nip in the air.

All the banging yesterday turned out to be OH changing a light bulb!!! It was a tiny LED bulb at the top of a display cabinet which is on the wall so first he went to get my sturdy kitchen steps which are in a cupboard in the utility. Bang went the cupboard door. The steps are quite heavy and as he carried them through he used his elbow to push open the kitchen and lounge doors which both went bang. Then he had to open the steps. You have to push firmly down on the top step to lock everything in position but he gave it a good thump……another loud crash. He then changed the bulb and managed to knock over an ornament in the cabinet which, luckily for him, did not break or his life would not have been worth living. He’s always been a bit on the noisy side but he is definitely getting worse. No wonder I’m a nervous wreck lol.

He is now all X-Rayed and blood tested and we’ve just had a call from the surgery arranging a telephone appointment with the doctor for next Wednesday when she should have at least the X-Ray results and with luck will have the blood tests too. I didn’t get my stroll by the river and coffee at the hotel as after the X-Ray OH wanted to go and get some more of the tiny LED bulbs and then we bought a new kitchen bin for rubbish for recycling. I’ve been looking for ages for a new one and saw just the one this morning.

Ann, will your OH speak to the doctor about his possible hernia? Or is he like most men who put off seeing the doctor till they absolutely have to? Your new art course doesn’t sound very enjoyable but perhaps it will improve. Several years ago OH was chairman of a local study group that was affiliated to Cambridge. One year he arranged a 10 week course on Modern Art. The first night the lecturer got us looking at various modern paintings and discussing what we thought about them. Virtually everyone thought they were terrible and a 5 year old could do better. After the 10 weeks we looked at the same paintings again and found we were really seeing things in them that we hadn’t seen before and having serious discussions about them. I do quite like some modern stuff, paintings rather than “installations”. I’m glad something is getting sorted about your hospital appointment but why can’t these organisations simply say “We’re sorry. We made a mistake”? I was surprised that so many of the local schoolchildren and staff have contracted Covid. I’m not surprised you are a little more cautious than me as your area seems to have been hit quite hard whereas we have got away fairly lightly here.

I didn’t realise that your dungarees had to go back to China Mel. No wonder it was so expensive. You did have a long wait for your f & c. You’re more patient than me. I would probably have given up and gone back and cooked egg on toast or something.

Good to see you back Frank. I hope the break did you and Ros a lot of good. Yes, what did you get her for her birthday? You always seem to pick lovely presents for her.

My friends are dropping like flies. Now a neighbour tripped on a loose paving stone in town and has broken her arm. She has got to sleep sitting up for 6 weeks. You remember my friend who fell and broke her replacement hip and both arms. I have now heard the rest of the story. Apparently she and another friend were walking their dogs on some meadow land when she fell. As it was obvious she was badly injured the friend called for an ambulance only to be told it would come in about 13 hours!! When she said that the woman was badly injured and lying on the ground in a field she was politely told that she would have to stay there for the next 13 hours. I understand the very difficult situation that call handlers and front line staff are in but I find that dreadful. The friend rang the woman’s daughter who lives about 5 miles away and she raced up in her car. She rang the ambulance service again and said that her mother had fallen forward and may have banged her head which was true enough although there was no bleeding from her head. As soon as a possible head injury was mentioned she became a priority and am ambulance duly arrived.

I’m rambling on again aren’t I? Writing on here I feel as though I am talking to friends so I just natter away. Right, I’m off to do some household jobs.

Oh I was slow posting and didn't see you there Frank! Glad you are back and had a nice time in Spain. I thought just the same as Mel and wondered if Ros found anything nice for her birthday while you were away. I hope the sunny break has perked you up a bit .

Mel our weather is totally different, nice and sunny now!

Afternoon All,

It's very mixed here this morning sun one minute and clouds the next, but it's not too hot and not too cold so I shall do a stint outside planting up the front wall pots with some nice violas I got from the village garden centre first thing this morning. I would have liked a heather for each of the pots too but they were only being sold in trays of 6 mixed colours so I left it as I might find something at the other garden centre out in the sticks that is always quiet. I also got a tray of 6 red wallflowers to have in a pot near the back door so I can plant those too! We were surprised to see how they are covering over more of the village garden centre and extending their farm shop as that was a tiny corner inside. I thought businesses were struggling!

Oh yes denim is heavy as you say Mel so would cost more to post. Are you nearly finished getting all the brambles out of the borders now? They soon root at the ends and spread don't they. We get them in the bottom border from the birds fetching the berries and they come under the fence from the field. That was a long time to wait for your F&C!

I'll carry on with the course for now AnnG and see how it goes as I did learn a few things I didn't know. Although it's a course for beginners and improvers, the teacher doesn't demonstrate like the teacher I like does. He assumes you know all the art terms and know how to do them. Yes, I agree about the 'toddler' comparison. I better make a start on one of the pictures later today.

Well I opened the second letter from the hospital today and this one tells my doctor they have discharged me, but will be happy to see me again. Still condusing though as they told my doctor in the first letter I was discharged and in his care now, whereas the surgeon told me to just contact the department or himself if I want an appointment in the next six months. They have shifted any blame from themselves re the missed appointment by saying it was due to a communication error, but not saying whose!

Better check the washing now and water the toms.

O lovely to see you Frank and know you had a lovely time in Spain.

What did you give Ros for her birthday? as we are all wanting to know as you but her such nice presents.

I have been ironing as its not nice out there today its that mizzley rain but its really fine and more lkike a mist in the air. It get everywhere and makes everything clammy.

Well here I am again. Had a nice few days in SPAIN with Conrad. Came back with Jan last Saturday. Ros drove home after lunch Sunday (her Birthday) Not done anything since being home,

I trust you are all well, Sorry I haven't got round to reading all the posts. But I can see you have been busy.

Will get back again later, or tomorrow. xxxx

Morning Anng and all,

Cloudy here and feeling quite chillyand we have just grey sky and no blue at all and its 17 degrees and "computer says" partly sunny!!!!!!!!! Don't know where that came from.

Yesterday afternoon I went up the border to the corner and dug out 8 brambles while oh mowed the lawn to pieces this way and that. I also got a lot of ivy off the wall and managed to bruise my little finger on my left hand.

Went down for F & Cs last night and htye were so busy and I had to wait an hour almost and was getting cold as it was growing darksh and I only had on a sleevless t shirt and my gardening smock (sailors smock) as I don't get caught in the brimbles with that on and my little finger was cold and I kept holding it never looked at it then. A youngish man in front of me asked me if I was a potter!! Probably because of the smock with paint onit here and there and my rubber shoes on. Got in and got out of it as quick as I could to put my cardy on. Still no card amchine at the van so just as well I have taken out some money when I went to the post van.

You enjoyed our outing with friends yesterday Anng and a friend coming today for ideas for Christmas cards so thats good.

Ann the dungarees were denium thats why they were so heavy and I knew they were going to be expensive to send back to China.

Wrope this at 9.25am and forgot to post it!

Good morning all,bright, mostly clear sky with blue and white clouds and 15 degrees so looks like being a nice day. Have a friend coming this afternoon for ideas about making christmas cards otherwise nothing else on. Back later I expect better get dressed.

Annx I bet you don’t sleep until he is in though.

It will be a pity if you don’t feel like completing this course. Maybe you will find something in it that suits a bit further on. I am not a fan of abstract, to me the paintings often look like a toddler has done them.

Is your other half going to check that out with his GP a friend had a hernia strangulate a few years back, it was not nice.

Evening All,

Busy day today, OH was most of the day on one of his voluntary jobs, as a member of a local schools appeals panel and now he's at one of his school meetings so he'll be tired when he gets home. One of the city schools has had to close for now as I think I read over half the pupils and 40% of the teachers have covid. I didn't realise how big some of the schools were till OH told me that there are 3 schools close together on the edge of the city that have 3,500 children between them. Image all that lot turning up with parents and cars at the same time morning and night if you lived nearby!

I had my first lesson of the new course and found some youtube videos the new teacher had made and watched a couple of those first this morning so I could see what to expect. OH burst out laughing when I told him it might have been the same name and also an artist, but when the class started it was a different man!!! lol. Not sure I will like it as he seems to assume a lot of knowledge and some have followed his other courses he's done. He's much more into abstract paintings and one of his he showed us looked like a full brush had flicked splats of white all over it. The splash it on quickly and 'feel' the movement and suggestion in it isn't really my style and I think he will find what I do a bit restrained, probably with rigor mortis the way I fuss away and like detail. lol Lots of homework to do, up to 3 paintings ideally.

Vera what a job it is contacting people now. That was best to ring just before closing, it's either that or first thing to get hold of a 'person'. At least you got sorted in the end and things are moving forward in finding the reason for your OH's pain. My OH seems to have a hernia his other side now and it's getting worse and you can feel a swelling now like he had the other side before they operated. His face was an absolute picture a while ago when I asked him if he'd looked in the garage among his parents' things in there to see if he could find his dad's truss that we discovered when we cleared their house!! I may have already told you that before.

I'm afraid I didn't get your email reply again and I checked spam and trash too! We seem to have a gremlin between us which is odd? I couldn't get a Camellia to grow in my old garden, even though I thought it was in an ideal shady spot, yet it is taller than me now in this garden! All it gets is a feed of used teabags around it's roots! We had a lot of clay there as a previous owner allowed a sewer to a small new estate at the back of the park behind to be brought through the drive. Digging it the length of the garden had brought all the subsoil to the surface. You could have made bricks with the clay.

Tonight I joined a virtual meeting and talk about the Allergy Service at the Hospital which was interesting. I never knew that if you were allergic to a particular tree pollen, you could then become allergic to the fruit off the tree, also that you could say be allergic to a fruit when it's raw, but not when it's cooked.

I bet you hair feels nice now it's been trimmed AnnG. I do like the head massage I get with a haircut. It's good you enjoyed your meeting.

Oh Mel, the cost to return must be why I got to keep my dungarees. That is a lot isn't it and a pity you couldn't have sold them.

My 2 sedums arrived today and I don't want to leave them wrapped up so tomorrow the plastic packing will get a wipe and I'll get them planted. I hadn't noticed till after I ordered that the red one is only half hardy so I might put that in a pot in a sheltered spot till I have propogated some more from it.

OH is still not back yet, but I am off to bed now. Hope everyone sleeps well and that we soon hear from Frank.

No Ann, the problem is with the central booking system here. I think it covers the whole area served by the West Suffolk Hospital which is pretty big and the phone lines get overwhelmed. Ringing just before 6 pm was a good plan as OH got straight through and is booked in for tomorrow morning. Both his X-Ray and blood tests are at our local health centre on the edge of town, only a couple of miles from here. The only problem is there is an hour and a half between his two appointments so he has to decide whether to come home in between. I might suggest I go with him and we have a gentle stroll by the river and a coffee on the verandah of the local hotel. Sounds good to me :-D

Sorry to hear about your friend.

Vera, is it anything to do with the shortage of test tubes do you think or is it your surgery and a general problem? Good that you both managed appointments together anyway.

I was surprised that people arrived not wearing masks and everyone accepted it. I can’t say I was too comfortable with it but I suppose we were a large group of smaller groups. So people like my garden interests group who have met without masks and other groups the same so people assume we are all ok. Let us hope so anyway we were all vaccinated.

My friend who is three years older than me has her appointment fir the booster.

Sad news about my friend who had uterine cancer, she died yesterday.

Vera I am intrigued what wa all the banging you had coming from downstairs :-D

It’s a lovely day, a bit misty and grey first thing but it quickly brightened up and is very warm now.

OH had an appointment with the doctor and I had a chiropody appointment and they very conveniently tied in, so we went into town together. OH stopped his tablets about 3 days ago and hasn’t felt any worse so he will leave them off now. No-one seems to know what caused the sudden attack of severe pain in his shoulders, arms and hands but the doctor has ordered more blood tests. She has also ordered an X-Ray to see if that indicates what’s causing the pain in his groin that is affecting his walking so much. Booking the X-Ray – no problem, all set up for tomorrow morning. Booking the blood tests – a nightmare. When you ring you have to listen to a longish message that ends with “If you get cut off, ring later”. Of course, you get cut off every time. Another possibility is to book online but every time OH tried that he got rejected. We’re going to try ringing again just before their closing time of 6 pm in the hope of speaking to a human being.

After lunch I did an hour or so in the garden till I got too hot and my back started aching so I came in and prepared tonight’s meal.

£17 seems a heck of a lot for posting some dungarees Mel. What on earth did they weigh?

I’m glad you enjoyed your trip to Cerney AnnG. I hope your haircut and today’s U3A meeting went well. I’m sure you’ll be fine. I’ve found the majority of people round here are still wearing masks indoors. The only thing that has surprised me is how many people are now walking straight past the sanitizer at the entrance to shops etc. People seem to have forgotten all about it and, tbh, I think my OH would be one of them if I didn’t remind him. Yet he doesn’t forget to put his mask on.

I hope you enjoy the new painting course Ann and I look forward to seeing some of your work. Thank you for sending the poem. As I said in my email Will had finished posting on here before I started but I have seen his name on the thread. I should think most of us can relate to what he wrote. Yes, the soil here is pretty good though it sometimes drains a bit too well and dries out quite quickly. At our last house we had that very heavy London boulder clay. It was sticky when it was wet and rock hard and cracking open when it was dry but it was very fertile. However it could take years for a plant to get its roots down. Once it did, then it would take off. I once planted two small pots of bay which stayed alive and looked healthy but just sat there for about 5 years. Then they suddenly started growing into a short hedge and before many more years OH was having to keep trimming this hedge to keep it to about 6 foot. It eventually became a lovely screen to hide some of the garden so you didn’t see it all at once.

There is a lot of banging from downstairs so I had better go and investigate. Sending a gentle hug to anyone with aches and pains or anyone who’s not feeling too good at the moment.

EDIT Sorry AnnG. I somehow missed your last post. Glad the meeting went well.

Beautiful day all day here and 21 degrees at the moment. I am shattered now. walked round to the hairdresser for 11.45 appointment, back home by 12.30, had lunch, got changed walked back the same route only not quite as far for u3a meeting at 2pm but needed to get there by 1.45 as it is renewal day. No speaker today just introducing new committee members and talking about groups and maybe new groups forming. a motion was passed (individual u3as are told to make their own policies regarding covid vaccinations. Our members voted for the motion that nobody is able to attend groups unless they are double vaccinated and group leaders have the authority to ask at meetings. That is a big relief to all group leaders as we didn't really know what to do.

It was a good meeting, a lot there chairs spaced out, except some moved chairs to fill spaces.which is annoying. doors were open both sides of the room so quite airy. as I was early I got a seat right at the front so felt reasonably safe.

Its sunny here but only 12 degrees. Oh is out ont he mower. I have just been up the post van and returned those dungarees I bought oh that were too small. I should have given them away as they cost me £25 something and they will take the return postage off that price. The postage was £17 something so I lost out there big time.

Enjoy your day out Anng for your hair appointment and be careful.

Good morning all, it was misty/foggy here too early on Mel but is sunny now and 13 degrees. Hair appointment at 11.45 then home, quick lunch and the walk just up the road to the U3a main monthly meeting. this is a fingers crossed we will all be ok as it is a bigger meeting although in a large church hall so well spaced out. Hopefully masks will be worn. It is to celebrate U3a getting back to some sort of normalcy.

Morning All,

Nice bright sunny morning here now but when I got u at 7.29am it was all grey and misty. Went back to bed and woke to blazing sun shining rainbows on the ceiling from my crystal inthe window.

Just typed loads and it stopped going on here. so now I am off.

Good evening, sorry Got sidetracked and forgot to add on here. Didn’t get home until 3.30.


Had a really nice day todat. Four of us in Barbara's car and we all wore masks because one of the ladies is waiting for an eye op and is having to stay clear of any bugs. But, boy it was hot in the car with the mask on. Last time we went to Cerney house gardens it was spring so it was good to see an autumn garden and it was really pretty. we then had lunch in a pub just down the road in North Cerney I don't think it was far from the hospital so you know the area. There were nine of us and they fitted us in but that was easy has they have absolutely loads of tables outside and we were able to all sit together. I did take photos but not downloaded them yet.

I have also sent your email on to Ann, Vera.

Just sent you the second email again Ann. Let's hope it's 3rd time lucky. Last time I forwarded on the email that the others received. This time I've written a new email for you and re-attached the photos. If that doesn't work I'm flummoxed.