General Chat

Glad to know your home and both safe Frank. We've missed your posts.

Stayed grey here all morning and it has been raining since 12.30pm. Did me good though cos I brought the washing in and ironed it. Then I cleaned the bathroom. Put the other days ironing away and then got lunch. We are now watching the grand prix so I will wsh up later.

Vera you've also done a lot this morning.

Anng I hope you get to go somewhere today as its a shame not togo out as you are on a break.

Afternoon All,

It's warmer here today and a bit brighter and I nearly did washing till OH told me it would be raining later, just at the time our food drop should come. I have a new idea to make things easier still with the wiping this time. I have made space by clearing things out of 2 big bottom drawers in the new freezer into the other drawers and will put the frozen stuff that comes today into those without wiping to leave for 3 days unless we need any of them sooner. If everything won't fit in the 2 drawers I will just wipe those and fit them in elsewhere. With all the tins/packets/jars left for 3 days in the big wheeled trolley thing as well, I will only need to wipe the fresh and fridge things this time. :-D

It sounds as if you are enjoying your break AnnG and finding things to buy. We do a mix on holiday, laying in some days, up early on others depending on what plans we have and the weather. Travel can be very tiring especially if you are doing a lot of the driving.

What a shame about your tomatoes Vera. I hope they pick up with your spray treatment. Mine are still very small and no sign of flower buds yet, but I will give them a feed later to hopefully give them a boost. That has reminded me of something my first FIL would say years ago. A keen gardener, he would say he was giving things some 'jumping stuff' to make them grow. :-) It's funny how these things people said will pop into your head years later. It's nice visiting a place where your ancestors trod isn't it!

Oh Frank I think when we saw the weather news while we were away we were glad we were in Cornwall and not Devon as we had plenty of dry between showers till Thursday when It was wind and rain most of the day. OH did manage to pack the car between showers though.....he hates getting wet. Poor Ros, it took us less time to get to near the end of Cornwall going down, but not so coming home. Once the floodgates opened with the easing on Monday I suppose it was bound to be bad. It's good to hear you are home safe and sound again though.

What did you find then Island, a plant cemetry or burgeoning growth? I hope you are better now after your nasty fall.

We have sun and no rain yet Mel and I'm wishing I had put the washer on now!

I was right about the sun - it didn’t last long. It soon went in but stayed dry long enough for me to have a little walk and then spend an hour in the garden. I managed to clear all the wallflowers that were in four troughs in the long walkway round the side of the house and in two big pots by the front door. I’ve got a couple of slightly smaller pots ready planted to go by the front door and I have got enough good overwintered geranium cuttings to go in the troughs. At least I feel I’m getting somewhere at last.

My tomatoes which are outside in pots are still tiny and there is something wrong with the four cherry tomato plants. It’s either early blight or Septoria leaf spot. We’ve got two different fungicide sprays but one says don’t use on food crops and I’m dubious about the other one so I found a recipe for a homemade spray based on bicarbonate of soda and sprayed them with that. I think I’ll probably end up getting rid of the tomatoes altogether.

I’m glad you are home safe and sound Frank and hope you had a good break in spite of the weather.

We are supposed to be eating at 2 pm so I’d better go and sort the veg.

Good morning all, not gone out yet, it was dry with occasional glimpse of sun until five minutes ago but it is now lashing down, if it had been T and I we would be out somewhere by now bu son in law is a very late riser so we are still here, probably a good thing except none of us will want to be in all day.

Good Morning to you all,

We arrived home yesterday evening, after a terrible (WEATHER WEEK) in Devon.

It took us SEVEN HOURS to get there on Monday. What with all the traffic and rain. Poor Ros was shattered, she said she liked driving, but this was beyond a joke.

Nothing to report, but I thought I had better let you know we are home.

Booked a table for lunch out today at 2.30 pm. We have invited Carolyn to join us. John her husband was rushed into hospital yesterday with GAUL STONE TROUBLE. They are operating sometime today. Not sure if she will join us, as she might be visiting him.

I haven't read any postings, but trust yu are all well. Take Care. xxxx

The winds up now and its pouring with rain. I just managed to feed the chickens and bantams and potter a bit around the shed and down it came. So the washing is in as its blowing onto the patio and I shall now go and iron it as it smells lovely being out all night. Only a couple of bits of t shirts.

I do wish we would here from Frank.

Wonder what Anng is up to today. Oh's family always went to Coome Martin for holidays when he was young.

Morning Mel and all

WE HAVE SUN :-). The forecast is for it only to last an hour or two but at least it’s bright at the moment. Don’t have any plans for the day.

It was interesting to read about your trip to Lynton AnnG as some of my paternal ancestors came from that area. At one time they owned West Lyn Manor. When we were down there in 2013 we found the Manor which seemed to have become a slightly scruffy pub-cum-hotel. We had a mid morning coffee there.

Have a good day everyone whatever you are doing

Morning all,

Dry morning but grey skies today at the moment. Sun may come out later I suppose.

Hope Frank enjoyed his time away. I wonder if he is home yet or if he's stayed on for a bit.

I think it was crackerjack..

Good evening all from a lovely sunny evening in Combe Martin.


Saturday 22 May. We drove to Lynton and parked near The Valley of the Ricks and walked down into Lynton as all the town car parks were heaving. had a look round a candle makers shop then a craft centre, bought a few gifts in there, all very reasonably priced. We were ready for lunch then so walked up to the cafe at the top of the cliff overlooking the bay. Here we had the most wonderful ‘Devon’ pasties, we all really enjoyed them. Next we took the funicular down into the harbour area where there were lots more interesting shops to look at and I bought a Weird Fish sweater reduced from £50 to £35., very pleased with it too. Caught the funicular back up. Joe then walked back for the car and Lyn and I walked down the street looking in a few more shops then found a seat in the churchyard overlooking the bay to wait for him.
On the way back we stopped at the steam railway to check train times and have a coffee. Back to Silver Cottage for a rest. Today the wind had dropped and we had cloud and sun, chilly in the cloud and warm in the sun , there was also a cold breeze. But no rain

Just came to me: the game was Double or Drop as you said Ann and it was part of Crackerjack

Good you got home safely Ann but what a horrid long journey you had. I hope the break did you good even if it was nowhere near normal. I broke my own rule and didn’t check what I had written and you’re right of course. It does sound as though the birthday girl is getting a cauliflower. I don’t think she’d be too impressed ;-). I vaguely recall that programme on children’s TV. Was it cabbages that got piled up in the children’s arms? Joe Henderson....now there’s a blast from the past. I certainly remember him.

Guess what? It’s raining again.

We drove some different routes to places to look at the villages Mel, but we were mindful about toilets and preferred to get back to use them. Also with some of the coves we haven't seen before you can't drive down to them anymore. You have to park a distance away and walk down to them which I can't do now. We didn't want to be mixing with many people or go indoors anywhere or eat out so it wasn't anywhere near normal! They have even removed the litter bins at the NT cafes and toilets so you have to carry your rubbish with you. We got a COT and icecream at one cove where they were serving outside from a hatch and had to carry our rubbish or walk all the way back to our car with it so we took it with us. They had put rocks on all the outside bench seats so you couldn't sit down either. We are wondering whether we ought to go somewhere else for a change next year, as we have seen most of what we would like to see and some of the gardens we do like are very steep that run down to the sea. Yes I was amazed that OH did all the driving on the way back after doing so little driving the past year, over 300 miles.The good thing is that it was nice to have a change of scene after all this time.

Better finish the Asda order for tomorrow now!

Glad you're home safe and sound even if it did take forever to get there.

I had to google Joe Henderson as I had never heard of him before.

Did you go anywhere new?

You'll have to invest in one of those supper duper water guns and lay in wait for Mr Black with white paws. They don't like water.

Its been so quiet on here today.

Afternoon All,

I'm back! What a week! It took us 5 hours to get there with just one toilet stop and another leg stretch stop. The Gloucester services were great with loos just inside of the big, airy building, barriers to keep people seperate going in and out of the toilets, sanitisers fixed to the walls and a cleaner going in each used toilet to wipe down. When we arrived in Corwall a notice fixed to the inside of the window said they had deep cleaned 5 days before so no wiping down was needed. Sanitiser was provided inside too. All books, games, places to go and visitor book had been removed and no cream tea this time, no milk and no ice cubes in the freezer. No internet till Monday either, when OH spotted Seph and he said he would fix it. There were only 2-3 other lodges with people staying so it was nice and quiet. I managed to do my zoom courses then we lost the internet again and didn't bother as the worsening weather was probably the cause.

We didn't eat out and only used the little village shop, but did find a good chippy and so had F&C twice as a treat! :-D Unlike round here they used cardboard trays with lids whereas our F&C just get wrapped in paper so not so easy to eat from that. Delicious seaside Haddock! yum yum, I thought of Mandy! People are so much more careful there too and keep their distance from you. Even in the village shop a man was very strict with his young daughter who wore a mask too and didn't leave his side. The shopkeeper wore a mask and was behind a plastic screen as well. OH said the man in the chippy took cash from the only other customer in the shop and, after putting it in the till, sanitised his hands straight afterwards. It was quite sunny and dry 2-3 days so we sat overlooking the Falmouth docks to read our papers and also revisited some of the places/coves that were NT with free parking and toilets (timber buildings and nice and draughty to blow any virus away!). We thought it would get busy from Monday but there weren't many people about at all. We had a male Blackbird in the gorse and bramble behind the bedroom and he kept flying into the window. It carried on for over an hour and we think he must have had a nest nearby and could either keep seeing his reflection or us and thought we were too close. He was there every day! We had rain showers most days and it was getting really windy by Thursday so we came home on Friday. We thought it might be busier on Saturday being as it was the first week of hotels being open, despite OH saying normally that Saturdays are best for travel. How wrong we were as it took us 3 and a quarter hours longer to get home than coming, 8 and a quarter hours and much of it in rain. The traffic news was reporting all kinds of holdups on the M25 and elsewhere, even a 25 mile tailback going south! We were crawling along for ages and thought we were on the home stretch when we heard there was a 60 minute hold up on the M25 near Birmingham! Out came the map and we got off at Worcester and came home a route OH knew well from football outings!

I've only scanned the posts and see Mandy had a slip on the stairs which could have been nasty! I bet it gave her side quite a wrench too as well as an ankle twist. Young Jake 16!!!!! It can't be.......he must be quite grown up now then and will appreciate the money and clothes.

The tomatoes in the greenhouse were fine and have grown, but something has uprooted a few of my Mesembryanthemum plants that are ready to plant out. We have seen a new cat in the garden lately, black with white paws, and we think it is from the bungalow that OH is convinced the Housing Association have bought, that is further up the close and is where the 2 young girls live that were playing in the road just outside us that time. . I have caught it spraying once and it had left poo on the gravel when we looked today.......it is the second time! I wish Hello Kitty would see it off as he doesn't have such bad manners!

Vera I misread your post and thought the cauliflower was the gift! It reminded me of was it the 'double or drop' game with Eammon Andrews?

OH recalled an old memory while we were away. Joe 'Mr Piano' Henderson.

Vera they sometimes just need a while to gather their senses together and then fly away. It happens here a lot with having large windows and the shed windows. When the suns in a certain position it reflects the sky and they think it is the sky and fly into it.

I am often picking them up and putting them in a safe place to recover.

SUNSHINE Mel? What’s that? Oh yes, I remember, it’s that yellow stuff we used to see occasionally. Here it’s cold, grey and showery AGAIN.

Life is hardly normal but we’re beginning to venture out a bit more. We went into Waitrose this morning for the first time in a long, long while and then popped to our nearest garden centre to get a voucher for a birthday gift for someone. I never thought I would get so much pleasure from choosing a cauliflower ;-)

While I was having a cup of tea this morning there was a thump on the window. When I looked out there was a young starling lying on the patio. As I watched it tried to get up, staggered a step or two and collapsed on its back with its legs up in the air. It looked pretty near death. Unfortunately OH had gone for his walk and I am not good with birds. I felt I ought to do something but I couldn’t pick it up or do anything to help it. When OH came in about 10 minutes later he went to have a look expecting to either find it dead or to have to put it out of its misery and it had gone. We’ve looked amongst the plants to see if had dragged itself under cover to die but it has completely disappeared. I was amazed. Wherever it has got to I hope it’s OK and not badly injured.

I’ve promised to shorten a pair of trousers for OH today so I’d better get on with it or I won’t be popular. I’ve already been putting it off for a fortnight.

Aftermorning to you too Isalnd.

WE HAVE SUNSHINE so I may put my toms in the little greenhouse this afternoon.

Had a lateish lunch and I need to go out in the garden and do something.

Aftermorning Mel
It's drearsome her again but no big showers yet today. I wish somebody would turn the tap off.
I think I should start hardening off the beans today so I'd best go and check whether I have a jungle or a plant cemetery in the shed.
Enjoy your day all, whatever the weather.

Morning all,

Thats if anyone is about. Not a bad morning here and the wind has dropped and its quite bright but we have grey skies.

Just have to go to the shop for the paper as usual and then I don't know what I am going to do. May clean the chickens out.

Hope you all sl;ept well and safe journey home for Frank if he's not home already. <3

Gosh you had a long journey then Anng. Hope it is worth it and the weather is better for you than it has been.

Mandy I can't believe Jake is sixteen!!!!!!!!!!!I am sure he will love his new clothes and the money in his card.