General Chat

Good luck Mel. <3 <3 <3

Sun is trying to push through, but plenty of cloud, the wind isn't as strong as yesterday. But still very cold.

Cinema for Ros and Lewis today, So home alone from 11.30 till about 2.00 pm. but I suppose they will call in somewhere afterwards for a bite to eat, and a mooch round Tesc#

How's our GIRL this morning,??? hope you managed to sleep a bit last night. Is Chris home with you today ??

Nice to see you around Kim, How are you doing ?? How's the job going with your daughter. It seems she's sticking at it ,

I see that BAST### who killed his children in that fire is being sentenced today. I recon they should HANG the THREE of them. I just hope they get their just rewards in prison. Or will it be solitary confinement for them, with the best of everything at their beck and call. They won't be allowed around the old lags as they will see to them in no uncertain way !!!

My seed potato's turned up last Thursday:, they will have to wait, till I get the ground prepared , which by the look of things, won't be any time soon. The daffs are still in bud, and the snow drops still flowering, bit unusual Seems funny still having snow in parts of the garden, where the sun hasn't got to. But with these frosts and north winds what can you expect.

Shower time for me, see you later.

We don't have north winds at the moment we are having Easterly winds. Coming from Russia thats why it is so blimmin cold........ :-|

We too have a wind today so not as nice as yesterday. Oh is cutting down the fig tree on the south facing wall. He did'nt do it last year and it keeps hitting him in the face when he mows the grass. As I look up the garden it is a lot smaller than it was!!!! It had grown to over the wall which is about 12 foot high.

Afternoon everyone ,Evening Kim,

We have lovely blue sky ,the sun is warm through the glass but you get out side and the wind cuts you in half !!
I have hung some towels out and they are getting a good blow .

Glad you had a good night Jane and that your feeling more human today :-)

Been shopping as the family come tomorrow ,it was decided we would have Lasagne this week and i might do a Rice Pud for afters :-D

DIL's sister has had her baby a little boy , and boy did he come quick!! they arrived at the hospital at eight o clock and she had the baby at twenty past !!

Lunch time now .
BBL

Hi everyone,

<3 <3 JANE, So sorry to read your sad news about Chester, you must be feeling very empty inside, :-( :-( my eyes are filling up now <3 <3 god bless you.

Hope Mel's doctor appointment goes OK.

Managed to meet friends for coffee this morning, it's lovely and sunny here but bitterly cold in the shade
Yesterday OH and I took daughter no 1 and children to a local working farm museum, it was bitterly cold but we were well wrapped up, went on a tractor/bus ride to the farm and saw mummy pigs and piglets :-) and cows with calf's and horses, unfortunately too early for the lambs not due for another 2 weeks,
Sofia had a good time and didn't want to go home for tea so she stayed with us and we took her home at bedtime.

planning to go out for lunch tomorrow with daughter and children again, if my head is ok.

Congratulations Mandy !!

Ros has hung the sheets pillow cases out, they are blowing like mad. I just went out to untangle them from the line, and OMG it is so cold out there. I'm back in doors with a hot coffee and the heating on.

Good job I had credit on last month heating statement, will soon use that up at this rate. I see the long term forecast is looking better. Anything is better than this. Thank goodness I did my lawns when I did, it must be six or seven weeks ago. The neighbours haven't touched theirs, and I don't think the first cut will be easy for them.

Sitting here with the sun pouring through the conservatory window, makes it feel like a summers day. Marvellous what a bit of glass can do :-D :-D

Mel as we speak the wind is now North Easterly , and I am sure it's colder than yesterday, or is it my old bones lol lol

Just thought of another little story. Shall I begin ??

When at home alone one day, I decided to paint my brothers bike for him, it didn't need it. I took the wheels and chain off. Tied some string to the handle bars and saddle and tied it to the washing line. The only paint I could find was CREAM GLOSS. So thought that would do. I think I was only about 8 years old. I am sure there was more paint on the lawn than on the bike, every time I tried to paint it, it moved back and forth on the line. To say the least nobody was very pleased with me, My brother went mad, and Dad wasn't pleased as I had used his paint for the back room walls. Which wasn't easy to get just after the war.

Another time my brother Bill (7 years older than me) had a fishing rod. I WANTED ONE, so took his from the shed, and he saw me. He chased after me, and I ran through the ARCH. What was a three piece fishing rod, suddenly became SIX PIECES !! The stories could go on and on. If they aren't boring you I will think of others.

Afternoon All,

Yes, well done and thank you as well Mandy.....you were quick off the mark! :-) My word, that baby was quick off the mark too. It was a good job they weren't held up on the way to the hospital!! Nice for mum that labour was over quickly though.

It has been a biting cold wind here too today, but at least it dried the washing.

William, I had never been to that little museum before, nor had OH. We both worked at the Nuneaton benefit office at different times in the past and never knew it was so close! The exhibition was very small, but what there was was interesting and the rest of the museum ( largely dedicated to George Elliot of course!) was also interesting. I didn't know the Ghurkas were now based at Bramcote. I used to drive past those Barracks on my way to work at Nuneaton and would often pass big groups of marching soldiers. We had seen what I had thought were Ghurkas helping pack shopping at M*rrisons the other week. Apart from anything else, you could tell by the polite, obliging way they were helping people, the immaculate way they were turned out with neat hair and the proud, upright bearing that they were Ghurkas. I half smiled at the one who was standing at the back and who appeared to be in charge of the others as we walked by and was rewarded with the broadest smile back. Yes, it was a pity I didn't have my camera with me to get that shot!!!

How nice that they have some of your drawings there! I discovered doing FH that OH's grandfather used to be the curator at that museum before he went to war........perhaps I should offer them a photo of him!! lol.

I knew it Frank..........you were a right little tinker as a boy!! I bet you drove your brothers mad with your escapades!! lol :-D

Your tale of ploughing and sowing reminds me of the rhyme Dermot, 'one for the farmer, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow'. Was the ploughing done by horse on the farm? I would have loved working with those gentle beasts.

Fiona I bet the children loved seeing the animals. :-) I suppose with being further north, lambing where you are is a bit later than here. The field round here are full of rather muddy looking little lambs with how wet it has been.

Ann, I definitely think you should offer the Riversley Park Museum a copy of the photo of your grandfather. I used to know Len Struebig who was one time curator there when he got me an exhibition of my artwork in their upstairs gallery. I'm still looking for the photo of him when I was presenting the drawings to him.

Frank, re the child killers sentence. Whatever it is I'm sure if they don't put them in solitary their life will be the hell they so justly deserve thanks to prisoners who do have families to think about. Poetic justice and I hope the screws turn the other way.

Wasn't well again last night so I've taken a step backward I'm afraid. Carmel still isn't much better either. I had plans to venture out today but maybe in a couple of days we will both feel a bit better.

Talking of which, I was thinking about health issues when I was a child. I know we've covered this topic before but it doesn't hurt to go over it again. When I'm feeling ill I often think "What would my dear old Mum have done". I can't remember the doctor ever being called in but then again I can't recall all the things we get now being around. If it was a bad cold, into bed and she would make a thick onion soup which we drank down, stayed in bed and sweated it out. A day or two later, back to school.
I recall we used to have a 'medicine' cabinet in the bathroom, more of a mirrored small cupboard on the wall. In there would be brown and blue bottles, Sal Volatile, Witch Hazel, smelling salts in those little round bottles, the smell of which would knock your head off. Bile Beans if you were constipated, little paper packages of Seidlitz powders if you had an upset stomach, which you opened and tipped into a drink of water.
Foot care consisted of Carnation caps to put on corns. If Mum needed an iron tonic, it was a bottle of Guinness from the offy then should would heat the poker in the open fire coals, then steep the end of it into her glass of stout which made a loud hissing sound. Whether it did any good I'll never know but the Guinness would do her good anyway.
Now it's all pills and potions, miles of reading paper instructions looking for all the side effects, bottles of this, bottles of that. I sometimes think we have more medication in this house than they have down at our pharmacy!

My It's so true, when the north wind doth blow etc. It's enough to freeze you to death out there. I feel for the poor old "TRAMPS" who have lived their life for years and years, never doing any harm to anyone, trying to find somewhere warm to sleep on a night like this. A farm building of some sort must seem like a first class hotel to them. !!

A tale my brother told of his war years stationed with the Ghurkas . One evening they were sitting around the camp, a Ghurka was sharpening one of his knifes on a stone. My brother who had very hairy arms. Tapped him on the shoulder and ask "is it sharp Johnny " with that the Ghurka took his wrist and flashed the knife up his arm, leaving it completely shaven. He never asked the question again. He made very good friends with one of them, and he was at all family celebrations and at his funeral. He lived with his wife and four children in North London.

Ann so pleased you had a nice time in Nuneaton , it's not somewhere I have been to. I have been to a small village that is supposed to the Centre of England, somewhere outside Coventry. Do you or William know where I mean ??

No news from Mel, so lets hope all is well.

How's our little girl this afternoon Jane, Hope you are keeping your chin up.

Our Feathered Friends - Final Part:-

Near neighbours of ours kept pigeons for a while - a bit like Jack Duckworth‘s coop. Molly, the woman of the house, was a kindly person. I popped in one day to ask if I could take a look at them.

She probably had better things to do but she took me out the back to observe them for a while. Molly explained that pigeons were members of the dove family & because of their great homing instinct, were used in times gone by for carrying messages. We have all heard how they were used as message carriers during various wars. These days, mobile phones would probably do the same job.

At school, our teachers were always reminding us to be more like the wise owl. The owl says little & listens a lot. Unfortunately, the noisy classroom of 10 or 11 year-olds was sometimes the reverse. A group of owls is known as a ‘parliament’ - but I’ll exclude any other political discussions here.

That’s about enough from me & my childhood memories of the birds around us. Apologies for rambling on a bit. I just thought it was nice the way people took some of these birds into their homes & made them part of the family. We know that our ancestors did so too from the many references to these birds in our music & folklore.

So, I hope that those who come after us will continue to live in harmony with nature & especially with ‘our feathered friends’.

(18th Century Nursery Rhyme).

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye.
Four and twenty blackbirds,
Baked in a pie.

When the pie was opened,
The birds began to sing;
Wasn't that a dainty dish,
To set before the king?

The king was in his counting house,
Counting out his money;
The queen was in the parlour,
Eating bread and honey.

The maid was in the garden,
Hanging out the clothes;
When down came a blackbird
And pecked off her nose.

There was such a commotion,
that little Jenny wren;
Flew down into the garden,
and put it back again.

Back from hospital after having lunch out at the W*mpy. Still a bit cross eyed at the mo. All ok and no bleed now. the eye doc said everything is ok and no sign of glaucoma.

Phew thats a releif I can tell you.......... :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D :-D

No your not boring Frank ,but weren't you a little devil :-D the things you got up to !! :-D LOL
We haven't seen any tramps this way for years now , i remember we use to have one old boy who would try to get into peoples cars then leave a calling card on the seat !! i suppose years ago they could get into barns for the night ,i don't think they would now ,the farmers keep every thing locked these days .

Oh dear William you both still poorly , hope you'll soon feel better and can get out and about again ,but i think with the weather as cold as it is, stopping indoors is the best place to be .

Well Mel that is good news ,you must be so relieved, well worth any waiting around at the hospital to hear good news like that , so pleased for you <3

Well ladies and gentlemen,boys and girls; I'm being discharged after 2pm tomorrow,complete with walking frame and paraphenalia,to continue my healing at home.

Evening All
I have now have a different laptop.Chris has got a new one and I have his old one.He has spent all afternoon transferring all my stuff onto this one.I see you have all been busy posting.Again I haven't had chance to read back through everything..but I will :-
Mandy that Baby's nick name should be speedy gonzales lol..That was a quick birth !!

Mel brilliant news for you that the bleed in your eye has cleared up.

William I'm sorry you are still feeling off colour.Hopefully you will both begin to pick up now.

Fiona thank you for your kind post .It has been a very strange day.I keep looking to where Chester's bed should be and expecting to see him there :-(. and it seems so quiet.Not that he was noisy ,he was just there .

There seems to have been an influx of Wood Pidgeon on our lawn this evening.I just counted 8 of them.

I must look at doing something about food now.I don't feel like doing anything really but there will be hungry tums soon.
This new keyboard is strange as it is black so I keep making spelling mistakes :-S and then having to put them right.
Hopefully I will be back later.

Good luck David tomorrow.It will be good I'm sure to be back at home.Don't you dare go anywhere near that wall !!!
Dermot I have loved all your feathered friends posts.Waiting now for your next lot of memories :-D :-D

Two little dicky birds,
Sitting on a wall,
One name Peter,
One named Paul,
Fly away Peter,
Fly away Paul,
Come back Peter,
Came back Paul.

How many of you did that for your children and had it done for you also. My dad did it for me and I just could'nt work out how he did it. I was very small. He used to stick two bits of paper on his fingers when he did it.

I did that Mel for my two,and remembering sitting in wonder when my Dad did it for me.It was Magic ! :-D :-D.
Not so good it the bits of paper fell off though lol.I think i said the bird must have fallen off the perch :-D :-D.
I think Dad used to make a penny come out from behind his ear.I never could master that one.

Frank, you are thinking of Meriden, about 20 minutes from us. I've changed my pic for one of my drawings of it showing the old cross in the centre of the green. There is also an obelisk there which is the cyclists war memorial. Every year there is a big meet up of cyclists to commemorate cyclists who have died in the wars. We often pass through there and sometimes calling in at the little charity shop by the green for a browse around. There are several restaurants' and pubs there and a nice village duck pond. It is also home to the oldest archery club in the country. It was once part of the great Forest of Arden in Shakespeare's time.

Yes, Mel, done that one many many times. I notice the old one
Round and round the garden
Like a teddy bear,
One step, two steps,
Tickly under there - is still a popular one with one little ones.

And of course there is always
This little piggy went to market etc

Well thank you Dermot........I never knew the last verse to that rhyme! :-)

That's good news Mel......you can relax now you know it's ok. I don't know what you mean by 'did' in your last post?? :-S

That's great David, back to sleeping in your own bed and a bit of peace and quiet when you want it. :-D You must be delighted.

I think that village you mean would probably be Meriden Frank. I have never been there as far as I know......mind you often when I say that OH will say I have and with him!! lol.

We don't see tramps in the city centre anymore, but they had trouble with them hanging around in one of the churchyards a few years ago. Most of those were alcoholics and their drop in place to get food was nearby. It was also near where I worked at the time and they would try and stop you in the street asking for money, not pleasant in the darker backstreets on winter's evenings! :-S

Well, it's Jane of 2 laptops now then!! :-) One for each hand!! lol.

A big WELCOME HOME for David for tomorrow. Let's hope they don't keep you waiting around too long for paperwork, meds etc, as can sometimes happen. You'll be far happier in your healing progress at home. I always find one day in a hospital is about equivalent to a week outside of one. So good luck to you and let's hope you make a speedy recovery.

Thank you every one.I have a lot of hardware attatched to me and into me.But the time has come to let another unfortunate have the use of this bed.