General Chat

Have had all the decs down and nw I only have to clean the whole kitchen but I am leaving that till tomorrow.

Oh has been to Okehampton to dig a drainage trench for a ringer friend who has been flooded out twice before Christmas. water running through the back of the house.

Been up and got our pills and had a talk with neighbour. She has a new dog so has three now. all little girls and the new one is 2 then another is 10 and the other 12. all spaniels.

Maisy the new one is really sweet and sings to you so you pet her. I think she is a cocker spaniel the other two are springers.

Evening All
I have been feeling a bit off all day.Nothing I can put my finger on ,just a bit yucky.It has taken me all day to take the tree down and put everything back in boxes.
I have Roast Beef and Pork cooked and Roast Potatoes in .Not sure how much I will fancy ,but Jess is going home on the 7.30 train and I know she wanted to have one of my Roasts one more time :-D

Kim,I'm sorry you have gone down with the bug too.Not surprising though with everyone around you having had it.I do hope you recover soon.
And Shirl and everyone else not feeling great ,I hope you all feel better too.

The wind has been horrendous again today and there is not a lot left of the panels in the greenhouse.Chris reckons it will take him most of Saturday or Sunday to fix as things have bent and a lot of the clip things have pinged off into outer space :-S.The sundial went flying as well ,and that weighs a lot.

It is nice to get back to normal again ....but the DUST!!!!!.Sheesh it's bad :-S :-S.I need a Fairy Godmother to come and wave a wand......MEL,I think that's you ;-)

Hello HAPPY NEW YEAR a bit late but sincerely sent with love.

KIM so sorry about your daughter being so poorly I hope she is ok now.

Your naughty son that must have been a shock . Our children do not realise how we worry about them .All my kids say well you were young once did you not do the same. I did get tipsy a few times but knew better than to go home really drunk my mum would have killed me. I hope Joel was ok. I read all the threads except for the last few due to the fact I wanted to remember and comment with interest on what you wrote.

Poor Ann i hope you are recovered from your cold. I have been trying to not get one it is so windy and wet and I get tickly ears and the odd choking feeling and reach for the Covana chest or catarrh lotion it is thick brown and tastes awful but seems to keep it off so far. I might have got the name wrong knowing me.

I had a good giggle about the vicar and the wedding and your husbands comments Ann how funny

Andru Rieu well that man who you love and my ho is mad
on Ann. His tickets do seem to be high my ho had a fit when he saw the prices are you going do you think he seems to be more popular everywhere now. i find when he is on telly I start walzing round everywhere .One day was doing my polishing and he was on the radio and I started dancing round and the dogs joined in it was very funny.

I am so sorry everyone was down with colds I hate Winter. our fence blew down last night it needs replacing more expense. Its just rained for days
and the wind howls down our alley way.

I am still struggling to come to terms with the Mohsen thing. Why does it hurt so much I feel lonely at times he was such a laugh and so sweet to me. I do not know how I feel and sad really that I will not see him again and I am banned from mentioning his name. My ho calls him the runt on sticks. Michelle is in trance like state in spite of Ryan being so nice.

Beryl said Oh my Donnie is a prune when I said Mohsens gone he said who is that the dog did he get out. She said I hit him with his walking stick he fell over a crate of beers and gashed his foot.

I will catch you all later glad your on this web need a cheery thread site to read and must catch up on my family tree.

SHIRL Your first christmas without og did think of you. i got a nice teddie and a very wise saying on my web .

THE CHRISTMAS TREES they were fab .

Maureen Ann Amanda Jane and Mel thank you for your threads sorry it was doom and gloom again. All is peaceful at the moment. Aprils just ate the last of the christmas pudding I hope it was ok .Jaspers snoring his head off.

Kim Happy New year to you. The AUSTRALIAN fire works were great enjoyed the London ones also

I got my turkey moist by cooking on a bed of cheap veggies and water and plonking it on top with foil covering it was lovely and moist only trouble was it was so tender it fell to pieces when getting it off the cooking tray.
I saw it on telly someone did that. No cook really but my dinner went down well. The electrician gave us a refund two pound for the box my ho thought it would be 50pound or something .

Hi Everyone,

Sorry you have caught the bug Kim, the last thing you need at the moment I should think. Hope it soon goes so you don't need to keep viewing the bathroom walls!!

Pat, is your cough a dry cough like mine was? I had to prop myself up with 2 extra pillows in the end. It was like sleeping on the side of a hill, but it did help to not be lying down!! :-S I spent 2 days in bed with it and part of the day other days so I'm not surprised your daughter has taken to her bed Shirl. It is a really nasty bug and can make you feel awful. Hope those who have 'throats' and 'red noses' get a milder version.

I can remember a warning the chimney wanted sweeping was when balls of soot fell down it onto the fire! Dad always put a shovel of damp 'slack' (coal dust) on the fire at night to hopefully keep it ticking over till morning. He was never very happy when it didn't and he had to start from scratch again. Later, when we had a Parkray, I can remember him complaining about some of the coke being poor when it left a lot of solid 'clinker' in the ash pan. When I got married I think we used or had to use anthracite (might have been a smokeless zone?) I seem to remember the coal merchants would nearly run out when the weather was bad and them rationing how many bags you could have. I remember us building a bunker when I was first married, using slab moulds to make buff coloured slabs and then splitting the slabs to make rough edged bricks. It looked quite good when finished and had a felt covered sloping hinged top.

The wind here has been bad too. I keep looking up at the top of our fir tree on the front...... has been swaying a lot!! There will be bits all over the gravel. Fence panels have come out at the top of the close too and landed in the road.

Methinks Chris will be finding those greenhouse clips when he mows the lawn Jane. :-S

The 'bargain' slippers OH got the other day weren't such a bargain after all as the insole bits keep climbing up the sides!! They are going back to the shop tomorrow. I did ask if he was walking like a duck.........then ran!! :-D

I think the Chef on TV who said about cooking the Turkey on top of Veg was Fern Brittons husband.(Can't think of his name right now).I wish my Turkey had been nice and moist Sheila ....It was far too dry :-S

Chaos here at the moment .Jess trying to get all her things together ready for the train home in half an hour.She is soooooo scatty.She is leaving most of her things here as James is going down to hers on Sunday so will take it all in the car.

Frank yes I did say it is Chris's birthday on the 29th.It will be Jame's on Monday.Too near Christmas for Birthdays :-S.We will go for a meal to the Pheasant on the 28th as Hannah will be here then.It's a long time since we have all been out together .

HAPPY NEW YEAR to you too Sheila. I bet you do need cheering up too with all that's been happening. Maybe this year will be better for you. Do you know where Mohsen has gone?

I don't think we will be going to see Andre this year. OH still wants to, but we saw him last year and the seats I would like are EXPENSIVE!!!

Hope you feel better soon Jane.......and don't mention the 'DUST' word!!!!! lol We still haven't got the tree packed away yet!!

We had a concrete coal bunker here.But a few years ago Chris and James smashed it up and we now have a big plastic one.I hate bunkers as they always end up with so much coal dust in :-S

LOL Ann.He wouldn't have caught you if he was walking like a duck ;-)

Well peace reigns .Jess has gone.Bless her.She is a very timid and shy girl ,but my goodness can't she leave a mess.Totally disorganized !!
I think I had better get the veg on now for Chris and me.Still not sure how much I fancy eating.

Liz if you are looking in I am going to PM you.

Have memories of real coal men delivivering coal 50-60 years ago.
Horse drawn cart!!
The coal man grabbed a sack of coal by the lugs at the top of the sack and carried it on his back to the coal hole where he tipped it in over his shoulder.He would leave the empty sacks on the ground so that they could be counted.
Any spillage was quickly picked up and burned on some one eles fire :-)

The dust bin men used to be strong lifting heavy galvanised bins on their shoulders,half full of ash.

Today's bin men couldn't,wouldn't do it.

It was only a few years ago we still had the coal man with the sacks on the back of a flat bed truck.We now tend to use logs mostly and just a small amount of coal.I just buy a few bags from the local garden shop.We keep a scuttle full in the garage.I won't have it in the lounge as the coal dust irritates my throat .
We are (thinking) maybe of getting rid of the open fire and putting in a log burner.That would certainly cut down on the amount of dust and muck we get from the open one.Not sure that we will actually ever get around to doing that though.Maybe just in our dreams :-D

It looks strange in here now ,with no Christmas Tree and decs :-S.I think Chester will be happier now though ...getting back to normal.He is getting a bit old in the tooth for all these festivities lol.
Well I am now going to drag myself of to bed.Read my book and no doubt be awake again at some ridiculous hour ...like 11.30 :-S

Night Night everyone xx

Not much coal or coke to be had these days since the miners strike and what followed closed the mines.

Gas is so much cleaner and more efficient,but a coal fire is so much more welcoming to sit in front of .

David, haven't heard the term 'coke' (as in fuel of course!) in many a year. I don't know about others of you but a gas fire always makes me go to sleep. I remember when I was young (sounds like a bread advert LOL) I used to sit in front of our coal fire, my front would be all nice and warm and my back would be freezing with the draught from the door.
Nowadays, we've got central heating and I still fall asleep around 9 pm - but I blame that on the TV. My wife will say "you've been asleep" and I'll reply " no, I was just resting my eyes" - then I realise I've missed half the programme. Going back, I remember my dear old Mum doing the same thing but it was 'steam' radio then.
My dear old Granddad (my step-granddad really, but very much loved - and where I get my second christian name from), he was a coal man and it made him go blind in the end from the coal dust. No health and safety then. But he never got bitter about it, bless him

Coke,smokeless fuel,as required by law,consequently more expensive.Just some thing to throw on the fire.
Interestingly they've already took the gas and the tar out of the coal and sold them else where.

Business

It used to puzzle me as a child why grandma and grandad always had a brick outhouse full of massive lumps of coal that had to be broken and had a fire burning in the big, black lead range all the time, yet mum and dad seemed to often nearly run out and sometimes took a bag of coal from grandma's. I didn't know it at the time, but later found out that being a coal miner grandad had a coal allowance!!

David....When my hubby dozes off he always says the same.. Just resting my eyes..My son has taken photos of him just resting his eyes..and they have appeared on his facebo*k page... :-D

My dad alays got me to count the sacks as the coal was put in the coal shed.

I remember the rag and bone man comming down our road with his horse and cart..Always wanted a gold fish never got one...We had gas lamps in our road and I used to watch the man light them with something long on pole..
I will also say goodnight..I hope everyone sleeps better tonight with their coughs and colds. I now have an extra piloow as well..As soon as I lay down the cattarh goes down my nose to my throat and sets me off coughing :-(

Morning all,

Can't believe I am the first on this morning.

Sorry I wasn't around yesterday, I HAVE THE BUG. Every bone in my body aches, keep going hot and cold, sweating like mad and horrible headache.
I was in bed before 10 pm last night. This morning I don't feel that much better. so going for a shower and going back to bed for a while.

BBL i hope

Morning All
Pat ,did you get a bottle of the Covon** Catarrh Mixture?It really is worth giving it a try at night.

I had quite a decent night sleep and feel much fresher this morning.Rady to tackle the ironing now :-S
It is a lovely sunny morning but was quite frosty earlier.

I think today Liz has an appointment.I hope all is well.Haven't heard from her for a little while have we.
Coffee I think first before anything else.

Morning All,

Having trouble getting on here again today. First I had to sign in then it took ages. Then the typing was'nt coming out on the box properly and when I back spaced it did it twice!

Not much to report from here only that oh has not taken down the ceiling lights yet!!!!!!!! UI have the devil of a job to get him to put them up there and then again to take them down!! I don't know you men!! What are we girls to do with you all?????

Dry and not really cold here today and we have'nt the heating on. Yet.............

Morning All,

Having trouble getting on here again today. First I had to sign in then it took ages. Then the typing was'nt coming out on the box properly and when I back spaced it did it twice!

Not much to report from here only that oh has not taken down the ceiling lights yet!!!!!!!! UI have the devil of a job to get him to put them up there and then again to take them down!! I don't know you men!! What are we girls to do with you all?????

Dry and not really cold here today and we have'nt the heating on. Yet.............