General Chat

It's lovely that you have Jake and his Dad to help out AnnG, and I think you said before that they don't charge the earth. A good, general handyman is worth hanging on to. How awkward to have to get down to the floor to change the setting on your new fridge. I always think these things have been designed by men without being tested by women. With luck, once it is set up you won't often have to change it.

It doesn't sound as though the refurb in your Boots opticians was very well thought through Ann. I hope they don't do something similar in ours. I should think single vision glasses will be helpful when you are painting. I have them for reading late at night when my eyes are often tired and I find them a boon. My new varifocals are still not adjusted right so I shall have to take them back for a third time. After the last adjustment they seemed fine for a couple of days and then seemed to readjust themselves in some way and now really press into my head. I can't wear them for more then half an hour. Even OH said how stiff the side arms seemed now. I want them OK for my eye appointment on Tuesday as I will be tested wearing them. I'll try and take them in tomorrow or Sunday. It hadn't occurred to me to go on a Sunday before but apparently they are open from 10 am till 4 pm.

How did you get on with your jigsaw today Mandy? I really fancy having a go at one now you've mentioned them. I haven't done one for years.

Has your washing machine arrived yet Mel? It'll be good not to have to drain it and keep finding that gunge in it. I'm glad your outside water pipe got sorted. Let your water board know that you had a leak and possibly lost a fair bit of water. When I noticed a dripping pipe in an outside corner of the house it was obvious it had been dripping for a long while. British Gas came in and put an expansion tank beside our big hot water tank which cured the problem but OH rang Anglian Water and told them about it and they adjusted our water bill so that we only paid for roughly the amount they thought we would have used. You mentioning the outside pipe reminded me that, like Ann, we have a pipe of just a few inches with a tap outside the kitchen and we can turn it off from under the kitchen sink. I must ask OH if he has turned off the water to it this winter. He usually does but he hasn't mentioned it and I don't want it freezing and bursting. EDIT: I was just about to post when he came in the room so I asked him and he has turned it off.

I started after breakfast by cleaning and filling bird feeders and trying to melt some of the ice in the bird baths. Since then I've been hoovering, dusting, cleaning and cooking and I feel shattered now. While doing the bird baths I noticed we had one solitary primrose in bloom and lots of fat buds on hellebores. A lovely dark red one is hidden under a couple of ferns that liked the combination of sun and rain we had this year and have grown like mad. I'm not sure whether to cut them right back and let the light get to the hellebores or leave them as they are to protect them from the frost.

Today was the heaviest frost so far this year. In fact when I looked out first thing this morning, the courtyard outside was white with car tracks through it and I really thought it had snowed, but it hadn't. Later this morning the sun came out but it didn't clear all the frost.

I'm now going to have a look and see if my friend's funeral is on line yet. I think I said there was a problem with the live webcast so I couldn't watch it but the company arranging the streaming said the recording was OK and they would get it online quickly. Every time I've checked since then there is a notice saying they are still having difficulties and to check back in a couple of days. It's now 10 days since the funeral and I am beginning to doubt if they will get it online at all.

I hope all is well with the posters we only hear from occasionally. Stay warm and enjoy the rest of the day everyone.

Been sunny here all day. No washing machine has arrived today so I hope it comes tomorrow.

They did a lovely lot of little jobs for you today Anng. You will soon be straight and ready for the summer.

Hoovered through all the rooms and now I am going to corn the chickens and cook some mince.

7 small jobs done including replacing a piece of trellis that was rotten. and moving the rest of the gravel round to the back gravel already there.

And Jake and his Dad are here doing some of the small jobs. so far they have stood up the water feature, filled a notch hole in the shed, put on a new bolt, put up a hook, pulled through an old cable and taken down a small piece of trellis by the arch. they have just gone off to buy a replacement piece of trellis, they have gone off for half an hour and when they come back they will put that up and then hopefully take the remainder of the gravel and put it on the gravel on the left hand side which has bedded down a bit. That will get rid of that out of the garage.

Tesco order has one item not available. spreadable butter. Of course they have it is reduced. Otherwise no subs which is good as it is a large order.

Mandy some of the surplus gravel was promised a long time ago before I planned this other job. It may be a different colour anyway but she has taken quite a bit. My payment for all the trips she takes me on in her car and she has been very good to me since Tony died as well.

Jake is coming round later to fix the bolt on the shed.

Morning Anng and all,

Another bright but very frosty morning here but its 1 degree at the moment. I was up early this morning as the washing machine is coming today or tomorrow.

Glad you now have the car back Mandy you feel so lost without them.

I must get the chickens some water as its bound to be frozen this morning and I forgot to tip it out last night but they have a big bowl of water int he house which should be ok.

I hate it when they keep changing things on the pc it takes me ages to get my old head around it now. They keep telling me my email is changing and it won't let me stay logged in all day like it used to so when I want to look something up I have to log in again. so annoying.

I still hav'nt cleaned the windows of the double door to the lounge so thats a job for today and I need to tidy and dust the desk and hoover through.

Its really frosty this morning everything was white and only the top part of the garden has thawed at present but the sky is blue and the sun is shining so another dry day I hope.

Morning all,
Very frosty here and cold but the sun is shining so it's lovely and bright .

Anng why are you giving the gravel away and then buying some more ,could you not just mix it in with the new gravel .
What a nuisance the control for the fridge is so low down that was thought out very well when it was designed.

A day for keeping in the warm I think ,got some hoovering to do and might have half an hour on the jigsaw when I have my coffee .

Good morning all another frosty one -3 at the moment I suspect it was colder over night.

Have a friend coming later to take away some of the gravel I still have in my garage. Before I get the next lot delivered to do the back garden. Daughter took a large bag full back with her too. Andy well over ordered when he did the side bit.

And this afternoon, besides a Tesco delivery My son and daughter in law might be calling in on their way back fro somewhere in Hereford.

MOT this week Ann with ears and eyes. I am a bit puzzled about the hearing aids being tinny. I Don’t find them any different to normal speech just a bit louder.

As the fridge was unpacked by the delivery men and all wrapping taken away by them there was only the blue tape to dispose of. As you say it is very strong tape but I suppose that does protect the glass.

Only one annoyance the old model had a very awkward device for setting and altering the temp. I was pleased the new one is different, being a. Wheel control that you turn. However the one I looked at in the showroom was on a second shelf so looking at it the wheel on the right hand side inside the fridge was at eye level. It didn’t click with me that at floor level I have to almost stand on my head to see it.

Evening All,

Bitterly cold and -5 degrees this morning and a bit of a breeze making it feel colder. OH had to scrape the car before we went out.

It's good your emails are ok again Vera. They changed our emails last night and why do they keep changing things as you say. Now our emails have half the message showing as well as the heading and so you can only see a few emails and have to do lots of scrolling to see all the new headings. Same as you with the Co-op reward scheme. They must think they can hoodwink us all! I belong to Mymail from the Daily Mail where you would enter the number from the back of the paper and would collect points to purchase things from their online shop. There were M&S vouchers, plants, all kinds of things and some were free. I got a free M&S Turkey one Christmas. Now they've stopped that and you just get entries to a draw for a holiday (you probably wouldn't want) each month. Sorry you had such a bad night. Zombie sums it up doesn't it.

I love it when they deliver things early AnnG. I remember those blue tapes on our freezer we got for the garage. They are quite strong tapes too. At least they are quick swapping things over these days, but I dread seeing the mess that accumulates behind them!

Oh no Mel. You must be sick of water problems and the bills, but you did well to find a plumber and that they were able to turn up quickly, as I expect they have been getting a lot of calls. We had a leaflet from our water supplier yesterday with a picture showing what we are responsible for (basically everything that happens on our land). :-( I think it would take a bit of leverage to turn our water off so you did well to turn yours off. I would have panicked seeing that water fountain as well and at the thought of our water meter measuring it all. Thank goodness it is all sorted and that they have lagged the pipe well now. We only have a foot length of water pipe outside where we connect the hose, but it is all lagged and when we had it put in I asked the plumber to put a tap to turn it off in a UTI cupboard, so we aught to switch it off and drain the outside tap in winter really. I bet you enjoyed your COT and getting warmer again. :-)

That was a lucky escape at the garage Mandy. You could have been there ages longer and getting frostbite if you hadn't reminded him of his airport trip. It sounds like the snow has started to make it's way here if you have had a sprinkling.

My hearing assessment yesterday was interesting with a bit more hearing loss in the left ear since last time. (I hadn't noticed any). They fitted me up with hearing aids to see if it could be improved, but although speech was a little sharper it was so tinny and echoed it didn't seem any better. When they played different sounds the only one that was any better was birdsong as I could hear a few more whistles. So I am to leave things another year and get tested again. I never realised worsening hearing means your brain also worsens in dealing with sound without the practice, so you shouldn't wait till your hearing is bad as your brain doesn't then recover despite having hearing aids.

Today was my eye test and it was freezing in Boots Eyecare. I mentionned it was colder than the gym to someone doing my tests and he said they'd had a refurb and forgotten to put any heating in their rooms!! They've also just got one small station with low chairs and the rest of the area has those high bar stool chairs. I saw one older lady struggling onto one and thought 'no chance' of me climbing on one. Many of their customers must be elderly so where is the sense in that? They've had new eye testing equipment too with a lit up board of 4 rows of letters instead of the long chart on the wall you had to read before. I could read all of it and he said my cataracts were very stable as most they referred couldn't read any row. I didn't know they don't slot those lenses in that face contraption now either, and you just look through fixed lenses while they do adjustments. It was so cold though, they kept misting up and he had to give me a tissue to keep wiping them. I was pleased he said a new prescription would help, as they had said it wouldn't help last time and he advised I had an extra pair of just reading glasses to help with my painting. I'm choosing the frames another time as OH had to whizz off to the funeral of one of the footie fans he knew from years ago.

Good that you got your car back Mandy. I wonder if the garage man lives on his own and is pleased to have somebody to talk to. I think this when waiting for the bus and people want to chat.

Vera sorry you had a bad night I often find a bad night follows a couple of good ones. Almost like it is stopping me getting too complacent.

Oh goodness Mel, you don’t have much luck where water is concerned, do you. I’m glad it’s fixed now.

It’s good that you’ve got your fridge in place AnnG, although it sounds as though the shelves are a bit of a puzzle. I have a split shelf in my fridge and if I take it out to clean I always have a bit of a game getting it back.

I hope your hearing test went well Annx.

I had a reasonable night on Monday and Tuesday but hardly slept at all last night, I went to bed with a bad head and could not get comfortable. I was tossing and turning and aching all over. In the end I gave up and got up again. I stayed up till 4 am, went back to bed and stayed awake till after 5. Eventually I slept for an hour and a half, woke for an hour and then slept for another hour. I’m like a zombie today and can’t seem to get myself moving to do anything.

My emails are OK on my phone and iPad today but I haven’t put the PC on yet to see if it’s cleared on there. We have Outlook and I know that eventually we will have to move to a new Windows Outlook system but I am resisting as long as possible as I think it might be a hassle trying to synch it to my iPad and iPhone. Why does everything have to be constantly changed?

Here’s another change. I had an email from the Co-op telling me of changes they are making to help their members with the cost of living crisis. They will no longer be paying back 2p for every pound I spend. Instead some goods will be on special “Members’ Prices”, in other words they are catching up with Tesco’s and Sainsbury’s. In addition each week I can choose 2 items from a list I have to download and I will get these on special offer just for that week. Can someone please explain to me how they are helping me financially by slightly reducing the price on a few items I probably wouldn’t buy anyway while removing the money cashback on everything else I spend. It makes me so cross when these changes are announced as being for our benefit.

That’s enough of my ranting. Time for a coffee I think.

EDIT Sorry I missed you there Mandy. It’s good you’ve got your car back.

Oh thats good it's done Mel ,get a nice cuppa into you and get warm.

Afternoon all,

Oh Mel one thing after another for you with your water ,I hope someone can get out to you today and get it sorted ,you must have paniced when you saw all the water pouring out .
Son came and took me shopping then blow me the garage man rang to say the car was done so he dropped it back and I then drove him back to the garage but my goodness can he talk I thought I'd never get away ,he told me he had to take someone to Stanstead this afternoon to catch a flight so in the end I said I'd better let you get on or he'll miss his flight .

Very frosty this morning and we had a little fine snow ,now the suns out ,I did see that round the coast Gt Yarmouth way had a good covering of snow.

That was an early delivery Anng but it's better than waiting about all day wondering when its coming ,now you have the job of sorting out the shelves and getting it filled .

The nights seem to be pulling out a bit now ,you can notice it when you have a bright day

Ah good that he has fixed it for you Mel, you can warm up now. <3

I can fill my watrer jug up now and have a cot. He put a new piece of pipe in and a new fitting and olive and some yellow sticky stuff and then lagged it all with grey foam pippe and put cable ties on it to hold it in place. Suns been out all day but the pipe is on the front of the bungalow and that dos'nt get any sun in the winter. Theres still frost and bally snow on my road to just past my car.

He's been and its all mended now. Hooray. I wonder what my bill is going to be?

It seems to be never ending Mel doesn't it. Did the pipe freeze. is it lagged. it must have been a really bad frost for you last night. How annoying. Not only are you cold but you could see all that water escaping. I hope somebody can get out to you.

You think you have problems Anng. I had no water pressure in the cold tap in the kitchen. Tried the bathroom tap and thats ok so went outside and I have a fountain coming out over the road. I have a burst pipe to the kitchen tap so have had to turn the water off to the whole house. Rang my plumber but can't get through to him so rang a neighbour who was on the way to her mothers in Cornwall. Rang another friend he said he would come and look in an hour but I don't think he can do anything. I rang the local shop and Keith gave me a heating and plumbing place I rang and they are going to see if they can get someone down today.

What a morning and I was going to do so much today and at the mo the only things I have done is feed the chickens and wild birds. I hav'nt even washed up.

No other heating apart from my little electric rad in the kitchen as I can't have the heating on.

Fridge was delivered at 0915 so quite early. OK they put it in place and plugged it in. But then I have had such a performance with the shelves. They were all stuck in with sticky blue tape. to remove it I had to get down under the shelves. there is also a split shelf which so far I have not worked out how to put it in so it will have to wait. It just means I am a shelf short for now but that is OK. To get the back part of the shelf in means bending right down to see where it goes and I just can't do it today.

Jake and his father have just called round and the first job they are going to do is to dig up the lawn and replace it with gravel. Not sure when yet.