General Chat

Morning all,

Not a very nice morning here its very foggy it has cleared a little since we got up but I think they said it could be lunch time before it clears .
Colin has the doctors this morning for his blood test that they do every year for blood pressure and diabetes check and then I think we're going to tesco for a few bits.

Good morning all, grey here and 10 degrees but dry. Hope it stays that way as jake and Dad are coming to finish off changing the lawn to gravel.

BBL

Morning all,

Its very dark here this morning and looks horrid out although Iv'e not been out there yet. Its 10 degrees and cloudy. Nothing else to say really. Slept well and I have the pie to make ffor tonights dinner and have a hoover and dust for when Stu comes.

Noi subs on the shopping today. I have been doing sme painting today and got the meat cooked for a meat pie for when Stu comes this week but apart from that and making two new moulkds iv'e not done much. The chickens hav'nt done much today either not an egg in site.

Night night all see you in the morning.

Evening All,

A dry day here but clouds as black as your hat over the city this morning. We were up early and went to Costas in Next and Waterstones and had one of their bacon butties with a decaf skinny latte. OH was eyeing up the books with Christmas in mind! I noticed the other day that some of his books are creeping back in the study! I told him I'm taking a photo in the study so I know if he starts pinching my shelf space, but he just laughs. He's a cheeky devil! He didn't sleep much last night so has stopped the statins till he sees the doctor next week and will see if things improve in the meantime. He hasn't gone to footie at Warwick tonight like he planned either, but will go somewhere more local tomorrow.

Mel that's reminded me our boiler is due a service so that's another job for the list! I wonder what we will have to pay this time. Every bill goes up in price now. :-S Any subs with your big shop today?

That's a nuisance about your tumble drier AnnG, but Paul sounds like a good chap to find you another and fit it for you though. I need to do a bedding wash which isn't easy to dry indoors, but Thursday is supposed to be dry here so I might put it outside then. That's good your daughter and SIL are home now. Yes I think what a worry big bills must be for those on just the old state pension with few savings. Once OH's parents were persuaded to claim Pension Credit they were so flush with money, we discovered after they passed away that they had subscribed to various charities with some of the extra money they didn't need!

Vera, isn't that just typical in many groups/clubs that people often won't volunteer to be the Chair. That sounds a much better idea to have an annual payment so the rent will be covered and will save time collecting in and accounting for the £2 payments. The suggested afternoon meetings in the winter might be better attended in bad weather too. It's a pity you can't get a few more people interested. Our local Co-op has a noticeboard for fliers for local news and groups, so might you be able to spread the word with something like that.

You have been busy Mandy, yet you still find time to make the lovely gnomes with Daffodil with the pretty hat being the latest.

The 30% off deal is on at the carvery again this week, so we might give it a try tomorrow and be early to avoid the children ywho are on half term break. I can pop in the Factory Shop afterwards. I need some of their socks with the loose tops.

yes home safely Vera.. When white goods go wrong I realise how lucky I am to be able to afford new replacements. It must be awful if all you have to live on is the DSS pension and no savings.

At least things were sorted at you meeting Vera. I actually think that the job of getting speakers is almost more difficult than that of chair. Have they tried splitting out the individual jobs the three ladies each have and asking for volunteers to do those jobs. And do the three ladies un - meaningly put up a united 'we do these jobs and have done for many years' so that others are nervous about offering to do anything? I have noticed at U3a that people are nervous about putting themselves forward but will sometimes happily comply if asked direct to take on a job.

I expect we all know what you mean by an expensive month Mel and AnnG. We had a credit card bill come in at the weekend and I nearly had a fit when I saw the total. When I looked at the itemised bill I realised that over the space of a couple of weeks we'd had to pay for 2 extra visits to the dentist and a repaired plate, some new glasses and the annual car insurance which is now pretty hefty.

It's been sunny all morning but is cloudy now. OH did a couple of minor household repairs and I at last finished dealing with my geraniums. I took a few more cuttings but I don't know if they will root. I tidied up a couple more pots in the garden as well.

I hope your family had a good journey home AnnG.

Last night the AGM at the Club was as interesting as predicted. No-one was prepared to take on the chairman's role so the remaining three committee members are going to try to run it between them. Part of the problem is that we are all getting a lot older, some members have sadly died and 2 have dementia and are now in dementia care homes. We've tried very hard to attract new members, especially younger ones, but without much success. At the moment we pay a small annual fee and £2 per meeting but if numbers are down the £2s don't even cover rent of the room, let alone any speakers' fees. After much discussion it was decided that we would all pay £30 for the year with no further payments. . That way the committee will know they can at least cover the rent. It's very good value really. For £30 we get 12 meetings a year in a warm, comfortable room, a speaker or some sort of social evening, a cup of tea/coffee and biscuits and a raffle ticket. It was also decided that the November, January and February meetings would be held in the afternoon rather than evening, starting from next month. I happened to say that it was good that the speakers booked for those months were able to change from evening to afternoon. There was silence and then I was thanked for mentioning it. Would you believe that none of the committee had even thought of contacting the speakers? The 3 ladies are all lovely people and we are friends but you can see why I don't have a lot of faith in them making much of a job of running the club. We shall see how it pans out - watch this space.

I've been upstairs in the study with no heating on for some time and I've got rather cold so I think I'm going to get a hot drink now and have a read of the paper.

Its all expense lately for a lot of us. I have just paid my boiler service £367 odd.

Had sun and a couple of light showers this morning. pc is saying 14 degrees and cloudy nw.

not good news about the tumble drier. Paul has just been and stripped it down again, it seems to be the printed circuit board is not receiving power. New board about £150 but not worth risking as that may not fix it.
So Paul is going to source a comparable machine for me and he will fetch it and put it in for me. Just got to wait until he finds a reasonable replacement with a heat pump as that one has been so good.

So that will be a new fridge and a new tumble drier this year (so far!)

Morning all,

Hope they have a good journey home Anng and it stays dry fr it.

Its 13 degrees here and pc says cloudy but we have the sun coming up out the back blue sky with big white clouds.

Shopping comes today and it quite a big one for me this week so there will be lots to put away.

Hope you all slept well.

Good morning all 9 degrees here but doesn't feel too cold. I have been up since 0615, daughter and SiL have now left for home, dry so far so hope it stays that way for them. I have actually done a smallish load of washing which is now drying in front of and on the rads. Still a load to do and two beds now but had to get one load out of the way.

Haven't had breakfast yet so will go and have that now.

Its 14 here and the suns out and we have had a small shower of rain but I was inside and missed it. I did turn the heating n for a whie as the air inside felt really cold and I was cold so on it went. Its the brightest its been all day now.

Daffodil Gnome is great I love his hat and his buttons on his trousers.

I don't envy you that meeting Vera. Keep your hands down.

We just went somewhere local Vera, five minutes walk a pub restaurant, not posh at all, very basic but the food id good (and cheap) and so is the wine. so just scampi chips and mushi peas for me and son in law and fish and chips, mushy peas and curry sauce for daughter. then she and I shared a chocolate brownie and cream.

Iis 13 degrees here but feel solder and I am just about to put the heating back on.

Hallo from a cold, grey, slightly wet Suffolk. There hasn't been a gleam of sun all day. It's not so wet or windy as yesterday but it feels very cold although the weather apps are saying it's 13 degrees.

I hope you enjoyed your lunch out AnnG. Did you go somewhere nice? I hope your daughter and sil have a good journey back tomorrow.

You've been very busy today Mandy. If you have a bit of spare time I have plenty of garden tidying and pot washing to be done. I don't know how you find time to knit your lovely gnomes. You put me to shame.

I can't believe your door people have to make yet another visit Annx. Let's hope the next visit will be the last one needed.

I've done several odd jobs today plus 4 loads of washing. I did the towels but didn't have any bedding to do apart a couple of pillow cases so where on earth does it all come from? None of it would have dried outside so half has been in the tumble dryer and the rest is hanging around the house. I've also sorted out a Tesco order for delivery on Wednesday. Tonight should be interesting as we have the AGM of the club we both go to. The chairman has already said she is resigning and no-one else is prepared to take it on. I was asked but I did it for a number of years and before that OH did it for 11 years so I think we've done our share. I think it will end up with the 3 remaining committee members trying to run the club BUT one will only take the minutes of meetings (she won't even be called the Secretary), one will only be treasurer which leaves the other one to do all the booking of speakers and any other organising that's needed. She's a lovely lady but, unfortunately, she isn't very good at the job. It could be a very interesting evening!!

Afternoon all,

It's been a dry morning with the odd glimpse of the sun ,I got the bedding on the line first thing and have just got it in as the sky looks a bit iffy but it was all dry ,I cut the last of the green tomatoes off the plants and got a big bowl full and i emptied all the pots ,sprayed the greenhouse with the hose inside and then tomorrow we can get that down and stored away , I washed all the pots and the trays so they are all stored for the winter ,cut the sunflowers down and we now have four tubs to go to the tip

I've finished Daffodil gnome so I'll send a photo .

Just cleaned the girls out as there's no wind today its 13 degrees now and still grey and cloudy.

Morning all,

Dull and dreary damp and dismal but its NOT raining. Pc says 13 degrees and temps drop on Friday.

Just have to check my Asda order today for tomorrows delivery and put together the garden vac and blower BIL bought me for Christmas.

good morning all. only me up so far, showered and hair washed. Better get downstairs now and get myself going. out for lunch today. BBL.

Hi all
Yes home now and my stuff unpacked. No washing done though as no tumble drier and daughter and SiL here until Tuesday so can’t have washing around the house.

Hoping drier will be looked at again Tuesday.

We saw baby great grandson yesterday, five weeks old and he is so cute. Had a long cuddle. Also saw eldest grandson’s house. Such tiny rooms,two up two downs and a fair size kitchen and downstairs bath and shower off the kitchen. Victorian terraced straight on the pavement suits him on his own. He had the boys there when we popped in. But today we, grandson, ex granddaughter in law and the two great grandsons (8 and 11) met up at a garden centre to exchange Christmas presents which daughter will take back on Tuesday. It rained hard down there but when we got as far as Swindon the sun came out and is just going down.

We had a lovely week with good weather, it only rained overnight and today so can’t complain.

Afternoon All,

Wet and windy here too! Some quite heavy rain in the night, so I'll see tomorrow if it was enough to bring the floods back. We've had the heating on for a few 10 minute bursts today. That's enough to get the radiators red hot and then it stays warm enough for a couple of hours.

I hadn't thought about the Squirrels expecting a bad winter with them being so busy filling their cupboards Mandy! I hope they aren't as well. Yes, what picture is your jigsaw that you are starting?

I hope the cake defrosted nicely Vera. Cakes freeze very well don't they and it should be fine after a gentle defrost!

Mel thanks for the photos which are very good. I wish I'd made more effort to see the Northern Lights now as some locals got some good shots that were in the local paper. A lie in is a nice treat when there's no-one coming.

I expect AnnG is home now and probably has a wash done already! I hope the weather for travel was better than here, although the rain has been less than last night.

We had an easy bought chicken and bacon pie today with cauli, carrots, green beans, parsnips, red onions, peas and gravy. Otherwise a lazy day, but I need to pay a bill now and gather together the beads for this pendant as I want to make a start while we watch the 'All Creatures' we recorded.