General Chat

I was outside looking at the pond when a bird flew towards me whistling and then flew away to the big beech tree with a irridecnt blue back. It was the Kingfisher. We've had it here before. Of course it was to quick to get my camera which is in the bedroom.

Good morning
Bright but chilly at the moment. Slept OK but don’t really feel rested. I don’t have any plans for the day though OH wants to go out for lunch. Enjoy your lunch with friends AnnG

Morning all,

Enjoy your lunch Anng.

Another bright sunny morning here and its 9 degrees. This is the first time this autumn I have seen condensation on the bedroom windows. Pc says partly sunny.

Must have a tidy up aas BIL may come today and I have a plumber coming on Monday to service the boiler. I want to see if he can stop the dripping tp in the little loo too.

Good morning all. up later than I wanted this morning, typical. Now a bit of a rush to get things done before going for the bus . BBL. Meeting friends for F&C lunch.

I keep one of those magnetic shopping lists on the front of the freezer a page per drawer I try to remember when I add things or take them out. It mostly works But I realise now I should add dates added to the list per item. That means going back through it all. Not sure that is going to happen.

Afternoon All,

Quite a nice, sunny day and I wish I'd done a wash now. I was up late again so we nipped out to Ullesthorpe for a fish finger and tartare sauce sandwich meal with salad and coleslaw. OH has an online short meeting just now and I have been sorting some paperwork.

I hope your poor back and head are much better now Vera. That was good your optician saving you some cost on your glasses even though it means another pair. OH still keeps getting the headaches and the pain in his side and he keeps saying he will see the doctor again, but every day he puts it off to the next! The doctor he saw last week still hasn't rung him back like he said he would. Yes, OH is always taking more on if he's interested and he can be of help. Whatever happened to the partner I thought would share the home chores once we were both retired! It keeps his busy mind happy though and I could always get a cleaner!! lol. :-D He's even suggested it.

You've been busy AnnG. I need you to come and organise my freezer which is a bit higgledy piggledy. OH helps by putting things in there for me, but he doesn't often keep like things together. Mel reminded me about some minced lamb I need to use up and there are other things that need using before Christmas to make more room.

Mandy has the lady in the wheelchair been by again? That was lucky getting your haircut cancelled after all. I find it''s always tricky getting a cut to work out just before Christmas.

Mel your mini tudor food dishes sound interesting. It must be fun researching what they had and then replicating it. :-) I expect with experience you are quicker at making them now.

Yes and another one done. cut down and dug up the 4 huge sun gold tomatoes in the large new planter. Not sure what I will put in there over winter.

Also collected up a lot of the clippings from the stuff Jake cut down and missed in the clearing up.

Thats a good job done then. I have just done some casting.

Walked to Irene's with some stuff for her then came back and did the other three drawers of the freezer. Shifting stuff around has made a bit of room anyway.

Gone up to 11 degrees here. Sun shining well and I have made up some plates of mini food, a tudor pie and a dish of quail. Dpne deadheading on the patio so some little jobs this morning. Slept well last night and was up quite early. Now to do the chickens.

sun is out here and washing drying in the conservatory. Also managed to get two top drawers in the freezer sorted so I know what is definitely in there now. I keep forgetting to cross off or add to the list.

I spoke too soon. No sun because it’s now raining. According to the forecast we shouldn’t be getting rain till Sunday so the forecasters got that wrong.

Morning all,

Lovely sunshine here this morning so hopefully you'll soon get the sun Vera as we're not that far away from you.
Hairdresser comes this morning should have been last week but she rang to change it to this week ,don't mind as it works out better for the cut nearer Christmas.
Changed the bed this morning so thats on the line and hopefully will dry with the sun .

Good morning

Dull and grey but at least it’s dry at the moment. Perhaps the sun will put in an appearance later. I haven’t got anything planned for today though I need a bit of shopping. I haven’t got a delivery booked and I’m almost out of fresh veg and milk. I expect we’ll go to the Thursday coffee meet as it’s in a coffee shop above Sainsbury’s so I can shop at the same time. I’m getting frustrated at the jobs that need doing in the house and garden but I shall have to wait till my back improves before tackling some of them.

Good morning all. so far nice and bright and looks like we might get some sun. which will be good as I have washing in the machine and no drier.
Slept ok but not constantly, seemed to wake up every 2 hours.
Nothing planned today except I must take some books back to Irene's.

Yesterday Jake and Riley did the easier jobs on the next list he has for me. the re-shaping of the rest of the garden and a bed in the front garden will be done after 22 October. Looking out of the window down on the garden it looks much lighter for having all the overgrown shrubs and climbing roses etc cut back. Hopefully I can get the rest done to get it ready for winter.

Morning all,

Its nice and bright here this morning and its only 9 degrees and pc says partly sunny.

Must ring Stuart today and see if he's better apart from that I should do some casting or gardening.

Talking of Halloween Ann, I couldn’t believe it at the garden centre on Monday. There were all sorts of large Halloween shaped pots and ornaments for sale, pumpkins etc. why would you want to spend all that money for an ornament applicable to one day that still most people don’t celebrate.

But not just paying road tax, the rot ser in when they started closing banks, post offices soon followed? And we have seen the chaos that can be caused if a cyber attack hits the internet. So on line banking etc would be unavailable.
Yes Ann you are right, only 1st class stamps going up. Not sure how that will be cost effective.

Here I am again - just like the bad penny I keep turning up :-D

Thanks for the reminder about the stamps Gwyn. I stocked up well just before the last increase and still have plenty left but I will get a few more 1st class as I'm inclined to forget to post birthday cards in time and end up putting 1st class stamps on them.

Annx, your OH is a glutton for punishment isn't he, possibly applying for more work.. He must be very good at what he does to be so much in demand. I'm very glad we haven't had the level of flooding that there has been round your way.

Did Jake arrive to sort out the jobs you still need doing AnnG? Is there a lot still to do? I must keep my eyes and ears open for a good general handyman as we will be needing someone sooner or later - OH won't be able to go on forever doing all the jobs. I had my heart in my mouth this morning when he was balancing near the top of a tall step-ladder to clear some guttering that was overflowing with the rain.

Yesterday I had a really bad day. I had no sleep the night before so was not only exhausted but developed a bad head, my back was feeling worse than ever and my dodgy tum decided that yesterday would be a good day to have the funny turn it has every few weeks. I ended up staying in bed all day. I was supposed to go to the chiropodists in the morning but OH had to ring and cancel it. Her paperwork/appointment cards etc all say appointments cancelled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged but her receptionist told OH on the phone that there would be no charge.

I did get some sleep last night and managed to make my optician's appointment today. My heart sank when he said there was a slight change in the distant vision in both eyes as that would mean new varifocals and sunglasses and, as my lenses are quite complex, it gets really expensive. But, bless him, he actually said that the glasses are so expensive and mine seem to need changing quite often that he thought I would be able to get away with single vision distance glasses, just to use for some things, which would be a lot cheaper. He's told me when to use the varifocals and when to use the single vision ones. I already have single vision reading glasses so I will now have 4 pairs of glasses instead of 3 which is a bit of a pain but on the other hand only cost me about £130 as opposed to the £800 or so it cost me barely a year ago.

I am sure there was something I was going to tell you but it's gone right out of my head so I'll say goodnight. Sleep well everyone.

Good evening

It’s rained on and off all day, though we only had one heavy downpour, the rest of the time it’s been light showers. There’s quite a cold wind which is making it feel a lot cooler than the actual temperature.

You had a long sleep Mel. As Mandy said you must have been tired. Yes, post offices do help with banking but not all post offices do the other things they used to do. Our town has a population of near enough 25,000. It had a good sized main post office which was always busy. That closed and we had a counter in W H Smith. That closed and we got a pop up P.O. Now we have a permanent one in a very small shop tucked away in a precinct, but you can’t get your road tax there or get your passport application checked, for example. For those you have to go to a village about 5 miles away. This place has a population of less than 1,500. How does that make sense? So, if you are unable to use the internet you are reliant on an infrequent and unreliable bus service or expensive taxis in order to pay your road tax.

Sorry, I got on my high horse there. I need to go and check on my casserole and get my roast potatoes in the oven but will probably bbl.

Afternoon All

No rain today yet and no breeze that was forecast either. I could have done a wash like Mandy, but thought it would rain so I didn't!

Yes I tend to forget what the post offices do now, as two post offices in the nearby villages closed before the pandemic. Another moved into the Co-op in the village but I don't use that as the carpark is partly rented out to companies now and it is always full and the spaces are so tight. We have quite a few hole in the wall machines to withdraw cash, even one in a local garden centre. I haven't tried the service where the post office pick up your parcels yet Mel, but I had read about it as I print the labels online from their site now if a parcel needs returning. I must admit I don't find their website the easiest to use!

I think it is only the first class stamps that are going up in price this time and second class is staying the same.

OH was up at 6.30 am this morning to be showered and ready to go to a business breakfast meeting at the nearby council offices. One of the councillors pushed a leaflet in his hand about a panel they are looking for members for. He seems to tick all the boxes for what they are looking for and he sits on the same kind of panel for another council already so it looks like he will apply. These are usually very few meetings and no follow up work to do and it would only be 10 mins away by car so I expect he will apply.

We popped to a garden centre after OH's meeting and it was full of Halloween and Christmas decorations being made space for. The road was still flooded the full width on one of the roads and on the way home we went past my teenage home and the field opposite had water lying along the edge where the ditch was overflowing and I've never seen that field flood before. One person OH spoke to on the phone today that lives near the floods on the photo said floodwater had reached his garage door. Imagine having to try and move all your things inside just in case it got into your house. A nightmare!

Time for a COT methinks! :-D