General Chat

Sorry to hear of your bad couple of days, Florence.

The Chinese takeaway may have had lots of monosodium glutamate in it, which is notorious for causing problems.

Even though you made the chow mein yourself, and wouldn't have been putting MSG into it, some brands of soya sauce do contain it.

The Kikkoman brand doesn't, I believe.


Cheesy potato pie sounds good!

Hello all, hope you are well;
OH finally received his appointment with the Urology Consultant after being referred in mid 2021, next app. in approx.2 weeks for more tests.
I managed to get an app. with the GP on Tues. and now have a course of antibiotics as have cellulitis on my leg. It started around Christmas but couldn't get an app. before due to holiday etc. Our GP is quite good but has to rely on locums as the other Dr retired just before Covid hit and not been replaced.

Another grey day here with showers so washing drying on the airer again. would love a nice day with a good breeze to dry outside. Everywhere is so damp . Will I be moaning in the summer about being to hot I wonder .lol.

Take care all.

Good afternoon peeps.
The sun is out but by golly its a chilly wind outside!

JustGinnie, ouch that is awful, but I hope the antibiotics have started to work.
Yes I long for the day I can put out the washing, roll on good drying days.

Well I was busy yesterday. I had to take down all the xmas decs on my own as daughter elsewhere so started around 9.30am and was nearly 2pm before I finished.
I was exhausted. I had to move or rather swap over the 2 coffee tables but hoover first in the corner where the tree had been.

Its all back to normal now but although looks clean and tidy, its very bare looking!
I have cut the few cards I received and made tags using my pinking shears. The box was very much depleted so this had restocked a little.

On Sunday, call the Midwife returned and I love this programme so Sunday eve now has something good to watch.

Hope everyone is ok and keeping warm as although the snow has gone, the temperature is quite low!

Florence in the hebrides

Joan, thank goodness for that!!! The thought of having to go through that senario again getting a farmer to help would have been awful!

I did venture out to the bins awhile ago but wrapped up in a huge scarf. Was great to get some fresh air into me lungs, fresh being the operative word lol So didn't hang about for long.
I noticed a rose bud about to open :-S :-S :-S Noooo this isn't supposed to happen in January!

Good morning everyone.

Had to get up as the noise of the wind and rain lashing on my bedroom window woke me before 8am! Its been a vey stormy night. But at least we have power!

Daughter came home on Saturday with a great present for me......she has a dreadful cold and cough/flu virus. She tested negative for Covid, so that's a relief but still, I cant afford to catch this so she's staying in her room mostly until it clears up.

The first person I have said happy new year too face to face!

Off to the shower soon and then might make a birthday card for a friend in February and see how I get on with all me new accessories I bought.

Have a good Sunday all

I had a surprise this morning when Evri turned up with the four parcels missing ifrom before Xmas. Two were for me and two for my daughter. One of mine was the dolls high chair for Esme’s new doll. I am pleased with that as it is much bigger than the smaller second hand one I managed to find for sale locally. Her new “ baby” is a life sized newborn and she was struggling to fit it into the substitute chair. So now we have two highchairs so even more clutter.

I had a refund from the company so I have had to email them to ask what we do now. My second parcel was my son in laws main present.As that had gone awol, they sent a replacement out after Xmas with parcel force That came in a couple of days, but now the original has turned up. I have had to email them as well to find out what to do about that.As it was reasonably expensive, I assume they will want me to send it back, but I am not going to pay the postage

One of my daughters was her partners main present from her, so she is pleased it has turned up as ge is going back to London tomorrow. The other one was a dress she had ordered for Eve to wear at an Xmas party, a bit late for that now

It is dreary and dismal here, really dark, so we need the lights on

Some years ago, I had a similar situation with something which I'd ordered but which hadn't turned up.
The suppliers sent out a replacement - and both the original order and the replacement arrived a few days later, both on the same day.

I asked the supplier what to do, and they said just to keep both, at no extra cost, as they had already claimed on their insurance .

Fortunately, it was a duvet, and I didn't mind having an extra one!

I have been in a similar situation before with Amazon and they always say keep it, but these two are small firms. I want to keep the high chair, so may need to pay them again, but I don’t want the other one. I just want a postal label from them.

Afternoon chit chatters.
Well finally the gale has passed and the weather has settled down. The rain during the night pelted my window and was so noisy, I never slept that much.

Today I made my first birthday card for a friend in February and am quite pleased with it. A pink card, decorated with purple butterflies and a border plus little gems down the side. It took me about 1/2 hour before I was happy with the layout and then stuck it al down.3 pink feathers fanned across the middle.

Hall cupboard needed a sort out and we have now put up the xmas decs back in the loft. We are selling the xmas tree as we want a change but its still in good condition so hoping someone will buy it.

The postie has been with very little since before xmas. So I'm wondering how long before all the backlog of letters are delivered? I still haven't received 2 birthday cards, my dad did not receive my sons card and son never received his grandads card. I posted a birthday card mid Dec for a friend on New Years Day and it hasn't arrived either.

No veggie soup left but a little mackerel pate still in the dish for later just not sure what else to have today.

Hope all's well with everyone

Florence in the hebrides

good afternoon all. I think we have your gales and rain here Florence, would you like them back? It was really nice first thing but by lunch time it was horrible and still is.

Your card sounds really nice, I hope your friend is pleased with it.

I still have 11 cards missing, at least one that I know was posted from very local to me.

I had very nice carrot and coriander home made soup for lunch. I made enough for two days and today was the last day so all gone now.

I admire people who are artistic. Any cards I made would end up looking like nothing on earth :-(

The saga of my parcels still goes on. It took a few emails to get the people who sent the high chair to understand that I was keeping it and needed to pay them again because .they had already refunded the money. They couldn’t work out how to do that so told me just to keep it.
The company who I bought. My son in laws present from offered me a discounted price just to keep,it, but I have no use for it, so just want a return label. That was fine until they sent a link to a label but they are using DHL and the nearest drop off point is a twenty minute drive from here. All of the drop off points are places where I have no reason to go, so I told them they were joking if they expected me to do a long round trip just to return their parcel.They sent the replacement by Royal Mail, so I asked why I can’t send it back via them, or Evri as there is a local drop off for them. I think they will have suspended their Evri contract after all all the problems they have caused them. They replied offering to let me keep it for only £15, a pretty good discount as it was £50 originally, but I don’t need it, so have said that if they insist on using DHL, they will have to wait a few weeks until I need to go to one of the locations . I await their reply today.

I've ordered many things from Amazon in recent years, and they've always arrived very quickly and with no problems via either Royal Mail or Evri.

However, something I ordered on 5th January, and which was originally supposed to be coming by Royal Mail, and should have been here by now, is now apparently coming by DPD, and isn't expected to arrive until possibly 19th January, which is disappointing.
I don't think I've ever had anything via DPD before, so don't know whether to trust their word or not.

That's a good result about the high chair, Linda.


EDIT (13 Jan):
My parcel arrived today!

We waited in all day Tuesday as we were told our DPD delivery was due, eventually got a message on Wednesday to say it was arriving. Driver then demanded my first name and then never posted the confrimation of delivery.

Told him I wouldn't give my first name but said I was Mrs... He claimed he needed to know my name as there possibly lots of people in the house with the same surname. So I eventually told him 'M' as he asked for an initial. M being the first letter of Mrs.
I've given totally false first names before ;-)

Amazon deliveries in Scotland may change as they are closing one of their sites, in the west I think.

Afternoon all.
Well my breadmaker i ordered just a few days ago on Amazon was delivered by Royal mail today along with a box of bread mixes as well. I have already put a cheese and onion bread mix into the breadmaker but it wont be ready until about 4.15pm. Smells divine and so cant wait to eat it.

Yes the Amazon site in Gourock is closing but there is a centre in Dundee which is where most of my goods come from so not sure what the effect will be on us up north?

I have been sorting out my boxes in the bedroom as since xmas, all my gifts etc and some spare ones have been cluttering the floor. So we have sorted a box for the charity shop, broken up about 10 boxes for the recycling which exhausted me.

I finally received from dad, 3 Mirano rainbow fish which belonged to my grandma. I washed them in soapy water very carefully as they have been wrapped in a towel for years! They are now on display on my filing cabinet and look quite at home lol. i think they are from the 60's and are worth a few pounds now but its just so nce to have them on display like they were when i was a child.

Oh Linda, what a palaver trying to return things!Our main PO is 30 miles away and an hour by bus so I hate it if we order things and then have to return them.

Joan if you are looking in, hope you and hubby are ok?

Well Im in need of a cuppa after all the tidying we did.

Florence in the hebrides

Florence, done here in the soggy south the Post Office are beginning to offer a pick up your parcel from home service.

Doesn’t help with delivery companies drop off being miles away but great if you have to use the post.

Added: it’s called Parcel Collect

Names, I think they do have this service as a card was put through the door awhile ago. But im guessing, you have to weigh the parcel yourself, download and print a label, and pay online? But how do you weigh a huge parcel on bathroom scales accurately?

My worry was if I have weighed the package incorrectly, the recipient would end up having to pay extra.

My local postie isn't too friendly as often I hand a letter to them complete with stamp for posting and I always feel they dont want to take it as it wont go until the next day.

Im thinking I shall be sending my xmas cards and presents in September this year in the hope they may arrive by December!

Yes to all the first bit but I have never tried to send a huge, heavy parcel by post.

We don’t always keep the same postie as they get moved around a bit because they all loath trawling around the outlying villages. But our most usual one is very friendly.

Our biggest problem is the post box is timed for one 9 am collection. We just have to walk into the village to the post office counter or a bit further to the sorting office. Not such fun at the moment with all the rain.

Florence to weigh a parcel, weigh yourself first, then stand in the scale holding the parcel and do the Maths.

The parcel people have said that they want me to use DHL, but I can wait until it is convenient for me.

We had a really wild night, the wind and rain were buffeting the windows, so I woke up several times. I slept through the alarm, but luckily OH woke up and roused me so I was only about ten minutes late in getting up to sort the girls out

Yes Linda I guess I could do that. Mind you so far since before xmas, the postie hasn't been seen much. So far once this week!!

I'm currently fed up with waiting for my Tesco delivery since 9am. I got up jolly early today but no sign yet. The window was 9-11am.

Its just cant really get on with much else until they have been.

Its flat calm here....for a change but its forecasting snow for us on Saturday and -1 degrees. it is only 3 degrees just now so pretty brrrr.

Oh well a hot coffee to keep me warm me thinks.

Back later on

Florence in the hebrides

Oh well, just had a message from Tesco's to say my delivery has been delayed until 2.30 due to a broken down van!! Grrrrr

And then I realised it's Friday 13th!!!! ;-)