General Chat

Men are totally useless at such things Sylvia

Happy Birthday for yesterday, Sue xxxx

I hope you had a lovely day!


OH saw the father-i-l as he was about to leave this morning ........... the twins were born at 5 am, and were "good". In true form, father-i-l did not say their weight or how the mother was. But also, in true OH form, he probably didn't ask :-D

We had a lovely 'type' yesterday <3 I'm glad you're feeling so much better, Linda.

I'm glad we don't have to buy our eldest son a house :-0

Sunny but cold here.

I got up yesterday, but didn't last long. Today I feel much better,so am up again, but dont plan on doing much.

It was Sue's birthday yesterday, I managed to have a "type" with her which was nice. I know she had a lovely day out with her daughter.

Linda ..... glad you are feeling a little better.

It's sunny today, after all that rain yesterday


It's me that has the neighbour expecting twins :-D

She actually doesn't look that large, but then I've really only seen her recently passing by our house and with a loose cardie or jacket on.

When she told us about the twins several months ago, they were really worried about the cost. She said they had carefully worked out that they could afford a 3rd child ............ she's a stay-at-home Mom, does a little daytime babysitting I think. But they're going to need a larger car ...... or else use both their cars whenever they want to go anywhere. She has no family support here ............. she's from northern China, and met husband here. Her in-laws have always been round very regularly.

The parents bought the house next door about 9 months after we bought ours, were here for about 6 years before they built a new house closer to the university. They were immigrants from Hong Kong, and had 2 boys here ........... they believed that living close to the university gave the boys a better chance of getting in :-S

However, they kept the house next door, and bought another one on the east side of the city .......... told us that it was Chinese tradition to provide a house for a son when he married. The older boy wanted the east side house, but V was born while they lived next door and wanted to return to this neighbourhood ...... and he wanted the old house.

Unfortunately, there had been too much damage done by 25 years or so of renters and inadequate care and maintenance by father. So they built a new one. Meanwhile, W got pregnant before they married .............. future in-laws refused to let them move in next door unless they were married, BUT she lived with them for about 4 or 5 months after the elder girl was born and before they married.Talk about strange in-laws!!! We know the parents quite well ......... mother is typically interfering and controlling, husband is either forgetful, doesn't understand or becoming demented. Take your pick, according to the day .... except he has been like that since we met him in 1972 :-D

He did tell us 3 or 4 weeks ago that W is going to get a "girl in full time" to help after the twins are born. We'll wait and see ........... she probably will need it, or have interfering m-i-l there all the time. V just shrugs his shoulders at his parents, and goes the way he wants to go

My daughter was at university as the same time as the boys ............. met V several times, there's only 2 years between them, and only realised about 5 years ago that he might have been chatting her up!!!!

I did make a mistake in letting OH cook :-(

I had a horrible night, I will spare you the details

I feel a bit better this afternoon, but I haven't got up, I have been watching the Davis cup tennis for most of the day, it looks like we are going out.

I feel for your neighbour Sue, especially as we have the same next door. The older boy is three and a half and the twin boys just over one. She isn't that tall and when she had the oldest one, she looked like a Buddh, I have never seen any one look so large. She had to stay in hospital for a couple of months with the twins and they were delivered really early. Even so, she was massive.

Since then, she still looks as if she is due to give birth at any time. Apparently the muscle is split and it will never go down on its own. She is due to have a major operation in November to remove it all and return it to normal. Poor soul, how she will cope with a useless husband I don't know. Presumably her mum will have to move in full time

Oh dear Linda - I hope you are feeling much better. It wasn't those mushrooms your OH served you was it ;-)

Your poor neighbour will be glad to have her twins in her arms, Sylvia. I well remember my daughter begging her doctor to help the twins along - she didn't cope well with a toddler and a huge tummy :-D

Changeable weather here...sunny one day and miserable the next. However the garden is looking good and with some of my orchids in bloom the smell is lovely especially in the evening.

oh dear

Where have you been eating, Linda?

Do hope you feel better soon.

The lady next door is due to be relieved of her burden this coming week ......... they decided they could afford to have a 3rd child, having 2 daughters (9 and ca 4). But she's having twin boys, :-0 and the doctors think the babies are getting too large so will be bringing them early. Her father-in-law told us they'd opted for the 19th .......... not sure if that is correct or not, he does tend to get things wrong!!

Our good weather broke last night with pouring rain ............. it poured all night and most of this morning (Saturday). It eased off about lunch time, but the forecast is for more rain for the rest of the weekend.

Page 3 again, that won't do.

I am feeling really sick today, tummy upset type - obviously not my own cooking!

The plant will be much bigger next year,so you can start making jam then

We don't really eat jam, so I stopped making it, except the jars I made for Tec. I open froze the Raspberries so I could use them for crumbles and toppings

It is very hot here today, not as had as down south where they are forecast Asti g 30 degrees. I just have to go for a dental checkup and the dreaded hygienist today, so I will potter apart from that

No raspberry jam :-0 What a shame. There won't be enough blueberries to do much but OH is looking forward to muffins :-D

I have missed my fresh fruit this year. We brought some Raspberry canes back from the market, but the fruit got mildewed,so we didn't get any

That has given me a laugh Linda - I just see your OH doing that :-D I miss you both

I'm glad you're staying too Sylvia :-) Are you being asked to be a responsible person again? That's a big ask ;-)

The weather has been glorious here...warm, sunny although still cold at night. We have been getting the veggie garden ready for planting and repotting and feeding my pot plants. I'm so pleased because I have blueberries growing on a plant I bought at a market. I really didn't have high hopes but it was cheap and worth a chance. It has rewarded me with lots of little blueberries.

It didn't smell at all because it has been cooked, it was just dried out. It was a very shallow pie, mostly crust

errrrrrrrmmmmmmmmmm

it might be, it's been shut away so might be protected from "bugs" :-D


What on earth was the smell like?????

I was good and did go and see the quack on Friday morning. He said that my chest was clear, but my head was full. Apparently my ear drums were bulging out because of all the gunge. The only thing I could do was to take pain killers and do the god old fashioned steaming.

I do have a special steaming cup with a little face mask, so I have been using that three times a day, which does help. I am coughing less and on the mend My balance is still a bit off as my ears must be still bunged up.

It is a lovely day here, very good for September, at one time you could always rely on it being nice once the schools had gone back, but it hasn't been like that for the past few years.

Eve was very excited on FaceTime last night,she has her first wobbly tooth which she delighted in showing us :-)

LOL, I just went to put a joint in the oven. I haven't used it for ages because after the microwave packed in, I bought a combi oven as a replacement. I use the oven function of that in preference to the big oven. For some reason, I decided to use the large oven today and there inside was a quarter of a chicken plate pie. OH always buys one from the butchers when I am away and uses it for several meals. He must have forgotten about it. The last time I was away, I came back on 7th August. Do you think it will still be edible? :-D

I am glad you are staying Sylvia, I would have to talk to myself otherwise .Then they might lock me up :-D

I know what you mean about the aches and pains Huia. I can't decide whether to go to see the doctor about my cough. My ribs ache, so is that just from coughing or have I got pleurisy again? I will put it off and either gat better, or worse :-(

I am so glad you are staying, Sylvia.

I am becoming rather paranoid about all my aches and pains in my old age, after having the TIA on Christmas day and a dizzy fall in Feb. Last week I had a sudden sharp pain behind my sternum and it soon spread the full width of my chest. I had never felt a pain like that before, so I pressed my alarm button and asked St Johns if there was a doctor or nurse that I could talk to. They put me onto a nurse who was asking questions but then the phone was cut, I dont know why. I thought she would phone me back, but she didnt, then I thought she might have sent an ambulance, but I phoned the 0800 number and explained what had happened and said the pain had gone so it must have just been indigestion or some such.

Some of my friends and my sister were concerned so I went to the doc yesterday and she said that as I hadnt been nauseous or sweaty it cant have been a heart attack so it was probably just a muscle I had pulled. She checked me out anyway and gave me the all clear, said I am looking very well.

I feel a box of birds today.

Linda ............

he normally hates it when I read out those news briefs!!!


I've just renewed for another year .......... I decided I could still do things on here, and OH could afford £8.96 for 12 months :-D

Oh dear, your poor OH Sylvia. More to the point, poor you having to read to him, I hope it works for him and you can become irresponsible again :-D

I have been dodging the rain for most of the day, in between it has been humid. It is supposed to get cooler tomorrow thank goodness