General Chat

Good morning all. 8 degrees here and raining. Nothing planned for this morning except H/W.
I had a really good night last night so should be full of beans today :-0 ;-)

Vera hope all goes well with the birthday lunch. Try to enjoy it although it does sound like hard work for you. It doesn't seem fair that you have all the extra guests when it is the other birthday 'girl' who has invited extra guests. Did she agree this with the group beforehand?
You did have a busy day yesterday. And seemed to get a lot done.

I suppose with these light shows they are bound to appeal to some and not others. If the music had been soft and the lights more to your taste you might have been the one to like it. I wonder if your 'brain' was reacting differently because you suffer from migraines.

Mel that is a lot of work for one little chap.

Ann I note that you had chicken thighs defrosting ready for the slow cooker. How long and at what temp were you going to cook them. Just wondering as it looked a bit late for when you normally eat. I always use the slow cooker on low for a long time.

Sleep well Vera and get ready for a busy day with your friends. What does oh do on these accasions?

I have faffed about today on my Tudor man I just can't seem to get him the way I want him so I'm no further on with him. Iv'e cut two lots of his caps over his shirt sleeve and think I may have it right now but then dinner got in the way so it will probably be tomorrow by the time I have another go. This could all go a**e up and he will look silly. There again I may change my mind and make them in material instead of the black leather I am useing.

Glad you are home OK AnnG. Take it easy for the rest of the day and hopefully you will sleep well tonight. It looks as though you have a busy week ahead so you’ll need your sleep.

Our weather sounds much like yours Mandy. I haven’t done any FH for quite a while either. I’m not sure where to go next unless I start looking at some really distant branches. I do miss my brother as we shared the research and sparked ideas off each other.

The loss of that little boy is so sad Ann. I can’t imagine how that poor family must be feeling. The last I heard a little while ago was that the police hadn’t found him but had CCTV of him disappearing into the water. Thankfully the water meadows here which are our flood plains haven’t been built on yet. For years there has been talk of a bypass for the town and it is desperately needed but the only place it could go is across the water meadows which wouldn’t be a good idea.

We don’t want you falling off the chair Mel and injuring another bit of you. My OH fell asleep at the computer once and frightened the life out of me when I found him slumped on his desk. I thought he’d had a heart attack.

That light show: It was professionally done AnnG and the weird synthesizer screech over everything was a deliberate recording. I’ve read a bit more about it and I think, though I’m not sure, it was meant to be free flowing and we were meant to just absorb it and “feel the love”. Apparently over 1000 people went over the 3 nights and the feedback generally is that it was great and people want more of that sort of thing. Lots of the comments used the word “magical” and said that it was wonderful just to chill out and people watch. I am usually fairly open to new creative ideas but this one did nothing for me. Perhaps I really have got old and stick-in-the-mud.

This morning we dusted and hoovered between us and then I did the ironing. After lunch I went to do some shopping and deliver a birthday card while OH washed the floors. There weren’t many cars parked at Sainsbury’s but inside the shop was packed and they were queuing down the aisles to get to the checkouts. The shelves were half empty as well. It took me ages to get my few bits and get through the checkout. Then I went to deliver my card and the road I wanted was closed with diversion signs. I could see where the diversion was going to take me and decided it would be quicker and easier to nip through a nearby estate. I forgot that all the locals would know this way too and the road through is very narrow, not much more than a path so it was constant backing up and edging forward to make room for the traffic coming the other way. I was very fed up when I eventually got home.

I think I’ve mentioned before that we have a small birthday group i.e. a few ladies who lunch together on or near each other’s birthdays. One of the group and I have our birthdays the same week so usually combine our lunch and we are having it tomorrow. When we go out like this we all normally just have a main course and then go back to the birthday girl’s house for desserts or cakes and coffee/tea and usually there are 6 or 7 of us. However the other lady with a birthday is also giving up a voluntary job she has done for very many years and wanted to mark that as an occasion so she has invited a few more people. Last I heard there were 12 coming and guess whose house they will be descending on after lunch. Yep, they are all coming here. The other lady is sorting out cakes and I am doing a cheese board with crackers and grapes for those who prefer something more savoury, plus the drinks. Hence all the cleaning this morning. All I have to do tomorrow is make sure the downstairs cloakroom is clean and tidy, set out chairs and get out cups, plates, serviettes etc.

I might not be online for a couple of days. Tomorrow will be busy and Thursday I have another hospital appointment for my eyes. Depending on what they do I may not be able to see very well for a few hours if it’s just drops and a couple of days if it’s an injection.

I slept a bit better last night so I’m hoping for the same tonight. I also hope you all have a restful night too and a good day tomorrow.

Yes feel better for the hair cut and the brisk walk home.
I have a busy week this week with the hairdresser then tomorrow is our main U3A meeting. A talk on antique collecting, Thursday I have the doctor’s appointment but nothing else all day, Dr us 4.20. Friday is photography. Saturday is the new group Members on Their Own.

I suddenly realised from last Saturday to Saturday I will have been so lucky as I will have travelled in five different cars. People really are kind to me.

Afternoon all,

Hope you are feeling a little better now Anng and that you have a better night's sleep tonight ,you'll have to have an early night to catch up on your sleep.

Ann you've started back on your FH I see I seem to have got all behind on doing any on mine, I would like to see the 1921 census and find out where my grandmother was with my dad but at the moment it's still pay to look I think .
My dad always said he didn't live with his mother but I'm not sure when he was put with another family so it would be interesting to see where he was .

It's been a bit of a dull day with only a little bit of sun the last hour or so ,it's also been really cold out and is suppose to get colder later in the week .

Hope the wind blew the cobwebs away Anng. You must feel better after having your hair done.

I was sitting here at the pc and the winds come up and its so cold I turned the little rad on under my desk o warm my knees up and the next thing I knew I must have closed my eyes and dropped dropped off and nearlly fell off my seat.

I got home at 2.45. Very windy and a heck of a lot of traffic about so it took me ages to cross the small road just round the corner from here.

Cynth has offered to run me round. I didn't ask we were chatting and she just said she would take me as she has nothing to do. She has been swimming this morning, she goes twice a week. So I only have to walk back. hopefully the wind will be behind me.

It never works when they change the waters naural courses. Ann you have so many cousins. I suppose I shoudl have more than are on my tree as great gran had 13 children.

I hope you feel better now Anng and nce you've had your hair done you can hav a rest and feel much better for the walk and hair massage. Take it easy for rest of the day after that.
Suns put n an appearance now but its a it watery.

Afternoon All,

A nice, sunny and dry day at the moment. Rubbish bin day today and the bin is only a quarter full. In the NW of the county they are considering how to change the bins with ideas like dividing them into quarters or more bins that are smaller. I don't see how that would work as different addresses have different requirements. We could manage with a tiny rubbish bin, but we have more than a wheelie binful of recycling and often have to hold some back till the bin has been emptied. It would be the other way round for some families. Bedding is in the washer and chicken thighs are defrosting ready for the slow cooker. I have a tomato sauce that needs using up so I am experimenting with a chicken lasagne type dish with onions, peppers, mushrooms and courgette. I watched a similar recipe made using broken lasagne sheets, but may use pasta shells instead. Hubby is on his way to Linclon.

Having got the bit between my teeth with these 65 first cousins of mine, I'm going to see how many have definitely passed away. There are far more trees on ancestry now and so more info and perhaps photos if I'm lucky! Some lived in different counties, a few in Australia so it's not surprising I'd never heard of them. Some may have war records too. With mum being born after the eldest had moved out and got their own families, they probably didn't seem like family with not growing up with them around. She spent a lot of her childhood in Yorkshire at a special school as she wore a leg iron till she was 12 as that was the treatment for babies born with a hip joint out of position then. She told me she had to do a lot of swimming there. Swimming must have seemed a chore to her as I never saw her swim or even paddle.

Sorry you had a bad night feeling grim AnnG. It's bad enough when you can't sleep, but it's an endless night when you feel iffy like that. I hope it's wearing off now and that you are ok for your hair appointment.

I want to check whether they have found the little boy who fell in the river near here on Sunday yet. The way the river was flowing I wouldn't be surprised if it swept him towards the city. My old schoolfriend and I used to walk in the area where he fell in most Saturday mornings from age around 10. We used to see water voles and fish for sticklebacks and gudgeon and look for crayfish and mussels. We usually had some titbits for the gipsy horses that would be tethered there as well. It used to flood much further along then and had a raised walkway because of it, but never where the boy fell in. They built a car repair place further along with the river running by it a few years ago in what was a field that had ponies in then. Now when it rains it floods very close to the buildings. The canal and river flow close together and it is a flood plain really that they have been unwise to build so close too. The new warehouses they are planning even say the storm drains will go under the main road and drain into the river.

I am OK just very tired appointment is 2pm which is really unusual, my appointments are normally 12-1pm. The walk round should wake me up, just been out to the bins and it is icy cold although sunny Alexa says it is 12 degrees, well it may be in sheltered places but there is a strong wind which is very cold.

Poor you AnnG. I hope you are feeling a bit better now. You must be tired. Is your hair appointment this morning? Have a snooze when you get back and don’t do anything else today.

Grey and chilly this morning. I’ve got a busy day so must get started but hope to bbl.

good morning all. Well I had a really bad night, I honestly don't think I slept at all all night. I felt really queasy for some reason, couldn't work out if I was hungry or had indigestion. Still feel a bit off now. Roll on bed time. But I have a hair appointment.

Morning all,

Dull and dreary after a nice sunny day yesterday. Its 9 degrees with a yellow warning for rain.

We never seem to get two nice days on the trot.

Shopping day today and I have no subs and it a driver I like, Carl.

That was the problem Ann, nothing to check, the ad didn’t show the year anywhere. I imagine it will have caused a similar problem last year. The ad should be taken down. And not helped by being shown above the ad for this year.

That was silly someone didn't check the date in the ad AnnG. Not so good with the price rise and part being roped off though. I noticed the garden I thought about visiting seemed a bit expensive. They must be trying to get more money for charity as the cost of opening a garden can't be much extra. OH gets tinnitus too and it is worse at times as you say......irritating though. I think I was lucky with the paintbrushes as they were nowhere near the other art stuff, but were in a jar on a table with mostly children's things that were reduced. That's annoying your coping stone has been dislodged. Our neighbour's low wall with coping stones the Asda driver knocked down at the corner of our drive is still in a heap. The neighbour has now been paid, but the rest of the wall has loose copings so I think she might get the rest done too.

Oh Vera your OH saying 'have they started yet' did make me chuckle! It does sound a rather strange event altogether, what with the weird sound effects too. Like you say, you need to know a bit more what to expect with something like that. I hope your speaker tonight is more entertaining.

Yes Mel, what is the 'new thing?' These washing programmes annoy me these days. Once mine starts I can't stop it, even if I switch it off for a while and as soon as I switch it back on it carries on from where it left off.

Well, I have added a few more bits to my tree, focussing on my parent's siblings and their children. Mum was the youngest of 10 and dad was the youngest of 8 and 3 of mum's siblings had no children. When my grandmother had my mother, she already had 11 grandchildren, so mum was born an aunt to 11 children herself. In total my grandmother had 42 grandchildren. I have 39 first cousins that side of the family and 26 first cousins on dad's side of the family so I have 65 first cousins in total. I didn't even know the names of all my uncles and aunts until I started doing FH and have only met 4 cousins, 2 just once when I was a little girl. I imagine all of my cousins born in the 1920s will have passed away now.

Somebody has solved the mystery of the snowdrops. Although it appears at the top of the listings the ads we (and lots of other) saw was one from 2018 when the open day was on 18th February. Unfortunately there is no year on the advert.

As somebody else said, it was very disappointing and has gone up from three to five pounds half of the garden was roped off. So don’t feel bad about it now.

Mel am I the only one to be intrigued by the new something?

Ann a good buy in the works, benefitting by not many artists shopping in the Works maybe.
It is really annoying when people turn using your drive isn’t it?
When I walked out of my drive this morning I found the large topping brick from my low wall standing leaning against the wall. I can only assume somebody backed into it and dislodged it. As it is not broken I guess it may have been loose and it can be cemented back on when I eventually see Jake again.

Vera that light show sounds a bit weird.was it amateurish? I think that sort of thing needs a leaflet when you go in that explains what you can get from it. Was the screech anything to do with a light source maybe. Was anyone actually there in control to explain things.

I walked down to Irene’s with some books and used batteries. Then after coffee I did an hour in the garden filling up the garden bin. I cut back a bit of lawn edge and finished weeding the right hand border which was overgrown with celandines.
I also moved a few pots off the slate bed which is where hopefully the. Hostas Will come through.

My tinnitus is really bad this week. I wish somebody would find what causes it.

What a shame Boddington Manor got in a muddle with their dates AnnG. That must have been annoying and frustrating for everyone who turned up on the wrong day.

I remember those tiny Hovis loaves Mel. My brother loved them. When we were young we were able to choose a treat for tea on Friday and he always had one or two of the little loaves and had Sunny Spread on them. I think that was a blend of honey and something else.

Good job your paper delivery man didn’t bump your car Ann. You might need to keep an eye on him. It sounds as though you might have got a good deal with your paint brushes.

I got all the washing done this morning but it was grey and a bit drizzly so I didn’t hang it out but put some in the drier and hung the rest around the house. Of course the sun came out and it warmed up so I wished I had hung it out. OH went to the opticians for his annual eye test and one pair of glasses is still OK but the other pair have to be changed.

Well, this light show thing we went to last night was odd. The blurb said it was an interactive light installation - a celebration of love. It’s quite a cavernous space. There were a few chairs dotted about and a few blankets on the floor and people just stood around or wandered about. At one end there were bars of light in a semi circular pattern that changed colour and a projector that was beaming onto a large clear screen strung up high. The screen showed light patterns and things like a frog swimming diagonally across. This reflected on to two further screens behind it. Every so often we got a few bars of a love song such as Love Me Tender or I Will Always Love You. Then from time to time a recording of someone saying something like “I moved here 4 years ago and love this place” or “I love my dog. I love my house” and an emotional one that I couldn’t make head nor tail of. People were wandering about with beer or coffee from the cafe and there were young children, some of whom could barely even toddle, milling about all over the place. After about 15 minutes of this OH asked me if it had started yet. We assumed it had. The interactive bit appeared to be younger children, with a parent, standing in front of the semicircle of bars of light and being given some sort of control unit which we think affected what was projected on to the screens but it was difficult to tell. I am in favour of art centres like this being innovative but if I go to something new and different I want to have an inkling of what they are trying to do or say but I couldn’t even guess what this was all about. Perhaps I am just getting old and boring.

Tonight we have a Club meeting. Our programme just says speaker to be confirmed so I have no idea who it is or what we are going to hear. I hope he/she is interesting.

EDIT. I forgot to mention that at the light show thing there was a constant weird screeching sound which was going on all the time over the top of the bits of music and speech and everything else. I think it was done with some sort of synthesiser. Imagine a whale in pain and you’ll get the idea.

I had to laugh at the jotting on old envelopes as I do that and can never remember what they were for, seems I am not the only one! :-)

I have change the bedding and washed it and done some admin and had a long phone call about a new something. Had a little walk around the garden as I saw the mauve crocus were all up among the snowdrops in the orchard so went and took a few pics of those. They have really multiplied and I have lots now. Writen a letter and now need to post it. Then I am going to have a hoover of the kitchen and bedroom, hallway and thats all I am doing for today.

The suns been out all day and with a tiny breeze, trouble is I set the washing machine for a long wash and it did'nt get out there till after 1pm. As I picked up my white dumper and walked to the kitchen to empty the machine I was thinking how long it had lasted me as I bought in in Morrisons years ago. Put the sheets in it to hang on the line and did that picked up the dumper by one handle and swung it on my hand and promtply put my finger throw it on the side just under the handle, BLAST, I should have said anything. I am going to see if I can put a bit of BIL super duper tape on it to make it last a bit longer as I hav'nt seen white ones anywhere.