General Chat

Thank you for the photos, Mel.
They are very clear. I like all of them, but particularly the 2 long tailed tits all sort of puffed up against the cold.

A really keen cold wind blowing here, so I'm finding plenty to occupy myself and be warmer indoors. A quick walk to the post box early morning was sufficient fresh air for me today ;-)

I am so pleased you liked BIL photos. He is mad about his camera and goes over Exmoor to get pics of the deer and stags. He has some wonderful pics of Red Kites and Barn Owls. Now I know I can send them I'll ask him for some more.

Mandy I like the blue Tit in the box hadge one too and the two Long Tailed Tits sitting on the bramble on the top of the box hedge.

Morning all,

Cloudy with the occasional glimpse of the sun just been out and weeded one of the little half round gardens but it's so windy out and I thought one little bit was enough for my back I have to ease myself back into bending over .
Before I went out I hoovered all through and did some veg ready to put on to make soup for our lunch today.

Oh Mel lovely photos all of the birds I love the one hiding in the bush with the red berry in his sight and the little blue caps they have on the top of their heads .
Hope your sciatica soon eases I wonder if you started it off reaching in that bottom cupboard.

Anng son was just the goofa collecting the F&C he did it the last time for them but he walked into town to get them as there wasn't so many to collect but this time he took his car ,I don't know how many portions were in a box but he said he collected nine boxes .

Yes Vera they are hard working they have had to be with five children to bring up ,I can't remember the last time son and dil went out together they always put the children first
We have helped them a lot over the years and son and dil help us out too with any thing technical that just goes over our heads but son soon sorts it for us .

Better get my soup on the go and there's some ironing that keeps giving me the eye so better get that done while the soups on the go.

Thanks Mel, They are beautiful, he is a very good photographer. I think he must have a good camera with a long lens on it, I love the little blue tit and the long tailed tits too. does he sell his photos?

I have sent pics that BIL took in the garden last week. I have sent them in two's and the last one is three. I hope you can open them.

Morning all,

Dull and very grey as usual here this morning not been out yet to see if there's rain in the air. Its 9 degrees and pc says cloudy. I do wish we could have a bit of sun to brighten the days as I get much more done when the sun shines.

I have three deer lying in various parts of the garden this morning.

Hip I think has turned into siatica. I can hardly get out of bed in the morning it a very slow process.

Good morning all. 8 degrees and cloudy, maybe a bit more gardening.

I have to say I can only tackle the gardening part of the garden now that Jake and co have got the rest of it in some sort of order. He stil has a list and will be here to discuss the next move on Wednesday. But getting the heavy jobs done helps me with the rest, And saves me employing an actual gardener. Jake and co are landscapers (and odd job men). so I have more energy for caring for the plant side, and having last year's gravel done and pots on it reduced the weeding a lot.

Mel, I think now we are on our own we tend to set ourselves 'timetables' of jobs to do and lovely though it is to see people we tend to be aggravated because we can't complete our jobs. Maybe we must stop being single minded and then it would not worry us. I am the same and have to tell myself that it doesn't matter if the room I planned to clean doesn't get done because a friend turned up. Company is more important than dust.

Mandy I bet SiL felt hungry after fetching those fish and chips.

Ann, how awful of Asda. I am with Vera I think I would take it further, even if you do plan to stop having them. So a van driver had sandwiches for lunch maybe?

I too like those crocus, they seem to be the only ones in the garden and have spread all along the wall garden in front of the conservatory.

Well for not wanting to do anything today Vera you had a good work day after all. You must be pleased with yourself and you got a lot more done than I did today.

It throws me when I have people call in and I was going to do so much today too.

Thank you for the photos AnnG. You really have been busy in your garden. All the flowers are pretty but, like Ann, I like the mauve and orange crocus. You must feel pleased with yourself getting so much done.

Mel, be careful with that knee and hip. Don’t be stretching into the backs of floor level cupboards or you might make things worse.

Jake is doing well Mandy. The manager must think well of him if he’s letting him deal with the customers. I wish your dil luck with her studies. They seem a really hardworking family.

My goodness Ann, what are Asda playing at? Refusing a refund for something that hasn’t been received is very poor customer service and if I were told it might be because I was committing fraud I would be writing to their CEO. I use both Tesco and Sainsbury’s and haven’t had problems with the customer service of either.

Your primary school seems to arrange really good outings for the children Gwyn. They must learn so much from such interesting trips. I expect you enjoy them as well, though it’s hard work keeping a close eye on young children.

Well, I had a dreadful day yesterday. I just sat about and couldn’t get myself psyched up to do anything and I felt very down. It was another bad night last night and my head has been aching all day but I gave myself a good talking to and told myself to buck my ideas up. I decided that instead of worrying about all I needed to do, I would pick just one thing and do that. As it was dry and fairly mild I decided to cut back the buddleias. They are in half barrels to keep them small so not too hard a task. Once they were done I decided I had the energy to tidy some pots of plants and then top up some other pots with compost and give some plants a feed and before I knew it an hour and a half had gone by. I still had a headache and my back was sore but it lifted my mood a lot. I came in, showered and had a snack lunch, then I made 2 long phone calls that I’ve been putting off and prepared and cooked our main meal. I even cooked a bread and butter pudding in the slow cooker. That was a first. I am feeling tired and achy but all in all, I am pleased with my efforts today.

That’s enough of me patting myself on the back. I hope everyone has a good night and wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed.

No Ann no F&C for son he was just the goofa lol

I love watching the birds when you get one that trys to keep all the others from getting the seed .
I asked Jake if he was getting to know all the prices in the shop and he said I don't really have to remember all the prices as the label on the mince ,stewing beef etc has a number on the back and he just has to put that number in the till and the price per kilo comes up .
That's not very good service from Asda I wouldn't be very happy paying for an order and not getting it .

Evening All,

Dull here except a bit of sun while we had lunch. A nice and rare surprise was a flock of long tailed tits visiting the fat balls on the feeder. The Robin wasn't happy at sharing 'his' fat balls and kept flying at and disturbing them. We had a change from a sunday roast too and had toad in the hole with new potatoes, veggies and an onion gravy. It was as well it was something quick as we were up late today, but I slept well for a change.

Thanks for your photos AnnG and I love that pretty crocus with vivid light mauve with orange centres! You have lots of spring flowers looking good and you can see the impact you are making with your tidy up and getting things trimmed back how you want. You put me to shame with what you get done, I need some of your energy! lol.

Mel careful what you attempt if your knee and hip are playing up. No scrabbling about in low cupboards. It was perhaps as well you had visitors as it stopped you doing too much today. I expect SIL was impressed with your makes, as we are too.

Mandy we often find parking away in a quiet spot seems to attract other cars parking next to us. It's the same when we choose a seat in a cafe. I said to OH last time that we must have magnets attached to us. Schools hold far more events these days than when we were young. That was a lot of F&C ..........were some for your son too? I'd have had to get me some as well! lol. :-D Your DIL is doing well to do the course as well as her long days, but it will be worth it to be able to work with the younger children as well. Jake will be growing in confidence the more he learns, especially dealing with the public and serving them now. He's ahead of me as I wouldn't know how to use a till!

Our food delivery came today and I'd ordered too much bread so the driver took a loaf back with him and refunded it. Once everything was packed away I realised a pack of sandwiches was missing from the order, so asked online for a refund. For the first time ever they refused the refund, said it didn't meet their criteria!! When I asked the chatbot what the criteria were it said they didn't divulge their criteria and said it was to prevent fraud and save costs. Well it certainly wasn't helping my costs to pay for something they hadn't delivered! :-S I decided to look online for complaints against Asda and was horrified!! People who had not had their delivery at all, but because a driver had clicked they had delivered were being refused refunds, other people with missed items on their order couldn't get refunds. They were saying customer service was awful, being cut off in phone calls, unable to understand the english being spoken, things that were promised just didn't happen even after repeated calls, the online complaints form seems to be ignored as does the email. I decided to check when our delivery pass expires and it is the end of March, so not long to go and I have clicked for it not to renew and we will go elsewhere. It appears that Asda wants to blame their customers if orders or items go missing, rather than look at their side of things and what might be happening. I don't want to risk be lumbered with the cost of a whole order that doesn't arrive!!

An early start and shower tomorrow as my glasses should be ready and I won't have to wait ages if I'm early, as they don't do appointments for collection and any adjustments. I'm hoping they will be much better than what I'm wearing as it's a few years since I had a change of prescription.

I did a roast chicken in the week Mel so the sausages will be a change for a Sunday, we finished the last of the chicken in a curry yesterday .
I just went out to the bin and it feels really chilly now but the sky is so pretty with ths sun going down, nights are pulling out ,I think the weatherman said three minutes each day .

Sausage beans and mash sounds good to me Mandy I am sure you will enjoy it all the more for not having to stay and watch a roast cook.

Its got a bit brighter here now and I can see blue sky here and there but its a bit late we could have done with that earlier on. At least the rain has stopped for a while its still 10 degrees. and pc says cloudy.

Afternoon all,

Not so sunny here today yesterday was a lovely sunny day, I nearly hung some washing out as there was a lovely blow but by the time the washer had finished and I had finished doing some other jobs it was a bit late to hang them out .

Anng thanks for the photos of your garden lovely to see the flowers all out and the start you've made on the clearing and weeding .

Ann thats good OH got his car back OK, its so annoying when you get damage done to the car even if you park well away from others parking you can be sure there'll always be someone who comes and parks right beside you when there's loads of empty spaces on the car park .

No Gwyn I've no crafting on the go at the moment, I did try and sort out my material box as I've loads of fat quarters and I mean loads there must be over fifty or sixty maybe more so I mustn't buy any more for a while .

We nipped down to see son and family this morning as they didn't want to turn out after having a busy week at the school ,yesterday son had two lettings one in the morning which was a fish and chip lunch so he had to go and get nine big boxes with the fish and chip orders in and after he had to go in and tidy up ready for a magic show late afternoon and then clear up and locked up when that finished at seven .
Dil is now doing a course to become a teaching assistant so she has a lot of studying to do ,this is a course so she can work in the nursery at school she has to have that to work with the younger ones but she's OK to work in the other classes ,she does the breakfast club and the afterschool club so she has a long day .

Jake is now serving in the butchers ,I asked what his biggest sale has been and he said eighty pound and he said he must have taken about four hundred pound yesterday

Not at all cold today I really should do something in the garden but I didn't have a very good night I was still awake at gone twelve and had fidgety legs so I feel tired today so I'm having a rest this afternoon and being lazy with our meal tonight it's just sausage beans and mash.

The chickens did'nt get done as BIL and SIL arrived and did'nt leave till 1pm. We had a good natter with a coffee and she looked at a lot of the things I have been making. They brought me a Sunday paper something I hav'nt had for years and 4 pints of milk and a pasty and a sausage roll so no cooking for me today.

It good you have managed more in the garden and filled the bin up ready for collection. You are way ahead now for the new season in the garden. Good to get the accounts out of the way too.

Well the bin is almost full now, I cleared another but of the garden near the conservatory. cut down one of the buddleias to February height and the other two I cut the easier to cut branches and will get Jake to cut the rest to the same height with his saw. I also cleared a lot of ivy from the fence where the greenhouse used to be. And covered the planter with some membrane stuff I had in the shed after clearing away where (I think skinny) it had become a de luxe cat's toilet.

I also did the accounts balance for two months as they were not done at the end of December when I was away.

I think that is enough gardening for today. it has brightened up a bit and is now 12 degrees but I have a few birthday cards to make.

Thank you AnnG for the lovely flower photos. You have quite a lot of colour already in your garden and I can see the fruits of your labour with the cleared areas.
You are doing well. Like you, we try to have something in the garden bin, when collection day comes round, just to make the fee worthwhile.

Morning Anng and all,

Its about the same here this morning dull cloudy and 10 degrees. Got up at 8.30am turned the heating on for a bit and went back for a lie in. Did'nt fall asleep just waited for the hosue to warm up a bit. Hip still really bad and left knee.

I just wish we could have a bit of sunshine which always makes you want to do things. Its pretty calm out there today and as I did'nt get to do the chickens yesterday I think thats a job for this morning.

Good morning all cloudy and 10 degrees here at 8am. Hoping it will stay dry so I can get out into the garden again and do a bit more before the brown bin needs emptying.
Nothing else planned for today Although last month's accounts are waiting to be balanced. Strange they always get put off even though I know they need doing. :-D

The snowdrops have spread a lot since I moved down in 1991 but there were a lot there and mum's boyfreind dug a lot up and gave them away. Oh planted some up by the caravan and they have just started to spead now. I don't like them cut down till June as they set seed.

That museum trp souded really great and just my kind of thing. School trips while I was at school usually took us to Epping Forest for a toadstool hunt to see how many different ones we could find. I did go with my son on a school trip to the Victoria and Albert museum in London which was a lovely look around but keeping the children in check too. The only foreign trip was in secondary school to Norway and mum would'nt pay the £33 for that so I have never in my life been abroad or had a passport in 75 years.

As to other treasures in the cupboard I found a smell tin of Breakfast Tea my friend bought me when I lived in suffolk. Its a pretty green with roses on it. Not much tea left in it so that went in the bin and I washed the tin. I also found a pack of sponge mix dated best before 2015 and a pack of soup mix dated best before 2013. There's bound to be other things when I do the bottom of that cupboard but the sponge mix came from there.

Don't know what to do for dinner??? may have a burger I think or salad.