General Chat

Yes I like the blackbird when you think he is 15-17 but they were all fabulous

Love the blackbird one and also like the owl perched on the praying angel with its head bowed.

Thanks Mel, talented little girl.

The photo exhibition was fantastic, so much talent, not many entries from UK a lot from China and America. But beautiful photos. Particularly liked the young Photographer of the year's photo (15-17 age group) It was a small ref moon and in front of it was a blackbird obviously singing. It was taken just before dawn (China I think) and the rest of the photo is black with a part of it just showing very faintly trees

The Main adult photographer of the year (USA I think) was a small female Peregrine Falcon she was attacking another type of falcon about four times bigger than her as she fought him away from her young.

See it here
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bird-photographer-of-the-year-winner-b2405048.html

~~~~~~~~~ to everyone on the thread.

Just wanted to thank you Mel for posting this link.

Amazing. :-)

There's a bit more on this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjBhNC23vGM

Take a look at this its wonderful.



https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GoG-K8dAOvg

I’m moving to where you are AnnG or Mel. It’s only got to 3 degrees here and might reach the heady heights of 5 degrees soon. It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow but we’ve got a warning of strong winds then. At least for the moment it’s dry.

Enjoy your lunch and exhibition today AnnG.

You are right Gwyn; it is amazing to be able to watch a funeral from anywhere in the world. My late brother’s funeral was during Covid restrictions and streaming it live meant that all those people not allowed to attend could be part of it. We know that, as well as all his family and friends in this country, people were watching in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Spain and Majorca. Sadly the streaming company still haven’t managed to get my friend’s service online so any feelings of being part of the proceedings are long gone.

Annx, that sounds like a horrid drive to the garage when OH took his car in. It’s strange you should mention the Space Centre as just yesterday I was given a list of day trips from here and the May one is to the Space Centre. OH wants to go so I’ll put our names down for that one. They are one a month, usually April to October but there doesn’t seem to be an October one this year. Then there is usually a Christmas special in December. We will only put our names down for a couple of trips this year.

Well, I suppose I had better get on and do something useful though I don’t feel motivated at all. I slept OK so should be full of beans but my get-up-and-go is definitely AWOL this morning. Maybe a coffee will wake my ideas up.

Suns out.

Its 7 degrees here now WOW I will.

Ah Mel, it is 6 degrees here now. Better get the sun cream out. :-D

Morning all,

No frost here this morning but there was last night on my car roof and on the grass but that went about 11.30pm. Its a degree higher than at yours Anng at a balmy 5 degrees but the houses still feels very cold.Well I hope it turns up today as I hate having to wait in for thing coming and I have to do the shop this morning.

Enjoy your exhibition today Anng it should be good if its birds.

Right I need to jump in the shower.

Good morning all, it is a balmy 4 degrees here so spring could be on its way. No frost last night I am being picked up at 12.15 for lunch then a bird photographic exhibition. I can't remember exactly what it is but I think prizewinners of some large competiton. It is at Walsworth Manor. (Nature in Art) not far from here.

Gwyn my aids 'communicate' with each other. If I turn one up the other goes up as well. But that is a very innovative system that you have.

Mel, hope the washing machine arrives today. You will be having a washing 'fest'.

Vera Yes no doubt designed by a man, an athletic one as well. If I had actually realised I may have gone for another machine but my other one had lasted so well that I thought it was a good buy.

Ann Is there a reason why you are not going for NHS checks. Think, free aids and free batteries and a battery only lasts about 10-12 days.

Mel, you won't know yourself being able to do a wash load without all the fuss you've had lately. I do hope your new wasking machine comes tomorrow. I've often said that I'd willingly do without many types of household appliance rather than be without a washing machine.

How uncomfortable Vera, if your new glasses hurt you. I do hope you are able to get them properly adjusted in time for your Tuesday appointment. I hope too that your friend's funeral service recording is posted online soon. I remember watching a service taking place in Perth, Australia and thinking how amazing it is to be able to share time and thoughts with family and friends so far away.Hopefully whatever glitch that is delaying things for you will soon be fixed.

Great that you have been able to get so many jiobs done AnnG with the help of Jake and his Dad. You really have been busy since you got home. Like Vera said, I think a man must have designed that fridge adjustment ;-)

I think a man was also in the forefront of planning the new layout..... and lack of heating ....at Ann's revamped Boots optician. I truly hope they don't do something similar at the Boots I go to. Wise to get your hearing checked too. I was interested in what you said about your brain and hearing loss. I may have mentioned before that I have to go to see the ENT nurse at the hospital about every 3 months for micro suction, as my ears become blocked. When it's near my appointment date, I'm aware that I have to concentrate much harder to hear people and I find I get tired much quicker, especially if I've had a day in school.
Like AnnG,I haven't found hearing aid sound to be tinny, just clearer. The ones I have now are a CROS system ( I think that's what they call it? ) and I have a microphone, which looks just like a very tiny aid in my right ear, in which I have profound hearing loss and the microphone picks up sound by wireless from the aid in my left ear. ... All clever stuff and makes a world of difference to me, especially if I am front seat passenger in a car and can now hear and converse with other passengers, whereas before, all I could hear was the roar of traffic in my left ear.
A big thumbs up to my lovely NHS audiologist at the hospital, who suggested this system :-D

Mandy. I was thinking how glad you must be that you have a good supply of logs, when the weather is so chilly. just the time to be indoors with a jigsaw. I haven't done an actual puzzle for ages, but I do complete 2 or 3 a week from the free online sites.
We too has lovely sunshine today, after quite a hard frost last night. I went to a funeral at the old parish church in town. Unfortunately the boiler had broken this week and it was really cold :-0.... So glad that I had opted to wear a long full length coat, which I tried to wrap over my knees. It even felt warm, when we came back outside into the fresh air again !!

I hope Gill will come back to tell us how she is getting on with the kitchen and bathroom. All their hard work will be worth it, when it's all done.

Afternoon All,

We had a very sharp frost, everywhere white over and had a wakeful night due to having to get OH's car to the city garage by 8.15am for a recall upgrade.. I needed to bring him home so we were up at an ungodly hour to scrape both cars. I tried to unlock my car boot but the rubbers had frozen. After OH had set off I had another go, breaking two fingernails but managed to open it. If I hadn't, I would have spent the whole journey with beeping and clicking as it kept trying to lock itself. The city roads are so bad it's like riding on cobbled streets and everywhere looks so shabby and run down. So many roads and junctions have been changed you are always in danger of being swept into a lane you don't want or that's been changed into a left turn only. The arrows on the road can't be seen as they are either worn off or covered by traffic. Too much traffic around you to change lanes as well. What other city plonks the start of a bus lane on a single lane each way road right in the middle of the road? No turning in to the garage on the right now so I had to carry on till I could turn right and ended up turning round at the Space Centre. At least it was all done by 12.00pm so we could avoid any rush hour traffic, although I would imagine Friday is a favourite day for WFH.

Yes AnnG it's been an MOT week! I've been looking online since as I know nothing about them and some sites suggest some do have a tinny sound compared to others. I was surprised they were suggesting having two when only one ear is affected as well. I'm going to get next year's test done somewhere different to get a comparison and hear what they say. I was surprised how much some cost. Fancy the new fridge having the adjuster low down so you have to bend to try and alter it. My Hoover fridge freezer is annoying too, as the adjustment dial is at the top, which is ok to reach, but the numbers round it are recessed into the plastic and not coloured. Also the fridge light is at the back of it and is so bright you can't read the numbers. You've certainly got cracking getting things done with Jake and his dad's help since you got home. Are you having gravel instead of the rest of the lawn now? If so it will save you work mowing. The new shed and trellis will look good too.

I hope you can get your glasses adjusted this weekend Vera as they are no good when they dig in. It just gets more sore. You and Mel are putting me to shame with getting HW done today. I must get the hoover and floor mop out tomorrow while OH is out. I want to make some soup with odds and ends of veg in the fridge too. I hope the funeral eventually gets put on line so you can watch it.

Mel I bet you can't wait to get the new washer up and running. Handwashing and drying takes ages and is not what you want to be doing. I have trouble getting my head round the different options with the Post Office for returning parcels, so you are not alone! I've now got to grips with picking up or returning parcels from Ebay and Amazon as our Co-op take them which is handy.

Its like that here Vera still snow and frost from the other day where the sun dos'nt reach with it being so low in the sky.

No no sign of the washing machine and I do hope it comes tomorrow as BIL said he would fit it for me. It will be so good to turn it on and leave it to it.

Just having a digestive and a COT. Iv'e got the mince and mash on and done the sprouts. Next job is to fill up my pill pans that go in the holder for the week.

It's lovely that you have Jake and his Dad to help out AnnG, and I think you said before that they don't charge the earth. A good, general handyman is worth hanging on to. How awkward to have to get down to the floor to change the setting on your new fridge. I always think these things have been designed by men without being tested by women. With luck, once it is set up you won't often have to change it.

It doesn't sound as though the refurb in your Boots opticians was very well thought through Ann. I hope they don't do something similar in ours. I should think single vision glasses will be helpful when you are painting. I have them for reading late at night when my eyes are often tired and I find them a boon. My new varifocals are still not adjusted right so I shall have to take them back for a third time. After the last adjustment they seemed fine for a couple of days and then seemed to readjust themselves in some way and now really press into my head. I can't wear them for more then half an hour. Even OH said how stiff the side arms seemed now. I want them OK for my eye appointment on Tuesday as I will be tested wearing them. I'll try and take them in tomorrow or Sunday. It hadn't occurred to me to go on a Sunday before but apparently they are open from 10 am till 4 pm.

How did you get on with your jigsaw today Mandy? I really fancy having a go at one now you've mentioned them. I haven't done one for years.

Has your washing machine arrived yet Mel? It'll be good not to have to drain it and keep finding that gunge in it. I'm glad your outside water pipe got sorted. Let your water board know that you had a leak and possibly lost a fair bit of water. When I noticed a dripping pipe in an outside corner of the house it was obvious it had been dripping for a long while. British Gas came in and put an expansion tank beside our big hot water tank which cured the problem but OH rang Anglian Water and told them about it and they adjusted our water bill so that we only paid for roughly the amount they thought we would have used. You mentioning the outside pipe reminded me that, like Ann, we have a pipe of just a few inches with a tap outside the kitchen and we can turn it off from under the kitchen sink. I must ask OH if he has turned off the water to it this winter. He usually does but he hasn't mentioned it and I don't want it freezing and bursting. EDIT: I was just about to post when he came in the room so I asked him and he has turned it off.

I started after breakfast by cleaning and filling bird feeders and trying to melt some of the ice in the bird baths. Since then I've been hoovering, dusting, cleaning and cooking and I feel shattered now. While doing the bird baths I noticed we had one solitary primrose in bloom and lots of fat buds on hellebores. A lovely dark red one is hidden under a couple of ferns that liked the combination of sun and rain we had this year and have grown like mad. I'm not sure whether to cut them right back and let the light get to the hellebores or leave them as they are to protect them from the frost.

Today was the heaviest frost so far this year. In fact when I looked out first thing this morning, the courtyard outside was white with car tracks through it and I really thought it had snowed, but it hadn't. Later this morning the sun came out but it didn't clear all the frost.

I'm now going to have a look and see if my friend's funeral is on line yet. I think I said there was a problem with the live webcast so I couldn't watch it but the company arranging the streaming said the recording was OK and they would get it online quickly. Every time I've checked since then there is a notice saying they are still having difficulties and to check back in a couple of days. It's now 10 days since the funeral and I am beginning to doubt if they will get it online at all.

I hope all is well with the posters we only hear from occasionally. Stay warm and enjoy the rest of the day everyone.

Been sunny here all day. No washing machine has arrived today so I hope it comes tomorrow.

They did a lovely lot of little jobs for you today Anng. You will soon be straight and ready for the summer.

Hoovered through all the rooms and now I am going to corn the chickens and cook some mince.

7 small jobs done including replacing a piece of trellis that was rotten. and moving the rest of the gravel round to the back gravel already there.

And Jake and his Dad are here doing some of the small jobs. so far they have stood up the water feature, filled a notch hole in the shed, put on a new bolt, put up a hook, pulled through an old cable and taken down a small piece of trellis by the arch. they have just gone off to buy a replacement piece of trellis, they have gone off for half an hour and when they come back they will put that up and then hopefully take the remainder of the gravel and put it on the gravel on the left hand side which has bedded down a bit. That will get rid of that out of the garage.

Tesco order has one item not available. spreadable butter. Of course they have it is reduced. Otherwise no subs which is good as it is a large order.

Mandy some of the surplus gravel was promised a long time ago before I planned this other job. It may be a different colour anyway but she has taken quite a bit. My payment for all the trips she takes me on in her car and she has been very good to me since Tony died as well.

Jake is coming round later to fix the bolt on the shed.