General Chat

Morning all,

Its a nice bright morning so far today but pc says mostly cloudy and 5 degrees.

Woke this morning and thought what date is Wednesday? yes its the day the waterboard men are supposed to be coming and they may be here all day!! so that means I can't go out. O well I suppose I shall get around it somehow. The old plate made my gum so sore yesterday so I am going to leave it out today but pop it in togo up the shop for my paper.

Glad you all got the decs down and packed away. I have only to get the card bobbles down and three things off the window and they all need the stepsso I left those yesterday. I don't like using the steps when I am on my own.

The floods have been bad around here and I know dipper Mill has been out most of the week. There a lovely old farm house that owns the land where the river runs through and they have a holiday cottage which was the old mill and thats been flooded badly just after they finished converting it and the water was three feet up the front wall nearly to the windows. I have seen the river take their land over the years I have lived here. It has taken half their field where the cows used to graze. There are two bridges there the first one took the flood water and then the second one took the main river. They planted willows along the edge one year but the water washed them all away. Now they have planted more Willow all over the land that is left but I bet theres not many of those left now either.

Well I better get on as I am not sure what day BIL is coming. He did ring me yesterday after I left him a message on his answer phone. I don't think he went to work this week as SIL was still bad with this cough and he did'nt want to leave her on her own but he said she is better now.

Don't forget to look and see the number on the lock being fitted to the door Annx and see how he does it. Its good the hoover is back in action and you are getting jobs done off your list. You'll soon be straight again.

Have a good day everyone. I wonder how long the sun will last today?

Evening All,

Nearly there now! The hoover man rang to say the hoover was ready, so we have that back now and it is like new, as he has cleaned every bit of it I think! I've got plenty of work for it to do now. :-)

The door lock is being done in the morning, so I'm pleased about that, and he'll measure the small window for new glass at the same time. The Christmas decs are packed away and OH will pop them back in the loft over the weekend.

The floods round here have been awful too. We popped to the Co-op in the next village where the brook runs through this morning and although it always floods across the road the other end of the village, it had flooded so bad at the opposite end of the village this time, there were sandbags piled up at people's doors which I've never seen before. We parked down a side road to collect the hoover but had to turn round in the road after as we could see the bottom of the road where we needed to turn left was flooded from the river. It's a good job your OH allowed plenty of time for your friend's hospital appointment Vera and he's very good to help out with friends like he does. .

I expect all this housebuilding is bound to make flooding worse as you say AnnG, as well as the chopping down of trees to build them. Every bit of land covered by building can't soak up water and neither can trees if they are destroyed. It's good you aren't at risk of the floods in your area. We are much higher than the river here too or we wouldn't have bought our bungalow. I have seen the flooding across the meadows near it since childhood and it only gets worse.

I haven't started my jigsaw yet Mandy. It is a Christmas scene this year, so hopefully it will be easier than last year's. Yours cludo one sounds intriguing and maybe more tricky. You will have to let us know!

That lady had a cheek using someone else's charger. She'd driven off the road to park in the man's drive to use it. I think she'd just noticed it and thought she'd risk it with no cars being in the drive and assuming no-one was at home. We thought about where we'd put one when we had the new garage door, but thought if it had to go on the side of the garage we'd have an isolator switch inside the garage to switch it off. Otherwise inside like AnnG's daughter and leave the garage door up an inch for the cable to go under as we can't get a car in our garage.

Mashed up food for you for now then Mel. I hope it won't take long for them to sort them for you. It's not nice having to manage.

I'm off to bed now, as I don't often sleep well and have to be up and clean the conservatory window sills and floor before the lock man comes as they always seem to have deceased creepy crawlies!! I hope everyone else sleeps well.

Evening all,

Vera I could have sworn I posted the other day ,it's been a drizzley old day here ,I did manage to go into town for a few bits in the dry but after that it's been wet and dull.
Got all my Christmas bits put away and had a good dust and hoover .

Oh no Mel I hope you can find something nice and soft to eat or your gums will get sore .
I watched Father Brown today but I do think the old ones were better with the other housekeeper and the posh ones in it

Ann thats good you have your teles sorted at last sounds as if the lady didn't do a very good job fitting them perhaps she was new in the job ,one thing off your list of jobs .
We have our jigsaw that Jake got us for Christmas on the go ,there was two in the box both oldie worldie pictures which we like .
We also have a cludo jigsaw to do but I think its going to be a hard one as you have to read bits as you do it and all is not as it seems apparently.

I’m glad your TV seems to be working OK now Ann and, hopefully, it won’t be long before your car can be repaired. We were originally told the repairers would need the car for 2 weeks but they had it for 4. Can you believe that stupid woman using a charger at someone else’s house? Apart from the fact that she is presumably trespassing who does she think pays for the power that is charging her battery? I can just imagine my son’s reaction if he caught someone using his charger.

Sorry to hear about your plate Mel. Is Torrington far from you? Do be careful driving as some of the roads could be flooded. OH said he had to go through flood water in several places when he was taking our friend to the hospital this morning so it was a slow journey but they had left plenty of time so they weren’t late. It stopped raining about lunchtime. It’s supposed to get drier but colder so with any luck the excess water will drain away.

While he was out I showered and washed my hair, ironed a couple of big duvet covers and got my Tesco order done. The site seems OK now. This afternoon we took down the rest of the decorations and got them all packed away in the garage.

We haven’t seen Mandy for a couple of days. I hope she is OK.

I’m off to put the kettle on now as I think it’s time for a cuppa and a nice choccy biccy.

Ooh that is a long time. Weekend I suppose. Soft foods then? Home made soup. Something with mashed potatoes? Apparently we have fix pie tonight. If you have mince maybe cottage pie for Sunday. Good job you don’t have to go to work and meet people. If you are like me you will find it difficult to talk without your denture.. have they said how much it will cost. I assume it is just a repair as you can’t have extra teeth added without impressions.

I shan't have my teeth back till Wednesday.

Morning girls,

I have been in touch with the dentist and I have to take my teeth in to Torrington. I rang BIL but can't get through.

I have also had a message to help someone with their tree. The lady that contacted me is from Australia by her email address she was trying to help someone in this country I think on Rootsweb. I do have this person in my tree but can't really find out much about him. His father is from Copenhagen. Anyway I shall have to leave it for the mo and get my teeth to the dentist.

Good morning all up but not dressed. I didn’t want to go back to sleep as we are going out about 10am. Going up near Carlisle to Dobbies garden centre.
Just been Looking at the floods in Gloucester we get them every year but they are worse in some areas than others and I wonder how much the huge new housing estates have made things worse, one very large estate of over 1000 houses is built on an area that always flooded which was ok when just pasture but that water has had to go somewhere. Tewkesbury always floods but even that seems worse this year. Where I live is a bit further out from the river so ok I think.

Ann I assume that silly woman thought the charging point was a public one. Lyn’s is in their garage.

Good that you seem to be getting sorted with your jobs, then you can get back to painting.

Vera before I came away I did have a bit of trouble with Tesco site stopping and starting but it did always aPologise for the inconvenience.
Your friend would have a problem without your OH so well done him.

Evening All,

Well a nice young man came from SKY early this morning and would you believe it, the wretched mini box worked when he switched it on and don't you feel like such fools. lol. We'd tried it dozens of times before with no joy, but given up over Christmas and since. However, this engineer was really good and said what we'd been told by the last engineer was wrong and that the box should feed from the other bedroom like it was trying to do and not the main box like the previous engineer said. As to our being told before that a cable could be necessary and holes needing to be drilled in the new bookcase to fit it, he shook his head and said 'naaah, absolutely not' as the signal was fine. He said most likely there was old software in the new minibox she'd fitted, she may not have checked and installed the latest software, or that an update since via the main box could have corrected the problem. Anyway, we are just glad it is resolved now!

OH then phoned the bodywork man and took his car for him to look at the damage. OH said he was really good. but said as a nearly new car it would need a new door, which would be around £1000, so it would be cheaper to claim on his insurance, so that's what he's done. I shop around for his insurance to get a good price, so we had no experience of his present insurer, but up to now we've been impressed. His no claims is protected so he won't lose any bonus and they collect the car and drop off a courtesy car so he isn't without transport. They sent a form online and we had to take photos of the damage and all sides of the car, a photo of the mileage and the VIN number (I expect assessors stopped coming out to do this in the pandemic and now they have found it saves them the cost of their travel and time). The repairers called before we finished taking the photos and agreed a pick up date (3 weeks)and in view of the shortage of parts they asked OH if he minded recycled ones, which he didn't, as they give their work a 5 year guarantee. I told OH about your experience Vera, so he's going to see if he can find out 'how long' nearer the time. :-S

I saw an interesting video yesterday where a man in his office was alerted by his video doorbell. A car was parked in his drive and a young woman was charging her car from his charging point! He spoke to her and asked what she was doing and she told him she was visiting a friend a few doors away and the friend hadn't got a charging point. She was arguing and seemed to think charging points were freely available and that it was a bonus he wasn't at home in his drive so she wasn't inconveniencing him!

Electric cars are cheap to run, but car insurers are having to raise the insurance for them because the repairs are expensive and any hint of batteries being damaged and they write them off. I would like one but not yet for lots of reasons. It's ok if you don't need to use chargers other than at home like AnnG's daughter, but they say it's stressful looking for working charging points otherwise and I'd hate all the waiting while they charge your car. Noise when reversing is good as you can't always see well behind you. I hope they don't make them much noisier going forwards though, as the thought of being alble to sit outside here without motorway noise would be bliss. Also for those that live on busy roads.

I haven't joined any painting courses yet AnnG. There are a lot less online courses now and the teacher I liked is specifying just beginners on his portrait ones and isn't showing any landscape ones. I did buy a couple of other discounted courses you download, watch videos and send your work in for feedback some time ago and OH suggested I set time aside each week to do those which isn't a bad idea. It would get me back into the swing so to speak. I must get sorted what else I want doing in the ensuite first though before I fall off the wonky toilet seat !!

Yes, my book is by the Supervet as Vera said. He does wonders for animals to get them on their feet again.

I hope you have managed to get on better with your Tudor man today. I find some days it's easy to get distracted.

Off to bed now and see if we can get a lie in tomorrow. :-)

Wishing you luck Vera with your order.

Well its happened and I told the dentist it would. My plate has cracked right across the front teeth so now I only have the few back ones on the plate and it dos'nt really stay in properly so its a phone call in the morning to see what can be done. I was only eating mince for dinner so no real pressure on them.

I've come back for a third attempt at posting without being interrupted.

You seem to be making progress with getting your jobs done Annx. Have you had any joy getting the bodywork on your car sorted?

I had a bit more sleep last night which pleased me. We didn't go to the group Thursday meet-up for coffee as OH had gone for a walk and was out longer than expected, then he decided to repot a hosta and then it was getting a bit late to go. I did some filing and a bit of shredding and paid a few bills, all boring stuff.

This afternoon the phone hasn't stopped ringing. First it was an old school friend who lost her husband earlier this year. I haven't seen her since well before lockdown and we've only spoken a couple of times in recent years so there was plenty to chat about. Then the opticians rang to say my new glasses are ready for collection. Then it was our friends M & V. M was due to have an op in a private hospital in November but got Covid so it was put off till this Monday. Getting the paperwork etc ready the hospital realised that the pre-op tests she had in November are out of date so some have got to be done again and the only possible day is tomorrow. She does drive but the hospital is about 30 miles away and she might be somewhat shaky after the tests she has to go through. V isn't allowed to drive because of his medical problems so it's my OH to the rescue again. It means him leaving home before 8 am but he doesn't mind as we know M would do the same for us if necessary.

When I had trouble with the Sainsbury site a few days ago I booked a slot with Tesco and put enough of an order in to hold the slot. This afternoon I made a proper list and a little while ago I went on to the Tesco site to update the order. Would you believe there's a problem there now. At least they have a notice up saying something has gone wrong and they are aware of the issue and asking me to try again later.

The computer and the phones have been a bit strange all day. I wonder if they are affected by the heavy winds and rain in any way. Some of the flooding I've seen on TV looks awful. Gloucestershire. seems to have had it bad in places. I hope your houses are safe where you live AnnG.

Well, I am now going to make another attempt to update my Tesco order. Wish me luck!!

Enjoy your chilli and your plain mince Mel. Like the others I’d be inclined to give the WI another go. Just try one or two meetings and see how you get on.

Sorry, phone call I must take. Will try to post later.

I think thats awful to park in a charging point when you don't need to they should be given a hefty fine for doing that whether their car was electric or not. Someone could have been desperate to use that point.

Done a bit of my next Tudor man it seems to be taking me ages to do this one but other things are going on as well I suppose.

I was going to take the decs down today but that will have to be tomorrow now.

I am just about to do dinner and I am going to halve the pack of mince and do a chilli with one half and mince with the other.

Iv'e got glue on my fingers and I hate it as you can't feel properly I shall have to get that off before cooking.

Isn't Noel Fitzpatrick the Supervet from TV?

Oh, OH just called lunch is ready. BBL

Afternoon all. I went back to sleep after getting up for the loo at 6am and finally woke at 0950. Not that it mattered it was raining so nothing planned for today..

You had a busy and productive day yesterday Ann. Got lots done. I have not heard of that author. Noel Fitzpatrick, what sort of books are they?
Good that you have had the boiler fixed seems a reasonable price too, as does the Dyson service etc.
Hope you can get the car fixed too.
Are you going to be doing any painting this year?

Mel one thing I will say in praise of electric cars. Although I hate the fact they are hard to hear, daughters does make a noise when reversing. And hers definitely saves me money up here normally I pay half fuel costs when up here and driving around using her car costs me nothing, it is very cheap to charge on their normal electric bill and they don’t tend to use public chargers. I do wish though that selfish people would not use the charging points as public parking places. Yesterday at the pub which was very busy, somebody had parked at a charging point, We had not needed it but it could be that somebody would have done and would be stuck without it. We may not agree with them but electric cars are still transport fir some people it was obvious that person did not need the point as their car was not plugged in.

O I missed your post there Annx as I turned the pc off early last night.

At least you are getting things done now but I laughed when you had to get backk out of bed and dress to let the boiler man in. Still its one job done now and with it getting colder you'll be glad you had it done now and not have to wait. As to the car repair well are these electric cars really worth it I ask myself??? Wait till the clocks change and we see more badgers dead on the raods as they won't hear the cars coming.

Hope the hoover is repaired soon too so you don't have to get the big Dyson out much.

Right I better get on and feed the hungry.

Morning all,

Late on parade as I have had to do 2 parcels up and get to the post van.

Not much breeze today which makes a change but there is rain in the air and it bl**dy cold. I don't mind the cold its the incessant rain and wind I can't stand.

I need to feed the chickens now and the wild birds as their feeders are nearly empty.

I may if I am lucky get some craft done today and I need to pay the leccy bill.

Evening All,

Some progress made today. We were cosy in bed enjoying a lie in when the phone rang. It was the boiler man, he was working close by, finishing a job, so could he pop round in 20 minutes!!! We weren't expecting to hear from him yet, so we flew out of bed, washed, got decent, flung curtains open and unlocked the side gate. He soon sorted the problem and showed us the part that was clearly faulty and replaced it saying he was amazed the boiler still managed to run at all. He also checked the boiler over and charged us £135. Our usual service costs £75 like you AnnG. The reason he only does repair work in the winter is so he can help more people who may have no heat in the coldest weather. Repair work must slack off a bit in the summer when we aren't heating our homes, so he can also then do less urgent servicing work. I was fancying your F&C which sounded very nice and good sized portions.

Next call was The Works where OH picked up some work diaries he needed and also treated me to a Noel Fitzpatrick book. We then picked up some food bits we needed, called in the newsagent and then called at our local garage. They don't do bodywork either, but they recommended someone quite close by, so OH is ringing them tomorrow. AnnG I suspect that many garages won't do bodywork now since electric cars. I read an article some months ago saying car insurance repairs were suffering delays, the reason being they can do fewer at a time because the electric cars have to have much more space left around them due to the possibility of them having battery damage and the fire risk to other cars near them. I agree with you that covid has been an excuse for poor service in general and standards have stayed lower now.

We then took the dyson to the shop I found and saw a nice young chap there who also thought it was likely the battery, but he will service it and give a 6 month warranty as well for £83, so we decided that that was cheaper than a new one and left it with him. Parking was awful there though so we'll collect it very early in the morning when we go to get it. We think parking at places has got much worse with people working from home now and leaving their cars on the road.

I thought about the delays with your car Vera and just hope they can get any parts needed. We had some rain this afternoon, but were able to get home in time to remove the door wreath before it got another soaking. While we were out so many fields were flooded worse than I've seen them before. I've also taken down our few decorations now.

Mel why not give the WI another try like AnnG suggests. There's nothing to lose and if it is years since you went before, there will be different people of a younger generation that might become friends with the same interests. I bet Pat was impressed with your makes, as they are very good. Nice to have someone to chat to for a while too. I'm going to see what kind of barrel the man brings for the door so I know what kind to order if the back door one ever needs replacing.

I could do with hoovering round but don't fancy lugging the big dyson out to do it. SKY are here between 8.00am and 1.00pm tomorrow, but they will add to the mess. so it can wait!

New Father Brown on Friday at 1.45pm. Looking forward to that just good entertainment with no swearing etc. I watch it in the evening.

I made 21 mincemeat pinwheels this afternoon. Still not done any craft.

When you get a good fish and chips it makes all the difference and I can tell you eally enjoyed it and the pud.