General Chat

Thank you for welcoming me!

I have to buy online, haven't bought any clothes in a store since before 2020. I have a couple of online US stores (Lands End and Eddie Bauer) where I know my fittings with their clothes, though I do have major problems buying trousers even from them. I wear long skirts all the time, but I like to have a pair of trousers "in case". I have a couple of pairs in one of my drawers, but they both date back to before I lost over 30 lbs and went down at least 2 sizes!

I look at M&S online occasionally, we don't have any stores over here now after they withdrew at least 20-25 years ago. I've seen a couple of things that I liked, but they seemed too expensive to buy on spec from this long distance.

To think all my undies, bras, sweaters and bikinis (!!) once came from there, way back when I was young!

I do have problem with lengths of sleeves and trousers................ I'm about 5' 7½" now, having lost some height. I even have to look very carefully at the length of maxi and midi skirts. I have noticed that M&S gives a good indication of that on their online photos.

We've had a good 2 or 3 days, clear blue skies and sun, but chilly!!! It has got down to 0C overnight, so there has been frost on roofs, and about 7/8C during the day. Monday is a Stat Holiday, and unfortunately rain is in the forecast.

We were booked for a train trip leaving on Monday from Vancouver to Winnipeg and return. It was 3 days and 2 nights there, 1 night in Winnipeg, then return. I booked the trip when VIA (train company) had a Black Friday sale last October, thinking it would be fun to see lots of snow from inside a moving train. But it has become obvious that this is another weird winter, and there is little snow around, plus we began to lose enthusiasm for the trip, so I cancelled last week.

I always do!

I happened to catch the eye of another woman with her tape measure in a shop in Glasgow a few months ago, and we had a companionable laugh.

Sounds as though we’ll all need to take tape measures with us when we go clothes shopping.

Afternoon all.

Lovely bright sunny day here although a chilly breeze but its good to see the sunshine.

I did venture out to get rid of some glass jars for recycling but did not stay out too long.

Whizzed the hoover around the house today and now have been working on a friends family tree but have hit a brick wall!

Linda, you must be getting excited now as only a few days to go. Kind neighbours you have offering a last supper.

My bugbear with online shopping is that all the trousers I seem to order are always far too long even when it says regular length. I am only 29 inch inside leg but often the sizes are short 27, reg 29 or long at 31 but i nearly always have to turn them up

I ordered 4 pairs of comfy trousers in a soft material just for round about. They are not leggings but taper down to the ankle. When they arrived in a size 14 i was so shocked as they were huge and about 8 inches too long!! I sent them back and got a refund but less the postage.

As someone whose only choice is to shop online, I get so irritated and disappointed when things arrive and they don't fit. I'm getting away for a hospital appointment in Mar and hopefully will manage to the shopping centre for a couple of hours. Shall look in M & S and the likes of Primark etc and hopefully come home with a new wardrobe as my existing one needs an urgent update!!

Well better carry on with my research and see what i can find.

Vera My new sweater is Medium. I would normally have a 16 or 18 (for width). I have measured the length and it is from neck to the bottom 23 inches or 58cms. I have also measured the sleeve. It is from wrist to shoulder seam. 19 inches or 48 cms.

Trying it on I would say it is top end of 18.

I've always had problems with getting M&S clothes that fit me though in the past I've managed to get a shirt or two and some jumpers that have been OK. It sounds as though it's going to be even worse now. I'm tall, 5'8", and fairly slim. I usually buy a size 12 or 14 depending on the style and make so I suppose a medium might be OK for me, providing it's long enough, particularly in the sleeve.

The good thing is I can tell OH he's still got the girl he married as I was a size 12 then and am near enough a size 12 now. He doesn't need to know that a size 12 when we married fitted a 34-24-36 figure and now fits someone a bit larger ;-)

Good luck with your move Linda. It sounds as though you are very well organized.

I agree about the model height AG. I recently bought two nighties on line which are mid calf on the models, but for me at 5ft 7ins they are just above my knee, so they ride up when I wear them in bed.

I paid the bill for the removal van this morning as it has to be done in advance, that was expensive :-(

After lunch, we are going to the new house to learn how to use the burglar alarms, they have a separate one for the garage, the heating etc. We are going to drop our enrolment forms of at the new doctors, then call in at my daughters to pick up the keys they have for this house. Or at least my daughters as SIL doesn’t know what he has done with the set we gave him.

The nearest M&S shop with clothes is nearly 100 miles away from here. However, there are M&S "Foodhalls" about 25 miles away, one to the north of us and one to the south, so I can order clothes online (not that I do often) and collect from either of those - and also return things free of charge at either of them, which is handy when clothes turn out not to fit, or not as nice as you'd thought when looking at the picture on the website.

The M&S website is more helpful than most, as it tells you the height of the model, and what size she's wearing, and also the length of the garment, so that you can make a fairly good guess as to what size to order.
Other websites don't always tell you the length of the item, and often seem to use very short models, so that a jumper (for instance) which covers her bottom will turn out to be more like waist length on me (5' 6").

One good thing about buying online is that you can read all the reviews and find out out about what it's like to wear, how warm, if it bobbles, etc, which you don't know until too late if you buy in a shop.

Not too cold here today, but still wet and grey.
There's a lot of tidying needing to be done in the garden - clearing old dead vegetation, etc - but that's no fun in the rain, and everything's soggy.

I hope you manage out into the garden, which seems to be a happy place for you, Joan.
You get a lot more snow than we do here in the west - but on the other hand you have less rain! Swings and roundabouts.

Your new sweater sounds lovely Ann, but I am alarmed to read of the new M&S sizing. :-0
As you say, depending on the style, one could choose a nearer size with their previous sizes. Since they shut the nearest 2 stores to me, it takes over an hour on a bus to get to my nearest M&S store now, so I seldom go, so I hadn't realised about the change.

I hope all goes well with your move, Linda. You sound super organised. How kind and thoughtful of your neighbour to invite you for a meal the day before your move.
I well remember the many moves we made in our younger married life. The house and content always had to be inspected, so everyone was happier with summertime moves, when it meant salads were more acceptable and we didn't need to use the cleaned-to-pristine cooker. :-D

Joan, your new plants sound very pretty and I can imagine that your new planters will give you much joy in the months to come too. It's always lovely to hear what is growing in your garden. Here in the far south east, there are daffodils out everywhere and bright yellow crocus on several grass verges, when I go into nearby towns. It won't be long before the sun opens your daffies for you up there too.
Yesterday, I went to a country park to see their display of snowdrops. How lovely for you that you can see them in your own garden growing so well.

Linda I really liked the colour (coral pink) of the one I bought and it was a bit more expensive than I would like. It is fairly heavy weight so good for holiday in Northumberland in May (with daughter and son in law). However I won't be buying too many more sweaters from them because of their new sizing policy. They are now just S, M or L. so small, medium or large where they used to be 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22. How can they justify going from 7 different sizes to just three. the small is too small for me and the Medium is actually almost too big but only on the arms so they will have to be turned back I was buying either 16 or 18 depending on the style. And I noticed in the paper this week a skirt they were saying was selling well and they were only doing it in one length. somebody wrote and said how pleased she was with it as it was just the right length and she was 5 foot seven or eight. So on my five two it is going to be a tad long.

I am glad you found a sweater Ann. These days when I go into Marks, I seem to come out with nothing. I think that part of the problem is that they seem to have standardised their lighting in the stores to be really dismal. It really annoys me and I find it difficult to see the clothes, so I just give up.
This morning I packed up most of my clothes, I just have the section with my trousers to do. I have been using up everything in the two freezers, so there isn’t much in therm now. There is a fair bit of frozen veg, so I will turn that into soup tomorrow and we can have soup for lunch for the next few days. It is a good idea Joan to try and use up all of the things in your freezer and cupboards. I had a large amount of tinned stuff, so have been trying very hard to use it as we will be very short of kitchen storage until we get the new kitchen fitted.
My next door neighbour came for coffee this afternoon, I really will miss her as we have become such good friends. We are still planning lots of our trips out, so will continue to see each other. She has invited us for dinner the night before we move so that I won’t need to cook which is very thoughtful of her.

Hello toyou all.
Not the best day today weatherwise, foggy first thing then the rain came on & hasn't stopped yet, but much warmer than of late.

Our daughter took me to Morrisons this morning for the weeks groceries, buying much less than i used to obviously but I am trying to use up much of the freezer items, quite a lot of meat things to use up before restocking.

Bumped into a couple of people that knew my Jack & chatting to them brought on the tears, but I coped with it.
I bought 8 Primroses in different colours in Morrisons & this afternoon I ventured into the garden & got them planted up, they had already starting to flower & they do look lovely, really bright & colouful.
It was raining at the time & I got a bit wet but it saved me having to go round with the watering can, LOL, I just wish Jack could have seen them.

Not sure what to have for tea, I had quite a heavy meal yesterday & so I am thinkng a nice cheese & Tomato sandwhich would be nice.

Hope everyone is keeping well, & I hope the house move goes smoothly for you Linda.

Joan.

Wow Ann, you were a busy bee. Hoping you are resting with a well earned cuppa.

It is 17 degrees here today and, until the last half hour we had blue sky and sunshine. I went to town on the bus as I wanted to post something in the main post office (which was empty for some reason, I also had a good wander, called in for a latte to a favourite cafe, bought some bits in M&S, including a new sweater. Came home, had lunch then did 45 minutes in the garden cutting out dead branches in an old rambling Rose. tired now so back indoors and it is looking like rain soon.

Hello chit chatters.

Been busy today and feeling much better as a headache was with me most of yesterday but I think I was maybe dehydrated. So have drank loads and feeling more myself.

Cleared all the ironing, and cleaned the house. Had a rest for lunch and have just made a huge pasta bake for tea. I used up all the half used onions, carrots and mushrooms that were lurking, a tin of sweetcorn and a can of chopped tomatoes'.
(In one large pan, I poured a good panful of fusili pasta)

Threw the tomato mixture all in a pan with some black pepper, tomato puree and some dried herbs. Added a jar of pasta sauce with chunky veg and now all ready.
Just pour all the mixture into a large rectangular dish and cover with grated cheese. Into the over for about 30 minutes later on.

There is plenty for 2 days, so that's tomorrows meal sorted as well.

Re my bulbs ladies, yes maybe they will come up at different times. I was beg to think, I planted some upside down? lol

Linda, that's good, you will have some societies near you so you can carry on your activities in your new area.

A very damp and overcast day here and misty on the hills so no venturing outside for me.

Hope everyone looking in is well today

Florence in the hebrides

Just read back my post and had to edit it as had forgotten to add the pasta!!

I remember a few years ago, we went to a car supermarket place to look at two cars, both the same type. One had lower mileage, but when we opened the door, it stank of cigarettes. It had been professionally valeted, but the roof lining must have been ingrained, so we bought the other one with more mileage on it.

We have lots of snowdrops in the garden. There are lots of other types of bulbs , but they are just pushing through now. The new house has a much smaller garden much to OH’s delight. Our current garden requires a lot of maintenance and he says he is getting too old to do it

Florence even the same type of bulbs (daffodils, tulips etc) will grow at a different rate and flower at varying times so you will need to be patient :-) :-)

Linda How awful that smoke filled house. I think if you were continuing to be delivering there you could refuse to go in for health reasons.

Re smoky houses -
when house-hunting many years ago, I looked at a house which had been lived in by a chain smoker.
Most of the house wasn't too bad, but the living room was stained dark brown with sticky nicotine deposit from top to bottom - ceiling, walls, everything.
Needless to say, I didn't make an offer for that one!

Cold, grey, and damp here - but windless.
Lots of snowdrops in bloom, and mini daffs just on the verge of bursting open.
Some purple crocuses.
Bullfinches pecking the buds off the damson tree - which never produces any damsons.
Tulips in pots outside have leaves about 6 inches high, but of course no flower buds yet.

Florence - maybe your multi bulbs are planted at different depths, and will therefore appear at different times? Or maybe the different varieties come at different times.
I would leave them alone for a few more weeks and see what happens.

Good afternoon, it is very chilly here. I gave the built in fridge in the kitchen this morning a good clean as obviously that isn’t coming with us. I then started to clean all of the skirting boards, but still have lots to do. For a modern house they are quite ornate, so lots of ridges to clean. I had done everything before Xmas when we were supposed to move, but they all need doing again now.

OH has gone to his Probus meeting this morning , some of them go to a cafe for lunch afterwards, he always has a bacon sandwich. There is a Probus group in Knaresborough, so he will join that once we move. He will also join the local Ramblers group. There is a Wombles group for me as well, so I will get in touch with them. Once the work on the house has been completed, I will find some sort of voluntary work to keep me busy. The town centre is a thirty minute walk from the house, but there is a regular bus service as well. We will have to drive to the supermarket, but I do that anyway as there is usually too much to carry.

Afternoon everyone.

Better day here and for now not raining. I donned a thick wool cardy and ventured outside. My goodness, the air was cold but smelt very fresh. I managed to stay for about 15 minutes before my fingers were really cold. I had a look at some of my pots and was so surprised to see one in the corner with tulips and daffs about 4 inches high. Was a welcome sight.

My little holly plant I purchased at xmas is growing steadily but not rapidly which is what I was told about it. its standing about 6 inches high now.

I looked in at the multi bulbs planter and some are growing but some have not? Not sure why. If it was a bit warmer, I would move the soil a little and investigate but far too chilly yet.

I have a huge basket of ironing that's calling me but today I don't seem to have the energy to do anything today so that will be on my list for tomorrows jobs.

I tf all my photos from my phone last week to the PC, over 7000 of them! I'm now down to about 3500 so slowly working my way through them all. This is what happens when you tf to PC and don't delete off your phone.....memo to self to do this next time lol So many doubles of pics, its unbelievable. Anyway a job I can stop and start and keeping me busy.

Once I have sorted them all into all the folders, then they can be tf to the various Pen Drives I have and delete from the PC to free up space.

JustGinnie, re lengthy marriages, its true my grandparents generation were all married 50+ years with few divorces just 1 or 2 but in my mums family at least 3 divorced and in their families(my generation) several have also divorced. But some of my cousins have married 2 or 3 times with kiddies from each marriage!

One thing that is of my generation is this. Out of all my best friends, we all married with now grown up children but.....none are married with children and none are bothered about it. my own are happy being single as are my friends children all single and mid 20's to mid 30's. None are in a relationship at all! So none of us think we will ever be grandparents. How weird is that?



Linda, I once went to visit this old lady years ago and she smoked too. The living room was always a fog and once I got home, I had to shower and change my clothes as they smelt awful! At least you wont have to suffer that anymore when you move.

Will you have shops that you can walk to locally in your new area? I wonder if there is a litter picking group too so you can carry on your good work. Does hubby have hobbies to keep him busy as well? Mind you with all your renovations, that will keep you both busy for awhile I guess.

Hope all is well with everyone today

Florence in the hebrides