General Chat

We're in a heat wave!!

Began last Thursday, and today (Sunday) was over 30C outside, and muggy feeling! It will last at least until mid-week. Daughter and I are managing to sleep pretty well by having a fan in each of our rooms, plus two others directing cooler air down the hall.

OH is still in hospital, air conditioned!!

They operated on his elbow yesterday (Saturday), and were faced with the fact that he'd apparently fractured the bone close to this new one about 18 months to 3 years ago :-0 That fracture had healed but the muscles had tightened, so they had to stretch the ligaments. He's in a cast!!

I remember him tripping over a bit of the pavement that was slightly raised outside our bank on the main road some time ago, can't remember exactly how long ago, and that he did complain that he had bruised that arm, but no complaints about great pain.

Anyway, the surgeon(s) had quite the job!

He's now in the 3rd room in 2 days, having been moved up to the orthopaedic recovery ward yesterday evening after post-op recovery, but then moved across that ward to close by the nurses station this afternoon when we told them he had been known to get out of bed in the night and walk! It is not a secure ward!! Luckily the Hospitalist doctors and team are still involved, so we wait and see what happens next.

We still have no idea how long he will be in the hospital, but tomorrow morning I'm going to fill out the paper work for the apartment in Assisted Living, and pay my deposit. Then we take it from there!

Daughter has persuaded me that it will help to hire a local company that helps people downsize and move ............ she and her team will literally take over every single aspect of the downsizing and moving (even going through our clothes!), whether it is within this city or across the country! Costly, but honestly I think it is going to be worth it for me, because that leaves me free to concentrate on OH and our future without having to think about hiring moving companies, what to do with stuff that is excess, etc etc.

At least the elbow op is done Sylvia so that is good news. And you are moving foward with sorting out moving to assisted living. that firm that organises it all for you sounds a marvellous idea. I have not heard of anything like that here. So, do you know where the assisted living apartment will be? Even with help it is all very much an upheaval I am sure.

I don't think we have anything firms like that here Sylvia but I may be wrong . It will be a massive help for you as you say. You will be able to do other things without the worry of sorting your house out. I think you are making a wise decision .

When my sister died suddenly I engaged a Probate firm and a firm to deal with the estate agents etc to sell her home. Yes I had to pay for the service (out of her estate) but the value to me was definitely worth it. No one else in the family wanted to take on the work entailed so I decided to do it my way.
I do hope your OH recovers from the op well and quickly.

It is a warm day with sun and cloud quite pleasant really but we may get rain later. Won't mind that as it will water the plants.

Take care all

I am glad that your OH came through the op well Sylvia. I was going to say that it was odd that he hadn’t known he had broken his arm previously, but I remember that when my mother had a heart attack, the scan showed that it was actually her second one. She had had a previous heart attack in the past ten years. She had no idea, the only thing that she could think of was that he had feinted one day when she was going down the stairs, so wondered if that was it.
The company to help you move sounds like a really good idea. It is tempting to hold onto too much stuff just because you have always had it. Moving to an assisted living apartment is such a good idea, your next big adventure.

It has been really sunny here today. I took Eve out for the day. We walked from the centre of Harrogate up through Valley Gardens and the woods to Harlow Carr Gardens. There is a Bettys cafe there, but there was a forty minute wait, so we went into the shop instead and bought sandwiches and cakes for a picnic. We didn’t go into the Harlow Carr Gardens as it is expensive and it is not long since we went. After the picnic we walked all the way back, so my feet were aching by the time we got home.

The plumber came today to start the en-suite. It is going to take most of the week, but he has made a good start.

What a change from yesterday. The rain is absolutely sheeting down today. It would be of course because today is the first day of the Great Yorkshire Show. It is on for four days with al,tickets so,d, 35,000 people every day. Poor souls will be soaking wet. The traffic in the whole area is gridlocked for four days so going any where is difficult. I have a hearing appointment right in the centre of Harrogate, so I am going to go really early in the bus.

Afternoon everyone.

Sorry to say that for a change we have a beautiful, warm sunny day with a small breeze! makes a change after all the horrid weather we've had recently.

Linda, its so sad for these shows when the weather turns nasty as all the stalls are relying on selling their goods etc and people wont turn out in horrid weather. I remember going to shows like The South of England Show at Ardingly which when it was hot & sunny loads of people came but when the rain came was awful. Hope you get to your hearing test ok!

Sylvia, so glad to read hubbys op was done and all ok. I do think like others, moving into assisted living will be a weight of your shoulders and how marvellous to have a company to help you pack and get organised etc. Up here, you would have to get your own family to move you and the small place we have in town isnt that big. i think the rooms are one big room for daily living, a bedroom and shower and that's it. So one would have to virtually get rid of nearly all ones possessions.
But i hope it all works out well for you and hubby.

JustGinnie, so glad your pound shop rose bush has done so well, what a bargain!
Sometimes it isn't always the most expensive plants that do so well!

I ordered 4 upright containers that you can store spaghetti in but i'm using them for rice, lentils and some pasta. It will tidy the top shelf up and get rid of all the packets we have. My new 5 drawer narrow chest eventually was delivered today although they never tel to tell me what day they were coming!!

Anyway. I have spent the last hour or so, filling up the drawers with all my crafting accessories and now can see the tops of my other bedroom furniture lol and all looks neat & tidy and less cluttered once again. I did pay them to assemble it for me but just now im not feeling too good and havent the patience to do it myself.

The toe next to my big toe has some horrid infection and i now have antibiotics for it but the pain is terrible and hurts walking. I had a fungal infection to begin with and then the nail came off and that bled for hours! But this morning it was swollen badly and very dark in colour so i took a needle to the side and pierced it! Oh my the blood flowed out like a river but then it stopped and the swelling has gone down so all i did was alleviate the swelling. i have now put savlon and a good dressing over the whole toe and shall leave that on.

Hopefully the tabs will kick in soon and clear it up.

Well time for a coffee and a cracker and then to sort out the top shelves in the kitchen.

Sending you all some sun :-D :-D

Florence in the hebrides

Oh goodness Florence, your toe sounds bad, I hope that the antibiotics clear it up quickly. At least you have managed to sort out your crafting things.

The plumbers have made good progress today.There will only be one of them tomorrow, so he wants to start at 7.30 am to get a lot done. That means I will have to get up even earlier than today :-(

My hearing appointment isn’t until Thursday, I forgot to put the day in the post

Good morning everyone. I hope you are feeling better today Florence.
The rain has stopped thank goodness , it is just cloudy today, better weather for those attending the Great Yorkshire show.

The plumber arrived early,he has just about finished plumbing in the new sink and toilet into the new unit which goes right across the end of the room. He will be turning the water off after that because he is going to fit in a towel radiator instead of the small radiator which was there . The new radiator is much wider than the original one, so he has all the pipe work to alter.

good morning all. I hope the antibiotics have started to work Florence and that you feel better.

that sounds a nice big ensuite Linda, At least he seems keen to start work on time. Pleased the weather is better for the Yorkshire show. It is cloudy sun here but very blustery.

Afternoon all

Well the throbbing pain in my toe has greatly subsided so hopefully those tabs have hit the infection and its clearing up.

I have emailed my GP as not heard a beak since the Dr in Edinburgh sent a letter with recommendations. They have replied and said my email has been fwd to the Dr and they will be in touch soon! Why is it thought, that we as patients are constantly chasing up things.

My MRI was back on the 27 May and still no results. I did tel over 10 days ago and all I got told was 6 weeks is the minimum before you get the results, good or bad! No wonder we all get stressed out with worry1

It is very cloudy and windy but dry here un ;like Aberdeenshire and surrounds that have torrential rain I believe. We were on the edge of that weather front and so i think have escaped it...for a change.

I'm going to make mackerel pate today as we haven't had that for ages and serve with triangles of toast and side salad for tea. Doesn't sound much but 4 large triangles is quite filling for me.

I sorted out the cupboard with all the jars and tins today and we seem to have rather a lot, so i took quite a few jars of sauces and tins of fruit, tuna etc and have stored them in a box. The dates are until next year so will be fine. This will be our winter box for when the weather may be bad and/or we cant get a delivery online.

I now have shelves that are not overfull so not so heavy..

Well hope your plumber does a good job Linda and doesn't take too long.

Hope everyone else is keeping well and ok

Florence in the hebrides

I'm glad your toe is improving, Florence. That sounds so painful.

I know of a couple of people locally who had MRIs done earlier this year, and they had to wait at least 6 weeks. As you say, such a long wait, worrying about what the result will be.

Good to hear that the elbow op is done, and that you're making progress with your Assisted Living plans, Sylvia.
There's very little assisted living (sheltered housing) in this area, and long waiting lists .

Joan - how are you? We haven't heard from you for a while - hope you're OK.

We had one and a half warm sunny days , and for once some summer clothes saw the light of day - but yesterday and today we've been back to cool, showery, windy, grey weather, plus jumpers and heating.

Of course, it always does rain for the school holidays!

In spite of the lack of sunshine, my strawberries are doing well. Enough are ripening to give me a small plateful every day.

Well, well. just had tel call from my surgery to say, District nurse will be out to measure my legs? So my email woke them up at least. But the Dr i saw away measured my legs and gave the figures to my GP.

If they think, pressure stockings are the answer then they haven't read the letter properly as it stated I would need a calf wrap first before i could get any compression stockings on my leg!! When i asked what day they would come, the receptionist said she couldn't say???? Just as well I don't go out often isn't it!

Just want to let everyone know that Joan is ok but feels at the moment she is not ready to come back & chat. She is still missing her Jack terribly as one can imagine after all the years they were married.

She says to say hello to everyone and hopes to be back soon.

Florence in the hebrides

It is good to hear that Joan is OK, hopefully she will be back soon.

The young plumber got the toilet and sink working and was supposed to fit the new towel radiator before 1 pm when he was going to another job. He had a problem with one of the new pipes, so had to redo the joint, so the radiator isn’t actually on the wall. I was cross with him this morning because yesterday they had lots of tool boxes propped open at the bottom of the bed. When they left, I saw that the cream valance sheet was absolutely covered in mud. I had a go at rubbing it off, but it needs washing of course. It is underneath a very heavy mattress, so it will have to stay until we need to move the bed to get the new carpet in. Despite being very apologetic, I noticed that he still had boxes and pipes on top of my nice bamboo duvet cover. He isn’t coming back, tomorrow it is a carpenter who is putting the wall boards in the shower area and the splash back over the built in unit. Then on Friday boss man plumber is coming to finish everything off, so I will be having very stern words with them

The kitchen still isn’t finished, the fitter says he is still ill, so will let me know when he can come. It is just so annoying, especially as it is costing a fortune. If he doesn’t appear by next week, I will start chasing the actual kitchen company as our contract is with them. Why is life always so difficult?
:-|

Pleased to hear that Joan is ok, hope she will come back soon. Strange how we are all different. when my Tony died I found a lot of help by being on this board. It helped me not feel so lonely and gave me a lot of support. It is such a hard time, was over 60 years for me so I do know how you feel Joan. such an empty space in our lives.

Linda that was very inconsiderate of that young plumber. As you say it would be quite an effort to lift the mattress up to get it out to wash. No way could I get mine out. Good job you have not got new carpets down yet.
Sometimes it is a wonder that we choose to have these large jobs done at all, they seem to cause more work than they save.

Afternoon all

Not a bad day here, dry, little breeze but the midges I feel are lurking and not far away.

A very quiet day for me and daughter away all day elsewhere and wont be home until 8.30pm. I should do a basket of ironing but the shower & hair wash has drained me so im sitting for a bit doing some research and then maybe do 1/2 hour. My left leg is very swollen today and aches when standing to long. i cant sit & iron. I tried it once but prefer to stand.

linda, oh my, i would def be complaining. How careless of them. They just don't seem to care about peoples furniture etc as long as they get the job done!

My toe seems less painful and not swollen as before so i think i have turned the corner but still keeping the dressing until Sunday, then i shall remove and redress and see how it is.

No tel calls from surgery yet!

Have a good afternoon everyone looking in

Florence in the hebrides

Good afternoon, . Well I went into Harrogate on the bus again, it was a bit late because of the show traffic, but not bad considering. I had gone early, so had a look around the shops, but didn’t buy anything.

I had my hearing tested sitting in the booth, pressing a buzzer when I heard the sound. As expected my hearing was a bit worse than the last time I had it done, but not too bad. He said that my hearing aids just weren’t working properly, so he sorted them out. One needed a new tube, only £30 as they were out of warranty. The other one had lots of wax inside, so was bunged up. He dug all that out then reprogrammed them to the new prescription. What a difference, they are just like they were when they were new. As I walked back to the bus, I was aware of the terrible racket all around me. After I got off the bus to walk home, I could hear all the birds chirping in the trees. It will take a few days for my ears to adjust, the same sort of thing you get when you have a new prescription in your glasses.

The carpenter is still working away in the en-suite, but he dies seem to be careful. We thought that we would have to have a wall replastered where had removed some tiles. He said that he had an electric sander, so offered to sand the wall back. We offered to pay him if he did it. I haven’t been to look yet,but OH said it is now good enough to paint. Although the sander has a bag attached to it, apparently there is a huge amount of dust. Cleaning that is not going to be fun.

Afternoon all
Well what an awful day here as its damp, misty and has been raining all day!

Its cold day but not chilly cold, a damp cold which seems to affect my knees as they are sore today.

I had a response from my airline who have agreed to refund my extra expenses but they made no apology for lack of service, so unacceptable. I replied giving them my bank details but reiterated about the lack of care towards passengers who need special assistance.

Customer services in any situation these days has gone right downhill .When I worked in Banking Services, we had to give 110% else we would be given a right good talking to and was reminded that the customers pay our wages. So no customers, no jobs!!

Just pottering about the house today, some family tree research and not much else really.

Hope everyone else is having a good day.

Florence in the hebrides

That is excellent news getting your expenses back Florence. It is just a pity that they put you to all that trouble in the first place.

I have had a busy couple of days. On Thursday afternoon, we cleaned up after the joiner. OH noticed that our new light fitting in the en-suite was broken, either the young plumber had hit it when he was getting the wall boards out, or the joiner hit it putting the new boards in. The joiner also said that he had swept up outside before he left as there was a lot of sawdust from where he was cutting the boards. When I looked I saw that he had just swept it all to the side where the old sink etc was. A bit like sweeping it under the carpet. He also had the cheek to add an extra three bags of rubbish from his van to the pile.
The boss man plumber came on Friday to finish the job, so straight away he said to get a new light fitting and he would reimburse us. Luckily they were still in stock at the outlet store where we bought it from, so the new one arrived today. It made more sense to get the same one because the bulbs are so expensive and we have those of course. It is looking very good, but he couldn’t quite finish it. The towel radiator still needs to be put on the wall. He would have done it, but they had used some no nails to secure one of the brackets, but it hadn’t set, so they had to put something different in. He is coming back on Monday morning, so that shouldn’t take long.
We also had the carpets and vinyl measured and they are now ordered. They could have put the first lot down this week, but OH needs some time for decorating, so we have put it off until a week on Wednesday.

Yesterday afternoon was Esme’s school summer fayreo. I went and took Eve and we spent as much money as we could on the stalls. They had lots of home made jam for onl £1 a jar, so I bought a couple, but there were some left at the end, so I bought all the rest. Esme had a great time with her friends and the rain held off, so they could hold it outside although it was a bit chilly.

OH and I forgot that on Thursday we managed to get out for dinner at the last minute as it was our 54 th wedding anniversary. We walked into town and just took pot luck. We couldn’t get into where we wanted, so went to the second choice. It was fine, but I don’t think that we would go back as there are lots of other places to try.

Good morning all. good that you got some money back Florence. Customer service just seems to be going the way everything is these days.

good too Linda that you got a new light fitting. Why can't these people own up when something gets broken? Still you are slowly getting there. There must be times when you wish that you had never moved. It will be worth it when it is finished though, I'm sure.