General Chat

Argyllgran I had a test in Specsavers just last week and have varifocals being made.

The lenses cost £180, the frames started at £15 and went up to over £200, the pair I chose was £130. But there's a £70 discount for being over 60, and you get a second pair free. I had anti-reflection and UV protection as optional extras and it cost under £300 in total.

I was at the optician's this morning for an eye test. I tried varifocals many years ago and didn't get on with them - I hated having no peripheral vision - so I now wear bifocals. I also wanted a pair of reading glasses as I now use a laptop and have been getting a crick in my neck!!

As I was buying two pairs I was expecting a bill of several hundred, even allowing for a discount on the second pair. I use Boots and their frames range from £40 upwards, with other makes costing even more. I bought two Boots frames, similar to the ones I already have and was very pleasantly surprised when the total bill was only £130. The optician mentioned varifocals and said they were roughly twice as much. She also said that they use two different manufacturers because they don't all make all types of lens, which might be a possible reason for some of the high bills quoted.

Gosh how the weeks are flying by. Just been reading through the posts and already talking about Christmas with Florence being so organised as usual . I have nothing done yet and no idea what to get anyone, nothing new there. lol.
I shall have to make a start soon. I don't have many to buy for or even many cards to send now . Family overseas will all get money so they can buy what they need/want.
3 of them have just brought new homes so I am sure they will find a use for some money or just buy something that they wouldn't get otherwise.

My lovely SiL who has Dementia is getting worse quickly now, it is such an awful illness that takes over our loved ones.

We have our flu jab tomorrow at the Gps but he is not doing the covid ones this year so we will book at our nearest pharmacy .

Hope everyone is ok and have a good weekend all.

It's also flu and covid vaccination time here.

Today we got notices and were asked by one of the nurses which covid vaccine we wanted ........... covid and flu vaccinations next Wednesday in Room xxxx. No need to bring any ID, we have your records on file (ie accessible on iPads).

There is also a provincial election happening in this province, voting day is October 19, but we're getting a mobile advance voting station, next Thursday. We only need to produce 1 piece of ID to prove our identity, no need to prove our address!

We have no need to book appointments or work out where we're going to go or how to get there!! Just take the elevator (lift)!

This life is getting too easy!

It must be much easier for you Sylvia, so that is great.

We are going for our flu and COVID jabs this morning. I keep getting NHS emails telling me that I am eligible for the new RSV jab, but no word on that one from the doctors yet.

My daughter got an email telling her that Esme is eligible for her COVID booster and giving a link to book it. When she followed the link, it said that there were no appointments available, so she rang the vaccination hotline. A young girl who answered checked for her and was surprised when there were no appointments available. So she asked if they would travel to a surrounding area, but had no idea what those areas would be. So my daughter suggested various places such as York or Leeds. The girl wanted her to supply a postcode in those areas, so she could check. I don’t know how my daughter was supposed to think up a postcode. Eventually the girl checked and there were no appointments available, presumably because of Esme’s age. At the end of it , all the girl could suggest was that my daughter should contact her own doctor and see if they can magic up a child’s vaccine. What is the point of the NHS sending out reminders when they have no vaccine for children.

We are ofvto the other end of the village this morning. OH and I never get the same time slots.

At least it is not raining.

Good morning!

Its wet. wild and chucking it down! And we haven't got to Hurricane Kirk yet that's arriving next week.

Well the 2 work benches are complete and in the tunnel. I've asked my joiner to make small shelves all around above the raised beds as that will give me some more space for smaller pots or seed trays. He also measured up to make a triangular raised bed in the garden but no hurry for that.

I so want to take all the garden stuff over to the tunnel today but until the rain stops, i'm not stepping outside at all.

So indoor jobs today and plenty of things to do. ironing basket is full to overflowing as that has been rather neglected this week...ooops!

I also need to go through some of the xmas gifts and sort them into groups, this will make it a lot easier when wrapping etc.

Good luck with those of you who are having Covid boosters and hope you don't feel too unwell afterwards.

Bit worried we haven't seen Joan for some time so do hope she is ok?
If you are looking in Joan but don't feel like chatting, just give us a wave~~~~~~~

Right better get busy with somethings else it will be lunchtime soon.

Florence in the hebrides

good morning all. Lovely morning here sunny and 13 degrees, still chilly but a good day for a walk. Not that I am going far but I did walk down to the lady who has a charity books stall for borrowing and returning books so that stretched my legs.
My covid and flu jabs are not due until 26 October but good luck to all having them today. Wonder which one it will be for covid this time.

Got lots of small indoor jobs to do today so I had better get started on the list before I get side tracked into card making.

Hope it stops raining for you soon Florence so you can get going with moving stuff.

Joan hope all is OK with you.

Linda, it does seem a bit stupid if the NHS is saying to get Esme vaccinated and then there is no available vaccine. :-(

It was Phyzer for us today. But am a bit worried about the flu one as a friend had just the flu jab yesterday and is feeling rough.

Florence, I see it is all kicking off up your way. Just one of those places you don’t expect to see all and sundry open on a Sunday.

I suppose the problem with Esme’s jab is that so few are used that places don’t have many on hand.

We had both jabs this morning. OH found the same, that we didn’t feel the flu jab, but the Covid one was sore. I can feel the Covid one now, so only time will tell if it continue s to hurt.
I asked about the RSV jab as I keep getting messages about it. The doctor said that they had started to do them, but have had to stop because they don’t have the fridge space to store them as the flu and Covid campaign has started. She said that we will be called for that some before Xmas.

The only thing that I have done towards Xmas is to order some cards. The Yorkshire Cancer charity have cards featuring the Knaresborough viaduct, so I thought they would be different. You had to order them and collect them from the local depot. I thought that I was ordering four packs and payed by PayPal without paying much attention. When I went to pick them up, I looked at the confirmation email and thought that they seemed to be a bit expensive. It turned out that I had ordered ten packs :-( There was nothing that I could do, so it looks like I will be using the same cards for the next few years :-S

Your poly tunnel is coming on well Florence, I am jealous :-)

Sylvia,

You certainly seem to be well looked after in your new home.
I hope you will be happy and enjoy being cared for, - freed from day to day worries.

Flu jab for me too this morning.
I've never had a reaction, so hope it stays that way.
Our GP surgery is an area hub for vaccines and have it down to a fine art.
I was in one door, along the corridor, into one of the many treatment rooms, vaccine administered and out the back door...... All within 2 minutes.
They really excelled themselves today.!

Daughter had suggested coffee and cake at a cafe just below the cliffs at Folkestone, so the 3 of us drove there afterwards and sat under the sun umbrellas looking out over the glistening sea to see France in the distance.
...( sorry Florence !)
It was beautiful and so warm, which even brought out a little lizard to bask in the sunshine.
..... A bit like Death in Paradise scenes .... ;-)

I hope they can find a suitable place for Esme to have her vaccine, if it is recommended.
I wish different departments of health care could work together better, then people wouldn't have the hassle of chasing non-existant appointments :-S

Florence
I can't wait to hear your plans of what you will grow in your new poly-tunnel. Are you planting anything before winter sets in?

My Covid/flu jabs will be on Oct 31st, in a local(ish) village hall 10 miles away. Email informing me of that arrived today.

I had the RSV one several weeks ago, with absolutely no reaction afterwards.

It's been cloudy and overcast all day, and keeps looking as if it's going rain. But it hasn't, and my washing has dried outside.
The wind isn't cold - I've been out working in the garden in a jumper but no jacket.

Yesterday I discovered that I had stupidly allowed my PAYG mobile number to lapse, and had therefore lost all the credit on it - about £10, I think.
It also meant that I had to get HMRC and a bank to change the number they send One-time Passcodes to.
Fortunately, other bodies which send OTPs have a different number registered with them.

HMRC was relatively easy, as it could be done online, and wasn't urgent in any case.
The bank was another matter, though mainly my own fault.

I phoned them. As part of the security info they had to check before they would change the number, they wanted a 4-digit code, which I wasn't aware I had.
Had to ring off and go hunting through several years of paperwork to find it.

Phoned them again. This time, of course they didn't ask for the 4-digit code, but wanted the last 4 digits on my bank card instead. I couldn't find the card, and still can't.
I've never used it, because my main account is with a different bank , so it ought to be in my filing cabinet with other bank stuff - but there's no sign of it.

Phoned them again, to ask them to cancel that card and send me a new one.
Security this time involved telling them the amount and date of the last transaction on the account. Fortunately, with some rummaging through statements, I was able to tell them that.

The new card will arrive in about 4 days time, and new PIN a couple of days after that.
And then I can try again to ask them to change the mobile number!

I bet they don't even ask for the card number this time, but only the 4-digit code.
I hope there isn't some other bit of security info I don't have!


I hope your weather improves soon, Florence, and you can start enjoying your polytunnel to the full.

Well despite the awful weather, we managed to transfer all my garden stuff across to the polytunnel; and now have a huge space where the big box was behind my kitchen door!

The workbenches have all the trays underneath on the bottom shelf. All my seeds are in a sealed plastic box so they wont get damp.

I will be growing, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, onions, peppers and some herbs plus garden peas. In not sure there is anything I can grow now at this time of year but i need the time to get 44 bags of 60l compost for the raised beds sorted out. Yes i did say 44 60l bags!!! Costing loads but have to have it.

We may try courgette and cucumber as well. I'm also thinking of maybe blackberry or raspberry but we shall see.

A t least my small flower pots wont get bashed about this year in the gales as they will be inside the polytunnel.

Names, yes Tesco up here are the only branch in the whole of the uk not to be open on Sunday. But all the hotels are, Chinese, Indian and the Tai plus a petrol station that sells just about anything.
30 years ago nothing was open, no planes, no ferries etc but over the years things have changed and now Tesco are in a discussion with their staff to gauge how many staff would be willing to work.

One minister said, any shop that is open on Sunday, he wont ever shop there on any day of the week so if the coop open, then he wont have a supermarket to shop in!!

If one is so religious, they wouldn't use a shop, that's fine, don't shop but please don't preach to others. Its a free country. Everyone should have a choice.

Argyllgran, what a nuisance re your bank etc Hope it all gets sorted once you get your new card.

I had reason to go in my bank on Friday when i was over for the day. I had issued a cheque for a large amount to my son in respect of inheritance form his nanna and he deposited it using the app on his phone. But imagine my horror, to learn the next day, the bank had returned my cheques un paid.

After several phone calls which were a waste of time, a letter arrived some 2 weeks later advising me they do not hold my signature on file and that is why it was unpaid!! I was furious as ive banked there for 31 years no less.

So I went into the branch and sure enough, they don't hold a mandate on my account. When i asked why etc, they said they had moved to a new system and i should have had a form sent to me to sign but I never got it!!

All sorted now but what if I had paid the Polytunnel co this way, how embarrassing would that of been? And to add insult to injury, the bank never apologized at all. Changed days since i worked in a branch where we gave 110 % service to all our customers or else.

Well Ive not had any food yet so better rustle something up quick as im starving!

Florence in the hebrides

You're going to be very busy, Florence!
You could open a market garden, by the sound of it!
It'll be lovely to be able to potter about in the polytunnel regardless of what the weather's doing outside.

AG what a rigmarole with all the security checks. I dread having to phone anyone that needs a lot of checks like that with hearing problems as well I would be on the phone for hours. As for the last amount you had to quote, if it was. like mine, an on line account with no paper statements that too would take ages.
Florence you will be putting the supermarket out of work growing all those veg. It is going to mean a lot of work for you looking after it all. Might be an idea not to sew them all at once. Is the poly tunnel heated at all?

In the future we shall possibly see coach trips to view Florence's poly tunnel.

Ann -
it is an account with no paper statements, but I always print paper copies.
Which is just as well, or I wouldn't have been able to tell them about the last transaction, as I can't log in to the account until the registered mobile number is changed so that I can receive an OTP.

Rain today - but that's good . The garden and pots were needing it.

How will you water things in the polytunnel, Florence? (You may have said already - I can't remember.)

Sounds like Florence will be able to feed the whole community once she gets going.

Jabs - we both have sore arms today and neither of us could drop off to sleep. Usually I get blamed but not this time. I am so tired my eyelids are drooping.

Polytunnel sounds great Florence you will be all sorted for spring sowing . Do you have space near by for a good compost heap to keep up a supply of compost that you will need for top ups.

We went for our flu jabs yesterday. 1 gp and 1 nurse doing them I went in first and nurse said can I do your shingles jab today. I've had it I said . No you had part one and should have had part 2. Would have been helpful if I was told that a the time of the first jab. Anyway I had it and now have 2 sore arms and didn't sleep well at all. OH was told to have his flu jab and then see the nurse for his diabetic check (no prior notice) waited to be called and then was told he wasn't on the list for the check. Think they were trying to do to many things in 1 morning. Just got to book our covid jabs now at the pharmacy.

Take care all.

I didn’t know that the Shingles jab had two parts, we have both only had one.
Both our arms are sore, but the flu jab one is much worse for both of us. The flu jab was in my left arm and that is the side I normally sleep on, so that wasn’t helpful.
Apart from the sore arms, we feel OK.

If you can get some salad leaves growing, you should be able to to keep them going all winter in the poly tunnel Florence. It is probably too cold for them to germinate outside now, if you had somewhere inside to get them going, you might be able to plant them out in the tunnel

I just looked at the shingles jab as I was told I only needed one dose. There are two different vaccines, one needing one dose, the other needs two doses.

The one dose jab cannot be given to people who have a severely weakened iimmune system.

Every day's a school day!