General Chat

Perhaps all the council work everywhere is a little flurry of activity to use up this financial year's budget. ;-)

The men have been out with their mowers cutting the grass verges here today.

I wish the council would use up their budget here to fill the pot holes and repaint all the road markings here, but there is no chance of that happening. All the local councils are being amalgamated into one large North Yorkshire council in April. My area had a lot of reserves and intended using them prior to the change, but they have been stopped from doing that and all the money has to be handed over.

We couldn’t get rid of our bath in the main bathroom Florence as we need it for Esme. The one in the en-suite is fine for us at the moment, but there isn’t room in there to put a double walk in shower. We will probably down size again before we get too decrepit and then I would remove the bath for a shower, but we always come into the self funding bracket. Having said that we did get a grant for cheaper cavity wall insulation once, but that was some government scheme,other than that we just pay up.

Gwyn, I realised earlier on that yes, they will be using up all the rd funds before the next financial year. Pity, they couldn't use it to remove the speed limit signs and move them further back.

The boy racers seem to think we live on the M25!!! I have emailed twice the local councillor but got no reply. Says it all really. Don't know why I bother to vote in local elections as haven't seen any improvements anywhere!

It is sooo cold, I have the heating on. The sun has gone on holiday elsewhere today and i think the weather is on the change maybe. Lovely though there is no wind & rain.

Cant decide what to make for tea as im quite hungry today. Was gonna make some kinda veggie pasta bolognaise, comfort food with naan bread too.

Daughter's room is almost back to normal, whatever that is :-D :-D

Well good afternoon everyone.
March, in like a lamb and out like a lion!

Still no wind and very calm here but freezing cold. Ventured out to put number stickers on my bins, something I had just not got round to before. I noticed the other neighbours had numbers on their bins, so thought was about time I got some.

Was only out 10 mins and my fingers were soo cold.

Ordered a lovely black cardigan with pockets, longish, past my hips. Came today and am delighted and so comfy and fits perfect. I guess you get what you pay for as was £27.00 but worth every penny.

Making salmon fillets today, new potatoes and cauliflower plus peas but nooo soy sauce. I sprinkled some sesame seed oil, herbs and black pepper plus a little water over the salmon and all ready for the oven later.

Was supposed to be sorting out cupboards but what with neighbour visiting and now its the afternoon, energy levels are too low to start the job now. Tomorrow we shall do it instead.

Joan, hope you and hubby are well, Linda, AnnG and anyone else looking in.

Florence in the Hebrides

Oh btw the workmen are still in full swing and now there is a toilet outside :-D :-D :-D
I feel for the poor lady and was wondering how she is managing as she never asked to use our loo. Must have been crossing her legs!

ZZzzzz, hope you are feeling better, sorry forgot to mention you on previous post.

Maybe they only brought the temp toilet when they removed the old one Florence.

It is mostly dull here with occasional patches of sunshine and it is 7 degrees. I have only been out to the garage, there is quite a cold wind so I am glad o stay in bu I have no heating on and am not cold at the moment.

I am warm inside and with no heating on, the temp in the lounge is 20 degrees, like the Bahamas :-D :-D :-D

and warmer than Mallorca.

EEEk! I have just looked at the forecast for us next week and its showing snow for Mon-Wed for most of northern Scotland and 0 degrees. Brrrr

I think you had better put the heating on next week Florence.

My WiFi has been a real pain, constantly cutting out, so we keep having to restart the router. The main problem is that there are too many devices connected to it. I have the fastest speed we can get, which is pathetic compared to people who live in big cities.

Until very recently there was no full fibre broadband in the town, so we are fibre to the cabinet down the road , then copper cable to the house. A firm called Zoom have been digging the town up and now apparently we can get real fibre which would be faster, but cost more. We would have to change to an internet phone and it would mess up my tv set up, so I can’t be bothered to change. Instead I have bought a new router which is much better than the free one supplied by the internet provider. We have also installed a mesh system, which sounds odd, but it is two small devices which look a bit like little speakers, one in the lounge and one in the kitchen. They spread the WiFi evenly around the house, so there are no weak spots which there were previously. It does seem to be a huge improvement, the speed tests are about half as much again. Hopefully it will solve the problem when we are all trying to use things at the same time. It has identified twenty four different devices in the house!

My son in law set it up, it was a bit pricey - things always are when he recommends them!

The ultimate solution is to move somewhere with super fast broadband, but that is a bit drastic

Hello to everyone,

All is upside down and every which way here. Needed to get the damp proof course renewed so removed a fitted cupboard and found underneath it the floorboards had rotted eek!! . Due to be sorted soon I hope. Damp course done and now need to get new skirting boards and wallpaper and paint . We always have textured paper which is then painted as I don't like flat smooth painted walls. OH doesn't care which we have so I get my own way. lol.
My spare bedroom is storage at the moment for all my ornaments and books etc that we have had to move out of living room for the work to be done. good chance to go through it all and sort out what I don't want. That will take longer than the work I expect. lol. Have to look at it all properly don't I? Decisions Decisions!!

Hope everyone is ok and keeping warm.

Ginnie

Oh JG what a nuisance! But at least you have found the damp and getting it sorted, just all takes time and you will be in a "bourock" as we say up here(a muddle).

Not a bad day, here, bright, some sun but temp fast lowering towards 2 degrees!

Linda, when I lived with my son elsewhere we only had 1 MB on comp, so if i was gaming online and he logged on, one of us would get booted off as the line split in 2 so 1/2 MB each but we each needed 3/4 to both be online at the same time.

Over where I live now both daughter and I are on at same time but the internet is far better now. The up and download speed has improved over the years, used to be snails pace.

We have a total of 6 devices in this house between us.

Had a good day re sorting my food cupboards and the plates etc. Looks far better and some space now as was getting cluttered.

Didnt managed the pan cupboard....groan the worse one of all. Its a corner one and so difficult to get into!

JG, good excuse to have a declutter of all those ornaments then!

Good tv tonight as Apprentice and later Question Time. Last night i switched off the tv as seemed to be nothing but blooming football on every channel grrr.

Florence in the hebrides

Well the fine weather has come to an end. First rain in days but the plants outside need it and I think the loch across the road looks like the water level has dropped a bit.

The snow is def coming next week on Tues, Wed & Thursday, so glad i got my Tesco order yesterday so well stocked up.

Finished off decluttering kitchen cupboards this morning and now the pan cupboard looks half empty. I did throw 3 old baking trays out that had no non stick on them anymore and an old pan that was a bit burnt!

Now just to tackle the hall cupboard!!!! But not today as quite tired now, tomorrow will do. My new super kingsize duvet arrived so will strip my bed tomorrow and swap the quilts over. i also have a pile of ironing for tomorrow.

So now to relax a bit and not sure about tea, something light and quick tonight.

Hope everyone else ok today.

Florence in the hebrides

good afternoon all. bitterly cold here today. I went to the local garden centre this morning, where I had coffee with two friends and then bought three plants as they were on offer to members. On the three plants I saved £16. (Hellebore Snowdrift , and Coprosma Repens one Pacific dawn and one Pacific night.) It was good to have a chat but it was really cold walking round the plants even with a thick sweater over two other layers a scarf and a winter coat. Nice and warm when I got back indoors.

It is still only 5 degrees here now so we are really heading back to winter again. Poor plants won't know where they are.
Joan what a to do over the TV aerial, hope you are at last getting a picture from Sky.

We got rid of Sky quite a few years ago Joan because of problems with a tree. There is an absolutely enormous tree in the grounds of the Hall just over the road. Every time the wind blew when the leaves were on the tree, we lost the signal. We moved the aerial as far up the chimney as it could go, but in the end gave up. The house is an L shape and we have two aerials inside the lofts for the various tv’s which work fine

Morning all.
Oh my Joan, what a carryon with your Sky dish etc.

When is your renewal date? I personally would get someone to sort out your Freeview ariel asap and be done with Sky. I mean the Freeview is built in to our tv and free and I for one would not pay to watch any tv.

Well yesterday, as we emptied cupboards there were several packets of salt & vinegar crisps that neither of us like, so daughter scrunched the packets to crush the crisps and threw out the whole lot for the birds.

Next time I looked out the back door, my neighbours cat was having a great feast :-D :-D :-D

Every now & then when he was thirsty, he drank the water from a plant tray and then went back to tuck in.It was hilarious watching him lift his back legs and shake the bits off and he ate from the sides of the pile.

This morning, he was back and now has polished off 5 packets of crisps! Im feeling a bit guilty as it was meant for the birds ooops!

Its a bright day with a few light showers and the sky looks full of snow so its def coming this way tomorrow.

Making food lists for meals when my visitors come 3 April and getting excited as cant wait to see the family and my little 6 yr old nephew as he is now reading his joke book and understanding the jokes so I'm guessing my ears will be sore after hearing them all :-D :-D :-D

Hope everyone having a lovely Sunday

Florence in the hebrides

Yes Joan, plead your case because you are paying for a sub std service and i wouldn't stand for it. Why should you pay when you dont have it available 24/7?

When they installed it, they should have said, it was unlikely to work properly because of the trees. gales etc and as noone told you this, you want a refund and cancellation now without any further chgs. Tell them you are pensioners too and the tv is really important to you both as you cant get out etc etc... if you dont ask these days, you don't get I'm afraid.

I'm sure your daughter could fire off an email on your behalf stating your case for the reasons I have said. You clearly have a case worth pursuing, you may even get a refund in some way as you were without tv for ages.

The trees is just an excuse as when they installed it, it was never mentioned was it?

Good luck.

I have just to put on my duvet cover and then have a shower. I'm exhausted as done ages of ironing, stripped bed, turned mattress and really need to chill. Hall cupboard can wait for another day.

The white stuff has arrived along with a brisk northerly wind brrrrr.

Stay in and keep warm then Florence, unless you love building snowmen of course :-D

It is bitterly cold here, minus one at the moment, but it might rise to a balmy three degrees. Having said that, it is a lovely sunny day

Morning all
Well it's completely white here and the rd has snow and ice as wee.

Daughter has hosp appointment and has to go otherwise will be waiting another 6 months!

Got my electric bill to find we received £200 extra as we are no mains gas here,nice surprise so heating on and no worries about the cost.

Had a surprise friend stop by yesterday for coffee for an hour,felt uplifted afterwards.

Well better be busy as housework is calling.

Linda keep warm.

Daughter might make a snowman but not me lol

Florence in the Hebrides