General Chat

Good evening.
hame you have had a nsty day weatherwise Linda, it has been rather pleasant here,
no sun but very mild & flat calm & so I was ablw to look to tidying up some of the plants.

I tackled a couple of the Ferns, they have grown so big & crowding other plants, I have reduced the 2 of them by half their height & width & looking so much better, I would like a bt mre growth off them but it's getting harder to clip them further down.

Swept the drive again & tackled the birdbaths, they had a bit of soil & leaves in the water so so I needed to give them a good clean.
The birds seem to like the baths when there are leaves in them, probably because they find some beasties in amonst them.

I also clipped one of our hedges, the shorter of the 2 hedges that we have which doesn't take as long as the long Rugosa one, I will have to give it a trim though as it gets rather straggly once the flowers have gone.
I noticed sme Rose Hips so I will be sure to leave them for a bit longer.

The rockery is looking fantastic, the plants have spread & flowered so I'm well chuffed with that.

Joan.

You are being incredibly busy in the garden Joan. OH loves nothing better than chopping back things in the garden. I had to stop him from chopping everything back before they took the photos for the house sale, or there would have been no colour apart from green on the photos.

It is supposed to be a nice day today, but it looks a bit grey and drizzly at the moment. There is lots of condensation on the outside of the windows. I always find that to be a bit odd, but it means the double glazing is doing a good job. It will clear as soon as the sun starts to come up.

OH is preparing Sunday breakfast, he has always done that bless him. Now the family have gone, I have time to make bread again, or use the bread maker to be exact. I made a really nice wholemeal loaf last night, so am looking forward to having some of that

Good morning everyone looking in.

Yesterday I had a lovely afternoon and was taken out for a spin and we had coffee and cake. It was a bit windy but otherwise a lovely warm afternoon. I had made some sandwiches and dips for lunch before we ventured out.

The friend complimented us on the house and said it was very smart and loved all my pictures. Thought the garden and view was fab too.

The friend is meeting daughter in town tomorrow and has offered to take me out to town in the week. He is such a sweetie, he says Im his "adopted mum."

So mid week, I'm going to make a chicken curry with all the trimmings and a not a drop of soy sauce will be in the making of it!!

Today, it is a beautiful sunny day so think I may hang out some washing. I have some ironing to do as well. Apart from that, a relaxing day reading 2 papers I bought yesterday which I havent bought in years!

Joan, your leaf sweeping will keep you going all Autumn! Your rockery sounds like it has taken well and the plants sound great, well done.

Linda, mmmn just love a home made loaf especially with blackcurrant jam...yummy.

Well i'm not dressed yet so better had get going and be productive for a bit. The sunshine is too good to miss :-D

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides

I am glad that you have been adopted Florence :-D If it means that you can get out more, that will be really good for you.

OH has done very well with his garage clear out so far, he is going to the tip this afternoon . I have been putting things onto the free Facebook page, a couple of things have already been collected
When we had the allotment, I used to make lots of chutney and jam and pickle beetroot. I discovered that I have twenty seven Kilner jars of the clip variety and twelve screw top ones. Amazingly I used to fill them all every year. They have all gone on the free site as well. Someone already wants twelve. They are fairly pricy to buy, but I just want them out of the way

Morning everyone, just caught up with all of you.

Lovely that the friend has taken you out Florence it makes such a difference being able to get out once in a while.

Joan I also liked Billy Fury , I have a cd with his music on and it's possible that the singles are still in the loft along with Gene Pitney and others. No Elvis or Beatles though. I also have a Johnny Mathis cd. I use to buy cds of my old favourites when I saw them and I still like to listen to music when there is nothing on tv I want to watch and I only have a cd player but no record player..
OH has The Troggs ,Kinks, Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison so very different to me.

Linda it's amazing how many things we find when we are having a clear out , lovely that you are passing on useful stuff to others.

Ginnie

No sun here. it is 17 degrees out there but with thick cloud cover and very dull. Really horrible. As mu garden bin is full until it is emptied tomorrow there is not a lot I can do out there. so I have cleaned the bathroom and dusted the bedroom and done one or two admin jobs. Next one is the end of month accounts when I get up the enthusiasm to do it.

Good afternoon.
We have another fine day here, some sunshine & just a bit of breeze, need a wooly on but it's not cold.
I have been outside but only to re-fill the bird feeders & birdbaths, which take time as there are several of them dotted around both the front garden & the back of the house.

I will need to ask our daughter to take me to Home Bargains soon as I am getting short on bird food, it's fatal going to HB as I never stick to my list, there's always something new & must have whenever i go there, lol.

Ginnie, your record selection sound very much like mine.
I recent years I have purshased several of the CDs called Dreamboats & Petticoats which have a LOT of the 60's songs on them that aI have amongst my old singles.

Joan.



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It is noticeably cooler here as well Ann. I went to my slimming class, a measly half pound off, so I must try harder. Then I planned the menus for the week and went to Tescos . I will need to go to the greengrocers shop in the town square as I need some rainbow chard and samphire and Tesco don’t sell them.

OH has been clearing even more stuff out of the garage this morning, he has just gone to the tip again with another car load. I have quite a few things to go to a charity shop, but it is market day, so parking is very limited in the town square, so I will take them tomorrow.

I have four people coming to collect things this afternoon from the free Facebook site.

We have a large 8ft by 6 ft oriental rug in the lounge, when we got a new one, we kept the old one for when my son came with the dog. It was still in very good condition, so I suppose we should have sold it, but I can’t be bothered . A really nice young couple came for it last night. They had just moved into the local army barracks, she was about eight months pregnant. It was nice to be able to give them something to make their new home nicer.

:

Afternoon all
Started off rainy and windy so decided against going to town with daughter and her friend. I hate walking around a town getting wet and being nearly blown over.

But the day brightened up and we had sunshine since mid morning but it is very windy and about 14 degrees so quite pleasant.

Didnt do very much tbh and had a lazy day as was on me own. Did a little family tree stuff, a few chores and then sat on PC.

But just took a phone call from the Estate Agents and i'm not a happy bunny. No more viewings and interest has dried up. She suggested lowering by another 25k!!! i said def not. I told her the market is flat because of the interest rates and people cannot afford to commit to a huge mortgage so we should just hang fire and see what happens.

She was full of the sales chat etc but I didn't let her talk me round at all. Instead i asked her, what is your marketing strategy then to generate interest and get viewings apart from dropping the price? She didn't really answer but said chat this over with your brother and let us know your decision.

The same flats are still listed for sale in the area that were there before we put mums flat on the market so everyone selling is in the same boat.

We are not going to give the flat away are we!

Had considered changing estate Agents but the work and all the legal paperwork etc would all have to done again grrrr.

Linda, are you familiar with all the online forms you will have to complete? I had 13 pages to complete, download photocopy, then sign and then scan, upload again and email to the estate agents! Took all day to complete this.

Asking questions like, are there any disputes with the neighbours, when were the pipes last replaced etc..I couldnt answer some of the questions so left them blank.

I hope you get your property sold fairly quickly and you find your dream house.

My new xmas tree got delivered today and a few xmas presents I have ordered so getting organised.

Well not sure what to have for tea as not terribly hungry but better go look in the fridge and see what I want.

have a good evening all

Florence in the hebrides

It is a very bad time to be selling Florence. My son is trying to sell his house as well, after an initial few viewings nothing has happened. That is an entry level house, but even so, there aren’t buyers around. Everyone is waiting for the mortgage rates to drop. The good news is that they are starting to and there are a lot more mortgage products on offer, so hopefully the tide will turn soon. It is silly because given the really high rents and real lack of rental properties, the monthly cost of a mortgage is less than rent. I suppose you need a deposit though.
If you can, I would hold on and not drop the price again. It was a while ago since we had to sell my mums bungalow, but that was at a bad time for house sales as well. We were lucky to sell after three months. In the meantime I had to take over paying the gas,electricity , insurance etc. I was reimbursed from the estate in the end, but it was still an upfront cost and my brother was a bit short of ready cash at the time. Luckily I was in a position to pay the bills. To be fair my sister did offer to chip in, but it was easier for me to do it. I think there was free council tax for the first six months, so that was something I didn’t have to pay.

I filled in the questionnaire from the estate agent and just took it in, not a problem as we are using someone in the town. They wanted a copy of the title deeds from the land registry and the map as well. As we own the house outright, we have the deeds, so I was just able to photocopy them and didn’t have to pay a fee to get them.
The house sale with the agent is on a no sale, no fee basis, the only thing we would have to payback is the £90 cost of the EPC., but that is valid for ten years, so would be needed eventually even if we didn’t sell now.

We will have to see what happens, but if it doesn’t sell reasonably quickly, we aren’t going to lower the price as we don’t have to move now, it would just be easier while we are still reasonably fit. The massive clearing out we are doing is all to the good, I think too many people leave things like that until they are too old or ill, then it would be an impossible task to take on.

I had better show willing, OH has decided to repaint the garage floor as it is looking scruffy. He has cleared on side of the double garage, so is painting that. In a couple of days he will move everything over and do the other side. We had to paint it when we first moved in because the builders never sealed the concrete floor and there is a door from the garage into the kitchen, so we left concrete dust footmarks every time we walked into the kitchen . It has only been repainted a couple of times in twenty years, so it hasn't done too badly

Morning all

Linda, we are lucky to be in a position where paying the bills isnt a problem as mum left quite a lot of cash in her bank. Once we closed the accounts we put it in a spare account that wasnt used by my brother. Each month when say Council tax is due, SIL tfs the money to me and I pay it online. The gas and electric are about £45 per quarter which is all standing charges and VAT !

We wont be forced into reducing the price again. The sales leader is very pushy into getting a quick sale but not at our expense. Its a modern Auction selling where the buyer pays the £6k agents fees. So whatever the price the buyer pays plus 6k and that's how they make their money.

We can hang on for a few months if we have to but with winter approaching, we shall have to keep the flat heated so it doesn't get any dampness and that will cost.

We did look at a more traditional estate agent but they said it was taking 6 months to complete sales and the one we are with guarantee 57 days start to finish!

However, we shall have to be patient and see what happens.

That aside, it is an awful day. Torrential rain and gales and of course.....it was bin day! I kid you not, it never fails. However I saw them coming and there was a break in the clouds so managed to get both bins back in the enclosure and i also took my neighbours bins in as he isnt well and havent seen him out for a few days, So that was my good deed for the day.

I ordered 2 duvet sets for my nieces for xmas and they came today. But when i looked inside, the pattern on the actual duvet isnt as nice as on the front of the packet and it feels hard not soft cotton. So both will have to be sent back which is very annoying and request a refund!

So having a quick coffee, then I need to hoover throughout and have some laundry to attend to. This afternoon I shall horse on with friends tree as making good progress. I took a 3 month sub out with FMP so I have access to 1939 and the 1921 so better make use of it until the subs exp in DEC.

Hope everyone else is ok.

Linda, even if you dont get a buyer soon, because of all the clearing out you have done already, it will be much easier for you when the time comes.

Joan, did you get the bath panel sorted now?

Florence in the hebrides

It is annoying when things have to be sent back Florence, but I do lots of shopping on line as well.
I took another load of stuff to the charity shop this morning. I managed to get some Samphire in the greengrocers, but they didn’t have any Rainbow Chard. Luckily my neighbour says she had plenty in her garden,so she is going to give me some.

My calendar popped up this morning telling me the leather sofas need cleaning. I could have done without that. We have had leather sofas in the past, but never really took care of them. A couple of years ago we decided to treat ourselves to some Stressless ones which came from Norway. They came with a cleaning kit which has to be used every three months. I have done it.every time and they still look pristine. I used the cleaning fluid on a sponge and dried them with a white cloth. It is amazing how much dirt comes off them. After lunch, I need to apply the cream and then buff that up. It is all go
:-( :-(

Oh Linda, we have 2 sofas. 1 is a 2 seater leather recliner, the other a 3 seater which is part leather and not a recliner. I never knew I had to clean it every 3 months?

I normally spray with some polish and dust it, comes up nice and shiny and that's it.

Given up today with family tree and phone keeps ringing, daughter keeps messaging from town and cant seem to concentrate. I then remembered I hadn't paid the 2 Council tax bills...oops senior moment. So rang and paid over the phone. The only things I don't have on d/d.

Its been pouring hard all afternoon and the wind is fierce. So glad I'm indoors else I would need wings to venture outside lol.

We now have 3 fayres booked in November and have realised this weekend, we shall have to make a lot more cards eeek! I have sold some bookmarks to a friend already and a few cards so best replenish those anyway.

So I ordered more blank cards, more glue sticks and clear bags for the cards plus a few accessories.

Think jacket potatoes for tea with grated cheese and baked beans and also think the heating will go on soon as def feeling chillier than in the last few days here.

Hello to all.
Not the best of days for us today,s tarted off dull & a bit of a rather chilly breeze, by dinner time the breeze became much stronger but the sun had come out & so it asn't so cold, by mid afternoon it turned really windy.
Still rather sindy at the moment & looks like rain.

I did venture outside but only managed about 1/2 an hour, I decided to tackle the Rugosa hedging by lopping the lower & thicker stems working from front to back,so as to reduce the depth of the hedge.
It was quite easy to do as much of the lower stuff is bare of leaves & brittle so it shouldn't take me too long to sort it out, just so long as we continue to get some fine days.
Once I have reduced the depth I should be able to reduce the height a bit more.

LOL Florence re the bath panel, it's taking a bit longer to complete & fit than I had hoped, our son has made it but the MDF takes several coats of paint, not an easy wood to cover, & he is such a perfectionist.

Also I have asked our son to increase his to do (for me) list, I need 4 large wooden planters making & he offered to make them for me, I am hoping they will be done for his next visit in 2 weeks time so that I can plant them up, & so the completion of the bath panel has been delayed until the planters are done, my fault, lol..

Joan.

Stop loading new jobs onto your son Joan until he finishes your bath panel :-D

Leather needs feeding Florence or it will dry and crack. The second bottle I use is labelled leather protection, it is a bit like double cream. It really soaks into the leather to keep it supple. I must say, you can really tell the difference once it has been been done.

The brochure for the house sale was emailed to us this afternoon, needless to say, it is full of mistakes. Just a couple of minor ones on the floor plan, they have missed off the front door and the largest window in the lounge :-S

I wrote down all the mistakes and went into the office, only the young girl was there, so I went through everything with her. The woman who wrote the description was out, but came back just as I was leaving. She hasn’t actually seen the house, so why she was writing the description I have no idea. They are going to correct everything and send a second version out. For the amount of money they are charging, you would think they could do a better job.

Oh dear Linda, that would have made my blood boil, its sloppy work and no excuse for that!

Yes Joan, your fault the bath has been delayed :-D :-D :-D

Brother just phoned and we had a chat and he said everything I said to the woman that phoned was exactly the same lol. We are very alike and think alike. So we agreed to sit tight and see how the market behaves and def not reducing!

If I don't get a call from agents by Thursday, I shall be ringing them and then they will know I'm on their case otherwise they leave things to drift and think we don't notice.

Surely each month, they market certain properties like " bargain of the month" etc Find new narratives to describe it or enhance with things in the area that will attract people. Town walkable, station 5 mins, Reg bus service, local shops and Drs surgery 5 minute walk. Or is this far too easy I wonder? Just seems most obvious way to advertise what you want to sell.

Oh well jacket potatoes nearly ready. Just need to make some salad and grate some cheese and all will be ready.

Joan, its still blowing a hooley but at least the downpours have stopped. You have been doing well in your garden but dont overdo it now!

Given all those amenities on the doorstep, it's a pity you can't live in it yourself, Florence!

Of course I realise that the finances won't allow that.

AG, every time I went down south to visit my mother, I never got a wink of sleep! Its in the flight path for Gatwick airport so planes going over all day and up to midnight.

Lorries thunder down the rd and through industrial estate as short cut to the motorway.

The noise never stops.

Its upstairs and I hated the heat and no fresh air.

I've lived here for 30 years and love being able to open the door and smell the sea air. I don't have any stairs either.

There are 3 beneficiaries in the will all getting an equal share once it's sold. my youngest brother and myself are the exors in charge of the estate.

Nope I wouldn't go back down south even if I had enough money to do so. The smoke and fumes of all the cars in the town used to make my asthma really bad too but i cant tolerate 30 degrees in summer, far too hot for me.

The flat will suit either a single person or a young couple starting out who are working all day.

Florence in the hebrides

I entirely sympathise, Florence.
I'm glad not to have to live in a town, too - though I wouldn't object to a more frequent bus service, and maybe a shop in walking distance.

Morning.
Not a nice morning so far today, it' has been raining 7 everywhere is soaking, so not sure if i will manage to get outside & do some more work on the hedge!
Typical really, staring a project only to have to stop 1/2 way through because of a change in the weather.

Florence, reading your latest reply re staying with your mum made me chuckle, the last time I visited my late mam in York was a nightmare, she had a council flat (block of 4) on a long street & hers was downstairs with the bedroom window facing the pavement.

Mam told me I would have no trouble sleeping as it was a quiet street etc & that she never heard a thing when in that room.
Aye right, it was awful, I hardly slept a wink, people up & down the street walking past the window I could hear what folks were talking about, some stopping to chat/argue to others they met along the way, the clip clopping of stilletto heeled shoes, others shouting to others across the street, & worst of all the entrance door to the flats slamming shut every time someone went through it.

My mam was very surprised to hear of my complaints as she never heard anyting at night & she wouldn't accept my suggestion that she was because she was DEAF !!
I am used to a much quieter life, wrap round fields, no immediate neighbours no passing traffic, perfect peace.

I wouldn't go back to my home city either, York is such a busy, noisy place these days even way outside of the city walls, & after 51 years of living in rural Aberdeenshire I would never settle.

Joan.