General Chat

goodmorning from a rainy but not too cold a day over here but as I have said before rain is better than snow, glad to see that your xmas plans are all set fred not sure as yet who is having xmas I think that it is lindy's sister jane's turn so I shall just wait and see, I have been looking at turkeys but hve not bought one as yet they are quite expensive at the moment. thursday evening I am taking Laura out for dinner just us two its the grandma thing i do with them all around their birthdays with all the after school activities this was the best night we could hit on, she gets to choose the resturant she is into sushi at the moment so heavens knows what we will end up with!!!. brenda thanks for the message I always forget to look up messages on the site but when I do it is a nice surprise, I have a free day to-day and for once I can't decide what to do with it but of course the tennis will be on this afternoon so maybe I will just pop over to the library I see that they have two books on reserve for me bye for now dorothy

Morning all.its still damp and cold here ,but what can we expect?
Had a lovelly time out with my friends yesterday,but my knee started to ache even more,did have a couple of sit downs for cofffe and then lunch,but by 3pm I was ready for home and left the others there.
I am at physio next Tuesday and should know what exactly is the problem,I am getting worried now incase the holiday is in jepordey.!! Have an appointment at the practise nurse at the doctors tomorror and might see if Ican get an emergancy appointment with any of the doctors,but what they can do with the results i do not know.
Going back to bed now Ishould be on work at 12.30 til 8pm but might need to phone in if this pain has not eased .
fred all organised as usual,am oping to get the rest of my meat at weekend and put in freezer,my rota for christmas is out and I am not working Christmas eve ,or the day before,so I can get fresh stuff then.(when we have decided what we are having,)
Enjoy the meal with your grandaughter Dorothy,whatever it is!!!
Was writing cards out the other night and it will cost a packet in stamps ,due to the size thing the post office have started.will be rethinking about them next year,
Take care ,Brenda


Take care

How dare you think of giving up on your holiday Lady ,after working so hard for it,yuo get yourself away and enjoy it .
You will probably find that your knee will respond to the warmth and a dip in the sea,so go for it.
Take a few quinine sulphate tablets with you which help in many cases to give good relief from leg pains and take some paracetamol too.
Having seen the advert for this three bird roast ,i think i may get one for the new year ,Turkey ,duck and chicken all put together sounds good to me ,and cutting will be easy ,no bones.
Haveto go and finish the packing now ,so i will be in Wycombe when i come on line again ,and i will take my t-mobile dongle ,in caase the hotel has no wi fi.
Catch you all later troops.Fred

hi brenda hope that you knee feels better soon fred had some good advice as usual don't give up on your holiday, what is a practice nurse perhaps it is like our nurse practioners who have extra training and can sub for the doctor in some situations. fred you say you are off for a few days you mentioned a funeral did you have someone pass away I must have missed that. brenda I am sure the evening with Laura will be interesting no matter what resturant she picks, Laura has just started getting into investments she had her parents invest 800 dollars that she had saved up, she is not a spender but a saver she had a paper route for a while and banked all her money I told her if I run short I will call her for a loan!!! it is funny that she needs extra help with her school math but is fine with money well it is raining again so that is it for me for to-day bye for now dorothy

hi well I am thinking of building an ark rain again to-day I had a great meal with laura on thursday evening we went to the red lobster lots of shrimp etc a good time was had by both of us and then went to the local chapters book store so she could browse around and buy a book. to-day I am taking one of the ladies out to see the new bakery that has opened in town called the lemon tree bakery it recieved a great write up in the paper so we shall check it out.. yesterday I called anne to see if she had gone to silver street to see the princess anne open the the new carers place in bury, I remember silver street very well there used to be a jewllers store that I bought my mom some earings many xmases ago. but she had forgot all about it she was busy making xmas cards she makes beautifull ones. 2 towns about 30 miles from us had snow yeaterday so I really should not complain about the rain .well that is it for me bye for now dorothy

Afternoon all,well its a cold day here,been fairly dry,not been busy,as in not many people coming in ,but the ones that have been have wanted lots of books reserving etc or asking about new books we have not yet got on our catalogue.So we have been busy that way,
Looking forward to the roast lamb dinner John is doing to night!!!
The practise nurse,is a nurse who sees to certain people with certain condtions,she checks BP.diabetics,gives advise on diets and injjections for flu etc.you are refferred by the gp to her,saves them doing it I suppose.
My leg seems a little better ,the nurse said the tablets are slow acting really,so it could be a few weeks before I see any real improvement,
I am at physio on Tuesday so might know more then as well,am starting the packing this weekend.as i do intend to go on holiday.
Better go now and get some work done,
Brenda

Good morning peoples,sorry for being so lax ,but i slept late this morning owing to two long tiresome drives in two days.
I am so pleased i went though ,not only because he was my dads brother and my uncle ,but i got to meet many people i havn't seen in fourty years ,and probably will never see again ,but there were a few gob smacking moments lol,which i will describe.
I found two cousins who have been flying up and down the roasds between High Wycombe and Long Framlington in Northumberland for years because they have children living there,so ,in future ,they will be stopping off for a cuppa on the way up ,or down ,or both.
I was speaking to cousin Sue ,when a fella walks up to me and says,[you don't remember me do you?],i had to say no ,because ,at the end of the day ,i didn't know him from Adam.
He then said ,my name is Rodger Newton ,i used to go to Spring Gardens school with you ,gob smack one ,lol,then cousin Sue said,Rodger is my husband ,gob smack two ,it is a small world indeed.
Then i got the biggest gob smack of the day ,and the very biggest small world i have ever encountered.
Back at Sharons after the cremation ,i was going through the old family photo graphs and came across the papers from Allans days as a Royal marine, he joined the war effort on his 17th birthday and passed out in early 1942 ,and was promptly posted to an aircraft carrier ,H M S Impaccable of which i already had a photo of ,because it's the same ship that brought my father in law home from Sydney in australia after he was rescued from the jap pow camp in Singapore.
So,Unknown to both ,Both my uncle Alan ,and my father in Law ,left australia ,went on to Canada and then home to england on the same ship,and never got to know they would become distant relations to each other in the future,[one Biiiig gobsmack lol].
I at last found my grandads grave yesterday morning ,and left him a Poppy Cross and a nice bunch of flowers with apologies for taking so long to find his resting place.
I found Junes too ,who is interred with her parents[and where Alans ashes will be buried],and left flowers again,and lastly to dads grave on top of the bank,where funnily enough,now i know where they are,i can see both the other graves down lower on the hill,all in a triangle to each other ,dad at the top.
So the trip was well worthwhile and i came home in a much better frame of mind
The hotel was comfortable ,the only complaint i had was the cost of the wi fi £10 for a couple of hours is daylight robbery ,in future i will take the acer which is vodaphone dongle enabled ,they can ,whoever they are ,stuff the wi fi where the monkey hides it's nuts ,lol
Glad to hear that you are still going on holiday Brenda that will do you more good tan owt else,and give those tablets time to kick in properly.
be back later all,time to start organising dinner .
By the by,we saved a fortune on meals in Loudwater peeps.100 yards down the road is a tesco superstore where we filled up when we got there ,AND had a nice meal at a fraction of the cost of the hotel meals, AND we went back for brekkie the following morning lol.
That's the scot's blood coming out again ,he he,catch you later Fred.

he fred well even though you attended a funeral you certainly had an intersting time meeting up with all those people and the things that you learnt, brenda hope the knee improves and goodluck on the holiday, I went to the new bakery yesterday and it was an interesting place but very expensive ie a quiche a large one was 25 dollars now they had a variety of fillings but that would be about 12pounds 50 roughly, the butter tarts were a good buy I bought 3 and gave two too the lady who came with me for her and her husband. to-day I went to one of local stores as they had turkeys on for 97 cents a pound a very good buy and got a bird about 14 pounds that will do my family when they come over between xmas and new years, they store was selling them out fast other stores have them about 2dollar 49 to 2 dollars 70 a pound we are supposed to get some of the white stuff to-night so we shall see if the weather man is right or wrong bye for now dorothy

Morning all,we have another cold day here,but it is dry,
Have all may clothes ready to iron and pack ,which I will be doing tonight and tomorrow.
Hope Ican get on the internet at least once to say hello while I am away.
The weather seems nice over there at the minute,hope it stays good,can get a bit chilly in the evening.but a cardi is all we need.
Dorothy good buy with the turkey,they seem dear all over ,hope the white stuff stays away for you.
Well Fred what a great visit you had,(apart from the reason you had to go) glad you got something positive from it all.
We have a Cafe in the Tesco near us where my son works and it is really nice and so is the food,which is also resonable price wise.
Have a few jobs I had better do ,but the borrowers are thin on the ground today,up to now anyway!!.
Take care ,Brenda

Afternoon Dorothy ,Brenda,another day nearer the big one ,lol.but this year i think Liz and i are far better organised than usual and are pretty laid back about it all[so far]
I,m afraid that bakery would be in a mess if it was relying on me to pay those prices Dorothy ,what a rip off ,to get me to buy one of those Quiche's it would need to be as deep and as wide as a car tyre ,lol., afraid i would be making my own ,far cheaper and more of them.
You get on with your packing there Brenda ,you must be getting close to your launch date yeeeeeah ,bring it on ,hope you have a brilliant time,and your knee gets a well deserved rest to boot.
Going back to the word Tesco's for a minute ,we usually gravitate there at least once a fortnight and have either a breakfast ,or dinner ,depending on the time we finish the shopping,and it makes such a change ,and gives me a break from cooking once in a while
Your Turkey was cheap anyway Dorothy ,i am looking forward to trying this three bird roast for new year ,brought from Aldi,a chicken ,wrapped in a duck ,wrapped in a turkey.with a stuffing in the middle.
Theere is a very big one made of nine birds starting with a spatch cock,and finishing with a goose ,but you would need a very large family to eat that lol.
We are having a bowl of Liz's home made mushroom soup this evening with chopped up new potatoes ,a nice hearty meal along with some french stick lovely.
Catch you all later Fred.
i

hi everyone it is thurs afternoon it has been a hetic week for me as the oldest grandson was ill a cold?flue turned into pneaumonia and he was having difficulty breathing so monday and tues. I was over there and then on wednesday he got worse up to the clininc and then to the hospital he got home at 11pm last evening with some of the tamil flue pills as a precaution agains the swine flue, I was over there this am ( a 6-15 wake up for me) till 11am when his dad arrived back from ottawa and then I left and came home for a bit I am back there this evening as they have an appt. set up by the grief people at laura's school re how to deal with the after affects of the suicide of her classmate. I did manage another trip to the new bakery to get some of the chocolate congac sauce for a friend of mine , but fred I do agree the prices of the quiche were out of line way to expensive. brenda have a great trip and rest that knee, we had snow tuesday morning but it did not last, but a storm is forecast for late this evening so we shall see what happens bye for now dorothy

goodmorning from a very cold barrie and snow is in the air we had a few squalls yesterday but nothing lasted on the ground I spent the day trying to get rid of the cold no doubt caught from the grandson who is feeling a little better, I have my swine flue injection on monday . I am not sure if brenda has left for her holidays if she has I hope they have a great time. I think that I will put up the xmas decorations on sunday and get in the festive mood. also on sunday is the buildings xmas dinner usually very good the manager cooks about three turkeys with all the trimmings. bye for now dorothy

Morning Dorothy ,yes ,i think our Brenda may now be on her travels and may even be at her destination ,i hope she has at least as good a time as we had,on our holiday of a lifetime.
hopefully ,she will find the climate and the relaxation good for the knees too.
Wow What a weekend Lizand i are having ,firstly the grandson is here again and has booted Liz off the puter for half an hour ,while she gets started on dinner [well .i did all the meals yesterday] fair doo's and all that he he.
Secondly ,Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince arrived in the post yesterday so we will be watching that this afternoon.
To cap that ,my beutiful moggy Hissy brought me a pressie this morning which i noticed as soon as i opened the door,there ,on the step she was ,with her prey at her paws looking up at me satisfied smile on her face,feathers everywhere ,looking as though she had even started to pluck it for me .
There it lay my most hated enemy of the garden a wood pigeon, and i have to say ,if it had been a bit plumper i would have kept it for the son ,who loves game bird ,i find pigeon a little strong for my taste,had it been a pheasant or partridge or even a rabbit it would have been straight in the pot .lol.
No matter what she catches ,she always goes for the neck ,the meat therefore ,unmarked ,wonder if there is a market for gun cats? he he
Yes ,get your shot for the flu ,Dorothy ,far better than getting the full on virus ,we were lucky ,no side effects at all ,not even a cold.
Hope all of you are having a great weekend ,no matter where you are ,and be careful and safe no matter what you are doing.Fred & Liz.

hi fred glad you are having a good week-end it is very cold here but no snow at the moment, jut came back from the building xmas supper it was very good turkey with all the trimmings, yes I will get the swine flue vacine to-morrow am so I will have had all the shots going regular flue and this one and of course I had the pneumonia shot after the heart attack so I should be well protected, bryan appears to be recovering from the pneumonia quite well he may even be allowed back to school in the am. hope brenda and john are all setted in at their vacation spot and that they have a great time so I shall say goodnight for now bye dorothy

hi wed 8-20 am my time and the storm has hit high winds blowing snow school buses cancelled and of course lots of accidents people forget how to winter drive, I shall not be on the road to-day . fred I sent on a e-mail that my sister sent me re cats it is very cute you should get a laugh hope everyon is fine people seem to be very busy no news from sylvia for a while bye for now dorothy

Hi Dorothy ,yes ,the email made me chuckle ,specially the third one showing the huuuuge tabby draped across the ladies neck,cor ,i thought ,that's no cat ,it's a dog in drag wouldn't want one like that to feed ,nor annoy come to think of it.
God help any burglar that breaks into that house ,lol,he .or she would be going back out in a body bag.,in strips he he.
The temperatures are going to plunge here over the next few days too ,but it won't be anything like you are getting thank goodness,used to love weather like that when i was a lad ,but i can't stand the hot weather now ,never mind the cold.which is even worse.
Well ,i plucked up the courage yesterday to face the mickey taking at the local vodaphone shop about the loss of my dongle ,but ,they were fantastic,about it all.updated me to a faster dongle free of charge because the one i lost was out of date and discontinued and all i finished up paying for was the new sim card which they changed the number on to the same as the one i lost ,so all i had to do was slide it into the usb port ,and off it went .
This time i have insured it so that it is covered for loss and damage.
The t mobile dongle won't work with the h P lappy on windows 7 ,but will with the acer lappy on vista ,so i am taking the acer away with me where ever i go now ,and if i lose signal on one dongle ,i can swap to the other,and if that dosn't go ,hell ,i will use smoke signals ,or pigeon post .
Think every one is either Christmas shopping ,wrapping pressies or enjoying the sun like Brenda lol.
Catch you later all ,Fred.

hi fred guess it si just you and I at the moment well things calmed down weather wise for us and the rest of the week was not bad cold and high winds but no snow but if you google huntsville and gravenhurst ontario canada you will see and awful amount of snow in fact they are in a snow emergancy state, the roads and highways were closed but it looks pretty but waist high in places, to-day I am taking advantage of the fact that it is not snowing and heading down the highway to brampton dropping of xmas gifts to three friends I will stay over and head back to-morrow. nothing much new other wise hope brenda is having a good time bye for now dorothy

Hi Dorothy ,and anyone else who passes through a wet dull but mildish morning up here in the frozen north of England,where i am spending a few minutes chatting on here ,before i head into the kitchen to get on with the task of cleaning out the oven ready for the Christmas fare to be cooked.
The first batch of corned beef is now in the freezer after it was sliced and salted away [and tested of course ,opinion? yum yum]
The second batch is now in the same brine which is what we will keep out for Christmas /boxing day.
We have to do a little packing for tomorrow yet ,enough gear to do four days ,the acer ready packed into the carry case with the dongles and other stuff i will need.
We will be going across the A69 to the M6 before turning south down to the M5//M4 for Oxfordshire,hopefully reaching Brize by 1700 and Lyneham by 2000[looks like fish and chips ,or a takeway at that time of night.
Hope everyone had good weekend ,see ya on Thursday ,dongles permitting ,lol. Fred.

hi tues pm hope you have a safe trip fred nothing much new over here I did have a good week-end away but to-day the snow has stated in barrie it is the fluffy stuff at the moment we are supposed to get about 15-20 cm so we shall see what happens, just as the eldest grandson bryan was getting over the pneumonia on sunday he and two friends where working on a project for french class that involved making a short movie, it also involved toboggoning well of course who gets injured but bryan blew his knee so is now on crutches and has a splint the x-rays show no break so that is good so he is back in school crutches and all they do have elevators for kids that have wheelchairs so he gets to use them not sure how he will manage in the snow. I wonder what next. xmas dinner is now sorted we are all going to bolton ! to lindys sister jane's I will go over on xmas eve to andrews xmas morning is so much fun with the children I guess the former husband will be up as well for the week-end. as you will have noticed so many places ie. towns etc are named after english towns I quite like bolton it is a small town and quite pretty . that is it for me I shall be keeping an eye on the snow bye for now dorothy

Morning all .just enjoying my cuppa before i start loading the car ,which may turn out to be a short trip.
It seems Sean's stuff hasn't even left Cyprus yet ,so it may yet be a case of handing the lad his new licence at Brize,pumping up the camping mattress and coming home the following morning ,lol
I can't remember who asked for the recipe for the Christmas cake and pudding ,but i have now put them onto the hard drive of the acer ,the first thing i did after getting the new modem yesterday afternoon,fired it up ,turned on the printer and got cracking ,lol
The cake is easier to make than many ,and is a little quicker ,tastes beutiful and is nice and moist ,comes highly recommended. by Fred Cook ,lol.The pudding is a real belter ,prepared in a few minutes Christmas eve ,put into the fridge overnight ,,put into a basin as the dinner is put out ,and ten minutes in the mic' ,bingo ,a lovely pud that tastes far nicer than the shop bought rubbish .
Any one wanting the recipes please p M me with your email addy so that i can shunt it through the ether ,lol
Edith you give me a picture of a little polar bear sitting in a chair in front of a roaring fire ,wrapped in a blanket ,he he if that were me lass ,i would be in bed ,10 hot water bottles ,fifeteeen wooly blankets ,hibernating 'tll the spring , brrrrrrrr.
I remember ,many years ago ,spending a very miserable night in my lorry cab in the Ayr park on the water front, 11 below it was that night ,and i had to light a fire under the engine in the morning before i could start it ,lol.that was more than cold enough for little me,if i was masocistic i could turn down my chest freezer to the max' ,and spend the night in there ,but ,no thanks, i will leave that to the experts .
Time to get on with the packing now .i will be back this evening when i will know if i am coming home tomorrow he he.
P /S welcome home Brenda ,Fred.