General Chat

Morning to anyone looking in especially my usual firends.
Still grey and damp her ,but not as windy. Just a few house jobs being done today ,then this afternoon i am going with my sister who has an hospital appointment,.Tea will be a shepherda pie and lots of veg s we are all feeling the effects of having a bit too much to eat the last few days.
Then on Monday we start on a family diet in ernest.!!!
Better get in the dining room and tidy things away ,do some ironing and then get a shower ready to take my sister to the hospital.
Take care Brenda

Morning all.another damp grey day here.
Managed to get myself registered on the Kindle John bought me for christmas,so should not have to say I have nothing to read again!!!.
Had a nice surprise yesterday,my sister who lives in Runcorn ,Cheshire came to visit,she was coming Friday but had to change her plans,so my youngest sister who lives near Bury came over aswell.I managed to put a little buffet on for tea,so we all had a nice tea.
She has recently been on holiday to New Zealand,and brought her photos and lap top with more photos,it is an amazing country with wonderful scenery.!!
John is out to day with his golf mates,I am dropping him off at the social club,and might have to pick him up later this evening.
Have been contacted by a person on genes who is a distant relation,so my geneolgy bug has woken up again,!!!
Better get on and do my other emails.
Hope everyone is ok
Take care Brenda

Morning all.well just about,hope you all enjoyed christmas ,what ever you did.!!
weather was mild,bit wet but ok.
Christmas meal was good ,lovelly company with my little sis and her husband,plus my lovelly husband John and gorgeous son Da.vid
Now back to normal,for a few days til weekend .
Not sure what we.are doing,Will not be out new years eve,but have had an invitation out new years day,!!
Take care brenda

Hi Brenda ,look on e-Bay ,they have some belting second hand desktop puters ,with a new hard drive [1 terrabit] ,and a new 4 gig chip for around £ 135.to all intents a new puter ,fully refurbished and rarin to go.
We are about set to go ,lol,went out this morning for a few last bits and pieces ,and the saltpetre came while we were out ,not to worry though ,i will slip down the post office at 3 pm ,and pick it up.
Still a little wrapping to do ,but it won't take long to sort out .
Have a great holiday weekend all.and take care .
Fred Liz and Puddy tat :-D

Morning All,,I should be doing all sorts at the minute,but can not seem to get motivated.!!! Leg playing up and i have not even been out the door yet!!!
Thanks for the recipe Fred,,after getting the pc back from my nephew and working ok for 3 days ,it has gone of again,!!! He is trying to get over next week to see it ,but Ithink I will feel happier with something new,so might look in the sales.(the pc was second hand when I bought it a few years ago,cost me about £80.00
There again I might just get a WIFI printer and just use the lap top,but david will have to get his own,he keeps to much on the memory .
Glad you are all ok for a nice hibernation Fred ,could do with that myself.
Don't think Dorothy does look in now or rather she is unable to lookin ,i am trying to send her an email at leat once a week,and i get a reply .I have sent her an email greeting s card and had one back.
Better get my cuppa finished and get on with things ,Would just like to wish EVERYONE A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS,WITH LOVE .LAUGTHER AND PEACE,
Take care,Brenda

Morning to all ,and sundry ,from a very tired Fred ,who is suffering from Brenda's disease ,he he ,worn out from frantic Christmas preperation's ,but never mind A ? i at least am nearly finished ,and will be able to relax by this evening .
I am just about to disconnect the Printer ,in preperation to connect the new one Brenda ,so i will get the missus to copy the corned beef recipe for you first and email it on to you by tonight ,along with the addy for the salt petre that is used in the corning .
Dull and dismal here as well ,but what the heck ,we will just stay in is all ,and hibernate until spring ,lol :-D.
Hope Bill is now settled in up country ,fishing rod in hand and enjoying some better weather ,at least he is well away from Kiwi land which has been struck again by 2 severe quakes today,i hope he decides to stay in oz ,and not go back there where he was thinking of going,too dicey for anyone getting on in years.
I hope Dorothy is looking in ,and still on the net ,but i got her put on the e card list yesterday and sent her card away,i have looked for her coming on F talk too so i could have a chat to her ,but so far ,no luck.
,Well that's me for now ,still plenty to do today ,hope everyone is now looking forward to the weekend ,stay cheerful all ,and ,you lasses ,get the hubby in the kitchen too ,[ thats just for any one who has a kitchen shy man] ,lol,not anyone i know of ,but i hear they are around ,he he.
Catch you later peeps ,take care .Fred. ;-).

Hi All,hope you enjoy your walkabout Bill,hope the weather is kind to you.
Its been grey and miserable here,but at least it was dry,
Well I am finished with the present shopping and just need some fresh salad stuff and fruit and veg on Friday or saturday.
Going for my sister tomorrow morning and then going to the cemetary,will decide if I am doing the shopping after that or leaving it while Sat morning.
Did not sleep well at all ;ast night,so am really tired now.
Hope everyone is ok and not to frazzeled in the run up to Christmas.,
Take care ,see you tomorrow.
Brenda

Hi again Brenda,Fred,Dorothy,JB. and JA, if your looking in.
I'm just about to head off into the Wild Green Yonder, for the Xmas Period, Back again in the New Year.
I hope you all have a Care free xmas, and dont spend too much on xmas presents.
leaving a message for you on Messenger Fred.

All for now,
Bill in Oz.

Evening folks,hope the rain holds off a while for you Bill,I like going shoppinmg at Aldi myself,but find the service very slow ,they never have more than two tills open at anytime.
I will look on the internet like you suggested Fred for the Corn Beef.,
Have done a lot of the wrapping and will have to deliver presents tomorrow night mainly to my brothers ,who luckily live near each other..
Have a couple of last minute things to get so hope to be up and out early tomorrow,Will be cutting down what presents I buy again next year ,mainly because ,i buy for my great neices and nephews and they are getting older,and next year we have two new babies due,so I think some of the older ones will have to take a back seat.!!
The cats finshed the salmon off pretty quick and also some chicken a day or so later.They are now having to make do with tinned Whiskas or Felix..
Have a few things to do later so had better have my cuppa and get started,
Take care Brenda

Afteroon all ,having had a chat to Bill earlier ,and done all the hoovering .& dusting ,it's time to sit down and chill out .
I tried to recover the grandsons computer and got as far as opening the default settings ,only to find that the hard drive has decided to remove itself from it's mortal coil and is well and trully bu*****d ,lol.
To anyone out there thinking of a new laptop this Christmas tide ,do NOT buy Toshiba ,they take forever to boot up ,owing to far too many inbuilt ,imbedded programmes ,and the hard drives in them are still very prone to breaking down ,and cost over£ 250 to replace ,so ,having been caught once ,when mine goes ,it will be going in the recycle bin.
Go on the net Brenda ,and look up ,Beef for Corning ,and then salt petre for cooking ,which you can no longer buy in the shops ,if you have any problems i can give you the name of the company who sells it ,you should have been a bit quicker lass ,he he ,i ordered mine two days ago ,and it is supposed to be here tomorrow.
Hope Dorothy is okay ,i keep looking for her on F talk ,but havn't seen her on line yet though i have seen a few peeps off the other thread ,who i talk to from time to time ,and the beuty is ,it costs nowt ,lol ? :-D.
Looks like Bill is going walk about for the holiday period for a bit of peace and quiet ,and i can't say as i blame him ,lol,i hate the city at thebest of times ,and can see where he is coming from ,he he ,just as well i sent his card early ,and he picked it up yesterday :-).
Have to go and get the crumpets done for the dinner ,mine with stinky blue cheese on ,lovely.
My cat is a funny one Brenda ,she is like your mum ,she hates FRESH salmon ,but loves the tinned ,so it's just as well i love both sorts ,or the cat would go hiungry :-| he he.
Catch you later all ,Fred. :-D

Hi Brenda, Fred, JB,and Dorothy if your looking in.
Hope you all have a peaceful holiday.
I have just come out of the Bush, and just for shopping.
missed around 13 Kangaroos on the road on the way out. so thats a good start.
We are having thunder storms nearly every night lately, and horrendous downpours. Yes its Oz.
Havnt fixed my car from last months Deer strike, cost too much, $1,765.
Deer may have died, found a dead one last week.
going to get supplies from Aldi, amongst others, enough to last at least 2 weeks
I reckon your feeling the cold after your tropical holiday Brenda.
havnt done much Xmas shopping this year.
Hope to chat later (when you get up) Fred.
cheers all.
Bill in Oz.

Evening all.have a few minutes while I am having a cup of tea,,
Been to town this afternoon for our christmas lunch,which was really good.We behaved ourselves and did not go overboard with starters and puddings as the lunch was substanial.,Then on the way back to the bus stop I did a little bit of shopping,funnily enougth the two shops I went to seemed really queite .!! I must have timed it right ,but the bus journey home was a night mare,!!

Any way i do not think I have to go to town for anything else.
Going to ice the other cakes tonight,the others were good.if I say so myself,
Take care Brenda xxx

Afternoon all,well we have had a good fall of the white stuff this morning so its a bit cool here today,luckily we are not going out and are busy cleaning carpets and then I will be wrapping gifts..I might even get to ice a cake or two,Nothing fancy just a snow scene with peaked icing,
Glad you have got your self all cosied up Fred you deserve it .The turkey leg for the cat on the BBq sounds brilliant,John brought some fresh salmon down from his mums yesterday.it was given to her and she is not keen,the cats are loving it.!!! I expect they will turn their noses up at the tinned stuff tomorrow,!!!
John has asked if you would mind sending us the recipe for the corn beef Fred,he used to do it forty odd years ago when he worked as a butcher.and fancies doing some again,!!
Better finish me cuppa and get back to work ,we are also expecting a visitor or two later.they are just dropping things of and picking up, as they put it.
Be back tomorrow after my christmas lunch with my friends.
Take care Brenda xxx

Morning John and Brenda from up north where it is a tad on the nippy side at the mo'
Not much on up here at the minute ,the beef corning is under way now ,and i should have a very nice2 & a 1/2 kilo piece of Salmon cut ready for the new year,which will make a nice change from the black Norfolk Turkey and the pork.
Looks like we have a mild spell on the way for mid Week too,so i may yet Get a chance to fire up the new B B Q and sit with the cat on the patio and share a turkey leg with the cat ,what a spoilt pussy tat ,black turkey leg on her plate ,nowt too good for my pussums ,he he :-D :-) share and share alike i say ,lol.
We have the grandson here today for dinner ,nothing posh ,he wants his mince and dumplings ,which he dosn't get at home ,his dad now a shift worker at Asda,and no time for cooking much in his off time.
Chris has problems with his laptop ,with it refusing to boot up ,so i have told him to bring it down here ,because i have an original windows 7 ultimate disc ,which he needs to get it up and running again ,there being no M S dos ,on windows 7.
hopefully that may work ,if not it's another laptop needed sigh ,this windows 7 is more trouble than it's worth ,a deliberate ploy by microsoft to make more money ,no wonder more and more people are deserting microsoft and going onto apple products.
my spare laptop is on windows vista ,and is staying on it ,at least when THAT does wrong you can do a full recovery.
I have the new regulator onto the spare gas heater now ,and have a fire on the upstairs landing ,and one in the kitchen ,so we can at least stay warm if we lose power ,something that is going to get more common over the next couple of years as we loose more of the old power stations ,with no new ones yet to take their place.
Have to go and give the missus a hand to put the new ,heavier duvets on the beds ,but hopefully will be back later ,Fred :-) :-D

Hi everyone,back from out brilliant holiday all relaxed and rested.Now in the middle of sorting out washing etc and getting ready for christmas,Will be back later .Brenda

Hi everyone
Popping in for a visit, seems I'm a rare visitor to GR these days. I had a bit of heatlh problem a week or so a go. I was vomitting on the Sunday and Monday I went to my doctor who decided to do an ECG and get bloods done. :-0 Later I got a phone call telling me to go to A&E for further checks. Further blood tests, ECGs, Xray and endless questions they determined I had an irregular heart beat. I wasn't given medication and was told that should I experience a recurrence to get an ECG done at the doctors or hospital. They also said that this may never happen again, and I pray that it doesn't. Mind you I had to pay for the ECG at the doctors where at the hospital no charge. I felt find to do voluntary work on the Tuesday but was told they would kick by seat it I turned up and so like a good fellow I stayed home and went in a few days later. So I've had an eventful week.
This week is reasonably quite and did two days volunteering at the Sallies as we are getting ready to hand out gifts which started yesterday. A friend said a lot of these people depend on handouts and dont make the effort to actually prepare for Christmas earlier in the year. Sadly its true and another sad factor everybody is struggling with debt and making ends meet is an awesome task.
This year we are having a lean Christmas with few gifts - both Gayle and I subscribe to two magazines so thats our present this year. Craig and Gemma are joining on Christmas Day at the Sallies for a shared Christmas lunch - went last year with Mum and my brother and it was very nice.
And yes I will take care of myself. Have a great week. John :-)

Enjoy Brenda ,lol, it all awaits you when you get back but hopefully only the cold and damp so you can get your house nice and snug quickly ,and at least you missed the wind storms we had this week ,a bonus for you .
Take care and enjoy the sun ,you lucky person ,Fred.xxx :-D

Hello everyone,having a brilliant time here in sunny Tenerife!!!
weather just fantastic i am sorry to say.we are not looking forward to coming home to the wind rain snow and everything else you are having.
Will be going back to the apartment after this for a bit of a sun bath on the balcony. Might have a sarnie in or go out for coffe and cake later.!!
Speak to you all next week .
brenda

Hello everyone,having a brilliant time here in sunny Tenerife!!!
weather just fantastic i am sorry to say.we are not looking forward to coming home to the wind rain snow and everything else you are having.
Will be going back to the apartment after this for a bit of a sun bath on the balcony. Might have a sarnie in or go out for coffe and cake later.!!
Speak to you all next week .
brenda

Morning to all from the frozen north ,he he ,our first snow of the winter here ,not much ,but it's plurry cold with it ,lol :-0.
Trust the missus to decide today's the day to make some thick country veggie soup ,so Fred was kicked out of the warm to dig up a few leeks for the pot ,brrrrrrr,and i very soon noticed that the thermometer in the greenhouse was showing -2 as the sun came up,and i could swear i heard the leeks shivering as i hauled them out of soil so hard that the fork prongs seemed to flex quite a bit .
Goes to show ,that our Brenda knows just when to go on holiday he he .enjoy it while you can lass ,it will more than likely still be here when you get back.
Hope Dorothy will look in once in a while ,seems very quiet on here these days :-( .
Going to slope off now ,and get some work done ,catch you later peeps ,Fred. :-).