General Chat

Evening folks.Hope Bill has managed to stay grounded and not been blown away,also hope any gold digging he does do is profitable.and he stays ok and does not hurt himself.
Hope the BBq and then the kitchen work all goes ok Fred, Glad Sean and his missus are doing ok in their new homes,i am sure it will be ok in the end,I already buy the help the hero goods ,they do bacon and cooked ham in sainsburys.
The building work is doing ok ,but he has to come back on Monday .
He will be doing some work on next door while he has his scaffolding up,seems they have the same problem as us.
We are planning on some decorating when its all done ,with David helping John,David does not mind but John is a bit impatient when showing him what to do,!!!
John is up at his mothers this weekend and has been helping in the garden by mowing the lawn and cleaning up the leaves,at neary 90 and 84 ,its a bit much for his mother and step father,but they will not entertain any idea of moving to a flat or somewhere with a smaller garden!!!! NOr will they have the garden taken up and either flagged or shaled,
Weather still fantastic ,sleeveless tops on October 1st !!!!
Had a really good time on the night out for the people leaving the library,we even sat out on the patio at the pub.as the weather was so warm.
Going to get a bite to eat ,being on my own,david is out as well. I can please myself what i do or have,!!!
Take care,hugs brenda

Morning all ,and a special thought for friend Bill,who is off air today [so far] because his camp site has been hit by an even worse storm than before ,resulting in him having to batten down the hatches and concentrating on keeping the tent tied to the ground.
I Had word from Marta last night ,settling back in at the Uni' in Poland for her last year before graduating,to say that she had heard from her hubby Sean ,who has now arrived in the middle east after the stop over in Oman,and is safely on camp [airbase].
Talking of which ,can i ask those people who shop in the big stores like Morrisons and Asda ,to keep their eyes open for the free range eggs in store that are supporting the Help the Hero's Fund by donating 15 P of the purchase price for every six eggs sold ,these guys can do with all the help they can get ,being ignored by the government who put them in the state that they are in to start with.
Had a text off Chris yesterday asking me to put off the B B Q until today so that he can be here for it ,lol,so ,not wanting him to go without ,it is now on for this afternoon :-D.
When his Dad comes to drop him off i will give him the heads up as to starting the kitchen make over ,re changing the sink unit and bench tops ,and converting the cooker unit to take the full size oven we are getting put in.
Once that is out of the way ,i will crack on with the windowsills which want cleaned up and repainted before the frosts come :-|.
|I was up early today to give the lawn and veggie patch a quick cold shower before going upstairs and getting one myself ,it being the start of a hot day.
Going to do a shoot now ,time to get on with a bit of work before it starts to warm up.
Hope everyone is having a good weekend no matter what happens ,Fred :-)

Yep Brenda I'm Sorta ok, Just had another Storm Gusting Wind to 100K, Broke a couple of my Fibre Glass poles, and Collapsed part of my tent on top of me, Got a Couple of replacement poles from Bairnsdale (I'm in Swifts Creek at present 90 km away. Got the poles the next day.
Getting Supplies ready for a 2 week trip back to the Wilderness, No Communications from there, Even Sattelite is poor, and my Navigator stops working.
Have to leave all my 230v devices behind, and use gas, and a new Generator I just bought from Aldi, only good for 1kw, but will Drive my Computers, and my 1000 movies on the Laptop.. Will do a bit more Gold sampling along the Gibbo River.
Getting a bit old for this Game. slowing down a bit.
Anyway Brenda hope the builders get finished on your place before the Rains hit you. And FRED ,you get your BBQ sorted
And Dorothy gets back on GR. to keep the thread Alive.

Bill in Oz

Hi fred ,Sorry your errands went a bit wrong ,hope it all got straightened out in the end.
Had a good morning myself ,up to a point!!!
Managed to get a reitrement gift for my friend ,I had been looking for this item for months and found one by accident this morning !!! Got some good bits and bobs from the £1 shop,and some little things to start my christmas shopping,Then I went to the Sainsburys supermarket near the library i worked at ,but they are building a new one and have now moved into the new building as a temp supermarket,but it was just chaos with a capital C, and the carpark was even worse!!.
Mind you once I had gotten out and to the library i was ok,They had a couple of books I was waiting for,
I gave my friend the gift I got her this morning and we had a good chat with a sandwich and a cup of tea as it was lunch time.
When i got home the builder was still working hard and the new roof on the bay looks good.He still has to finish some things of so it might go into next week,
Hope the BBQ goes ok the burgers and baps sound yummy.
How many will be there? the weather should stay good for it. John is going to his mam this weekend she will be at the caravan,.
I am doing well with my de clutterring I am working my way througth a set amount of cupboards an ddrwawers each week. Next week we will look at the top cupboards over the wardrobes.
take care Brenda

Evening Brenda ,wow ,what a day we have had ,tried to get down to the bank this morning ,and arrived ,only to find out that my solicitor had screwed up the work that i set him and the bank wouldn't accept the cheque and i had to go back for a new one,then i had to go back to the bank again ,and by then the city was heaving.
Got the bussiness done okay ,but by this time there was no chance of making B & Q this afternoon ,so we went into OUR market for a nice ice cold tea ,a habit i picked up in the middle east ,nothing more refreshing on a hot day.
Can't go out tomorrow because the gas board come back early to finish the mains liners through all the pipes in the road,by which tiime it will be six ,and everything will be too late to see to.
The trip to B & q will now be Saturday when we will go down to size up the new benches and fittings such as new sink ,and pipe lagging to prevent pipes bursting over the winter.
From there it will be Currys to see about the new cooker i promised the wife []me and my big mouth ] lol :-( ,a double oven ,she want's AND a fifth burner for the wok ,no pleasing some people ,he he.
I have told her that this is an early Christmas present ,and she will only get a small one over the festive period but knowing her ,she will keep on for a better offer ,lol :-(.
On the way out of the market ,we noticed that the french bakery had some lovely buns on sale ,granery rolls topped with sesame seed and crushed oats ,just the job for the B B q tomorrow,and i got 6 for £1.
They will go well with the burgers the farm made me ,Angus beef stuffed with cheddar cheese and chives,and the herb stuffed cumberland ,and lincolnshire snags .
This is the last B B Q this year ,so it is going to be the best one ,lol,cause i'm sure we have a couple of minute steaks in the freezer ,and a carton of Bombay Potato.
I was watching Hairy bikers on the box last night ,and i was interested to see they were in Morocco getting lessons on how to cook in a Tageene ,using spices and herbs ,doing a lot of slow cooking over charcoal , you know ,i quite fancy trying one of those ,the only problem being ,where to find one of those little round cookers ,hmmmm ,time to check on the net methinks.
Hope your roof repairs go okay Brenda and hope Dorothy can find her way back ,Catch you all later Fred. :-)

Afternoon Fred and any one else who looks in
Weather her is fantastic.just what we need for the roofing work.!!
Have not been able to sit out much as they have been in and out of the garden where they have stored some stuff,
Went out to a show last night TOP HAT which was great,think Fred Astaire !! It was not so great getting out of the underground carpark and the surrounding roads. !!
Going to the library tomorrow,my friend is retiring/being made redundant this week and tomorrow is her last day to work.
Hope Dorothy and Bill are ok and we can speak with them soon.
Take care Brenda

Morning Brenda ,very early this morning as we have a full day visiting the family and doing a little household shopping for a few nik naks starting with two touch lights for the bedroom ,because the switches on all the ones we have are so ruddy awkward to reach in the dark and nine times out of ten the lamps land up on the perishing floor ,lol.
The Gas company came very early yesterday and turned off the gas to the house ,and the electric so there was no danger of an explosion ,as they replaced the gas pipe from the road outside to the meter cupboard in the utility room.
Course ,i hadn't thought to turn on the charger for the lappy the night before so i couldn't even sit on the patio in the sun ,and do any work at all ,grrrrrrrr.
They dug a flaming great hole in the drive outside our gate so we were prisoners all day ,not able to get the car out of the drive,and no power to even do the hedge out front for something to do ,Fred was NOT a happy bunny he he
The job was finished by 4 pm ,anyway ,the neoprene liner having been slid right through the old pipe into the house and the meter reconnected,then it was a short wait until the gasboard came to turn the gas back on ,what a palaver,demarcation shows it's ugly head yet again.,after all ,these fitters are far in advance workwise that the domestic gas board ,and it took the bloke two minutes to bleed the air out ,shut his bag and bugger off ,daft ,and a time waste if ever i saw one ,lol.
Make the most of the next few days with your washing Brenda,this sunshine should be savoured ,the temperatures will drop like a brick once the new month sets in :-(.
I got the camera discs out last night ,and put the three together on one dvd so that we can watch them on either the puter ,or a dvd player,and wiped the camera discs ready for reuse,a good job done and discs ready for the next time they are needed..Be back later today ,or evening ,hoping to hear that Dorothy is making headway with her sorting out of Genes,before she gets fed up and moves to the other firm ,who ,it has to be said ,has a better grasp of keeping it's members happy.
Have a nice day everyone ,see you later Fred. :-D

Evening folks.we have had a great day weather wise,shame I did not do anywashing today.!!
Had a phone call from Dorothy thisafternoon,she is still having genes problems and so it appears are a couple of other people in her apartments!! She is going to see how things go after she has been able to send her subscription ,mind you that does not help the people who are also having problems.
The builder was here on time this morning and they got started straight away,however it wasn't long beforee he was telling us we hadother problems,and then again this afternoon,but in away I think we half expected them,as the house is over 100 years old and its at least 20 years since any work was done on the roof.
!! Hope you and Liz are ok being just the two of you again Fred!!
Take care Brenda

Hi Everyone,WOW Fred you really put us all to shame with all your organisation etc.
Had a nice couple of hours at Bury Market yesterday ,weather was a bit wet but turned out fine in the end Had a lunch that looked smashing but tasted not so good,will not be going there again.I was a bit naughty and bought some cheese at the cheese stall.My friend got a couple of pieces of cheese and was so pleased they sold small portions as she is on her own and doesn;t tend to buy cheese as they are normally to big,
Today was a miserable start and I did not think I would get my washing out to dry,but it turned out to be a really nice afternoon,and it all dried fine,
All your talk Fred about cleaning carpets had me planning the cleaning of ours,we have been waiting for the building work to be done so we could do the living room hall and stairs.,hope to get it done next month,but the living room ceiling will need painting because of the stain from the leak on the bay roof.,which should be fixed when the buildr replaces the bay roof,!!!
Hope both Dorothy and Bill are ok.
take care Brenda

Good morning world ,what a nice morning we have up here in Newcastle ,where my spuggies are singing their hearts out ,and my puddy tat is out hunting mice and pigeons ,with any luck.so long as she dosn't try her usual trick ,and sneak one ,alive into the house he he.
I got the day off Brenda ,the lad who did the driving for the daughter lasst time found that he was free after all ,and did that job again ,and the rest of the family turned out to help .so old pops wasn't needed after all [sniff] he he ,
so ,Fred feeling pretty fresh after two good nights sleep thought ,well ,here goes winter cleaning ,lol,and bottomed the house from top to you know what,finishing off last night by getting the carpet cleaner out and cleaning the lounge carpet.
Ooh heck ,[blushes like a maiden caught adjusting her clothing behind a tree] crickey ,it wasn't dirty was it ,lol ,the water at the end of the cleaning was the same colour as the soil out in the garden,ouch..lol.
Hmmmm ,i must remember to take that cleaner down to Lyneham in March to do all the carpets down there before Sean marches out ,to go down to Brize.
We are ,i think ,semi booked to go there too ,to help with the moving in.
I got my reward for all the work in the house yesterday while i was sitting in my chair prior to doing said carpet ,gazing idly out of the window at the botttom end of my veggie patch ,that is now nearly as bare as the nursery ryhme cupboard ,he he ,and there was a flutter of grey and white plumage ,blast ,another pigeon ,and then i sat up startled ,and did a double ,triple take ,an owl? yep ,def an owl,a young barn owl at that.
yelped to the missus ,who grabbed her camera ,sneaking to the patio door and sliding it open to avoid bounce back from the window.
Of course the ruddy owl flew off ,but landed on the edge of george's house over the back and the wife managed to get a long range shot of it before it flew off again.
Hope this young owl was setting up it's hunting territory and will return frequently so that i can use My Camera which has a very good telephoto lens on it to get a close up of the little visitor ,it certainly made my weekend,that's for sure.
Glad to hear that your builder is coming to sort the roof out for you Brenda ,expensive job ,as i found out earlier in the year ,but at least you know it will be water tight and snug ready for the coming winter which they reckon is going to be even more sever than the last one.
I have already ordered two new bottles of propane gas for the emergency heating giving me five bottles in all,and have now my emergency generator as well,and can now rest knowing i can keep my wife snug and safe ,no matter what the weather throws at us up here.
We can now survive a six week white out if needs be ,and the rest of the family are within calling distance if needed.
Next week ,the great garden tidy up will be starting again ,and i still have an apple ,potato,beetroot and ,leek,onion,brussel,kale and cabbage harvest to be starting on,so ,no matter what else ,we wont starve.
The freezers are now full to the brim ,ready for the fray ,and we topped it off by getting one of those four bird roasts in ,just in case the worst happens and we cant get to the farm for the Christmas meat.
As you can see ,we are SORTED ,lol,bring it on i say ,all is right with Freds world ,for the time being ,at any rate he he.
Catch you later folks off to peruse the boards and have a coffee :-D,Fred.

don't know what went wrong with my last message.
Hope all goes well when you move your daughter Fred,and you do not have any problems,please be careful,don't want you having any more problems with your back !!!
The builder is coming on Monday to start the work on the roof.and it should take about a week.We have been told the weather should be pretty dry next week ,so hopefully he will get it all done.
Whatever you are all doing over the weekend ENJOY.
Hugs Brenda.

Evening all,had a pretty good day today .weather fairly good ,dry at least,so washing was on line again and dried,
Went to my sisters this morning we had a cup of tea and a chat,then came back to the local supermarket and got my shopping.
Had a visit from a friend this afternoon which was good,had a coffe and a scone and sat in the garden to have them as it was fairly sunny and warm.
It is supposed to be fairly good tomorrow ,hope so as I am going on the tram with another friend to Bury!!.
Need some birthday cards and retirement cards,as there is a great card stall there which I like.
Hope both Dorothy and Bill are ok and have a good weekend,
Glad the journey home was so good Fred,hope everything was good at.

Hi Brenda ,just to let you know that we got home at 12-30 pm after a pretty good,fast trip up from Lyneham.
Despite going at 70 mph where ever possible in cruise mode ,we only used a tad over a quarter of a tank,so we were very pleased with that ,300 miles on four gallons and a bit is pretty darned good ,i think.
Pussy cat is curled up at my feet ,lol,not letting me out of her sight ,and the first thing i had to do ,before even unloading the car ,was make a cup of coffee ,and go out onto the patio with her to drink it,she was veeeeery pleased to see me.
Off now to do the unpacking,and will be back tomorrow.
Fred. :-).

Good morning all.we have another dull wet day again today,Yesterday turned out to be a really nice sunny day ,but it was very blusterly,but my washing did get dry,!!!!
Had a little walk round the supermarket near where my neice works,and got a few bargains.,came home and had a nice lunch.(egg and cress sandwich)and a chocolate muffin,which was on offer at the supermarket,
Had one of those cookin bag things for tea ,for chicken wasn't that bad but will not be doing that one again.
Not out today ,was going to my sisters but going tomorrow instead,(See Fred I am learning not to push myself too much)
Physio was good last night and have some more excerisies to do along with the ones i already have.Will be going to the NHS physio on the 4th Oct so am leaving the private one till after that and then will decided which to continue with.
On Saturday hoping to go to Bury Market with my friend,she lives over Stockport way and loves Bury Market but due to the days she works can only come over to go there when she is on holiday.,
Hope You are all busy and keeping well ans happy.
Will be back tomorrow ,
Brenda

Hi All,just a quick message as i am outand about shortly.
Hope Dorothy gets things sorted soon,and is back on board before to long.
Hope as well that Bill is doing ok and taking care of himself.
Sorry all the old places weren't what you remember Fred but it is a sign of the times.I see places changing every time I visit my relations around Manchester,
Will be back later hopefully,
The weather is dry and sunny at the minute ,hope its lasts as the washer has two big loads to do!!!
take care
Brenda

Hi Brenda ,a little late today because we have been out ,having got most of the packing done yesterday.
We went to try to find my first R A F home ,Compton Basset or what's left of it ,managed to get a pic' of the main gate and tarmac that was next to the guard room ,and that's about it ,everything else has gone ,it now being a landfill site ,and council recycle yard.
The gate was looking a bit sad ,loads of rust on the once pristeen white metal ,and half behind the overgrown hedges ,but then ,there are no defaulters to see to the paintworkof hedges anymore ,lol :-0.
From there ,we went into the local town where we used to go when allowed off camp,Calne with has changed little over the last 40 odd years,even my favourite pub the George at the top of the bank that made those lovely cheese toasted sarnies was still there ,but shut up ,and for sale,another sign of the times i suppose.
We are taking the grandson and wife out to Swindon shortly for a Chinese Buffet before we go home on Thursday because it's the last time we will see them together for a year or more.
We have to go home early to see to the daughters house at the end of the week,the eldest son is working ,and i am the only driver left with PanTech knowledge ,he he ,i am beginning to feel like one of these removal men,lol.
We will have to take Hissy a peace offering when we go back ,she was most upset when she knew we were leaving her on her own so soon after getting back from Blackpool,making those little mewing noises that seem to twist the heart of us cat lovers,it upset me quite a bit i don't mind admitting.but this will be the last time for quite a while :-).
according to the long range weather people ,there is a severe cold weather warning out for the back end of next month ,really early this year ,so i must get out and get the petrol and 2 stroke oil i need for the emergency power,think i may be needing it.
Other than that ,i will get two extra cans of gas in ,just in case we get hit hard again,i don't mind it so long as i have the gear to cope with it ,the main thing being keeping the wife warm.
Hope you are getting things sorted Dorothy ,we miss your input terribly,and need the scuttlebutt from your area to let us know what's going on.
Time to go and get ready,but i will be back sometime tomorrow ,before we pack for the journey home Thursday morning.
Take care all ,Fred. :-D

Hi folks,wet again here today after a very sunny early morning,which looked really promising.!!
had a few errands to do today and did them all,!! some where a bit daunting trying to get people to understand what I wanted but we got there in the end.
Had a visit from my friend this afternoon so we had a coffee and a chat ,which was nice.
Hope the visit goes well fred and you got the video done that you wanted.
hope things over your way are ok Bill,and your weather is not to hot !!
Hope Dorothy gets things sorted with genes ,think she was getting in touch this morning.
Have got to get tea ready shortly.Be back tomorrow.
Brenda

Hi Brenda ,hi to Bill,whom i will chat to tomorrow morning ,i hopw ,when i get up .
We got away from Newcastle by 9 am this morning ,arriving at Lyneham at 3-30 pm ,after a rather wet trip down ,but otherwise not a bad trip ,apart from aquaplaning on one county road just outside Wooton Basset,during a prolonged squall ,but i managed to keep the car straight while i backed off on the gas pedal.he he .
A mile up the road i came across an old fella crawling along at about 20 mph ,i think he may have had the same happen to him and was a tad scared of the conditions.
We have to go home on Thursday to start shifting the daughters furniture out of the storage up to Fawdley , don't know ,i feel like a furniture removal firm these last few weeks ,lol.
fish &Chips for tea tonight,yum,and then it's off to film Wooton Basset in the morning ,to film the high street ,blocked off today while they do the royal ceremony on the name change,so i hope the decorations are still up when we get there.
Catch you later all,Fred.xxxxx :-D

Evening folks just a short message to say I finally got to Bury Market today and so did the rain ,it was belting down,with johns back back and my leg we really just went to the places we had to go to and then had a cup of coffe and came home, But we got there,and enjoyed what we managed to do.
Hope you are all having a good weekend.
brenda

Good afternoon folks ,had a surprise phone call from Dorothy last night.seems she might have renewed for 6 months and not a year back in March when her renewal was due ,she is checking things out with genes ,but she sends her regards to us all and hopes to be back again soon.If it s not what she thinks fred she might need some advise .But hopefully Genes will help her out/
weather on the wet side today so John was not out ,but he has a back problem again at the minute so he was not going anyway.!!
Fred I know what you mean about the cat s behaviour when you go away and then come back.,she will send you to Coventry no doubt when you get back again,!!! Our dog did !!he would sulk for days when we got back from holiday.
Hope the house closing goes ok and doesn't cause any problems,glad that you had no major problems with the house when you got back..
Thanks for the weather report Bill,I am sure my friend and her husband will have a good trip and visit to Lakes Entrance,Hope the fires do not start ,and if they do ,that you are not near them.
With Johns back being like it is i am not sure what we are doing this weekend ,anyway i hope you all enjoy your weekends.
take care Brenda