General Chat

hi brenda glad to hear you arrived back safe and sound but it sounds like you were a little disappointed in the changes you saw, rain well it has rained for several days over here and at the moment it is quite foggy out of my window but I think it is because it was cold early on and is now warming up, had the special test on tuesday it took us over 2hrs to drive to toronto it was quite the interesting test and then I had to see another specialist after he will pull all the results to-gether and send them on to the specialist I see on the 13th of oct , I am finding that the tiredness is increasing and my head does not feel great all the time but what can you do. anne is having the 2nd eye done to-day actually it is probably done as it is 2pm your time as I write this so I will call her later after tea time to see how it all went, hope your spanish lesson went well, guess fred is enjoying his holiday I am sure he will have lots to tell us when he gets home, bye for now dorothy

Evening all,got back from my holiday last night but was too tired to get on here to see what emails etc I had waiting.Could not get online while away the place I usually use was not open ,apparently the owner was sick.I did not want to use another as I get abit iffy about them.
We had a really good time but alot of things had changed and not for the better so even though we are going in December we are thinking of going somewhere else next year.
Hope all your tests went well and you have some good news Dorothy,sounds like the family are all back in their school routines.
Hope fre is continuing to have a good trip,he gets sbout that man.
Have caught up with my emails etc tonight and spent the day washing as it is raining the spare room and dining room look like chinese laundries!! tring to dry stuff can go in the drier.Having a bath and early night tonight a lot of errands to do in the morning and my spanish class in the afternoon.A Brenda

good saturday moring to all the ones on holiday and to anyone else who tunes in fred I was thinking about you yesterday as I wandered around one of the local grocery chains as they had some good sales on, turkeys at 97c ents a pound they were utility birds but nice and plump and lots of local veg all ready for thanksgiving week-end in 2 weeks, to-day I am going to go and have a look at some of the local farmers markets about an hour from me along the highway and see what I can find, I have chopped and froze multi coloured peppers for the winter and have some celery and leeks ready to chop and freeze to add to sauces and soups etc. heading for the special brain test on tuesday in downtown toronto and one must not be late or you miss the apt, and there is a fine of 400 dollars not payed by the insurance as traffice is bad on the way to toronto during rush hour I believe that andrew and I will leave about 8 for the 11 apt we can always have breakfast once we get there looking forward to more news from you and brenda re the holidays bye for now dorothy

thurs eve 8-30pm well fred you and liz will be tuckedup asleep as I write this I so enjoyed your update re the birds and the other wild life it is true so many things remain special to us from our childhood and the places that we grew up in, even after over 50 years over here so many sights and smells remind me of home and the lump in the throat gets bigger as I remember things, like the smells of the air around holcombe hill the special green of the grass that is england to me the lovely gardens even the ones that are so tiny but full of every kind of flower, the smell of malt vinagar which means fish and chips in a newspaper I could go on and on, it sounds like you are having a great trip, took the monitor back to the hospital this am we have had a couple of days of rain and the leaves are turning red so the fall colours will soon be a wonderful sight. just getting ready for the season opener of grays anatomy to be follwed by a new episode of law and order uk love that show bye for now dorothy ps I will be having a good cup of coffee and a mars bar as I watch I decided I needed a treat !!!!

Hi Dorothy from a sunny Wiltshire where Fred Spent an hour on the puter this morning watching the Starlings in the Elderberry tree next door munching on the berries for their breakfast while i had mine ,lol,there must have been nearly a hundred of them bending the branches ,and ,cor what a noise they were making ,he he.
This sort of thing is a miss to me ,being born and bred no more than fifty miles to the east of here in Wycombe ,but the missus, being brought up in Tyneside ,couldn't understand why this sight still brings a lump to the old throat,i am unashamed to admit ,although i love my adopted home ,i miss the countryside a lot.
The grandson ,being off nightshift this morning went straight to bed,so we piddled off to Chippenham this a m ,and spent most off the day there,first to have brekkie down by the river ,then a sea tin the sun watching the water birds in the river ,us sat on the bank,watching the Moorhen,Ducks Swans,coots,two Gulls,[Terns,i think] and a few hangers on i think ,on the bank ,pigeons ,all being fed by the youngsters in wheelchairs ,throwing bread into the water,lol,even the minnows joining in ,catching the sinking crumbs missed by the birds,we spent a very enjoyable half hour there watching the fun ,before going shopping.
We brought five d v d discs that we can have a play with in Cornwall when the weather is bad ,transferring the the dvd mini disc video i9nfo to the proper dvd discs that we can watch when we get home,and make use of windows media to do the transfer [i hope] but i have other burning media ,such as Nero i can use if i land in trouble.
The grandson,getting bored ,being left on the camp ,most of his workmates ,moving to other camps as they start to run Lyneham down ,is complaining that there will be few aircraft for him to see to and will have little to fill his time ,so we will be coming back down here for two weeks in June next year,,to keep him company for a while,and in the meantime ,i hope to persuade him to come up to Newcastle for Christmas.
Have to go now ,time to start dinner ,mince ,,dumplings,roast tatties,carrots,cabbage and calabrese,before he goes back on shift,and
besides ,the wife want's her hour on the computer.
Catch you later all,Fred.

hi well fred liz and brenda all away I hope that all the holidays go well and will look forward to any postings that fred does from cornwall, to bring you up to date with my goings on had an echo cardio gram at the hospital yesterday and am on the monitor for the next 48hrs so we will see what all that shows, weather wise we had a bad storm last evening and all through the night the lightening and thunder at 2am was spectacular the whole bedroom was lit up, this morning on the news it showed snow in calgary my sister is at a memorial sevice for her husbands aunt in british columbia but will be driving back to calgary to-day she will not be pleased to see snow so early in sept, but again in clagary the sun could be out to-morrow and with it high temps funny wether out there, Ian is back at school and the first 2 days of lindys new class went well, not up to much to-day being all wired up so will do some reading enjoy the holidays by for now dorothy

Just a few lines to let folks know we have reached as far as darkest Oxfordshire ,despite loads of roadworks and the odd breakdown,lol,though ,not me thankfully.
We had a good breakfast at Wooley Edge on the way which wasn't bad at all ,and got to the camp at around 12 -30p m.
By the time we had done a little shopping at Wotton Basset , was knackered ,and had a short snooze before i made the tea [stir fry],must admit ,i ain't getting any younger ,and will be having an early night.
Must go now ,yawn ,be back tomorrow, Fred

Hi Folks I am sorry i have been missing again ,like Fred said I was sorting out the holiday stuff ,we go at 7.10am tomorrow morning,as usual even with lots of planning we had loads to to last minute!!!
I have just to decide whether to have a bath wash hair etc and go to bed at 11 pm and get up at 3.30am or go to bed at 10pm and then get up and have a shower at 3.00am just before we leave at 4am for the airport!!! Think gettibg up will win as my hair looks like a birds nest when I get up and will not settle til wash and blown.How everyone else manages it I do not know.
You all sound in good spirirt s and very busy .Hope to get on here while away at least once ,if the internet place I go to is still open. So Pleased for your daughter in law Dorothy she deserves it,all the hard work she put in .And well done you daughter and son in law Fred it can't be easy getting staryed.
Have a good holiday in Cornwall Love and hugs to you all Brenda

What a horrible start to The Great North Run,damp and miserable,i was going to take the wife and grand bairns down to Shields this afternoon ,but i am not taking Liz out in this ,just before going on holiday ,lol, otherwise she is bound to get the sniffles the first week down there ,and that will never do.
I have now found a programme that will copy the discs from the camera,onto D V D ,so that we can reuse the camera discs ,that are re writers,but i am still buying four ones for the trip ,it being our first trip to Cornwall.
I have also brought a stick which fits the camera for still pics,so,what with that and four large cards for my fine pic' camera ,we should have plenty of recording time.
The external dvd disc external drive fits into the small computer case as well,neat eh? all weighing less than three pounds ,can't ask for more,and i can download onto the puter and send it home via email to the home hub.
I guess that our Brenda is busy seeing to the last minute packing ,get to it Lass he he ,but this idea of yours about needing to relax ,don't work ,trust me ,get used to the idea ,after a lifetime of work,you are screwed ,lol ,you will always be looking around for something to do.Brenda the beaver ,that's you.
The wife has just decided that we need to take the Acer on holiday too ,just in case we wish to watch a film in the evening,the small 10" puter being too small for this [groan] bang goes the three pound package idea ,but never mind ,the whole case will go into the bigger acer one ,so i will still have to carry only one case with it all in ,women, grrrrr.
Off now to take the wife her Sunday cuppa up ,but will be back later ,Fred

good saturday morning wow fred that must be a carrot to end all carrots hope you enjoyed it you will have a great display after the number of bulbs you have planted, brenda glad you had a nice day out with your friends and good luck with all the packing. to-day I am back over at the family home lindy has to go with her sister to kitchener and bring their mothers car back to janes house for when their mom arrives back from a cruise on the river seine and a tour of france!! they apparently took a limo to the airport courtesy of their travel place it is a 2hr trip their and back,but lindy recieved a nice promotion at work she now has her own grade 4 class teaching them everything but french so instead of covering the planning time for 7 teachers she will be in one place of course this came out of the blue so to-morrow she has to run around and get the classroom in place the previous teacher taking all the wall stuff with her one would think this could have been given to her 2 weeks ago at the start of school but the simco school board is known for doing things a** backwards. I am not going over as early as I did in the week as the 2 older ones can keep an eye on things till I make my entrance about 9-30. andrew has cancelled his trip down east to help lindy out this week and will go in a couple of weeks he is at a business golf tournement to-day. I must say I have enjoyed this week sorry that ian was ill but it was grand to feel usefull and put the old nursing skills in place well off to the sower have a good week-end and enjoy your holidays bye dorothy

Morning to all,just just finished preparing the dinner for four ,in case the grandson turns up ,the grand daughter is already here her parents sibling ,and eldest son being down in Bristol doing a de lux wedding video ,requiring three cameras.Can't complain ,the son in law screwing his head on right ,from the start ,sending out over a hundred demo vid's far and wide,now after ten months months and many satisfied customers and word of mouth spreading the news as well,he has a full order book up until the end of November.
I succumbed to curiosity last night Brenda and pulled the carrot from out of the onion tub to see what it was like ,and WOW,if only i had grown two as big as this when i was showing veggies in my allotment day's i would have got first prize for them,this carrot was10" round the shoulder and eight inches in length ,a big carrot for a stump root variety,and i couldn't help taking a pic of it.
I needed to because it is already in the steamer for dinner it being well big enough to feed four for dinner,along with some nice cabbage ,some calabrese and yet more runners the he,the only thing brought was the tatties.
Seeing as the carrot was in the box which had been manured for onion ,i was suprised that the roots didn't fork,but ,no matter ,that box will be used for carrot next year ,and the box used for carrot will be manured ,and used for the red onion,so ,as with the buckets i use the newer idea for raised beds ,only adding new stuff each year ,never turning soil out and replacing it,a waste of time ,and nutrients.
We are still clearing out the master bedroom ,ready to decorate when we come home,but apart from that are having a lazy morning.
This afternoon i take the boss to have her hair done,and take the car along the road to have it cleaned inside and out,and then ,after picking her up,go to do some last minute shopping.
Time to check the dinner now ,so i will away ,have and set the table ,so,have a good weekend all,Fred.

Evening all,we have had a better day weather wise today,still a bit windy but a lot drier.
went out to lunch today with the friends we go away with,as they are not coming this time ,we had a spot of lunch together.It was really good and the sun was shining when we sat on the veranda (under cover but outside) to have coffe afterwards and pretended we were all together on holiday !! we are all going together in December.Have managed to do most of my ironing which is on hangers all over the dining room, ready to put in the case on Monday.
Glad Ian is on the mend Dorothy,and that he is helping you in a round about wayWell fred you are still putting us to shame with all your organisation. I am not at all organised at the minute,but am planning to get back into a routine when I get back from holiday.
John has some ideas to impove where we are putting the grow bags etc for next year so the garden is geting straight..we are looking forward to some sun and relaxing on holiday ,even since finishing work I feel the need to relax. See you to morow ,brenda.

Morning all .well ,what a night we have had ,still pretty windy out there but in a way i was glad ,it ,i reckon ,stopping the arrival of the autumns first frost ,which i can do without ,there being a couple of small courgettes still forming on the plants.
I pulled 4 lbs of runners off the plants first thing this morning [6 am ] and froze them down in case we have frosts before we come back.and last evening i put the 60 .spring daff' bulbs in out front ,along with another 100 crocus ,so that's it now ,we should have a lovely show next year starting late Feb' to March.
It's a lovely sunny morning here ,maybe a day of the Indian summer we usually get at this time of year ,he he,but the garden is off the menu today ,packing to do ,after going to Curry's to buy some of the mini dvd discs the wife needs for the camera,and a camera to jack cable she needs to put the films onto disc when she gets home,he he ,there was panic last night when i couldn't find the driver for the camera ,lol ,it wasn't in the case ,but then daft old git Fred remembered ,i had put it upstairs with all the other driver discs ,so that i knew where it was ,he he ,did i get my wrist slapped and my ears bent [ouch] but all's well and the missus is loading the driver into her puter now ,[i will put it into my big laptop too when she isn't around ,cause Liz isn't too clever with that sort of thing ,if you know what i mean [little snigger ].bless her cotton socks.
Have to go shopping now but will be back later .
Glad to hear that the bairn is improving Dorothy,Fred.

hi thursday eve my time 8pm yes Ian is improving a little he ate more for me to-day and did some homework in the morning and a little more in the afternoon the joys of having a mom for a teacher she makes sure stuff is sent ot him then he had a go at his guitar after all that he had a nap. I shall be back there to -morrow as andrew has two new hires he has to oversee he thought that would be finished to-day but I guess their plane arrived late. and then again on saturday I don't mind it takes my mind off me, well brenda our weather can match yours it poured rain all day and it was cold and damp, you are right fred has been busy again between the decorating and the meals what a guy. hope that both your holidays go well, I am now going to go and make a coffee and get ready to watch a new episode of law and order uk I quite like it take care bye dorothy

Evening all,well Fred you put us all to shame with your decorating and cooking etc.!! I thought i was doing well getting my holiday clothes ironed ready to pack!!
Been to my Spanish class today and really enjoyed it ,have been looking on Amazon for the text book they are using ,they are not provided .As its the college of the 3rd age and all the teachers/helpers etc are all volunteers.You pay a joining fee for the year and can take as many classes as you want ,but pay a class fee for each class you attend which goes to the council for the use of the classrooms etc. I was given the ISBN number but it was not reaconised but when I keyed the title in it came up with a very different ISBN number ,the front cover looks the same so Isuppose it could be just a different edition,the tutor did say there is not much difference in them and if we wanted to but a second hand one or older edition theat would be ok.I will sort it oout tomorrow.Weather has been sunnish but very windy again today.Hope Dorothy and her grandson are ok and he is recovering well.Better goo and have my cup of tea got shouted to come and get it a while back !!
See you all tomorrow.Brendaw

Morning peeps ,blast it ,i have managed to do it again ,[groan] wrote a long message ,and somehow managed to lose it somewhere on the plurry laptop by hitting a wrong key somewhere down the left side of the keyboard,so ,here we go again.
The winds three days ago lasted at lest 36 hours with no chance of working in the garden ,so we both decided ,[the boss a good bit better] to start some decorating .
So ,old Fred ,fights the back door ,the gate ,and the shed door in the wind ,and starts to get the decorating gear out ,turns round at a really strong gust of wind to see what i'm still sure was powder snow ,blowing every which way ,which thankfully only lasted a minute or so,seeing as it was forcast up country ,i reckon it was blown down from the borders ,only forty miles away,but it goes to show ,even up there it's very very early.
We managed to finish the toilet and bathroom last night anyway ,leaving only the master bedroom to finish when we come back from Cornwall.
We leave on Tuesday of next week for Oxford,where we will stay until Friday morning ,before going on to Cornwall,for two weeks.
I made some nice Pannini's for dinner a couple of days ago with the rolls we got from Morrison's ,£1 for five ,cut in half ,and filled with a scice of Emmental cheese,a slice of Parma Ham, sliced tomatos. onion rings,and another slice of cheese,then placing the top on before shoving them into the press.
They were lush ,done with a few salt and pepper wedges .mmmmmm.
Yesterday we had curry from Morrisons ,a two serving one ,reduced to £3,which went down very well ,and today i am doing chicken breast ,stuffed with chive and soft cheese,wrapped in streaky bacon [cheaper and tastier than Parma] with new tatties par boiled ,and chopped into chunks,then fried in the pan with a little oil.
Yep Brenda ,the little Packard Bell 10" notebook is up and running,packed in it's own little case along with the power cord and a little slim external dvd drive to enable me to download pic's and programmes from disc instead of over the internet.
Hope Ian soon recovers Dorothy,not a nice thing for anyone to get ,but i expect the doc will inject him as soon as he is better so that he can never catch it again.
Ann's grandson was very lucky to get off without injury ,it's a sad fact that most accidents see the innocent party getting hurt ,while the other driver gets away scot free..
Some of the insurance firms have woken up to this now and cover for uninsured drivers ,so that the customer dosn't lose their no claims bonus ,i think ALL companies should by law HAVE to cover for this.
All uninsured drivers should be jailed for 12 months even if they have caused no injury and be forced to take another test,and any that havn't taken the test should be banned for five years ,and again jailed for a minimum of twelve months upto a maximum of ten years if they cause bad injuries or death,the law is too lax in Britain.
Looking forward to a full day in Bath ,with my camera,so much i didn't see last time round,and i am going prepared camers wise too ,4 cards ,each of 4 gig ,and a stick to load onto my laptop if i do run out of space ,lol.
Catch you all later ,Fred.

We have a really horrible day here today .very windy .very wet and very cold.!!!
Had to go to town on a couple of errands and was going to have a bit of a look round but after I had done the second and last errand i was fed up.my umbrella kept blowing inside out and my hood would not stay up on my coat!!my hair got all wet and frizzy!! so I gave up and got the bus home luckily they are every ten minutes.
got to go out to my brothers now ,he is 60 tomorrow ,was going Sunday and he went out unexpectantly ,so was going last night ,then he phoned to say he was going to a football match Man Utd.He has just got a season ticket so did not want to miss it/ I can not go tomorrow or friday and he goes on holiday to Benidorm on saturday,so It has to be today.
Hope your grandson is doing ok dorothy ,good job you are avaialable ,.Hope the weather is better in Cornwall for Fred and he has taken his laptop to keep in touch..Have to go now ,see you tomorrow.Brenda

hi its wednesday about 8-30 my time on a gray rainy looking day hope you slept better brenda the last 2 nights I have been looking after Ian for the last 2 days as he has pneumonia quite a sick boy andrew is working from home to-day so I am off for a long overdue haircut etc. and back over for the day to-morrow as he has an early morning meeting at head office and of course lindy is teaching I don't mind he is an easy patient . plus of course I get to use the wonderful big washer etc so if it is not nailed down I bring a load over there can freshen up the winter parka's and other bulky stuff. spoke to anne this am and it was raining in bury , her oldest granson totalled his car on the week-end in a freaky accident but it was not his fault apparently but he is ok so as anne is not driving at the moment she has loaned her daughter her car I guess it was really his mothers car, he left on sunday for sheffield university so all is well with him I guess. nothing much new over here at the moment has fred and liz left for cornwall already I seem to have lost track of time it will soon be your holidays brenda. just finished ready tony blairs book not that great of a read when all is said and done, bye for now dorothy

HI All,have been to bed and slept for about an hour then that little switch went on and I am wide awake!
Came on the pc expecting loads of emails as I have not been on today ,and found two but they were really advert things so don't count as I just delete them.
Was going out today to see my sister and my brother,but arrangements got changed as My sister was working an extra shift and my brother was out when I phoned to tell him I was coming .He is normally in on Sunday as they have the family round for lunch but they went out today so I am going one night in the week as he is 60 on Thursday,but will be at work during the day.so I will have to go at night.
Hope you had a nice dinner with the family if you went Dorothy,sorry about Roger I must admit I have not really been following it this time.Hope Fred is ok .Our carrots sort of withered Fred we only got a hand full.We think we should have spread them out more into another trough ,will do that next year.Tomatoa srgood.Best success we have had really. See you all tomorrow.Brendae

hi one and all all this talk about holidays is starting to make me a little envious but then I only have to take a short drive and I am up in the lakes and the beautiful wild views so I should not complain but you have to go so far in this country for a major change of scene ie a 4 hour flight to my sisters in calgary. yes brenda I was enjoying the tennis till late yesterday afternoon when my favourite player roger lost the semi finals to a chap I don't like as he has a bad attitude and his parents in the stands are very rude and have been escorted out in the past. in the morning the building had a yard sale the 2nd one this summer rather like a boot sale without the boot it went well. all the new programs on the tele start next week and eastenders is being brought back not the bbc program but another it disapeared at the beginning of the summer we are years behind ie this week on corrie tony gordon confessed and is in jail. and we are getting season 3 of lewis I do like that. may go over to the family for dinner this evening after the tennis final but have not really made up my mind. well take to shower etc and get this sunday started bye for now dorothy