General Chat

evening all.well that white stuff has arrived ,not much here ====yet but we are supposed to get more by the end of the week..
Had lunch out today ,anice chinese at our favourite restauraunt,whuch was really quiete as was the place we went for a coffe afterwards, sign of the times I suppose..
Know whatyou mean about the legs etc not working like they used to do.we were all sat chatting today about our aches and pains etc when it would have been about fashion or holidays etc.!!
I'd go for the taxi if you can manage it Fred or can you get one of the volunteer drivers etc.from the hospital.
Making a nice chicken broth tonight for tomorrows lunch,,and a pork loin dish for tea.The pork has been in the freezer for a while need to get a few things used from the freezer so will be having some different meals.
Take care of yourself Fred and look after Liz as well in this awful weather.
Brenda x

evening all.well that white stuff has arrived ,not much here ====yet but we are supposed to get more by the end of the week..
Had lunch out today ,anice chinese at our favourite restauraunt,whuch was really quiete as was the place we went for a coffe afterwards, sign of the times I suppose..
Know whatyou mean about the legs etc not working like they used to do.we were all sat chatting today about our aches and pains etc when it would have been about fashion or holidays etc.!!
I'd go for the taxi if you can manage it Fred or can you get one of the volunteer drivers etc.from the hospital.
Making a nice chicken broth tonight for tomorrows lunch,,and a pork loin dish for tea.The pork has been in the freezer for a while need to get a few things used from the freezer so will be having some different meals.
Take care of yourself Fred and look after Liz as well in this awful weather.
Brenda x

What i meant Brenda was ,if you just have a basic t v on an antenna you could buy a freeview box with a hard drive to enable you to watch multiple channela ,and if you wished ,record some programmes to watch later ,lol,you do not need a Tivo box as well, sometimes find two shows on at the same time and with one of these boxes ,you can watch both ,one after the other without having to pay Tivo ,or sky prices,all on the freeview are free to watch..
Well ,we went no where today ,not worth even starting the car up in this snow,but i will have to sort something out for Wednesday because the wife is at the hospital ,be it the car ,or a taxi due to snow or lack of free parking spaces ,parking at the old place is now not viable ,my legs getting worse all the time and now it's less than a hundred yards and i'm buggered ,never mind a quarter of a mile ,even less in freezing weather because the angina kicks in :-(.
Think this coming season it's a case of finding a gardener to do the lawns ,as well as the hedges ,lol,this getting old is a pain in the ass. :-|.
Took a whole turkey leg out of the freezer this afternoon becuse it's gonna be a veeeeery cold night up here ,ans a cold day too ,so i thought a nice green Thai curry would go down well with some kolgannon out for the tea with a couple of snags ,and a slice of bacon ,loveeerly stuff. :-D.
Gonna feed the cat now ,then have a play on me kindle before i get the tea on.take care Brenda ,and watch the footing when out and about :-) Fred.xxx

Evening all,well Fred wa do not have a Tivo box or a dvd recorder ,so My thinking that what you had mentioned would help us ,wouldn;t really,never mind.
You sound busy again with your cooking etc,i will have to start looking at what is at the bottom of the freezer ,keep getting bits and pieces and nothing from the bottom is being used.!!
Sounds like you got a good deal for Liz.s glasses welldone.
Looks like Dorothy might finalyy have had her christmas ,meal with her family.Hope it all went well.
Out with my friends for one of their birthdays tomorrow,we are going for a chinese,
Take care Brenda x

Morning our Brenda,don't need to send you any details of free view boxes ,they can bw brought from Curry's,the recorder versions with the hard drive the same as the tivo for £150up to over £250,the one i have looked at being £180 with exactly the same as our tivo [virgin box.]
Having your own means no paying £35 a month to a broadband company as it is run from any modern t v antenna so ,no junction boxes needed either,and you can connect it to a normal dvd recorder if you want a recorded disc to clear space on the hard drive.
Yep ,back to the cooking ,lol,making a pasta based dish for dinner using pasta shells filled with potato and onion ,done with small carrot and peas par cooked.
Adding cooked rashers [diced ] into the potato bake sauce ,all covered with thin potato slices [par steamed ].
Using cabbage from the garden again ,and carrot ditto ,for the veggie side of things ,can't use the tatties from the barrels yet because the ground is so wet ,i can't get to them ,but ,they will keep until early march if needs be.
Took the wife Monday for her eye appointment ,dragging her kicking and squealing and ordered her three pairs of glasses ,one pait perscription sun glasses ,one pair of distance glasses ,and one pair of reading,and managed a deal with the optician who looked deperate for work ,the shopping centre being pretty small and neither the missus ,or i qualifying for help because we are both just above the limit for pension credits.
However ,i got the three pairs for £160 so i did all right with the wrangling it took me back to my days of bartering in Aden he he ,and the optician ,who was asian ,had beads of sweat on his brow by the time i had wrung him out to dry ,lol.
Don't even know what the wife was screaming for either ,because i paid the bill ,part of her Christmas box :-).
I have emptied both the boxes of carrot out back ,layered them in sand in a large box in the greenhouse ,and have enough to keep us going until early march ,the same with the parsnip,leaving the leeks and beetroot out ,because they will stand in the ice and snow which they recon will be coming within two weeks ,brrrrrr. :-(.
Still ,looking at friends in Oz and Canada ,we should be thankful for what we have ,one of my friends in oz has the family car parked outside the front door with cases in the back it looks that bad ,and others in Brisbane are looking a little worried too ,if anything ,even worse off them being all on the outskirts of town.,not a nice place to be at the present time ,so i hope your rellies are going to be okay where they are going.
Have to go out this afternoon to have my feet seen to so we will check to see if the glasses are ready ,seeing as the optician is only four doors along from the foot clinic ,
I had told the wife last year that i was sure she had cateract's starting in both eyes,which the optician verified on Monday ,so i will at the foot clinic get her fut on the list before she starts cutting her feet instead of the toes he he ;-).
Off to get on with the baking and cooking now or it will be a later dinner.catch you later peeps ,Fred,xxx.

Evening all.
I see you have been busy again Fred and got all the bargains again.
I have been out visiting my friends parents,they are going to Australia next Monday to vivist her,for about 6 weeks I think,so they should miss all the bad weather here.However Ihope they do not have any problems with the fires etc over there.
Just had a nice pork steak with mushrooms and some steam broccolli and a couple new potatoes,very nice.making a nice spag bol tomorrow ,Hope it is as good as last weeks which was rather good if I say so myself.That free veiw box sounds good will you email me the etails please .
Take care Brenda xn

Hi Brenda ,well here we go back to normal and back to the daily grind .
Been to the shops early and found 5 packs of Asparagus 27 p a pack ,guess who is making soup for the freezer ,and two bowls worth left out for tea,lol :-).
I got another batch of sun dried tomato and basil loaf mix too ,which i will knock up after dinner ,which will go with the soup well ,i reckon.
Got a few stock items in as well because looking at the long range forecast, it dosn't look very promising :-D.
Think Australia Day is going to be a washout this year ,with the ban on ALL fires in force ,so fireworks are out ,and the stalls in the parks will be unable to use anything but electric to cook any sort of foods,not looking at all good.
I have found a very nice freeview box for the front room with a built in hard drive that records shows the same way the Virgin tivo box does ,so i reckon that the tivo box is going back in the next two weeks :-|.
The call blocker i brought off the net works fine ,thank goodness ,all the PPI calls and wild calls have stopped ,and only ones we programmed a while ago with names next to the numbers are getting through at all ,utter bliss,the box stops the calls even before the phone rings ,a heavenly silence pervades the house ,well worth the £50 :-D.
Hope the hubby gets his game in these next couple of days while the weather lasts ,he he ,i know how he feels ,i used to love going cod fishing in winter ,lol,i didn't even mind when there was ice on the reel and line with the bitter cold up here ,but when it started to drizzle ,or rain ir spoiled everything ,[sigh ] those were the days ,gone for good with my health these days ,sometimes memories can be very cruel , like when you have tied in to the biggest fish you have ever latched on to ,only to wake up in a sweat as the fishes head comes out of the water :-(. grrrrrrrr.
Time to see to the dinner cobbler today steak and kidney two cheese and onion buns halved in the top with roast tatties ,and boiled ,brussel and cabbage out of the garden ,and red roast onion with chunks of roast parsnip ,no wonder it' soup for tea ,lol.
Catch you later ,Fred :-D xxx

Morning all,glad to hear from you Fred and so pleased you and Liz have had such a great time lately.
We have not done much at all since the holidays.
went to the local retail park on Saturday and got a few bargains in the sail ,will make ai a few good birthday presents.
Had a coffe in the Simple foods Marks and Spencer there,was really good and did not go for any thing to eat!! Back in diet mode!!.
Have got back into a bad habit of coming om lap top before doing any housework ,so need to get back to normal otherwise nothing gets done.
Take care Brenda

Soooooory our Brenda ,lol,been so darned busy this ,and last week ,but at last i can have a sit down for half an hour while the dinner is cooking. :-).
Baking this morning for tea at the sons was a hoot ,baking with ceoliac pastry for the first time was nearly a disaster because the pastry felt funny and kept faslling to peices as i tried to pick it up to line a tin ,grrrrrr :-0and it took a phone call to the son to find out that it needed to go into the fridge for two hours to rest and stiffen. :-S.
Even then you need running shoes to get it rolled ,stuffed and put on a baking tray before it warms up and falls apart on you again ,he he what a carry on . ;-).
Any way ,all done now ,cooked and on cooling racks ready to go down to the sons for the party tea.
Everything else is in the freezer and just needs to thaw when we get down there.
Poor old australia and canada ,getting the hammer again with the weather,canada freezing cold on top of a quake ,which sounds quite nasty ,but with no high seas as a result ,and Oz with the bushfires and hotter than ever summer temperatures. not nice for anyone ,so i will need to find out how all my friends are getting on in both countries.
We found out last night how to transfer films from the kildle fire onto the big teve screen and watched one film last night ,with six to go before the end of the month ,which is a good idea seeing as how virgin are now repeating old films over and over ,i think the virgin t v will shortly be going the journey with us going totaly free view.
Time i was away ,the dinner will be burned if i don't .back this evening or tomorrow morning if the grand kids wear me out this afternoon.
Take cre all ,catch you later ,Fred xx

well I am starting to feel like I am on the Marie Celeste!!! or \Billy Nomates hope everyone is ok ??? no messages from Anyone
We are not going to Bury tomorrow We did not really need anything and
so we are going to start the decluttering ,starting with the top boxes in the bed
room,they are too high for me ,and I would have to get the steps.
Going to visit my friends parents next week,before they go over to see her in I Australia,I have a little gift for her ,which her mother takes for me.
I am also going to have lunch with an old friend on day and I also have an appointment at the hairdressess another day,so I have a very busy week next week,thats one reason we want to do the top boxes tomorrow.!!
Hope any one reading this has a good weekend.
Brenda

This is the second time I have tried to send a message.So will keep it short.Had a good new year and hope you all did.
Weather still wet ,hope its dry on Saturday as we hope to get up to Bury
market,
Having a big clear out after we take down the decorations and the tree,which will hopefully give us more room.
Loved Freds picture on Facebook.good to see Liz as well.
Need to get to grips with the new camera and get some pics on my lap top.
Take care Brenda x

Happy New Year,we had a nice quiete night ,a few drinks and nibbles ,bit of a change for us .but we enjoyed it.
been over to see my sister (not the one I saw yesterday) and her grand daughter,who has the chicken pox,she is not that uill with them but definatley not her bubbly self.
Had a drive down to a local retail park which was really a lot quieter than I had expected and a few of the shops were not open,which surprised me.
David at the match ,John watching a film on tele.and when I have done this I am making us a ploughmans lunch ,mainly to get rid of shome cheese and crackers.
Hope you enjoy your sons and that we all see some drier weather soon.
Take care
Brenda

Happy new year to you Brenda ,John ,Dorothy ,and anyone else who looks in.
Sounds as though you had a pretty lousy day what with one thing and another Brenda,and hope it was the battery that went ,and not the alternator [much more expensive to replace.and a lot harder ],but at least you got home again in one piece ,lol.
John would have needed water skies to play golf this last week,i know from the water we have had up here he he ,it would have been interesting though allowing for ball drift in the winds we have had.
Maybe he needs a birthday present this year of an indoor driving game or putting green he can while away his time with ,i am dreading the start of my gardening season if the weather dosn't improve :-(.
We are lucky lass despite it all ,i read on the internet this morning that the island of Jakarta in indonesia ,is sinking 10 cm's a year,it dosn't sound much ,but they say that by 2030 most of the island will be inundated by sea water,hope if that happens here ,London sinks first .lol.we will get our pals to build a large wall to keep the Londoners down in South yorkshire ,the Tykes would love that he he.
Off to The sons for dinner today ,but will be back for tea time ,maybe see you then,Fred Santa hat still on ,xxx :-)

Hi All,had a "funny" day really started badly with weather stopping Johns golf.
I had a great morning in Bury with my sister.Nice chat over a coffee, Then it was downhill from there little thjings going wrong,and to top it all my sisters battery went caputt on us in a Tesco carpark,just as it started to bucket down, !!!!
It was just one thing after another,any way alls well as she has now got home and had a cuppa.!!
Should be having a bit of a clean up but am shattered !! so having tea and the seeing how I am.
Wishing you all a very happy,and healthy 2013,
love and hugs xx

Hello all.hope the weather is being kinder to you all than it has been lately
Hi Fred, you lucky thing all these invites out and to lunch and tea.!!
I was only thinking the other day and could not remember the last time we got an invitation out for any sort of a meal at someones home.
We have gone out for meals with people ,paying our share ,apart from once when our friends treated us .
Hope you get to enjoy all the fruits of your labours soon.
We are a bit drier today and tomorrow is supposed to be the same,so John is hoping to get a game of golf ,not had one for over a week,
I am of to Bury with my sister she has to return somethings. there is no market on but i am not needing anything from there at the moment.
Take acer and have a good new year ,if I do not get back on before hand
hugs Brenda

Morning our Brenda ,and anyone else who decides to look in ,glad you have had a nice Christmas and didn't do the overbuying of food bit ,lol,as it turns out we did he he :-)
We were invited out at the last minute to tea ,as well as dinner Christmas day and then out to dinner and tea Boxing day ,so the meats i cooked and put down in the freezer are still there ,.and ditto all the party foods ,frozen down as well .still ,they will come in handy for weekend meals and Sunday teas ,no waste at all . ;-).
I couldn't sleep and was up at 3am ,so i set too ,and went through all my bills and paper work from the last two years ,and have sorted it all out ,with two thirds in bags awaiting the shredder later today,by the time i have finished that i think the shredder will be bu**ered he he :-D ah well ,a new one is on the cards anyway ,the shredded paper will go into the compost so will be recycled the proper way.
,I think now that i am feeling tired ,i may even get to sleep for a couple of hours so i am going to give it a go. :-).
Catch you later ,Fred.xxx :-D

Hope you had a good christmas Fred and I am pleased you and your daughter are looking forward to a better relationship with each other.
We had a nice quiete christmas and New Year will be the same,but we are not into noisy times anymore.!!
Been out to the theatre this afternoon,went to see White Christmas at the Lowry Theatre,it was really good.it was a bit expensive for the tickets but we enjoyed it so it was worth it.
Weekend will be quiete as well,and then back to normal.what ever that is next week..Did well with the food we bought and have not had to get rid of anything and we did not stuff ourselves daft!!!
take care Brenda x

Hope you had a good christmas Fred and I am pleased you and your daughter are looking forward to a better relationship with each other.
We had a nice quiete christmas and New Year will be the same,but we are not into noisy times anymore.!!
Been out to the theatre this afternoon,went to see White Christmas at the Lowry Theatre,it was really good.it was a bit expensive for the tickets but we enjoyed it so it was worth it.
Weekend will be quiete as well,and then back to normal.what ever that is next week..Did well with the food we bought and have not had to get rid of anything and we did not stuff ourselves daft!!!
take care Brenda x

Morning Brenda ,huh ,it must be that time of year with the outages ,lol,i was in the middle of a longish email to friends in Oz and Canada last evening at 5 pm when Virgin went off line ,and i lost everything ,T V the broadband ,and the phone ,not impressed at all ,and it is the last straw for me and i am going to have the T V and Phone service terminated after the new year.
It's bad enough loosing the broadband for three hours ,but for anyone reliant on the landline phone with no mobile it could be catastrophic if there is illness in the family.
If there is any hassle i will tell them to get the lot out including the broadband .
I have two mobiles in the house ,and can buy an Orange dongle for £17 a month .with unlimited usage ,so loyalty to virgin has gone out of the window.
I already have free view in both bedrooms ,and have a spare box to fit to the big L G in the front room :-D.
Getting on to being ready for the big day ,we are there ,everything set ,freezers full of goodies,and all the heavy cooking done ,just seperate portions to get out of the storage ,and thawed in time for the meals we isssss organised he he.
Quite a wind last night into this morning ,two urns over in the front garden ,which i will set right when the wind drops ,in the back i have one bucket to replace after a brick was taken off the B B Q cover in a gust ,and smashed the rim ,and one broken trough with the carrots in ,smashed by another brick ,lol,could be a lot worse ,and we are still dry ,so far.
We have burried the hatchet with our oldest daughter after many years due to putting three of her children into care without coming to us to see if we could help ,which we could have ,of course.
Any way ,it's our oldest grandson Seran who asked us if we would welcome a approach from our daughter who thought it time to get things sorted out.
We forgave her years ago but didn't know where she was ,or how things were :-(.
Any way we met up with her two days ago ,with her and a grand daughter we have never seen at the metro centre,and are taking things from there ,but it looks very promising :-),and things have come to light regarding physical and mental cruelty on the part of her ex husband which has left her with mental scarring and no self esteem.
The grand daughter we met ,is living with her mum ,and is giving her moral support.and the two of them are conversing with my other children ,and are getting back together,all in all the best Christmas i will have had for many years ,lol,i feel so much lighter in myself,so i think this situation has been at the back of my mind for some time.
Think it's about time to get the dinner on ,have a good day Brenda ,and Watch your self in these winds he he ,we would like to meet up again ,but not as a result of being blown up here by the gales ,he he.
Catch you later ,Fred,Liz and the furry pest xxx
:-D

Morning Fred and anyone else looking in,this ismy second attempt to post my message,perhapsthe other one was a little long ,so will keep this one short in case it gets whipped of somewhere as well.So pleased about the help you are getting with the shower and the stair lift,my mam would not have been able to get up or down stairs with out theirs It was taken out after she died as dad said it was ti painful to see it there, It would have been great ten years later when he got ill,!!!
They were going to put one back ,but he died before they could agree which sort ,the stairrs bend twice and so it needed to be done special,
He had a sort of bench for the shower which he sat on in the shower which was over the bath,but would not have been able to use it for much longer I know my friends parents wer over the moon when they had one done.And I am sure you and Liz will get many years from the shower and stair lift.
I start my extra medication today ,have to go slowly on the increase and see what level of relief I get ,I decided when I am getting enougth relief. and if I get enougth with the meds might not need the injection again.!!
Got a few thing to get yet and the fresh stuff but theres not much of that to get anyway.Might get up early and go to the supermarket at 7am on Monday when they open!!.
Have to deliver parcels today and tomorrow,so that will free up some room in the dining room ,looks like a jumble sale with all the bags ready to be taken.
Well better get a move on Take care Brendax