General Chat

Hi everyone, Its a lovely sunny day here Fred, just put some washing out, so hopefully it will dry. The men are coming to insulate both lofts this morning, they haven't turned up yet, I hope they come we have emptied them and we can hardly move around upstairs. Mavis, Your trip sounds lovely, if only the lottery would come my way, I would come and see for my self. Fred, It sounds like you had an interesting trip too.I hope Liz is ok. Di, I'm not surprised that you are tired, you do such a lot.When you have made your jackets, you will have to take a photo for us. Sylvia v O, I keep threatening to get a routemaster but I have had varying reports of them. I usually have a look at the map and decide wether I am going left or right, up or down, lol; Sorry the door. June xx

Hi everybody, First of all HAPPY BIRTHDAY DI. Yes, I too fall asleep sometimes in the afternoons now, it must be our ages! I too will be 75 next birthday. I had a pedicure this morning, did a bit of ironing, did a bit of genealogy, baked a cake, and in fact pottered from one thing to another. Johan and I are trying to get away to Scotland this year. We had to cancel it last year because of Johan's health, but he is ok at the moment, and these are the moments we have to do something. I have asked my daughter and her partner whether they'd like to come with us. I feel better if I have somebody to fall back on if Johan lands in the hospital. If it is not too expensive they will come as Janet wants to go to South Africa for her 50th birthday and that takes a lot of money. So they will have to save for that. We are being taken out to dinner on the 17th March - our real 50th wedding anniversary - by the children, so that will make a nice change. This Friday I have friends for coffee and lunch, and that is why I baked a cake today (will put it in the freezer and make it up later). We have had one or two falls of snow today intermingled with sunshine. Yes, it is a little warmer now that wind has dropped. Well must get dinner now. I am doing fish today with stir-fried vegetables. Never had this before, so will be a surprise. Have a nice evening. Sylvia xxx

hello everyone,glad to see you are all keeping busy and relatively happy and well. Mavis I could do with the hot spring thing right now,everywhere aches,including my throat which is sore as well.its been cold in work again.but it has looked lovelly out mindyou they say it will be -15 soon!!!!. Sylvia you potter about as much as you want if you can mangae to do all that it must be good. June how did the installation go ? Did they turn up in time. Fred ,please ask if you think I can help again with your research.On holiday from Saturday for a week but after that any time . Di HAPPY BIRTHDAY hope I am half as active when I am 60 never mind 70. Hope to be back tomorrow ,Take care <Brenda

Hi everybody, Well it is like mid-winter here today, lots and lots of snow, thunder, lightning, ................. and I thought it was Spring! Just had some very sad news from my niece. I had to telephone England and found out that my only brother, who is 15 months younger than I am, died yesterday. I am shattered. I haven't seen him for many years, and now I'll never see him again. Sorry cannot write any morel Sylvia xxx

Hello everyone,been doing some ironing and packing tonight,and with a less than perfect iron.(another long story) Sylvia,I am so sorry about your brother, Need to see if i am able to sleep tonight was up coughing half of last night, Brenda

Urry up June,cumon,get that washing out quick ,before the sun goes in again,cor,i know how you feel alright ,i hung ours up yesterday for the missus and it kept threatening rain,the washing was moving in and out quicker than a fiddlers elbow . I am expecting the eldest son this morning ,he is going to download some photos onto the computer of the hol's along with mine,i only wish i could do the same with the video footage ,cause some of it is really funny,i was calling the white duck one morning for it's slice of bread ,and it paddled over [about four hundred yards ,straight to me and took the bread out of my hand,whereapon a young goose saw what was going on and joined in. By the end of the week they were coming up to the side of the housboat across the grass and rapping on the window to be fed. The boat goes very well but next time we need to take bigger engines.to push the back end down in the water as it picks up speed.said boat will now stay on the broadsbecause the son is selling his so he canm get a bigger one for the canals and rivers in yorkshire ,which gives us other holiday venues. I reckon our birds are nesting ,i still havn't seen a lot of them ,but the bid seed feeder is loosing the seed at a heck of a rate so there must be birds around. I will have to start watching the garden in the evening now too as the hedgehog will be awake ,and the doormice will be up and about. I do wish the people with cats would start to be more responsible.a kitten ,trained to use a litter tray will always use it ,even when its put outside in the garden and will not then do it's buisiness in other peoples gardens,part of my garden has been ruined by three of these pets and i have started using a spray along the fences to try to put them off. If it dosn't work i will have to use more drastic measures to protect my garden ,i refuse to have it ruined,the other point is ,if one of the grandchildren touch it ,they can become very ill,and in some cases loose their eyesight . I may have to resort to using a sonic beam to keep them out ,i don't want to do this because it can harm the animals hearing but ,needs must and all that. sorry to hear about your brother Sylvia ,it's upsetting for you but you have to carry on for now till your ticket is called out,i am a firm believer in that your whole life is planned out and nothing can be changed,i get a lot of comfort from that when i suffer losses like this ,and i also believe that we all meet again in the future.in happier climes. Must go do my housework peeps ,but will be back this afternoon if all goes to plan,.have a nice day all.Fred.

Have emailed Sylvia, what a sad time Take care JA

Hi everyone, Its lovely and sunny again this morning which I am thankful for, I had just set off this morning and found that I had a puncture. We tried to get the spare wheel but the bracket holding it had become distorted, it took ages to release the wheel. I will be keeping the spare wheel in the boot in future. Just glad that it was sunny and frosty instead of raining. So Fred, now you know why my washing isn't out yet. I haven't got a lot to wash, yesterday was so nice, I got 2 loads of washing dry. I get annoyed with cats that poo in my garden too, Beckham soon sees them off though. Sylvia v O, sorry to hear about your brother, its quite a shock when we hear suddenly without warning. Sorry I will have to leave now, I must get on with my jobs. June xx

Hi everybody, Sylvia, I'm so sorry to hear the news about your brother. My condolences to you and the rest of your family. I typed a message yesterday and was just finishing, when it disappeared before my eyes. Then a few minutes ago I was looking for a relative on BMD when the computer shut down, and I couldn't get it to start again. It would start up, hum for a second or two and then shut down. Finally I decided to try pressing a few keys, pressed Ctrl and it started. Wish I understand what's going on in this little black box. This has happened several times recently, and usually starts after a few attempts, but not today. Anyway, while it's behaving, here I am again. Hope you're feeling well again, Brenda. Sounds like you need that holiday in the sun. My daughter has been having a rough time lately. First she had the flu, then her eyes swelled up and were leaking pus, at which point she went to emergency. The doctor said it was some kind of flu, but they didn't know what kind. Now just as she was getting over it, she's caught a cold. there are so many weird bugs around nowadays. We were invited to a preview of a furniture store closing down sale yesterday, so decided to go as John will be needing a new chair in the near future. Drove into Richmond, but couldn't find what we wanted, which was fine because the prices, even on sale were horrendous. $1400 for a chair, original price $2200.. I don't think so. I'd want a whole suite for that. So while we were out decided to do a little tour of the furniture stores. So depressing! I've never seen so much ostentatious, over stuffed, and often over priced furniture in my life. I like simple lines, and comfort, but there was very little along those lines. So we gave up in disgust, came home, had eggs, bacon and (naughty, naughty) fried bread for a quick lunch, then napped away the afternoon. Spent most of the evening doing Sudokus. Today is grey and gloomy and the wind has picked up a little. Rain doesn't look far off. JUne, I think I had your email address, but I lost a lot of stuff back in August /September; discovered later that I'd had a trojan horse, isolated by my AVG, so maybe that had something to do with it. Or maybe I hit a wrong key. Anyway would you let me have your address and then I can send pictures of my sewing projects and my garden when it blooms. Also I'd like to see some of yours, if I may. Fred, don't you shoot any of our Canada Geese. We used to see hundreds of them on the estate when we lived in Hoveton. They are so beautiful, and I love to see them , honking and flying in formation overhead in the fall. We rented a house in Hoveton from the 'Lady of the Manor'. We used to watch litle rabbits playing under the trees from our window and told her how much we enjoyed them, and she said, 'B....y things, shoot 'em or get a stick and knock them over the head!' During the shooting season, pheasants used to take shelter in our garden, too! The shoreline to the east of Tsawwassen is a bird sanctuary, and there are hundreds of seabirds and ducks down there, often tails in the air, all feeding and making a lovely chuckling sound as they do. We often see flocks of swans in the fields too, and many herons all like statues, so still, poised to catch something for dinner. They do a bird count down there every year..heaven knows how you do that, must be a very rough count! Hi Mavis, your holiday sounds wonderful. I'm not keen on going away, and don't like flying anyway, but if I did, NZ is about the only place I'd care to visit. It sounds (almost) as lovely as here! Hope your Pip is feeling well. Must go. Lots to do today, and I'd like to fit in a little genealogy. Take care all of you. Love to you all, Di.xxx PS. I'd like to see your pictures too, please Fred.

Hi everyone. Sylvia - so sorry about your sad news. As they say 'time is a great healer'. Fred - welcome back. Cats!!!! I have resorted to making a rockery by our front door - so fed up with the mess and the smell!!!!! But now of course they visit the vegetable garden. Moth balls keep them away but the sun melts them so quickly. As you say if they are given a litter tray at the start they will continue to use it. Fred - I have been too busy this week since arriving home that I have not been able to get on to the web cam. We have a very windy blast at the moment. Gale force winds but very sunny still. Tomorrow we are off to friends for lunch and tea. Only one hour away but have to go over the Kaimai Hills. Can be pretty windy on the top at the best of times so no doubt tomorrow will be awful. Just arranging our ladies night for Tuesday teatime. We are going to have nibbles and then have Pizzas delivered. We usually try to do something different each month. We have a tipple or two as well! Must go now. Bed time again. Regards Mavis NZ

Well i am packed apart from a few bits going in the hand luggage, Did not know what to wear for travelling but as it is snowing rather hard i think it will be track siut and trainers,aswell as a coat. Was watching a film I had been meaning to watch for a while on cable,.hence the late hour.Have started with yet another cold and this time have a chesty cough as well have stocked up on linctus and lozenges for the hols,but hope fully the sun will sort it out!!. Di some friends of ours have had colds/flu which made their eyes appear like black eyes ,I laugthed when she told me,but she works in a hositpal as an auxillary and I suppose she is liable to pick all sorts up,some strange things lurking like you said.. Got your email Fred have replied . Off to bed now and hopefully will not be awake with the coughing. See you all on the 12th Brenda

Hi everybody, First of all thanks to all of you who sent cards, e-mails and messages to me. It was a terrific shock to me as my brother was 15 months younger than me. We didn't have much contact these last years as he was no writer, but I like to remember our childhood years as we were always good friends. We did things like carol singing and sharing the money. He had a milk round and found me one too, thus giving me some pocket money. We made bracelets and sold them. You see in those days we never had pocket money so had to find ways and means to earn ourselves some. I am going to England on the 12th March as he is being cremated on the 14th. Johan and I are taking the boat Hook of Holland-Harwich and staying a night in Colchester, then going on to an old school friend's house. She married a boy from our class too and I haven't seen her since I was 14! She does bed and breakfast, so I have booked her for a night. We are spending a night in Colchester again after the funeral. It will be nice to see my brother's two daughters again as I haven't seen them since they were small. Also it will be nice to see my cousins again. It will be an emotional time as this will probably be the last time we will make such a trip as Johan is almost 81 and I couldn't ask him to do this again. I have no more brothers and no sisters, so that is a relief. The weather here has been atrocious these last few days, masses of snow and ice. We had planned in the first place to drive down to Calais and take the boat over the Channel, but heard of the heavy falls of snow in France so decided against that. Now have a nice evening everyone. Sylvia xxx

sorry about the circumstances Sylvia ,but have a safe journey,with any luck things will go smoothly for you. Brenda should be on her way now too so it's going to be awful lonely on here unless someonw else is going to show up and help keep the thread going,i had a couple of days off to do some reseach ,and bam,the thread went walkies lol. I hadn't intended to add to it tonight but it had gone and i had to add something to bring it back on board.hope someone will add sometime this evening or i will be all on my own in the morning. Have a good night all of you.fred.

Hi everybody, Here I am again Fred, will try and keep the thread going with you until I go away. Had my check up for skin cancer today and everything is ok. Am free for three months now. I'm all dizzy with everything I have to do now. It's a question of 'Have I done this, have I done that' and 'What have I forgotten to do'. I now have to attend a meeting at the Town Hall with some councillors on our 50th wedding anniversary. This was not in my plans! Now I have to find a way of fitting in my hairdresser as we are all going out to eat in the evening. I will be coming back from England the day before, so this is all making me nervous. Have a nice evening everybody who is looking in. Sylvia xxx

Hi Friends, Sylvia, I know this isn't going to be a very pleasant trip for you, but I hope everything goes smoothly at least. Glad to hear you got a good report from the doctor; that must be a relief. Sorry I've neglected the thread for the past few days, but I'm having a very down time at the minute, and sometimes everything is just too much. Did a message for the Canada thread this am and intended to do one for here too, but that was much as I could do. Think I'll take a break for awhile. Hi Fred, thankyou for your email with the photos. Hope you and Liz are well rested from your vacation and that you're both well. Will speak later. Love, Di.xxx

Hi everyone, Sorry I haven't been around lately. I have just come back from taking my granddaughter to the railway station and my flipping gear got stuck in reverse,so I had to wait for the breakdown truck to come out to me, take the car to the garage and drop me back home. Thats all I need after 3 new tyres yesterday. Di, I'm sorry to hear that you are a little bit down at the moment, we all get like that at times, I think this time of the year is very depressing. I hope you are soon back to your usual self. Sylvia, I'm pleased your checkup was OK. I hope your trip to England, although not a happy occasion, goes well. Try and have a little rest in between all the 'goings on' Fred, I have been adding to my tree too, I have had some information sent to me and I am going through it very carefully, because although these names are not directly connected to me, they are all from the same villages, I cant believe that there wont have been a marriage to one of my names from another branch. I haven't a lot more to tell and the paint brush is beckoning me, I think I had better go. June xx

Hi everyoneand waves at Di,Sylvia &June ,and have to agee with june and say i too think the winter has been a bit over long too and people do seem to get depressed and tired easily. I have had a sort out in the shed and greenhouse today ,seeing as the missus is grumbling under her breathe and eyeing the seeds up,and i think a flurry of activity is in the offing as regards the onion seeds and tomatoes and i have had instructions to pick up two sacks of potting compost from our local market garden tomorrow. My son has given me six lengths of 1 foot high picket fencing that is ideal for the border outside the back door and it could have been made for the job because it fits exactly to the ends of the path I saw my little wren again this morning ,i think he is nesting in next doors hedge which i am glad of because she loves her birds too and will give her grandchildren what for if they disturb it .,they are a timid bird that if disturbed will desert the nest which would be a shame because they arn't nearly as plentful as they used to be. Well,Mary's holiday is nearly over but i think she is having a heck of a time from what i hear it will be nice to have her back thogh to give us the latest news and scuttlebutt.What does everyone think about the new granddaughter for Les '? what a lovely name too Rhian smackes vaguely of a welsh name ,but there again it might be an oz name ,perhaps someone can put me right on that.. i'm off for now as i fancy a jacket tattie for tea so i had better go and prepare a couple each, fancy a small salad with mine but don't know about the better half,so see you all later on.Fred.

Hallo everybody, Just a few lines again. I am having a job getting things done when I don't get info from England. I still don't know what to do about flowers for the cremation. Have thought about taking a wreath from here, but then again when should I hand it in and where? I assume they want flowers or wreaths! I only know the date of the cremation, no time, no nothing. I e-mailed a hotel on Saturday and they replied today. I was pleased to reply to them that I didn't need them any more and that I had found another one who deals with business more efficiently. How anybody can run a business like that is beyond me! Di, sorry to hear that your down in the dumps. Get yourself out of the house, does wonders! Thinking of you. Sylvia xxx

Hi everybody Haven't been on GR for about a month. Last time I mentioned that our house sale had fallen through. Now the latest - a few days later another offer which went unconditional on 23 February. Gayle and I flew to New Plymouth the following Tuesday and looked around for something we liked. Several nice units - one up a steepish street was really lovely we said no to, the main reason the location and thinking of ourselves in ten years time trying to walk up a steep street. Another place needed a lot of work done and not only that it stunk. After all that we did actually find a lovely unit on Wednesday which we decided to buy. Settlement date is the beginning of May so now its finalising things here for our big move. John

Hi everybody, Hi there Fred, Brenda is on holiday so we have to keep this thread going. My plans are progressing. Johan and I leave here on Sunday for England, taking the fast boat to Harwich. 'Oh to be in England when......................... well, not when it is raining! The weather has been atrocious here today, rain, rain, rain. I hope it is a little better tomorrow so I can get out on my scootmobile. At least it won't be slippery as all the snow has disappeared. Have a nice evening. Sylvia xxx