General Chat

Thats nice Ann for your daughter to send you lots of pics of the places they have been.

I am going to make myself a mug of coco and watch my lovely little coupole on youtube who moved to Skye earier in the year. I used to watch Willie bottle digging when he lived in Scotland. They are a nice couple with thier dog Jack Spaniels. She paints beautiful pictures of things she see when out walking with the dog. You should take a look at She Walks She Paints on youtube. Her Highland cow head she has put a santa hat on and made cards. Their channel is Living the Skye Life.

Sending you a hug Mel, these days will go on happening but you will come out the other side. tears are healing, hopefully you can find something to do or something to watch on TV to give you a bit of a lift. <3 <3 <3 And I do know it is easier said than done.

Vera goodness that surgery can't have sent the email to the right place, or do you think the chemist is telling porkies? have yo thought to check with the pharmacy you used to go to? Is there any chance they might have sent it there?

Thanks for all the garden tips at the moment they are in compost in the conservatory I have tried in water before with no luck I wonder if it makes a difference what is in your water.

I am very envious of my daughter at the moment. They are on a river cruise on the Rhine and she is sending me photos of all the beautiful towns and buildings they are visiting. They have gone into Germany now and will soon be at Neurenberg. I have actually been there but we didn't get a chance to look around as t was there on business and we just met up with somebody for a meal. So I am seeing it all second hand.

Good luck with your geranium cuttings AnnG. I laughed at your comment about me being good with them. I used to be quite successful but mine weren’t very good last year and most of them just didn’t root. I’ve taken a few this year but I am not optimistic. I’m not very good at deciding what shoots to use as cuttings so I just take a few healthy looking bits off the main plants and just stick them in some compost. I don’t usually use rooting powder but I have used it this year in the hope that I’ll have better luck than last year. You can put a few cuttings in one pot but it’s best if the leaves don’t touch. You can also try rooting them in water and then potting them up when they’ve got good roots. My cuttings are in the conservatory. It does get cold in there but the plants seem generally to be OK. I’ve potted up a few of the mother plants and they are in there but I haven’t got time to do them all so I’ve used Mandy’s method and shoved the rest bare rooted into troughs and put them in our little plastic greenhouse. I can put a bit of bubble wrap over if it gets really cold but I am not sure if they will get enough light. If I lose them, I lose them but at least I will have tried a new method.

On the subject of gardening I did take 7 small cuttings of Argyranthemum (Marguerite (sp?) Daisy). They all rooted in water and OH has now potted them up for me. They still might not survive but I’m quite hopeful. These are yellow ones and I have 2 big pots by the front door which, as long as you deadhead them, just keep on blooming all summer. They’ve still got blooms on them now. I’ve managed to clear some pots but I haven’t got any of my bulbs planted yet and not much time this week and I’m away much of next week. At this rate, my spring bulbs won’t be blooming till late summer!

Your pink top should look good with black trousers and jacket AnnG. It’s quite a good colour with white or grey hair. I’ve worn a lot more pink and lavender since my hair turned grey.

After I sent the last couple of photos round Mandy said she had imagined me with chubbier cheeks and darker hair. I wish I were like that, lol. I haven’t had chubby cheeks since I was a baby though I did have very dark hair but, alas, the beautiful brunette look has long gone. Happy birthday tomorrow for your son Mandy. I’m sure they’ll enjoy the tea bread. Could they invite me to tea please?

Mel, special days are very hard when you’ve lost a loved one and I’ll be thinking of you this week. Remember the happy times you shared.

I still haven’t got my scripts sorted. The system seems to have gone completely to pot. Yesterday morning I rang the pharmacy to check and they told me they still haven’t received the script from the doctors’ surgery, in spite of 2 emails from them and a phone call from me on Wednesday when I was told it would be signed off that day. The main surgery which is the one to phone usually has a non-appointment walk-in clinic on Saturday mornings so I gave them a call only to get an answering machine telling me they were closed and to ring 999 for a life threatening emergency and 111 for other medical queries. So tomorrow I’ll have to go into town, check again at the pharmacy and if this dratted script still isn’t there I’ll have to go to the main surgery with the dispensary and try and sort it out person to person with the dispenser. I am going to run out of one of my tablets on Tuesday and if they can’t get my script sorted by then I shall have to demand an emergency supply. I’ve really got my dander up now! If I have to do that tomorrow getting some tablets that I need will have taken 3 phone calls and 3 trips to town for me and 2 emails from the pharmacist to the surgery. You can probably tell that I am not happy. Moan over.

I’m going to cheer myself up by downloading 3 books to my kindle. One is a freebie and the other 2 are only 99p each so it won’t break the bank

I hope you have all had a good day. For the first time in several days it’s been dry all day here and we even had a bit of sun on and off. Enjoy what’s left of the day and sleep well tonight.

EDIT: You beat me to it with the bit about rooting cuttings in water Mel

Streptocarpus

I will share a secret with you........... I put mine in little bottles of water and put them on the kitchen windowsill. Keep the water clean and they root on there. At the moment I pulled a dead flower stalk off one of my (lost the name!!!) plants on the window sill and stuck it in one of my tiny bottles and its rooted lovely. I can see the roots in the clear glass and I think its nw ready to be potted up.

I am having a bad day today, keep getting upset.

I will watch them closely Mandy and, if they look as if they are taking I will use something to protect them. I got one out of four that I took last year. I think Vera is good at it so hopefully she will share her secret.

Suns out now .
Anng I've tried taking Geranium cuttings but they never seem to do any good I end up with dry sticks sticking out of the soil and when you pull them out there's no roots , I've tried fuchsia cuttings too and they do just the same ,I dip them in rooting powder too.
Hope you have some luck with yours ,could you wrap them up a bit with some plastic bags or bubble wrap to protect them from frost .

It is 11 degrees now and sunny but cold. I have just been out in the garden to take cuttings of my bedding geraniums which are now in the conservatory. I am not good at taking cuttings so I will see how many of them take. I don't want to have too many plants in the conservatory over winter if it is going to be as cold as last year as even in there they died from the frost.

Morning all,

Cloudy here but bright so I hope we see some sun today as yesterday was a dreary day with rain ,there's quite a bit of wind today so that will take the leaves off the trees .

Nothing planned for today I have just put a cold tea loaf in the oven for the family which we'll take tomorrow as its sons birthday

Anng the pink sweater will look nice with black ,I bought a couple of new tops last week one was blue with a floral pattern and the other was a teal sweater with tiny sparkley bits on the front and back which I thought would do over Christmas, there was a lovely pale lilac one with sparkley bits but they there was only three left in a small size ,I also bought a couple of pairs of jeans ,everything had 20% off .

Morning Anng and all,

Quite bright here this morning as the sun is coming up and the sky is blue grey and white. Its 10 degrees and pc says cloudy, well it is out the front white and grey clouds in a blue sky but sun out the back at the mo.

Nothing planned for me either Anng so I shall just muddle along as usual but I do have a small parcel to do up and perhaps I will take some more pics of the stuff I have for sale.

Good morning all, slept well but woke early so was up just after 7am, beautiful fiery sky this morning. I forgot to say yesterday, coming home on the bus there was a huge bright rainbow right across the sky, watched it for ages from the bus. no camera with me of course.

Still only 6 degrees, but it was 5 just now. Nothing planned for today so I shall see what occurs.

A few days of memories then Mel <3 It is so hard isn't it? But I am sure some of the memories the old photos brought back were happy ones and that you were smiling through the tears.

I did go to town on the bus and it stopped raining and the sun shone so I didn't get wet at all. I did buy myself a fairly light weight sweater in M&S I wanted something to wear out to a pub lunch on Monday week so I am pleased with that. It is a sort of 'sugary pink which goes well with white/grey hair, and I have a black jacket and trousers to wear with it.

Morning girls,

Not at all nice here this morning pouring rain when I got up and very grey sky but the sun has just popped out out the back and in the front the sky is very grey.

Just the shop to do today for the paper and a few bits and then the rest of the day is to myself I hope. BIL came yesterday and I thought I had lost some photos as I could'nt get into them yesterday morning or the day before and I wanted to put something on Ebay. They will kept updating things and then I don't understand them but I plugged the camera in and the pictures came up this time. He did back them all up for me n my extra hard drive though so they are now safe and he found some pictures on my old camera I hav'nt used for years and that was interesting seeing old birthday flowers and cards but it brought a tear to my eye and in two days it would have been oh's birthday he woudld have been 70.

good morning all very dark and wet so far so, unless it changes I won't be going in to town as planned.
Might mean I have to do some H/work then
:-(
Vera I am sure it is probably just overload. Our surgery has a huge population responsibility as well. If only they could train a few more doctors to open new surgeries when they build all these new houses.

Thank you for the photos, I did reply by email but they were very good photos, very clear.

If OH doesn't drop tools, book or phone, those things are all probably not smooth surfaces. Crockery and glasses are smooth so it could be his grip, as well as inattention. I notice that he wears glasses, are the varifocal's? If they are not adjusted properly it could be that he is not actually seeing where the edge of the work top is. Maybe he should try and remember to put the crockery further back. It does seem strange that he has started to break more.

Hope you get the scripts sorted today.

Ann, patients register the pharmacy they wish to use with the surgery and then everything is dealt with electronically between the surgery and the pharmacy. I don't have to order the 3 items I have every month, it's done on an automatic system. The other thing on my script that I only need at irregular intervals is ordered for me by the pharmacist when I say I need it. It's worked beautifully for the 10 years we have lived here. It's just the last couple of months that I have had problems. About a year ago the system was changed in that you could only have 6 scripts and then it had to be reviewed by the doctor. The idea was to stop people stockpiling meds that they no longer needed. People like myself who they know are on the medication permanently just have to ring up every 6 months and ask for the scripts to be reissued. I just don't know what has gone wrong this time. I have wondered if the system is overloaded. The practice is a very large one and covers a wide area with 5 surgeries and many, many thousands of patients.

As to OH and his breakages, I have wondered about his vision but he doesn't seem to have problems seeing generally and his eyes are tested annually so I don't know what the problem is. Sometimes I think he's just not watching what he is doing. He'll be gazing out of the window at the garden while putting something down on the work surface and he'll put it too close to the edge. I am keeping an eye on him in case there's something not quite right but he doesn't seem to drop tools or his book or his phone. It's just crockery and glassware.

Vera I assume you have checked the surgery have the correct email address.

How does your OH manage to break things. Does he lose his grip and is his eyesight ok? Must be annoying for both of you.

Good evening

It's certainly been a better day than yesterday. Earlier it was chilly but quite sunny and dry, though we did get caught in the rain at about 3 pm.

We went to Freeport, near Braintree. It's an outlet village. I was hoping to get some new boots. The Hotter shop where I have often bought shoes in the past has closed but there are a few other shoe shops including a Clarks. Just my luck, I couldn't find a pair that I liked and was available in my size so I ended up with nothing. On the other hand OH got 2 new jumpers from M & S and in other shops I got a white china jug, 2 sets of 5 storage containers and 2 of the 3 Secret Santa gits I will need for Clubs we belong to.

OH didn't really deserve anything. He's got very clumsy lately and managed to rip 2 good jumpers by gardening in them, catching them on bushes and stepping back without realising. He has a large bag of old "working" clothes so why doesn't he put them on while gardening? He's also broken a glass, 3 mugs and a jug recently. As I usually buy milk in 6 pint containers I pour about a pint at a time into a jug. It looks better on the table and is easier to pour just a little in a cup. I have 2 suitable jugs, one in use and one being washed, and of course it was one of these that he broke.

At least it was a nice little shopping trip out and I've made a slight start on bits for Christmas. Best of all I saved about £50 over the High Street prices :-D

A while ago I was given a voucher for a meal at Zizzi and there is a branch right by Freeport so we had lunch there. We shared a big platter of garlic bread with mozzarella, then I had chicken Milanese and OH had herb rolled pork belly, and we each had a glass of wine and a coffee and all we had to add to the voucher was £7. We have eaten there before and the staff are so pleasant and obliging. When you go in you are asked if you have any allergies. If, like me, you say yes when they bring the menu they also bring a large ring binder with everything on the menu listed together with any allergens contained in each dish so you can easily check yourself and don't have to rely on a waiter having the right information. I think that's a great feature.

I am glad you got your script easily AnnG. Would you believe I am still having problems getting mine? When I went to the pharmacy AGAIN, the young lady checked and told me they still haven't received my script from the surgery, even though they had emailed the surgery at 12 o'clock on Wednesday and I had rung them on Wednesday afternoon. The girl emailed them again while I was there and told me to ring the pharmacy tomorrow morning to check if the surgery have responded. I don't know what is going on but I've emphasised to both the pharmacy and the surgery that I am about to run out of pills, particularly the blood pressure ones, and I am going away next week so need them urgently. It's enough to send my blood pressure sky high. When others on here were complaining about not getting their meds I used to brag about our wonderful system. Well, it was wonderful till some bright spark decided it needed to be made more "efficient"!

That's enough of my ranting and raving. I hope you've all had a good day and you all sleep well tonight.

Walked to the chemist, sun was bright in my eyes in one direction which makes safe walking a bit difficult but the sun was also warm so a pleasant walk. Got my prescription, no trouble, pleasant new pharmacist who told me that was the last prescription for now. I knew he was wrong and after he had moved I got one of the long time lady assistants to check. she came back to me, grinned, and said it's ok you have got loads on there.
It is also book stall weekend so I was able to combine the two as I passed it on my way home and had a good look for books.

good morning all sun shining 8 degrees and a pity it was not like this yesterday to get to the hairdressers. Good job it was cut shorter than usual last time and well thinned out. Hopefully will get to the chemist to get my prescription this morning.

Up late as went back to sleep at 6am.

I've made my coffee too hot!!!!!