General Chat

There is always one thing..... that you have put away and can't find. I just spent ages looking for a picture I had removed temporarily from the lounge, I took down two, found one, other one not with is. Found it upstairs in a drawer. Asking myself why, this year, did I put it there :-D :-D

good morning all. 5 degrees here and sunny, daughter left at 0740 and there was not frost which is good for their journey.

I have finished putting the decs away, packed up all the cottages this morning and the floral arrangement and thenutcrackers off the mantelpiece. so all the decs in the cupboard in the spare bedroom now. I lost count of the number of times I climbed the stairs. with the cottages for a start. Legs ache a bit. I was up at 0630 so one load of washing is washed and dried.

Just got to go and put all the ornaments etc back in place now. Dentist at 2.15, Cynth is taking me round.

Morning all,

We had some rain during the evening so by the time we went to bed the snow had all gone ,it's 2 degrees out there now so we're hoping we can go out later and get a few bits , the suns now trying to peep through .

Afternoon All,

It was snowing lightly when we woke up but didn't last and most of the snow has thawed now. We are due some rain overnight and snow on Thursday.

Minus 12 is very cold Mandy so I hope it isn't coming your way. OH mentioned earlier about the Factory Shop going into administration. If they can't sell it, then it will close which will be a pity as it's the one I go to. I must pop there soon as I could do with a new kettle! When I saw Keith on the pottery programme it reminded me of their chapel renovation. It will be interesting to see the changes and how it looks now. It sounds like Keith has plenty of space for his pottery.

You have quickly got things taken down and packed AnnG. I expect all those cottages and the smaller things have to be wrapped too, so it's not a quick job. We were going to go out, but changed our minds and might pop out tomorrow instead. We need some foam pipe cover for the outside tap pipe as the temporary fix won't manage for long.

OH has been doing his tax return and then at last got through to rheumatology at the hospital and managed to speak to a helpful nurse who has told him, that despite his doctor telling him that it would be a waste of time him chasing up an appointment for him, to go back and tell him he must do it. He was diagnosed in March last year and still hasn't had any treatment nearly 10 months later, just yet another scan. It's meant he couldn't finish his cardio rehab either which is said to be imperitive. He's also contacted a scheme he has paid £6 a month to for years since we were at work. His free physio he was having via the other health support we both pay into ran out at Christmas. He's found that this one pays £40 towards every fortnightly physio session and doesn't run out, so he is going to look into starting physio again using them.

I took our cards down today as well and saved some suitable ones to go with others I've saved from previous years to cut out to make some bunting and I think I may have enough now. Otherwise I've done admin tasks and tidying. We watched an episode of Keeping up Appearances at lunchtime and it was one we hadn't seen before where they went on a cruise on the QE2. Patricia Routledge was so brilliant as Hyacinth wasn't she!

I hope Vera is ok too and keeping warm.

Really Mandy? Two extra people and all their stuff plus all the bags with my presents in and other bags unloaded from the car every surface covered I never stand cards up except the two from daughter and son. It would have. Den a miracle to find a space to stand 21 cards. I have looked at and reds them twice and will go through them all again in a couple of days.

Ann I've just read that our Original Factory Shop is going into administration ,shame if it closes as they have some nice bits in there .

It's not very nice driving in those conditions Anng ,I hope their journey home tomorrow for them is a little better .
Oh I think I would have stood the cards out for a few days .

Really clouded over now and the sky looks as if its full of snow ,its one of those days where its hard to get warm , they said on the news at lunch time Marham was -12 last night that's not that far away from us .

Did Em not come and help you at all Mel, that is strange if she said she would. Hope you have managed anyway.

Mandy no once it snowed I knew we wouldn't go out. Yes they were tired, even just as passenger it was tiring because it was not at all relaxing for any of us. They do share the driving SiL does two thirds and daughter a third. Hopefully it will not be as traumatic tomorrow but they leave earlier from here to get through Birmingham traffic.

I meant to tell you I had 21 cards waiting for me here. Not the same as they didn't even go on display.

Afternoon all,

No more snow here but it was a very sharp frost on top of the snow so not a nice day if you have to go out anywhere , main roads seem OK but the side roads are bad.

Ann, no it didn't take Keith long to well up did it ,he's a very emotional man, I see they are or have made a third lot of their programme doing the Chapel up ,their was a bit on fb of them wishing everyone a happy new year and they were in a huge room in the Chapel which was his new pottery room ,there was loads of bits of his pottery on shelves and when he shouted his voiced echoed round the room .

Anng I don't blame them for not wanting to go out in the snow ,that drive home yesterday must have a bit tiring with the washer nozzles freezing up and having to keep stopping, then they have to probably do it all again on the way home .

I got my ironing done this morning ,gave the downstairs loo a good going over and hoovered the stairs ,got another wash in and put that on the airer to dry .

Mel be careful if your climbing about getting the decorations down, I thought Em was going to help you.
Yes I saw there was a new lot of Father Brown and I see Mrs Mccarthy is coming back in ,don't know if it's for the one episode or for longer ,perhaps it will perk it up a bit ,I don't think the stories have been as good .

We n ow have a snow warning for Thursday

I have taken the tree down and packed the ornaments away but boxes and tree are all stored in the front 'office' until after they go home.

Pc is saying rainy days ahead again now and its 5 degrees.We did'nt have snow last night it was just a very heavy frost.

When I got downstairs I realised it was snow not frost and we were not forecast snow, a nuisance as nothing will persuade the 'young' ones to go to the garden centre in the snow. It is about an inch thick but not melting as ther is probably frost on top. I have strate dismantling the cottages and am about to do the little tree. I can do that and put the boxes away tomorrow after they have gone home.

Morning Anng and all,

Very heavy frost here this morning and pc says partly sunny and 2 degrees. The suns shining and theres wall to wall blue sky.

Have to get the rest of the decs down today and they are the highest ones. Wish me luck. Hope you all slept well.

Good morning all, not dressed but slept well and had had enough sleep. I can just see that it is very frosty out there on roofs,

Hope that the windsceen cover helps. I always used to have one when I worked and it did help. It is a long time since we have had such hard frosts so I am sure a lot of young drivers will be having problems with frozen windscreen wipers.

Nor sure what we will do today, maybe go to local garen centre but I also have to start on putting decs away. I can't really do the cottages though as the boxes are in the 'guest' bedroom cupboard.

That's good you are home now AnnG. It sounds like you had a careful journey with a few holdups from those that weren't so careful. It was a nuisance having to sort out the washer nozzles, but it has to be done. I will make sure I put some spray in my car boot now in case needed, as it's horrid when you can't see properly because the washers stop working and won't clear the drying salty spray I think we have two or three sprays, but probably all half empty as OH just grabs the nearest to him to use. I hope you sleep well after all the time sitting for your leg though.

Mandy I nearly missed the pottery programme but spotted it just in time. I see Keith was soon welling up wasn't he and yet he looks the least likely sort of man to be so emotional! There are some really good potters this time and I thought making the toureen, dishes and spoon was a big ask, but they had some lovely clever results. It sounds like you are getting more snow than us.

Vera we are the same and can turn the outside tap off under the sink, but it's stiff and I couldn't face having to empty the cupboard to get to it. That's bad luck just getting over your migraine and now catching something from your OH. I hope it's something that clears up quickly. Hopefully you can go to your rebooked chiropody appointment. What a bother with your meds again, so hopefully the pharmacist has them sorted better now though. If ours were all synchronised it would save us so many trips to the pharmacy. At least we get two months' worth though.

I was watching the Magpie with some seeded bread through the patio door at lunchtime while we watched the recorded London Wild Life with David Attenborough. He was getting great beakfuls and flying off with them into the field, then into the shrubs behind the birdfeeder. Then he flew onto the island bed with some and made a hole through a spreading alpine plant by using his beak from side to side, dropped the bread in it and then teased the stems of the plant over to hide the bread! Clever little devil. The Red Kite was flying low and watching him and we haven't seen him since I got those photos that time.

My windscreen cover came at teatime, no ringing of the doorbell, just the sound of it being rammed through the letterbox and him running off! I'll check if it fits ok tomorrow. OH wants to try it on his too, so I can order him one if it fits as scraping the screen will set his neck and shoulder pain off.

Sounds like that was a nasty journey home. Will daughter and sil stay with you tonight and journey home tomorrow? They must take it easy as the roads can be treacherous with the kind of snow we've had.

There's a new series of Father Brown on Friday 9th at 2pm.

Finally got home around 3pm left daughters at 0800. The first hour through zcjmbria was great lovely sunrise, beautiful all coloured skies over the mountains lakes and rivers. Then onto the M6, just coming down off Shap probably the highest point of the M6 and the screen wipers were not spraying water and anti freeze and the screen was covered in salty spray so pulled into the little garage shop and SiL got more anti freeze and a spray, the nozzles were not thawing. Sorted that out and we were not alone. Got further down and had to stop again at a service station for another spray. All the trees along the motorway were covered in snow and frost, very pretty but forecast was for -5 so that was the problem. It did gradually thaw. But the. There were at least four hold ups for collisions, the traffic was very heavy. One hold up we came to a stand still for 20 minutes and had to juggle a way through fir an ambulance. Most people drove carefully and a lot of the journey was at 60MPH.

I expect AnnG is home by now. I hope the roads weren’t too bad for them.

Mel, don’t go overdoing it. Let Em help with getting the decs down and it won't matter if it stays dusty for a few more days. Just give yourself time to recover.

Annx, you reminded me about our outside tap which I suspect OH has forgotten. He usually shuts the water to the tap off under the kitchen sink, then drains off any water still in the pipe going out to the tap but he hasn't mentioned it this year. I must ask him. What a palaver with your garage door and then not finding your fleece throw. It certainly wasn't your day yesterday. We're not going outside today either. OH didn't go for his usual walk this morning.

We had a good covering of snow this morning like you Mandy, but it just doesn't seem to be melting even though we have had bright sunshine all day. I suppose it's because the temperature hasn't got above 0 degrees yet. OH took some decorations back out to the garage and said it was very crunchy underfoot so it will be really icy later.

I checked on my neighbour to see how her husband is doing and if she needs anything and the lady who does her ironing each week is going to take her to the hospital to see her OH tomorrow.

My OH has had a bit of a chesty cold which he is getting over but he has kindly decided to share it with me so I now have a sore throat, runny nose, chesty cough and a head full of cotton wool. I had a chiropody appointment tomorrow but have just rung to ask if they are happy for me to go with a mask or if they would prefer me not to turn up. The receptionist said they had just had a cancellation for Wednesday and suggested she put me in there which gives me an extra day at home but said to ring up if I don't feel well enough on Wednesday. I'm happy with that. Then I had to ring the surgery to try to sort my prescription out again. Everything works fine till there is a change then things go haywire again. At the end of October another tab was added on a separate prescription. Our docs will only prescribe 28 days at a time so if repeat meds are on different prescriptions it can be a nightmare to get everything to match up. Anyway, at the surgery I got through to one of the pharmacists who seemed to know what she was doing and she has amalgamated everything onto 1 script for me. I don't collect those till 27th of this month so I hope it will all work out OK.

We've taken down the tree and got all the decs put away for another year and I've done all the washing but though I'm not really ill this cold is making me feel very tired so I'm not going to do much more today. I made a big beef casserole yesterday, enough for 2 days, so I put half in a fresh pan and only have to reheat it on the hob. I'll probably throw in some dumplings and maybe do a bit of green veg and that's tonight's meal sorted.

Keep yourselves warm and take care if you have to go outside.

We had a few more snow flurries this morning but a lot has melted in the sunshine now , got a lot done this morning so now having a rest .

Oh well done with Ernie Ann that was a nice start to the new year , did you see the new pottery throw down last night , I liked some of the soup bowls they made .

Oh now snowing again