General Chat

Hello to All Roll Callers.

I hope that your Granddaughter arrived in time to sit her exam Jem. No time for her to get exam nerves! How strange that you had just dreamt about being late for a GCSE exam...... are you psychic?

Pat, I hope that the noise ended so that you were able to enjoy your breakfast sat outside in peace and quietness.

Thinking of Dizzi and her family facing the funeral this Friday. (((hugs))) to them all.

Hope everyone will enjoy the rest of today.

Good Afternoon Everyone :-) :-) <3

Well, what a morning!!!! :-0

The night before last I didn't sleep at all, and gave up before 5 am and got up and did a lot of housework.
By 10 o'clock last night I was shattered and went to bed, which was early for me. I was still there at 9.30 this morning, dragged myself downstairs and then the phone went!

It was the school's Attendance Officer saying that Granddaughter 1 had not turned up for her Physics GCSE. Granddaughter 2 was not in either, and nobody was answering the phones at their home! :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0 :-0
"There is still a window open.....If she get's here NOW!" she said!

I dashed over to find they were all up except Granddaughter 1, who was still in bed as she thought her exam was in the afternoon! :-| :-| :-|
For some reason, Mum (who is poorly with a heavy cold) had not heard/ answered the phone.

Shouting up the stairs to G.D.1 ensued, with "don't you even dare think about wasting time putting make-up on, get down here now:-| :-|, Gran is waiting to take you in!".

So Granddaughter 1 delivered (I'm still to find out whether or not she was in time) I had to get back to get Grandson 1 up and ready to go in for pre-study for his last GCSE this afternoon- Media Studies.

The very strange thing was... while I was drowsing just before getting up, I was dreaming that I was late for a Geography GCSE and everything was going wrong and I couldn't get there in time! :-S :-S :-S
:-D :-D :-D

BUT AT LEAST THE WEATHER IS NICE!:-D :-D :-D

:-)PAT
I'm glad you had a lovely evening with good company :-)
Like you, I'm fair skinned and do not obviously tan. I burn red if I am not too careful,
I am blond though, which although Welsh, is probably from my Swedish genes :-D :-D

My brothers 2 children are "carrots" red haired. That must be inherited from my famous 5x Great Aunt Jemima Nicholas! :-D :-D :-D

:-)KANDJ
I'm sorry that you were unable to get out to garden. We do tend to get very erratic weather in Britain! :-D
It cleared up here very early on in the day, and I managed to get the washing dry. It's sunny and very warm here today too! :-)

~~~~~~~~~ to all Roll Callers :-) :-) :-)

Love Jem <3

Morning all :-)

Caught up with things yesterday and went out in the evening. Very pleasant evening, very good meal and entertainment and great company.

Housework today :-(.

Jem the only negative, health wise,that the DNA has come up with is lactose intolerance and she already knew that, just confirms what she thought and she had already taken milk out of her diet.

It's 24 C and weather forecast looks as if we're getting nearer proper June weather. lol it's now 25 C the figures just altered as I typed about the weather.

Tourists will be out frying themselves :-S I've never had a tan far too fair skinned but I do get marks so I know my exposed skin is much darker, it just doesn't look like it when you can't see the difference. ;-) It's my Celtic blood, I had very dark brown hair which had dark auburn through it. Think my hair should have been red to go with my skin. :-D

I keep the sun tan lotion people in pocket :-)

They are strimming the verges at the moment, very noisy and smelly petrol fumes. They chop down the verges and scrubland every June to prevent fires later in the summer. Not much vegetation grows from now on, Cyprus in summer looks quite barren but our vegetation grows all through the winter when it rains. They are just moving away from here, just tidying up with a leaf blower then they're finished. I can go and sit outside for breakfast in a few minutes :-D

Hope you all have a good day. :-) <3

Good Morning All Roll Callers................ although it isn't as "good" for weather as it should be in June, here's hoping that it can only get better.

Goodness Pat, I got all mixed up just reading about your days/nights out so I hope that you either have a better memory than I have or at least written all the lovely invitations down on your calendar so that you won't miss out on lots of fun-times.

The DNA sounds just amazing. So much detailed information from so many years ago, it's just unbelievable! Isn't modern technology wonderful (when it works) ha ha

Jem, hope you are swotting up for your next pub quiz, so you will keep your title!

I have no chance of spending today working in the garden with the heavy rain,at least this will save me having to water it. looks as if it will be a tidy-up day inside.

Have fun everyone, whatever you have planned for today, just enjoy it.

Good Morning Everyone :-) :-) <3

Well, the promised thunderstorms didn't materialise here in South West Wales, but we did have some heavy rain!

Oh Pat :-(
You are having such a hard life, you poor thing ;-) ;-) ;-) :-D :-D :-D :-D <3

Wow, the DNA sounds fascinating. :-)
I don't think I would like to know about probable diseases though.

Kandj
Did you escape the thunderstorms too? I hope you managed to get your washing dry :-)

Sol,
Hope your Mum is enjoying her visit :-)

~~~~~~~~~ to all Roll Callers :-)

Hope you all have a good weekend :-)

Love Jem <3

Morning all :-)

Well yesterday was hectic and we had a very pleasant evening. I will tell you about part of yesterday as it shows what a hard life we have here.

Had breakfast and was doing normal chores before attacking a pile of ironing. Decided to have a cup of tea. Sitting drinking tea and phone rings, friend no 1 with apartment far end of Limassol, we're leaving soon can you come back to us over the weekend with a day to do something together next week. Puts phone down and starts to drink tea. Phone rings, it's friends no 2, we leave on Thursday can we go out together 1 evening, we're busy tonight they are busy over weekend so decide on Tuesday evening at a restaurant in the next village. Whilst I'm talking to friends no 2 OH's phone, which is on charge, dings. OH goes across the room to read the text and starts laughing. It's a message from friends no 3 who were our next door neighbours in UK - decided on a week away starting end of July, coming to Paphos, will let you know details so we can meet up a few times. Remember we have friends 4 and 5 out here at the moment as well. We also have a 70th birthday for a friend who lives here on Monday (no 7) and wants to celebrate it on Thursday which is the same day as friends (no 4s) 55th wedding anniversary. Fortunately friend no 7 and 4 know each other and no 7 has already invited them to the restaurant for her party, with no 7s consent and unbeknown to no 4 we are changing it to a 70th birthday bash and a secret anniversary do. If you are unable to follow this join the rest of us but it does show how difficult life here becomes. ;-) :-D

We are now out Sunday with 4 and 5 and will be contacting no 1 to see what they are doing on Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stop for breath and - deep breaths and rest. :-D

Oh well, someone's got to do it might as well be us :-D

Back to daughter's DNA. Background as far as I knew it doing my tree with additions for OH. OH had a Dutch gt grandfather and German gt grandmother on his maternal side, Dutch name known to be from Belgium as well as the Netherlands. His paternal side re his surname is from an area in Sweden. My side as far as I knew was Welsh, Irish and English.

Daughter's DNA shows -

54.3% British and Irish
15% French/German
8.2% Scandinavian
21.6% of her DNA shows her to be broadly Northern European

0.1% Iberian
<0.1 broadly Southern European

<0.1% East Asian and Native American
<0.1% Yakut
0.1% unassigned.

This is her general DNA with both OH's and my DNA.

They refer to her eyes in this section and state not susceptible to alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's Disease or breast cancer. Also said she should be blue eyed.

Then we got the mitochondrial result. This is the female line only, so this is mine. We are in the Haplogroup H in general, they go back until they find a mutation tag to give us H1 within this group. H1 mutation is from 13,000 years ago.

It is this line that gives us the 3.3% Neanderthal. The Iberian link and Yakut. The Yakut are from Siberia and may be the very small link to Native Americans.

This DNA type is plentiful in Northern Europe, Spain (Iberian link) and North Africa with Berbers and Tuareg, Tunisia and Morocco. Near East and Central Asia. Found in remains on Doggerland, believed to be the people who migrated to Britain after the last ice age walking from Europe via Doggerland before the sea overwhelmed it and it became Dogger Bank.

History lesson over. You're right Jem it's very interesting and it's still not finished as more results will be coming.

My lot sure got around didn't they?

Jem, they are still talking about that cake and it was 7 years ago this month.

Hope you all have a good day, off to put the washing out. :-) <3

Hello Roll Callers. Good afternoon to one and all
and what a lovely sunny afternoon it is everywhere today. Yes Jem, I also have seen that the weekend is meant to have rain and thunderstorms so my washing is all done.

Jem, congratulations on winning the Pub Quiz...... whose a clever girl then ha ha.
The 16th birthday cake sounds as if it was a fun thing for his Mum to do and no doubt it was met with lots of laughter from everyone who saw it (including the restaurant staff).

Hope your husband has learned his lesson Pat and will perhaps think twice before putting his poorly back at risk of another flare up in the future. I hope you both enjoy all your time out with the visitors right now.

I'm sure that Solrosen will be enjoying having Mum to visit just now and sure to be having a good time together.

Friday again and another weekend is almost here...... not that it makes much difference to us two as we are both retired now and one day really is like another.

Whatever you all have planned, I hope that you have a good time anyway.

Good Afternoon Everyone :-) :-) <3

It's sunny and hot here today, but thunderstorms and heavy rain is supposed to be on it's way soon!

For the last 3 Thursday Nights, OH, myself and the last twice Grandson 1 (he lives with us) have been going to a local pub for a meal, a couple of drinks and then a Pub Quiz.

GUESS WHO WON THE PUB QUIZ LAST NIGHT? ;-) :-D :-D :-D

The usual winner was not at all pleased! :-D
Especially as he did not have the usual round of free drinks for his table (usually about 6 - 8 of them):-D :-D :-D

Our team were a cheap alternative for the Landlord! :-D
A glass of diet coke for OH (He was driving), a J2O (fruit juice drink) for Grandson 1, and a malibu and pineapple juice for me! :-D


:-)PAT
I'm glad your OH's back improved for your evening out yesterday, and that you had a good time :-)

You made me laugh with the story of the 60th Birthdays Cake fiasco! :-D :-D
I bet it made it all the more a memorable occasion for them :-)

Your Daughter's DNA test sounds very interesting :-)
It's something I would love to have done one day. They should (if my research is accurate) find Welsh, English- Norman, Swedish, Dutch-Spanish DNA in my blood :-D

I can remember watching Dixon of Dock Green when I was little. :-)
Like Kandj said, it was a much simpler time!
Wouldn't it be great if we could pick and choose all the best aspects of each decade into one! Like the gentle pace of life of years ago, with the medical advances of today for example :-)

I hope OH's back will be ok for your night out tonight, and that you both have a good time :-)


:-)KANDJ
Yes, I bet Grandson and his pals' faces were a picture!
The woman's torso in a basque was 3 dimensional. They brought it in with 2 lit sparklers in the shape of 1 and 6 (for16) placed in strategic places! ;-) ;-) :-D :-D


~~~~~~~~~~ to all Roll Callers :-) :-) :-)


Hope you all have a good day :-) :-) :-)

Love Jem <3 <3

I can remember the Dixon of Dock Green on an old black and white TV set years ago. Life seemed much more simple and a lot slower pace all that time back.

Your daughter's DNA sound scientific but interesting Pat. It is amazing what information can be gathered with a simple sample...... all very fascinating I think.

A sunny day and another sunny day forecast for tomorrow and then bad weather for the weekend. Very changeable Summer indeed, it's difficult to know how to dress.

Hope everyone has had a good day and will enjoy a nice tomorrow. Take care now.

Evening all. Bends knees and salutes - for those who remember Dixon of Dock Green. :-D

OH's back was much better today thank you Kandj and we had a good time tonight. Out tomorrow night so hopefully all will be ok.

Daughter's had her DNA done. We found out through the mitochondrial line she has 3.3% Neanderthal's DNA average is 2.7%. They don't know whether that's good bad or indifferent. Mitochondrial line is Haplogroup H1. Maybe 1 of the Doggerland group. She should have blue eyes - ????????????? don't know what gives them that - they are bright blue.

It's very interesting. Will have to wait for the next lot of info. Our ancestors travelled a lot and guess what they did en route ;-) even with Neanderthals :-S

Hope you all have a good night and as my dad always said - 'night and bless <3

Hello All

Talk of cake is making me feel hungry now. There are some very talented folk around who bake and ice amazing cakes for special occasions. They look almost too good to eat. I would like to have seen your Grandson's face Jem at his Mum's choice for him when he was out with his pals ha ha. Good luck for all the exams.

I hope that our OH back eases for tomorrow Pat so that he can be comfortable and enjoy time out with you and friends.

Hope you have all had a good day today. Good night all.

Evening everyone :-)

Very windy again today, this is getting ridiculous. You are sand blasted on the beach as friends found out yesterday.

Didn't go out tonight, OH's back is a bit tender and he wants to go out tomorrow so a quiet day.

Just been invited to a birthday bash next week.

More people arriving tomorrow. They are going to help with the dogs at the bungalow.

They do fantastic cakes these days Jem. We have a cake shop in the village that does birthday cakes. We had a friend come out with his wife to stay for his 60th birthday. We' d also have another friend who is living out here but some distance away who would be 60 a few days later. Without telling them why we got them together for a joint birthday bash. My OH and these 2 men used to work together. I catered for them and invited some other friends. OH's job had been to order the cake. You should have seen his face when he arrived home with it. When he told me what had happened I couldn't stop laughing. Because of the language difficulty OH had decided to put the design of the message on the computer and print it off to leave with the order so there'd be no problems. He said to the girl at the shop that this was the message he wanted on the cake. They'd only encapsulated the paper and set it in the cake taking his words literally. :-D Everyone roared and after the candles were removed I carefully took it out and cleaned it off as our friend wanted to take it back to UK with him. :-D

We thought we'd done everything to make sure all would be perfect ..... :-S. At least they all saw the funny side of the situation.

Sleep well everyone. Sweet dreams. :-) <3

Good Morning Roll Callers :-) :-) :-) <3

Another mixed day today again! Sun, clouds, wind certainly not that warm! Not considering the "heatwave" that was promised! :-D

Grandson 1 has been dispatched to school for his last but one GCSE- History (Africa). Granddaughter 1 has the exact same GCSE this morning too, but year 10!
It's a really silly and confusing system that nobody understands properly, even the teaching staff! :-| :-| :-|


:-)Pat,
I'm glad you had a lovely evening :-)

:-)Kandj

It will be nice to see settled weather, so that we can know what to wear for sure!

We are still eating cake! :-D
The woman's torso one has now finished and now it's the cake with the ricepaper photograph that's half way through :-D


EDITED IN.. as I don't think I told you about the above mentioned cakes!
The cakes I baked were eaten very quickly.

But also his Mum had a huge (rather naughty) cake delivered to the restaurant where he was having a celebratory meal with about 16-18 friends.
It was a huge vanilla jam sandwich type cake in a shape of a woman's torso in a skimpy basque! :-0 :-0 :-D

Also delivered there was another one, with a rice paper photograph of Grandson with his hair in a scrunchy!!!
It's amazing what they can do now. All you do is upload the photo and then email it to the cake firm!
It was a surprise from one of his pals who had taken the photograph on the camping trip he went on a few weeks ago!

So as you can imagine.. loads of left over cake, and my diet is down the pan!:-D



Thinking of Dizzi's family and many friends <3


Love Jem <3

Evening :-)

Been out for a Chinese this evening. Very enjoyable evening.

Our friends left here to go to a bungalow a few minutes from here. They will spend the next month looking after 2 dogs and a cat.

Yes Jem they were very different from many of my friends parents but I was in senior school before I realised how odd it was to have an electrician for a mother. When you grow up with it it is the norm. She never took it up in civvy street.

Warmer today but very windy. Felt cold this evening.

Sleep well all :-) <3

Hello All

Thanks Jem, a pretty normal day today. Just changed from a tee-shirt into a warm jumper. Ridiculous really when this is the month of June! How long did the cake last?

Pat and Solrosen, I hope that you are both well and enjoying spending time with family and friends right now.

Carol hope that you are feeling OK today?

Thinking of Dizzi's family and close friends , sending ((hugs)) right now.

Hope everyone has a good evening, whatever you have planned.

Good Morning Roll Callers :-) :-) :-) <3

Hope you will all have a good day :-)

Hi Everyone :-) :-) :-) <3

It's been mixed weather here in South West Wales!
During the last week we have had gale-force winds, torrential rain, sun but at the same time quite cold, etc.!
Today has been sunny, warmer but still windy, so at least the washing dried quickly on the line :-D :-D

Grandson 1 went to the beach for a walk with his friends yesterday. Although it was windy and chilly he caught the sun! His arms are red!

:-) Pat
You are going to be very busy with lots of visiting friends and family for the next few months! Not to mention your Head Cheerleading duties ;-) ;-) :-D :-D

I am very impressed by your upbringing Pat! What brilliant parents you had. Born before their time! I can see that they certainly inspired a spirit of confidence in you, which you in turn have passed on to your children! :-)

I hope your OH's back is less sore now:-)

I hope you manage to get to the beach soon to walk in the sea! :-)

:-)Kandj
I see you have been very busy in your garden :-)
Like Pat has said, I wait until it has rained before I weed as our soil is very hard and dry. Having said that, I am not much of a gardener! :-(

:-)Sol
Hope you are enjoying your Mum's visit :-)


Thinking about Dizzi's family <3


Hi to all Roll Callers not mentioned :-)

Love Jem <3

Hello All

Changeable weather almost everywhere methinks. Hard to think it's the month of June but it certainly isn't "Flaming June" around now!

Pat, I hope your husbands back pain lessened so that you were able to go out to dinner with your friends. The white fish dish will wait for another time.

It must be interesting for you to see all the planes and tourists arrive. No doubt there is a lot of excitement around you just now.

Enjoy whatever you have planned for tomorrow, take care now.

Afternoon everyone. :-)

Solrosen, hope your weather is OK so you can get out with your mum. Have a good time.

Our weather is so changeable. Today we had a very pleasant start, then the wind suddenly got up and pictures came off the wall - 1 light bulb smashed. OH popped to next village and it rained on him, no sign of rain here at the time. We've just heard thunder and clouds getting thick and darkening now. The temp was supposed to be 29 C but it's 25 C at the moment. Our friends who arrived last night have been surprised by how changeable the weather has been.

OH's back was stiff today, he's resting on his recliner chair as he's hoping to go out tonight. If not yours truly will be raiding the freezer and cupboards for 1 of my concoctions. I have 4 white fish fillets in the freezer so think it'll be a fish based dish. Will let you know what happens. :-D

Paphos Airport was very busy last night, the tourists are descending on us. :-( In just over 20 minutes saw 8 planes coming in. I know it's not Heathrow but this is a small, 1 runway airport. Everywhere was congested.

Don't know where you are Kandj but I've got 3 UK place temperatures on the right side of this laptop for Belfast, heavy cloud/sun 12 C, Mansfield hazy cloud/sun 14 C, Basingstoke small cloud /sun16 C. No mention of rain so you may be lucky.

Have a good day all :-) <3

Hello All,

No problem Pat. It is good to be mindful of the D-Day landings and 6th June a huge part of our history never to be forgotten I hope. We all owe a debt of gratitude to those who fought and those who lost their lives in service to this country.... we must never forget and I personally will.............." always remember them".

Thank you for sharing details of lovely Dizzi's birthday today. I have added my thought to the first post and think how difficult a day it will have been for her family.
I hope that your husband's back pain has lessened and he feels more comfortable

Our family have been here today and we have all enjoyed a relaxing happy family time spent together. I agree Pat, good company and good food is a wonderful combination and makes for a very happy time for all concerned.

Solrosen, I hope that all is alright at your home and that your Mum is enjoying her visit with you just now.

We have had another dry day today , the weather is becoming more settled, although I think that rain is forecast for our area tomorrow. I hope they have got the forecast wrong but the gardens really do need the rain as everything is so dry.

I hope everyone has a decent night's sleep and a good day for all tomorrow.