General Chat

My granddaughter didn't know what to get us for Xmas 2015
She knew hubby loved the proms and bought us tickets for the first night that year and booked us into a hotel in the vicinity for the night before
Hubby managed the journey and he loved the experience

For my birthday this year she took me to a sat matinee in April for 42nd street musical

Loved it but also remembered areas when I worked in London but how much it has changed too!!!

How about planning a trip out that doesn't cost much, there must be snowdrop gardens open in your area or is there an arboretum, they are interesting in february (hoping it doesn't rain or snow. As you don't like meals out, take a picnic and enjoy the gold fresh air but also buy a well in Africa or something that interests you.

DNA test?

I will probably have a well in Africa or something like that.

Better somebody gets something they need than that I get something I don't really even want much.

Not sure a real cog boat would leave much room in your house :-(

Like the boat idea....what about adopting an animal at a zoo or something along those lines...then there's nothing in the house for you to fall over and you can go see said animal...if zoos aren't your thing I believe there's other more acceptable wildlife adoptions?

Or a real one!

How about a model kit of a cog boat for you to make?
Plastic ones are easily available - but how about a wooden one?

The thing is, all those really fun and interesting things will kick about the house until Kingdom Come. Can't find things now because he has put them away!

My husbands first name is Nick and his birthday is in November and it was quite mad some of the things I bought, witches finger Nails, a bag of Nails, Narcissus which he planted so we see them every year.
He will probably do better than you think, good luck and happy birthday to you when it comes round xx.

Distant Learning/Online course?

He is not Mr Imaginative so I would probably have some socks and a pair of scissors before he ran out of ideas.

Now, this 'ere dinner. This is another problem. Both of us can cook and we enjoy what we make, nearly everything from fresh. Increasingly, we have been somewhere for a meal and agreed that we would rather eat our own so we don't even do that much. I have had so many I have not wanted that I usually eat egg and chips when we go out so there is not much point.

When we went away, we stayed in the Duke's Head,Kings Lynne for a night and dinner was part of the deal It is a Brian Turner restaurant and the food is set but sumptuous with just one veggie option. That was artichoke in several forms. There is only one vegetable that I will not even put in my mouth and that is artichoke.

A bit late to suggest this but maybe say 30 items that start with the first letter of your first name some things can be really silly, ( I managed to buy 60 items for my husbands 60th but it took a year ) then the rest on a dinner out to a place you wouldn’t normally go to?

But that it were that easy! Only ever buy books for the content so every one I have wanted has been available second-hand.

We were only saying the other day that there are marvellous savings in the sales and we don't need anything.

The patchwork should be back from quilting this week so I think that will have to be the thing that marks my sixty-fifth.

Oh absolutely. Regardless of budget, what do you give someone who has everything they want? A birthday is an opportunity to treat the person you love. Could you look for a book to feed your eclectic interests? You might already have lusted after one, but rejected it on the grounds of cost.

To be honest, I don't like visiting places like that. I am eternally grateful to them and the National Trust for the work they do to preserve these places, likewise,museums, but I don't want to go there.


I am planning to buy access to the archives of History Today this year and also to join the Newcomen Society but I think these are things I have planned and will probably do for myself.

As for the afternoon teas, we have done several of these and I just find them too 'cakey'.


Do you have any inkling as to why the poor bloke might be moaning?

How about a joint annual subscription to English Heritage? You’d get 12 months free entry to Castles of your choice.
Or what about an entry ticket to Portsmouth Dockyard as it’s on your doorstep? Like many of the pricier entry tickets, they cover multiple visits when ever you like.

Many of the voucher code sites off ones for Afternoon Tea. That could be your Special Treat & could probably offer a vegetarian option for the savoury’s.

I have a semi-important birthday (65) coming up next month and he wants to get something special but I can't think of anything I want.

Because I never want anything very expensive, generally, if I want it then I will buy it. Just about all we can think of is a fruit cage to keep the birds and squirrels off the fruit in the back garden, we had just one Japanese wineberry off the bush last year, and a sack of Epsom salts , some for the bath,some for the garden. Apart from that I need some sander sheets.

He doesn't want to buy any of those for a present.