General Chat

Hi to you all.
Well what a horible night, the wind was terible & the noise !! far worse than I was led to believe from the forecast, though I knew it was going to be windy they seemed to be saying it was mainly for those in the FAR north, Shetland & the like !!

It was really bad here, & I spent the night very scared & wondering what might be going on outside, I couldn't believe that the power stayed on for which I was thankful for, I couldn't have coped.if that had gone off,.

It's a "little" better today ! bur still very windy, I can see rfom the window that the Glider seat has blown over even though it's fastened down !
Hoping there are no roof slates on the ground.

Off to put a bit of dinner together, steak pie & veg today, hope everyone else is ok.

Joan.

Hi everybody

Our power was restored at midnight, thank goodness, having been off since 1830 on Friday.

Many places still have no power.

Lots of trees down around this district, but thankfully no damage to my house or garden.

Our mobile signal was also knocked out by the storm, but is back this morning.
People who are on the new digital phone system had no way to contact anyone for 30 hours in this area - such a stupid system.
I'm lucky in that I still have a sensible old-fashioned landline, so I was receiving updates from SSEN, but of course still couldn't contact the two of my adult children who have the "new" phone lines, as they also had lost mobile signal.

The third lives in a different part of Scotland, and still had power and a mobile signal, so I was able to phone him.

Thank goodness the weather wasn't too cold, as my house is all-electric, and therefore I had no heat.
I do have solar-powered torches and lamps, as well as candles, and also a small gas camping stove.

I'm so relieved to be back to normal this morning - though haven't yet investigated the condition of the freezer contents!

It's good to know that you are OK, Joan and Florence - at least I hope you still are, since you posted.
I hope the weather hasn't affected your travel plans for tomorrow, Florence. Have a lovely time!

No let up in the wind for a 2nd night, it was as bad as friday. & today is no better, still blowing hard, the constant noise is really unpleasant.

At around 4-00 AM there was a lull & I thought things had eased but no, 1/2 an hour of relevant peace & it was back as bad as ever !
Lookimg out of the windows today everything in the garden is getting a right bashing, the plants & tree branches are sideways on & many leaves are blowing past, probably heaping up against the hedges & walls waiting for me to clear them up !!.

I'm hoping the wind dies down at some point today, I can't face another noisy night,I need sleep, I'm feeling like a zomie.

Argyllgran, it's not nice being without power & phones, I still have the old style landline phone which stays on during storms & I too get calls from SSEN but I don't find them helpful !!

I hope all is well with others looking in.

Joan

Morning all

Argyll Gran and Joan, glad you are both ok. We are all electric too but keep the torches charged up and of course as an islander I have loads of candles.

AG, glad it wasnt too cold or snowing as that would have been so awful for you but glad you got the electric back.

Re the analogue phones. we still have that system here and they have put back the changeover now til next year I think as they havent come up with a back up plan for those who have an alarm linked to a help centre as its needs electric to work.

When i worked in the school, all phones worked on the new system except one in the canteen and was no fun phoning over 30 parents with 1 phone to tell them if the school was closing as took forever!!

I do agree, its a terrible plan especially in rural areas as when power goes we also lose the mobile signal after a very short time.

Maybe they will let us remain as an exception? Unless they come up with a plan B, they cannot switch us over and leave us without can they?

Just finished tidying up and now to pack the cases which shouldnt take long as all my clothes are hanging in the wardrobe ready to go in etc.

We have been worried about the wind speed for tomorrow but its under the 60 now so fingers crossed we get away.

Linda hope you enjoyed the rest of your holiday even though the weather didnt sound too great but at least you had a break away with no cooking, cleaning and no looking after children so thats the plus side isnt it. Right fols , thats me for a week.

I shall be back next Monday to catch up on here.

Hope everyone behaves lol, no fisty cuffs whilst Im away :-D :-D :-D

Take care

Florence in the hebrides

Sorry forgot to say Hi Uzzi

Feel free to come and chat on here anytime about anything

Florence in the hebrides

I've discovered this morning that only part of my village has had power restored, so I'm feeling very lucky!

My son and daughter, both ten miles away, don't have it yet, either.
My son and his wife also don't have water when the power is off, as they have a private supply with a pump (electric) to take the water into the house.

Hi ArgyllGran, it's the same for us regarding water, we have a private supply with an electric pump.

In our case, the pump sends water to a holding tank which is situated at the highest point in the field at one side of our house, when we draw water in the house it comes from there.
Problem with that is if the pump is not able to work as in the power supply being interuppted it obviously cannot pump up the water to that tank, we have to hope there is enough water already in the tank to keep us going.

Not too much of a problem now it's just me in the house but when the there was 7 of us it was !
When the children were little we used to take water from the garden pod to flush the toilet ! so as to save the clean water for cooking & the like.

Joan.

Yes, it's a problem, Joan.
My son's house is just beside a sea loch, so while the power is off, they're carrying buckets of seawater to flush the toilet.

Hi Everyone

I've just found this thread. I've been with GR for years but haven't used it for more than storing my family tree. I think I've been missing out.

I'm in Co Antrim NI. I was reading about your esperiences of Storm Amy. It wasn't too bad where I am. I didn't lose electricity or so on. I live in a rural area, surrounded by trees and there were some down blocking roads but no real damage or injury here. In no time the local farmers were out with tractors and chain saws and cleared everything away.

Hello Evie, welcome to the thread.
I am in North Yorkshire, just returned after a two week holiday in Greece, so feeling the cold, :-(
I had to go and face Slimming World this morning, I have managed to put on eight pounds in two weeks, so I am going to have to work hard to get that off I was expecting it given all the naughty food which I ate.

Linda, wasn’t the rain so bad you couldn’t go out and walk off the calories ;-)

Face Slimming World sounds interesting!
What about other parts of you?!

Very funny AG :-D I have amended the capital letter.
I wish that it was just my face, actually that is quite slim, it is just the rest of me which is the problem.
The hotel we went to was totally isolated, it wasn’t possible to walk along the road at all and there was no prom either. Usually we would have a walk out to explore the area and try other places for lunch, but this time we couldn’t There weren’t even any other beach bars outside the hotel boundary. The hotel itself was extremely good and the food was first class, hence all the pounds which I have gained. I am being good and am back on the diet, so I will just have to stick to the plan until I get rid of it all. I am not one of those people who can lose lots, I just plod along slowly , but get there in the end

Good for you, Linda!
I put on half a stone last winter, and haven't managed to lose it again.
Usually I just eat a bit less and move a bit more - but that doesn't seem to be working this time!
At least I haven't put on any more.

Must try harder.

I have been making soup this afternoon, carrot and red pepper and leek and potato. I have twelve plastic soup mugs and once they are cold, they have to go in the freezer. That is going to be difficult, but I am sure I will be able to ram them in.
We have to go for our flu and Covid jabs this afternoon, one in each arm. I am taking Esme to Lightwater Valley tomorrow, so I hope my arms won’t be too sore as I have to push her wheelchair around.

Is Florence back today?
It is a very dreary day, but we are soldiering on as normal.
I had my school reading on Monday afternoon with the 6-7 year olds.
Yesterday it was the memory cafe, they did a Beetle Drive. That was good fun, although I spend a lot of the time making the tea and coffee. Luckily there is an industrial dishwasher which does the cleaning in a couple of minutes.
This afternoon it is my second round of school reading, then tomorrow it will be a busy day My daughter is in London for work, but just for the day. So OH gets up and collects her at 6.30am and takes her to the station. Normally he would take Eve to school, but she is on a school trip to Madrid this week so he doesn’t have to do that. I will go to Slimming World on the morning to see if I have shed any of the weight I put on while we were on holiday. I am then going to get the bus into Harrogate as I have an eye test booked after lunch. The original plan was just to get the bus home because we have booked the car in for its MOT on the afternoon, but that was before my daughter told us she was going to London . So instead I will have to get off part way back and do a twenty minute walk to be at my daughter’s house for when Esme gets back from school. OH will come with the car after the MOT, assuming it passes of course. Esme can help me cook dinner and we will stay until it is time to pick her mum up from the station at 9.40 pm, then we can come home . Eve is due to be picked up at school at 9pm, so her dad will do that while we stay with Esme. I hope the plane and her mums train are on time, if they aren’t, we will be stuck there even longer.

I do get Friday off, so will be able to relax by doing the housework and shopping :-(

Hello Linda.
After a few dull days we have got sunshine today, a bit on the chilly side though.

Goodness me, just back from your holiday & you are immediately back into your usual routine of re the school & taking care of your grandchildren, you will be needing another holiday !

Nothing going on for me, I haven't been into the garden for several days due to it being so dull, I'm not happy being outside when the daylight is not good ! maybe get something done outside today if it warms up a bit or I wrap up.

Things seem to be working with the new delivery of my medication, I have had 2 deliveries so far & the driver is very nice, fingers crossed he is ok re the road to the house, he hasn't said anything untoward, so far!

Off now to hoover round the bedroom, I stripped the bed yesterday & it took me ages to re make it, leaving me too tired to hoover at the time. Gone are the days when I could strip several beds & remake them without the need for more then one break, lol.

Joan.

Afternoon all.
I'm back :-D

Had a wonderful time in Iceland. We went on a whale spotting trip on a lovely big boat and saw 5 humpback whales and a Minky whale. Amazing site to see them jumping out of the water.

Sunday evening we went on the same boat but at 9pm to see the Northen lights and what a spectacular show we saw.

We also went in a helicopter and flew over volcanoes and could see the lava and craters from a recent eruption.

Also went to various shows and museums which were all fabulous.

Our only complaint was the price of food!! Also the menus were not very vegetarian friendly and lacked choice. i rather think I have lost weight on holiday.

So back to reality with many loads of washing and drying but nearly all done. Tesco came today so all stocked up again.

Joan so glad your meds ae getting delivered ok, that must be a relief for you.

Linda, you are one busy busy lady since you came back as well.

Its dry here and no wind for a change but plenty of clouds.

I have just caught up on going through over 400 hundred emails but up to date now.

Well better get on and finish off the chores.

Florence in the hebrides

It sounds like you had a truely magical time in iceland florence, our eldest son has been to Iceland more than once & he loves it.

Back to an overcast day today, had to heve the living room light on this morning, & so the garden takes a back seat once again.
Got my weekly grocery shop done this morning,nice to have something in the cupboards & fridge once again, Morrisons was very quiet.

I had a rather nice surprise on opening the bedroom curtains this morning, a beautiful Red Poppy had popped up !
I have one Poppy plant in my garden & it flowers well around August, doubling up each year, this year there were 14 flowers on it, about a week ago I cut back the dead flowers & generally tidied it up, so I was really surprised to see the new flower this morning.

Joan.