General Chat

morning all....just

Bright but cold & breezy day here.

Have just received the new C Tax bill for mother's flat. It has doubled to £348.!!!
We did get free period until Probate and then 6 months free but when that expired we have been paying it since. So now there is an added premium ie doubled.

Thankful mum has some cash left from her accounts to pay these bills as i certainly couldn't afford to pay hers & mine. I so hope we get a completion date before !st May.

Rang the opticians today as still not had an appointment to discuss my cataract surgery. They advised me to ring the hospital, which I have but noone available. Opticians think, you don't get an appointment until nearer your surgery which is about a years waiting just now! So a long waiting game for that to be sorted.

AnnG, I hope you get your new appointment very soon. How long did you have to wait foe the original one?

Linda, I am a veggie so don't eat roasts with the exception of turkey at xmas. When I was very young, I used to have cheese on toast for Sunday lunch and everyone else thought I was"weird". Roast potatoes just bloat me out and as for gravy...er no ty as cant abide any fat etc. On occcasions i have made a roast chicken but I eat very little of it. Daughter doesnt like roasts either. We make pasta bakes or salmon with little new pots and peas. My fav dish would be sweet & sour king prawns with basmati rice yummy.

Dad told me last night, he was going out in the car today and up to his workshops to sort a few things out! Whilst its good, he is feeling better, hes not supposed to be lifting or straining his heart so hearing this last night scares me greatly!

So better crack on with my list of things to do as its rather a long one this week lo

Hope everyone is well.

Florence in the hebrides

9 times out of ten we would have a roast when T was alive. Now I do so very occasionally but yesterday I had a small lamb rump steak which was nice with vegetables.

anyway, good morning all, still waiting to hear about a replacement appointment. This is so disrupting. I know it has to be done but it would have been better had they not cancelled the appointment. Next week I have hair, and chiropodist appointments, what is the betting one of those will now have to be cancelled.

it is 12 degrees here so quite warm dry but very dull so far.

It is the law that you have to have a roast in Sunday Florence :-). We had beef, there is always some meat left over for Monday dinner.

There was a huge tractor run here today, 450 tractors all together. They did a large The circle through the Dales. We didn’t go to see them as we were too busy in the house. They drove right past my daughter’s house, so the girls saw them with their daddy, but my daughter was too ill to bother. They have a perfect view of the road from the large galleried landing window, so they didn’t need to stay outside for all of the time.

Well, the day has brightened up and the sun is out....for now.

Ironing all done and put away. My legs were aching a bit so am sitting with me coffee for a bit.

My new garden fork arrived yesterday and cant wait to try it out. We need to put down new grass seed as the lawn is awful and bare patches. Was only turf laid originally and not that good quality. Anyway, we need to mark the lawn with holes all over so the seeds will drop in and then hopefully produce some new grass.

Ah Knaresborough Linda, yes its not far from Harrowgate then.

Not sure about our evening meal tonight and tbh, not feeling very enthusiastic about spending ages cooking lol So something quick it will be.

Enjoy the rest of the afternoon everyone looking in.

Florence in the hebrides

I live in Knaresborough Florence which is just a couple of miles from Harrogate
OH is now taking all the skirting boards off the hallway. He has them all numbered. There is a big pile in the garage which he is going to sand, then paint before they go back on. With wooden flooring, it makes a better job if you take the skirting boards off before the floor goes down. If you don’t, you need to put beading around the room.

He did some tidying of the garage earlier this morning and washed the car. I must admit to having had a lazy morning, although I did do the ironing which wasn’t that much.

I am glad that you enjoyed your day out yesterday, it is nice to have a change.

I haven’t looked at my tree since we moved here, partly because without the internet my laptop wouldn’t work. There have been so many new records come on line in the last few years that I have continued to make new discoveries. My daughter is really keen on the tree, so I know that all my hard work is going to be passed on and be appreciated. OH and I have both done our DNA. I had one excellent result which really helped on my father’s side to confirm my grandmother’s parentage.

Good morning all

Well it is also wet and not a great day here, very drab looking.

But yesterday, I had a lovely surprise. About midday, a white car was outside my house and i wondered who it was as didn't recognize it. My daughter then said "surprise." It was her good friend who had a day off and decided to come over for a visit. She had arranged with daughter first.

I did wonder why daughter was dashing around with the hoover, cleaned the bathroom and tidied up all so quickly lol

Anyway, she's a lovely lass and I was delighted she came. I threw together a mini buffet lunch as it was after 12. We just had smoked salmon, ham slices, cheese, cucumber, crackers and some fruit. Was one of those lunches just thrown together but actually turned out well.

Then around 2pm, she took us for a drive and we went to the lovely shop that sells wonderful crafts and had a nosey in there. Was great as I needed a couple of groceries and got them so was productive. On the way back, stopped at a beach to take some photos before coming back home. The friend had to pick her hubby up from work at 4pm so it all worked out fine.

Sometimes, these days, the ones that are unplanned turn out better :-D

The friend also bought me 2 bunches of lovely flowers too, so I was spoilt.

Today, i have to do my huge basket of ironing a bit later on and then I have quite a bit of paperwork to deal with. My papers for flying on Friday need to all be filled in etc so shall be organised.

Ann, Noone in my family has done a DNA test which I have tried to encourage but none seem that bothered! This family i am researching is dads mums side so he is a little interested but not as much as I am! I did start this side years ago so it wont take long to complete but I found marriages I couldn't before & some children so have actually created new branches.

When my children were young, they would speak to my grandma every week and I would always explain where she came from and show them pictures to keep her memory alive. So when I do finish the family trees, they will be put into A3 envelopes so maybe at some time in the future, my children just might be interested in their own family history.

It is very sad, that my own 1st cousins have no interest nor their children!
My Aunty who is now very old and losing her memory was the one who helped me as she loved the history. I am so grateful, as she gave me family stories etc that helped me piece it all together.

Linda, I hope you have a productive day and are felling better. Coughing when you have dust all about isn't helping either. You OH must be amazing to do all the flooring himself etc. As for the new neighbours, I'm sure in time, they will get to know you both in their own way. It takes time to make new friends/neighbours when you move something you cant rush.

Remind me though, I thought previously you lived near Harrogate and now you seem to be near Harrogate? Or have I got that wrong? i forgot to say actually, that a few weeks ago, I was watching a programme about antiques, in fact I think it was the Road Trip one and they were in Harrogate and I thought then, how funny as that's near to you!

Anyway peeps, time to be busy.

Shall look in later.

Do hope Joan is keeping well

Florence in the hebrides

good morning all, another wet and gloomy start to the day and I so want to get out in the garden. Maybe it will clear up later, who knows.

Linda I do hope that you and your OH don't develop the cough, not something you need with so much DIY going on in the house with subsequent dust. also hope daughter is soon better.

Florence reading about you beavering away with family History reminds me that it is many years now since I really looked at mine. way back I spent all hours researching and got back quite a way, often with help from a couple of long lost second cousins from Australia and Canada. It was fun but then I realised that nobody in my immediate family was interested so I stopped doing it. I do have one first cousin and about three second cousins who are interested and who have all the info I gathered so all is not lost. Goos luck with yours, enjoy the chase.

Who knows Ann.

My daughter is ill in bed today, she has caught Esme’s horrible cough. Esme seemed a bit better today, so I hope that she will be well enough to go to school on Monday. She was sent home last Monday morning and was off all week.

OH took all the skirting boards off the lounge and dining room walls today in preparation for the new flooring going down on Wednesday. He has the hall to do tomorrow and the toilet and sink to take out of the downstairs loo. There were a ridiculous number of huge nails holding the skirting boards on so it has been hard going.

We are trying to decide what colour to pint the walls, something fairly pale I think as we aren’t into strong colours. We tried to use the Dulux app where it shows you your actual room and you can change the wall colour. That only seems to work for strong colours. When you choose any of the paler ones, they all just look grey on the app. We went to Homebase this afternoon and they have small squares of all the colours, so we chose some and they are stuck on the wall with blu tack.

Linda yes, we tend to do that in this close. As you ssay, maybe once the weather improves and people are out and about it might help. Strange though. maybe they are unhappy about their friends moving.

I don’t think that it is Whooping cough Ann,just a common virus. The doctor did give her antibiotics, I suppose they are just extra careful with her. She is just swallowing lots of gunge, so she coughs and sicks it up.

Our closest neighbour is on our right. OH has spoken to him a couple of times, he looks to be in his early sixties and seems nice enough, Sadly his wife is in a home with some sort of degenerative neurological disease which she isn’t going to recover from .
There is a green walkway on our left, so there is quite a gap to the next house. We have spoken to the chap there, he was friendly. We have two houses opposite. One has a retired couple in it, the chap is always pottering, OH has spoken to him a couple of times, but we haven’t seen his wife. The house directly opposite has a couple. who were good friends with the previous owners of this house, but they haven’t bothered with us. Apparently he is a pilot for Jet2, flying out if Leeds Bradford airport. It seems a bit odd to me because in our last house if anyone new moved in, everyone would put a card through the door to welcome them. It is early days yet, maybe we will see more of them as the weather improves

Linda has she had whooping cough? It is around now like measles

Getting straight slowly then now you have curtains.

Do you have nice neighbours, you may have said but I don’t recall

Oh my Linda, Im exhausted reading about everything going on with your new house! I think you and OH are probably both a bit run down with all the stress.It was a huge project you took on and hats off to you. Hope you dont end up with a chest infection.

Maybe have some honey & lemon later tonight to help sooth your throat.

Daughter is on her way her with a pizza for tea and cant wait for that as Im starving today.

Been beavering away on the family tree and getting on quite well so far so am pleased with the progress.

Oh my, the sun has now come out and its nearly tea time lol

There are so many dreadful scams round at the moment and checking the number doesn’t always help as they are getting very clever and can clone the number to make it seem like it is the bank :-( I am glad that your daughters account hadn’t been breached Florence.

The new curtains arrived this morning they are fine, but both of the curtain poles needed lowering. The previous people had put new curtain poles in, but much higher than the original ones. They looked silly because they were so high the curtains were just about touching the ceiling. They hadn’t even bothered filling in the holes from the previous curtains :-( OH alterec the rails in the lounge and they were fine. He had just started on the rail in the dining room when the man turned up to alter the burglar alarm in the dining room. The patio door had a sensor on to say if the door was opened and a second one for if the glass was broken. They needed to come off because we have ordered some new French doors. They won’t come until May, but the current wiring was going to be in the way of the new flooring which is going in next week. We have had one of the infra red wall sensors put into that room instead. Yet another stupidly expensive bill
OH is now back to putting the curtains up, but one of the brackets wouldn’t fix to the wall because over the years, too many holes have been drilled in that spot. So he has put a piece of wood into the wall, so he can screw into it. The poor man is getting very tired.
I feel like a zombie today because I didn’t sleep well last night. Esme has been off school all week with a hacking cough and we are all getting it. I am not coughing, I just feel that my chest is very tight and I have a runny nose. I went to play with her this afternoon because she was bored and my daughter is trying to work at the same time. We played schools until she got tired and wanted to go in her bed. She had a dreadful coughing fit, poor little thing. Apparently that is what she is like all night

Well daughter just rang to say, the bank cancelled her card and ordered a new one. Her account is all ok so was just a tel scam as we thought. When she gets paid she can tf money to me and I can get cash for her until she gets the new card.

I just don't need any more worries or stress just now. I took my BP and its far too high but hopefully as the day goes on, it will come down.

names, at least it was genuine but 20 years since he left home? Oh my bit of updating required then. But to be fair, if I had taken that call and my daughter had left home years ago, I would have been a bit wary too.

OH took a strange call yesterday. Caller said they were the bank and asked for son who left home around 20 years ago. Looked the number on one of those check number sites.
It said it was a correct number but comments suggested that it was also being cloned. Son rang his bank, it was them, they still had our number down as his. :-(

Afternoon all.

Had a bit of a stressy morning as daughter had a tel call at 8.10 am purporting to be from her bank. It was actually a recorded message saying her cards and bank account had been cancelled due to fraudulent activity on her account. This was then followed by a text message confirming the same??

It said her transactions had been declined by her bank as well??

So I went through it all with her and deduced it was a scam as her cards had not been cancelled and she could access her account through the App. So she message the bank through the App and explained. Shes going into her branch as soon as she can to sort it out.

I worry, that as she used her card last night when out with a friend, that maybe her card was scammed? Either way, its all a worry. If the bank as a precaution cancels and orders her a new card, it may not arrive in time for us going away next Friday!

I'm waiting on her phoning to see what the branch say. Thank goodness we still have a branch where she can talk to real people!

She decided that as from now on, she will take out money and pay in cash wherever she can. It really scares you when this happens and makes you think.

If anyone else gets one of these calls today, make a note of the time & number and report it to your bank.

Also change your online banking passwords at least once a month and make some changes too. Daughter says many of her passwords are similar and haven't been change in ages!

So apart from all that going on, its a horrid day with no sun and back to the rain!

I read somewhere that places were going to get snow!!!

Linda, hope your new curtains arrive safely and are exactly the ones you want. I agree about a heavy mirror above a fireplace. Hope it has very strong screws and fittings to make it secure.

Well better push on with chores as per usual.

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

Oh dear Ann, that is annoying for you, especially as you were all psyched up to go. I hope you don’t have to wait too long for a new appointment

OH went to the tip this morning with another car load of stuff, I don’t know where it all comes from. He spent the rest of the morning putting shelving up in the garage, so he can start to unpack all his boxes now.

I went to my slimming class in the centre of town and walked back, it takes about twenty minutes if I am dawdling. While I was in town, I bought a birthday card for the girls other granddad. He will be one hundred in a couple of weeks time. I hope I am not tempting fate by getting the card early :-D

We had a stroke of luck yesterday when we went to look at the bathroom showroom recommended by the plumber we found to do the downstairs loo. The showroom is attached to a builders merchants, so was down to earth compared to the poncey footballers wives place we went to last week. They had lots of alcoves with bathroom mock ups and one of them they had just put on sale because the tiling in the display was no longer available, so they were going to make a whole new display. They were selling the whole thing, bath, toilet, pedestal basin, taps, shower, shower screen, even a wall cabinet, for an incredible knock down price, so we snapped it up. It will be a few weeks before they take it out, but that suits us fine.

We had a very large mirror over the fireplace in the last house, so OH put that up this afternoon. It is very heavy, so it is always a worry that it will stay up. One good thing here is that the wall bricks seem very dense, hard to drill into, but better than the dry lined walks we had in the last house. Of course he measured it wrong first time, so had to do it again :-(

The new curtains are being delivered tomorrow, so once we have them, we will be able to choose a colour to paint the walls and get rid of the current dreary colour.

Oh Ann, how very annoying for you grrr. Lets hope your rearranged appointment happens quickly. Does nothing for the BP when you are worrying and then it doesn't happen!

Well I got the beds stripped but having to sit down as i'm quite breathless. My bed is a king size with super king size duvet cover so takes a bit of time but all done now. I'm not sure if I can stand for 1/2 an hour just now to do the ironing so shall leave that for a bit.

Good job done JustGinnie and now you can forget about it, tick it off the list as I do. Nothing more satisfying then writing out a weekly list of jobs to do and then see them all ticked off by the end of the week. That way, I feel I have been busy!

When I moved here there were neighbours either side of me but within a few months, one moved out and then the other side went as well. " weeks later new neighbours either side which are nice neighbours so very lucky.

I hope your next neighbours stay awhile longer JG. You do wonder when people flit a lot, why they do? I have moved a lot but over my lifetime. In May, it will be 3 years since I moved here. The previous rental was nearly 5 years and not sure where the last 8 years has gone!

Cant believe what a lovely day it is :-D

Sending some sunshine for those that need it.

Sending hugs to Joan and hope shes ok <3

Florence in the hebrides

Oh that is annoying for you Ann . Hope the new appointment comes through quickly.


Guttering all cleaned out now , £40 well spent and he cleaned the window and sills down so left no mess either. :-D

No sign yet of new neighbours The previous 3 times it was let were a bit like revolving doors one family left and next day new ones moved in.

Ginnie.