General Chat

Florence..... the cheque from the tax man stated DR as my status, instead of MRS, & so it has to be re-issued.
I wouldn't be able to put it into my account under DR, & they will re-issue,but have been told it will take much longer for them to re issue than it took to send me the incorrect cheque in the first place.

Linda....... as for the R Mail pension, they had already OVER paid me 4 weeks pension money even though they were told of hubbys death immediately !
I got a letter yesterday asking for me to RE PAY it.
I hadn't touched any of it & put it into a different account to be sure it was available to pay back,however what does annoy me is that "they" are willing to accept the money back via my bank account, & of course that is in the name of JOAN !!!!

edited to add......
I am still trying to get in touch with the Post Office Union of which hubby was a long time member, all his working days & sice he had retired.

We have phoned several times a day for the past 10 days, but no-one is answering the phone & no-one has returned the call when we have left messages.
They owe me money as they continued to take several weeks of union dues, but I can't get in touch with anyone so as to be able to get the money back.
The whole thing has really stressed me

Joan.

Afternoon everyone

Well as the day goes on, i'm feeling stronger and my appetite has returned. managed 2 crumpets and marmite today. I weighed my self out of curiosity this morning and was shocked to see I had actually 6lbs!! having said that, i'm glad I did but wished it hadn't been in the way I did. Temp is now just under the 100 which is reassuring.

I had gone to the bingo 2 weeks before but on Tuesday last week, daughters friend popped over, (think it was Tues?) and we took a spin to a local community place just for 1/2 hour. The place was deserted of customers and we were hardly in the place that long. Wed & Thursday I started sneezing, then the coughing started on Fri. So if fresh air gives me an infection, then I really don't know!

Linda, you & your OH are something else! All the work and buying furniture etc made me tired reading all your posts. But at the same time, it is all very exciting for you both. It sounds like it is all coming together.

Anng. that consultant didn't sound pleasant at all grr. They should be taught bedside manners as part of their training! I hope it wont be too long before you get a date for your op.

ArgyllGran, its a nuisance being without a car. many a time mine went to the garage and i was stuck without it for a few days or use the bus, not very convenient doing lots of shopping and having to carry it on the bus! Hope it comes back soon with a small bill!.


JustGinnie, glad to hear your OH has now been discharged, that's fab news. Hope your washing is as dry as mine will be.

It is a lovely bright and breezy day and daughter put out lots of washing but oh my its is very very chilly in the wind.

Poor you Joan, it never rains does it. I mean Mr?? poor human error that and so upsetting. One thing I do know is that because of the fraud in replicating certificates, many companies when dealing with a partners estate have to provide original copies of birth, marriage etc. When I worked in the bank and I dealt with peoples estates, to help the family cut costs, I use to photocopy the death cert then get it stamped" this copy is a true copy of the original" and then it was stamped by the bank and signed by a manager. We did maybe 5 copies for the family as it meant, they could send the stamped copy away instead of the original incase it got lost.

Extra copies at the registry office were several pounds each so we found a way round this. Yes the price for special delivery has really gone up but at least you know it will be tracked until received and then hopefully, it will all be sorted out very soon.

I have today ordered some Ronseal for my square planters as over the winter, the wood looks rather shabby so on a dry day will be sanding them and then painting this stuff on to smarten them up.

My plants inside on the window ledge are doing very well and by end of April will be ready to be hardened off before transferring to bigger pots outside.

Well that's enough screen time for me today and I need more water to drink.

Florence in the hebrides

Oh dear Ann that really doesn't instil confidence does It?. I really do think that people in professions like Drs etc. should have a good command of English. Hope this time as well you will not need radiotherapy. Hopefully you won't have to wait too long for your next appointment.


Ginnie

Oh dear Ann, that didn’t sound like a very good appointment. It is a good job that you know so much about it, or you could have been very scared.
Esme had a orthopaedic appointment this morning as well, but the consultant decided that she wanted a hip X-ray, so they had to wait one hour forty minutes for that. They only got it in the end when my daughter said she was leaving because she had to get back to work. It was fine, just a routine check.

We went back to Thirsk this morning because we both had dental checkups. No prob,ems for either of us. We took some things to one of the charity shops because it is easy to park and free. We then went to Tesco’s. It was great to be able to whizz round picking things up because I knew where everything was.

The TV aerial man was supposed to be here quite a while ago. He phoned to say he would be here in forty minutes, but no sign of him. This was after he didn’t turn up yesterday, so I have no faith in him turning up today.

Poor Florence, I am glad that you are on the mend , you do seem to be catching a lot of bugs.

It was really nice to hear from you Joan. Good that you will be getting some money back even if they have messed it up. The pension is silly, but you know you are entitled boy half, so as long as you don’t go on a mc spending spree, you can leave the rest in the bank in case you need to pay it back

Poor you Florence, that is a nasty bug, hope your daughter didn't catch it. I thought you actually went to town or somewhere with a friend some days ago if that was up to 5 days before you sneezed on Wednesday that could have been where you caught it. Was that also when you went to bingo. Sounds like your immunity is very low as you do catch these bugs. Hopefully you are now on the mend and will soon be back to yourself again.

Argylgran I don't think I knew that you had a car problem. Being used to it to get around will be hard for you when it is not there so I hope that you get it back soon.

Trip to hospital is out of the way now. I was not terribly impressed. Went in only 10 minutes late. Consultant is Asian looking and his lovely assistant is African looking. But his 'bedside manner was almost non existent. He was very blunt not at all empathetic, Didn't take into account the fact that I have had at least 15 of these BCCs before and I seemed to know more about them than he did He is not, of course a dermatologist so that would be understandable. He actually told me bluntly it is skin cancer and that I would probably need radiotherapy. It is a Basal Cell carcinoma, OK he is correct in that it is skin cancer but it most usually benign and I have never needed RT. Still we shall see. I guess he must be a competent surgeon, his English was very bad as well. Just have to wait now for an appointment for the op. He also bluntly told me it would change the shape of my nose and probably wouldn't look very nice. His assistant on the other hand, she was lovely, friendly, sympathetic and chatty. I also completed the pre op questionaire. It is with a local anaesthetic.

Hello to everyone.

Joan , I really don't understand why the pension people need your original certs either, I thought things were supposed to be easier now things are mostly done on line. Like you say it isn't going to change anything.
When I was dealing with my late sisters estate I had 4 refund cheques sent to me by 3
different suppliers , BT. B/Gas and TV licence all which had to be returned because they had spelt my surname wrong in various ways . When I was on the phone to these people I spell my surname out because there are different ways of spelling it . Dr. and Mrs shouldn't be mistaken though .

Linda you and your OH are so busy I feel tired just reading about it .Lol. It will look amazing when finished I'm sure.

Pleased you are feeling better Florence sounds like a really nasty time you had there.

Argyllgran I know what you mean about losing the hair shape when you use a different hairdresser, My hairdresser moved away and I had to find another after a couple didn't work out I found one that did my hair how I wanted . Hope she doesn't go anywhere now.

Well washer has finished so must go and hang the washing out .


Bye for now all and take care
Ginnie.

So glad that you're starting to feel better, Florence.
There seem to be a lot of strange bugs around at the moment.

It's good to know you have some money on the way, Joan - even if delayed. Something to look forward to!

I hope you got on OK yesterday, Ann.

Today is a beautiful bright sunny day with lots of blue sky - but also a chilly breeze.
I must get out in the garden, as there's plenty to do there.

I still don't have the car back, and no clue as to how much longer it might be.
It does make me walk more, and friends and family are very good about offering lifts and/or shopping, but I hate not being independent, and unable to plan ahead.

I need a haircut, but can't plan to go to my usual hairdresser until I have the car.
There is a hairdresser within walking distance, but I went to her a few times several years ago, and it never turned out right. I may be forced to go to her again, and at least my hair would be shorter, but it would have lost its shape!

Well, I must have patience!
Other people have much worse problems.

Good morning all!

Oh my I have never felt so ill. My temp went up to 39.2 and daughter in the early hours of Sunday was ready to call an ambulance butIi said, they cant really do anything except intravenous antibiotics. I cant take para, aspirin or Ibruprofen as i'm extremely allergic to them as asthmatic.

I was being sick on a empty stomach as couldn't keep any fluids down and that was just dreadful.

It was Upper respiratory infection so every time I sneezed it make me cough which was awful. Anyway last night temp started coming down and this morning i turned a corner. I slept from 11-7am( a miracle) but was exhausted. i managed to shower and finally wash hair. took me quite a while but at least now I feel and smell clean and fresh and have washed the bugs away.

I'm still coughing so not speaking much but there is an improvement thank goodness. I'm still none the wiser as to how I got this which started with a sneeze last Wednesday so nothing I picked up whilst away. :-S

I haven't read all the last few days posts yet but will catch up with all of you The screen is making my eyes sore as does any bright light so cant stay on the PC very long.

Hope everyone has been keeping well

Florence in the Hebrides

Hello to you all.
I hope those of you who have not been very well recently are now feeling much better.

Linda, what a busy pair you & hubby are, take care, slow down a wee bit, LOL.

Well still no further forward re hubbys Pr pension, I had to send my original Birth certificate to R Mail the other day, sent it by special delivery ata cost of nearly £8, I am not sure what they will get from actually seeing & handling it, it will only tell them that my 1st birth name is shown as Evelyn & my 2nd name of Joan.

They have actually seen it before & also seen my Marriage cert via the on-line claim forms, actually seeing & handling it doesn't change anything !!
Such a hassle.
I was told it could take another 3 months before it is all sorted !

I got a very nice surprise at the weekend when a cheque from the Tax office arrived re money that hubby had overpaid, the grin on my face didn't last long however when I noticed they had got my STATUS wrong on the letter AND the cheque !!
Instead of MRS they had written DR, unbelievable.

Daughter telephoned them yesterday & was on hold for an hour, after explaining the situation & answering varous questions we were told the re-issued cheque "should" be with me by the 17th of APRIL but could take a further 3 weeks after that !!
........................................................................................

Changing the subject, the weather has been changable for several days now, with some rain most days whether it be showers or downpours, & a very coldwind, so I have not been able to get outside to do anything in the garden.
I have 10 Primrose plants waiting to be planted into my new flower bed that I started last Autumn, I hope I can get them into the ground soon !

Our youngest daughter was here at the weekend with her youngest little boy, it was lovely having them here, really enjoyed her company.
It was such a wrench when she went back home to Lanark yesterday.

Well now, the sun has come out but everywhere is soaking after the rain through the night & it's still a bit chilly, hope it warms up soon.I hope you all have got some nice weather & will have a nice day, take care.

Joan.

I think I will have to do that Andy’s mum :-D
It is very difficult trying to coordinate the various bits of the meal. Yesterday the chicken was ready when I hadn’t even turned the veg on. Luckily the chicken was fine, but when I tried some beef the previous week, it was overcooked on the outside and extra rare in the middle.

Linda, you'll have to take a leaf out of our Ghanaian cookboy's book. Many years ago OH was attached to the Ghana Navy and we had a houseboy, while I did my own cooking. When my second son was born we had a cookboy for a few weeks to give me a break. We had an oven with a thermostat which worked fine, but I discovered that the cookboy "regulated" the oven temperature by opening the door!! I might add that his cooking was very good. :-) :-)

No Florence? That is worrying, I hope that she isn’t very ill.

I am waiting for the TV aerial man to arrive, more expense no doubt. Of course the TV is working fine today, but some days the signal is breaking up and it won’t show the HD channels because the signal is too weak.

We went to sign up for the kitchen this morning, sadly it will be the middle of June before they can install it :-(. In the meantime I am trying to cope with an incredibly old oven. All of the numbers have worn off the dial, not that it seems to make any difference if I turn it down. It is only cooking on one temperature and that is —- incinerate

I hope all goes well today, Ann, and that Florence's bug has gone, and that Joan is OK.

She'll have been able to get out in the garden if her weather's like ours, with a nice dry spell for the last few days.

Good morning all. appointment is today Sylvia, when I find out the 'surgical options'. Not sure I want to.

gosh your daughter is young compared to mine who is 62.

Linda .............. glad that you managed to find something that fits your space and in a colour that you could work with.

I also hope that Florence and Joan are well.

There are all kinds of bugs around at the moment ............ I've had 3 colds in sequence since January. Just recover from 1 and then get the next.

Ann ............. I'm sorry that your op was delayed, and hope that you hear from them soon with a new date.

My daughter was 50 today!

Where have all those years gone??????

Ah, pleased that you got something you liked in the end Linda, It all sounds very smart. I don't envy your OH with all those ceilings to do.

I spent al day googling Ann, but couldn’t find anything I liked in the correct sizes. The only thing we vaguely liked had a delivery of 25 weeks, so that was out.
So we decided to change colour and go for a grey from the Cotswold Company. Of course the ones we want aren’t in the sale :-( Anyway we went back this morning and bought them. They are in stock so should be delivered within ten working days. With Easter coming, that will lose two days of course.
We still need to find some dining chairs, so will get some colourful ones, maybe blue to jazz it up a bit.

OH put the skirting boards back on the lounge today, so that looks better. The skirtings and doors need glossing and the walls repainting, but he is going to put the skirting boards on the hall and dining room first. Poor thing has all the rest of the ceilings in the house to paint as they are still bare plaster. He is determined to do them himself to save some money.

I hope Florence and Joan are alright as well

Very frustrating Linda but you have to wait and get what you want or you will never be happy with it.

Florence has not made an appearance yet. I hope that you are feeling better Florence, sounds like you have caught a nasty bug from somewhere. I guess your immunity must be low as you do seem to catch these bugs. Feel better soon.

Oh dear Florence, I am sorry that your day turned out so badly but at least you got home. Stay tucked up nice and warm.

We have had a frustrating day. We had been on the search for a dresser for the dining room and found just the thing in the Cotswold company sale - or so we thought :-(
We went into Harrogate to the shop to look at it and it was ideal, a nice smoky blue colour. You have to put the bits together, so we needed a large sideboard, a separate dresser top and a narrow sideboard. Annoyingly, it turned out to be a limited range and they aren’t getting any more. They had the small sideboard and the large dresser top, but didn’t have the large sideboard to go under that. They did have an extra large sideboard which would have done, but didn’t have d the extra large dresser top to go on it. We felt like banging our heads on the wall.
T here is lots of stuff available on line, but with furniture, I want to be able to see it. The main problem in the other shops is that their small sideboards are too wide. We need 80 cm and most of them are 90 cm

Good morning all
My day yesterday started okay and then went downhill.

We did get away albeit was very very windy and a bit of a bumpy ride but was ok.

Got to the hospital and the consultant took me in before his next patient bless as he knew we had a plane to catch. Lovely man. examined me etc and said doesn't look like anything has changed really but is going to decide whether i need a repeat MRI on my spine at a later date so shall have to wait & see.

We managed to the shopping centre but oh my, the rain pelted down and it was freezing, was almost snowing!! My feet were already badly swollen and i began to feel not too good so only managed to get 2 things and then I sat on a bench and let daughter go off to all her shops.

I had been sneezing for 2 days but didn't feel ill so thought it was just a sniffle until...I started coughing at the airport and felt quite ill. Head was pounding and I just wanted my bed and home.

But the wind was gale force and we did eventually get on the plane but then the captain said it was in doubt we would be able to fly as far too windy to land!!!

We sat there for 1/2 hour before finally he said, the wind is on the limit but has come down a tad so we are going to take off but if I cant land we will turn round and head back to Glasgow :-(

When I heard that, i was nearly crying. The thought of coming back to Glasgow nooooo. So we took off and as we approached, the plane swung from side to side. I was nearly sick, was awful. However somehow we landed on the runway and I was never so happy to be on home turf. Gettng off the plane in a wheelchair was so horrendous as the wind just bashed us about.

Thankfully our taxi man was waiting and he wheeled me out to the car bless him and lifted the bags for us. Once in the car, i really felt awful. my chest was so tight and by the time we reached home around 8.30 I was coughing so badly it hurt. temp was 38.4.

Straight into pjs and bed but was up several times during the night. This morning I haven't felt so awful in months. Temp went up again and still is around 38.2 but im shivering. I did a covid test but very glad it was negative so that's a bonus.

So today im drinking plenty, def no hungry and just resting.

Daughter went off to get bread if she finds any as no ferries again! She needs to get me glycerine so I can make a honey, lemon and glycerine drink to help break the cough up.

Glad everyone else is doing ok.

So for now im off back to lie down and hopefully feel better later on.