General Chat

Yes it has been a good year here too for tomatoes although some are tending to stay green at the moment. Still quite a few on the plants. One I have been pleased with is the sun gold, not a big tomato but very sweet to eat. And quite prolific.

Yes it is the frustrations that get to you I find, maybe we expect too much of ourselves, being determined not to sink into 'old age' like maybe our ancestors did. My last Grandma died when she was 79, I really can't imagine her out digging the garden. Last week at son's was lovely but I was frustrated at not doing anything. I couldn't get out into the garden because the lawn which covers a lot of it with no paths is so long. I like reading but four complete books in a week is a bit much even for me.

I hope the physio can get you sorted with advice. As you say lucky to get the appointment.

Oh dear Mel. It’s so easy to hit the wrong key but annoying when you lose everything.

It rained quite a lot during the night but had stopped by the time I got up. It’s 15 degrees at the moment and very overcast. Looking at the 10 day forecast Friday and through next week is going to be a lot cooler. Autumn seems to have arrived.

I hope all goes well with your blood test AnnG. It’s good that Cynth can take you. It must seem odd wrapping presents so early but necessary when you have a deadline. At least you know your gifts will be in Hampshire in time for Christmas. I never know much in advance when I am seeing the Yorkshire lot so go for money or vouchers but even then I get a few bits for them to unwrap and last year I ended up posting quite a large parcel to Yorkshire and a smaller one to Edinburgh. Postage cost nearly as much as the bits inside the parcel.

My goodness Annx you do have a lot of problems and you hardly ever complain. I’m a right Minnie Moaner in comparison. My excuse is that if I let off steam on here I’m not such a misery when we meet up with our friends. I think my problems are mental as much as physical. I’ve always been active and always doing household jobs or gardening or being out and about with friends. When I see things that need doing and I can’t do them my frustration gets to screaming pitch, but you are all very supportive and my OH, like yours, is quite patient and puts up with me, bless him. He too will often offer to drive me when my head/eyes/back are bad.

In fact he is driving me to the surgery tomorrow. I had an email response from the doctors to say they have made me an appointment with their in-house physio for tomorrow morning but to ring them if I’d prefer to see a GP. I’m happy to talk to the physio as he/she may be able to give me advice and maybe some better exercises. I can see the GP later if I still feel I need more help. I didn’t even know our surgery had an in-house physio as physio is usually outsourced and there is often a long wait for an appointment. Twice I’ve driven to other towns to see physios as I’ve got a quicker appointment than waiting for one locally, so I think I’ve been lucky to get a slot at the surgery tomorrow.

The ironing will have to wait till I feel I can tackle it but I’ll offer to get our lunchtime snack which OH usually does. There’s a couple of slices of cold beef left that OH will have with some salad and I’ll have a cheese and tomato sandwich. It’s tomato with everything at the moment as, of course, they are all ripening at the same time. They seemed to be very slow to get going but we’ve done much better than I expected and we are getting loads.

Just lost a long post went to press the shift key and hit the ctrl and it all disappeared. Will do it later now.

Good morning 12 degrees here and dark and PC says humid.

Legs were ok until they woke me around 5am. Ibuleve seemed to work so was dozing until 7am.

2nd blood test this afternoon. Cynth is taking me, otherwise not much on. Yesterday I wrapped some of the presents for Hampshire. Seemed very strange doing that in September.

Fellow is coming Thursday to look at the tumble drier. Fingers crossed it is fixable.

I have to keep going this week. Second blood test tomorrow and message from the surgery that masks are requested.(stable door comes to mind as the surgery was running on very few staff last week as so many were iff with Covid.). Wednesday chiropodist and forecast is for a lot of rain. Thursday tumblevdrier and Friday photography group.

Evening All,

Weather's not been much better here today. When I went out this morning the fields by the river and main road were all half flooded with lots of seagulls swimming about and some jersey cows marooned in the corner. At the bottom of the hill where we went for our 'light bite' it was flooded all the way across the road and the wave covered the car as I went through. It's rained a lot of today again, but steady rather than heavy till just now when it's hammering on the conservatory! We have puddles on the gravel.

Don't worry about moaning Vera, we are all getting more aches and pains and I'll join you with a moan! I hope the doc will be able to suggest something to help your back. Sorry to hear you are having trouble with your legs and back as well AnnG. I thought yesterday of all the jobs I've fallen behind with this year and my back even plays up with the lightweight hoover now if I try to do more than the lounge floor. One condition means I usually can't sit comfortably, so going for a drive, daytrips, the cinema or restaurants can be really uncomfortable. My knees mean I can't kneel or squat. Can't stand or walk for more than about 15 minutes without getting some pain. Thank goodness hubby is cheerful and has never once complained that we can't do what we used to. Like you Vera, I can't take the anti inflammatory painkillers I really need because of other pills I take. I'm meeting my beading friend tomorrow. It's only at the garden centre down the road, but by the time we will meet the huge carpark will be crammed full, with a long walk for me and a risk of me not being able to get in or out of my car if people park close to me. OH straightaway offered to take and fetch me if I want as he'll be at home. I might take him up on it, but I hate being like this! I promise no more moaning for a while! I'm also seeing Fitz this week, but I can park next to the door there as we meet early before anyone else is there! He is waiting for his second hip replacement next year. We are in a state aren't we!

Yes, your gnomes are lovely as I replied Mandy and were bigger than I expected. When you first said you were knitting gnomes I thought there might be Happy, Sleepy etc. :-D

I hope the man gets back to you soon to come and look at your drier AnnG and can fix it for you. I have never had one and my washer is a washer drier, but I don't do any drying in that either. I can see we will need to as we get older though. Neither of my neighbours seem to peg out any 'smalls' so I expect they use a drier, much easier that all that pegging out making your arms ache!

How lovely to see twin baby deer Mel. I hope they weren't hoping for any of your beans!

Better be off to bed now, so I hope I don't dream again. Last night I dreamt I was back at work and needed to use a form that I couldn't remember the number of and it was late and people had gone home so no-one to ask. It reminded me that all the forms we issued or used had letters and numbers to identify them.

Mel I have seen those chocolate orange covers when there's been christmas fairs ,they would look good on the christmas table one in in each place setting .
I can remember knitting one of the grandchildren a christmas pudding hat .
Must be lovely to sit and watch the deer in the garden especially mum with the little ones .

Yes Vera washing all dry and put away in the airing cupboard ,we sat out this afternoon even though the sky was so black at times it wasn't cold and stayed dry .
You don't need to apologise and your not rambling on ,it helps to talk about your aches and pains we all have them and hopefully help each other through them .
Hope the doctors can come up with something to help you .

Oh Anng I always get a bad back from wrapping christmas presents, I try to sit at the table to do them but you still have to lean over a bit to do them up ,doing a jigsaw is another thing that gets my back .
The sitting about hasn't helped your legs but once the rain eases you'll be able to get in the garden again that's if the rain hasn't washed all your plants away ,I think we've been very lucky here with all the flooding that's happening.
I have a dinghy here if you need one but no paddles ,another thing found in the shed ,the children use to use it in the swimming pool.

Sorry to hear that your legs and back are suffering too AnnG. I sympathise with you. I hope you get a good rest tonight and feel better tomorrow <3

Vera while we are reading and commiserating with you over your pains we are maybe forgetting our own. From sitting still so long at sons waiting for him to complete business phone calls etc (I read four not small books), My legs went back a bit so that they have been aching at night again. They are not too bad today but I have been bending over and sorting and starting to wrap the presents for Hampshire in October. so now I too have a sore back.
Mel you are lucky to have sun there the rain here has been pretty biblical and I am surprised we have not yet been instructed to start creating an ark.

Those deer sound lovely Mel, how good to see the babies too.

You’ve been busy this morning Mandy. Did the rain stay away long enough to get your washing dry? We had a few sunny spells this morning but in between we had showers and a couple of them were really heavy. I’ve dried some of my washing in the tumbler and the rest is on an airer in the conservatory, with some of OH’s shirts on hangers in the boiler cupboard.

I hope your man can fix the dryer for you AnnG. I mostly only use mine for towels and I hang the rest out but it’s a boon when it’s wet for drying the underwear and T shirts and bedding. OH changed the bedding for me this morning to save my back which was a big help.

I know the deer can be a nuisance when they eat your plants Mel, but it must be lovely to see Mamma deer with 2 babies. That would cheer me up.

I filled in the online form for the docs at lunchtime and got the standard acknowledgment that I should hear from the surgery by 6.30 pm tomorrow. I’ve always heard from them the same day but I’ve a feeling that it will be tomorrow when they ring. The form goes through a third party organisation and is very repetitive but I suppose they have to cater for those people who only half answer a question. I suppose some people might just type something like “I feel unwell” when asked what the problem is, so they then have to ask what the symptoms are and what you have done yourself to alleviate them. I don’t think there is a lot the doctors can do so I’ve said I’m looking for advice for anything else I could be doing to help myself. The biggest problem I find with these online forms is sometimes the only answer allowed is yes or no. Yes, I can wash and dress myself and No, the pain doesn’t wake me at night make things sound better than they are. I dress myself to the accompaniment of groans and ow and ouch. I clean my teeth walking round the bedroom because I can’t just stand still. I am, in fact, sleeping better than usual but I think it’s because pain is so debilitating that I am tired out. I think I said a couple of days ago that I wouldn’t keep rabbiting on about my back and here I am still doing it. Apologies ladies

I’ve got a couple of emails to reply to so I’d better get on with those, then I think I’ll have a little read.

Its been sunny here too but has just clouded over a bit.

I have another deer in the garden now laying up the top of the orchard by the wall. When I went out for a ciggy earlier I startled two deer in the orchard a stag and a doe. I came back in quickly but I think they ran off into next door. He had lovely little antlers and I wish he would rub them off in my garden so I could find them.

Mandy somewhere I have a book on knitted gnomes but can't for the life of me find it but when it turns up I will send it to you.

The Christmas pudding chocolate orange cover sounds a good project I like that idea. I always bought oh one of those at Christmas.

Had a good morning got both bathrooms cleaned, a pile of ironing done and just hung some washing out as its nice and sunny .

I don't think it has stopped raining here since yesterday morning. It is pouring down now, it stopes for ten minutes and the patio drains, next monute is goves the impression of a swimming pool again. I have just contacted the man to come and see the tumble drier, I have checked everything I can so will just wait for him now.

I hate hanging washing out and my 'line' which slots into a hole on the patio is down the side of the shed really don't want to use that gain. If this one has really packed up I will replace it.

Morning all,

Overcast here and its 15 degrees so not cold ,when I went out to the bin I could just feel a few spots of rain but it hasn't come to anything, oh suns now shining so there must be a break in the cloud.

Glad you all liked the Gnomes, Mel there's quite a few in the book to do, I'm now crocheting a bunny Gnome .

Hope you can get your tumble dryer mended Anng or it will be a Frank more expense , I had a tumble dryer but hardly used it and when sons went wrong years ago now we gave them ours to save them buying another ,I usually just hang the washing on an airer in the back bedroom where the airing cupboard is through the winter and they all dry overnight .

Ann you had a lot of rain your way, knee deep in the city it must have really come down to flood like that .
That bang must have been frightening when the storm was in full swing thank goodness it just tripped the switches .
We have a toilet roll holder that goes onto the tiles with suction and every now and then it drops off with a bang as if hits the floor and if its during the night it makes you jump ,Colin wants to fetch one that he can drill into the tiles but I don't really want the tiles drilled .

Vera hope the doctor can give you something for your back ,take it easy today .

Morning girls,

Misty moisty morning here and its 15 degrees and pc says cloudy but I can see that.

I was just about to make my coffee this morning at 8.20 and something in the garden caught my eye. It was a doe and two fawns so again I have a mum and two babies. This time they are bigger than the one that came in with two and then lost them. I have taken a couple f pics and they ended up in the orchard eating the apples so I have'nt been out the back door yet.

I am now going to remind one of my buyers she needs to pay the invoice I sent her.

Dirty Eggs are when its raining and the eggs in the nest box get trodden on with muddy feet.

good morning all 13 degrees here and very dark and grey although not raining at the moment. could do with a dry day now to let the floods go down. it poured here yesterday and my patio was under water. Jake was suppose to be coming today to assess the work to be done but he had so many jobs cancelled last week because of the weather that he is well behind now.

One of my jobs today is to try and get hold of the man who fixed my tumble drier before. I have a horrible feeling that it can't be fixed this time it is getting a bit old for spare parts now. sad about that as it has been so good.

Mandy, those little gnomes are great, The little cafe we had lunch in a couple of times had lots of knotted items for sale. one item was a knitted hat looking like a Christmas pudding that was to put on a Chocolate orange. for a gift. Several different Father Christmas's, tiny Christmas stockings. all selling for about£2 each.

Mandy, I meant to say that I love your little gnomes, particularly the reindeer one. You seem to work very quickly. Maybe you should have a stall at any local craft or Christmas fairs. I'm sure you would do really well and sell loads. Just don't let the lady who doesn't pay see them, lol.

We're on a yellow warning of heavy rain and storms for all of today and tomorrow but we're still waiting for them to arrive. All we've had so far is 3 or 4 short, light showers but the atmosphere is still very heavy.

I'm glad you are safely home AnnG and hope it's not too waterlogged round your way.

As soon as you mentioned your dancing dream Mel I thought of the Frank and Peggy Spenser Formation Team. Anyone else remember them? They always seemed to be the winning team on the early TV series of Come Dancing. I remember that being presented by Angela Rippon and Terry Wogan. I think there was another pair of presenters before them but can't for the life of me remember who they were.

Gosh, you had a noisy night Annx. It's horrid when you hear bangs and have to investigate them. You are never sure quite what you are going to find. Picking up those crates and maybe twisting his body with them could well have caused OH's pain. Could you ask the delivery drivers to carry them in for you? BothTesco and Sainsbury drivers carry ours through to the kitchen and usually help us to unpack the stuff straight onto the work surface, Every so often we get a small lady driver who looks as though a puff of wind will blow her over and I feel a bit guilty that she's carrying everything in but she seems just as strong as the men.

I've had a really bad back day and OH is nagging me to make an appointment with the doctor but I don't think there's a lot of point. I've seen doctors and physios and I know what the problem is. I was very disheartened this morning. I've been trying to limit the painkillers I take. I have 30/500 co-codamol and I can take 1 or 2, depending on the level of pain. I've been limiting it to 1 at a time but this morning I took 2 and they hardly had any effect. If it's as bad tomorrow I might fill in the doctors' online form where I can just tick that I want advice and ask if there is anything else I can do to help myself.

I remembered today that weeks ago I booked tickets for a show at our little local theatre. I checked the diary and found it is this coming Thursday. The seats aren't very comfortable at the best of times and we are in the middle of a row so any fidgeting will disturb those around us. I shall really have to dose myself up for that.

I wish the storm would break as it is getting really sticky and sweaty here but I hope you all have a calm night and all sleep well.

Afternoon Everyone,

It was so dark this morning I was convinced I must have taken my pills too early but no, so I had a lie in too. Well the rain finally stopped at lunchtime. I've never seen anything like it and it carried on raining all night with rumbles of thunder and worse lightning again this morning. I've never known a storm last that long before and the PC says more heavy rain is expected in an hour. The main road into the city from here was flooded almost knee deep at the city end near where mum used to live. Most of those old houses would have cellars like mum did so I think some of those may have flooded. Last night just after OH had gone to bed there was an almighty bang in the bungalow and the lights went out and I thought we'd been struck by lightning! I managed to switch my craft light on and that worked and OH appeared with his torch. Some of the lights worked and others not so OH went to check the fusebox, thankfully now nice and accessible in the new position and he found 2 fuses including the main one had tripped. Lighting was restored again and it turned out to be the lightbulb in the study where I was sitting that had caused it. We hadn't been in bed more than an hour when there was another bang to investigate, but that was my new backscrubber falling in the bath! :-D

I don't know what dirty eggs are Mel? Is it the brown ones? I remember enjoying scottish country dancing at senior school. Strip the willow was one I remember and also eight men of moidart! When we were in our mid teens my friend persuaded me to go to an afternoon tea dance with her, although neither of us could manage more than a very basic Waltz. We were asked to dance by two spotty youths and mine had wandering hands I had to keep moving, so we made our excuses to powder our noses and did a runner instead.

Glad you are home AnnG and at least can relax a bit now. It's good the blocked drains aren't affecting you.

Your poor back isn't liking the 'keep moving' treatment is it Vera, but it's what they recommend as you say. Maybe you will have to slow down a bit. OH is thinking he will have to make an appointment at the docs on Monday as he's had a bad pain in his ribs and abdomen the past week or two, with the skin sore on the surface. I think it is the way he picks up the pile of Asda crates s and twists, but I get ignored when I say anything, so will see what the doc says to him.

Yes it's good there was no problem getting them to do the door Mandy. We've had it over a year now and I thought they might think we'd done the scratching with not saying about it at the start. It does have a 5 year guarantee though.

I need to start the Asda order now as I've had a reminder about losing my slot. The weeks go so fast don't they.

The gnomes are great is there anymore coming along or is that all the patterns? I have replied to your email.