General Chat

Afternoon All,

It's been sunny all day here despite a wet forecast. OH was out weeding the front for an hour before I got up and, apart from digging up a cordyline that is making a vigorous comeback and a self set Buddlia, plus digging up a few more plants I'm moving into the back garden he's finished the weeding there and it looks a lot better. He's gone to a local match now. He rang me to say old age is catching up with him and he's going to sit in the stand as his hip is hurting!

Even when I was in my 20s we rarely went out on bank holidays, maybe just to the county show to watch the events and see in the tents. Since I met OH we have never bothered. I hate crowds and queuing, he hates traffic jams and would rather go to the quieter footie matches.

Yes, there were lots of things my friend and I didn't tell our parents because we feared not being allowed to go to places again if we did. As a girl about 7-8 while playing on my own on the big hill near where we lived I saw a man I thought was having a fit lying among the bracken and gorse bushes. I just ran by quickly and it was only years later I realised what he was doing! Mum never got to know about that! Also a friend and I decided to collect some blackberries we saw growing in a wood. We didn't know it was private land as a big gate was open. We ran for our lives when we heard a gamekeeper shouting and running towards us. We managed to outrun him but never told our mums. We never told our parents we used to dare each other to wade through the water in our wellies into the old air raid shelters at the side of a factory not far from where we lived and go round the corners in them into the dark. It's a wonder we didn't pick something nasty up in the stagnant water.

When I occasionally stayed at my grandmother's, even at the age of 5-8 I would just go off and play where I liked. There was a meadow near the houses where she lived and she would get me a butterfly net and send me off there. I also used it to go fishing in the canal at the bottom of her road. I would be told to keep away from any men and not accept any sweets and to be home before dark. When we moved to the city it was to be home before the street lights came on.

I'm having trouble with the Asda site on my usual browser because of Asda's cloudflare security system they are using now. It let me in today and I thought the issue was solved, but then when I tried to add groceries it blocked me from the site altogether. Now it says to contact the site owner, so another job for the 'to do' list! It works fine on another browser that seems to not have cloudflare, so it's a bit odd!

I see Sven has now passed away.

Still great out plenty of the yellow stuff and now its 19 degrees.

Just going to put a wash on the line. I have fed the birds and cleaned the loo. Hoover next on the list.

Morning girls,

Nice bright sunny morning here too and pc says 16 degrees and mostly sunny. There's still a bit of wind as I can see the trees moving, not been out yet as I had a lie in this morningtill 9.15am.

Nothing planned here either and we never went out on bank holidays either Anng. I shall probable do some painting of my minitures as I need some pretty bits on Ebay.

Good morning all nice bright sunny morning here but only 12 degrees. Absolutely nothing planned for today so I shall see what the day brings. would not want to be out on the roads today, If everyone who headed West on Friday is heading home later today, the roads will be chaotic.

Oh yes, as teens we would meet down by the creek and the boys would jump out of a disused warehouse into the creek.

The things we did when the parents did'nt know where we were or what we were doing.

I too lived in a bungalow off Roding lane and then the river was on the other side of the road past the allotments. As teens we met down the river and one of the gang had a wind up record player so we could have music down there. We had a large thick rope one of the boys had put up in the big tree and it had a tyre on the end so we could swing on it. Sometimes we we meet by the bridge nearby and just laze around on the grass and talk. Many hours of fun was had by the river.

She's been in touch with me today. Father has cancer so she's been tied up but will send me the extra postage.

When I look back on my childhood taking it from about the age of seven or eight, I had quite a bit of freedom.
We lived in a bungalow built in 1939 bought by my parents new and a bit battered by the war.. our estate was on the edge of fields and farmland that spread for miles in all directions with the addition of HMS Collingwood and Fort F******.
From the age of seven I had a friend whose bungalow was right next to the first field, we were allowed to roam, play build dens all over this field just going home for midday dinner and tea.
As I got older with friends of whom there were quite a lot, I roamed a bit further making for a lily pond by the farm and various other small ponds for tadpoles and newts taken home to be looked at and subsequently released back into ponds.

We often used to meet up with other friends and one odd meeting place was the small (but large to us) crater left when a bomb fell nearby. I can still remember that we sat on an old trailer dumped in there.

I do remember that I was always warned not to speak to strange men, so there must, even then have been concern in that respect.


As we got older wandering got more adventurous I remember aged twelve or thirteen getting into Fort F****** and chatting to soldiers sunbathing on their
break. No my parents never knew.

I'm late on parade today. It was chilly first thing and I needed a jumper but it warmed up by mid-morning and has been quite pleasant all day, apart from the strong winds this afternoon. We had an earlier lunch than usual and I didn't do my usual Sunday roast. Instead we had a veggie quiche with lots of extra roast veg, followed by strawberries and cream. Very tasty it was too.

This afternoon we went for tea and cake with our friends M & V. We have seen them a fair bit recently but always in a group so it was nice to have a chat with just the four of us. There are things we would tell each other that we wouldn't want to broadcast to everyone in the group. OH offered to get the car out but it is well under a mile to their house so I said we would walk. We didn't so much walk as battle into the wind going and get blown along from behind coming back. I was wearing quite a thin blouse so I was glad I had taken a jacket but at least I got a bit of exercise. All in all, it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Your early childhood, before you moved to a town, sounds wonderful as well Annx. Your OH is working hard in your garden. You won't dare complain when he's off to more football matches as he's earned lots of brownie points ;-)

I don't feel I have done very much at all today but I am definitely not going to start h/w or gardening now. I think I'll have a go at some of the crosswords and puzzles that come with the Saturday and Sunday papers.

Afternoon All,

It was a windy morning but has calmed down now and the sun's gone in.

Glynis your childhood was one I would have loved, especially with the sea nearby. I had a look online at the village and it is still just as you say with the sea at each end of the road through it. It still looks very unspoiled and natural as well, away from any crowds. I love the Gower peninsular in Wales, which has kept a lot of it's wildness too and have stayed there a couple of times. I lived in sight of the Cannock Chase forest and opposite a farm I would play at till I was about 9 years old. A school in the next village I'd walk on a public footpath across fields to. It had two classrooms with 15 in my class and outside soil toilets that stank to high heaven. Take a breath, hold your nose while you dashed in and were as quick as you could be before dashing out to breathe again! The smell of bracken and pine trees was everywhere. Then we moved to a city, almost at the end of a road with a dual carriageway at the end of it. I'd never seen a dual carriageway before and the noise at night from traffic kept me awake after living somewhere quiet. The classes at the new school were twice as big as I was used to and I'd never seen so many children. Play then was at a local park like Vera, but a friend and I would walk along the canal and river a 15 minute walk away and swimming baths were nearby and a cinema, well it was called a Kinema. It was new having pavements after being used to pea gravel paths with grass edges and they were great for roller skating on.

I will look at bulb sizes AnnG and the varieties, as I would like some bigger flowered ones, so I'll read the labels. Lodges can be very comfortable can't they? We like them since staying in one at a golf course near Exeter and then in Cornwall. We had a bad one in Norfolk that wasn't clean, but mosquitos were a pain there as it was next to a lake, so we wouldn't book a lodge near water again.

OH went out and pulled the remnants of weeds I weedkilled a fortnight ago out of the gravel this morning so it's all looking much better on the front now. There's still plenty to do and he's started pulling out the cotswold stone rocks that edge the borders there and that we will replace with slate rocks. The old rocks quickly discoloured and split with the frost but it is over 20 years since I set them in place..

Yes she's paid.

Suns out here but it is very very windy. 15 degrees so nt very warm out. Barometer has gone up today.

Strange Mel as I assume that she has paid.

Morning girls,

To answer your question Ann no she has'nt even messaged me to say she has'nt recieved it. Iv'e sent messages three times with no replies. When she bought it she sent a message and said she was sorry for not paying earlier but she was at a meeting. She even told me what she did in the way of minitures, she knits on one ply wool and singles threads of embroidery cotton. She sent me her address on a message tooo with those letters in it. O well we will see if i returns this time.

Quite a bright morning here with blue skies and lots of thinish white clouds and it 15 degrees.

Good morning all, 9 degrees and sunny and very autumnal looking. I think we have had our summer.

Roughly on the same subject as Glynis.
During school holidays I am sure in the August one it was generally warm and sunny. As a young teenager I would cycle to Lee on Solent to the beach with friends (of both sexes). I remember we did have cycling capes to wear if it rained so it was not always dry but I always seems in my memory to have been warm. My birthday party as a child was always held in the garden. Us and a few wasps. When young my Dad would build my sister and I a tent out of a large tarpaulin and an old sheet and a pair of steps and whatever else he could find. This would be on our quite large lawn in the back garden. I would spend hours out there.

Glynis, that does sound idyllic, I wonder if you appreciated it at the time or did you long to live in a town?

Mel I hope the parcel doesn't come back to you again. But it must be a while since the sale was made now, Has the person not queried why they have not received it?

It sounds an idyllic childhood, Glynis. What a lovely place to grow up - a bit different to my childhood in a South London suburb. We were a long way from the sea and either had to go to the local park which had grass and a duck pond or one a bit further away that had swings and slides. Otherwise we played in the street. Not much traffic in those days so we could play out without being in much danger.

Hello Glynis again please feel free to pop on here any time you wish with a memory or just a chat. We are a freindly lot and love newcomers o please keep posting.

It sound lie a lovely childhood memory being able to go to the sea. I remember having cockles at Southend when we went to see the Fairy Lights when I was young. A little round dish with shelled cockles and you put vinegar on them. Once I was older I would'nt eat them. My uncles Les who had a fishing boat at Whitehaven would catch spider crabs and all sorts of other fish. He had a big family and aunty Jean would cook all the fish for tea. Even when we went river fishing uncle Les would take some fish home and eat them, yuk....... and eels even more YUK....... When he caught an eel he would take it off the hook and hold it in an old towel and whack it across the car roof to kill it.

Its strange how something will spark a memory of years ago.

Going back to the parcels I always put my postcode diaginally across the back of the parcel. I cut the postcodes out of letters and parcel labels with the Beaworthy and the code and right From:- above it. That way it is very clear where its from.There are 5 houses in our little stretch all with the same post code so the postman had to ask each one if they had sent a parcel. He hsould have known it was me!!

Gosh I have been painting miniatures and had'nt realised the time. Still the dinner is only going to take 4 and a half mins in the microwave.

I grew up in a very small West Wales village called Angle. I suppose you could say it was on the end of a peninsula. You went down a hill to get into the village and up a hill to get out. Both ends of the village was the sea, my father used to go cockling one end and I would go swimming the other.

We had a church, a small school, a lifeboat and one shop. I had a wonderful time there and I have such great memories of it.

She has to look early as we need two bedrooms preferably both en suite. The one she is looking at is a lodge with nice grounds and a hot tub. It is close to the dales so will be fine for us driving around. I can manage a couple of miles although it is good I’d there is somewhere to rest. I looked it up and it sounds fine to me and not too far from where daughter lives.

Goodness AnnG, your daughter is quick off the mark with holidays for next year. I have been to Skipton though not for a good few years. It was less than 10 miles from where son used to live and is probably less than 20 from where he is now. I don't remember a lot about the town except there was a very good fish and chip restaurant there. It's funny but I've never thought of it as a holiday place but I can't see why not. There are lots of nice places within easy driving distance of Skipton. I'm always a bit wary of recommending places as everyone's taste differs but the towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough aren't too far and there are places like Harewood House, Bolton Abbey and RHS Harlow Carr not far away. There's lots of lovely countryside and rivers but you do need to be able to walk a bit to really enjoy it. I can't manage a lot of walking now and I suspect that might be true of several of us on this thread.

I like alliums too but they do produce seedlings by the million. We had several and OH got very stroppy when he spent all his time in the garden pulling up seedlings. Then one day 3 or 4 years ago I opened the lid of the garden bin to see lots of bulbs. He had to admit he had dug up the alliums and got the sharp side of my tongue in return. I rescued some of them and replanted them in a trough down the side of the house. They don't do quite so well there but they don't spread everywhere either. When they have finished as flowers and have the big brown seed heads which are very decorative I cut some of the stalks and put them in a couple of narrow topped vases in the conservatory. I sometimes give them a quick burst of hairspray which seems to stop them dropping too many seeds over the conservatory window sills.

My knowledge of tracker is from Devon T’s dad.

Ann when you buy Allium the packs of 50 will be very small ones. I had some with such small heads they looked like stalks. Those with fewer in will be larger.