General Chat

We have had two wet days now. We were soaked yesterday getting from the car park to the visitors centre and then back to the house. The house was interesting but crowded, everyone wanting a day in the dry. And as for my legs, they are very sore today as there were lots of quite steep stairs in the house. Today is not quite so wet but still wet and Misty and yesterday we were driving in Thick fog.
We have been to Morpeth today a walk round the shops in the rain then lunch in an Italian restaurant, good food bad service. Just having a rest before packing..
Yesterday the internet was down from the afternoon until ten o’clock this morning.

You did well winning all those local show awards in the past Mel. With luck, you'll find a couple of categories to enter this year. I'm sure you'll win something again.

It's been cloudy and not very warm all day and now the wind is getting quite gusty but at least the rain has stayed away today.

I had a dreadful night, eventually falling asleep some time after 7 am and being woken by a noise outside at 9.30 so I have been tired and grumpy all day. All I want now is a drink and a sleep but instead we have to go out. Many moons ago we used to quite like The Carpenters brother and sister duo and OH loved Karen Carpenter's voice so when I noticed there was a tribute to them on at the theatre in Colchester and it's OH's birthday week I bought tickets. It's only on for one night and our plan was to go down early and have a meal in the theatre cafe/bar before going to the show. I couldn't feel less like going out but I can't disappoint OH by not going (or waste the money I shelled out for tickets). .We want to leave here around 4.45 pm so I had better go and change and tidy myself up.

Its quite windy here too Mandy and still a grey sky. I have had a little hind out the back this morning but hav'nt taken a pic. Robbie is still feeding his chicks like crazy and eating me out of house and home. Must fill the bird feeders up today but I am getting the Jackdoes and they eat everything in site and are so noisy.

Morning all,

Very overcast here today we have had the sun peep through for five minutes then it was gone ,its 13 degrees and might get to seventeen, its also quite windy .

Morning girls,

Not raining but a grey sky and pc says partly sunny and 11 degrees. Slept really well it must have been the big dinner I ate but I woke up thirsty.

Nothing planned for today so perhaps the ironing will get done unless I get sidetracked again. Its so easy to do now I am on my own.

era I love yourlong posts so don't stop. I have never heard of Minadex. I used to get Syrup of figs and I liked it. I also liked it in orange juice as a child!!! Mum always told me that on Sunday nights her and her brother and sister woud be given Senna pod tea. Thats it give them a good clear out before going back to school on Monday. Mum also said she would know which day of the week it was by the dinners they got as they had the same thing on each day every week.

I have done nothin g inthe garden today and got sidetracked from the ironing by doing miniatures but I got a lot preped and a few cast and cleaned up and some painted . Just going to start another lot of Tudor slipware as I sold the first lot right away. I try to make things that other people don't do if that makes sense. I also made another plate of food from the shells Gwyn sent so thats two now and I have made a lot for myself.

I see down in the shop on Saturday they have the local shows booklet of entries, I wonder if they will have one this year I can enter as there was nothing in the way of needlework that went with my two Tudor people or my Witches cottage box I made in lockdown. they did'nt even have anything in the way of woodcraft in the last one and there's never anything to do with miniatures in there either. One year when I was first down here they had a catigree (sp) for a miniture garden in a tray or pot holder and I did a tiny wooden arch and a brich path going athrough it and tiny terracotta pots with real miniature flowers in and that tiny moss that grows and I got first prize. Then another year when I wa swith oh and we were doing the veg and fruit growing I won with raspberries and blackcurrant and the fruit class I put in 5 figs and they did'nt know what they were. I also won the best in show with a beautifull basket plant I can't remember the name of but it smelt wonderful. My picture was inthe local paper with it too. I could'nt believe it at the time.

It rained all night and it rained heavily all morning and this afternoon it has been on and off heavy showers. I am wondering if I ought to start building an ark!

I hope it hasn’t been as wet where you are AnnG and that you enjoyed your visit to the NT property.

Annx, we always called Garibaldi biscuits Flies’ Graveyards as well. As children we thought it was quite funny. What a performance with your meal. Are you sure you hadn’t booked in to Fawlty Towers? All this going backwards and forwards with cutlery, glasses etc would make a great farce on stage. I hope we have better luck when we go out to lunch on Sunday. As it’s OH’s birthday we’ve booked a table at a rather nice restaurant about 30 minutes drive from here. We laughed at the confirmation email we were sent which told us that they “respectfully require the table back by 3.35 pm”. How precise is that? We’re booked for 1.30 so should have finished eating and they have a nice lounge/bar area where we can linger over coffee if we want to so it’s not a problem

We’ve been quite busy again today. I tidied up generally, got the ironing done and gave the downstairs cloakroom a good clean. By then it was nearly midday and I noticed the rain had eased up a bit so I decided to go and get my script before it started pouring again. The pharmacy was packed. I joined the queue outside the doors. Eventually it was my turn and I got my tabs. I have three lots that come on what they call automatic batch and I just have to collect them every 4 weeks. The rest I only take if I am in pain and when I am getting a bit low I just ask the assistant to order me another lot to collect with my next automatic batch lot. Not any more – the system has changed, yet again!! Now I have to ring the pharmacy when I have 7 days worth of tablets left and they then order them for me to collect. How am I supposed to know when I have 7 days of pills left when I don’t take a regular amount or take them every day? I’ve decided that a week before I have to collect my next automatic batch I’ll ring up and ask for them to be ordered regardless of how many I’ve got left. I also discovered that I am 6 months overdue for my annual medication review with the doctor. In the past the surgery have rung me with an appointment time. Now, apparently I have to ring the surgery and book a telephone consultation with a clinical pharmacist. By the time I left the chemists today I was pretty fed up.

It didn’t get any better. The car park I was in is right next to Roys shop so I popped in and just got a net of 3 onions and a birthday card. There were 2 checkouts open and I joined the one with a fractionally shorter queue. This was at the counter where they sell the lottery tickets and tobacco products. The queue moved along fine till we got to the man in front of me who just had a washing up bowl to buy. At that point the cashier announced we would have to wait until someone could take over from her as she had handled raw chicken and couldn’t touch anything till she washed her hands. I’m not sure how or when she could have handled raw chicken as Roys doesn’t have a butchery but that is what she said. We all stood there like lemons for quite a few minutes waiting for another assistant to turn up. Apparently they were all busy but eventually one came and took over. That was when I found the man with the washing up bowl had it full of seed packets, all of which had to be rung through individually. His total was £107 so you can guess how long it took to put all these packets through the till. Eventually I got out of the shop and drove home only to be collared by my neighbour who wanted to tell me all the ins and outs of her latest illness and I just couldn’t get away from her. By the time I got indoors I was tired and headachy and all I wanted was something to eat and a cup of tea.

Sorry this is rather long winded but I couldn’t tell half the story of my time in town today.

Going back to childhood memories, does anyone remember Minadex? We ladies were talking Monday evening about how we were all given Syrup of Figs every week but none of them had heard of Minadex. My mother used to dole it out to my brother and me if she thought we were looking a bit peaky or seemed off-colour. It was some sort of tonic and was revolting. It was a horrible yellowy-green colour, quite thick and sickly sweet; it had probably been saturated with sugar to hide the taste. I googled it earlier and it looks as though it might still be available but I bet the formula has been improved. I hated it.

My posts don’t get any shorter, do they. I shall have to learn to condense everything down a bit. Have a good night, ladies and may all your dreams be nice ones.

Well after you talking about fish and chips I went down the vilage for some for my dinner. I was a bit late but they had no fish left so I had a burger and chips. Shall have to go down earlier in future.

O Ann what a todo with your lunch thinking of it I may just go and get myself F & C's as the vans there tonight. You've made me fancy it now and I have a nice bowl of strawberries for dessert.

Afternoon All,

We were up early again as OH had an appointment to get his blood test and was then going to pop to the shop for me afterwards. It was pouring with rain, which he hates, so was wrapped up in waterproofs and hat. When he got back he said the traffic was awful and he went a different way to the shop after seeing traffic queuing as far as the eye could see on the main road. It had caused him to do a detour last night when he had a meeting and he only got there just in time as everyone else was taking the same route.

We decided to have F&C for lunch, so he popped to the local chippie, to find it was shut despite checking the website and seeing it open today. So next we ordered online from another place, but soon after they said they couldn't fulfill our order. I suspect they were closed too, but why don't these companies update their websites? So, we got out of our 'round the house scruffs' into some decent clothes and went out to the Best Western to eat there. Well the day didn't improve. We ordered the F&C from the light bite menu as there is a discounted pud wth that if you want and asked what the pud was. Sharron went off to find out after leaving a jug of water and glasses. Then another waiter came and noticed we had no cutlery so went and got some for us. We were both looking at the vicious steak knife he had given me in error and didn't notice him waltz off with our glasses! Sharon came back with our pot of tea but forgot to ask what the pud was and said she'd bring us some hot water to top up the teapot and more glasses . The man who brought the cutlery realised he'd given me the wrong knife and exchanged it, then we got the pot of water, so I asked Sharon if they'd stopped giving biscuits with the drinks. No she'd forgotten, so went to get some, including the extra ones she always gives us along with extra teabags. The F&C arrived then with homemade tartare sauce and were very nice. We had to ask again about the pud, but, as it was a meringue filled fruit and cream, I decided not to risk having cream and OH wasn't fussed so we came home.

Today's trip round a house is a good idea for a rainy day AnnG and will be easier on your leg while it improves too.

Vera, some roads in our village are impassable for ambulances and fire engines because of cars parked both sides of the road on pavements. I don't know what the answer is either. Hopefully it won't be to force all of us oldies off the road! How sad your 94 year old friend has passed away and another funeral attended.

Mel the stag and young bunnies always look cute, even though I know they are such a nuisance in a garden like yours and can increase rapidly.

Mandy I got some pale lemon wool and some that was a greeny grey. I wanted small balls really, but they don't have any now. We still have 2 garden centres with The Works, but they have closed in another. They've stopped doing the packs of 5 little detail paintbrushes that I used to buy and just do packs of mixed sizes now. HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Jake! He seems to be doing really well now and enjoying his job. Yes, he'll have to get a bit quicker with his sausage making won't he.

Its just started raining here as I was going to corn the chickens. we've had sun most of the day till now.

Thank you Mel for the photos of your 'visitors'. So lovely to see wildlife like that from your window.

We haven't had the heavy rain experienced by others, but the morning was overcast with dark clouds. A very brief shower at lunch time soon stopped and the sun is now shining brilliantly. There's a fair breeze, so it's probably not that warm yet, but I'm busy indoors anyway.

Morning all late on parade as I had two parcels to do up and get down the post van.

Mandy I did that once with a hammock I threw myself in it and it split right down the middle and I ended up on the grass and had to roll out. I still have a rope hammock but don't dare put it up now so think I may give it to Em.

Vera you've had a couple of very busy days so sad wehn an old friend passes. <3

Anng you have been very lucky with the weather and been to some lovely places so a day inside a house will be good out of the rain if you get any.

It was slinging it down here this morning so hard and windy with it but its brightened a bit now after the downpour. The sky is still grey but its much much lighter now and I think the suns trying to come out a bit.

Went up the post vasn this morning and it did'nt rain then so that was good. I had to rush around and do the parcels up as I had'nt done it last night.

It is so annoying when a shop you like disappears and you lose all the bargans and bits you used to find in there. I found that when we lost the Factory Shop in Holsworthy but its back again now but I don't think its as good as it used to be.

Well I be3tter get on and do something today as I did'nt feel like doing much inside yesterday goin inthe garden and doing some out there. I have piles of ironing to do so I think thats what I will be doing today.

Glad you liked my little stag and Winking Blinking and Nod. Thats what mum used to call the three diamonds in her engagment ring so I called mine the same. They would be good names for the new chickens too? Hmm may have to think about that.

Morning.Anng Morning all,

Wet morning here so no going out in the garden not that I feel like doing much.

Hope you enjoy the walk round ths House Anng at least you'll be in the dry if it's wet .

Vera mum use to buy the broken biscuits in Woolworths and the slab cake ,there was fruit cake and is it called Angel cake the tree colour one .
We use to have the smell of Macintoshs chocolate factory in Norwich oh the smell was so strong .

Mel lovely photos of the deer and bunnies your garden is their restaurant.

Ann I always make sure I've had some food before my tablets .
Oh another book and a thick one too but that was a bargain for three pound, I see you have some wool what colour did you get , sadly our Works shop is now shut and I use to get lots of nice little things from there especially at christmas ,when ths children were small I use to get the children's books 10 for ten pounds .
Oh I'd never get out of a deck chair now lol ,we use to have some of those little fold up chairs for the beach ,we'd had them for several years and one day on the beach one of us i can't rember who now sat down in one and the whole seat rip and ended up with legs in the air .

Brightened up a bit now since I started typing but it's still raining .

Good morning all. Not dressed but awake. Not raining yet but forczdtvwas not good. We are off to a NT place today so as it is not a garden as such but a house we will be in the dry.. we can’t or shouldn’t complain as we have been so lucky so far this week. I am reading posts but it finding time to reply sometimes. Mandy hope that you are feeling better.

Thanks for the lovely pics Mel. It must be annoying when the deer and the bunnies chew your plants but it is lovely to have so much wildlife around.

It sounds as though you have had quite a good day AnnG but maybe you have overdone the walking and need to have an easy day to give your leg time to recover a bit.

Yes, Annx, it is a shame when the front gardens of houses are left untended or else become glorified car parks but I don't know what the answer is. Cars are a way of life now, particularly if local public transport is poor and people have to put them somewhere but a lot of people don't seem to be bothered about the appearance of their homes.

We have had quite a busy couple of days again. Yesterday we had to go to a funeral in the morning. The lady was 94 and had been in poor health in recent years but she had once been a member of one of our clubs and had come on all the outings and holidays with us and until the pandemic got a hold she would join us at our Thursday coffee meetings so it was very sad.

We got home from the funeral about 1 pm, grabbed some lunch and then I managed to get 3 loads of washing done and on the line before cooking our evening meal a bit early as we had a club meeting last night. Our speakers were a husband and wife talking about walking part of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route. It was quite interesting and they showed some nice slides.

This morning we had to go to the travel agent in the next town to sign a couple of forms and take in our passports for them to take down the details ready for our trip to Vienna. I had a short shopping list so decided to go to the large Co-op there. As I couldn't get the first 3 things on my list I gave up and went to a nearby Morrison's instead and got everything I wanted. It all looked nice and fresh. This afternoon I spent doing various admin jobs and rang the hospital as a couple of weeks ago my next eye appointment was cancelled. The email I had was very vague with no mention of whether I would get another appointment. The chap I spoke to checked and said I am definitely on the list for a new appointment but he had no idea when it would be. Goodness knows what is happening there as they are usually very good with their appointments.

I've spent a while this evening trying to find a suitable present for our dil whose birthday is on Sunday (same as OH's). In the end I decided to send her flowers in a gift package with a bottle of a cocktail based on tequila which I think she will like. I've not used this company before so I hope it's OK and arrives at the right time.

Tomorrow I must try and have a h/w day and also do something in the garden, weather permitting. At the moment it's still raining. Oh, and I will have to go into town to pick up my script as I will run out of one of my tabs on Thursday. Right now I think I'll go and have a wash and then maybe read for a while. Sleep well everyone.

Just come in from the garden again and cut down nettles and brimbles from under the two seater chair under the arch in the orchard. A nettle has stung me on the back of my finger on my right hand and it feels like a fairy with hobnail boots is walking over them.

I have sent pics taken through the bedroom window when I got up this morning and this evening as I was washing y hands on coming in from the garden on the grass from the kitchen window I saw first one then two then three Winking, Blinking and Nod. Blast so the rabbit population is now increasing rapidly as I saw two bigger ones round by the chickens this morning too and Big Mumma.

It has been dul here today 14 degrees but it stayed dry. That was the IPad era and I had not noticed.
Seahouses (And it did it again), was very crowded and quite cold. We had a walk round the town and down to the harbour, looked in a few shops then had a nice coffee in the cafe bar attached to the leisure centre as we had been unable to find anywhere else. We then drove to a beach that is the extension round a large bay of the beach two minutes walk from here. I need to check out the name of the place as I have forgotten.
We came back to our lodge for lunch then later had a walk out across the sand dunes. Daughter and SiL walked on further than me. My leg is playing up a bit this week and is wuite painful at times. Not sure what causes the pain. I turned back and took my to
I e taking photos of some of the wild flowers.

Edit Beadnell is the name

Evening All,

It's been a drizzly day here and cooler. We were up early and went to a Dobies near the other bathroom shop, but the traffic was bad through the village, so OH went another way and that didn't work as a road we wanted was closed! Another detour down a bumpy little lane and we eventually got there and had brekkie first and a browse round The Works. I got some wool and OH found a bargain £3 book he fancied that was an inch and a half thick! Then we went to the bathroom shop, but it wasn't as good as the one near us. As we weren't far away we drove past OH's old house and were shocked at how the little close of new houses he lived in had gone downhill and was mostly a park for cars. His house was at the end and had a long half moon bed that was just a bed of knee high weeds now. and the front border with the wavy path we made with a silver birch tree in front is just a patch of gravel with a car parked on it. As his parents used to live not far away we went to see what their house looked like now and it had 2 cars parked on the front sticking onto the pavement. The porch had gone and the windows and doors were replaced and most of the front gardens on the road had been turned into parking spaces.

Mandy have some food when you have the painkillers and try an extra pillow if you haven't already as it may help. My word, Jake is nearly as old as my first OH when I started seeing him! Money always goes down well for teenage birthdays. A lot of the pleasure is deciding what to buy! I can imagine you trying to get out of those chairs as I would be the same so it's good your son can use them now. We have had some lethal garden chairs in the past, starting with deck chairs. Others have started folding up as soon as you move as well. Yes, I did think about tacks on the drive, but then I would get punctures driving over them as well!

I'd forgotten all about the Lincoln biscuits that Gwyn mentioned. I liked them too and the Nice ones although I was never sure what to call them. I didn't like to say, but a girl I used to work with called Garibaldi biscuits fly cemetries! I like bourbon biscuits, but OH doesn't and we both like jammie dodgers.

I remember hunting for the salt in the blue paper in the dark at the cinema with first OH when he was my boyfriend. I never used it though, just threw it away. We have the Walkers factory in the city, so I've always liked their crisps. Like Mel I never liked cheese as a child, except the dairylea triangles, but my favourite crips are cheese and onion and even more the plain cheese ones that Walkers no longer make sadly. I used to ride on the bus from school past the Frears and Blacks factory and in the summer when the windows were open the whole area seemed to smell of custard creams.

A nice day at Alnwick gardens then AnnG. I remember it had some interesting water features, but like you I never got to go round the poison garden. It had a locked gate when I went to make sure no-one wandered in. It must have been warmer there than here if you were able to sit on your balcony.

I'd better go and check I'm set to record the sewing bee now.

Evening everyone

It wasn’t a bad day yesterday - cool in the morning but warm in the afternoon and dry all day but today’s not so good. It was grey and cool till late morning, then light rain and heavy rain since lunchtime. That put paid to my plans of doing a bit more in the garden.

I hope the stronger pain killers are helping Mandy. It’s hard to believe that Jake is 19 already. I hope he has a lovely birthday tomorrow.

You are working hard on your land Mel. I don’t know how you do it. I struggle to keep up with the jobs in our tiny patch. Be careful of your knee. You don’t want to be hobbling around again.

I laughed at your typo, AnnG, or was it an iPad autocorrection? I imagined you galloping across the waves with your seahorses. I hope you enjoyed your day at Seahouses and the weather was kind to you.

You have all started some memories with the biscuits you like. I had forgotten Lincoln which I liked. I think as a child my favourite biscuit was Marie. I haven’t seen either of those in the shops for years. When I was young we lived near the Chiltonian biscuit factory and my mother used to be able to buy a very big paper bag full of mixed broken biscuits for a shilling so we always had a great variety of biscuits. Occasionally we even found a whole one and thought we had got the jackpot.

I am typing this while trying to cook dinner and things are starting to boil over so I’ll post and maybe come back later.