General Chat

Oh, that is good news Annx and must be a load off your mind. I am sure you will both sleep well tonight.

AnnG, I had told OH not to plant everything in rows like soldiers but to aim for a slightly more natural look. He had actually listened to that and mixed all the bulbs, larger and smaller, in a bucket, thrown them on the garden and planted each one where it fell. I will let them come up this spring so I can see where the tall ones are and lift them when they die down.

I mustn’t get too cross with him as I don’t want him to go to bed stressed. Tomorrow he’s doing a friend a good turn by driving him to Papworth hospital and back. It’s a long drive, at least 75 minutes each way, more if the traffic is heavy, and he will have to hang about while friend has lots of tests and then sees the doctor. Normally his son takes him but he is away at the moment so OH offered.

Oh Ann you must both be so relieved no wonder you haven't slept very well it must have been such a worry for you both , how well OH did not having any sedation and it was a long wait for you but the best news when it was all over <3

Evening All,

I started this earlier but got interrupted!

Another drab dreary day here. OH has been doing lots of notes today as he has two meetings now and I seem to have spent most of the day trying to find out what's happening with our front door sill replacement. I rang again as they hadn't got back to me since Monday, but after holding on ages and eventually speaking to someone, they tried to contact the service people too and couldn't, so they've emailed them now to ask them to let me know, but nothing as yet.

Yesterday was quite hectic after both of us were awake most of the night with OH spending a lot of time into the early hours in the bathroom after drinking the meds ready for his hospital trip. We were up at 6.30am for him to shower for an early start. As you can imagine, we were both quite worried after him being put on the cancer pathway and his mother having had the same symptoms leading to terminal bowel cancer. Especially too as the physician associate had wasted time and delayed things by putting 'no further action' on his notes after his initial blood tests. The endoscopy unit was a newish, separate building to the rest with free parking. I have never been in such a spotless hospital. Absolutely no dust or dirt anywhere, including the toilets, welcoming, smiling staff, tidy desk and noticeboards. I had to stay in the waiting room and after a while they told me it would be another 2 hours at least if I wanted to go and come back or I could wait. I waited apart from going to the car for a while and for a change of seat. It was too far for me to walk to anything and I didn't want to lose the handy parking spot we had. I was the only one in the waiting room most of the time, so the receptionist offered me a drink and even hunted down some decaf tea for me. There is no cafe and you aren't allowed to eat or drink there because the patients have been fasting and only drinking water, so it wouldn't be fair and I expect they don't want them forgetting and being tempted to eat or drink!
Another wife came back then and we had quite a chat while we waited. Then OH appeared and was walking which surprised me as you usually have to rest a while to come round from the sedative. I went with him for the results to be talked through and he told me there was no cancer, which was good to hear and they've removed him from the cancer pathway.. They'd found a bit of inflammation that may need antibiotics and some diverticular pockets which a lot of us get as we get older and did a few biopsies as well to confirm it. I was still puzzled he was so alert, but they patted him on the back and told me he was a star and had had it done without having any sedative, despite them putting a cannula in in case he couldn't manage without!! I was shocked, but he did have an endoscopy years ago before he retired with no sedative so he could go to a meeting afterwards. He also had a root canal filling at the dentist without an injection once as well. He got the report with the findings and other information straightaway and they explained it all to us, but nothing was rushed and they all seemed to enjoy their work. What an example of professionalism and good management.

We both slept well last night and went for a brekkie this morning at a garden centre that has the plasic baskets I wanted to look at.......no joy again! OH also had an email from them that said 10% off everything there all day today. We were the first to arrive and he ordered our food, but noticed they hadn't taken 10% off. They argued at first, till I pointed out the leaflets on their walls said it was the VIP food that was only from 3.00pm to 5.00pm. The server agreed and went to fetch the manager, meanwhile a queue was building up! The manager was quite unpleasant, but OH found the email on his phone that said the same as we were saying, so he flounced off to 'sort it out.' Our brekkie had arrived then, so the server said for us to go and have it and she would refund till they sorted out a barcode they apparently needed to use to give the discount. One of the chaps behind in the queue came over to OH once he'd ordered his food to thank him for persisting as he said it had saved him £5 on his bill.

I'll catch up with the posts tomorrow, as I need to send some emails now. Night night and sleep tight.

I had a PM from Annx yesterday, so I expect she has been busy since.

Ann posted on the 5th but not yet today and not on the 6th so yes, hope all is well there.


Oh dear Vera, a good job he is out tomorrow then. Do you think there is a chance that he might remember the area the tall bulbs are in or will they have been mixed up. I assume the bulbs were significantly different in size?

He probably wasn't use to the road then ,not something you want to meet on a country lane a double decker going at speed .

We have both felt really tired and achey this afternoon so I don't know if it's to do with the jab ,talked that up Vera about feeling OK.

Just let Max out and it's quite windy out there now ,hope there's a bit of a blow tomorrow for my washing .

Hello ladies

I'm spitting feathers at the moment and could happily strangle my OH so I've come on here to calm down a bit. I do love him really and know I am lucky to still have him but........

You may remember he got rid of a load of bugle and also moss and cleared a patch in one of the beds where he was going to put all the small tulips I usually put into several low pots. I was surprised when he said he needed quite a few more but just assumed the patch he cleared was bigger than I realised. HE HAD PLANTED THE WRONG BULBS :-P I had not only told him the names of the ones to plant i.e. Heart's Delight and Waterlily, but I had got those packs out of the big box of bulbs ready for him. I just went into the garage and sitting on the bench is a big bag of Heart's Delight and an empty bag marked orange tulips which I definitely didn't get out for him. That bit of the garden is now going to look pretty silly in the spring with the odd tall orange tulip popping up here and there among the little ones. I now still have to plant all the Heart's Delight in small pots but don't have the lovely orange ones to go in a big pot as usual. I am afraid he got the rough edge of my tongue and I did swear at him. He looked a bit shocked at that as I am not normally a swearer but I was so angry. Tomorrow he will be out from about 7 am till 1 or 2 pm and I had planned to get one of our infrequent buses into town and do some jobs in town that I can get through more quickly on my own but it looks as though I will be sorting out pots and bulbs instead, Rant over. I'm feeling calmer now.

My mood wasn't helped by the fact that I had a dreadful night. We went to our normal coffee meet but we were a bit thin on the ground today. This afternoon I had a delivery from Tesco. It was a big order as I've been using stuff up and so the cupboards were a bit bare and I also included some Christmas stuff but there was nothing missing and just one acceptable sub.

Your new planter sounds a decent size AnnG and should look good when it's all planted up. It's good you enjoyed your lunch but the bus ride home sounds a bit hairy

I'm glad you haven't had much trouble with painful arms Mandy.

I hope Annx is OK. I don't think she has posted for a couple of days but she might well be busy.

Well, I'd better go and make my peace with OH.

It was coming home I was inside and we were on the first seat that is elevated downstairs. the road is very bad as well as it is a diverted rout due to a closed road bridge. So the narrow lanes don't normally carry double decked buses. Going in first think I had an older driver and I was upstairs, it is still very bumpy but he was much more sedate.

Oh goodness Anng was that going or coming back ,that wasn't good if it was after a lunch being swung about like that ,I can remember going to Norwich once on the bus with a driver like that I was on the inside seat and had to really hold on when he went round a roundabout had to brace myself with my feet lol

Strange that Mel. If I leave my cameras on charge they just switch off fully charged.

Back home now. That was the bus journey to rival a fairground switch back. Driver looked about 15 and seemed to think he was driving a BMW round really windy country lanes. Good job I am already grey. Nice lunch, as usual too much pasta but very tasty.Four of us today one dropped out.

We just had alittle bit of sun which was a treat but it did'nt last long. Its 13 degrees here and pc says mostly cloudy so no change there then.

I did a silly thing I left the camera on charge last night when I turned the pc off so it was completely flat this morning. Makes me cross as if I leave other things on they are ok. I wanted to take a pic of the garden before all the leaves fall and the colour goes. O its just gone green so I am off to take a couple of pics.

Mandy yes, if I can get to a garden centre I will do that. It is getting there is a problem.

Morning all,
Dull here again and its shopping day but at least its dry .
Vera I wasn't looking forward to the jab after several people had said their arms were really sore after but so far my arm feels ok just feels like a bruise when you touch it , the flu jab was worse I could hardly lift my arm , Colins arm is ok too but we both said feel a bit weary this morning .

Anng the new planter is a good size it will good with Hostas in ,could you plant a few bulbs in it for a bit of colour in the spring , enjoy your lunch today.

Morning all,

Just caught up with yesterdays posts as I was cooking in the afternoon and Stuart came to dinner and we talked a lot and he showed me pics of his holiday with youngest daughter in Mexico. I ws so tired by the time he left I just watched a bit of telly but fell asleep in it so went off to bed.

Yes as to the stoat I had one years ago and that turned white in the winter but we did see it when just half of it was white and the other half sto blotchy brown. I thought I had'nt seen many rabbits inthe garden lately and yes some month ago I caught one in the rabbit trap and let it out hoping it would keep the rabbit population down. What with that and the buzzard I think I am doing quite well lately rabbit wise.

Good morning all 10 degrees and still grey. Off to Cheltenham today to meet friends for lunch in an Italian restaurant (not very large and quite noisy but good fun). So better get on and shower etc.

Vera yes Jake has now finished all my jobs and I probably won't see him now until the new year early spring when no doubt all the shrubs will have grown and need cutting down again. Yesterday they cut back two wild honeysuckles which will re-grow next year, tidied the end of a small piece of trellis that kept catching me as i got to the compost bin, pinned back to a post the main trellis down the garden that was moving in the wind. And Jake's Dad made me a large 2 foot X 5 foot X 2 foot deep planter in nice wood. It now stands on what was the slate hosta bed. they also filled it with good top soil and compost and I will try hostas in there and Heucheras next year. It looks strange now as it is empty but I am sure it will save a lot of hassle weeding and look much tidier.

Another grey, miserable day with plenty of mizzle, if you know what I mean I couldn’t see or hear any rain falling but everything was wet, including me. Not a nice day at all.

I am sure the school appreciated the loan of your poppies Gwyn. “Props” like that all help to flesh out the story and make it more interesting for the children. We used to have a lady in the village where we lived before make a house-to-house poppy collection but it’s never happened in the 11 years we have lived here. Perhaps it’s not allowed nowadays.

I hope your aching legs eased during the day AnnG. Has Jake nearly finished his jobs for you? I’m pleased you were able to order some liver but, like you say, who knows if Tesco will still have it in stock when your order gets picked. I did a Tesco order today for delivery tomorrow afternoon and I was surprised how much is currently out of stock. I am sure their website is programmed by a robot. Today I wanted a carton of mixed green veg with a ready meal. It was out of stock but the site suggested I might like to substitute it with mixed berry trifle. Well, that’ll taste good with the wild garlic butter and the gravy. It’s as though some artificial intelligence has just lighted on the word “mixed”.

Mandy, it’s good you didn’t have to hang around and wait for your jab. We always go in together. I hope your arms aren’t too sore. Our jabs are on Saturday and I’m not really looking forward to it. Your apple crumble sounds good, it’s one of my favourites.

Great to see the stoat Mel but you’ll need to be handy with your camera to capture it. They can move pretty fast. Isn’t it the stoat that turns white and becomes ermine in the winter, at least in colder areas? I’d love to see that.

I got to the Ladies Club meeting last night. Unfortunately the speaker from the local police had dropped out at the last minute. Someone had found a speaker prepared to come at the drop of a hat and talk about the Women’s Land Army in WW1 and WW2. The core of her talk was interesting but she didn’t present it in a very good way and was dodging about all over the place. At one point she seemed to start giving a talk on genealogy and suddenly put up a slide of a page of the 1939 register for no reason that I could see. At the end we all gave her a good clap as at least she turned out and drove a few miles to help us out. When I got home at 10 pm I found OH had forgotten to take the bin down the road for today’s collection so I ended up trundling it back down the road to the rec myself. That was the perfect finish to the frustrating day I had yesterday. I was glad to get to bed.

OH took my mini tulip bulbs that usually go in several low pots and planted them in a space he had cleared in a bed but decided he needed more so off we had to go to the garden centre. He wanted me to go too which was just as well as he’s not always good at visualizing how things will look and his choices were either too tall or the wrong colour. Eventually we agreed on a little yellow one called Honky Tonk that should only grow 6-8” high and OH bought 3 packs of 10 bulbs which will fill out the space a bit. Now we’ve got to think of something else to go in there that will come up in the summer as the tulips have died down.

I think it’s time to go and make a drink and sit down with the crossword. We all seem to be having bad nights so fingers crossed we all have a good sleep tonight.

Oh my goodness I'm so full ,I made an Apple Crumble and custard and it was so good ,we don't usually have a pud just a piece of fruit and there's enough for tomorrow night too.
I was really dark early tonight and its been a miserable day .

Got our jabs and she did both of us together so I didn't have to hang about for mine ,I asked what it was and it's the Maderna we had this time .
Yes Gwyn we managed to get to the butchers so all stocked up again ,I asked if Jake was about but he'd gone to take a delivery to the Bull pub five minutes from the butchers ,but as I left the shop he came in so had a quick word and then got stopped outside the shop by a friend so stood chatting for a while .

Oh Mel a Stoat ,didn't you see one a few weeks ago in the garden , hope you can get a photo.

Just checked Vera and they have got lambs liver, nothing else. I have ordered some, however there are three days for them to sell out before my order is due.

camera shy Mel