General Chat

Morning Anng, morning all ,

Another nice sunny morning ,no frost that I could see and it's 7 degrees .
Oh dear Vera what a todo with the bus , if that lady hadn't told him which way to go goodness knows how long you'd have been riding round , did you get a taxi home .

Off to sons in a while for coffee so better get sorted out .

Morning all,

Nice and bright again and 10 degrees here and pc saying rainy days ahead.

Our Carol service is in the Village hall tonight and father Christmas comes after with a little present for the children and then its a bring and share do after. I may go as its only up the drive. I know a couple of the neighbours are going and shall know most of the prople there but I can't think what to take in the way of snack food. Everyone takes sausage rolls and little sandwiches and crisps.

Good morning all 8 degrees here this morning what an up and down temp we have lately.

Vera I am guessing the clue is in the fact that the company seems to have been taken over and like all new brooms have done a bit of a clean sweep. they changed all the route numbers. the drivers are then put on routes that, even though they are experienced drivers, they have not driven before. (They do stay on the smae routes normally. Normally what would happen is, a driver who knows that route would travel as passenger with the one that doesn't. Maybe they were short of drivers through flu.
I bet you saw parts of the area that you had not seen before. As for the rattly bus, we have a few and some are relatively new, blame the state of the roads and pot holes.
Glad you got there in the end anyway.

Don't be put off bus travel by one experience though it is useful. :-)

What on earth were they thinkin gof putting a driver on the bus that did'nt know the route. It would have to happen when you were getting oh used to going by bus Vera.

That’s nice that you’ve got a dinner and some good company to look forward to on Christmas Eve, Mel.

I said I would tell you about my hospital trip yesterday so here goes. As my appointment was at 1.50 and I can sometimes be there for a couple of hours, which would mean OH driving home pretty much in the dark, I decided we would go by bus. Part of the idea was to show OH how easy travelling by bus could be. Easy? Huh, that’s a joke.

First obstacle was trying to make sense of the online timetable which is a nightmare with so many abbreviations and symbols to indicate such things as which buses only run on schooldays or only run on non-school days etc. This wasn’t helped by the company running the service not only changing its name but also all its bus numbers. Having got panicky because I couldn’t find the 754 bus I discovered that the 754 is now the 43 and right under my nose all the time. Anyway I eventually found we could catch the 12.29 bus from our nearest stop and it would drop us outside the hospital at 1.35. Perfect timing.

We duly got to the bus stop good and early and were shortly joined by another man. He was very pleasant but insisted on telling us his life story in the 10 minutes we were waiting. I know all about his wife, his washing machine breaking down, his friends Tony and Peter and the details of their phone calls that morning, where he was going for lunch, what he was going to eat, how much it would cost etc. etc. etc. We were glad when the bus arrived more or less on time and off we went. We stopped for 4 minutes at the bus station in town and changed driver. So far, so good.

We knew it was a bit of a round the houses route and we started off well, stopping in 3 villages and then somehow the driver went wrong. We were well off the main route by now and we went this way, we went that way, we went round in circles. A lad came down from upstairs asking where he was because he now had no idea where to get off the bus, then a girl came down looking very worried. Soon we reached a junction with a sign pointing left to the town where the hospital was and right to the town we had just come from and HE TURNED RIGHT. Half the passengers were yelling “You’re going the wrong way” at him but there was no way he could turn a double decker bus round in a narrow back road.

Time was marching on so I decided to ring the eye clinic as I have their direct line programmed into my phone. I forgot to mention we were also on what must have been the oldest bus in the fleet. Talk about Shake, Rattle and Roll. And the racket! I couldn’t hear a thing when I got through to the clinic. I ended up with my head practically under the seat in front, one ear covered by my hand and the phone clamped to the other and by dint of shouting at each other the clinic and I had a conversation which went something like this:
(Me) I am very sorry but I am coming on public transport and there has been a delay. I won’t make my appointment.
(Clinic) When do you think you will arrive?
(Me) I have no idea. I’m on a bus and it has got lost
(Clinic) Stunned silence, then…. You’re lost? On a bus?
(Me) Um..yes
Cue laughter and chatter from the clinic as the receptionist I was talking to regaled her colleagues with the story of the lady lost on a bus. The upshot was that they said if I got there before 3 pm they would slot me in.

Eventually a lady passenger went to the front and said to the driver that she was supposed to be getting off the bus at such and such a village. She now had an idea of where we were so she would direct him to her village which was on his route. She stood at the front of the bus and did this and got him to her bus stop. She then told him very firmly that he must not turn right or left but to continue straight until he hit the main Bury Road, wished us all good luck and got off. The driver got on to the right road and various people got off at stops along the way. There were 4 of us for the hospital though the others were visiting so not so concerned about the time factor. As we were nearing Bury the thought crossed our mind that this driver was likely to follow the signs into town and miss the hospital as he clearly didn’t know the area so when we were a couple of roundabouts away another man directed him on to the roads he had to take and we arrived outside the hospital at 2.30 pm, only 55 minutes late. OH just looked at me and said “And you think we should use the buses more?” For all we know our driver is still going round in circles. If you read of a bus driving down the runway at Heathrow, you’ll know who it is.

So that’s the saga of our journey to the hospital. I can laugh about it now and I hope it’s given you a smile. My eyes are getting quite achey so I'll tell you how I got on at the hospital another time.

O and she's asked me up there on Christmas Eve to a nice ham dinner so I shall see what they have dne to the house then too. She's not working in the hsed now either she's in the tiny spare bedroom made into an office for her. :-D

Silly me I was copying incase I lost it and I did so put it back on there and must have got muddled as to where to put it. OR it could just be the pc as I get words come up that I hav'nt written.

Janine my neighbour came down with some homemade fudge and mince pies for me and a card and she stayed and we chatted over a cuppa and a biscuit. She was here ages and I so enjoyed the company. That reminds me I hav'nt opened her card yet.

I think I have sorted that post out now.

Now what am I going to have for dinner???

Lol Mel, your post of 15.51 is interesting. I think you are trying to wake us all up and get our brains moving. Are you sure you have your cursor at the end of your text before you write a new bit? I might well be wrong but it really looks as though your cursor is part way down your text, sometimes in the middle of a word, when you put in a bit more script so it ends up all jumbled. It’s so easy to do. I know because I’ve done it myself more than once. What a pity that bottle leaked and soaked other stuff. Have you managed to sort out a refund and replacement for it?

I am glad some of you are getting more post now. We seem to be on a Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday schedule and had a dozen envelopes through the door this morning, 9 of which were cards. Included were cards from Annx, Mandy and Gwyn so thank you all very much. They are all quite different and all lovely. I remember 2 posts a day as well and somewhere I even have a postcard that my great grandmother sent to her daughter. It was posted in the morning telling the daughter that great-grandma would be coming for tea that afternoon. I’m guessing that would have been in the 1920s. Those were the days – delivery in a couple of hours if it was going to a fairly local address.

Annx, you asked what happened to the bloomers. They found their way to a suitable charity shop. If I remember rightly it was Age Concern, which later merged with Help the Aged to become Age UK. At least mil didn’t expect to see them on display when she came. Yes, I had heard that many ethnic minorities don’t take up vaccinations. I wonder why. I could be wrong but I don’t think there is a religious basis to their reluctance. It does seem a pity as it’s one of the reasons diseases like measles are on the rise again. As to our friends M & V they do have a difficult life but are coping, as one has to. They only have a small bungalow, having moved from a very large one several years ago. M rang to tell me that yesterday they had a delivery – 2 large oxygen cylinders, 6 small cylinders and a large oxygen concentrator, whatever that is. Some are in their small loo, a unit in the hall has had to go to make room and there are bits of equipment everywhere. You can’t fault the NHS in the care they are giving V but they are certainly making life difficult in other ways. You have a long wait for your next garden bin collection. I think I’ve said before that ours run all year apart from the 2 weeks over Christmas and New Year.

I’ve had another busy day and it sounds as though you have been busy today as well Mandy. I must go and get more drops put in my eye and think about us cooking some dinner but I will try to get back later to tell you about my hospital visit yesterday.

Afternoon All,

No frost here but it was chilly. OH came with me to the shop as he had 2 books to pick up from there. He was shocked at the reduction of what they stock. No lamb or pork now, it's all beef and chicken only. Less choice of veg or fish, much more asian and chinese food in the ready meals. It seems food must be less profitable as they have found space for a huge Costa coffee machine. He has gone to one and a half matches this afternoon and has taken some footie programmes to pass on.

Yet another update on my PC and it has moved the list of tabs it put on the left hand side of the screen a while ago back to the top of the screen again, just as I'd got used to them on the side!

We had a bit more post this morning so maybe they are increasing deliveries now it's getting near christmas. I remember afternoon post as well, as we also had an afternoon version of our local newspaper in addition to the morning one.

I've done some hoovering and also started looking at and turfing out what is out of date in the food cupboards and fridge.I must do the same in the freezer in the garage this weekend too. It will make more space for this time of the year.

Mandy you have been busy and got a lot done I'm running out of ideas what to eat lately but the pattie sounds nice and tasty. :-)

Mel that was a shame the parcel leaked so I hope you get a refund. Imagine if it was a christmas present for someone and there was no time to re-order. Have you had Asda insisting you put in your payment details again like I have? I suspected a scam and rang them, but apparently not.

Vera it sounds like a stressful journey wondering if you would ever get there!

mel I think your post needs sorting out a bit. :-D

ck and got her phone number and we had a chat

Aaron came round but did'nt do much just put more wood up on the chicken run but had to go by 12 noon as Asda was coming and his wife and little girl have a nasty cough. He's coming again tomorrow.

Went to the shop for my paper, ham and rolls and on the way back I saw my friend so managed to get her number as it was'nt in my phone.
While I was there I noticed that the large flower arrangement had gone so that was good. I hope it was bought and not pinched as they don't take them in at night.

Vera I have put my latest read on the Hobbies board thread.

Morning girls,

Sharp frost here again this morning but now its 6 degrees and the suns out so its melted most of it now.

I have been trying to get intouch with someone I had a parcel from yesterday. One item leaked all over the other things and the package was ripped too. The top of a bottle of windscreen cleaner had come unscrewed and even though it wa in a plastic bag lots of the other things were wet with the contents. I have been tryng to get a refund since 9.10 am.

Glad you had a good nights sleep last night Anng.

Just the shop to do this morning and then I want to wash my hair and make some soup.

yes I should have said there was a frost last night, still with us on the roofs.

I have stripped the bed and the bedding is in the wash.

Morning Anng, morning all,

Nice bright sunny morning and it's now 2 degrees but we woke to a sharp frost the car was white .

I've stripped the bed and I'm going up to dust and hoover the bedrooms this morning, I did the upstairs bathroom last week so it only needs a quick going over and then i have some meat to cook to make a nice meat pattie .

Oh Vera I hope you were on time for your appointment, sounds as if it might have been a mystery tour on the bus .

Good morning all only 2 degrees here now so quite a drop again this morning. slept well last night, now need to approach the battle of washing my hair.

Yes Mel I remember two posts a day (luxury!) and I also remember parcels being delivered by lots of students in removal vans. Students riding on the drop down doors of the vans, vans creeping along the road and students jumpimg off with parcels.

I can remember when we had two posts a day. I was young butI can remember mum says it may come in the second post.

Mandy thanks for your lovely glittery card they really sparkly in my kitchen lights. I have put up the last card I sent to oh and do every year since he passed it was one of my favorites and I did send some of this one out to you lot I think. Its a stand out wreath of leaves abd berries with lots of twinkle.

Era K have been on one that missed out a eller short detour of the route. And, when the main bus route out of town was closed, our driver from the bus station zoomed off in what seemed the entirely wrong direction but which actually by a devious route picked up on the correct road. That was exciting hope you actually got where you needed to go.

I have a feeling the big charity collectors, those that set up a table er , have card payment machines. I

I have just read the day's posts but, after another hectic day, I am too exhausted to write much now, especially as I know that I will go on for far too long. However, I will try to find time over the weekend to tell you the saga of my hospital trip today. (Hint: shouldn't a bus driver have a sense of direction?).

Sleep well everyone.