General Chat

Poor Jake. He must be feeling so disappointed. Most people I know try to give drivers with L plates plenty of room and not make them feel harassed but there's always the odd cocky driver. It's so unkind. We were all learners once. I hope Jake can get another test set up quickly so he doesn't have to take the theory test again.

It's been our year of problems with the house. This morning we found a problem with the big hot water tank. I won't bore you with the details but it was a toss up whether to call British Gas as we have a HomeServe contract with them, or to call our house insurance people, or just call in a plumber ourselves. Anyway OH decided to try BG first and they are coming in on Friday morning. They would have come tomorrow but I am having my cataract surgery then and I can't ask the hospital to change the date again.

All this made me late going out to pick up some tablets from the chemist's shop, so I at least have the right dosage now instead of the wrong ones I was given last week.

It has been a lovely mild day and I would have liked to finish some jobs in the garden but I just didn't have time. I won't be allowed to wash my hair for a few days so thought I'd better do that this afternoon as well. Now I just have to cook dinner and sort out a few bits I need tomorrow. I don't want to leave anything till the morning as we have to leave home by 7.15 am. I don't know how quickly I'll be able to see well enough to get on the computer again so I may not be posting for a day or two.

EDIT I meant to say that I am glad you at least have a date for the dermatology appointment now AnnG and hopefully they will be able to start any treatment you may need quickly. It's good that Cynth can take you.

O I am so cross. What on earth was that driver thinking of cutting up a learner, perhaps he shoiuld take the test again and see if he passes. Its so much expense now when I took my driving lessons they were £1 an hour and I think it may have been a bit more for the test. I bet Jake is feeling a bit downhearted this evening. Hope he gets a cancelation before the 6 months is up. How much was the test? then the £100 on top for the instructor sounds a bit hash to me.

Done a bit of painting today but wasted a lot of time looking for my metalic paints and then they were no good for what I wanted to do.

Not heard from Stu so I am about to give him a ring.

Anng I don't know if the car that cut him up slowed down but a bit mean to do that to a leaner , he does go out with his dad and son said he's a safe driver ,he had slowed down with his lessons as his instructor said he was more than ready for his test ,he had a lesson last week to just keep up with things ,when he first started having lessons his instructor said he was way ahead with his driving as he had started off with his dad .
Dry here after a few showers and the sun has been in short supply , shopping day tomorrow so I need to get my list sorted .
My arm is aching today from my elbow down to my wrist ,I do get pain if I've lifted anything to heavy since I broke my wrists but I don't remember lifting anything ,perhaps I laid wrong in bed .

Ann it says on the letter.
"The apppointment is a matter of priority to eclude a diagnosis of cancer. A face to face appointment.
I know this will concern you but feel this urgent appointment will help identify your future care."

I think thi replaces in some ways the way it used to work when first you would visit Dermatology for them to have a good look at the problem, they would fix the next appointment for removal or whatever of the problem.
These days the triage is done at the GP surgery which is fine if the GP knows what they are doing with specific problems.

Repeating myself here. I can't use the phone for important conversations because of my hearing. I know people do find it hard to believe but it is very true which is why I spend a lot of time looking for email addresses.

Mandy firstly how mean of that driver to cut up a learner driver. And secondly, he won't make that mistake again. presumably he stuck too close to the car that had pulled in front of him which begs the question did that driver deliberately slow down once in front of Jake. Is he still paying for lessons? Or are Mum and Dad taking him out? Plenty of practice and good luck getting a cancellation.

He failed on one serious and had no minors ,what happened was he was on a duel carriageway and a car cut him up and he didn't pull back enough ,if the car hadn't cut him up he would have passed .
He had paid for the test weeks ago but had to pay 0ne hundred today for the driving instructor so he'll have all that to pay again .
The instructor told him to try to get a cancellation as long as he can give him two weeks notice .
Ann the theory test lasts a year so if the next test takes him past that year then he has to do the theory test again .
They were talking about driving tests on the news just now saying they are hoping to get the tests fron 24 week wait down to 7 weeks by the summer .
That's good your getting your cupboards sorted ,the boxes with the lids will be good so you can stack them .

Anng hope the deep clean isn't to uncomfortable, they seem to be doing Sunday appointments now since covid ,as Ann said ringing the secretary might shed some light on what will happen at the appointment .

Mel thats handy having the old car to run things about in saves messing the new one up ,are you getting use to driving the new one now .

Morning All,

Wind and heavy rain last night and a lot more rain this morning. There were huge puddles to get to the car, but it was the same at our neighbours too. At least no waterfall at the front door now the gutters are clean! OH went off early to the Hearing and the fitter was here at 8.30am. I decided to have a shelf less in the cupboards as I will still have an extra shelf to what I had before. There's a plug I use for a CD player in one cupboard and, as there are holes to adjust shelves where I want from top to bottom, we did a few tweaks so it is easier to plug anything in.Now I need to line the shelves and decide what will go where.

After the fitter went I drove to the garden centre that has the plastic baskets and got a small one that has a flat lid on so you can stack things or other baskets the same on top. I might go and get another once I see what I need. While I was there a neighbour and his wife from up the road from us called over to me as I was ordering poached eggs on toast! They came and had a chat before they left and we often used to see them at other local cafes at breakfast time. I called in the shop on the way back and now have the washer going. Black skies mean it will be drying indoors though.

I bet Jake is disappointed after all this time Mandy and with such a wait for another test and more expense taking it. Plenty of time to practice and brush up on what they weren't happy with though to help him get through next time and he will know what to expect next time having done it once. Will he have to do the written test again as well or is that ok because he passed it? All the traffic to deal with must make it harder these days.

Good luck with the first of the two deep cleans AnnG as I remember them not being pleasant. It's good you have an appointment at the hospital now and a date that Cynth can take you. If you rang and asked for the consultant's secretary they might be able to throw more light on what will be involved with the appointment.

Mel these clever birds can be very persistent can't they!! Could you stand something in front of the door for a while so he can't peck it and so may lose the habit? It's a good idea to use your old car that way to use up the diesel in it. Hopefully the battery won't go flat till you have used it up but you could always charge it up again. I hope Stu is in so you can sort out meal arrangements.

Oh Mandy poor Jake, what did he fail on? That is awful after such a long wait.

I have had notice of an appointment with Dermatoogy. Called a two week referral appointment. Seems to be to check on whether the lesion is likely to be cancerous. So I don't acyually know whether they will do an op on it or if it is just for a chat. the appointment is on SUNDAY 23 November at 11.05. Cynth will be free and can take me.

He failed ,he's so disappointed

Fingers crossed here too Mandy and I shall have a word with him above too. I do so hope he can pass this time as its a long while to wait for the nexttest. XXXXXXXXX

Good morning all cloudy and wet and 15 degrees here. Fingers crossed for jake Mandy wishing him luck with the test.
Dentist this afternoon at 1.30, cynth is dropping me there to save getting wet. Not looking forward to the first of 2 deep cleans.
Needless to ay I slept ok until 3 and then couldn't get back to sleep but must have dropped off around 6 and woke at 0815.

Morning Mel, morning all,

Nice sunny morning now after waking up to rain, oh I spoke to soon its clouded over again .
Don't think I will settle to do much as Jake has his driving test this morning and he will be on my mind ,I do so hope he can pass or it will be another six months he will have to wait for another test so can you keep fingers crossed for him .

Morning all on this dull and dreary day.

Blasted bird banging on the front door again this morning.

I had a good night and did'nt wake for the loo at all last night.

Have to see Stu today to see if he's coming this week or not so I may pop round there after going to the shop.

Hope you all had a good night. the temp here is 14 degree and I thinkk it rained in the night as the roads running with water off the lawns.

What shocked us Vera was how run down the streets are now and the houses so shabby and neglected with rubbish piled up in the little front gardens of the few that have them. There were nose to tail vehicles parked half on the pavements tboth sides of the full length quite long streets with just room for us to drive down the middle, but no room for any cars coming the opposite way. It was bin day and with the bins and the various plastic bags for collection on the pavements there was no room for anyone in a wheelchair or with a pushchair to walk. We found it really depressing. Back in the day at different times in our jobs we would walk round the same area but said we wouldn't want to now, even in daylight.

That was an early delivery! I wonder what would have happened if you weren't in? At least you got all but one thing on your order.

On the subject of the birds I read the other day that a virus is the reason we have so few Blackbirds now. It got me thinking and I realised we've not seen Starlings round here for months now. Does anyone else still see as many?

We get a lot of leaves from a neighbour's Magnolia AnnG and they blow our way so they mostly fall our side of the fence. When we first moved here the neighbour the other side of us had a huge Willow tree that had branches reaching almost to the middle of our garden. They had it chopped down soon after we moved here though.

Today seems to have whizzed by and it's quite windy now, but at least no fireworks yet.

Glad you had a nice trip out Annx and found some nice things to buy. Don't think I would like hard floors in my bedroom. In fact the only hard floor I have in the bugnalow is the bathroom. Even the little loo has carpet but only used by ladies. ;-)

I see you did'nt lose your post this time Vera. It is annoying though.

It got dark quite early today as it been raining but just now it absolutely fell out of the sky.

Knocked my little finger nail right off today and it feels really strange now but it dos'nt catch on the keys now.

went up the top in my old car to get the recykling box back down here as with the high gusty wind we.ve had today I thought it may have ended up in the road. It was quite safe upside down on the car park. Still got half a tank in the od car and Stu said its a right old job to get it out so I am trying to use it round the garden.

Got sausages and bubble and squeak for dinner tonight and am looking forward to it.Better get it on now as I am hungry.

Thanks for your advice ladies but I have looked absolutely everywhere for my lost post, including all the info I could find and the recycling bin. I looked for the Undo button as well but that doesn’t seem to be there anymore; at least not on Word. Oh well, these things happen but it’s annoying when you’ve done everything you can to avoid it happening.

Tesco threw me out of gear as well by turning up an hour early. They have sometimes come early before but I’ve always had a phone call first. It was a big order - nearly £200 (gulp) – but there were no subs and just one thing unavailable. Everything is sorted and put away now. I hope you managed to add to your Tesco order today AnnG.

I’m glad you enjoyed your baps Annx and got some bits and pieces as well. Places change so much over time. On the rare occasions we drive near Romford now I don’t recognize any of the roads. Even the hospitals have gone and been replaced with one in a totally different location.

Mel, you are good to buy so much for the birds. I used to buy lots of different things as well but the birds round here are fussy and really only go for sunflower hearts. I do put out fat balls as well but they hardly get touched. I have meal worms too but I rarely put those out now as the only birds going for them are the starlings. The resident robin won’t touch them, he prefers the sunflower hearts. I gave my daughter the niger seeds and peanuts that I had in the garage.

I don’t think it has actually rained today but everything feels damp and mizzly. All the weather apps disagree about the temperature and how much cooler the wind makes it feel. All I can say is that there has been a strong old breeze today and it has felt decidedly chilly to me.

This morning I did a bit of general tidying up, did some ironing and spoke to my neighbour on the phone. It’s the husband next door that is in hospital but apparently he’s not too bad this time and likely to be home again tomorrow which is good news. OH planted up 3 more pots of bulbs for me. We still have a few more to go. The conservatory now looks like a greenhouse with two troughs of geraniums, several cuttings and a tender fuschia. The garden bin is full to the very brim but goes out tonight so tomorrow we can start filling it up again.

I think I wrote more on my original lost post but as I can’t remember what I wrote it couldn’t have been very important. I can’t work out how I could have deleted the first one but I am now going to try and copy and paste this and if I lose this one I’ll give up.

We enjoyed our baps. We both had egg and mushrooms and I had a tomato and OH baked beans and we shared the beans and tomato between us. Only two other couples were there yet it used to be busy. OH found two books in the Works, one of which I want to read as well and he then found a a scarf he liked in EM and got it. We then went to two carpet places and I'm thinking carpet instead of a hard floor in the bedroom again as I think moving the bed could mark a hard floor and I don't really want rugs in there by the bed to have to move to clean. Apparently the carpet tiles I thought would be good cost twice as much as similar carpet. All these things to think about! We were driving round some of the city streets of terraced houses we both knew well years ago going from one place to another and were both horrified how they had changed

The fitter had rung the home number and left a message when we got back and he's coming in the morning about 8.30 am. I thought they would have given him my mobile number but obviously not.

OH needs to look smart for a hearing he is attending tomorrow so I have given his hair a trim.

That is so annoying Vera and I think we've all been there! Years ago there seemed to be an undo button at the top, but not anymore. I must have caught something on my laptop this morning and next thing a warning came up about a dangerous site and my defender software saying that my PC was blocked and I couldn't even use my cursor to close it. I ended up switching off twice and when I checked my virus protection was saying all was well.

Mel it's satisfying having a clearout bit by bit and that was useful to be told about the cables and hopefully get some money put on your card for them. It's something I hadn't heard of before. Yes it will be good if you can make yourself some extra space too and I hope to do the same as I get rid of what I don't want or won't use anymore.

Look in your trash Vera.

I have hoovered the kitchen and then went into oh's study and cleared out a whole big plastic box of all cables for pc's. Then the Asda delivery came and I was taking to the ddriver and he told me to take that lot to a place behind Asda in Bideford and they would pay me for it because of all the copper etc in it. To take my card as they don't pay out cash. Think I may have to have a look in the other plastic boxes in there. I would love to get rid of two of the desks in there and I would have so much room in there to put other things in there.

If it was in word have you tried searching for it in case it ended up somewhere else. I can't remember is there a way of tracing recently deleted items in word?

Now I've just done a long post and lost it :-| The stupid thing is that I did it on Word so that wouldn't happen and saved as I was going along. I was just highlighting it to copy and paste when it disappeared so I must have accidentally hit a delete button though goodness knows how. No time to do it all again now.