General Chat

Im......back everyone :-D :-D

Got back 8pm last night.

Had a fab 12 days and went all around the island. beautiful sunny weather everyday except for one day we got caught n a thunderstorm!

Shall give you all my tales over the next few days but just wanted to say hello and glad you are all ok on here.

back to the mountain of washing, which is almost done now.

Lovely warm sunny day here today.

Florence in the hebrides :-D

I am glad that you enjoyed yourself Florence and that the weather was good.

I took Eve out to the shopping outlet yesterday. We both bought a swimsuit and a pair of trainers :-)
Annoyingly after buying an expensive swimsuit the other day, when we went into the Marks outlet, they had several longer body length ones even though the normal stores don’t stock them. I bought one which is actually bigger than my normal size but as it has a higher front, it is fine and for the price I don’t mind subjecting it to the chlorine in the Centre Parcs pools. They also had lots of size 6 ones, so Eve tried some on and bought a very nice one. The Pavers shop was actually very small, but there was a large Sketchers store, so we both bought trainers from there.

Today was Esme’s birthday, apparently she has been awake since 4.20 am, but she didn’t FaceTime us until 7.20. We watched her open her mountain of presents, so it was nice to be included. We went over at a more respectable time taking all of our presents with us.
The whole family went to Lightwater Valley theme park, three of her friends who also have season passes came as well. It was really unfortunate that it rained heavily all day, but we made the best of it. They had moved all of the entertainment inside, so we were able to play the games and attend the three disco sessions. They normally have a foam party at the end of the day, but that was cancelled. We did manage to go on a few rides when it was raining lightly rather than bucketing down, the trouble was that the seats were wet, so I ended up sitting in a puddle of water on one ride.
The best part of the day was the presents from the entertainment staff. They all know her name because we are there all of the time and we spend all our time watching the shows. I knew that they were going to do so met special for her, but they all came together to present her with a large bag of presents. It was amazing, there must have been about £50 worth of presents in it. Apparently her favourite girl had been given money and went out shopping for her. We had made party bags for her friends, so we did party bags for all the entertainment stuff as well. I know it sounds daft, but they were really pleased with them.

Hello everyone ,

Pleased to hear you had a good holiday Florence. Always have washing etc to do on return though and back into the routine of H/work.

Linda it sounds like you and Eve had a good shopping day. Esme sounds like she really enjoys going out to the theme park .The staff sound really good.

Joan have you been able to get out in your garden ? Your wavy hedge sounds interesting just pretend you wanted it like that, lol.

Happy day to all looking in.

Afternoon all looking in
Well washing and ironing all got done over the weekend so now up to date.
However this week we are out mon, tues ,wed so already a busy week.

I was at the dentist for a filling yesterday which went ok plus the vets and then a shop at the supermarket.
Today took daughter to the airport as shes away for 2 weeks.
Tomorrow meeting a friend and her dad for a birthday lunch and a catch up.

Thurs tesco coming and not sure what else lol

One of the attractions we visited in jersey were the War Tunnels underground.

Very interesting reading all about the people in the war, how they made the tunnels etc plus looking at all the displays. It did send a chill through you as you walk round and can hear the sounds of war playing in the background. Quite eerie really.

Im sure there are many ghosts floating around.

We were in there for the best part of an hour and worth visiting if anyone else is thinking of visiting jersey.

Another day, we took a trip over to Guernsey. Really lovely island with small streets and lovely individual shops. had a lovely lunch in a restaurant and staff in general were all so kind and interested where we had travelled from.

We did buy lots of things and when we got to the airport coming back, my case was 2.5 kg over but strangely in Jersey and Glasgow, they let me through without paying extra.... :-D :-D :-D


We had terrible fog for 3 days but it was very warm and clammy here. 27 degrees in my lounge and kitchen but its still lingering!

Polytunnel has become a dense jungle! So many cucumbers, cauliflowers, hundreds of peas, courgettes, rhubarb and newly planted swede has grown hugely. plus 2 dozen onions. I have already frozen some carrots, courgettes and peas to use in the winter stews.

Well Better crack on.

Hope all ok with everyone

Joan, hope you are enjoying your family time with the visitors :-D

Florence in the hebrides

Florence, some of the budget airlines will add the luggage weights together if there are two of you travelling. OH is regularly over the luggage allowance, but as I am usually well under, it is OK.

I'm pleased you had a good time. :-)

Pleased you enjoyed both Jersey and Guernsey Florence, both favourite places of mine. stayed in Jersey four times (including honeymoon in 1960, and in Guernsey 3 times.

I had a good day out yesterday visiting Slimbridge.
I wrote the following diary of my day for Mel's thread so I have copied it here.

Had a great day today, Anne picked me up at 0930 and we had a busy but reasonable drive to Slimbridge arriving at 1015 to a car park rapidly filling up. Of course us is school holidays and this was evident at the number of excited children of all ages making their way in. As we are both members it didn’t take too long to get through reception, noting that for seniors it would cost £18.00. We headed for the cafe first to start the day with a coffee

After talking with the young man on reception we had decided to go for the 11 o’clock tour of Peter Scott’s house and that included an exhibition of and talk on the art and various books and papers kept in the house.

Elizabeth and her male colleague were both excellent knowledgeable speakers. They made the whole talk very interesting and entertaining. Telling the story of how Peter Scott came to open wetlands in Slimbridge and how he and Philippa his wife lived and worked and, in his case drew and painted there. Most of the paintings are prints as the actual paintings were in the hands if people who paid a lot of money for them. We looked at the tiny cottage that was their original home until they had a house built in the early forties post war.

PS started the wetlands there after he was no longer able to continue to display paintings etc at Hull where he started he visited the area, spotted many geese including two rare geese and thought that was an omen that it would be the perfect place.

Elizabeth and her colleague (I think his name might be James) told us about nene geese from Hawaii that were on the endangered list and almost on the red list. PS approached Hawaii and asked to be allowed to try raising Ben geese in captivity, they were sent 2 geese but the following spring they both laid eggs. So they were asked to send a gander which they did and the following spring there were nine goslings. They are still endangered but there are now a good number here and Hawaii and other places. The talk was well over an hour but was so well done it didn’t seem as long.

After lunch we walked around the area closest to the cafe as I was fascinated by two large arches that I could see. They turned out to be woven from willow, beautiful. On the way there was a bed of beautiful Roxanne geraniums. Meanwhile children were having fun crossing the small lake on huge stepping stones.

We made our way round now visiting the flamingoes, always one of my favourites then on to see if we could see the otters but they were asleep in their hut. Elizabeth had suggested we visit the mission possible area where the Nene geese are and where there is an exhibition about endangered breeds including the Madagascar Pochard ducks. No actual ducks on display as they are forbidden to be removed from Madagascar. Although there were a couple of ducks said to be similar.. we spent the remainder of our visit looking at all the variety of ducks and swans before wandering round the shop

Afternoon looking in.

Ann what a fa day you had. Really sounded very interesting and lovely seeing swans and flamingos. In jersey Zoo they had loads of pink flamingos.

We decided to "adopt" a gorilla at the zoo. It costs £25 which goes towards their keep and conservation. We have a certificate and other info about the 4 that live there.

One orangutan was 45 years old and loved seeing inside your handbag, So one lady took things out one by one and the orangutang looked with interest at everything. So amazing the concentration in its eyes studying everything.

Another misty/murky day. So annoying as i really need to weed and dehead but its too wet to go outside.

I decided to make a pan of stewing steak today with broccoli, new pots and a cauliflower cheese bake using my own cauliflowers :-D of course i wont be eating it as I'm a veggie but shall have a fish cake and all the other stuff.

Tesco coming 4-5pm.

Just about back in my own routine now and glad we are not in town again today!

Hope everyone else is well today

Florence in the hebrides

It's nice to hear about everyone's various summer outings/holidays.

It's grey here today, but warm and not actually raining, which makes a nice change.
I've sprayed the gravel drive with weed killer this afternoon, as it's looking quite green.
The last few wet days have encouraged everything, especially weeds, to shoot up.

The grass will be about knee high before I can attempt to cut it, I fear!
I missed one dry day last week, and it's rained ever since, and is supposed to rain for at least part of every one of the next ten days or so, so there will be no chance to cut it.
It's already about three inches long. Even though it's not raining today, the grass is still wet.

I thought the car was going to need a new exhaust, as it was making a loud rattly noise every time I switched on the engine, for the last fortnight - and louder each time - though not when the car was moving.
I'd arranged to take it to our local garage this morning for investigation - so of course it didn't make the noise today!
However, they had a look at it, and found that the exhaust itself was OK, but the clips which support the heat shield above the exhaust had corroded, so that the heat shield was gradually collapsing and rattling against the exhaust when the engine started.
They put in new clips, ad it's all quiet again. And all for £23.60, and done while I waited. Excellent service!
If only all car problems were so cheap and easily fixed!

Hello to all, it's a sunny day here and the washer is on and I have cleaned the bathroom so I am having a cuppa now before I start on the kitchen. My oven needs cleaning a job I hate so might leave that for OH . He can bend down better than me so I think I shall delegate. lol.

Florence, I have a picture in my mind of your tunnel with all the veg growing madly while you were away on holiday. Have you room in your freezer for your extras?

Ann your visit to Slimbridge sounds delightful. A lovely place to visit.

G/son and his gf came to visit for a couple of days, lovely to see them . Just OH and the dog to keep me company now lol.

Our new neighbours seem to have actually moved in now, they were back and forwards for a while but now seem to be here everyday. They seem very pleasant and OH and the young man have had a couple of conversations about fish and fishing. They have worked hard in the gardens and the front is neat and tidy which is nice .

Well must go and start again . Take care all and enjoy your weekend.

Morning all looking in.

Very heavy clouds and overcast with some wind but not cold today. No plans at present but a few jobs to do around the house first.

I have to tf all my holiday pics to the PC and then go through and sort, delete etc. I'm going to make a scrap book of the holiday and print out various pics plus we bought a few postcards etc so they will go in the book too.

Making new memories <3

JustGinnie, so glad you have some nice new neighbours as its a bit hit & miss thesedays.

ArgyllGran, glad you got your car fixed for a good price....bargain!

Well the kitchen is calling me for a quick coffee and then to do some chores.

I have plenty room for peas in the freezer plus i chopped carrots and courgettes but its filling up!

Florence in the hebrides

Florence, a scrap book of your holiday is a good idea and will be a lovely occupation for the winter days to remind you of the holiday, I used to make large (12X12 scrap books and have 14 of them in this office. some of holidays, some of Grandchildren, One is a family history one. they are great to look at but a pain to store. I also have a couple of smaller ones which are easier to hold to look at.

I still have some scrap books from holidays when my children are young, they are nice to look back on.
I have had a very busy week with lots of trips out. We are having a much quieter weekend because the girls have gone to a three night family music festival. They have hired a campervan and Esme likes it, in previous years she has refused to sleep in a tent, so my daughter had needed up taking her home each night and coming back the next day . Eve has taken one of her school friends, so they are sleeping in a tent next to the van.

I rarely post on here but often pop in for a read through the posts. I just wondered if anyone knew if SylviainCanada was ok. I may have missed a post to say she was leaving, but haven't found anything. Thank you.

Oh dear, yes, you're right, Lyndi.

Unless I've missed one, she hasn't posted on here since 6th June.

Sylvia posted on the Cleo Laine thread a couple of days ago.

Thank you Vera. Good to see she is ok.

Morning all
Lovely to hear from you lyndi.

I dint see anything to say Sylvia is leaving??? Or have i missed something?

Grey and overcast day here so a day indoors and im going to write up my friends family tree which has been on my to do list for yonks! Research has taken a back seat over the recent months but today feeling productive.


I have planted more beetroot for an autumn crop and more potatoes too.

Peas are very plentiful and have been having them with many meals.


Hope everyone else looking in today is keeping well.

Have a good day all

Florence in the hebrides :-D

Good evening Florence. Vera posted that Sylvia was on the Cleo Laine thread a few days ago, so she hasn't left. I just wondered if she'd left as hadn't seen her post on here for a while. You look to have had a busy day :-)

Hello all,
Well it is cloudy but warm today. Nothing planned to do today . The window cleaner has just been so had a chat to him about nothing in particular mainly the weather and some about the strikes that are happening.

1st of August already were does the time go?

Had a visit from sis in law yesterday and we spend a couple of hours talking about the past and some of the things we did years ago. Such a laugh. Of course we had sad times but who hasn't and talking about the daft bits was very funny .

Oh it's raining now. Always on window cleaning day. lol

Afternoon all looking in.

Quiet weekend with only a quick trip to town yesterday for a few bits.

Its very windy here and tomorrow of course they are predicting severe gales up to 85mph on exposed coasts! lets hope it will not be as bad as that.

We did buy 2 plants in the garden centre and earlier we put up some more green netting against the fence as a windbreak. So although quiet we have been productive.

All the washing and ironing up straight for now.

Bank holiday here in Scotland tom so no post anyway.

Hope all ok with everyone

Florence in the hebrides