General Chat

Off out to a carol singing eve at an old school complete with refreshments and mince pies. Havent been to one in 20 years so looking forward to it.

Hi, it's been a dry calm day here today after some heavy rain during the night.
It continues to be very dismal & cold, not much daylight,so need to have the light on for most of the day.

Florence you are so right, always something,.waiting for my daughters friend to get back to me re pricing up parts for the top loader, but to be honest I reckon it will have to be a new machine !!
He did say that a new drum wouldn't be cheap.

At the moment I'm washing smaller items by hand,which is fine except they take some time to dry, I can only wring out by hand, so have to hang on the clothes horse over the bath until things stop dripping !
My daugher deals with bigger items, but it's a hassle

I don't have the space for a front loading machine, my kitchen iis not big by any menas & I cannot afford to lose a unit so it will have to be a new top loader if neccessary.
I have only ever had a top loader & really do like them.

Our eldest son is coming over tomorrow to help set up my new telephone !

It's a digital one to replace the current landline one, which will be useless come time,. I'm not sure how i will get on with it.
I hate change & I'm feeling a bit nervous about it.

Joan.

Afternoon all
That was lovely ArgyllGran, doing it yourself etc. Glad you will have a nice xmas dinner with family and......no cooking lol

Been a beautiful wintery but sunny day here and we managed out earlier down to the beach for a walk, well wrapped up. managed about 1/2 and then headed back as my face was getting cold along with my fingers even though was wearing gloves.

My tumble dryer decided to stop working yesterday grrrrr!!

Thankfully Argos has a basic one which we can collect tomorrow and then in the new year i shall look for another vented reversible dryer like the one i had and sell the other one. Luckily the clothes that had been washed had dried somewhat and then in the boiler cupboard overnight nearly dried them off.

After ironing a pile, the clothes were dry enough then. Always something eh Joan?
Hope you are ok as not heard from you since you said about your top loader. Did you get it fixed or have you bought a front loader?

Well i have large jacket potatoes in the over for tea with salad as this close to xmas, we dont eat huge dinners as want to indulge on xmas day lol

Heating is on now as feeling a bit chilly.

Florence in the hebrides

Our local Evri deliverers are efficient and friendly! I've never had any problem with them.
DPD, on the other hand, are dreadful. Well, apart from my most recent delivery, which they actually brought to the correct address, to my surprised delight.

After what feels like several depressing weeks of heavy clouds, heavy rain, and strong winds, today has been calm, dry, and even sunny at times. A welcome change.
I didn't have to have the lights on all day.

Christmas shopping is all done, thank goodness. I don't have to think about Christmas dinner ingredients, as I'll be going to No 1 son's on Christmas Day.

No 2 son is coming over from the other side of Scotland tomorrow, to deliver and collect Christmas presents from/for himself and family.

We had a carol service at the local church yesterday evening - carols and various readings - Bible and otherwise. It was well attended, and very enjoyable. We just did it ourselves - no ministerial input except for a prayer at the end.

As you haven't mentioned it again, I assume your shower is OK now, Linda?
Any luck finding a washing machine, Joan?

Evri are absolutely horrendous. The local Facebook pages are always full of complaints about them.

It is a dark, drizzly day here, but I have been out and about. I had to go into town to collect a present from Argos which I had delivered to the local Sainsbury’s mini market. That is easier than having to go to the main Argos store. I also bought a few bits from some of the independent shops which I like to support. I then had to go to Morrisons, so while I was there, I bought lots of the 5p bags of Xmas veg. It is ridiculous selling them for that price, they must be making a loss. I have put them in the garage where it is cold, so that will keep me going for a couple of weeks.

Hello all,
Hope you are all well and getting ready for Christmas . We are all sorted now except for a small parcel that has gone missing. It is the 3rd one to go astray in 6 weeks all from the same place and all due to be delivered by Evri. Not had a problem with either before and our usual delivery man is brilliant but at this time of year a lot of part time staff are used that may not be as used to the job as is needed. Hoping it will turn up soon.

Joan I hope you find a replacement washer that isn't too costly or manage to get yours repaired.

Sounds like you had a lovely few days away Florence.


Hope you all have a lovely Christmas . I may not get on here till after so enjoy yourselves what ever you do. :-D :-D

I always give the house a good clean after Xmas when I put the decorations away. It is good that you have had your injections now Florence, so that you will be in fine fettle for the festivities.
The broadband people didn’t turn up until late afternoon , by which time it was too dark for them to do anything. They have agreed though to take the wire around the outside of the house and up into the bedroom which we use a the study. They are coming back on Friday morning to do the work.
The plumber turned up midmorning yesterday to fit a new cartridge to the shower. OH had tried to unscrew the affected part, but he couldn’t move it, hence getting the plumber to to it. When the plumber tried, he said that it was totally seized up and he snapped it. So he had to go and buy a whole new shower. Thankfully they took the cartridge back. When I had a shower this morning, I realised that the water pressure was fine on the cold setting, but when you turned it to the hot setting, the pressure really dropped. OH read the instructions and found out that there are some valves inside which you can open for situations when the water pressure is low. So the plumber had to come back this afternoon. While he was here, he also realised that he had forgotten to put the water filters in, so he did that as well. Hopefully it will be better when I get my shower tomorrow.
I went into the school for reading this afternoon The children had made me a giant card which both classes had signed.

Afternoon florence. Good that the injections gave you instant relief but don't overdoe things with all that housework I don't think I know anyone else who does a pre Christmas spring clean, I always find it difficult to clean with all the decs up. But well done if you can do it. Enjoy your time with your friends tomorrow.

Afternoon all looking in.

Not a nice day here last 2 days as has been pouring hard with strong winds hence no ferry first thing today.

I have been busy having my usual pre xmas spring clean and have just sat down as been working for 2 hours! bathroom is done except floor is drying after being mopped.

We have friends coming at 2pm tomorrow for coffee, nibbles and cakes so want the house looking spotless as per.

Linda, what a faff with the tel cables??? Digging up your front lawn sounds awful. Hope they put it back looking the way it was before they dig it up.

We are lucky here as in each room I have 4 double sockets so a double on each wall in the living rooms and bedrooms, plus 3 in the hallway. Kitchen has 5 double sockets as well so hardly need an extension cable.

Received a few more cards yesterday , so another string went up. But no post or parcels today!

I got my steroid jags into my knees yesterday as Mr Bone man was in a good mood lol. Its amazing the instant pain relief! hence i have super energy today.

Hope everyone is well and keeping warm. Hope the snow doesnt come yet!

Florence in the hebrides

Your trip sounded very nice Florence and it is good that you managed to get a new coat.
I hope that you managed to get a new washer soon Joan,maybe you might get a bargain in the Xmas sales, but as there is such a limited market for top loaders, probably not.
Yesterday afternoon, one of the neighbours hosted a mince pie and mulled wine meet and mingle. It was very well attended and we got to meet some neighbours we haven’t met before.
This afternoon, we are having our broadband changed over to cable. We are perfectly happy with what we have,which is fibre as far as the cabinet ,then copper wire to the house, but TalkTalk are selling us to a firm called City Fibre who own the fibre cables already in the pavement. They will have to dig a trench right across the front lawn to get the cable to the house as they aren’t allowed to use the BT ducting which has the current telephone cable in it. At the moment we have a cable running around the outside of the house to one of the upstairs bedrooms which we use as a study. That is where the BT master socket is . I don’t think that the new lot will be willing to run the new fibre cable right around the outside of the house. I suspect that they will want to put it through the longe wall, but we shall see. The stupid thing is that they say they need three spare sockets to plug everything into. Who on earth has three empty sockets next to each other? There is a double socket in the corner of the lounge where I think they will want to be, but I have two lamps plugged in there, so we would need an extension lead .
Then tomorrow the plumber is scoring to fix the dripping shower. That needs a new cartridge what ever that is, but it isn’t cheap of course!

It is cold and raining , but I need to go and collect the prescriptions, so I will wrap up and brave it

Hello to all.
I
Florence..it sounds as though you really enjoyed your few days away & all went smoothly.
Very surprised to see that you ventured out to my neck of the woods, I'm not far from Peterhead, roughly 6 miles away, & my late Mother in Law was born & grew up very close to Cruden bay, she was born just along the road at a wee coastal Hamlet called North Haven.
Spent many times visiting Jacks grandparents there when we were courting,& stayed in Cruden Bay for our Honeymoon.

re the washer, our daughters friend ( plumber/electrician ) has checked my washer, he is going to price up parts but thinks it could be pricey to repair, I've resigned myself to getting a new machine.

Joan.

Good morning all from the Wild West!

We had a fab few days away and the concert was brilliant. WE stayed at The Hilton Hotel in Aberdeen and was excellent. The staff went above and beyond for us so cannot fault them. We had a huge room, a fridge, iron and board, safe for valuables plus tv etc. Def would stay again in the future.

We did some touring around and on Wed, we went up the coast to Peterhead. Lovely little harbour where we saw seals swimming around. The bridge went up after we arrived to let a huge boat through so that was a sight.

Then we found a lovely cafe called The Dolphin where we had a light lunch. Excellent place, clean reasonable and the food came very quickly.

We called in at Cruden bay and had morning coffee in the beach cafe and watched huge waves rolling in as it was a bit wild!

On the way home to the airport, we found a lovely place that had a great restaurant plus a "Tardis" with lots of things to buy, all quite unexpected.

Of course on the way, we had to stop at Brodie Country Fayre and have lunch. Have a google!

So got home latish on Thursday and have now caught up with washing etc.

Its an awful day here with stormy winds and set to rise later to over 70 mph so a day indoors today.

Got the last few gifts to wrap and plenty chores to do anyway.

Joan , hope you get your washing machine sorted. Maybe its not too difficult to repair?

Linda, I was in one of your fav shops, Sea Salt Cornwall and was bought a lovely long waterproof jacket in Aubergine trimmed with black, just what Ive been looking for for ages.

Plenty more cards have come too so another string went up last night :-D

Hope everyone else looking in is ok and keeping safe

Florence in the hebrides

That sounds bad Joan, I hope that you can get it tepaired as the few top loaders you can get seem to be very expensive.

Ah hope that you can find one then Joan.

I've always had a top loader.
My kitchen is small & no space for the front loading ones as it is, we would have to re-arrange the kitchen units & lose one unit on the side where the sink is to accommodate a front loader, which would mean losing a unit, & then I wouldn't now get anything matching to fill in a Small gap that would be left.

Joan.

Oh dear Joan I suspect that is going to be expensive to repair, if, that is, it is doable. Do you have to have a top loader or is it just what you are used to. I think there is more choice with a front loader and they are proably cheaper.

Sunny here today and 12 degrees so more like spring with a stiff breeze.

We in this postcode have still not had any mail. Apparently if yoou have a parcel delivered you will also get you ordinary mail as they are prioritising parcel mail.

Last night was dreadul here, we had a VERY windy night, the noise as usual was terrible, thankfully the powere stayed on & no rain. I didn't get much in the way of sleep.

It is much calmer today & after several dismal days we have daylight & the sun is sunshine, lets hope it stays dry long enough to dry up a very soggy garden & all the puddles that have been around for a long time.

Looks like I might have to buy a new washing machine.
I have a Top Loader & the other day whilst spinning it made an unusual loud noise, when I got into it the drum was upside down & I had difficulty turning it so as to remove the clothes, the drum didn't run free & seems to be a bit lopsided.

It's going to be an expense whatever I do, not sure if it's repairable & top loaders are more expensive the the front loaders, just what I needed at this time of year !

Joan.

Well, it is a horrible rainy day and Yorkshire Water has finally lifted the hosepipe ban

I hope that you enjoy your trip Florence.
We seem to get post a couple of times a week Ann, but I know some areas have problems.
Esme is much better and is no longer testing positve,so she is going back to school tomorrow, or that is the plan. It is one of the days when her mum goes down to London for the day, so; it would be better if she was at school

Good morning florence.
always good to hear that at least somebody is receiving cards in the post. we, in this area have not had any post since the Saturday before last.
12 degrees here but very gloomy, still dry though.