General Chat

We're having some nice weather here, temperatures around 14-16C during the day, sunny with cloudy periods or cloudy with sunny periods! It is a bit nippy when out of the sun, and we have had some rain, but could do with much more!

I had my Covid and Flu shots today ............. a nurse came to the Residence, set up shop in one of the Activity Rooms, and then we had to go there when the time came. Covid in the left arm, flu in the right!! OH will presumably be getting his shots later, as they wait a little while longer in the unit he's in.

We're having a Provincial Election here, voting date is the 19th October, but a mobile voting unit is coming tomorrow so we can all cast early votes. Of course we haven't any "bumpf" here, so I had to go online this afternoon to discover who the candidates are in our election area. Not much information on them, so we'll just have to take a guess as to which party we might want to vote for!

I'll give OH the list this evening, then I'll go down when it's time tomorrow, and bring him up to the Voting Place, so he can cast his vote ............... he is capable of doing that!

Take care everyone.

OH doesn’t notice dust, so we decided to do admin instead
One of our annual savings accounts was maturing and reverting to low interest, so we opened a new one and did a trial movement of some of the money.That went easily, so we will move the rest if the money later
Then the car insurance is due for renewal, so we went on a comparison site and ended up opening a new policy which was with the AA. It saved about £45 , not as much as we usually save, but better than nothing. The trouble started when we tried to log into the AA on line to view the documents. We have a Nationwide bank account and that gives us breakdown cover which happens to be with the AA., so when we tried to log in with either of our email addresses, it only showed the breakdown cover. So we ended up ringing them :-( They insisted that we had to have another email address to create a new AA account in order to see the documents. How stupid is that :-|. In the end I used an old Hotmail address which I never use, it worked and we could get in. I felt like cancelling the new policy and starting again.

Always ArgyllGran, always lol

If all else fails, you can always dust/polish/iron, Florence!

Afternoon all
Well its about 45 mph here so gale force and heavy showers but think the wind will drop by Saturday, hopefully.

I got 3 parcels today with things i had ordered fo xmas & the general household as well. Lol it was like xmas in my kitchen with the table full of goodies etc :-D :-D

Easy bit done, next the wrapping and then the worse bit the boxing up and parcelling

When sending things in a box, i used to wrap it in thick brown paper but now, i use a thick black bin bag.. Its lighter and far easier to wrap the box in and its waterproof unlike brown paper.

Im sure you can find something for hubby to do Linda? Dusting, polishing, ironing?Amazing how women just find something to do and men always seem to ask the women, what can i do?

I expect he's happiest when he is outside doing practical things like the fence he's building as most men probably are.

Well better make a sandwich of something for lunch and then try & be productive this afternoon in some way!

Florence in the hebrides

I hope everyone is fine today. I had to go to a routine dental hygienists appointment this morning. It was damp here , but not raining. I have a half hour drive up the motorway and the rain was absolutely torrential. It was really scary driving through it. I was glad to get there. It was just ordinary rain on the way back which was bad enough.
I am glad to be home and will be staying put for the rest of the day.

OH has started building a fence down one side of the back garden where the hedge was. It was a solid block of ivy and once we pulled the ivy out there were very few trees left. He has got three of the four metal posts in with the wooden cross beams between them. He was keen to get the last post in today, then he could put the boards on, but rain has stopped play, so he is wandering about inside looking for things to do.

Afternoon everyone looking in.
Well the weather is going downhill fast as its now blowing a gale and raining hard. It was calm when i got up but suddenly the wind is roaring outside. thank goodness i dont have to go out in it!

Been trying to finish off my xmas presents and I found a brilliant book for my dad but from my daughter to him. Its a book all about locomotives in the south east with lots of pictures which i know he will enjoy looking at. He's at an age(86) where he has most things but during the coming winter, I know he wont be out much so having some interesting books to look at will pass the time for him.

I also found an organiser box for cards with dividers. Daughter has mentioned this awhile ago that she needs a box to keep cards in different sections like birthday, blank etc and this one is just what she needs so another ticked off.

Considering i started quite early, which I'm glad I did, i still haven't quite got there!

The next job will be sorting into families and then the grand wrapping session which we usually do on a Sunday with lots of nibbles & juice plus music, then it doesnt seem so much as a chore.

Hope everyone else looking in today is well and has better weather than we do!

Florence in the hebrides

I had a look to see when the 2 dose jabs started - it was September 2023 and apparently it is replacing the single dose jab for everyone. They may use what they have left first I suppose.

I’ve heard of this but didn’t pay any attention as I had mine a few years ago. Does seem stupid not to point out when the two dose is being used.

Are they all the two dose version now?
Added: just checked the NHS website which says if you have severely affected immune system you get the x2 version otherwise it is the other one which is once.
But probably down to what is in the fridge :-S

I've never heard of a two-part shingles jab, either.
I had one jab several years ago, and there's never been any mention of needing another.

I just looked at the shingles jab as I was told I only needed one dose. There are two different vaccines, one needing one dose, the other needs two doses.

The one dose jab cannot be given to people who have a severely weakened iimmune system.

Every day's a school day!

I didn’t know that the Shingles jab had two parts, we have both only had one.
Both our arms are sore, but the flu jab one is much worse for both of us. The flu jab was in my left arm and that is the side I normally sleep on, so that wasn’t helpful.
Apart from the sore arms, we feel OK.

If you can get some salad leaves growing, you should be able to to keep them going all winter in the poly tunnel Florence. It is probably too cold for them to germinate outside now, if you had somewhere inside to get them going, you might be able to plant them out in the tunnel

Polytunnel sounds great Florence you will be all sorted for spring sowing . Do you have space near by for a good compost heap to keep up a supply of compost that you will need for top ups.

We went for our flu jabs yesterday. 1 gp and 1 nurse doing them I went in first and nurse said can I do your shingles jab today. I've had it I said . No you had part one and should have had part 2. Would have been helpful if I was told that a the time of the first jab. Anyway I had it and now have 2 sore arms and didn't sleep well at all. OH was told to have his flu jab and then see the nurse for his diabetic check (no prior notice) waited to be called and then was told he wasn't on the list for the check. Think they were trying to do to many things in 1 morning. Just got to book our covid jabs now at the pharmacy.

Take care all.

Sounds like Florence will be able to feed the whole community once she gets going.

Jabs - we both have sore arms today and neither of us could drop off to sleep. Usually I get blamed but not this time. I am so tired my eyelids are drooping.

Ann -
it is an account with no paper statements, but I always print paper copies.
Which is just as well, or I wouldn't have been able to tell them about the last transaction, as I can't log in to the account until the registered mobile number is changed so that I can receive an OTP.

Rain today - but that's good . The garden and pots were needing it.

How will you water things in the polytunnel, Florence? (You may have said already - I can't remember.)

AG what a rigmarole with all the security checks. I dread having to phone anyone that needs a lot of checks like that with hearing problems as well I would be on the phone for hours. As for the last amount you had to quote, if it was. like mine, an on line account with no paper statements that too would take ages.
Florence you will be putting the supermarket out of work growing all those veg. It is going to mean a lot of work for you looking after it all. Might be an idea not to sew them all at once. Is the poly tunnel heated at all?

In the future we shall possibly see coach trips to view Florence's poly tunnel.

You're going to be very busy, Florence!
You could open a market garden, by the sound of it!
It'll be lovely to be able to potter about in the polytunnel regardless of what the weather's doing outside.

Well despite the awful weather, we managed to transfer all my garden stuff across to the polytunnel; and now have a huge space where the big box was behind my kitchen door!

The workbenches have all the trays underneath on the bottom shelf. All my seeds are in a sealed plastic box so they wont get damp.

I will be growing, potatoes, beetroot, carrots, onions, peppers and some herbs plus garden peas. In not sure there is anything I can grow now at this time of year but i need the time to get 44 bags of 60l compost for the raised beds sorted out. Yes i did say 44 60l bags!!! Costing loads but have to have it.

We may try courgette and cucumber as well. I'm also thinking of maybe blackberry or raspberry but we shall see.

A t least my small flower pots wont get bashed about this year in the gales as they will be inside the polytunnel.

Names, yes Tesco up here are the only branch in the whole of the uk not to be open on Sunday. But all the hotels are, Chinese, Indian and the Tai plus a petrol station that sells just about anything.
30 years ago nothing was open, no planes, no ferries etc but over the years things have changed and now Tesco are in a discussion with their staff to gauge how many staff would be willing to work.

One minister said, any shop that is open on Sunday, he wont ever shop there on any day of the week so if the coop open, then he wont have a supermarket to shop in!!

If one is so religious, they wouldn't use a shop, that's fine, don't shop but please don't preach to others. Its a free country. Everyone should have a choice.

Argyllgran, what a nuisance re your bank etc Hope it all gets sorted once you get your new card.

I had reason to go in my bank on Friday when i was over for the day. I had issued a cheque for a large amount to my son in respect of inheritance form his nanna and he deposited it using the app on his phone. But imagine my horror, to learn the next day, the bank had returned my cheques un paid.

After several phone calls which were a waste of time, a letter arrived some 2 weeks later advising me they do not hold my signature on file and that is why it was unpaid!! I was furious as ive banked there for 31 years no less.

So I went into the branch and sure enough, they don't hold a mandate on my account. When i asked why etc, they said they had moved to a new system and i should have had a form sent to me to sign but I never got it!!

All sorted now but what if I had paid the Polytunnel co this way, how embarrassing would that of been? And to add insult to injury, the bank never apologized at all. Changed days since i worked in a branch where we gave 110 % service to all our customers or else.

Well Ive not had any food yet so better rustle something up quick as im starving!

Florence in the hebrides

My Covid/flu jabs will be on Oct 31st, in a local(ish) village hall 10 miles away. Email informing me of that arrived today.

I had the RSV one several weeks ago, with absolutely no reaction afterwards.

It's been cloudy and overcast all day, and keeps looking as if it's going rain. But it hasn't, and my washing has dried outside.
The wind isn't cold - I've been out working in the garden in a jumper but no jacket.

Yesterday I discovered that I had stupidly allowed my PAYG mobile number to lapse, and had therefore lost all the credit on it - about £10, I think.
It also meant that I had to get HMRC and a bank to change the number they send One-time Passcodes to.
Fortunately, other bodies which send OTPs have a different number registered with them.

HMRC was relatively easy, as it could be done online, and wasn't urgent in any case.
The bank was another matter, though mainly my own fault.

I phoned them. As part of the security info they had to check before they would change the number, they wanted a 4-digit code, which I wasn't aware I had.
Had to ring off and go hunting through several years of paperwork to find it.

Phoned them again. This time, of course they didn't ask for the 4-digit code, but wanted the last 4 digits on my bank card instead. I couldn't find the card, and still can't.
I've never used it, because my main account is with a different bank , so it ought to be in my filing cabinet with other bank stuff - but there's no sign of it.

Phoned them again, to ask them to cancel that card and send me a new one.
Security this time involved telling them the amount and date of the last transaction on the account. Fortunately, with some rummaging through statements, I was able to tell them that.

The new card will arrive in about 4 days time, and new PIN a couple of days after that.
And then I can try again to ask them to change the mobile number!

I bet they don't even ask for the card number this time, but only the 4-digit code.
I hope there isn't some other bit of security info I don't have!


I hope your weather improves soon, Florence, and you can start enjoying your polytunnel to the full.

Sylvia,

You certainly seem to be well looked after in your new home.
I hope you will be happy and enjoy being cared for, - freed from day to day worries.

Flu jab for me too this morning.
I've never had a reaction, so hope it stays that way.
Our GP surgery is an area hub for vaccines and have it down to a fine art.
I was in one door, along the corridor, into one of the many treatment rooms, vaccine administered and out the back door...... All within 2 minutes.
They really excelled themselves today.!

Daughter had suggested coffee and cake at a cafe just below the cliffs at Folkestone, so the 3 of us drove there afterwards and sat under the sun umbrellas looking out over the glistening sea to see France in the distance.
...( sorry Florence !)
It was beautiful and so warm, which even brought out a little lizard to bask in the sunshine.
..... A bit like Death in Paradise scenes .... ;-)

I hope they can find a suitable place for Esme to have her vaccine, if it is recommended.
I wish different departments of health care could work together better, then people wouldn't have the hassle of chasing non-existant appointments :-S

Florence
I can't wait to hear your plans of what you will grow in your new poly-tunnel. Are you planting anything before winter sets in?