General Chat

Oh my word Tess, I dont envy you with the plastering job.
A friend of mine, went to America for three weeks with another friend, and when she got back, the header tank in the attic had been leaking, and the house was soaking everywhere.
That was not the worse bit for her though, when they insurance company came out to inspect it, they said that all the ceilings, wall, floors etc had to be replaced, and to top it all, it had to be done by a specialist company, as there is asbestos in the plaster.
Poor woman has been climbing the walls with frustration, as it's such a big job, and she has to be out of the house whilst it's being done.
Jan is far more patient than I would be, as they keep doing a bit, and then leaving and coming back to do a bit more.
Whilst I realise that working with asbestos can be very dangerous, but if they are taking precautions with breathing aparatus and the like, I can see no reason for them to go and leave half a job done.
I just hope your builders are more considerate love.
Well girls, I cant stop as we are getting ready to go for a meal for my grandsons 18th birthday, and then I have to rush away to darts again.
Bye for now, love and best wishes to you all. Mo xxx

Hi all


we are having some lovely weather ...... it's often called an "Indian summer'. Lots of sunny days, getting up to about 14C, but the nights are cool and getting down to 3 or 4C

The leaves on the trees are showing some good colour ................... not common on this side of Canada, as we do not usually get the cold nights and sunny dry days!


I'm slowly getting more and more mobility back. I went to see the physio for the first time last Thursday. Came home with some exercises to do, and some massaging, and appointments twice a week for the next 4 weeks :-0


This is not going to be a cheap time ................ but "I'm worth it", as an ad on tv says (for shampoo, I think) :-D


.............. the latest achievement was being able to put on a long sleeved turtleneck sweater on Friday. Just in time for the cooler weather :-D.

I must admit I was getting rather fed up of blouses ............. I only have 2 short-sleeved and 3 long-sleeved blouses. Two of the long sleeved ones are actually more for wearing over thin tops than on their own!



Lovely to hear from you Tess. I don't envy you the plastering job!

We have gyprock panels instead of plaster over here ...... that makes life a lot easier!


Having said that, the older part of our house was built around 1943, and that has lath and plaster walls .......... which are terrible to deal with!



sylvia
xx

Hi there girls.
Oh what a day!
Roly had to take our son to the hospital today. On his way to work, a stupid idiot in a people carrier, cut him up on a roundabout, and forced him onto the grass in the middle of it.
His car has been towed away, with damage to both doors on the passenger side and the front wing,and it has been scraped all down the side.
My son was furious, not only because of the damage to the car, but he said had baby Lilly been in the car, the impact would have been on her side of the vehicle, and she could have been badly injured.
Our son has got whip lash, and has been given strong pain killers and anti-inflamatories to help with the pain.
The insurance company, have already given him a courtecy(sp) car, so if he feels up to it, he will be going back to work tomorrow.

We had a lovely meal with our family last night. And my grandson was like the cock of the north, roosting over the whole lot of us.
We are sooo lucky, he is a lovely lad.

I spent most of the morning wrapping christmas presents, so that I know who else I have to buy for.
Thank the lord for the sales at the beggining of the year. I have only got to buy for five of the grandchildren, and our great grandaughter now, the rest are all got.
Our spare bedroom looks like father christmas's grotto, with presents all over the place. lol

Sylvia love, you are doing so well. Keep up the good work. I bet you are glad you can get into some warmer jumpers though.
I have started to wear my winter coat this week, as it has turned rather chilly here.
I think I am going to need it next week, when we pootle of to Blackpool next week.
It can get very very cold up there walking through the lights at night time.
I also want to go to the ice show again this year, it's been absolutely fantastic show when we have been in the past.
And we must go to the Blackpool Tower Circus, oooh we are both big kids at heart, but thoroughly enjoy going.

Well girls thats all from mrs gasbag for now.
Take good care of yourselves. Love to you all. Mo xxx

Mo how did you get on last night? You didn't say. We loved the lights in Blackpool the one time we went. I'd like to go again but we never seem to get around to it. Sorry about your son's acccident I hope the people carrier driver stopped and his insurance pays.

today we drove over to Chepstow driving down the notorious A48 (The most dangerous road in Gloucestershire. 39 fatalities in recent years). It was a beautiful sunny day and we arrived unscathed thank goodness. Probably because it was mid morning and the accidents seem to happen early morning or evening. Or maybe it is all the signs stating the number of deaths and the fact that the number can be altered, nobody wants to be number 40! We met up with a friend in Chepstow garden centre. She is staying with her sister in Chepstow, she lives in Essex so it is a handy place to meet up when she visits. We had a nice chat over lunch then drove back over the bridge, admiring the view of the River Severn in the sunshine and back down the M5, stopping at a local garden centre for coffee before driving home. Then when we got home I made a birthday card and three Christmas cards. :-) :-) :-)

Sorry Ann, I meant to tell you about darts on monday night. We won 4-2 but lost the pairs 2-1.
Tomorrow night is our laughter night at darts, we just dont care if we win or lose, it's the fun we go for.

Fortunately,the people carrier driver stopped,and admitted that the accident was his fault. They swapped insurance details,and my sons insurance company got straight onto it, and arranged for the courtecy car,and collection of the damaged car.
Our son seems to be o.k at the moment. The hospital dont believe in putting collars on whip lash injuries anymore, they feel that leaving them off helps people to move their necks better, and a shorter time for recovery.

I have to admit Ann, that fortunately for us, we have never driven down the A48. The M25 is bad enough thanks.lol

I must go and prepare the dinner now, see you later girls. xxx

Hi Girls,

Sorry I haven't been on here for several days only Alun is on holiday from work this week so we have been busy decorating a couple of rooms and I've also been busy making some birthday cards.


Mo, sorry to hear about your son's accident but pleased to hear that he was alright, as you said it could have been a whole lot worse. Hope that driver has learned his lesson and that he will not do it to anyone else in future.

Well done on your win on Monday night but sorry about you losing the pairs.

Pleased that you and your family had a good time and a lovely meal for your Grandson's birthday on Monday.

It's many years since I last went to Blackpool, unfortunately it was during the summertime so I have never seen the lights. Hopefully one day we might manage the time to go and see them. We have been to Blackpool Tower Circus though.lol!!






Ann, sounds as though you and T had a nice day out yesterday. It's nice meeting up with old friends and having a good chat to catch up on all the news.

It's a very long time since we've been on the A48, well over 35 years I'm sure, I expect it has changed quite a bit over the years so we wouldn't recognise very much of it now.




Sylvia, glad to hear that you are improving and that you are now starting to do some things that have been difficult for you to do since your operation.
Good thing that you are able to get a turtleneck sweater on now with the weather having got a good bit colder.


How are J,M and M J doing? I hope all is well with them all. MJ must be toddling everywhere now. Do you know when you and OH will see them all next?




Tess, it's lovely to hear from you and to know that you are alright.

I don't envy you having all the plastering done, it's such a messy job to have done......but well worth the mess when it's all done and the walls are nice and smooth and much better to decorate.

Alun has stripped the wallpaper off the walls on the landing and down the stairs, he's still got to strip the walls in the hallway which is a good size, we had hoped to do more this week than we've done, but I'm afraid age has slowed us down.lol!!! Goodness knows when we'll manage to get the wallpapering done and finished as it takes twelve rolls of paper altogether.





Caz, if you are looking in, I hope that your kidney infection is better and that you are feeling more comfortable. Also hope that you are feeling less depressed than you've been lately and that the tablets have now started to 'kick in'. Thinking of you.





Jean, I hope you and your family are all alright. I expect you are busy making cards.....I've seen the ones both you and Ann have made on the blog, they're all lovely as usual.

Thank you for asking about Jennie. She's fine at the moment (touch wood)
so hope she will continue that way. Ever since she's seen the dietician at the hospital, who she had never seen before she is going along.




Not sure if Marie is back home from the family reunion yet. Hope all is well with her and her family.



Huia, hope all is alright with you and Phil. It seems a while since I 'spoke' to you.


Mo, you certainly are well ahead hing wrapped all your Christmas presents.......I've bought some of mine but I've still got most of them to buy.




Well ladies, I'm going to make a cuppa now so will speak to you all soon.



Love and best wishes. Sallie.xxx

Hello all.

I was out all yesterday. I had an appointment in the morning to get my replacement hearing aid (for the one I lost). Did a little shopping then spent the afternoon working in the hospice shop. The boss and her offsider did a 'Wok' (is that his name?) job on me. They decided my bra was much too big. They got one of the ones that were for sale and put it on me. Far too small in the cup but it certainly uplifted me. Told me what size I should try on in the shops. When we finished I went to one shop. Their fitter had already gone home (well it was 4.30). I tried one on but I looked all crumpled in it so decided I would have to try another day when there is more time and a fitter to help me.

I went to a shop to have dinner. I had brought a plastic bag from home as their roast dinner always has enough meat and veg for 2 meals, even though I get the 'small' dinner. I decided to come home afterwards and change out of the too-small bra before going out again for a candidates' meeting in Clevedon. I had not prepared a written speech. I did not go as well as I would have liked as I was worried that I would start coughing and that made me nervous, but at least I had waved the flag and let people know we are still around. I was very tired when I got home and didnt get up until almost 9.00 this morning.

Better get off the internet in case anybody tries to ring me.

Huia.

ps, the hearing aids are useless. I had trouble hearing questions from the audience, something I specifically hoped the aids would help with, and the fluorescent lights above us were buzzing in my aids.

wow Sallie, making up for lost time there Lol!!!
Actually I would think you would recognise the A48, it has not really changed in that time. 35 years ago we were living in Lydney and I used to often drive down the A48 to Gloucester. It was, of course, much quieter with fewer cars in those days but, except for taking out most of the dual carriageways by putting in cross hatching to stop overtaking and doing away with the three lanes near Minsterworth, making it two way onle it is more or less the same until you reach Lydney which now has a by pass.

sounds as if you and alun are very busy, hope you mange to get the wallpapering done soon.

Huia. Did your insurance cover your hearing aid? Did you try turning your aid up? Or have yours not got volume control? when I attended meetings of the charity that I used to be trustee of we had a loop system and a wandering mike. That way people with hearing difficulties could hear OK.

Hello Ann if you are still there. The insurance covered most of the cost of the hearing aid, but I had to pay the $250 excess that I have on my insurance :-( There are no volume controls on these aids, unfortunately, anyway the buzzing from the neon light would have annoyed me even more! The meeting was in a small hall (presumably the supper room) and they didnt use mikes. As for t-coils, they are useless on the phone with my aids, even though they are supposed to help. Ah well, at least I can hear a little better with the aids than without, even if I cant hear one person in a hubbub of voices.

Huia.

Good that you got most of it paid for Huia. Yes the buzz from the light would be bad with aids. Lectures I used to attend used to have the person talking speaking into a mike on the loop system which worked beautifully, as does also the loop system at one of the theatres we go to. Just as if they are speaking into your ear. The loop system (I think) only works on phones if the phone itself is set up for it. I rarely speak on the phone these days because of my hearing problem.

Ann, the phone I have has a t-coil I think it is called. It is supposed to be compatible with hearing aids, in fact I took it in to the hearing aid place to check that it was suitable. I had a lot of magnets to put on the earpiece, but all they did was catch my hairs. I also have to switch the hearing aids to the special setting for telephone, but it is just not as good as taking the aid out and pressing the handpiece as hard as I can on the ear - not good if it is a long call, as I get a sore ear. Most frustrating.

I have just seen a press release from our party. I am 11th on the party list for the election! If the party gets 20% of the party vote, that means I could be going to Wellington as an MP. Not very likely though, unless the voters have suddenly woken up and decide to vote for us. But then, we could get the protest vote!

Huia who doesnt really want to go to Wellington.

More phots of my cards and Jeans on the blog.

Am rather tired, should be boxing up all my clutter items, (I've got loads) before the plasterers arrive at 8.00 on Monday.


Don't tell Huia, but one of her mouses seems to have burrowed through the globe all the way to my house ... Argh!!

I am now hiding from it, as it doesn't seem to want to hide from me.
It did two laps of the bathroom while I watched.
Had to use the downstairs loo instead.

I shall have to load up a mouse trap once I decide where to put it.

Other than that I'm quite well.


Tess

Lol Tess, have this vision of you standing on the loo while the mouse does two laps of the bathroom!!!

Tess, those Mice from New Zealand, are very good at digging their way over here arn't they. I've heard of little mice with clogs on, but these ones were wearing pith helmets, and carrying torches to find their way to your house. lol ;-)
Like Ann, I had to giggle at the mice doing two laps of the bathroom,with you looking on.

Before I go any further, I must say a big thank you to, Jean, Sallie and Joyce,for the lovely birthday cards. You are all so clever at what you do girls, they are even better than the shop bought ones, with a lot of love and thought going into them. Thank you all.

Well done Huia, on becoming eleventh on the party list for the election.
Would you have to move to Wellington, if you got voted in at the elections.
Uhhhmmm just think girls, Huia could become our first politition on here, you know one of the people we in this country moan about constantly, but she would be the one person that we would change our minds over coz we like her.

I wonder how our Sylvia is as we have not heard from her since the 17th of the month. I do hope you are o.k Sylvia.

Must go and start some dinner now, so I will love you and leave you, sending you all my very best wishes. Love Mo xxx

Huia does that mean you are now keeping your fingers crossed that people don't vore for you :-D :-D :-D

My aids have a special setting for the phone but I am not sure if the phone I have in this room is compatible with it.

Hi all
xxx



well, what a frustrating day with GR!



I'm doing well ..... but seem to be so busy with all these physio appointments!, and then trying to do the exercises and massages at home in between





s
xxx

Tess, it was mainly rats bothering me last summer. If they follow the mice, you are welcome to them.

Mo, if I win the seat or get in on the party vote, I will still keep this home, but would need a flat in Wellington for when parliament is sitting.

No, I cant see me getting in unless a thunderbolt from up above strikes the voting public and puts some sense into them!

Huia.

I believe it is your birthday today, Mo. HAPPY BIRTHDAY.

Huia.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MO. Hope you have a wonderful day with your family and friends.


Love and best wishes. Sallie and Alun.xxx

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3