General Chat

Morning all.

A bit of a dampish day here and very grey looking so doesnt inspire me to want to go outside at all.

Anyone having a flutter of the Cheltenham Gold Cup big race later this afternoon? I dont often have a bet but the Derby, National I do.

So I picked 2 horses and placed £1 each way and we shall see if my luck is in.

Joan all the drivers like postie, couriers etc all drive way to fast and they never get stopped for speeding. The courier that delivers all the catalogues here etc is always on his phone whilst driving!!!

Your plants sound lovely and so hope they manage ok until you can plant out.

Well my hall is clear now as desk unit has gone and the furniture company is coming to replace the defective bedside cupboard later on today...yay :-D
But I shall inspect this one before they go and if it is not perfect they can have it back and refund me.

Hope everyone is well and ok.

Shall look in later

Florence in the hebrides

We had a snow storm last night, but it didn’t lay. It was minus six overnight and a really hard frost this morning. It is still very cold out there, but is going to be a lot warmer tomorrow

Little Esme is off school today and tomorrow because of the school strikes, they have just gone into the market square to get some lunch to fill a bit of time in

I have never watched The Apprentice Florence, it has never appealed to me.

Afternoon to anyone looking in.

Well the light dusting of more snow has now all gone but bitterly cold at 3 degrees but dry. I would say good day for the washing, but think my hands would drop off hanging it out lol

All very quiet here as daughter elsewhere until tom eve so Im quite happy pottering about tidying in my own time. Its just over 2 weeks until i see the family and now getting excited.

I ordered 2 kites for my nephew as we have the open treeless spaces and the wind for perfect kite flying. I booked a couple of things for us to do as well and between myself and SIL we have organised the food menu for the week taking it in turns.

Freezer has been sorted and reorganised and much more space.

Still waiting for the defective bedside cupboard to be collected and replaced but no show of the company yet.

Joan, how is your garden looking now, assuming you didn't get any more snow? is your rd ok for the postie?

Linda what another lot of bags of rubbish, quite unbelievable but you are so amazing helping out, hats off to you.

Hope AnnG and JG and anyone else ok and keeping warm.

Anyone watching the Apprentice? only 5 left now and all women!! Personally, I wouldnt want anyone of them working for me.

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

Well Joan likewise, the rain and wind came and our snow has all gone except on the hills there is still a light covering.

Had some terribly sad news yesterday. One f my best friends told me, her husband has stomach cancer, he is 60. On the return from a recent holiday, he took unwell and went to his gp the following day. he was sent straight to hospital where he was told he had a bleeding ulcer in his stomach.

But further tests revealed he has cancer :-(

My friend and her 3 children are just numb with shock. Until he goes away soon for other scans etc, they dont know what stage. Im so in shock, I didnt know what to say when she messaged me except im thinking of them all <3

You dont have to be old to get cancer thesedays and anyone can get it. hes a non smoker and likes a social drink.

Hope everything ok with anyone else looking in.

Florence in the hebrides

I am glad you have your power back Florence.

It is a br Ishtar sunny day here, but cold of course. We have just got back from the monthly town litter pick. There was a very good turn out and we collected a large number of bags. We could have kept going in one wooded area, but everyone was shattered and we ran out of time.

I have just found out that we picked 77 bags of litter, plus a push chair and an office chair

Afternoon all.
Just quickly popped on as we lost power at 11am and its just came back on!

Thankfully as this is a new very well insulated house, its warmish without heating on today.

The power went off in Skye, Outer Hebrides etc so was a vey large area. Probably a pole came down on the main network or lightening struck a transformer?

Anyway off to fill kettle up as I quite ready for a coffee. We lost Vodaphone too within 10 mins of power going off so were completely up the creek without a paddle except for....good old landline. I hope we get to keep it for a long time as this was our life line in case of emergency today, so grateful we still have this facility.

Hope all is well with everyone else

We still have several inches of snow as no rain for several days here to wash it all away!

Florence in the Hebrides

No snow at all here in Argyll.

We had a few snow showers on Tuesday, but it didn't lie, and apart from that it's been blue sky and sunshine for a couple of weeks now.

Very cold - but so nice to have dry weather. We're not used to that here on the west coast! Usually it's just depressing rain for weeks on end.

Evening all.
How is everyone today?
Well I was busy and very productive today. I had ordered a printer workstation on Amazon and it arrived after lunch.

Daughter went for a lay down as wasn't feeling well so I heaved the heavy box on my own along the hallway into the lounge. Opened the huge box and lifted the pieces one by one. By god they were heavy wood, solid.

Anyway, covered kitchen table with a table cloth and set to work putting it all together. was going well until I hit my thumb hard and said a few choice words and now is 50 shades of purple!
Three hours later and my printer station was all assembled and now looks jolly smart alongside my computer table which I also put together.

I sent a few pics to me dad and he said would I like a job? I replied, well it depends how much an hour you will pay me :-D :-D :-D

Took nearly as long to get the lounge and kitchen looking back to normal with all the packaging etc but all sorted now.

Too late for me to make a curry so quick pizza & chips and curry for tomorrow etc.

The snow is still several inches deep in back garden although the roads are clear,

Hope everyone else is keeping warm today.

Florence in the hebrides

Well, yes I guess sleet does make a noise against my window but the snow falls silently.

I lived in Kent, most of my life until I was 31. Walking to school in 2ft of snow for 3 miles was a regular occurrence as the buses ground to a halt. People also walked to their jobs and left their cars at home until it thawed.

Its not a new thing to see footloads of snow in the Pennines or Yorkshire dales, just annoys me when I hear people on tv saying, didnt know it would this bad etc...

Not sure if Joan has a smart phone Linda?

We have had some more snow showers on and off and a little sun.

So hall cupboard decluttered and reorganised and filled recycle bin with all sorts. Not sure why we need to 50 empty jars???? I do make jam but really a dozen is all i need. Celebration plastic tins? Omg, I found 7 buried under things and we def do not need them as have 4 already on top of kitchen cupboards for cakes etc.

So a job well done.

We then decided to do under the kitchen sink! Well 6 bottles of washing up liquid, 3 disinfectant, 3 window cleaner, numerous wipes and dishcloths plus various other sprays empty!!!

So emptied whole 2 shelves, threw out a lot of empties etc and now looks hald decent. We def do not need to buy any cleaning products for some time!

Daughter has OCD and when she does the shopping list, she does tend to over order on cleaning things but from now on I shall need to keep a close eye on the order list online.

Right, I need me coffee and a rest now as Im quite exhausted lol

I think their reasoning now re closing schools is that the staff don't live locally so if the roads are bad they can't get in, also the children are not, like ours used to be, local. Having said that my primary school was a short walk to the bus, a ten minute bus ride then a fairly long walk to school from the bus stop. I don't remember staying home in 1947, I suppose I may have forgotten.
In the really bad winter of 1962/3 the snow lasted for literally months. I didn't have children at school then so I don't remember what happened. I do know my OH had about a 40 minute drive to work down narrow lanes and no way would the Royal Navy accept he was unable to get in.

Recently met a lady who lives in Ottawa. they have real snow there, deep snow constant from October to april. It is so cold down to -40 that the children are not allowed to walk to school they must got on the buses and keep their faces covered except their eyes when getting to the bus or they would instantly get frost bite.

Our snow has more or less gone. I walked into the market square to collect the prescriptions and the pavements were fine apart from one slushy section, so I walked on the road for that part.
Esme’s farm trip was postponed, so she won’t be happy about that.

Can you see a photo on the Evri delivery to show where they have left your plants Joan? Maybe they just dumped them at the end of the drive, although knowing Evri, they will still be in the depot and they will deliver them in a few weeks once they are dead

I thought it was snow not sleet.

When we moved to East Kent from the London suburbs we definitely had’nt seen snow like that. I would wait for the first bus to go past cutting into the snow then I could get the car out and follow in it’s tracks Don’t suppose that the bus would run nowadays in that depth nowadays.

:-D :-D :-D@names. I am a very light sleeper and so when its sleets against my window, I wake up. However last night I slept for Scotland and never woke once which shows how tired i was as i'm always awake at 3am!

What I can and never will understand is why people say, they have never seen snow like it???? And why do people venture out when they gave so many warnings???

I remember much worse falls of snow than we have just now. Most of the ones stranded claim, they didnt realise it would be this bad. Well they gave enough warnings. Even if i had to lose a days pay, I would not put my life or anyone else life at risk by travelling in awful weather.

Once when i worked in Tescos back in the 70's, we had no deliveries of bread etc for a whole week and we still managed not to starve! In other countries where they regularly have 2ft of snow, they just get on with it.

If you work for the emergency services or you are a nurse or a dr, then your journey may be essential but people trying to get into town or visit friends etc is not necessary.

Florence didn’t hear the snow fall :-S. Way down in the south it is usually a very quiet thing ;-)

Well after the sun had melted some of our snow outside the front door yesterday and the roads had cleared somewhat, I have just woken to find several inches have fallen during the night!!! We must have had loads but I never heard a thing.

The gritters must have been out as the road has tracks so passable with care but not completely clear.

Linda, hope the girls reach their schools ok. Surely the farm trip would be cancelled? As you say sitting in a wheel chair would be freezing or even standing to be honest.

Joan, I hope you are ok and keeping warm. Maybe you didnt get any more snow and your rd is still accessible?

Well daughter and I have to tackle the hall "dumping" cupboard today as each time I open it, something falls out lol I'm sure with a bit of reorganising, it will all fit a lot better.

Slept like a log last night and I was so tired but feel good today.

So off to get dressed now etc and then the work begins.

Will look in later

Florence in the hebrides

We woke up this morning to a goodcovering of snow. OH drove Eve to school, it takes thirty minutes much of it on fast dual carriageway A roads. They were fine because they have been well gritted, it was just the smaller country roads nearer to the school which were a bit slow.
Esme’s special school delayed the opening until ten o’clock, that is a thirty minute drive as well, so they have just set off. Weirdly her class is supposed to be going for a farm visit today, they were still intending to go yesterday. Only Esme can walk well , the other five are all in wheelchairs, I would think they would be incredibly cold just sitting still. Maybe they will postpone the trip, we will see.

Joan, when I visit you( ;-)) I want cows milk, non of that non milk please.

Afternoon all.
Thankfully we didnt have any more snow over night and the sun has melted the roads clear althouygh we still have several inches in our back garden. The neighbours cat doesnt like it very much but the pigeons bless them follow their same tracks so they dont sink lol.

Joan, although I cant drink milk, i do have a splash in my coffee and it has to be full fat blue top milk as i cant stand the green milk or any other so if you came to my house, you would get a proper cuppa :-D

I do now have 2 loaves in my freezer and my baking cupboard is pretty well stocked. Because I cant always get a Tesco slot, I have got used to buying things in bulk. Cupboards are well stocked just now with tins, soup, pasta, tuna & salmon so we wouldnt starve.

The new bedside cupboard arrived yesterday afternoon but after the van went, it would appear that the unit had not been pit together very well, had chips and scratches in the wood etc I was not a happy bunny so tel the shop and they apologized and will replace it next time they are over this way...2 weeks time! Apparently to give me the item asap, they gave me the shop display unit! Hmmm not good enough I said, so they will put together a brand new one. So disappointing for my daughter too as she had cleared a space etc.

Anyway, I have done some ironing but after 1/2 hour, enough was enough and im sitting as knee was sore.

Joan glad your access rd is clear and you got shopping done, such a relief for you.

Linda, hope your daughter reached ok and Esme is missing her too much.

Ann lucky for you no snow.

Well kettle has boiled so a sandwich and a coffee and then to put the clothes away.

Florence in the hebrides

Ooh Joan I am not even keen on semi skimmed in tea, prefer skimmed but full fat milk couldn't take that at all, besides not being good for cholestrol.

Very cold here too Linda, just crept up to 3 degrees. It is a pain when Mummy is the only person little ones want isn't it? Hope daughter gets everything sorted then.

We don’t have any snow so far, but it is freezing. My daughter is on the way to London, her train was on time and I have just checked and so far it is still running on time , she only has another forty five minutes to go. She is staying down there until next Wednesday, so she can sort out the last of the boxes in the house and move them down from the loft. She has a long service award from her company on Tuesday evening, before she comes back.
Esme was fine going to school with daddy this morning, but I bet it isn’t long before she is screaming “ I want mummy” :-(

I hope you get your shopping Joan I used to hate the long life milk as well, but the newer version from Tesco is just the same as the normal red milk