General Chat

Good afternoon from a very sunny and bright island. Its sooo calm and not a breath of wind today.

I'm feeling very pleased with myself as all the parcels sent were received within 2 days and that's 2nd class!! Amazing service for a change. All cards done too so have put the left overs away until next year or unless I do get a stray card from someone who has'nt been in touch for a long time.

Did a good tidy up yesterday too and ironing all up straight for now.

I've had 2 bits of great news. Next April, hopefully, my bestie is coming up to stay for a week. She will hire a car and we will share the expense. Sooo excited about that.
Also got word that a 2nd cousin is coming to rent a holiday home not far from me and wants to meet me for the first time. Her dad and my dad are 1st cousins.

So that's 2 events to look forward to, however, i'm a realist and of course anything could change re Covid etc but still nice things to look forward to.

Going to make some more mince pies as they don't last very long in this house lol.

For tea, I have a lot of veg in the fridge like half a cauliflower, leek, carrots and lots of onions so think a cauliflower cheese bake will be good to use them up. Trying very hard to lose a few pounds before my xmas dinner. Lost 2lbs so far this week so doing ok. the bake is carb free and low in calories too.

Hope everyone else ok and keeping well.

Florence in the hebrides

Evening to anyone looking in tonight.
Suddenly remembered at 10.30 it was black bin day !!!. Lucky they were a bit late so managed to get them out in time especially as they were both full.

The sky has been black with hailstones and sleety showers and bitterly cold today. i finished off 2 gift bags for friends calling next week and the last 2 parcels, daughter managed to get them on the bus to go to town for posting.

I woke up today with the beginning of a migraine which steadily got worse and by lunchtime, i was really in pain. I think it was Saturday nights curry although, it was really delicious. As I recall some years ago, having a curry in the same place and a day later suffered a migraine for 2 days. i can only think, it was a spice in the meal that disagreed with me?
Anyway, i stretched out on the sofa with my fleece dressing gown and slept til 4pm and now after some toast, i almost feel ok.

Joan soup the next day always tastes better.
At least the next storm will hopefully miss you as you certainly had your fair share of it. It is windy here just now but only about 35mph...just a breeze up here.

Going to return to my cosy sofa now and rest with the tv.

Stay safe all

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon folks. Well it's a lovely dry & sunny day here today. A little crisp but quite beautiful.
Joan soup sounds good today although i'm still full from last night lol.

Glad your electric came back, bet your heart was doing a turn wondering if you would be in the dark again!

Spent the morning clearing up all my presents and sorting out gift bags etc. We filled a black bin bag with all the wrapping paper. I had some lovely gifts including a large bottle of Lanson champagne from a work colleague. So very spoilt indeed.

So I'm now resting as I am still tired but was a day & night to remember.

Enjoy the broth Joan

Florence in the hebrides

good morning all



HAPPY BIRTHDAY Florence BEST WISHES for a great birthday.

Enjoy your lunch

Happy Birthday for tomorrow Florence and I hope you have a lovely day <3

Hi Florence. My goodness you are a baby compared to myself I was 21 when you were born.

It has been very damp and dark here all day but not really rained and the temp is 8 degrees so not too cold. No frost this morning anyway. I have not done a lot today just a visit to the hairdresser to have my hair cut so that is it for Christmas.

I hope you have a lovely day tomorrow Florence, enjoy your meal with your friends and stay safe.

Joan hope your power has been behaving itself.

Afternoon from a very overcast bleak corner of the uk. Very damp and drizzly and chilly too.
Making the most of today as tomorrow is my big....yes bus pass day lol I shall be 60!!!

Am hoping to be able to get into my friends car ok and pick up 3 others. We are going for a meal in a local hotel. Was supposed to be 8 but now down to 6.Will be able to have 1/2 glass of something but that's all because of my meds!

Not quite the birthday bash I had planned but in the circumstances , this meal is better than nothing. I shall miss my family terribly and my 4 best friends who had originally planned to fly me south for a weekend.

However, daughter is doing her best and i think has a few tricks up her sleeve lol bless her, she is a very special lassie and very lucky to have her.

I shall come back on Sunday on here and let you know how it went. Somehow dont think there will be a stripper :-D :-D :-D :-D

Hope Joan you are still connected and getting back to normal.

Hope everyone else is ok and keeping well.

Florence in the hebrides

Oh Joan!!! Dont put away your torch etc just yet. Sometimes that happens here when they are finding faults in other places and they switch your supply to another feed. i keep a small torch in my pocket every evening even when its not stormy...force of habit living in the wild west.. Hope you sleep tonight and will be cosy & warm.

Florence in the hebrides

Ann, i said to daughter yesterday, are you sure i have washed this before in this machine as the previous machine was an 8kg, this is only a 6kg! I was worried that it would be too heavy once saturated with water but she assured me it would be fine...Famous last words. :-0

Florence in the hebrides

What a tale Joan. Glad you are back on. It reminded me of the infamous ‘Michael Fish’ storm. We were told we would be amongst the last to be reconnected as there were only a few houses affected and they would concentrate on larger groups. :-P

Really annoying when you can see lights in the four houses on the other side of the field and our group of about eight where off.

Gosh this is a dramatic thread today
Joan how awful I feel that with such a long power cut more should have been done for you and others in your age group. Something needs saying to somebody, not sure who. Pleased that you got through it though. I suppose it was good that there were two of you to keep each others spirits up. As others have said, stock up with candles. (then you probably won't have a power cut.

Florence that must be a large dressing gown to cause that much probelm with the washing machine. Is it a small drum? I am not sure though why it is your daughter's fault :-D :-D :-D

Had a good trip out to a garden centre, my neighbour took me, didn't spend a lot except on lunch for us both. Did buy one circular stepping stone as there is a part of the garden I can't get to without stepping on the mud. I didn't need much having spent quite a bit in Bourton on the Water last Friday.. I did buy a small cat toy for Milly and Mollie, daughter's cats to share. Cynth has a houseful for Christmas so she bought some crackers. completely plastic free so should be interesting.

Joan, so glad you and hubby are ok. Oh my what an horrendous time you had but so glad your daughter was able to get to you and help. Next food shop put candles on the list. I have always stocked up from the first time i moved in 1993. The power went off in dec 1995 for 4 days and i had a 4 month old baby! All we had was an open fire to boil a pan of water.

I have at least 50 candles in the cupboard for emergencies.

Anyway so glad you survived and hope we dont have another storm anytime soon.

No snow here but very cold brrr

Get your heating on Joan and warm all the rooms up.A pan of soup is calling me thinks.

JustGinnie, yes Shetland is my fav.Read the Davinci code, but the film was nowhere near as good.

Had a disaster with the washing machine earlier and daughter is elsewhere today!

She gave me a hooded dressing gown that is very soft and fleecy. It was in a bag in the loft so needed to wash it.AS soon as it had been in the machine for 20 minutes, i noticed soapy water dripping from under the tray!! It was so heavy that it wasnt washing it properly and actually the drum then wouldnt turn. All i could manage was to drain and then somehow remove the gown which was heavy and soaking.

I out it in the plastic laundry basket and carried it to the bathroom. I then put the shower spray on to wash out the soap. Oh my what a job leaning over with my numb leg. Was awful.

I squeezed and squeezed out water but its still heavy so i put the basket in the bath and spread the gown out over it. Not sure how long it will take before i could tumble dry it but when daughter comes back tomorrow...hmmmm i will have words!!

I dont need any more dramas really i dont.

Better go and check on it again and do a bit more wringing .Its pouring outside so cant get it on the line which would help a lot.
Oh well better go to it.

Florence in the hebrides

Take care

Florence in the hebrides

Oh Joan that sound horrific, thankfully your daughter was able to help. Just watching the news about the storm in Aberdeenshire and people still without power etc. I can only imagine how difficult and scary it is as not been through anything like that.

Shopping for more candles on the cards now .

Glad you are ok and hope things stay on now.
Take care.

Morning all, hope you are all ok. Today it is very cold and we have a layer of snow the roads are clear but the pathways are icy .

Florence I did watch Shetland, have seen all of the series and enjoyed them. I am watching The Lost Symbol on Sky Witness based on the Dan Brown book. I liked the Angel & Demons film (same main character ) so thought I would give it a go. Like it so far.

Need to find where my 'get up and go' is hiding .Lol. Bedrooms need doing .

Morning peeps
Just wondering if Joan is ok as the power is still off in parts of the NE.So many trees down,just hope they are safe.
Horrible gale and pouring rain here today after a beautiful calm wintry day here yesterday.

Took the tree down from the loft with all the Dec's but not doing it just yet.A pile of ironing is calling me!

Hope everyone ok safe and well and hopefully will hear from Joan as soon as she can message us.

Florence in the hebrides.

Well that was a windy night although not as bad as a lot of other areas. We usually don't suffer badly with high winds being in the Midlands area but a near by shop lost part of it's roof . Fortunately we only had a few upturned plant pots Still breezy today but is now sunny but very cold. We woke to snow covering the path and roads but now gone thank goodness.

Hope Joan and OH are ok and didn't lose power.

Florence how awful to be stuck on that train for so long.

Take care all.

I am beginning to think that we have been incredibly lucky. OH is away for the weekend and he rang this morning to see if I, and the house, were alright. He had been watching the news and was very surprised when I said that we had a fine dry day yesterday and it was the same today. Yesterday was windy, but nothing unusual and just bitterly cold.

I have just been reading the BBC news site (link below) and it seems that almost everywhere except the Central Belt of Scotland has been affected, with power cuts, trains cancelled, trees down, roads blocked and a couple of people killed.

Re heating in powercuts, we cook on bottled gas, so can always boil a kettle, and we also have a small calor gas heater in the living room, so we won't freeze.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-59435965

Good morning all. Well we were very lucky here in the west as the winds only peaked around 50-60 mph. The worst was in the east and Aberdeenshire looked awful. 80,000 homes were without power! Joan i hope you survived and are ok? I know a train was hit by a tree near Huntly and the passengers had to spend the night on it..15 hours before they were rescued. Thankfully noone was hurt. There was someone I know on that train!

It has calmed down now but frequent squally showers of snow & hail and only 2 degrees, so pretty cold. We did fill a flask and had an early tea, as like Joan we are all electric now but thankfully, ours stayed on.

Daughter has ventured to town to post 4 parcels for the mainland and to see if there is any milk. No ferries for 3 days so probably the shelves are empty. We do have a tin of marvel for emergencies anyway.

Just finished my housework and drying off last of the clothes then up to date.

Take care everyone if out & about

Florence in the hebrides

Oh dear. I hope your power stayed on Joan and that the wind has eased off up there. Have you had any snow? I have seen that there has been snow in the North East of England.

How is the weather with you Florence. It is wet and windy here but not as bad as in some places, it will probably get to us later.

I really hope you keep the power Joan and anyone else affected by the storm.

Time to keep a flask near the kettle and have at least one hot drink in reserve that way.

So far we've had strong breezes, but nothing like you have experienced.

Keep safe.