General Chat

Good morning peeps
Well its a very wet and dreich day here today. no thunder storms thank goodness.
My poor potato plant is being bashed by the wind and so hope it doesn't damage the plants like it did last 2 years1

Im having a friend for lunch at 12.30 so been busy this morning preparing things. Table now all set, cakes were done yesterday so just a few bits to put on at 12. Found some mini pizza bites in the coop and got some pakoras too and of course a few chips in a bowl.

As daughter away, house is still fairly tidy lol and only a laundry wash every 3 days!! When she is here, the machine is on everyday lol

Hope everyone ok and hoping the storms didnt affect anyone badly.

Have a good day all
Florence in the hebrides

Hello all, well we had thunderstorm and very heavy rain yesterday but today is dry so far . The plants seem to have survived thankfully.

OH has finished sorting his shed and I do think most of it went back in. lol. :-D

Done the shopping and now having a cuppa .

Almost August another year whizzing by, must be getting old.

Take care all. :-)

Good afternoon peeps
Well they say the best laid plans never work, dont they. So last night, i hung up my clothes for today, did all the ironing last night and left no dishes. The reason was i had an Echo scan this afternoon.
So having a coffee at 8am when daughter messages to say, road is closed to town due to serious accident late last night. Unit from mainland have to come and inspect the rd etc.
All the traffic had a very long diversion around 50 miles to get to town from outlying villages. So tel hospital and explained i couldnt get there so appointment cancelled and re done for 20 th August.

Typical, thought i was so organized and then look what happens. Sadly the driver is in a serious condition, the passenger was ok. No other details been released.

So didnt go anywhere at all and felt the day very long as never saw a soul or spoke with anyone. Still i dusted and polished so a job off the sunday list lol

The wind did bash my plants but damage was very small and joan my roses are ok so i hope yours are too.
A little brighter and less showers todays but im feeling it a lot cooler.

had a lovely lunch with my friend yesterday and as i have a lot of cakes left, Im going round to my neighbour later as they have family visiting and will enjoy. I cant eat all of them as far too many.

So when i said. i now am complete with all my new furniture, i decided to order a leather office chair to complete my little office area in the lounge.
A little extravagant but....i dont drink or smoke, or go out for dinners or holidays so this is my treat to me!

Hope all is well with everyone, take care

Florence in the hebrides

Good morning peeps.
Yesterday was a lovely day and i got a wake up call i wasnt expecting. Having slept in til 9. i remembered it was binday so i hurriedly threw on a top and some trousers and put out the bins.
Thought I would have a quick shower then. Imagine my horror as I was in the kitchen, turban on my head hearing what I thought was a helicopter!!!
I opened the blinds to see the grass cutter...! a day early lol

I opened the back door to speak to him about the grass cuttings as they are to now go in the organic bin and not over the fence!

I ran back indoors feeling even more embarassed as i had on a new top i had recently bought and the label was hanging out the back!!

What a sight i looked. Turns out he had messaged daughter on FB and yes she said...oops sorry mum forgot to tell you about the grass cutter coming.

So was a rush job drying hair before he had finished the garden.

Anyway good job he did it as when i opened the blinds today, its damp and foggy.
Got a pile of ironing from yesterdays laundry to do so that will keep me busy for awhile.
Otherwise havent seen or spoken to anyone since a few days now and soo quiet.

Peppers are coming along nicely and all my roses are now flourishing.

Have a good day all
Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon to you all, I have been busy going to appointments with OH, they all seem to come at once . Our GP is still operating a phone call service and we can only book a call at certain times but the appointments go so fast that the chances of getting one are slim. I sit pressing the redial button till I get the ringing tone and then hope for the best. OH had a letter for a referral to the clinic so I went to book on line and there are no appointments are available to book so have to wait for the clinic to contact him now.

Garden is looking quite nice at the moment and tomato plants are going mad . Cucumbers haven't done so well this year need some more sun now I think .

Take care all.

just Ginnie. i tel my GPs surgery this morning to request an appointment over the phone. I was told you have to ring tom morning at 8am. Its first come, first served!!

You donthave to do that with face to face!

Florence in the hebrides

good afternoon all. I see you have been busy in the 'forest' Joan. I had quite a few indoor jobs to do today, balance the accounts for end of month for a start, then other admin jobs. I am waiting to hear from the plumber/heating engineer as I have no hot water and haven't a clue how to sort it out. OH always did all that and it was one thing I didn't learn to do. I imagine the pilot light has gone out on the boiler but hopefully the plumber will be here tomorrow as it doesn't look like he is coming today. single Dad and has his two boys for a few days but they go back to Mum tomorrow. trouble is, not knowing when he will come means I have to stay in just in case.
It has been a nice day but I have not done anything in the garden. Yesterday it was so wet, we had torrential rain my patio was like a paddling pool so everything was a bit wet out there. It will have dried up now as the afternoon has been sunny but a bit too late for me to start anything. I have had a fair number of tomatoes off three of my plants the one with the most being a tumbler but I also have one plant that is a bush tomato like four of the others and that one has not produced a single tomato, how strange.

Florence even before Covid (remember then) we had to phone for an appointment from 8.30 and it was first come first served for an appointment, now we do the same but to speak to Dr on the phone and they decide if you get a face to face appointment. So now everything takes 2x as long. In England GPs were told they could open up the surgery now for face to face but ours hasn't yet unless it is really urgent or couldn't be done over the phone.
It is the same if we need to book a blood test , we are asked why and the nurse has to phone us back to tell us if we can have one. My OH is diabetic and he missed blood checks and health checks during the lock downs and now he has problems hence so many tests now. Not a happy situation at the moment.

Joan your new plants sound lovely, glad they have taken well .

I am sure that if they did a survey on people's lives lost and/or changed because of the way the pendemic affected how we could see our doctors or not, it would be very interesting. However, we were heading that way before the pendemic when so many doctors took early retirement (mine included ) and then took up being locums and/or working in private practice. It did suddenly seem to become more about how much they could earn rather than a vocation among the younger, new doctors coming through from university, and then older doctors seemed to not be able to cope with the increased load. And also of course we pensioners living longer didn't help. Somewhere I bet they would find that they had not planned ahead with training more doctors.

Hi peeps
Well guess who landed in hospital on Wed afternoon? When i spoke with dr in the morning it was because i had no feeling in my hip and upper leg for the last 3 weeks. I had thought it was just a trapped nerve but Tues , the numbness spread to my groin and lower down.
Dr said she would tel hosp for advice. She phoned back within 1/2 hour and said an ambulance was on its way!!! I packed a small bag for the"just in case" as i always do.

Anyway ambulance arrived and taken to Assessment unit which was full with men & women 6 in all and one nurse in charge, it was manic. Sat for nearly 5 hours before a junior dr saw me. Went over what had happened and then he went away.
About 7pm, was told staying in, scans next day.
Never got any sleep, 2 emergencies and covid PPE stuff thrown into action as poss 2 positives.Eeekkkkk, i was so worried. They drew all the curtains so you couldnt see what was going on.

Fast forward to Thursday morning 11am. Nurse announced 2 negatives thankfully and PPE could be removed in the room but any visiting drs had to wear masks etc.

Well i sat all day and still no word of any xrays. I was demented staring at the walls.I finished my book etc and was so bored.
Then got tr for the night to surgical. Oh my what an experience! Think I was in the dementia ward as it was....welll lets say "out of this world."
I never slept either that night.
Finally on Fri am.I was sent for a lumbar and lower back xray. Returned to the ward. Within the hour, i had the report and then surgeon came to see me.
I have 2 displaced discs which could be trapping a nerve, some crumbling of the lower spine and the beg of Osteo Arthritus behind both hips.

So I have to return to surgeons clinic in 4 weeks but if the pain becomes a lot worse before then, i will get an MRI in Glasgow straightaway otherwise 6 weeks as a long wait,Jubillee is where i had my heart surgery but they are also the hip Specialists too.

So there we have it. Really thought, i was slowly regaining some normality in my life, but obviously the body has decided otherwise.
i shall now keep an overnight bag ready for the just in case at anytime.

Was so pleased to get home yesterday teatime and last night slept all night.
Not done much today as limping about but got my washing done. I shoved every single thing i wore and spares too on a hot wash. at least my test was negative,

Been a funny day weatherwise, sunny, foggy, showery and breezy.
Hope everyone else keeping well.

Florence in the hebrides

Oh Florence I am sorry to hear your news <3. Osteo is no joke and causes a lot of pain. I hope you get some treatment for it very soon and that you are not too uncomfortable in the meantime

Poor you Florence and not good news just as you were beginning to enjoy life in your new home. Hope the pain does not get any worse, maybe try not to overdo it. Must have been frightening with all the panic over suspect covid. g;ad it was all negative anyway.
I am up early as I have somebody coming to check out how water is getting into the garage and occasionally onto the boiler. We have had some torrential storms so I guess they are the why but need to find the how. I am also going to my son's today in M Keynes, he is coming to pick me up at 12 o'clock

Sorry to read that you've had this setback just as things were beginning to settle for you. I hope your waiting time is not too painful, while you wait for your next assessment of what is to happen next.
Maybe when you are feeling up to it, you could gently make some tasty treats to put in the freezer in readiness for a day when you don't feel like cooking much.

Enjoy the good days and don't be too tough on yourself if there are days when you don't think you've achieved much.
You have achieved SO much in the last year or so.

Oh Florence so sorry to read what you have been through and hope you are better soon, <3

Not a happy time for you Florence, worrying at the best of times but more so now.

Hope you don't have to much pain.

Hoping here that OH next appointment comes through quickly.

Take care all .

Good afternoon peeps
Well i am in quite a lot of pain especially in my knees. Yesterday, daughter and i had to go to town so we went on the bus, but oh my!
There are 3 small steps onto the minibus and of course i put my left foot first and god it was sooo painful. I eventually managed up but crikey was so sore.

I am now trying to put my right foot forward if i have to go up or down a step. So glad i am in a bungalow now.

Appointment for surgeon came through today, 8th sept 2.15 so not too long.

My left hip, leg and side still frozen numb!

My gp said i shouldnt drive although i havent driven since the dizzy spell but im worried now the battery will go flat again and will i ever drive again??

I hope i get through this and can then drive because the thought of no car anymore would just about finish me off.

Anyway its a lovely sunny day with a small breeze and no midges. Washing out and drying nicely. Dug up a few new red potatoes yesterday and had them with a salmon en croute. They were very tasty
Gonna leave the rest of the plants awhile to grow a bit bigger for later on.

Hope everyone else well. Hope you can get to finish off your garden joan whilst the good weather lasts.

Havent seen Barbara posting of late anywhere on here, wondering if shes ok?

Off to sort out tea for tonight, nothing heavy as not too hungry today. Take care all.

Florence in the hebrides

Healing hugs from me to you Florence, I don't know what else to say except I hope you are better soon.

Ty ZZzzz for your hugs and good wishes.

Florence in the Hebrides

Afternoon peeps from a very wet and windswept place. Howling force 8 and feels like summer has well and truly gone even though it hardly started!

Went on bus to town today with daughter and am quite upset as to what happened in the cafe of the supermarket. I cannot lift anything heavy and neither can daughter as she fell headfirst down the stairs awhile ago and injured her left shoulder.
Since my surgery etc, we kindly ask if the person serving could carry the tray to our table. Up until now, its never been a problem.
Today the lady refused. She said she had seen my daughter carrying a bag so how come not the tray??
She explained about her shoulder and the lady said, she had a bad shoulder too and she had asked the boss and he said no to carrying any trays.
The boss is the lady's husband!
Daughter struggled with the tray and was nearly in tears and that upset me too.

We were both made to feel so small. Ive been going there 28 years and all the staff are lovely until today.Its the only place we can get a nice coffee and a snack but now we wont be using it anymore..how sad is that.

I know they dont offer a waitress service etc but surely as we only go in there twice a month, a little bit of help isnt much to ask.

Anyway, had to move my roses as the wind was blowing the pots about.I put them into some shelter and hopefully no damage.

Better put the shopping away now as table covered with food etc, coffee break over lol

Hope all ok with everyone

Florence in the hebrides

That is disgusting. I don’t need that sort of help but often see people asking and getting it.

You should complain to the supermarket management. Even if the cafe is a franchise all complaints would mean it would be difficult for them to get a renewal.