General Chat

Morning all,cor ,what a sight greeted Liz and i when we got to site yesterday,the awning on the ground ,in the mud,and two of the bars bent almost double,lol.
We were lucky ,our awning suffered no damage other than those two bars which we replaced at an awning clinic on the way home.
We bought the curtains home too,and got those washed last evening.
It seems that there was one heck of a downpoar and gale Monday night,the wind must have lifted the awning and got underneath.
The undamaged awnings on site had thick webbing straps over the front end tied down to heavy grade pegs ,fitted with special springs to allow the strap to give just a tad ,but not lift off the ground,so ,i will look for one today.
To cheer Liz up after the upset,i made her a nice leek pudding for her tea.
I dug out the one pound basin,and greased the inside with a little flora .then set to ,to make the pudding.
I used the wok,put in a little olive oil,and added quarter of a pound of streaky bacon[the jewish fraternity will have to use Kosher bacon like me ] chopped into cubes,and gently fried until soft.
To this i added one finely diced potato and a pound and a half of sliced leek,sweating the mix with some black pepper ,a dash of mace ,a little corriander,lemon zest,and a little ground chinese spices from a mill.
I made up four ounces of a veggie suet pasrty,rolled out thinly,lined the basin with it,then used the remainder of the pasrty for the top.
The greasproof paper i used to grease the basin with ,i then useed to put over the pastry top.
Bunged in a steamer it only takes one and a half hours to cook.
Preperation time ,fifteen minutes ,and worth every minute.
We put the other half of the pud in the freezer last night ,so it will do another meal in a few weeks when we fancy a quick meal.
Today having an appointment at the dentist,i will prepare a quick ,soft [lol] meal just in case.
A nice frittata made with free range eggs from the same farmer who does my Christmas Turkey,,with chopped onion,a little garlic,and some diced chicken breast,and to go with it? the remaining mashed potato,and cabbage from yesterday ,done as a panhaggilty,in the frying pan,again ,nice and quick.in case the old jaw is sore and aching he he.
We have at last started to see red tomatos in the greenhouse ,and i have some lettuce ready ,so i reckon it's time for a few salads,perhaps with a French stick,sliced part way through,and garlic butter pushed into the cuts,then given thirty seconds in the mic' to warm it up ,luvvverly .
.I'm now off to have a mooch aroungd the boards ,but i will be back later to see how everyone is doing .Fred.

you must love cooking or just be good at it Fred you make your meals seem so interesting
Sorry to hear of mishap with caravanregardds to all margaret

goodmorning I have just had two small carrot muffins and a banana and then read fred's link oh my the pudding he made for liz sounds great, sorry to hear about the mishap with the van you are having some dreadful weather, good luck at the dentist to-day it must be the day for dentist's my friend anne (in bury) is going with her daughter to the dentist she the daughter had a tooth removed last week and another had a crack in it but she developed an infection on antibiotic's but to-day they are removing that tooth as well under a general so anne is doing the driving, the weather here is another sunny but cooler day just great for doing some housework they are laying new carpet in the hall on my floor two floors above were done yesterday and it is supposed to be very nice, on saturday the building is having its annual bar-b-que from 4pm to 6pm it will be fun, they really keep on top of things here, so it is off to do some work bye for now dorothy

Fred,
By the sound of your suet puddings etc. it is time your tomatoes were ready for you to start healthy salad eating again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have been reading this thread but not adding. I have such uninteresting news compared with our Fred and his escapades. Don't hear so much about Missy these days, is she calming down Fred?
Me, I have another antibiotic cure. I phoned my doctor and asked her to check if it was ok as i don't want my hair falling out before I go on holiday. She assures me it should be ok.
Yes, I am going to Spain for two weeks 20 November until 4 December. Will make a nice change. We are going to where we used to spend our winters so know lots of people etc.
Just had a card to let us know that one of our friends was being cremated today. It is a bit too far away for us to go, especially as tomorrow Johan's niece is being buried. This funeral is in Rotterdam. She was 95 - would have been 96 in November. She was coming here to have dinner with us two weeks ago with her daughter and son in law but she didn't feel like it and only her daughter and son in law came. Very sad, but she never had anything wrong with her, no pain, no tablets.
Have a nice evening
Sylvia xxx

hi sylvia please do continue to add to the thread you do so have interesting news about your life and the country you live in have a great holiday it sounds like it will be fun bye for now dorothy

Hi all.having an early start today.no work but have a few things to get done,main thing being having my hair cut ,its geowing out like nobodys business' Then need to get a photo done for a new passport .
Then going to get those new curtains hopefully and see my friend might get a cofe with her but she is working,she works near where i am going for the curtains.Might start my christmas shopping thats all some people at work have been talking about.
I have a wedding in November and need a nice jacket/coat for it so will be looking for one today.
weather seems ok at minute hope it stays dry John wants to go to golf as its been closed afew days this week dur to the weather..
Speak to you tonight.
Brenda

Hi all,
Well what a depressing day. If it isn't bad enough having to attend a funeral, then it teaming with rain all day. We drove to Rotterdam in our own car, but with so many traffic queues almost wished we hadn't! It took us nearly 2 extra hours coming back. Actually I fell asleep most of the way home, kept opening my eyes to the same scenery - cars, cars and lorries.
I feel so empty and don't feel like doing anything at all. We had an easy meal. I bought some ready made salads yesterday, one salmon and one beef, so that made dinner easy.
If I go to bed early, then I am up at crack of dawn, so I will just hang around for a few hours.
Tomorrow will have to be clear up day as I have just dumped everything. I also have lots of ironing. Hope to have time to make bread and an apple cake or tart.
See you all tomorrow
Sylvia xxx

Evening all ,hope you have all had a good weekend,do not know why but had no internet yesterday so could not do anything.
Any way I have finaly got the new curtains and visited my friend.
Had to drive round to my brothers and sisters yesterday,to deliver them each a cheque ,which was sent from the trustees of my dads pension fund,not a lot of money but it will make it possoble for them to do something nice .
One of my sisters is stuck in Cyrus since the Air line XL went out of business.She is hoping to get a flight tonight.She should have come on on Friday.
Hope your grandaughter is feeling better Dorothy,
John is looking forward to the golf next week!!
Fred ,how is the van,hope its been better weather for you.Sylvia take care of your self,and hope you have a good holiday.
John has made us a cup of tea so I had better go and drink it before its cold.See you all tomorrow.
Brenda

sunday 5-30pm brenda glad you got your curtains and sorry to hear that your sister is stuck in cyprus makes you wonder how this is going to end with all these companies failing. we had a good crowd at the bar-b-que on staturday it went well, laura is doing not bad on her crutches the reports all came back and she has badly sprained the tendons so no activities for 2 weeks at least I am on pick up duty to-morrow afternoon from school, my son needs a ride to the hospital and pick up backhome n wednesday he is having a routine colonoscopy he had a base line one at 37 at colon cancer runs wild in his dad's family and re checks every 5 yrs I have never know 5yrs go so fast , he is symptom free so I am sure he will do fine but it is a good idea to keep a check on things, boy mom's do come in useful even when the children get older. it has been a rainy day here the effects of the hurricaine they tell us but supposed to be better to-morrow. take care bye for now dorothy

Hi All.we had a wet start to the day but it has turned out ok up to now.Mind you david was late getting up and rushed off to work.
I had to do some phones to do with Dads estate which took ages of hanging in telephone queues,but hopfully we are nearer to getting things sorted.
Had to deliver some presents to one of my friends from another ,she had sent them from Australia with her mother who brought them to me.so did that and was going to do some ironing beore work but came on here to check an email and will not now get it done,!!!
Glad your BBQ went well Dorothy,and that your granddaughter seems to be doing ok,hope your son is ok after his test.
My sister who is the nurse has to have something similar in Oct and has asked me to go with her as her husband is unable to get the time off work.She is being sedated and needs someone to take her home.
The cats have been disturbed by me coming on here and are walking all over the desk so I had better go.
See you tomorrow,
Brenda

goodmorning it was quite chilly last night it went down to 5 degree's but this morning the sun is shining and the temperature is supposed to warm up I picked up laura at school yesterday she is doing well on the crutches but is not happy re being inactive we have explained that you need you knee's for a lifetime so get on with it. I see from the canadian site that fred has some exciting news but will wait for him to put in on this site , going to clean some windows to-day if I can figure out how to take them out it is supposed to be simple so we shall see.take care bye dorothy

Hi everyone ,Dorothy sounds very intrigueing about Fred might have to go on the Canadian site for a look see.
We have cold wet weather her now and each night it seems to get colder.We have been hoping to wait til October before putting the heating on,but if ast weekend was anything to go by it will beon a lot sooner.
Got the new curtains up and they look great ,being cream they have really lightend the room up.
Going to the pictures tonight to see Mama Mia the movie thought the show was excellent,so hope th efilm lives up to the reports I have been having.
Glad your grandaughter is doing ok.hope she is not on the crutches too long.Dorothy,how did the window cleaning go??
We still have a window cleaner doing the outside of the house every two weeks,but he was missing last week seems he was pulled out of a taxi and beaten up ,for no apparent reason.!! He has a black eye and bruising according to a neighbour.
Going for tea now then getting ready for the cinema.
See you tomorrow take care,Brenda

tuesday evening well brenda you will have seen the film by now and been home I hope you enjoyed it I have seen ti twice and will buy it when it comes out on dvd the views were wonderful, glad you like the curtains now that they are up, I am glad to report that the window cleaning went well all the three bedrooms are done, I will do the front window and the patio doors before I go away, we had the outside done a couple of months ago quite the job when the building has 15 floors, on wednesday the fire dept are have a training session rappling down the sides of the building nice to know we can be rescued in case of fire. glad you found the canadian site I have only just started on it though I used to read it, I have to say that I like this one a little better, hope fred is back on line soon. I shall be up early to drop andrew off at the hospital I guess we will drop laura off at school on the way, cool again to-day but sunny I guess fall is on the way, anne mentioned that she had put the heat on the other day, though we are supposed to be getting better weather at the end of the week in the 20-22 degree range well I am off to watch east enders we are way behind pauline is getting married and then casualty is on next bye for now dorothy

Afternoon everyone,we have a really nice day here today ,warm but not sunny.But this building is cold,hope we are not going to have problems with the heating .
Just had my lunch and have time to answer a few emails and come on here.
The film was excellant and I would also buy the dvd when it is out.
We thought we might go to the cinema on Tuesday again as its only £4.50 ,which apparently is cheap.!!We might go every few weeks as there are a few films we thought we would like
Hope everyone is ok ,going to have a cup of tea now before we open again.
Brenda.

Hi all,
Well it has been a lovely day weatherwise, but the evenings are so cold. I am afraid our central heating goes on every day around 5 pm.
Still no Fred, come on Fred let us know the exciting news we've been hearing about.
Sylvia xxx

Morning all,Glad to hear you are taking care of yourself with the heating Sylvia,so many older people will not put it on these days.
Going out for the day with my sister ,its ages since we managed a day together.Taking her to the Lowry Center as she has not been ,she prefers the Trafford Center ,did you get to go there Dorothy?
Come fred where are you hiding,have read the other thread so I am not on pins ,but don't keep everyone else in suspence..
Brenda

goodmorning brenda no I do not go to the lowry centre but did go to the trafford centre by the way did you enjoy the film I would be interested in how you felt about it, andrew had his procedure yesterday it was done at 11-05 and the hospital called me to pick him up at noon, he just wanted to get some food as he was on liquids and then fasting for a total of 36 hrs, should get the results in about a couple of days though the doc said it all looked fine, he was not impressed that he had a student doc observing quite modest does not like his "bum" on show. to-day we are having a nice day weather wisr if the bbc weather site can be believed bury is in for a few days of clouds and sun, a new shop has opened with all english goodies on sale I had a look around with take some jelly babies out to christine she always loved them as a child , the pickled onions are my favourites but they charge almost 3 pounds a jar so that is my special treat bye for now dorothy

G'day folks,just back from the van ,after a few nice days away [we even got some sunshine yesterday lol].
We decided yesterday morning to have a run through to Morpeth on the bus,to see just how much damage the floods did and were horrified to see a lot of our usual shops still closed after being flooded out,some of them many weeks away from reopening.
One place ,by the river has even had the outer wall of their property washed away by flood water,and the bottom floors innundated,
Broken tree boughs lying everywhere, stranded high on the river bank.and all the grass and rushes either swept away ,or flattened down .
The river has gone down a bit now ,but is still running very fast,and the mud makes it nearly chocolate coloured instead of nice and clear,it will be many weeks before i will be able to see the trout in the water as i eat my sandwich on the river bank and enjoy a cuppa.
It seems that word has got around about Sean getting married lol,we had a message via the puter ,saying he was getting married in Jan',and giving us two tickets to fly out to act as witnesses,so ,we have to get on to Manchester airport over the weekend to book a long stay parking place for the car,and book in to the hotel for the night,seeing as the booking in time is 6am on the day of the flight.
We stay there a week and Sean ,and the new wife will hopefully be coming back to Newcastle with us for two weeks holiday.
Fred now has to get ready to go out,to visit the clinic to get the feet done again,and THEN,it's time to get the new toy out to clean the car,thought i could save going to the car wash,and ,it will come in very handy to clean the van down when we bring it back.
Every thing looks fine here ,i am running up the heating at the moment ,to make sure it is operating okay.and the boiler is now covered for breakdown ,just in case lol,not a bad price,call out ,parts and labour for £.3.50 a month for the first two years[a home serve special].
Hope everyone is going to have a nice weekend,and enjoy a little sunshine,back later.Fred.

goodmonring (fri 10am my time) oh fred so glad to see you back the views of the flood damage must have been awful it must be so difficult for people to rebuild the shops etc and their lives. glad to hear you have the heating under control I saw on the bbc news site this morning that the weather guru's are calling for a bad winter in england I am hoping that we don't have an awful one but I am sure the ski areas near me are hoping for lots of snow. the grandaughter is off to the doc's this am to see if she can do away with the crutches I gues he will roate the knee and see if the tendons have healed up enough for this to happen, her daddy is taking her so as he is in the medical field a good discussion will take place, his company is doing some new research with a arthritis drug could be interesting. as you mentioned your son's wedding has hit the web sites and how lovely that you and liz will attend something to look foreward to and your plans re the airport sound very sensible, I have to book the shuttle for my trip to calgary going is allright but my plane lands back at midnight clagary is 2hrs behind us in ontario so I will miss the midnight shuttle and have to wait for the 1am one and it is about 1-and a half hr drive or a bit shorter if there is no traffic. well take care bye for now dorothy

Afternoon al.from a sunny and warm ish Manchester/
hope its nice tomorrw as I am hoping toclean the car.We have one of those power washers but the times we get to wash both cars are very rare.John will wash his when I am at work but its always a different story when I want to do just mine.!! Great news about the wedding Fred ,hope it goes well for you.
Dorothy hope you get a decent winetr not too much snow so everyone is pleased.
Work has been really quiet today mainly we think due to the weather, there is a big park near here and they have activities going on there today.PLus we have not had any internet access till 12.30,so we did not have any pc users this morning.
See you all tomorrow have a nice weekend and take care,brenda