Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 21 April 2019

Morning all:

I saw the Elinor Oliphant book in the bookstore the other week - a lady next to me said she'd loved it, but I've 4 books piled by the bed right now and so am resisting picking up anything else for the time being.

HEATHER: A nice top: Linen shirt or loose and comfy other top? Trouble with linen is of course it wrinkles if you look at it wrong. My casual stuff is gradually becoming my gardening stuff - and I'm not even sure I want to be seen in that these days. :-( Trump is a moron or, as his former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson put it "a (insert extremely rude word here) moron." Re the Mueller report, all this is going to go on until Trump leaves office - and probably beyond if truth be told. Yuck.  By the way, just saw a news item on BBC Scotland about the use of drones in searches for missing persons, with the following quote:  "Last year, 3,494 people were reported missing in the north east and 2,343 in the Highlands and Islands."  That seems like a huge number of people for such a small country!!   Did they all run away to Spain or something.....?

I have phone calls to make, e-mails to send. OH and I are going out to one of our local favorite places this evening for dinner (was our wedding anniversary Sunday - we think - we have to keep asking each other was it the 21st or 22nd and never get around to confirming either. We're very low key).

EDIT:  UK folks will need to gird your loins - The Orange Menace is going to be a guest of the Queen at a D-Day event in Portsmouth in June.  Poor woman.  Condolences to all.  At least he'll be tweeting in a different time zone....

ANNETTE - happy belated anniversary ! Or should that be belated happy anniversary?

Had haircut – it looked okay till she left, and now already looks untamed again!  Weather still good here – very slightly cooler at 19C – no rain expected till tomorrow night.  Lots to catch up with in the garden but also other stuff getting in the way.  I keep trying to prioritise but keep losing the plot!

DIANE – sorry about your stinky friend – I thought they usually keep away from people, but he obviously wants to be near where you are!

ANNETTE – sorry to read about Whale numbers – I hope it isn’t a major event – I guess you really have to look at averages across a few years.  Congratulations on the Wedding Anniversary – I hope you have a really enjoyable evening out!  I heard that there was going to be an announcement about the Orange Peril dropping in this summer – I am sure we shall send him back safely!

HEATHER – hope you have enjoyed some gardening time yesterday and today.  Invitation for a comfort stop on the way/way back for Millie’s christening still stands!

OH back from Tesco so will go and help putting groceries away.

Thanks, OG x
AQ - think I heard on World Service radio that the drought has been so bad this year and as a result, an old wrecked paddle steamer called the Wandering Jew is visible for the first time in many years?

Hi All: Just to let you know we're home safely -- We left later than usual today, as we entertained some neighbours to coffee & biscuits this morning, 1st time we've seen them this year and we wanted to hear about their Golden Wedding celebrations & cruise around Cambodia and Vietnam. So we had a quick sandwich after they'd gone, then drove off.
Found everything OK at home, (a dead tomato plant in the allotment greenhouse) but a call for help came and instead of putting his feet up, my OH has dashed off to help a relative with removal of a big garden shed!

Annette -- I should imagine that the "lost" persons are mostly idiots who climb the mountains in Scotland without proper equipment! They go up there wearing inadequate shoes and seem to think they can navigate with their mobile phones!  Of course, they lose the signal and then are lost! Happy Anniversary!

More replies later...

Linda - welcome home!

Could also have been named after the river Nene flowing through Northamptonshire and beyond. No just kidding. What a beautiful bird.
Thank you Diane for again starting us off.

Not been on for a while. Hope you all had a lovely Easter. Spent Easter day with son and d-in-l sitting in their garden and then enjoying a roast beef dinner. Went out Easter Monday for lunch with OH and Dau. Weather beginning to show signs of changing but at least the rain kept away for the Easter hols.

Such a shock to read about the bombings in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday. We had a lovely holiday touring round on that island back in 2011 and the people couldn't have been nicer. What motivates them!!! the group responsible say its in retalliation for the killings of muslims in NZ but that we understand was not group orientated but a loner with racist tendencies. What are we doing to each other - so sad.

Usual day for food shop, but worse than usual as school holidays and tomorrow is Anzac Day. Close the shops one day and people starve! I filled car with petrol; thank goodness price cycle is on way down now it is 2nd week of hols.. Traffic crazy, supermarket queues crazy. I came home to find OH still in pjs. Why am I not surprised he couldn’t be bothered going out for lunch after all. So it will be leftover saus rolls for lunch. No nanny duty but I have my 6-monthly eye appt (glaucoma) this arvo. I do not enjoy watching for those miniscule flashes. Sorry about the grumbles.

HEATHER – I had to Google Wandering Jew as it has not been reported in our news as it is northern NSW, though it may appear in a few days. Amazing how often I read news here on the thread before our local media! Yes, it is dry here. Farmers are concerned as it is time to sow their crops and forecasters say no sign of winter rains. Our SA reservoirs are getting low.

ANNETTE – I start to fret when my pile of books-to-read gets down to four. I did try to read slowly but the latest Elizabeth George only lasted 3 days, alas. Now I’m reading about the pigeons that carried messages across the English Channel in WWII.