Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 5 May 2019

HAPPY NEW WEEK!

I hope everyone has a wonderful week!

  • Hammer Drill to remove tiles has given me a headache, so not staying online this evening! Job is going according to plan!
  • Ouch, a hammer drill headache sounds grim! Hope it goes, OG.

    Pat, when we come back from 2 or 3 weeks away, I usually look at several pages of emails and delete them in bunches, by labelling them in my head as "delete" or "important' and " maybe - look at later". Then I take a break and do something else before coming back to attack them again. Then I re-read the doubtful ones when I have time.

    My car seems OK now. We have a battery charger which has been vital over the years, as we usually have older cars. My OH took her round the block to see if everything worked.

    After lunch I fell asleep so the walking this morning must have been too much fresh air for me! Heather, I'm sorry you had a bad night. They do say that you should just go to bed the next night at the normal time, and you'll fall back into your usual routine.

  • A lot of my emails were RSPB based, mainly osprey nests. I'm afraid all those were deleted immediately. On Sunday I started at the top and deleted anything I knew I didn't want to read. I now have two 'inbox's open, one showing the top, with new ones coming in, and one showing the bottom, which I am dealing with as and when I have time/energy. It may take a while ... I haven't quite reached the end of January yet. But I have pulled out most of the really important ones. I hope.

    Glad the car seems to be OK now. I was really pleased mine started yesterday. I was quite prepared to call a friend who was standing by with a charger ... but delighted I hadn't had to.
  • Lovely reading all of your news.
    PatO - nice to see that you've arrived back on terra firma and have enjoyed your trip. Hope the cruise was up to expectations. Oh Pat, that's always a bit of a grind, sifting through emails, when one has been away for a time.

    OG - glad to hear that the trip to Manchester went well and that you enjoyed your time browsing in one or two places.

    Diane and bJane - do hope that the weather improves for you.

    Have been out for lunch 2 days running. Yesterday dau took me to one of our village pubs which we've not been to for a while. Lovely light lunch as OH was doing his bit commentating. Today we had our Women's Own lunch at a pub in Moulton (a village not far from me) and had a really nice lunch. Back to reality now and in the usual daily routine.
  • Food shop done. Ready for nanny duty after early lunch. OH decided not to go out for lunch – again. Probably will go tomorrow when rain predicted! Next door renovations are developing. It appears they are building room or rooms on front of house. Lots of trenches yesterday. So far today 4 cement trucks. (OH counting, is that why he’s staying home LOL.) At shops I met a friend who has just bought a new small car. She had no problem with salesman but another woman, c50 years, was told “come back another day with your husband”. Excuse me?!!!!
  • OG:  Glad things are on schedule with the wet room (thanks for explaining that).  When we had the toilet seal replaced, the potential worst case scenario was replacing some plumbing under the floor that would have required a jackhammer.  I don't envy you.

    Heather: Yikes; sounds like a ghastly night.  Worrying about family again?  

    PatO:  That's pretty impressive - the car starting after four months?  I'd've thought you'd have needed a neighbor to start it up on a regular basis.  

    AQ:  Grrrr.  "Come back another day with your husband"?!  When we were shopping for a replacement car some years back, I went out looking by myself and although those words weren't used, the attitude I got at one dealership was similar.  Hard to believe in this day and age when women (in this country at least) are responsible for 65% of new vehicle purchases.

    Busy day with daughter. Good for the most part but with some wheel-spinning to keep us on our toes.  

    Have a good Wednesday all.

  • Good Morning. Drizzly here, and grey, but drier warmer weather expected for the following days (hooray!).

    Annette, glad you're having a good time with daughter.

    Lynette, nice to have the treats of lunches out.

    AQ - Hope Nanny duty goes well, and its not too noisy next door with the building work.

    Hope Heather had a better night.
  • Good morning, ALL; a damp one here.

    LYNETTE – I thought of you as we went through the Worsley interchange, but can’t see much there now as all the trees along the motorways have grown so tall – rather pleasant with their bright new leaves, and being Sunday not too much traffic!

    AQ – if anyone in the UK builds an extension the planning authorities contacts all the near neighbours to ask for any objections. And building onto the front is not usually allowed “forward of the building line”.

    ANNETTE – work proceeds quietly today – as the plumber said, “having taken it out, now all we have to do is replace it”! He finished yesterday by renewing the silicone seal in the other shower, so at least we can all hose down tomorrow when it is fully set – today we stink! I hope the remainder of your Daughter’s visit is calm - it doesn’t seem long since she was last there!

    LINDA – sorry the walk tired you yesterday. I hope you have a good day to start packing shoes for the weekend! I guess you are going tomorrow after golf!

    Sending OH to garden centre today for long canes for Runner Bean “Wigwams” – the ones we have are very old and begun to break off at the bottom – now have loads of five foot canes which we don’t need! I have a birthday card to make for OH’s Nephew – don’t know what else I shall do today.
  • Good morning -
    OG - I'm sorry that the drilling gave you a headache yesterday, hope all is well, now. I wish that we had thought about underfloor heating when we had the downstairs shower room revamped ten years or so ago. The walls and floor are completely tile and - yes - quite cold underfoot in the mornings!
    I think (!) that there are quite a few canes at the bottom of this garden, I don't use them any longer. I did think about sweet peas but no space for them these days, since OH died, all the shrubs seem to have got taller and wider, somehow!

    AQ - I too, was surprised that your neighbours are building on at the front. Hope that Nanny duty goes OK and that you don't pick up any stray bugs whilst there...

    ANNETTE - I was reading again about the paucity of whales going from San F Bay area to Alaska. Not enough food for them? Also a few more dead ones than previously.

    LINDY/ANNETTE - this sleep problem is just a darn nuisance. I'm used to it but not to that extent. My brother suggests an afternoon nap - something which I try to avoid. I do brood over things at night and have experienced quite severe anxiety symptoms since OH died. Practising 'mindfulness' :-)

    Speaking about him, apparently the gales and rain were so bad last night in central Brittany that their very large and very beautiful wisteria was blown away from the wall. Maybe not well enough secured but I am too scared to suggest that to them.

    LYNETTE - Out to lunch two days running - what a treat!

    PAT - I'm extremely impressed to read about your car starting first time! Not sure if I would have the patience to deal with over 3000 emails. I've never been seen as a patient person - except when I was nursing. Unfortunately my poor children bore the brunt of my work frustrations - looking back I feel very guilty but they seem relatively normal. (What is that?)

  • Just tearing my hair out --- Only half of the plants and knicknacks have been replaced in the conservatory, there is stuff all over the place, out of place, and there are boxes of stuff in the hall ready to go to Wales tomorrow.... also, in the middle of it all is plonked the pair of chairs we just bought for Wales, as well. Still with cardboard on them.

    The front doorbell rings: on the step, my young neighbour, and her lawyer lady. Can they ask me to sign to witness her Will, which has just been drawn up? Yes, I said, but please excuse the chaos. Take them through to the chaotic dining room and everyone admires the view, as I say don't look at anything here! Then she fetches her partner (they're not married, yet) and we do a repeat performance.

    Gah!