WEEKLY CHAT (NON-OSPREY) SUNDAY, JUNE 7 2020

It seems here in Scotland holiday accommodation will be allowed on July 15th..,.
Youngest driving up on the 12th..
Hey Ho and never mind as she will get a Covid test just before..
So excited as not seen her since New Year x

<Drum Roll> Welcome to our new member(s) OG & EE. Where there’s a will there’s a way, even if it takes 18 months. Persistence pays off.

PAT - I googled your lake walk, it looks so beautiful. I could manage an hour.

KATE – Do slow down, I enjoy your input here. Take care and stay well.

LINDA – OH has cut (trimmed?) his own hair for years with a fearsome array of gadgets. Then he asks me to do the back of his neck. It is not as bad as trimming my father’s eyebrows in his last years when he lost almost all his sight. His eyebrows grew so long and curved into his eyes. I hated doing it but never said so, just “gritted my teeth” and got on with it..

Not quite so c-c-cold here this morn. It was only 0 C. The workmen spent an hour banging yesterday and disappeared. At least the slow build is entertaining us during the lockdown. Our neighbourhood is so quiet, no planes at airport (well, only small regional ones), very little traffic, no-one playing outside. The loudest sound just now is a magpie carolling away.

Murphy’s law: "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong".

Yhprum’s law (the name is spelled backwards): "Anything that can go right, will go right". [One for optimists?]

Muphry's law: "If you write anything criticizing editing or proofreading, there will be a fault of some kind in what you have written.”

Hartman's law: "Any article or statement about correct grammar, punctuation, or spelling is bound to contain at least one eror [sic]." 

Drucker's law (dealing with complexity of management): "If one thing goes wrong, everything else will, and at the same time.

ANNETTE: I hope you have a good, safe journey. Have a meaningful and happy visit with your kin!

Such a lot of lovely posts to read this morning!

AQ - I laughed out loud at your 'Laws'. All of them so true. As an editor and proof-reader …

OG/EE - Good to see you forever together on this thread.

Annette - Have a safe journey, and a really enjoyable time with the family. So good that things are loosening up a bit so we can start seeing our loved ones again.

Another misty, murky morning here. It rained pretty much all day yesterday, which will have pleased the gardeners among us. It's started much the same today. And that rose sucker growing through my choysia seems to have grown at least a foot in the last twenty-four hours. Now where are those secateurs? (I know - I'm supposed to break them off rather than cutting them. But you try getting two hands inside a dense and dripping wet choysia in order to attempt to remove a very tough and determined sucker with thorns …)

Good Morning. Dry but cloudy here.

Had difficulty again trying to get on here with my tablet, so am squinting at the tiny print on my mobile just now.

OH gone to golf again, so I'm going to do boring HW this morning. Still, if we didn't have the boring bits of life, we wouldn't enjoy the highs so much!

Reminds me to put on a quote which I have on the wall in our study:

"Money can't buy you happiness, but it does bring you a more pleasant form of misery" -- Spike Milligan (who I believe had more than his share of mental problems, poor soul,)

Love to think of your Magpie, AQ.

Well, my blood pressure is well and truly up!! Decided to have a hot chocolate and sit quietly, and begin to learn about my new blood pressure monitor. Put in the batteries, & got the instructions out.

First instruction is how to set the date and time, so that the monitor can record your readings for reference later on. I pressed all the required buttons, but it won't go beyond putting in the year. If I try anything else, it changes the year - it seems to go all the way up to 2099!!!! Then it begins again. I've now taken out the batteries eight times, as its the only way to stop it & begin again.....

I'm off to clean the bathroom, which is much more calming.

(OG here!) They tell me it’s Thursday morning – will probably be afternoon by the time I post this! Thanks for the new “welcome” made me feel like we had come back from honeymoon or something!

SUNNY KATE – sorry to read about the TIA – do look after yourself – everything in moderation.

LINDA – I hope the losing and gaining of teeth didn’t cause any problem for either of the Grandchildren – how much does the tooth fairy pay these days? Like the Spike Milligan quote! Sorry the machine is being difficult - I wonder whether it expects the date in a different order.

WENDY – I filled out a survey yesterday (before the announcement) which included a question about when I thought our area should start welcoming tourists again – I suggested October! I see Iran is having a second peak of the virus – higher than the first!

PAT – envying you the lake walk at Hever tomorrow – I imagine the Roses there will be looking good right now. Meanwhile, good luck with that Rose sucker.

AQ – I used to cringe just trimming mother’s fingernails for her – we paid for her to be in the care home so it shouldn’t have been my job – always dreaded that a mention of toenails might arise as well, but thankfully it didn’t. One thing she enjoyed there was her shower; when she got used to the staff, she asked if a young assistant could do it regularly and the two of them had a whale of a time – Maria used to have to bring a change of clothes on those days because of all the splashing about! Thanks for the “Laws” - have encountered them all at different times.

ANNETTE – wishing you safe travel and a lovely time with the family, especially Ms D.

Rather breezy here – OH is planting some Verbenas which took a long time to arrive after ordering. I didn’t feel like sitting outside this morning, not the pleasantest of days. J is having his virtual meeting – just heard him start talking. It does add a bit of routine to his week, and we have to take note of Thursdays to have lunch later.

OG.... Vicky doesn’t come to do the tourist bit anymore..
We will stay close to home and dog walk quite a lot. She lives alone although working and needs a long waited for break.
Fetched very fresh bread from The Mountain Cafe Bothy bakery. It’s smells divine so that’s lunch sorted. A couple of you here know of the cafe and Kirsten has announced that she won’t be reopening it. Tourism is probably dead up here until Easter so I don’t blame her. She is having a change of direction but not announced what yet. Whilst collecting my meat order my butcher told me of her plans. No secrets up here then.
Rained all day yesterday and it’s cloudy a very chilly today.
One dog walk down and one to go.