Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 2 August 2020

Hot here and muggy, but nothing like as hot as those of you in the South are experiencing. Sue came round this morning to collect the key and be given instructions re our caravan - she used to use it years ago but then began using one a friend of hers had in Snowdonia - no longer available, and their friendship now defunct but that's another story.

Annette, it was Lynette who had the bad legs, not I. Hope you're now enjoying your fresh new look in your home.

Lynette - Be careful, I know people who have tried to do those kind of exercises in bed and it can give you a bad back. They're meant to be done on the floor, I think.

AQ - My OH has just boarded the plane for Adelaide as he loves that kind of soup. Sounds as if you got a good bone, there!!

Checked to see that I am signed in. Not savvy enough to copy the post, Annette.

LOL Lindy, I was reading back to see what I had missed about your legs!

Sorry that you are having problems, Lynette. Hope the exercises help.

Annette, Harelady, I think AB's are given as a precaution to prevent a bacterial infection if you already are unwell, or are vulnerable. Hope you feel better soon, Harelady.

My OH had a date for his biopsy. It has now been brought forward a few days, which is good. Nothing is certain at the moment though, so will not be surprised if things change again, or indeed for it to be cancelled.
The self isolation time is reduced now fortunately. I believe it is to speed things up.
I have toothache, and are unable to get an appointment until 14th (this was from last Monday). I am requiring a few painkillers!

Hello to Diane, Heather, OG, AQ, Pat O, dibnlib, and everyone else not mentioned.

Forgot to say. Yesterday, walking by the river, we saw a mother duck with five fluffy ducklings, and thought this was a bit late in the year for them to appear. A little further on, there was another duck with eight ducklings. On our way back, we saw that the ducklings had merged, but one adult was protecting her territory, and chased the other one off. The ducklings split up again into their families and went on their way down river. I hope they all manage to survive, but it is tough out there.

Rosy, good news that your OH now has a date for his biopsy. Hope you can get out and about more if you don't need to self isolate . Bad luck getting toothache. I've been dreading needing the dentist during this time - at one point I had twinges in two of my teeth, but then realised that I was probably sucking on them, due to being stressed!! Once I worked that out, the twinges went away. But you will need that proper appointment and I bet it can't come around fast enough.

This morning, saw Sue and had a quick chat and a cold drink. Then rushed off to the local Clinic to have a blood test, part of my MOT for the year. Very quiet in there as "by appointment only" at present.

I spent an hour indoors at midday, then sat in the garden with my OH and read a book. Bliss.

Very, very hot here today. Apparently Gatwick had a temperature of 34 degrees earlier, and I am only about five miles from there as the Jumbo flies, We had our usual Friday open air keep fit session this morning in the shade of a giant redwood - very pleasant. After that I haven't left the house and am sitting and glowing. Yesterday was almost as hot, but with a pleasant breeze, and a friend and I went to Sheffield Park, a National Trust place nearby. Not too crowded, and looking beautiful, although it's a bit worrying that so many trees are already turning into their autumn colours, and it's only the start of August. Lack of rain, I guess - we haven't had any proper rain for weeks. Another couple of hot days forecast before it all breaks down in thunderstorms next week.

Hope everyone is keeping well. Sorry to hear that Diane's cocoon 'disappeared' - and yes, we can only hope a beautiful moth emerged overnight and flew away.

I have read all the messages, but can't go back and reply to them - sorry. Good to hear all your news, though.

Good evening!

So, alarm system man did have to come yesterday, but he was here before lunch, found the problem and fixed it, and also did the regular service – so another thing off the list. What he found wrong was triggered by the feather duster – and proved that the cleaner we had never dusted there, as we had suspected! I don’t remember much about the afternoon, except that OH mowed half our grass because it was dry enough.

Today the weather looked promising, hot, humid and so still. Then we suddenly had a series of light showers. Afternoon became sunny and hot, but with some breeze. OH shopped this morning and this afternoon we made quiches again.

J has at last received information about next week’s start at school – including a copy of the letter sent to parents. I think there is still information missing as to how they will do what is required, but I guess that will follow on the two training days. Head is supporting staff who wish to wear masks in school.

Thanks for all your posts. Sorry for those down south who are melting in the heat!

LINDA - how lovely for Sue to spend a few days near her family while they are in North Wales on holiday.

LYNETTE – sorry you find the exercises difficult, it will probably take you some time to gradually get used to them and manage the correct number of repeats, but I do think they are made to done on the floor rather than the bed.

ANNETTE – pleased your OH got on well at doctor’s and hope he will continue to improve further.

AQ – E-E loves pea and ham soup, but I can’t stand the smell, so if he orders it when out, I have to sit well away from him!

ROSY – pleased your OH’s biopsy is sooner, but sorry about the toothache! Quite late for baby ducklings, but they’ll have a reasonable chance to grow up before winter.

PAT – I loved Sheffield Park – visited it twice, once in it’s beautiful autumn finery!

Time to put my feet up for a while – we have begun changing the go-to-bed and get-up timetable ready for J returning to work – it had slipped drastically during these crazy months!

To start, press any key.
Where’s the “any” key?

There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about. (Ginger Meggs)

Why do we want intelligent terminals when there are so many stupid users?

Good Morning. A rude awakening today at 6.30 on hearing a bird pecking at the window: tried to ignore it, and then suddenly realised that it was inside!!! It panicked and fluttered still inside the window - our windows open at the top hinge in the bedroom. My OH got out of bed and went towards it, but at that moment it reached freedom -- a magpie!!!

Don't suppose it will come back to look for insects in the window area for a while!

Sue rang to say that she had reached Wales without problems, and that the hot water was working OK. She had seen a fabulous sunset from our beach before retiring early. She will spend today with her son & family, as they are in her "bubble" (inc 2 granddaughters just reaching their teens).

AQ - Hmm.. think I liked the thoughts!

LINDA - wow! magpie is a big bird to have indoors! Pleased Sue let you know the boiler is working.

Sunny, hot and dry here - a lot less humidity today. Mowing will be continued this afternoon.

I was very preoccupied yesterday plus youngest family were here for lunch and grass cutting etc.
Callum has a date for Court at the end of October. In a way, it's good to know, but we are all nervous about it as you can imagine. Callum has got a grumpy head on - it is his way when worrying.

I hope to return here at some point later today. Have just returned from Tesco. Don't know if it's the mask but I felt very breathless. Suspect it is psychological.

Thanks to all for your chat etc. Take care -