Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 25 October 2020

ANNETTE – Our bus group has not been back to Swan Hill. Interstate trips tend to be to new places. Our tutor does repeat SA locations (with minor or major variations). And of course the Victorian border has been closed this year.

LYNETTE – Good news of scan.

A chores & chat visit to Dau today. I folded & put away washing while she cleaned out fridge. Lunch and home again. No rain yet, none likely, low 30s next week. No, she wails.

When Plan “A” doesn’t work, don’t worry, you still have 25 more letters to go through.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. (Thomas A. Edison)

Underestimate me. That will be fun.

Good Morning. Dry and quite warm, here.

My OH has gone off to leave our bigger car to be serviced today. Luckily the garage is within walking distance. I will drive him down to collect it later, though.

Lynette, good news about your OH. Good that they keep an eye on him.

AQ, You are such a help to your family: How is your daughters hand now, did it heal OK?

Annette: yesterday I heard banging and sawing noises - my OH was on his knees seeing to a pipe which runs from our sink in the garage, underneath the concrete floor to the outside. When our washing machine empties itself into the garage sink, it often filled up the Belfast sink as the old lead pipe was blocking up. Hard to get to it to sort it out, but he did after a lot of banging around, so was pleased with himself as it's been a problem for a long time.

Good afternoon all. I have been pre occupied with a visit from granddaughter. It was lovely to see her, but the brains are only just getting back to normal.
We could not do too much for obvious reasons. We had one day out at Kew Gardens, but could only get a booking for the wettest day of the week, so not hugely successful. The rest of the world was there as well, and most took refuge in the greenhouses. The Tropical House was scary. Too many people in a hot and humid atmosphere, and little social distancing. Entry was controlled, but did not seem very effective. We soon got out of there. The other houses were not so bad.
Sushi is g daughter's favourite food, so we had this for two evening meals. Home delivery, of course. We have a good place nearby. I am not so keen on it, but we wanted to see the granddaughter happy. She has not been able to see her Dad this year as he lives in the US.

Thanks to all for news. It is hard to keep in good spirits.

Sorry about your diagnoses AQ. Good that treatment is happening quickly.
Good quotes today, as usual.

Best wishes to all. I am hoping that Heather is not having too difficult a time. Sending good wishes.

Testing.. ....

Hello, everyone. Had a wonderful visit from my great-nephew Charlie and his parents. The weather was absolutely foul, but somehow we managed to turn it all into fun. Stretching our smiles in pouring rain while Charlie rushed around the children's playground laughing and having a wonderful time. How could we stop him? He had waterproof trousers and an almost waterproof jacket and was certainly letting off a lot of steam. Where does he find the energy???? Then I managed to get my computer repaired this morning - it's been moaning and groaning for a couple of weeks and needed a new fan. Now fitted, and it's blissfully quiet again. But it's left me with a massive backlog of stuff that has to be done ... oh well, priorities have been different with Charlie and his parents here.

Today it was still raining when a friend and I went to Nymans, a nearby National Trust property. Lovely gardens, super autumn colour, but constant heavy drizzle, so we didn't stay long. We needed to refuel after that and went to a lovely restaurant for a proper lunch. So three good days - and I'm now officially exhausted! Tomorrow I will absolutely have to spend my day peering at the computer screen, but the weather is going to be wild, so at least I won't be missing anything!

Hope everyone is keeping well. There has been a lot of publicity about how Crawley is struggling with cuts in just about everything at Gatwick Airport - just a few miles from here, so we are all concerned, as Gatwick has always been the main employer in the area. Our Foodbank is under huge pressure, and the unemployment rate has shot up. Numbers of infections are increasing rapidly. Hopefully this will all act as a wake-up call to those Cov-idiots who think they can still carry on as though nothing is happening.

Rosy, nice for you to have your granddaughter. I know exactly what you mean about brains getting scrambled when you have a young one around!

It's hard for many, this disruption to normal life. It seems to highlight any day to day problems, too. I've seen some examples of couples who are beginning to get on one another's nerves, and also those who live alone finding it especially difficult. Maybe it's helpful to think of it all as a situation which is a shared experience. One day we may look back on this time and even be proud of how we coped with it.

Yesterday, I said to my OH as the latest awful statistics were being read out on the TV, "Sometimes I think I'd feel better if I could just go out into the garden and scream!!" His reply? 'Well, why don't you!!" (I won't, as I'm worried someone might hear me and think I'm being attacked, LOL!)

I worked out my frustrations on beginning to attack the Chr. cards this morning. I've never in my life written a card before mid November, but there's something strangely satisfying to know that one thing will be done soon towards the festivities.

Pat, you posted whilst I was rabbiting. Lovely that you had such a good visit from Charlie. Shame that it was so wet for your trip to Nymans.

LINDA – Dau’s hand is mostly better, just a bit weak for some tasks. I shall have to get moving on my (our) 4-5 overseas Ch-mas cards as we have been warned to post before 30 Nov.

ROSY – A pity your Kew visit was spoilt by the weather and hence the crowds.

Gloomy sky clearing to blue & sunshine, back to gloom <sigh>. So I’ve put one load of washing out and left the rest for another day. Hm, I chose today’s quote a few days ago.

Trio have been learning Indonesian at school, but next year with change of teachers & it will be Italian. “Oh good”, says MissJ, we’ll learn about Italian animals.” Apparently her knowledge of Indonesian language is not much more than nasi goreng and Sumatran tigers. Dau said “I can speak Italian – allegretto, diminuendo, adagio, . . !”

Just a thought

If we have the attitude that it’s going to be a great day it usually is. (Catherine Pulsifier)