Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 15 January 2023

Phew, it reached 38 C before the change arrived late afternoon. At teatime some wet stuff fell from the sky, a total of 0.2 mm. Just enough to refresh the weeds I missed. Now a pleasant 22 C and a good night's sleep.

Good Morning - a frosty one here in the UK.

OG - I'm glad you're back in circulation and feeling better. Don't try to do too much in a day, though.

Shocking pictures of land slips and sinkholes in California yesterday, this morning. Awful for those whose homes are affected.

Went to visit Sue yesterday and we had toasted hot cross buns - yum! More discussions on various family matters as a lot going on at the moment.

We have snow here. It looks very pretty with the sun glinting off the sparkly roof tops and the sky is a beautiful pale blue. The kids have been walking to school as usual and the dog walkers are out and about. The post lady has got her shorts on!!! The road is clear because it is gritted due to the fact that I live on a bus route. I am supposed to be going out for lunch with a friend. We will no doubt be in communication later to decide whether or not we are going.
I read all the communications yesterday. It had been a busy day as I had been to the zoo with my friends where the lens fell out of my glasses!!! (I had a screw loose!!!!!) I can see reasonably well without them so we carried on. Fortunately, my friends were driving so they took me into town on the way home so that I could get the lens fixed.
OG - it was good to see you and to read that you had been out and about.
I hope everyone has a good day despite weather events, family problems and heath issues.

Another bright and sunny and REALLY cold morning – don’t think I shall go out as planned tomorrow, and may not even get to the dentist Thursday – will have to wait and see!

J had a call from a secondary school in Dumfries yesterday for four days a week, possibly ongoing. He is still committed to Gretna primary until end of January. He explained this and agreed with Dumfries that he will overlap the two! So today and tomorrow in Gretna then Thursday and Friday on a trial basis in Dumfries! Will have to remind him which way to set off in the mornings! This means he will miss seeing his Sister and her OH when they visit.

AQ – pleased to see it cooled a little and allowed some sleep! I am using hot water bottles in my bed!

RUSTY – no snow here but white with frost. Glad you had another trip to the zoo and got your glasses fixed.

Must settle to some post-Christmas letters this week, having sent very few with Ch. cards – at least some folk included some news so there are subjects to comment on, and may reduce some to smaller notecards!

OG Things are definitely looking up for J.

Good news for J, OG !
I've caught up with all your news after yesterday's loss of internet. I spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to fix it before realising that it probably wasn't just my house that was affected ! So all in all it was a very unproductive day. I hate it when things don't work.
Quite a lot of snow here overnight - nice to look at but that is all, I was planning some shopping but don't have either a car or snowboots :-( No worries, plenty of food so I won't starve.

I got out for my lunch. My friend and I had a lovely chat and talked holiday possibilities!!! I had fish and chips and a pot of tea. Won’t need anything else today now!!
Looking forward to Winterwatch later tonight.

Sorry your shopping trip idea is off, Heather. I too, decided not to go out when I saw the ice this morning which hadn't budged all day. Now it must be slightly warmer, as its snowing!

Good news for J then, OG. I hope all works out for him

I have been busy as my late brother left an entire suitcase behind of personal effects when he emigrated, way back in the 1970s. My mother was left in charge of it and so when she died, it lived in our loft in case he ever returned to claim it. Now, since he left us, I promised my OH that I would open it and "sort it out". I knew that there would be a lot of stamp collections, & there were, but I wasn't prepared for the two bags full of personal letters. Also a metal box, which when opened, revealed yet more letters! I've been ploughing through the letters, mostly from old girlfriends, which we are going to shred. The big surprise was four carefully wrapped up items which proved to be two ornamental daggers and two animal figures carved from ivory. I can only think that he left these with my mother when he came back from S. Africa for our wedding in 1973.

I've begun to research online as to whether I am allowed to sell these, one problem being that I don't know if they are antique or modern. The new laws about ivory are very strict indeed and I may not be able to sell them.

Lindybird:  That's fascinating about the ivory.  I know the rules are strict, but what are the options if you can't sell them?  

OG:  Good news for J. Hope you manage to get to some of your appointments this week.

Rusty:  How did the hearing aids work out at the Indian dinner?

Heather: Was the whole area affected by the outage?  Assume everything working okay now...?

I took down Xmas decorations around the 12th and they've been piled up in the garage since then; it's sunny today so am off to sort them out and organize some other stuff for various recycling/thrift stores.  Where does it all come from!

Take care everyone.

LINDY: You probably already have this link, but in case you don't, check here:

www.gov.uk/.../dealing-in-items-containing-ivory-or-made-of-ivory.