Weekly Chat (Non-Osprey), 8 October 2023

I forgot to come on here, today - nothing special happening here, but busy with house cleaning!!

OG -- poor J, he's in the wars these days, hope he can get his glasses mended and he's not too shaken up. Glad you found a nice place to shop.

Rusty - Interesting reading about your latest outings. Laughed at the Pound Coin Story. "World's gone Mad" we say, when we can't do the things we used to do. There are no banks at all in our town now, There used to be 6 banks and at least 4 building societies- now we're down to just two of those. I have a lot of copper coins which I'd put in a jar, so I've decided to pop them into a charity tin-- after all, it IS money!

I love the seed heads, too.

RUSTY – Bank branches are closing here too and some that do exist also don’t have cash. One bank at busy tourist Glenelg actually closes for lunch. For those in country towns, it is not good as people need to drive a few hours to a bank. Not everyone can use the internet.

DIBNLIB – Great you had a break and your Loch an Eilein walk after all.

PAT – You had a horrible driving experience; we call it tail-gaiting. You need to come to Adelaide where you will experience it every day on every road. Our state is the worst in Aussieland. I wonder if it is the Alpha Male syndrome, ie they can’t follow, they must be head of the pack.

OG – χmas shopping! I saw mince pies at my bakery this week. I should have bought some – an easy dessert for OH. Easy for me. that is.

LINDA - Love those roses.

My annual mammogram yesterday, before surgeon visit next month. Departing the hospital, I passed a stall fundraising for breast cancer. I could not face the sickly pink cup cakes but gave a donation. I have reduced my donating in past year, one because I was peeved at getting a postal reminder every month thus wasting my little offering and another charity whose database was hacked. Anonymous in future.

Cool weather has returned – OH complaining he is cold. Me: Why don’t you wear your thick cardigan? (instead of his sleeveless).

aquilareen said:

Bank branches are closing here too and some that do exist also don’t have cash. One bank at busy tourist Glenelg actually closes for lunch. For those in country towns, it is not good as people need to drive a few hours to a bank. Not everyone can use the internet.

There's one bank left in my town - thankfully, it's Limpy's.  I mostly access mine online but if I want to pay anything in I use my local Post Office.

aquilareen said:

χmas shopping! I saw mince pies at my bakery this week

Already bored of the sight of them .... and we've got months of this nonsense to come.  Roll on January.

aquilareen said:

My annual mammogram yesterday, before surgeon visit next month.

Annual?  I'm impressed.  Mine is every three years.

aquilareen said:

I have reduced my donating in past year, one because I was peeved at getting a postal reminder every month thus wasting my little offering and another charity whose database was hacked. Anonymous in future.

That's incredibly wasteful of them.  Why don't they email?

aquilareen said:

Cool weather has returned – OH complaining he is cold. Me: Why don’t you wear your thick cardigan? (instead of his sleeveless).

Blokes, eh?

CLARE - Annual check 'cos I'm still in the 5-year post-op period, then, who knows how often. I have never given charities my email, thank goodness with hackers lurking.

PS - OH has now donned his cardigan, for once without my help to find second sleeve.

aquilareen said:

OH has now donned his cardigan, for once without my help to find second sleeve.

Given how far his Parkinson's has progressed he did very well.  Please give him our best wishes.

ANNETTE: The annular solar eclipse is beginning in Arizona right now. It will reach maximum at 9:30 a.m. your time and end at 11:00 a.m.

Bjane: The annular solar eclipse is occurring right now for you and will reach maximum at 11:52 a.m. It will end at 1:18 p.m.

EVERYONE: NASA is streaming the full annular solar eclipse (the ring of fire) right now. The ring of fire will be beautiful.

Here's the link: science.nasa.gov/.../

EVERYONE READING THIS: REMEMBER THAT IT'S NOT SAFE TO LOOK AT A SOLAR ECLIPSE IN PERSON UNLESS YOU USE ECLIPSE GLASSES.

Seen the error in my last post – monthly church lunch is “soup and sweet” - not soup and sandwich (which I, for one, would prefer!).

LINDA – J’s glasses were mended immediately at the optician – we are so lucky with such facilities here. His knees are still causing a lot of pain – I would be pleased if they could be investigated, but these things always occur in the lead-up to the weekend! Love those roses – especially with the clematis flowers and seedheads!

AQ – lucky you, getting your mammogram (and check-up too) – mine stopped for covid (was supposed to be for 10 years) and never restarted, as with most o/p clinics here!

Supposed to be no rain here Saturday through Wednesday, but we had a shower just when EE was going out to work in the garden, after a very busy morning indoors, where he did very well. Anyway, he went outside, and it soon stopped. He was busy emptying the greenhouse, and then cleaning it so he can get the geraniums inside tomorrow. He came in to supervise my shower and is now making dinner – mascarpone pasta bake. I made a mistake with menus, so we shall have had pasta two days running – they don’t mind but I hate it! We shall have a “proper” dinner tomorrow – lamb shanks. I eat very little, so he makes two-portion meals and I have a little off each.