What are you all up to
Comments
-
I have a SIL like that. Absolutely useless at anything practical. He'd get a sparky in to change a lightbulb!
0 -
My daughter and SIL have now finished their rear extension, did 95% of the work themselves including moving a temporary kitchen 3 times. It's a fantastic kitchen, dining and family area. In the spring they will start the front extension. They both work and have the grand twins to look after and won't except any help from us so we are really proud of their achievement.
0 -
Total independence OP👍🏻👏🏻👏🏻. You are justifiably proud. So will they be for it too.
0 -
And it gives them something to be proud of which helps overcome the hours of work put into something. We don't have a downstairs toilet and at one stage we were thinking of having a small extension on the back of the utility room but the cost was going to be out of proportion to the benefits and I think a Stannah Stairlift might be a more economic answer if it ever comes to that
So having done all that work themselves has probably saved a lot of money. David
0 -
I think it runs in the family, his mum and dad are also not practical people. I have done a few little jobs for them too.
Where I grew up, you either did it yourself, or it did not get done!
I quite enjoy doing woodwork, electrics, plumbing and tiling, there is great satisfaction in doing a good job. Unfortunately, some tradesmen are not so particular, which is understandable to a degree as to them time is money.
I am slow but get a good result. The fact I am also "free" is an added bonus. I also do things exactly how the client wants them done, taking into account technical requirements of course.
0 -
It's good to able to do these DIY things, it certainly saves a lot of money, equally it's good that you can ask someone else to do it if you're not capable.
Me, I'm slowly cleaning out all of our kitchen drawers and cupboards just now, that's my February task!
WN, thanks for asking about my eyes, they are ok now. Hope you are enjoying your break and Nellie too.
I was listening to the weather forecaster suggesting we all get out and enjoy the weather before the storm sets in...so I went to a local supermarket this morning and they also relieved me of some money. I haven't been able to get out till this week, we've managed to last from what we've got in store and Mr Brue's co-op visits, except our co-op is unreliable in keeping stocks up, so alternative thinking is required!
Hope it's sunny where you are, don't overdo the DIY.
0 -
Gloom and Doom Day Part 1 :-
Arrived at Aged Sisters this morning to find a slightly (!) dented car in her drive & a neighbour pressure washing the entrance. It appears that her youngest grandson was paying a visit with his family when he got T-boned as he pulled off the road. Fortunately there were plenty of on-lookers at the time, and to every ones delight a) nobody was hurt and b ) the 'man with the hose ' knows the rules -- he kept everybody silent except for swapping details and memorised the comments made by the other driver { " The sun was in my eyes ! " -- the one day in the year when it rose in the west !! } Still they were in contact with insurance company getting clearance for a temporary replacement until the damage repairers get stuck in
so the family life will continue.Part 2 of Gloom and Doom Day -- Brian's just taxed his Ducky for another year
, and the kitchen mats are all clean and dry 
. so clean in fact I'm not sure if they should be put down again, well they'll only get dirty again won't they.Hope you all are well , D-I-Ying away merrily and exercising pups old & new ( or young
)1 -
We have had a nice day today, been at the Scottish Caravan show in Glasgow all day very enjoyable and much better than last years although £11 to park is a rip off. Looked at some nice caravans got some figures for a van we really liked but our current caravan is only 2 years old so might wait another year or so and look again. We know the layout we want next time so will take another year from our current van and then look again. Not been away since the end of November but hoping to get away for a weekend just local hopefully the last week in Feb fingers crossed.
0 -
What an absolutely beautiful day. Just ripe for a good walk so we didn't disappoint it.
Parked in Llangollen and walked up to the castle that sits above it for a fantastic panoramic view, up the valley to the famous aquaduct and down the valley to the Berwyns and Horseshoe Pass, which is where we headed, across fields, along FPs and Green paths to Crucis Abbey, stopping to admire the original "crucis" or cross nearby. It was put there by the last king of Powys, Cyngen in the 9th century. It used to be 20' high but it was damaged in the Civil War and it's now just 8' but a good bit of history involved. It's called the Pillar of Eliseg.
We finished off the walk via the canal.
All in all a cracking day. Nearly 7 miles walked and a nice climb to boot.
3 -
We walked a bit of Llangollen last year beautiful area.
Another lovely day here, so the children took Mum for a day out to Newark today. Huge smash on A1 heading North, just up from Clumber Park roundabout, although thankfully it didn’t look as though anyone was hurt, as no ambulances around. But police had halted Northbound traffic, and it was standing for a good five miles as we headed towards Newark. Carriageway completely blocked.
We got into Newark with no further drama, and decided to head for a look at the big parish Church of St Mary Magdalene, in the town centre. We walked into a huge crowd, many coming out of the church, and the market square was packed as well. Lots of veterans with medals and caps etc.... lots of regimental flags, lots of RAF and other military personnel around. I asked a local who was the service for, and it turns out it was for a WW2 bomb aimer who flew provisions into the Warsaw Uprising in 1944. His name was Jim Aubon, and he died aged 95, sadly without any living family. A friend had asked for the people of Newark to help out, and a rather fabulous service came about for this elderly hero, with the RAFA involved, and many folks from around Newark. It was a very moving event. His cortège was escorted by veterans and serving officers, and a Spitfire later flew over the churchyard where he was buried. We could just hear it in the distance, and saw it briefly later on.
We did get into the church later, very interesting for anyone heading to Newark. Gave the Castle a miss today, as Mum was getting a bit cold. Glad to say, no hold ups heading back North on A1, all had been cleared.
2 -
It was highlighted on the local TV news, tda. Glad that both you and the WNs had good days out.
We've had 2 beautiful sunny days after hard frosts through the night, but fortunately I'd covered the water barrels so we had flowing water. Yesterday we visited Castle Rising after a morning walk through Long Common. It certainly is an impressive building! We then continued into Sandringham Warren for another walk. Today we went th Shouldham Warren, another grand place for taking Flyte for a long walk. Then onto the local Volvo dealer, as we'd had an engine warning symbol appear.😧 They were able to find the problem and job's sorted, and no damage done thankfully, although It did hit the pocket a fair bit, but less than expected really.😕
3 -
It was indeed. Mum was really pleased to have been there, she grew up watching the Blitz over Sheffield, collecting bits of shrapnel, and has all sorts of books about the pilots and other hero’s who kept Britain safe. I confess I shed a tear, as did lots of others. But it was a celebration as well, he was one of the lucky ones who survived.
Castle Rising is very interesting Nellie, very old as well. Have you been to Framlingham Castle? Another very interesting visit. We did it from the Tank Museum CL last time we were in Norfolk.
0 -
Yes, we've been there too. Can't remember where we were staying at the time. Another new site booked today nr Diss, an area we've not visited before, so don't know what's about there.
WN, all the best for tomorrow....Hope you get it all fixed. Are you heading home after or going to sit the storm out?
The Tawny Owls are calling tonight, lovely to hear them.
0 -
Thanks Nellie.
We're heading home so we hope to get there between 11.00 and 11.30 so that they can do the jobs before their lunch hour at 12.30.
Enjoyed it here although there's a distinct lack of neighbours.
Sounds like you've enjoyed the good weather as well.
0 -
Tda, it's becoming more common these days that such appeals are well publicised & responded to thankfully. But I do find it sad that so many elderly folk are often left to live out their last years with few visitors just memories.
1 -
Don’t think we got into Diss. Last time we were in Norfolk, our trip was curtailed by an electrical fault, and we had to come home. We did manage a nice walk in Thetford Forest, and went into Thetford itself to visit the wonderful Dad’s Army Museum. A nice wet afternoon out type of visit. There’s also a transport museum with some of the vehicles used in the series, and Thetford Priory. We weren’t too keen on the town itself though. Grimes Graves (EH) is a fascinating visit, but doubt it’s open at the moment. We need to revisit Norfolk soon....😁
0 -
Nell there are some great Suffolk wildlife trust reserves not too far away from Diss. Looking at the forecast we are meant to get the battering that folk in the west/North of the country are due to get.
Another sunny day here although breezy. Local offshore wind farm generating again
0 -
Arrived home late last night after our 9 days away, won't describe it as a holiday, more an endurance event.
Anything and everything that could go wrong did. Late flight out of Glasgow due to aircraft issues meant that insufficient time in Amsterdam to transfer luggage (we made it luggage didn't ) so no cases on arrival at Rome, got them later the next day.
Transfer from Rome hotel to port went fine but at the port not so good as cruise ship in lock down due to suspected Coronavirus of one of the on board passengers. Took them all day to inform us we were not getting on board. They knew from early morning it was not going to happen but they kept us there without food or drinks for 11 hours. Near riot from the Italian passengers when we were informed late evening that we were going to hotels overnight back in Rome.
Back to port again the next day to more utter chaos, unbelievable the way some folk behave, no security to assist staff. Behaviour from the Italian passengers was totally unexceptable, shouting, screaming pushing the ground staff unbelievable.
Finally on board but we had missed the first day which should have been La Spezia, so onto Savona, disappointed but its what can happen on cruises.
Weather after Savona was great, Marseille nice at 20c, Barcelona 21c and Mallorca 23c.
Latest and largest cruise ship of the Costa fleet does not measure up to previous cruises we've had with Costa, the food was awful, the service not up to their usual standard. The ship is lovely if you like ultra modern, nice and quite when cruising as its run on LPG. Very environmental too with lots of new innovations on board. However staff have been replaced by electronics and in some areas it does not work.
There was 6500 passengers but only 1500 crew, not enough staff in the restaurants to wait on meant long delays for meals arriving and it was inevitable that they were barely warm when arriving at table. After 3 nights of this we decided to eat at the only self service restaurant, unfortunately so did everyone else. In the end we ate ashore during the day and just had snacks back on board.
On departing ship we had a 2 hour wait for our arranged transport, asked to stay longer on ship, NO you have to get off and wait in terminal, asked if there was an area to wait, told yes. There is nowhere to wait once off ship and you cannot go back on, you can't wait in the terminal only outside. It was blowing a gale and only 10c. Finally a car arrived to pick us up, only to find out he was just taking us to the gates of the port as the driver that had been sent didn't have the correct pass to get into the port area. Finally in the correct car and about to go round a roundabout and the car is rammed from behind. Luckily no major damage.
If anyone had told me this chain of events I doubt I would have believed them.
So glad to be back home even to the freezing fog.
Lots more of things that did not go right but this post is already turning into a book
wil catch up with everyone's news later, must get moving and unpack, need to go to shops at some stage to.0 -
OH Tammygirl 😱. I had a passing thought about you and the coronavirus when I heard about cruise ships on the news - certain it couldnt be you!
Sounds like an endurance - interested to hear more 😱😉. Made me glad we haven't attempted anything since himself performed...........
Endurance here of a different sort, our branded shower has been dripping for a long time so finally had spare capacity and brain power to sort. Agreed to have an upgrade as offered at a very good discount and ours over 12 years old. Engineer here by 0715 EXTREMELY early start for us - good job they'd told us 😱. Left by 0845. OH took a shower, no issues. I went to clean the area, shower started ok, water stopped after few seconds! Turned off and on, performed slightly better. Turned off water still coming out, turn on and off again. Still running 😱😱😱😱 20 minute phone call to the company - great canned musik and told my call is important, I was through to operator quickly but he had to keep going to ask questions of his manager - why couldnt I talk to manager?? Engineer coming back but will be an hour and a half! Feel sorry for the engineer as he had 5 to fit today - he said they are pushed hard and insufficient time allocated for the jobs let alone travelling. Witnessed as he left, 0845 for next job scheduled for 0900 in Harlow - I'd say 30-40 mins travel outside rush hour! Certainly not funny for anyone. I don't think it's anything the engineer did I fear it's the whole unit, may have to put back the removed one, which was left with us to dispose of. I whinged to myself about that but now grateful as I know its mine and I can have it put back for now!
Beautiful day here was looking forward to a walk this afternoon but that won't happen! Chap on the other end of the phone assumed someone could go in the loft, he can't I don't. Looks like a bit of pottering in the garden which will be nice but limiting as it is still VERY wet.
FRUSTRATED..........
0 -
Hi Bakers, the first we knew of a suspected case of Coronavirus on the ship was a couple of hours after arriving at the port. Not by the staff there but by another passenger who had received a message from a family member and a link to an article on social media. As you can imagine it soon spread around the waiting area. Staff still saying nothing other than we will soon be going on board.
As it turns out the lady concerned was taken off the ship when it docked that morning to go to Rome in isolation for tests.
The ship was about to allow passengers off for excursions to Rome and to disembark hundreds of passengers when the mayor of Civvitavechia heard of this, he jumped in his car and drove to the port refusing to allow anyone off the ship until the outcome of the tests were known. It was he who called in the WHO to check things out.
What was later found out was that they knew that morning the results would not be known until the next day. The more information that was leaked, the more folk got angry. When the announcement was finally made it was only in Italian, the rest of the passengers knew nothing. There was much shouting, banging on the checking in counters, pushing and shoving (by Italians)
Some of the staff were in tears at the abuse they were getting, all very frightening and disturbing. It was not for another 30 mins did other nationalties get any information as to what was happening. Then it took another 2 hours before we finally got buses to hotels. When we arrived there, at almost midnight, they told us they had been ready to receive us from 4pm that afternoon.
The whole episode was not a good couple of days for Costa. The lack of information, organisation was appalling.
As it turned out the lady in question did not have the virus. It must have cost the cruise company a fortune but nothing like it would have if the tests had proved positive.
The folk on board who were due to disembark had all checked out of their cabins, which were then cleaned ready for us to board. Later that day they all returned to their cabins to spend another night. Then the process was repeated again the following day. All these passengers had to have flights rebooked and onward travel arrangements made.
The hotels used were all of good quality we were in a Marriot hotel, fabulous.
The folk I feel sorry for are the crew on board especially the cabin crew and the shore based staff we were on duty from 8am until gone midnight, they took alot of abuse yet all came back the next day to go through it all again.
There were 3 things that we had planned to do on the cruise, 1) to go to Cinque Terre, 2) to go up the cabel car to the castle above Barcelona, 3) was to go on the orange train from Palma up the west coast to Sollar. We lost Cinque Terre due to the delay, the cable car was closed for maintenance (after getting a taxi up to it) and the train did not open until the day after we were there. You could not make it up if you tried
thankfully we have a good sense of humour and have a very resilient nature. Only 19 days until we go to Lanzarote
0 -
TG
It's sometimes the things that go wrong on a holiday that make them more memorable!!! At least you were not off the coast of Japan https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbvxhdUNr9g
Went to the Doctor's today for my six monthly BP check and chat. Surgery opens at 8.00am and as usual there was a queue at the door. My appointment was at 8.15am. I noticed that most of the people queuing quickly left, no doubt having booked a later appointment ot picked up prescriptions. It was very quiet in the surgery and I was called in early and probably left before the proper time of the appointment. It just struck me that people could be staying away from doctor's surgeries because of the virus? On the surgery website it says that if you think you have symptoms of the virus not to go to the surgery but call 111 instead.
David
0 -
Tammygirl What a nightmare of a holiday! I had been trying to persuade my very resistant OH to go on a cruise. I have now changed my mind and he certainly hasn't change his! You must be very glad to be back home, even though the weather is foul.
Bakers2 I do hope you get your shower issues sorted out. Are they coming back with a new unit? Nothing is simple these days is it.
Moulesy What lovely news about Ralph. He sounds as though he is going to be such a good companion for you all. You will be looking forward to welcoming him when you get back from SA. Is he in a foster home at the moment? I hope you have a good trip to SA.
Brue I am glad your eyes are getting better and that you felt well enough to go to the hairdresser. Your new little dog sounds as though she is settling in well. She must be delighted to have a lovely comfortable home and garden and be taken out for walks.
WN I hope you get the work done on your caravan and that you get home before storm ciara.
I have had a busy week. It was my birthday on Monday (no special age) so the family came to us on Sunday which was hectic but good fun. I received my first Great Grandma card
OH and I went out for lunch on Monday and I met a friend for lunch on Tuesday after my Cathedral duties. I have spent the rest of the week trying to catch up with myself. We went to watch 10 year old grand-daughter playing for her school football team yesterday afternoon. It was bitterly cold but lovely and sunny and luckily no wind. It was great to see them all play so well and the good news was that they won. The not so good news was that they were playing the girls' team from our grandson's school and he was watching it with us so he wasn't happy that his school was beaten. Grand-daughter and great grandson were also with us but I don't think the baby is into football just yet Take care everyone over the weekend, especially those that are away or travelling.0 -
Sounds like you might have been glad to get home TG, thank goodness you weren't quarantined. The ship was mentioned on the news and I wondered what had happened to it. Best wishes for your next trip!
David I think surgeries can be a great source of all sorts of winter colds etc, mind you a lot of us around here have had quite a nasty virus and have done a good job spreading it amongst ourselves!
It's gone a bit dark here, fingers crossed the predicted storm won't affect too many.
edit Millie, it was nice to read your news, glad to hear you enjoyed your birthday.
0 -
TG - Glad you got home safely sounds like it was a stressful holiday.
Millie- Belated happy birthday
Its been quite cold but mild here today so we took the opportunity to give the caravan a good spring clean (inspired by the caravan show yesterday) took all the carpets out hoovered them and cleaned the floor. Also cleaned the oven grill, hob and fridge. Emptied out a lot of stuff from the cupboards and only put back in stuff we will need. Hoping to get away for a weekend in three weeks time so should now just be able to hook on and go.
0 -
Tammygirl What a nightmare of a holiday! I had been trying to persuade my very resistant OH to go on a cruise. I have now changed my mind and he certainly hasn't change his! You must be very glad to be back home, even though the weather is foul.
Millie
Have you never been on one? Putting the aside the circumstances that TG unfortunately found herself in they can be a great holiday choice. There are lots available from UK ports which might (only might) avoid the difficulties that TG experienced. We have only been on two, both with P&O from Southampton. We were initially concerned about enforced bonhomie and finding ourselves sat with people we might not have liked but it turned out differently to expectations and we enjoyed both despite the first being quite rough seas! If you ever wanted a preview they do some short cruises of 2/3/4 days and sometimes if just want to sample life onboard you can have just lunch onboard, that would involve a day trip to Southampton.
David
0 -
It's been another lovely sunny day, went down to our Farmers market this morning before work, very poor turnout
but my favourite sausage stall was there so stocked up.Glad you enjoyed your birthday Millie.
Tammygirl, glad you made it home safely. Sorry that your holiday didn't go so well.
Francis we too have been cleaning and re stocking the caravan hope to get away next weekend.
Take care all those away and travelling.
0 -
Your Costa trip sounds horrendous TG. AS the saying goes - worse things happen at sea. <Smug git mode> Makes me glad we did our silver wedding anniversary trip with Cunard. The bonus is that I'm now a "Platinum" client. I think it entitles me to an extra teaspoon in the cabin.
1 -
My goodness TG, sounds like a right nightmare
We’ve been on five cruises, never a hitch, apart from having to miss a couple of ports on our last cruise, but that was due to the weather (Hurricane Lorenzo). I hope Lanzarote goes without a hitch 👍0 -
Cardio clinic yesterday was "interesting?" had BP taken (within ok margin) which also did show i still have a slow heartbeat 42 per min,but when saw registrar?he said as it is a year since you heart procedure you need to come off the anti clotting drug, but wanted me to go on beta blockers, when i mentioned have you seen the latest info from your nurse ,he said no,i suggested he had a look,he then said ok do you take your BP at home? we will need to see you again in six months no more mention of beta blockers
Our lives in their hands
have medication review next week at which i will mention my clinic visit
0
