What are you all up to
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Our plan at the moment is still to head down south in July but we will be monitoring the situation if need be we will book somewhere closer to home. Regardless of where we go though we will be careful and keep ourselves to ourselves and plan on spending a lot of time outside. Sounds like you have made good progress with the driveway we are lucky that we have quite a big drive and can park the caravan right at the back at the corner so not blocking our living room window or blocking the neighbours view . Do you keep the caravan in storage at the moment if so then the new drive will be a good saving money wise
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Since anything on here is hard to access I thought I'd tell you I posted on the garden thread - take thedogaling and brue! The rose I dug out of mums garden has a bloom, can't add it here, wrong device! Which means it will be out for dads birthday next week, fingers crossed the same for mum's in October just as it has been for years!
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Hi Francis, no the caravan is not in storage. Where we live we have a private car parking for residents. Out the front of our bungalow is a grassed area. We have a big garden but can't get vehicle access to the side or rear due to having a bulk LPG gas tank there.
The caravan has sat in the parking area no problem but now that we had time this year we decided to get it into part of the front garden, Doesn't block our window in the living room as it will sit to the other side of the house. Also doesn't block our neighbours view due to how the bungalows are arranged.
Re going away with the van, normally we wouldn't go away in July or August. As it happens today we should have been at Caen waiting for the ferry home
This Covid has made us look at doing things different this year, its been a long time since we spent anytime touring round Scotland so going to visit a few places but sticking to CL's during the holiday period. 0 -
Yes, it is quite a bit compared to what they had before (1/2 postage stamp), but it has to be dealt with, and the sooner SIL realises that the grass and hedges do not look after themselves, the better! They knew what was involved before they bought the place.
We are now at a stage in life where we occasionally need help, and have a little spare in the budget to cover it, but they are young and have a huge mortgage they are trying to pay down as quickly as possible, while at the same time putting aside as much as they can for repairs to the roof, so learning to DIY is a good plan, and DD is not accepting the not having the inclination excuse!
As a teacher, SIL has plenty of time on his hands over the summer for grass cutting, he just needs to accept that it needs to be done, and get on with it. I doubt he will be trusted with the hedge trimmer, the hedge might not survive!
They will, I think, still get an annual pro trim of the hedges, then keep them neat with frequent quick trims, but the grass area does not lend itself to being cut by a casual gardener as the access is kept locked at all times, both for security and to keep Callum in!
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Car was in for a service and MOT today and as the MH is in storage close by, we decided to take the it for a run round. Quick trip to Clumber, stopped for a coffee then back to storage. That will do for another month, unless we take it to Chatsworth Estate.
It was certainly a lot better than joining those queues for shops that were shown on the lunch time news. Some were even fighting to get into one store.😖 I don't like shopping at the best of times and currently the internet is our best friend.
When we arrived home our brown bin (for garden waste) had been delivered. They started collecting them on the 1st June. We haven't bothered before, they cost £35 a year here. However, in the current climate thought it worthwhile. It's now full, adorned with its sticker and ready for collection Thursday.😀
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I went into town today after the heating engineer called. Would have gone earlier but banks didn't open until 10am.
Needed to visit 2 banks, both were excellent. The same cannot be said of Joe Public! High street clearly marked keep left so one way up the other down. NO CHANCE. Most folk ambling about as a 'old normal' day! Won't be repeating anytime soon.
Very humid here, just taken puppy, in her front pack, and round the little block. That's sufficient the trip into town was exhausting, so unfamiliar as well as needing to be very vigilant! I'll get the puppy chasing around and get dinner, then rest up.
For anyone interested in radio theres a virtual show 'The Power Behind the Microphone' 1910 tonight. Check out Chelmsford City Theatres. Today there was a virtual walk too, forgot about it grhhhhh. To celebrate the centenary of the first wireless broadcast from Chelmsford. I'll try to sort a link but having issues with this site!!!
Nice work Tammygirl, I'm always tired after reading your posts hahaha.
Oh yes the noise from the heating system wasn't the recently fitted motorised valve but the pump so awaiting an estimate for that. Probably be a call out fee too as it wasn't the bit under guarantee.
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Bakers2
I rarely ever go to the bank unless some annoying person/business sends me a cheque!!! If I need cash, very rare these day I use the cash machine next to Waitrose. Got £50 out on 12th March and its still in my wallet!!!
David
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Our elderly neighbours are paying us in cash for their Waitrose orders, apart from washing the notes each time we can't do much with it!
Don't know if this post will go through, I lost the previous one.
My Maltese friend says that Malta has unlocked itself for the islanders and everything is open, the government has given everyone 100 euros to spend as an economy boost. I did point out they were being given back some of their own money but she was worried about missing out. I wonder what we'll get here.
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DavidKlyne I conduct day to day banking online, but I closed some Santander accounts and needed to re-invest. The first one I put into an existing account that I knew I'd transferred into before. Then I had a rethink and opened NS&I account and bought premium bonds, online. No way to get the sum in Virgin out without a visit. Now completely sorted. The other was to enquire whether I'd get paperwork for a fixed rate bond purchased online. Apparently I will, if I wasn't in town I'd have phoned. But then they spend telling you sooooo long telling me about COVID 19 before I join their queue.
If I'm opening new accounts for better interest
I prefer to do so in person. Easier to take it all in and ensure I don't miss vital things, like finding you have limited withdrawals or similar, cos reading t&c's is tedious and mind blowing. I like face to face dealings and building up a rapport - sadly this was declining before the current situation 
It maybe easy online but can cause anxiety as should you get a digit wrong there is no obligation for the recipient to return your money and until very recently despite asking for names as well as account numbers the banks didn't check destination accounts fully. I can't afford to get that wrong, especially as I'm apt to be dyslexic with numbers as well as spelling! Anything that goes wrong, however genuine like some scams, are YOUR FAULT - far too much unnecessary stress,
I use a mixture of cheques especially for gifts, sometimes they are 'dummy' ones and I transfer into an account, bank transfers and cash. Such things as funeral donations require cash or cheque which may explain why they appear to be dwindling un real terms from my observations.
I fear for a cashless society as I expect the bank won't pay interest in the positive. No one charges me for sleeping in my cash
and very comfy it is too!0 -
David, are you hoping to make a profit from your Waitrose orders ??
The reason I ask is 'cos I read an article about a Waitrose customer who incubated some duck eggs and ended up with three little ones entitled Peep, Seep and Meep or some such names
.Waitrose were swift to say any fertilized eggs are indistinguishable from any others unless you go out of your way to incubate them. Still it has given daily papers ( and Brian !! ) something novel to think about this week
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Don't say such worrisome things about Banks ( in general ) Santander (in particular ) and bonds all at the same time, Pulleeese Bakers 2
.I'm due in S's Crewe branch tomorrow to 'roll a bond over for another 12 months ! Might get a bit of Morrisons's shopping done to smooth my fears,tears and worries etc after I leave the bank
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ABM sorry to upset your equilibrium, I had mine upset this morning too
Read that NZ are now not COVID19 free after 24 days without a new case! 2 new arrivals from the UK via Bisbane have tested positive article HERE. Hopefully picked up quickly but goes to show how easy transmission can be without vigilance! Compassionate entry for a funeral. Hopefully they will now implement the proposed additional checks to keep their country safe and return to COVID free very quickly.
It certainly proves we mustn't drop our guard and act sensibly- like the beach goers, demonstrators and shoppers !!!
Another beautiful and certainly less humid start to our day. However I think I have tennis elbow
suspected it for a couple of days. So no hedge trimming or pruning for me, even vegetable prep and cutting puppy treats small is very painful. Boy it's easy to take good health for granted!Edit the NZ cases made the BBC news pages if my link doesn't work.
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B2 news about NZ just shows this is a tough situation for the world, there's no easy solution for any country.
Sunny morning here, just having a laze before laundry!
Hoping to take the van out tomorrow, this time without a time pressed booking and maybe Exmoor and the N Somerset coast.
Did anyone join a shopping queue yesterday?!
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Not me, brue, too much 'scaredy cat' in my make-up I'm very glad to say !
If there is the slightest bad information in the New Zealand story then I cannot see any relaxation of the 14 day isolation for cross border travellers being forth coming. And nor should it be imho, but then I'm always a bit twitchy when I'm driving down the A500 towards Stoke and all them there Clay 'eads
{ That's two (2 ) posts and one EDIT and I've not fed the birds yet
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I thought (for a couple of minutes) about going into town yesterday, but couldn’t think of anything I could do. The only department store (Beales) closed earlier in the year. If Waterstones were open I wouldn’t be allowed to browse and pick books up with no real intention of buying. I could maybe have looked for a new hat, handbag or scarf - but again not if I couldn’t just browse and try hats on.
So I stayed at home - quite happily - and read outside in the sun till it got too hot, then inside to keep cool.
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Brian
The lady concerned was on our local TV last night. She did seem to have a level of experience/expertise in poultry and was apparently bored during lockdown!!! Interesting she passed on the Quails eggs in favour of the ducks. She didn't say what she was going to do with the ducks when they were full grown.
David
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Brue yes I thought exactly the same when I read the report. It's going to be really hard to find a solution to the COVID situation worldwide. Keeping a country free isn't easy!
NZ PM has said not testing them before releasing them is below what was expected, so clearer guidelines and hopefully less human error. Thankfully they seem to be on top of quarantine and testing. That's 3 planes of passengers and crew to be traced and tested, plus their contacts. Large task in it's own right...
Here's hoping we may get to that stage at some point, I was going to write by the end of the year, but fear that's pushing it here!
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I'm not sure how bored you need to be to do that???
She must have had equipment to hatch them cos they do need special things. What even made her suspect they were fertile in the first place? I assume they screen ducks eggs in a similar way to chicken eggs? It's been years since I've heard horror stories of partically form embryos in chicken eggs - I'm sure we would hear!
Or am I being overly sceptical??? 3 hatch?? Why pass over quails eggs?? Not so easy to obtain?
I hope she realises what a mess ducks make in a garden!
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We had our first proper venture out today. We had previously been to the pharmacy and I had filled up with petrol. Today we decided to go to a Garden Centre thinking as its mainly in the fresh air we should be OK. We had gloves and masks, the latter being quite hot and kept steaming up my glasses!!! Some people in masks and some with gloves but a lot without. Given that the average age was similar to us it was disappointing the lack of spatial awareness exhibited by some and even an inability to follow simple floor stickers to maintain distance. How people are going to cope on campsites I don't know!!!
David
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Who knows, perhaps she is happy with her five minutes of fame? I think she kept chickens so had the equipment to hand. Most, if not all eggs sold by Waitrose are free range so always a chance of a male interloper amongst the ladies
The quip about Quails eggs was just me being impish as I find there are a lot of stereotyping floating around about WaitroseDavid
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Yes I read she had chickens and an incubator, she was going to keep the ducks with her chickens. We used to hatch out the occasional egg when we had chickens, we had an enormous cockerel who came from a single egg given to OH by a local small holder. We were in France one year and OH spotted some chickens he liked so asked the owner for a few eggs, he brought them back but they failed to hatch. If you buy free range eggs from a small holding you're more likely to have hatchable eggs with a few cockerels around. Waitrose said it was hard to tell the sex of ducklings so obviously there is an occasional interloper, especially if they are white Aylesburys etc. 🦢 (That's a swan, by the way..
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Got up to aged Sister's home today for a cup of coffee in her garden. Quite pleasant spell there then home for lunch.
Off out to visit bank & supermarket but got very confused on the car park. They have just started charging on the c/park again { well more shops opening so likely greater footfall
} but only pay-by-card or pay - by fone grrrr. All that time I spent arranging my 50/20/10 pence pieces into correct order in a plastic tube is all wasted snivel sniff sniff sob !! Still I got in and out of the bank ok, ditto the Health food shop { they still sell calories and fats tho' } Even got round ASDA easily enough but the whole time spent in town was unpleasant due to the humidity. There is too much of Brian to tolerate such stickiness for long, I am afraid. Still I've had a little play on here and last nights work seems to have calmed it all down, even if it is not all cured 
.Take Care, play safely please
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Slowly sorting out late mother in laws house, and the garage that time forgot, there was a 5 litre container of mobil oil unused unopned with a price sticker of £7.99, and anyone else remember when battery chargers looked like this?
Also funny the name of the firm?
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Had an enjoyable and busy day (for us at the moment!) yesterday. We spent the morning cutting back and hedge trimming in the garden. I now ache all over today. After lunch we decided that we needed a change of scene and went over to see Grand-daughter and her partner and our gorgeous gt. grandson. We spent a happy hour at a social distance in their garden and then went for a walk around their local lake. The estate where they live has been built on the old brickyards and a lot of the brick pits have been made into lakes and nature reserves. It is 2 km round their local lake so a very pleasant walk watching the local wildlife. So nice to see the wildflowers making an appearance. Interesting to see that the remains of some of the old bricks still there in the ground. It was a much better way to spend the day than going into town and shopping IMHO. We saw the pictures of the queues for our local Primark on the news!! I will give town a miss for the foreseeable future. I can't think of anything that I really need.
It is a very hot, sticky and humid day here today and I have a headache. I wish the forecast thunderstorms would arrive to clear the air. OH decided to clear and clean the greenhouse and said it was like a sauna in there. He also braved our local householders waste centre for the first time since lockdown to dispose of all our garden rubbish. He wore his mask and gloves. There were about a dozen cars in front of him which didn't take too long to clear. Despite saying on the website that he would be asked for proof of his address (it is only available to local residents) he wasn't asked to produce it.
Worrying news about NZ Bakers2. I don't suppose this virus will ever go away until and unless we get am effective vaccine. I fear what is going to happen here with the easing of the lockdown. However we can't be kept locked down for ever as the economy is suffering so badly. I am glad I don't have to make the decisions. I suppose it is up to all of us to asses the risks for ourselves and act accordingly.
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It's hot n sticky n 'orrid here too, MillieH but as the afternoon drifts on the thunder is rattling round the heavens, and plenty of lightning away to towards the Nantwich / Chester direction BUT it's still sticky and 'orrid -- so there !!
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