What are you all up to
Comments
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I suppose the answer is not not to ask questions
Given the whole premise seems to be that qualification is initially based on being entitled to certain benefits which I think you may have dismissed as a reason in a previous post? If it's a very old house then perhaps there is some leeway to include them in the scheme under the guise of bringing them up to modern standards. Probably best not to delve too deeply. It could of course be that the local authority had not used it's pot of money and sometimes with such schemes any balance of money is taken back into Government funds if unspent. I live in an area where probably 90% of the housing stock is less than 50 years old!David
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Right Now, Fun time is OVER
!!Had a very relaxed breakfast this morning, then prepared to load the weekends magazines up for delivery to Aged Sister. Got as far as the door to find that Postie had dropped in my days mail, so opened the NHS one to discover that, despite my visiting the Vax centre last Wednesday, I am now qualified to apply for my First Anti ~ Covid Injection DOH - they did at least tell me to ignore the letter if I have already been treated to Pfizers Best. Snarl, growl, mutter and to think that the grey bins had been emptied about 15 minutes before !
The second envelope contained a flowery catalogue from Blooms - one of the Scotts of Stow Group - Correctly named and addressed to yours truly in the knowledge that I only accept flowers ( flours ) in the form of sweet comestibles - so that was swiftly translocated to Aged Sisters too 'cos her grey bin-day is, I think, Thursday
{ Turned the radio on, tuned to Radio 5 live Sport Extra to hear some lady ( note my uber politeness now ) telling us all to follow her 10 minute exercise regime - tried but fell off the office chair so back to the pharmacy for the month's meds and a couple of packets of strong pain killers }
Take care, Stay Safe, Do as I say ~~ not Do as I Do
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If you go in via the gov.uk you'll find a maze of grants and loans for home energy schemes. Some areas of the country seem to have more funds available ( I may be wrong, but I've heard there is a lack of local funding when some applicants start looking.) The govuk site takes you to this one Home Energy Grants LINK I don't think it's benefit linked in all cases. It's obviously an allocation of money intended to improve energy efficiency, in some cases only part funded with a limited choice available to those who apply from approved suppliers. There are local or national funds avavilable. If you're prepared to go through all the hoops and fill in all the forms like TDA did and meet the requirements there are "deals" available.
Here's the initial link which covers a whole raft of things concerning energy saving. gov.uk LINK
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Aye, I think you are right. We aren’t old enough, ill enough or cash strapped enough to qualify for anything. Neither is our neighbour, hers is a five bed detached😉. We only got the boiler by agreeing to the underfloor lagging, so I guess it’s about doing up old houses. Rest of house is well lagged/eco proofed, double glazed etc...... It’s 160 years old next year. Our council has been having a push on helping do up older houses, guess we just got lucky🙂
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No signs of the heavy rains yet? if it does i think it will just run off as ground full of water already
Postie dropped off letter advising MOT on car due next month and special offer if serviced as well which makes for a bit of a quandry the car has only done 1377 miles since last service/mot is a legal but what about a service We would normally have done 8or9000 with a caravan on the back for many of those miles ,do i miss a service and save about £150?
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Not an easy day as we had to get the motorhome in and out through narrow gaps in local roads due to all the cabling work going on, but it passed the MOT ok and I did see a bit of the outside world.
Had a long chat with a friend in Suffolk, booked in for her jab this week so it's good to hear this is happening now and our ancient neighbours are booked in locally next week for theirs...only they couldn't get in together so two separate journeys.
OH has been making a shelf to fill in the empty space in our kitchen, we managed to find some wood that matched the original wood counter top above. The wood arrived yesterday evening. Unfortunately OH totally confused the delivery driver who phoned to find his way in the dark. OH thought it was another family phone call asking for DIY help and answered "Captain Courageous here, what do you want to know now..."
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Ps sorry the car is over 7yrs old so no warranty with 36369 miles on the clock
and being at home the fuel bills have gone way above what we normally pay and we have worn out the dishwasher and one of the induction hobs hotplates
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We've had a dry day, well few mizzle bits in the air, with a stiff breeze! Decided this was the driest it will be for some time so Dora and I went to the local estate for real fresh air and a good run. Wonderful to be amongst greenery and trees and very very few people. Not sure who came home dirtiest 😱🤣. At one point I picked a wrong bit and my foot sunk as deep as my walking boot and yuk oozed in, and there was a very satisfactory sucking noise when I managed to get my foot out. I managed to stay upright 🤣🤣. Once home I hosed her down with the garden hose first, she wasn't keen and I don't blame her it was cold ❄❄ to remove some mud. Then OH took her to bathe her in lovely warm water and give her a really good clean, took a while for the water to run clear! Meanwhile I hosed my boots and my waterproof coat.........
Got quote for new PCB, I'd looked up our accounts and found it was £300 5 years ago and I was pleasantly surprised that the quote including fitting is only £50 more. Someone coming tomorrow to advise and quote for new boiler. I call that great service. Meanwhile the boiler thermostat appears to be making a difference radiators feeling much warmer, I cranked up the room thermostat to test 😉. It seems you need to be in benefits for grant's, we are lucky enough not to be, but it will bring it up tomorrow.
TV still playing up so new one coming Thursday and will be delivered, set up including our virgin box connection, DVD player etc and old one removed for recycling.
😉 OH already hyperventilating 🤣🤣
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It was raining when I took Flyte out last thing last night and it not stopped since then, so it's been 4 walks so far in the rain and more to come. Thankfully we've not had much wind so have been able to use a brolly so far, but strong get winds forecast over the next couple of days.
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I went to a very dear friend's funeral this morning. She died from covid on Christmas day. I was worried that under the current restrictions it would be impersonal but it wasn't at all. It was very personal to her, lots of lovely memories. She was a very special person. Her family gave us all a bag at the end with some bulbs to plant in her memory, such a lovely thought. Also as they couldn't have a wake there was a small bottle of prosecco to toast her. The gifts are all in quarantine at the moment.
I do hope you can get a new boiler soon Bakers2. The new boiler we had fitted in the spring is a Baxi combi and we are very pleased with it. We have had combi boilers since we moved in to our house over 30 years ago. It was a godsend as we moved in with 3 teenagers who were addicted showers!
No real rain here today but a very gusty wind. The weather forecast for the next few days looks dire.
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Actually went for a walk in the dry this morning. Chucked it down during the night so wasn't expecting to stay dry. Got back 90 minutes later just as the rain started up again and hasn't stopped since.
Had numerous phone calls during the day but none for any jab appointments. Had someone round to measure up the windows fkr new blinds. Windows opened, masks on etc. 10 minutes later he was out.
Went shopping this evening. Hardly anyone in there.😁
Bit of a puzzle going on. MiL moves the table mats into one pile so we can use the table to stack disinfected shopping. Last week there was 1 small placemat missing when we reassembled everything. Tonight another has gone AWOL. We (Mrs.WN and myself), have no idea what or where she has put them. We'll have to ask Robsail for a hint.😁
Good luck anyone in the flood alert areas.
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WN, could it just be that MiL is moving the place mats round so that you'll go " Hunting The Mats " with some nice yellow dusters and / or fluffy gloves on ~~ purely to keep a couple of spiders on the run
{ Not saying that you have such critturs, of course }0 -
Waiting in for a 'Smart Meter' person who is going to replace the electric and gas meters. I have delayed it for so long but the tariff I'm on is excellent and only dependent upon the installation of the Smartmeters, and really have no objection to them. Our meter enclosures are external so the risk is minimal, just that it's pouring down with rain, poor man, oops poor person
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Got up this morning, looked out of the window and saw rain overflowing from one of the gutters at the rear of the house. Strange as I'd cleaned the gutters out a few weeks ago. Donned full waterproofs, got ladder out and went up and had a look. Whilst there is some slight silting on the bottom there's not much by way of heavy stuff there. There is a dog leg but the part that's overflowing looks like it has sunk a little or bowed and the water is not running true.
Looks like the facia boards which the guttering is attached to is leaning away from the roof. They're over 40 years old so we'll have to get new ones I fear. Whilst up there I noticed a hole in a tile near the edge, fortunately. Had a spare tile but not getting up in this weather and made a temporary repair. Rain coming down in stairods.
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Just this second had a phone call from MiLs surgery. She has a vaccine appointment for Saturday.
Other good news is that I traced one on the missing mats. She had put it in a bag we use to take waste, recyclable paper to the main sack in the garage. She swears blind that the Fairies did it.
Obviously the other one from the week before has gone the same way. Bit worrying as she can't remember it at all. So we'll have to see how much "paddling" she's doing underneath her normal behaviour.1 -
A bit windy here not much rain (so far) ,Postie must be short of work as running about 45 mins early
dropped off two letters for me and one for OH inviting us for covid jabs the two letters enclosed consent forms for our jabs this friday from local GPs and the other one for me was an invite to the national roll out if i wanted itAlso the 2021 National Trust Handbook with a note adviseing that it was smaller because of the present covid situation ,so no opening times of any NT places or if cafes were open but if needed to go on line or phone for tatest updates, although all the other important information about Trust properties were included
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That reminds me of the time our daughter's father in law lost his ( pretty expensive) phone.
He had no idea where he had left it, no idea when he last had it, so the whole house was searched without success. They rang the phone but could not hear it ringing anywhere, so they concluded he must have lost it somewhere outside the house.
DD was visiting and offered to use some app or something she had on her phone which could detect a phone in the vicinity (no idea about it myself) , went round the house....nothing. Then asked if they had checked the bins, which apparently they had not thought to do. And there it was, out in the bin with the debris from the meal he had prepared the previous day!
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We had someone come out to look at installing a smart meter for us. Meters are fairly new, but box isn’t, like yours, outside the house. “My, that’s an old box, haven’t seen one like it before, I will need to come back”
Two years now......... We aren’t too bothered. We email our readings in once a month to our supplier. Still with a good one!👍 Everything is online.
Thats a good phrase WN, “paddling”. Very apt.
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Our boxes are the white glass fibre type, new on the house build about 25 years ago. All fitted and given the 'smart' monitor which is now in the drawer, we use what we use to stay comfortable and I see no use for it really. It didn't bother me giving the readings online either but they offered a good electric and gas tariff rate if fitted and guaranteed against a price hike for 2 years.
I also insisted on the latest version (SMETS2) so if/when I eventually change supplier the meters will still work with the new supplier, unlike the previous version1.
Oh well, another bit of technology in the drawer
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"Oh well, another bit of technology in the drawer "
amazing isnt it. we have a very old but very usable ipad, my daughter bought it as a birthday present for OH when she worked in Kuwait, in a case so in very good condition, but i found out this week, when trying to load Scrabble go so that we can play with Gkids etc, that the ipad is 3rd generation so not able to load OS level 10 which is most recent, and guess what lots of games out there now need iOS 10 or above, yes you can play Scrabble go via facebook, great if you dont mind being bombarded with advertisments, but i took the easy option, but most expensive option and bought a new tablet. iPad might be of use to youngest Gchild to play games on, but in reality it is now a defunct piece of kit, simply because Apple could not be bothered to support anything below 4th generation
I should say Scrabble go works on most android phones but OH found her phone screen a tad small. 0 -
iOS10? That's ancient, Rufs😂. Mine’s running iOS14.3.
Welcome to the world of Apple (and they're not alone) and inbuilt obsolescence. It's all about getting you to buy a nice new iPad and nothing to do with them not being bothered.
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