What are you all up to
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It always pays to shop around and haggle for insurance and changing service providers. I am psyching myself up for the 18 monthly renewal battle with VM due in a couple of months time. It will be an hour of my time I won’t get back, but it’s usually well worth it. I have direct number for disconnections now, so that I can at least talk to someone in English, which is always a good start. We go from “we’re not happy” to an end game of a decent discount and whatever else I can persuade them to send. Last year it was a WiFi booster so we can cover garden area from house better.
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@DEBSC so sorry to read about your granddaughter again. Rant away!
It sounds exactly like our area. Build build build - 5000 plus going up on productive farmland the other side if the A1M to us. Little other infrastructure, secondary school just approved. Water issues unbelievable, to the extent that an existing village has to have tankers take away water when it rains…
IIn Our village they've lost pipes for water and sewage, and are constantly digging to find them..... That's cos there's planning approved to new build, several years ago, before we moved on almost 4 years ago, not yet started but i dont hhink its the pipe issue. Investigations began because of flooding issues...
ThThat Development is only one of lots that are happening. Hospital in Peterborough and Huntingdon run at capacity without additional builds. As to GP don't get me started. Ours is great but they are expected to take on the residents.
A riding school has had to move because they can no longer access safe riding 😡
As you can see double letters and capitals are back on my device - at times. Expecting grandson any time as Granny has emergency dental appointment so mummy dropping him off. I have no car to collect him.
I love living on the edge 🤣
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Sorry to read of your granddaughter's relapse @DEBSC and hope she has soon recovered. You have no reason to apologise for your rant as the situation is really bad.
PLeased to hear that you had a good visit to son and family @Oneputt and that your brother was well enough to go out for lunch with you. That certainly was a feat by A H, who made it look so easy.
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No problem with you having a rant @DEBSC. Fully justified and probably easily replicated across the land. Best wishes and hoping your GD is back to normal soon.
Saw the news images of parts of Devon, upstream of the River Otter. I feel for them and anyone else affected in this latest storm. Bad nights sleep up here as the wind raged. Living with a wood behind you creates a lot of noise. We tend to sleep, when possible, with fingers crossed. Only good thing was that the forecasted Snow didn't arrive.
We were hoping to get away tomorrow for at least a night but can't arrange care cover so may well just have a day out.
I see that AH's climb was live streamed with a delay of 10 seconds in case he fell off.
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Rant away @DEBSC it does you good sometimes.
I saw video after climb, that made may knees shake.
Just made a felt cover for my new iPad, it won’t fit in my old leather cover. Will hopefully keep it safe until I found a new leather one.
Sorry you won’t get away @Wherenext but a day out will blow the cobwebs away.
I drove through fallen trees, dancing wheelie bins on way up to Mums this morning. It’s pretty wild still here.
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Don't feel guilty about having a rant @DEBSC - from what you tell us, you're more than justified. I think I'd have been doing a lot more than ranting if it had been our GD! It's not just building without improving the infrastructure that's to blame - and that's happening here as well. I witnessed, at first hand, the appalling waste of money in the NHS, yesterday. I went to a "Pain Management" meeting in Bridlington, yesterday afternoon - and for 90 minutes, I sat in the lecture room with about 40 others, listening to this nurse go through exactly the same things she had said to me (and presumably the others) at a one-to-one meeting about two weeks ago. Her projector had broken down (so no contingency planning for that eventuality!) so she had printed out the slides and spent the whole 90 minutes going through what I'd read in the five minutes before the meeting started. And it gets better, because there's a whole host of other health care professionals waiting in the wings for future meetings. Plus we were made to endure this sitting on the most hard uncomfortable chairs I have ever experienced. No surprise that a number of people (in pain!) got up and went outside to ease their discomfort. All of this under the 'threat' that if we don't play ball, we'll be discharged back to our GPs with, I assume, a suitable admonishment. At 75 years of age, do I really need someone explaining to me what a healthy diet is???????
Not only did this individual desperately need to attend a "Train the Trainers" course - it just made me think that if the NHS is so keen on promoting alternative, holistic solutions - wouldn't it be far better it be done by the voluntary sector? What a waste of NHS resources - and my time. There - that's my rant over as well😀
I do hope your granddaughter is feeling better by now - it must be very worrying, not only for her, but all the family.
Although we've nowhere near as badly affected as those in parts of Devon - it's been - and still is - a dreadful day here today. Nearly got blown over in the park with Meg, this morning and the rain's been lashing down all day. I think my suggestion of popping up to Brid with the van for a few days wasn't such a good one😎
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The wind wasn’t too bad but the rain overnight! It’s just been raining for days here. We are not as bad as Exeter way for flooding. We live on the side of a valley, towards the top, we can see the Tor from the bedroom window when the tides in. As it’s so close to the mouth of the river it doesn’t flood too much this end, just flows out to sea. They are building a new housing estate further down the valley where the field floods every winter, as fast as they dug out the foundations they filled up with water, I can’t see any locals buying them but outsiders coming here will without knowing.
I know what you mean about the wind and the wood @Wherenext we are the same. I’m presently waiting for a tree surgeon to arrive to get a quote to cut branches hanging right over our garden from an oak. Holding my breath at what that might cost us. A branch fell on our next door neighbours shed doing damage. The branch wasn’t that big so goodness knows how much damage a large falling branch would cause. And they have a small daughter, they are now concerned about her in the garden.
The house smells strongly of curry so I’ve had to open some windows. I batched cooked some and it’s now tucked away in the freezer so thats six good meals for us both and will last a couple of months. I didn’t have enough chicken but I had lots of quorn pieces in the freezer, for the veggies in our family, so I substituted that, quite pleased with the result, it tastes nice, I might do that more often. Just need to get the approval from OH when we eat it.
Window cleaner due tomorrow a new one, they are so difficult to come across and then they either don’t get back to me or they just don’t turn up. Then another tree surgeon booked to come for another quote, but I have to admit we liked the one today, he arrived spot on the time he said he would, a rare thing. Best to get two quotes though, we’ll see.
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Got soaked this morning trying to find the right bus stop to come home after dropping off the car. We do not go into town often, so have never used the 2 bus routes in question, so I was not familiar with them. Was fine once I did find the bus stop. Foul weather here, windy and lashing rain.
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KJ
I usually find Google Maps on my phone the answer to finding not the right bus stops but also when the next bust is. If you use a specific route regularly then most bus operators have their own Apps to download.
David
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It's been a wild and windy day here as well; rain battering on bedroom windows woke us up a few times. We did actually manage a walk from home this afternoon, as the rain had stopped and the sun even came out from time to time! But still very windy.
@DEBSC getting things off your chest does you good; I hope your GD has improved. As said already, what you describe is happening up and down the country, more homes being built everywhere, but NHS services don't keep pace with the result that there are more people chasing fewer appointments etc.
@Wherenext the weather here in Lancashire is looking quite promising for tomorrow, sunny all day 👍️so hopefully you'll be able to have a nice day out somewhere without an rain.
@richardandros that sounds a real waste of time, all 90 minutes of it! But if you don't "do as you're told" you're back to square one as far as treatment is concerned. A while back I twisted my knee and went to the GP as it wasn't getting better, so was referred to physio. I must admit, that does seem to be helping, but it's the same thing: you have to try that first (don't know how long for!) and only if that doesn't work do you get referred further up the ladder.
Hope everyone is safe from the bad weather today.
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@richardandros I feel sorry for the lady with the projector. Many years I was asked to give a talk to a local Womem's Insitute. I was provided with a projector and slides by the training department. Set everything up and as soon as I switched on the bulb blew. Was there a spare, of course not! I had to improvise and the talk went well in the end!
As far as the NHS is concerned I don't have any complaints of how I was treated when I had my stroke, in fact the opposite would be true. That doesn't mean I don't have some frustrations with the NHS. In the main they are quite modest frustrations. For example we now get notification of hospital appointments via the NHS App so we have to log on and download the letter. Would it not be simpler just to attach the letter as a pdf file to an email rather having to log in and find everything?
David
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By the sounds of it we got off lightly here with the weather. It was cold, wet and windy for our first, before breakfast, walk, and similar to @Takethedogalong there were wheely bins blown over and their contents scattered along the pavements. Thankfully the day slowly improved and by early afternoon the sun came out until it started to go dark. The forecast is for a better day tomorrow, so we hope to get out for the day, like @Wherenext
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We too have a big yellow thing in the sky with a slightly blue sky. It was a VERY wet day yesterday, although we didn't have nearly as bad as others. I spoke our son in N Ireland last night and they had had an horrendous day. They live right on the east coast in Strangford and the winds were gale force so the grandchildren didn't go to school, although son drove up to Belfast for work and said the wind wasn't quite so bad up there. the wind over there has eased a bit now but torrential rain is still forecast. I have lost count of the number of named storms this winter.
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Nothing like as bad here as elsewhere, but we ended up with water coming into our bay window yesterday, cannot pinpoint where or how, but the wind and rain was coming from a very different direction. I just mopped up and put a bowl on window ledge, it stopped once it stopped raining, so we need to have a look outside, probably getting under flashing. Our Jeep suffered as well. It has a take out pair of roof panels, brilliant for in Summer, but the rubber seals must have gone as I found 2” of water in passenger footwell😳 Mopped up, it’s a Jeep, it will survive. Poor thing really thought it would have an easy life under the sunshine in California, not here in Yorkshire😁
IPad all sorted, made myself a felt cover. Took edge of a tooth couple of days ago, dentist sorted that yesterday evening, as it was giving some pain. Beautiful sunny day now here, but garden like a sponge. Off to pick up OHs mountain bike shortly, not mended yet, needs a part that might not be available😩
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@DEBSC hoping your GD is doing ok, poor soul is having a rough time at the moment.
Shameful as far as I am concerned, some of the new builds going up. Any big new build estate should come with a GP surgery, pharmacy, small shop complex included and built before housing is started. Some big ones maybe a nursery, or reception school. Every new build should have solar panels as standard as well as, or an alternative heating option. So much easier to build when new rather than retrospectively. If folks are really interested in having a better life, and moving somewhere nice, then they will pay as part of being on the whole estate. Beware of anything with “meadow” “flash” “beck” “marsh” in the street name. It’s not rocket science to imagine what’s going to happen🤨2 -
Been a nice sunny day here in MK and whilst not warm it is not as cold as it has been, but its not February yet so pleanty of opportunity for colder weather. Milton Keynes celebrated it's 59th birthday the other day. We have lived here for 47 years! Following on from the comments about house building, MK is still expanding outside of its original designated area. Local Plans should include provision for things like surgeries and schools but the planners will often look at existing local capacity so unlikely that those things get built from the start but that provision will be pencilled in. So different when you have a Development Corporation with generous central funding, as did MK in the early days
David
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There was an article in the i newspaper a few weeks ago about how Milton Keynes was developed @DavidKlyne. It was an interview between the Housing correspondent and the housing minister who were both in MK. It was quite interesting. I think they wanted to see if it could be replicated in the proposed new towns and take on board any mistakes made in MK. Seems to me from the outside that MK was a success.
Lovely day today. We took the van with no name for a run up the west coast of the Wirral, parked a few miles south of West Kirby and walked in. Had a cuppa when we got there then carried on up the coast to the point where the coast turns North East. Hardly any breeze with a warming sun even though it was only about 6º. Had a lovely lunch in a favourite cafe, Hannahs, the one with boarded sayings dotted around the walls. I particularly liked the one that said "My Husband told me it was the cat or him. I miss him sometimes"🤣 or the one that said "My wife dresses to kill. She cooks in the same way."🤣
Anyway it was a lovely walk back. Got home just before darkness fell.
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@Wherenext The problem for Milton Keynes was Margaret Thatcher. She thought it was a social experiment which she didn't like and it lead to the premature winding up of the Milton Keynes Development Corporation. Another issue for her was that the Development Corporation was publically funded. On that score it seems that MK has more than paid back that investment.It now has the 7th latgest City economy in England and with productivity is 25% higher than the national average. Much of current national housing is ad hoc in nature. If they wanted to build another MK it could be succesfully done if they had their own authority and I am not sure there is the political will for that? To some extent regional Mayors have taken on that role but I can't judge how successful that has been. Don't get me wrong I am sure Milton Keynes is far from perfect but it is a pretty decent place to live. I could go on at length but I suspect I could start boring people. The way it was planned and built is an object lesson on how things can be done at scale. I am not sure we will see the like of it again.
David
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Sunny here today, and surprisingly mild. Some feedback from the garage re the Touareg, sounds like it will, as feared, be an expensive repair. Unfortunately the fault does not lie with the ABS sensors on the wheels but something to do with the sensor in a bearing on the back axle. Final cost will depend on scope of dismantling and whether any other faults are found, but we are probably looking at at least £1200. Good job we have been saving lately due to not going away in caravan as often! Car should be fixed by Friday, they will keep us updated on costs.
Looking after the boys today, as usual, but are still at DD’s as we agreed to babysit while parents go to see a film.
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Well we had the yellow ball in the sky came out at %.30pm a bit late but the sky still clear and now very chilly as I went out earlier to see the ISS go over nearly 5 minutes to watch not seen it for awhile and see other plantets and stars out as we have had a rain here and could have more in the next week but not as bad has the areas of UK awful to see on the news as areas in Somerset, Devon and Dorset we know them well I feel so sorry for those folk flooded out of their homes.
Went shopping yesterday and did have a dry spell whilst out but rain on the way back home and we off to see friends on Friday for lunch and forecast is heavy rain again hmm.
@Takethedogalong glad you have got a new iPad and getting new cover as you say easy to transfer from old to new as OH prefers Apple products and today he has ordered 2 new covers for our iPads but not leather but a good alternative as our old ones a bit tatty so a different type this time, we have to be careful here with breakable items as all flooring except for the bedroom are tiles and not forgiving if items land on them have broken a few glasses and mugs over the years but easy to clean up than on carpets.
Stay safe folk in the awful weather.
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It has been a fine day here, sunny until mid afternoon. Flyte has hurt one of his front legs so walking him far was out so we just had a short walk up the Woodland road.
A couple of views of Coniston Old Man, still with a little snow on it.
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@Takethedogalong sorry to read of your leaks, hope you find out where the water is getting in, at home and in the Jeep. The problem with putting the facilities into newly built eststes is that there is already a short age of GPs, so who will man the surgery? We have had a row of small shops on our estate and the only one now open is the newsagents/Post Office, where as the other now closed shops may be taken over as a Tesco Local which will impact on the newsagent's I fear. Dentist for me again tomorrow!!
Pleased to read that your family in NI have not suffered in the storm where it has been really bad @milliehull
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@nelliethehooker hope Flyte picks up, he’s a tough and fit little lad for his age. Lovely photos.
New iPad is really good, and not sure why but I now seem able to access bookings page on CAMC. My old one is still working, but only in a fashion. Need to get a new charge plug for this new one though, different fitting to previous. We have one C type, but could do with another. No water in house or Jeep yesterday, but now Mum’s boiler is giving grief. Managed to get BG Homeserve to come out today, so hopefully they can fix it. I think we are fated at the moment😩
MK sounds a success story, I do wonder if it’s proximity to London might not be a small factor though. Guardian had an article about a new town built in Durham yesterday, and sadly that painted a different picture. We are off to another purpose built town this weekend, albeit one from the mid 19th century, Middlesbrough. Beautiful surrounding countryside, but the town is shall we say “challenged”. Riverside area has been redeveloped in last few decades, and it’s got some nice, and affluent villages around, but like any industrial town, once the industry goes, it takes a very very long time for places to recover. As for Mayors, South Yorkshire has one, and it’s good to have someone fighting for the area. We have our buses back, and fares capped, new railway station on track and hopefully our airport coming back into use. Local decision making is better for places a long way from Westminster.
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@Takethedogalong yes MK was one of several new and extended towns and cities around London built to take London overspill although MK was the only one build from scratch with ambition to be a major city on a green field site. Others like Peterborough were expanded from the original. Bletchley, now part of MK, had previously expanded to accept Londoners All the local authority housing was still being built to Parker Morris standards to ensure accommodation was built to certain sizes. Apparently abolished in 1980 which I imagine was a bit academic anyway as few "council houses" were built after that time?
David
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An early morning supermarket shop.
Day took a bit of a turn as OH not feeling well and her Blood Pressure was quite high. So we called into the surgery as the e-consult form doesn't really take note or have a defined category for dizziness/light headedness. Only just got home and we'd received 2 texts, sorting out one problem and advising on the other which will be kept under review. She's feeling a lot better now but she has been under a lot more strain with MiL recently. Have to find some sort of solution that pleases everybody.
A few more days like yesterday wouldn't hurt. We visit there quite regularly and it was the busiest I've seen it for a weekday in winter. Felt like the first day after COVID restrictions had been lifted.
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I hope Flyte is soon recovered @nelliethehooker - don't like to think of him being in pain and he's such a lovely dog.
I bet you're right about the flashing @Takethedogalong - we had the same problem a few years ago with the roof above the bay window at the front. I knew it couldn't be the roof itself because we'd had that re- felted and tiled when we moved in. Our brilliant builder friend down the road came and had a look and said that water was getting under the flashing and had it replaced in a morning. He even used his lead-beating tools inherited from his father (the builder is in his mid 60's!) so I know it was a job well done. Not had a problem since😀
Hope OH is soon feeling better @Wherenext - tell her to take it easy. I know my BP goes up straightaway if I'm under stress. That said - I'm feeling a lot better - had a long chat with GP on the phone this morning and I've agreed to go onto Dapagliflozin to treat my heart failure although coming off the previous anti-inflammatory has already improved my breathing.
Just need some sunshine - like yesterday! Today, however has reverted to dull and grey once again - but at least it's not raining😎
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So sorry to hear your OH is not too well @Wherenext Stress is not good for BP. I do hope she feels better soon. Are you able to get some more help with MIL to take some of the strain off your OH?
Sorry to hear that Flyte has hurt his leg @nelliethehooker Poor old boy. Hope it improves soon.
@Takethedogalong We had a bad leak during a horrendous rainstorm a couple of years ago which turned out to be the flashing. We have had no more trouble since the flashing was replaced thank goodness.
I met my old work friends for lunch today — post Christmas meal. So good to have a catch up with them all. The place was really busy. After a lovely sunny day yesterday we are back to dull and grey again. It is cold as well. Roll on Spring.
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