Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

Good morning all.

@Penny_Forthem I have Orange, used to be France Telecom. They are usually quite helpful and they have an English speaking phone number too. My children have had troubles with other cheaper phone companies.

Sunny outside. It will be a gardening day. I must weed the shrub bed and start the veg garden, especially as the broad beans and mange tout peas are germinating and the potatoes are ready to plant. Need to do the raspberry patch too. I have 3 new raspberry plants for it.

 

Morning all. You've been busy since I last popped in here!

Glad to hear you're pleased with your fibre broadband, @Busy-Lizzie . We're supposed to be getting it here some time, but OH was on the phone to the provider for hours (literally!) the other day, and got nowhere. Download speed of 1.7mbs max on my Chromebook isn't ideal...

Hopefully we'll get a proper summer this year, so you can take advantage of your lovely new sail, @lizzie27 .

The garden is progressing, though the weather is mixed at the moment - early April showers interspersed with gorgeous sun today. Seeds germinating in the new growhouse, which makes me just as happy as it did as a child, when helping my Dad in the garden.

Hope you all have a good Friday!

 

Good morning to you all.

Lots of wind, some sun today. Coolish. Washing struggling on the line so will be dry in record time.

I had the fibre installed when I moved here @Busy-Lizzie I too, am with Orange and yes, a bit more expensive but they come to the fore every time. They reimburse fairly when there is a problem. No drilling, but it took them the best of 4 hours to run the cables through the flex cables as there was quite a bit of sandy rubbish that had to be cleared and I am down a ROW.

I have some more tomato (acid-free) to sow today and no doubt will faff around the garden to do other things.

I wish you all a pleasant day.

 

I’m already grumbling @Penny_Forthem weve only had about 4-5mm in March and lots of breezy days

 

Started sunny but is now grey and cold. Rain expected later but not a lot. Weekly shop done this morning and they had reduced prices on belly pork, free range chicken and duck pieces so the freezer has been stocked. Fish gratin tonight tho with a mix of haddock, salmon trout and clams.

No gardening this pm as I have things to do ahead of all day patch on Monday - things to finish, others to gather, and a cake to bake so it can mature. I don't like basic sponge cakes.

I forgot to mention earlier a couple of things about the tea dance on Wednesdays. Being a Wednesday afternoon event everyone there is retired, some recently and some for ages. Clearly dancing keeps one active and fit physically, socially and mentally. There is one couple who, I have learned, are in their 90s and tend to dress to match. This week both had satiny shirts, brocade waistcoats and black trousers except hers were black lace over hot pants - and she still has good legs. Another lady, still dancing and wearing an above knee leather skirt and silky shirt was 101 a week or so ago. Something to aim for then tho maybe not the above knee skirt and lace trousers for me.

 

@lizzie27, OH has a Samsung phone, at least a year old, but didn’t really get it working, just used for wifi. We too have been getting messages about needing to upgrade, we both have non smart basic Nokia phones, and Tesco pay as you go Sims. He decided to get the Samsung working, and ordered a contract free Tesco sim to get it going.
About two weeks ago, he installed the new sim, and signed up for a ‘rocket pack’ for £10, a special offer for those with clubcards. Started off ok, but he couldn’t find out how much data he had left, and after a couple of days, it stopped working. The Help line was actually very helpful, answered immediately and were able to investigate. They said he had no data left, but we knew he had hardly used it, and switched it off between uses. Not to worry, they said, they started the package again and also advised that the package had been upgraded from 25gb to 30gb per month. After a couple of days, we checked to see how much data he had used. No phone calls made, a few megabytes of data as expected, but evidently had made 4600 texts in two days! Back to the Helpline! Again very helpful, couldn’t see how it had happened, and agreed it was virtually impossible! They’ve reset it again, and he now has another month restarted. Hopefully it will now work smoothly, and despite the hiccups, we would stick with Tesco, we’ve been with them for years with no problems. That was with non smart phones though, and only used for calls and texts. A £10 top up would last me for a few months!

 

Good afternoon,

It’s bright and breezy here today, making it feel chillier than the actual temperature of 13 degrees. A bit of a contrast to yesterday.
Well, we popped out for some lunch today (fish Friday) at one of the GC we use as I also wanted some seed compost. I got that, but also some begonia corms and seeds found their way to my basket too, so I’ve a busy few days ahead. Obviously the corms can’t go outside just yet, but I can pot them up ready to go out after the frosts have finished and set some seeds going, too. This gardening lark is expensive . (Fun, though).

The dancing certainly sounds good fun, @Obelix-Vendée, and yes, definitely a good way to keep fit. My OH has never been keen to give it a go, though, so we never have. I joined a class with my Mum many, many years ago, but sadly it stopped running and there wasn’t another nearby class.

 

Taxes are basically three parts for us, the show car is considered a business so that is organized, then of course the Airbnb is a business so all those expenses are organized, and income from that which hardly covers expenses, so that is a loss every year of which then of course affects bottom line of income then we don't pay taxes. And household stuff the third thing I gather, paying property tax etc is counted for us etc. I keep files organized through out the year. My accountant says I can use credit card statements instead of receipts, so the airbnb has a separate credit card. Our accountant seems wise, she knows all the tax codes to help us plug in the numbers where they should be.

Weather decent today, will be out again removing more leaves. Take care all.

I saw an interesting ladies clothing store is having a spring /summer fashion show. I might attend. Have to find an outfit for a wedding end of August in Long Island, California, hot then, hate hot. Its abord the Queen Marry ship, we are also staying on board, its docked. interesting.

 

Good afternoon all. I was supposed to be going to play Canasta today but having waited 45 minutes for a bus that never arrived - though 3 of them passed me going in the opposite direction, I called it a day and came home. Had a long chat with Jack who had seen me walking home and wondered what was going on. The wind was bitter and my knees were seizing up as I stood waiting. It was nice to get in and thaw out. I delivered tomato plants this morning but warned my friends to keep them inside still - especially as frost is forecast for tonight.
I hope that you enjoyed your meal out @Penny_Forthem. I've just organised our next 'First Friday' meal out for April 4th.
Orange used to belong to Vodafone but it was bought from them by France Télécom in 2000. The next major upheaval here - after 2G and 3G being phased out, is the close down of the landline phones in the UK which is happening this year. Noone will be able to make landline calls without having an internet connection. This probably won't affect people on here but for some it might be problematic. People who have emergency red buttons will need an overhaul to their systems when we go all digital.

 

Another super lunch out. Bit of a trek, but we went here
Fresh Food & Cask Ales - The Pant-yr-Ochain, Gresford
Hub's aunt and uncle used to own it and he has fond memories of staying there as a child; his uncle founded the railway in the grounds. It was a trip down memory lane, with a delicious menu and a lively atmosphere.
I tried to be abstemious, but had torched mackerel with celeriac remoulade to start and a slice of top quality quiche to follow. I do not want anything else, thank you!
By the time we'd collected old girl (ponging divinely for a change!) it was raining. The very cheek of it!
But I was excited to see that my Bolivian rainbow chillies have finally deigned to germinate.

 

Evening everybody. Finally stopped to sit down (and drink wine!). I was very rudely awakened at 7 am out of a deep sleep by a sudden coughing fit. Not nice at all but a hot cup of tea usually works for me. Felt better although still sleepy after breakfast an hour later. It was chilly on our usual walk but our Friday cake treat cheered me up.

Thanks for all the phone tips, I'll have a look first at the Tesco site offers @Ergates as I'd rather stay with them.

Later morning, I decided to start manuring around the roses as it had rained overnight, although not a lot. It's been quite dry here right through March. Did the back garden roses, then stopped for lunch when OH's nephew unexpectedly turned up to see us - very nice, we are very fond of all OH's nephews and nieces. I couldn't quite get my head around the fact that his sixth grandchild is due next May, as he's only a few years older than my son.

That must have been so annoying @Ladybird4 and jolly cold too waiting for the buses. I must admit I'd have given up after the first missed bus and gone home.

Glad you enjoyed the meal out @Penny_Forthem. I'll post a pic soon when the new ratchet straps for the Shade Sail arrive, hopefully tomorrow. Although it's primarily to avoid seagull/pigeon/magpies poo all over my chair, the shade from high sun will be a bonus!

The mind boggles @Obelix-Vendée but good for them.

 

Your lunch sounds positively yummy @Penny_Forthem and what a stunning venue. It must have been lovely for your Hub to soak up all those memories. The tractor brought back memories for me as the first vehicle I ever drove was a tractor - on my school friend's parents farm where no licence was needed as we were on private land and I was about 12. Huge fun but Elf & Safety would have a fit nowadays. Yay on the chillies peeking through.

 

It must have been so nice seeing your surprise visitor @lizzie27 I rang the coordinator of the Canasta group and apologised. She was so sorry to hear about the lack of buses. I have written a complaint to Bee Network. I doubt I'll get anywhere but at least I feel better having dipped my finger tips in vitriol before I filled in their online complaints form

 

Signing out for tonight - looking forward to GW. See everyone tomorrow. Thoughts going out to @Goldenlily26 and @Badly_Maintained

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Evening folks.

Busy work then Dad visit ended up with a call to the GP and collecting a prescription. I’m still in shock though as we called receptionist at 4pm, then GP called not long after and I had the prescription at the Pharmacy just after 5pm! Hurray for a speedy response for once!

I made a cake for work today and that went down a storm! One person nearly cried with joy as she was having a hard day and was chuffed to bits to open the tin and see her favourite cake. Baking is so worth it when it is appreciated like that.

Feet up now, cat on lap and some TV time.

Have a lovely evening all - sounds like everyone needs feet up time as you’ve all been busy!