Yawn Yawn Wakey Wakey 2025

@Penny_Forthem and @Ergates, I am another one who is not impressed with M&S any more and they used to be so good. When I look online I seriously think they have just put the models in a bag, shaken it up and then cast them randomly onto the screen. I can never find anything in my size as they are (alledgedly) out of stock or only available in store

 

I am not quizzing tonight as we have no match so I will be able to watch those on TV. I have to take my car in tomorrow morning first thing to get the fault rectified and the weather being the way it is at the moment I am glad I'm not out tonight and will therefore get to bed earlier.
I'm signing out now so good evening all. Catch you all tomorrow.

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I've been doing raids on M&S during every visit to the UK but, other than knickers for me and him, haven't found clothes I like for years. I always used to pick up a couple of Fair Trade cotton t-shirts, maybe a top and/or dress and/or skirt but not for at least the last 14 or 15 years.

Their sizing is all over the place and the fabrics crappy synthetics or mixes and their styles are boring or fussy. I can see why they need a competition to find new designers but surely there are already good designers coming along in the design schools and it's more a problem with unimaginative buyers for the stores.

Can't watch ITVX outside the UK but not too bovvered.

Good AGM today with lots of laughter and a few tears as I presented our outgoing Treasure and Secretary and another committee leaver with tokens of gratitude. We took over the running of the club in difficult circumstances after the last lot tried to run it into the ground and sneak off with all the assets. Not impressed when we popped up so put all sorts of obstacles in our way.
At that point we made a joint decision that there would be no prima donnas on the committee and no annual collections to say thank you but I reckoned after 6 years of exceptional service they deserved it and the members agreed. We've gone from 23 members and about 500€ in the bank to 45 and over 7000€ so the club is now secure.

Fingers crossed for no rain for you tomorrow @Ladybird4 and anyone else needing to go out. I have a day to myself as OH is golfing.

 

A very good morning one and all and to our friend @Busy-Lizzie:

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I hope you have a splendid day.
p.s. @Obelix-Vendée, the tap controller didn't hear my appeal for dry weather today! It all sounds very positive now at your club - well done!

 

Good morning all.

Thank you @Ladybird4. We are going to my favourite restaurant for dinner tonight. Probably won't be able to eat on the lovely terrace as it will be cool and cloudy today.

I agree about M&S. I used to buy my jeans, jumpers and dresses there but now the jumpers are weird, the dresses are too long or mini and they rarely have my size in jeans, only too small or too big and no shorter legs any more. I have to put the hems up. They seem to have stopped buying for the older lady, it's all geared towards the young when there are already plenty of shops for the young.

 

Happy birthday @Busy-Lizzie. I hope you enjoy your day and your meal this evening.

Started sunny here but has now clouded over and will do that all day so just above 20C expected. I shall pop down to th eveg plot and prep the soil for sowing green stuff tomorrow as it'll be a leaf day - chard, coriander, dill and so on. I've tried coriander in spring and it bolts in a bout 5 minutes so am hoping a late season sowing will do better.

Other than that admin and maybe the start of a patchwork table runner using the maple leaf bloc in autumn colours.

Have a fruitful day everyone.

 

Happy Birthday @Busy-Lizzie , have a lovely day

 

Happy Birthday @Busy-Lizzie . Hope,you have a wonderful day and enjoy your meal out.

 

Thank you.

 

Morning.
Happy birthday @Busy-Lizzie. Enjoy your special meal out.
I have been on to Amazon about the missing jam jars and a refund has been issued.
Talking about Maths, my g'daughter told us last night that she's in the middle set for maths, which is amazing. Last year (her first in senior school) everyone was in despair and she hated it. Good teachers, a tutor and a lot of hard work on her part have helped it 'click' and, though she will not choose to do pure maths at uni., we feel very proud of her.
Art club this afternoon for me.

 

Thanks Obelix. I had no idea which channel the program was on, I found it when channel hopping on my fairly new TV. I watched it last year, the candidates have some impossible time restraints as they do in the Sewing Bee and have to keep in mind the possibility of their designs being suitable for mass production as well as appealing to the general public's tastes, which is why it is good for the public to be part of the judging.

I had a club committee meeting after lunch, the chairwoman managed to keep it to two hours so I did a quick shop in Asda on the way home, and came home exhausted. The Treasurer drove us mad, being pedantic and nitpicking at every opportunity.
It has been a couple of years since I shopped in Asda, of course, everything had been moved around, so it took me ages to find what I wanted, resolutely sticking to my shopping list! I did find a couple of long-sleeved tops to go with the trousers I have on order from Damart. I have lost a couple of stone in weight, so at the moment I have to keep my current trousers up with a belt. Cotton Traders are another fairly good supplier of trousers, they both give the inside leg measurement of their stock. I am slowly getting prepared to have a massive clear out of clothes that are too big, the Heart Foundation will do well as some are almost brand new.

My son is arriving from Canada tomorrow, the kids are on the final lap, holding their father's wake and burying his ashes. I am not sure how prepared they are for how emotional it will be for them. We are having a few days together before they return to Canada and set off on a 3 months trip exploring New Zealand. They are still in the midst of negotiating selling their father's house, sorting out Inheritance Tax, closing down bank accounts, going to Probate and dividing his estate as he requested. According to my neice who has just completed my sister's estate, the powers that be are very hot on stopping money laundering. Her brother forgot to give someone his bank details for his share to be paid into, that delayed their completion by almost a month. Still a long way to go. It is fortunate my son and daughter have both run their own businesses and are used to dealing with large sums of money so they do not seem phased at what needs to be done or how long it takes for red tape to deal with things.I think I would be crawling up the walls by now.

More in hope the expectation I have put some washing outside. Now I am going to the farm shop to stock up on logs, fuel etc. The wet stuff is supposed to be coming in again later so fingers crossed I am home in time to rescue the washing.

 

Happy birthday, @Busy-Lizzie!
It’s a sunny morning here. Our visitor is leaving this afternoon, so no major plans for the day, apart from dropping him at the local airport mid afternoon. I’m hoping to spend some time in the garden, filling the green bins to go out tonight.
I’m hoping to spend the next few days catching up on sleep ( guest is both an early riser and late to bed) and adjusting our eating patterns back to our usual habits. We tend to just have breakfast, and our main meal mid to late afternoon. We have now had two weeks of dinner in the evenings, plus lunches, to ensure we don’t starve our visitors, plus coffee and pastries out, as well as instead of, breakfast! I’m scared to get on the scales.
I do have to take the car into town for its annual service/mot on Thursday. I’ll use the opportunity to have a mooch round the shops without OH in tow! I’m looking forward to a visit to TKMaxx, although it’s not as good as it used to be. I remember buying beautiful jackets from German brands, and they had lots of unusual items I never saw on the High Street. Now there is quite a lot of the usual rubbish. However it does stock a lot of fashion about two years out of date, which is how long it typically takes me to get used to the look of skinny / wide / cropped, or whatever was the latest trend! My body doesn’t change shape that dramatically, so I wear what is comfortable and suits me, whatever the fashion pundits and the store buyers have to say!

 

Me too re TKMax @Ergates. In the past I've found 2 interesting dressy jackets and a Donna Karan cardigan in there but not for ages. I'm not shop shaped so sew most of my clothes but will happily fossick in ends of ranges for bargains. I also stick to things that suit my shape and activities.

I set off to go and rake my seed beds and it was raining! Nobody mentioned rain today. Not menatlly prepared for rugging up to garden so had to potter in my sewing room instead, have some lunch and hang my washing indoors.

Now to try again.

Probate can be a mess @Goldenlily26 even when there aren't problems. 5 years since my mum died and still waiting cos of others' misbehaviour.

 

I afraid I hate the way some of the popular competitive activity programmes, and others, feel the need to have a deadline. Presumably to add a sense of drama, but given that everything is edited anyway, maybe they could just give everyone longer and get a better result. I really got annoyed at whatever archeological programme Tony Robinson presented, where it was always a race against time before bulldozers moved in. If the place was worth excavating, it should have been given enough time to ensure the job was done properly.
Haven’t watched the M and S programme, but if they are setting unrealistic deadlines, surely they could be missing out on some great designs for the sake of some manufactured dramatics?
Maybe I should have posted this in the ‘Moans’

 

Not at all @Ergates. I too find the time limits on Sewing Bee etc unnecessarily tight and would prefer them to have more time to get better results. Never did like Tony Robinson so don't watch anything he's presenting but agree about things that are worth saving being saved.

Managed to get down to the veg plot where I checked the seed beds, picked some tomatoes, found an egg - 67g this time @Ladybird4 - and had a chat with my dahlias which are mostly looking fab now that they've had some rain. One or two have really suffered from the excess heat and drought. Lots of plants looking happier now.

Have now ironed all the freshly washed bits of fabric for my new patch project and am ready to cut. Been watching Geoff Hamilton build his Ornamental Kitchen Garden. Such a lovely, practical, informative, well-imagined garden with a lovely presenter who knew his stuff and communicated it well. Miss him still.