It was getting tough in 2006 and the workhouse still threatens us in 2011

elona

GreyQueen

The integrated fridge freezer we inherited in our new house goes Kronk very loudly several times a day and drives DH mad. I have twiddled with the controls but no luck so far.

DD seems to have passed me her sore throat virus but I have been shivery, achey and unable to be far from our loo for three days now. Keeping out of the way so I don't pass it on, drinking plain fluids and feeling like Typhoid Mary! Strangely enough they don't seem to fancy the meal I dragged myself downstairs to cook but as the youngest is 17 I am just letting them do whatever they want - feel too drained to worry. Thank heaven we are not in our old house which had only one bathroom!!!:eek:

ChocClare

GreyQueen wrote: »

_pale_ They made us read Kafka once.:(:p:rotfl:I've almost made a full recovery.

I had to read Kafka IN GERMAN :eek::eek::eek: I was 18 Thirty years on I think I may JUST be over it.

My son has just bought and read Jude the Obscure. Worse than Kafka. As I said to him: "Why???????????"

I saw a photo on one of my DD's sites the other day: it showed some shelves in a library with a sign on the end which read VAMPIRE BOOKS (previously known as Teen Fiction Section) :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

ETA: as the previous paragraphs are not strictly OS, can I just mention that I picked TEN - count 'em - TEN cherry plums FROM MY OWN TREE TODAY?? Woohoo!

Not a TRUE vampire book but have you read The Passage by Justin Cronin? Post-apocolyptic USA. With vampires. I can't put it down

ceridwen

Kittie

I think personally that I would want to see records going back thousands of years as to whether earthquakes/weather conditions/other things to do with the planet itself are any different to normal in many ways - so its possible that this is Bad News Time/its possible its the End Times the fundamentalists have been on about/its maybe just how things are and have always been and only time will tell either way as to just which it is of those things.

Right now - I've gone for a quick looksee on articles that are likely to come up in tomorrow's newspapers and thought "Well - some things havent changed for thousands of years - one large batch of beyatching looks like it will be published tomorrow:eek::(:eek: - and its just Bad News regarding Human Nature again as far as I can see :(". Sigh....

I'm now reading that Nella's apres World War 2 book at the moment and taking due note of her comments about how "tired" she feels (ie after having to live in a country that has been at war for 6 years) and her struggle for new purpose in a more "constructive" type direction now that that particular War is over and resonating with the "tiredness".

The plus side is another book I've been reading by an "old woman" commenting from the viewpoint of being "old" and her thoughts on how "detached" she now feels about many things that were very important to her when younger - eg sex/buying new possessions for the sake of it/etc - and thats a blessing of getting older that has started to strike me - as in I'm moving into "onlooker" mode - rather than "participator" mode and that is an advantage of getting older - as what is happening on Earth becomes less of a "personal concern" than it used to be.

HariboJunkie

ChocClare wrote: »

My son has just bought and read Jude the Obscure. Worse than Kafka. As I said to him: "Why???????????"

I fear I may be ousted from the thread but Jude the obscure is one of my favourite books. ;):p:D and I hate vampire books. :whistle::shhh::silenced:

I missed the exam congrats in my thread catching up so please accept them belatedly ChocClare and Charis. xxx

Hope that virus doesn't worsen Elona. Take it easy. xxx

Kittie well done on your continued experimentation in the kitchen. :T

GQ I was behind a peugot 107 today and it's very dinky and cute. Hope it's a fun drive. x

We all have CBA days Mrs VP. Take it easy. x

I felt a bit more energised today though not at full peak of health yet. OH dug up my beetroot so I have 2 large kilner jars of pickled beetroot and 2 le parfait jars of beetroot and apple chutney. He picked up some bags of yellow peppers reduced to pennies in tesco too so they have duly been chutneyised. I managed into the garden for some tomatoes and a bunch of lovely fragrant roses for beside my bed. That way I can wake up and smell the roses and if OH brings me coffee in bed I can wake up and smell that too.

We're hoping to get the woodburner this week. OH has planned the ins and outs of it and we are selling another household thing to pay for it. I want it in before the winter in case there are any hitches. Hopefully the back boiler and burning free wood will mean we can reduce our electric bill which is the bain of my life. :j

I'm another lover of Christmas. :snow_grin To us it's a reason to get together and celebrate what we have and our lives together as well as to remember those less fortunate. With small children it's hard to keep it simple but we do a homemade Christmas in the main (apart from all the pink plastic crap that the girls get:cool:) and we enjoy celebrating the season so I can't wait.

ChocClare

HariboJunkie wrote: »

I fear I may be ousted from the thread but Jude the obscure is one of my favourite books. ;):p:D

Just joking - it takes all sorts. I just find Hardy rather depressing! (And a child hanging himself and his two younger half-siblings is just SOOOOOOO believable)

can't say I've read many vampire books either tbh - apart from Dracula and the Twilight series. I asked the librarian to recommend something for my (then) 12-year-old DD to read. She said, this sounds awful but all the teens love it, it's about a girl who falls in love with a vampire. I thought it did indeed sound awful. Took it home and read it and went back to get the two sequels the following day. And DD loved it (but hated the film - we didn't get beyond the first one). Can't remember the plots of any of 'em now though. At least Jude the Obscure stayed with me (even if I wanted to slap everyone in it, particularly Sue, as I recall)...

oldtractor

I'd love to know how to make wine too.

HariboJunkie

ChocClare wrote: »

(And a child hanging himself and his two younger half-siblings is just SOOOOOOO believable)

Whereas everyone knows that Vampire are real. ;):D:kiss:

oldtractor wrote: »

I'd love to know how to make wine too.

I started with a book from the library and equipment from freecycle as we have no home brew shops up here. You could try putting a wanted ad on there for some demijohns and airlocks for a start.

ceridwen

Had quick check for "Jude the obscure" and thought "Yuk - DEpressing - dont think I'll be reading that or any other Thomas Hardy books any time soon judging by that Wikipedia description".

Anyone who wants thoroughly depressing and to start speculating as to how many "chips on the shoulder" Thomas Hardy had personally - then its available to read for free on Project Gutenberg.

I'll stick to summat lighter - like Maeve Binchy and Joanna Trollope - if I want a little fiction to read:)

<...sits here prevaricating and summoning up courage to go and have a good read of just how depressing the news is in todays newspapers..:( - and tries not to think about some of the news I expect to read in the newspapers over the coming year for instance...ie those future events that are near enough that their shadows can be seen looming already....:(>

squeaky

oldtractor wrote: »

I'd love to know how to make wine too.

A starting place... Homemade wine

And...

Wine making the beginners guide

rachbc

Haribo I love a bit of Hardy too..and I may have even read Kafka too....

We haven't been homebrew fans since having to empty 120 bottles of something grim down the drain left in our cellar when the previous occupants left but honey wine does sound good -wonder if my dad has all his old kit?

Feel we are managing to get further away from the work house as DH got a great promotion yesterday - gives us a bit of breathing room but more importantly make shim happier knowing his hard work is being acknowledged