A new 'tougher' thread... and so it continues

Mrs_Chip

Evening everyone

Byatt - that seems to have been a terrible loos for everyone, there are some lovley comments on that page. How sad.

Ginny - Sorry for your loss, even at that great age it is sad to lose someone you love.

Scrabbles - good news about the pay!

PAH - Hope you realise now you were totally wrong :rotfl:, your posts are great! I worry that I ramble on about us too much - not having kids/grandkids/friends /family around, I don't have much else to talk about :rotfl:.

Kate - lovely Starlings! When I was a child they used to fly over our house every evening - millions of them, in huge flocks, flying into London to roost after spending the day feeding in the fields around us. And I was lucky enough to see them in Brighton, where they roost on the old pier. A magical experience. I hear there are huge flocks at Llanelli, we hope to go at some point to see them. Did you ever goto Bell Green Sainsbury's - there are loads there, they always made me smile, they are so beautiful close up! Very envious of your dindins, we had a bowl of pasta with tuna, very frugal, nice but a bit like being a student!

It has been the most glorious day here, like a summer's day. The birds have been singing their heads off, and we had lunch in the garden. Sorry about the weather in Wales Kate, no exactly the sort of day, horrid.

Clearing going well, although the novelty has well and truly worn off! Tackling the loft tomorrow, but once that is done we will have well and truly broken the back of it. We have agreed a completion date of the 15th, so it's all starting to feel very real!
OH seems very distracted, he says he is ok, but I hope he is not bottling up his feelings (like men generally do).

Have a lovely evening everone!

Hobsons_Choice

When we lived in Devon for a time (Bampton) we saw about twenty buzzards sitting in a field outside Wiveliscombe. No idea why but it was an amazing sight.
Went to Sainsbobs today, they have 25% off all clothing until Monday.
Matalan also have some good clothing bargains, I even bought a Tshirt that wasn't from a charity shop! Only £3 so I don't feel too guilty.

Byatt

katieowl wrote: »

I do love to watch them I find it entrancing. If I ever crash my car it will be from watching the birds...Fortunately I wasn't driving when we went past what we later discovered was a red kite feeding station, as I counted 13 circling overhead! Very Excited

Mr Buzzard had a couple of near misses with me last week too. DS and I think they sit and wait in the trees, and as the cars go past they startle stuff in the grass verges, twice in a couple of days he took a dive in front of my car across the road. Good job there was no-one behind me. I want one of those "I brake for wildlife" bumper stickers!

Kate

I do that, brake for wildlife; in fact in 2007, a woman drove into the back of me as I stopped because of 5 silly partridges were in the road. The woman was furious with me, saying what a stupid thing to do. The fact she was driving too close had nothing to do with it. Wrote my car off sadly though.

I've seen a few hawks/buzzard types, never know which they are, but they look stunning. Only when driving though, so have to be careful.

Hobsons_Choice wrote: »

When we lived in Devon for a time (Bampton) we saw about twenty buzzards sitting in a field outside Wiveliscombe. No idea why but it was an amazing sight.
Went to Sainsbobs today, they have 25% off all clothing until Monday.
Matalan also have some good clothing bargains, I even bought a Tshirt that wasn't from a charity shop! Only £3 so I don't feel too guilty.

Near Tiverton?!


Thanks Mrs C. When do you return to Wales? Who's looking after puss cat?

Mrs_Chip

Not sure when we will go back Byatt, but will be before or on the 15th :rotfl:. We have to work out the logistics of moving all our stuff, being frugal and not using removers.

The cat, George, is here with us. He is a very well travelled cat! He is used to monthly trips up and down the M4 and twice a year to Cornwall. He has settled here like he has never been away!

VJsmum

Bu88er

Because I didn't get my tush in gear and book my hair groupon I've missed the boat. £25 down the drain. They offered me £25 off their new £65 offer, which is good of them but it would still be more expensive than dyeing it myself and getting my regular hairdresser to cut it. Ah well, tis a lesson learned - not to buy anything a little way away as I won't get round to doing anything about it.

We had emails at work today about redundancy - it was hard to read between the lines, but I don't think it will include me. It does affect a colleague, but he was fairly philosophical about it.

It is a relief to not be at work now till Tuesday. Though I do have marking. But I am going to forget about that tonight and indulge in a glass of wine. I need to finish the jacket I'm knitting as I accidentally bid on some cotton knitting yarn (nearly wrote cotton wool! :rotfl:) on ebay and only went and won it. I am going to knit it into something from a pattern I've had since 1980something but still looks current.

Hugs to everyone - whether you want one or not Only a week till March :T

Byatt

Mrs C, that made me smile, about George. My first cat was well travelled too.

I've moved myself a couple of times in recent years; amazing what a small metro can carry! :eek::rotfl:

VJ, I've done something similar, well maybe not similar, but I booked a couple of short breaks for DD and myself when Trave$odge had their sale, thought, great, I'm on the ball for a change, then I got booked for cat sitting at the same time which I can't turn away. The dates can't be changed and are not transferable. So what seemed a complete bargain has turned out not to be.

mama67

THIRZAH wrote: »

The needlework teacher had been at school with my mother. Mum was the school's star needlewoman. Appaprently they used to show samples of her hemming to all the classes so it was asumed that I would be good at needlework too.Actually I hated sewing-although I like it now-so was pleased that I was in the "B" stream and could drop it early.

I had this problem with the games mistress as she had taught my mother, and mum had been in the school hockey team from day one pretty much (I detested the game); we never got on.

kidcat

Ginny and Byatt - ((hugs))

Have had a long stressful day, started with a meeting where I was tactfully trying to deal with issues at DS7 school - think I have finally persuaded the woman running it, that the problems are real not in my imagination. Ended with parents eve for DS13 - where I feel I can claim a small victory, first he will be sitting a couple of GCSEs, second the fakey not worth anything adult literacy course they were teaching
has been ditched, the guy who has taken charge of it said - when kids sit and tell you that youare spending six hours a week teaching them something worthless and you look into it and find its true, you have to look at other options. So now they are doing a BTEC which having spoken to college they say will count towards college entry Phew!!

Finally getting to grips with new laptops, have been using them when kids are in bed to get to grips with them and make sure all is right - good job as keyboard was showing one thing but typing another, no way the kids would have coped, so finally after three nights I have managed to sort it and swapped from USa settings to Uk.

Have got a migraine this evening- not surprised after the tensions of today, but am really relieved that the painkillers seem to be working. Have another difficult meeting with DS7 headteacher tomorrow -and she wont be happy having seen two other sets of parents and eating humble pie today. My parents have spent most of the week here as I have two off sick and I was considering trying to rent them a small cottage in May as a thank you for everything they have done - if anyone has any suggestions.

Selling the car is not going well, people are so rude - here love giv us ur number and postcode and will drop in when I can get there. Doesnt make me inclined to bother - beginning to think a webuycars type place would have been so much easier.

katieowl_2

Mrs_Chip wrote: »

Not sure when we will go back Byatt, but will be before or on the 15th :rotfl:. We have to work out the logistics of moving all our stuff, being frugal and not using removers.

If you crack and decide it's all too much get a quote from Pickfords!
When we moved I threw them into the quote mix as a wild card, as I was convinced they'd be the most expensive!!! They were cheapest...in fact they were SOOOOO cheap I queried it (Remember we were moving all OH's woodworking machinery - I didn't want them turning up on the day and refusing to move it all) they sent the area manager round to re-assess, and even when they revised upwards they were still cheaper by miles. They did totally mis-estimate though as they needed a second lorry for us, but of course they'd agreed the quote so couldn't change it!

Also if you get stuck the blokes who have the second hand shop next to Lidl at the bottom of Sydenham High street ( if they are still there?) have links to this area...

Dinner was nice...I liked it. It all got eaten - even OH had it. I can think of ways of improving the recipe, and it just stretched to three. My American online friend has sent me a slow cooker recipe for the same joint with tomatoes and rosemary, so I think I'll try that too!

Kate

kidcat

Mrs Chip - I second the idea of contacting the big companies, you may be surprised, also as you are moving London to Wales, its possibly worth contacting Welsh companies - they are likely to be cheaper than London ones. And its the same distance overall just means they do the shortest journey at the end rather than a long trip back at end of day.