Nice people thread part 8 - worth the wait

lostinrates

I'd try and get the GP appt. insect bites can go nasty esp. Somewhere hot. otherwise, you can presumably access healthcare while away?

Minor error in date of next private health appt. (too close to colonoscopy) dealt with SO differently. Phew.

LydiaJ

silvercar wrote: »

Very sad news. Offers of specific help are more likely to be accepted. Either because they don't know what they are doing or what they need or because everyone always says "anything I can do" and they are not sure how keen people really are.

So a specific drive to the hospital and back or preparing a specific meal. You can set up groups on websites like helping hands, where the recipient lists all the jobs that they need help doing and the donor marks which one they are doing. Needs a bit off organisation initially, but it does mean that appropriate help is needed.

Group help sounds great. If you can't sort that out, though, then for an individual the best of both worlds is to say "I want to help. I thought maybe I could do xyz, but then I wondered if there was something else you'd rather I did instead?" This makes it clear you are serious about actually doing something, it gives them a fallback to say yes to if they can't think of something, but also the opportunity to say "Actually what we really need is abc" if they want to.

PasturesNew

GDB2222 wrote: »

...I'd like

What happens is loads of people say "sorry to hear .... if there's anything I can do". Well, if there's something I could think I'd need help with I'd not have the bottle to ask for it as I'd assume it was just words.

Be very specific about what you're offering to do. And add their errands onto your own if possible. e.g. If baking, pop over and tell them "I'm making a pie, I'll drop one in for you later", "I'm going to Mr T, what do you need? milk? booze? sweets? pies?". Put their rubbish out/take their bins in. "I'm cutting my grass this afternoon, I can pop over and cut yours too as it's the weather for it".

You have to hound these people really, nobody will ask for help.

You can also help to get their stuff in order. See if you can spot something they're not organised with and help them.

Also: write/send cards.

vivatifosi

Re scissors... The Ikea 3 pack resides here too. They are fab. Have a pair of more expensive Fiskars ones too. Bought those abroad when we had to pack some belongings into a cardboard box to bring back to the UK. Fiskars feel better made, but not a massive difference in cutting performance.

Spirit_2

neverdespairgirl wrote: »

That was an awful lot of not-much-fun. OH was 26, and his brother 19, when their parents died in their early 50s - of pancreatic cancer and multiple sclerosis - 6 weeks apart. They did know about the future-Isaac, though.

And they would have known you, so could leave him knowing that he was safe in a loving family of his own.

Spirit_2

lostinrates wrote: »

I just cannot keep up with picking them anymore.

. I need a cute little sales table for near my front door I think. Like a miniature market stall that I can paint prettility. Now things are busier we want people to use the door not the yard gate and the area we park in (which was a nice covered area to sell in. I might revert to that in the future when the yard gates are replaced)

They look very pretty.

When my daughter was aged about 10 she set up a stall on our verge and had a large sign advertising her produce ..

"free range plums".

lostinrates

Very sweet story about spirit dd aged ten.

Less cute story about DH aged 23. First time in Somerset, ' what is this PYO' from what does it originate, what time, what people's, I have never, ever come across it and feel like a great whole is missing in my education'. He looked genuinely worried.

After ten minutes of talking at cross purposes we determined he thought Oxford had missed some thing like -ham or -Ton or -shire out of his education when they didn't teach him -pyo.

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

Kitchen scissors...

Tesco Red and Black ones are great.

We're on our third set, (which I know doesn't sound like a great recommendation), but Mrs McT tends to use them for things that mere mortals would more usually use a meat cleaver and bone saw to accomplish....

lostinrates

HAMISH_MCTAVISH wrote: »

Kitchen scissors...

Tesco Red and Black ones are great.

We're on our third set, (which I know doesn't sound like a great recommendation), but Mrs McT tends to use them for things that mere mortals would more usually use a meat cleaver and bone saw to accomplish....

We have a pair of scissors we use for that sort of stuff. If DH calls later I'll ask where they came from. We have had ours for....um, we'll, he has had them longer than we have been together. They don't look expensive.

Nikkster

I have a set of three - I think they might have been Tesco Value. They are great, and are yet to be defeated