The Garden Fence - help and support in tough times

ivyleaf

Ha ha, not happening here either! I read the other day that although inflation is very low, food prices have gone up quite a lot over the past year....:(

Go you AOT :T:beer::j

silvasava

Hi Greenbee - great to meet you too! Glad your trip was successful & looking forward to meeting again!

camelot1001

Another glorious day here, must be about 10 days since we had any rain. The sunshine and warm temperatures haven't helped my tomatoes though, only had 1 red one, I doubt they will ripen now. Any ideas?

DD has my car down south for a few days so I took my bike on the train to work and cycled home. It was a lovely ride along the canal and river, 9 miles and took me just over an hour. Need someone to look at the bike though as the front brake pad is rubbing.

The building works are nearly done, painter should be coming to do the downstairs bathroom tomorrow and the troublesome tiles in the upstairs bathroom are nearly sorted out - I had a shower tonight, the first for about 3 weeks! It's a large walk in shower and I didn't bang my arms once, it seems really big.

DD is moving properly at the weekend and my house will be my own. I will miss her terribly but am proud that she has bought her own place and will be living in the big city. I have worried that she felt she had to look after me somehow! The boys didn't give that a thought I don't think.

Anyway, love to hear your tales of life, see you soon.

ivyleaf

Well done to your DD Camelot :T

Been looking at a recipe in one of my diabetes cookbooks, for Chicken Marengo. I have all the necessary ingredients apart from 2 tblsp of brandy. Not going to buy a bottle of brandy just for that!

Have to see if I can buy a miniature bottle. No idea which local shops stock them, as I've never had occasion to look. I've got some Lidl gin but I don't think that would quite do, somehow

silvasava

Camelot - you could probably use sherry instead - its probably the alcohol content needed for the recipe. I often substitute for what I've already got. Generally if it calls for gin - a white spirit or if Brandy or whisky a red spirit - seems to work OK!
DS1 & 2 came back from holiday in Italy with their Grandparents one year when they were about 11 & 12. They'd been to the local supermarket for presents to bring back for us & we got a box of selected miniatures each!! Really rough stuff but fed the Christmas cake & puddings very well that year!

ivyleaf

Thanks, but we've no sherry either! Though I think it might taste even better than with brandy. I don't keep any in the house because OH doesn't particularly like it and it gives me dreadful heartburn, so no point. Not to worry. I'll get some sherry or brandy from somewhere, I'm sure

It's a recipe aimed at diabetics - perhaps brandy is lower in carbs than sherry.

Knit_Witch

ivyleaf most supermarkets stock miniatures and some off licences as well (I have needed a mini bottle of something on numerous occasions!)

Rainy-Days

Well, today in the pouring down rain I had a moment where I felt really - really, really - low! Two years ago we sold up and moved to Northumberland, it was something we had wanted to do for a long time. Spent many a holiday and long weekend break up here and just so felt at home.

Two years on and I cannot say that it has been plain saling all the way. I have felt homesick and felt a huge feeling of isolation. Allot of that is because I don't work any longer, all my friends are still in Northants or the Home Counties and to be honest I miss them.

It has not helped that I had a 'run-in' with the local neighbourhood bigot - which upset me massively. All in all, I just don't know really about whether we are going to stay or go back. Part of me feels going back is a failure!

candlelight_2013

Rainy-Days I didn't want to read and run.

You are obviously feeling very low at the moment not helped by your run in with the neighbour. If you decide to return please don't look on it as a failure. I think most of us have thought about living in our favourite holiday destination, and for some I am sure, it works, but not for all.

When I met Himself, 50 years ago, I moved to Kent near the sea, and I liked it at first. The people in the village never accepted me because I had married one of their own, he was someone who should have married a local girl, not a city girl. WE moved to the city after our first DD was born and have been here ever since.

You must do what is right for you both, life is too short to be unhappy when there is something you can do about it.

When you are feeling a little brighter talk about what you want. Are your friends able to visit you more frequently, would that help?

Can you change any part of your life for the better, where you are. If you can't see a happy future in Northumberland it might be time to think of moving, or this might be just a blip and you will feel better soon.

Whatever you decide to do I wish you all the luck in the world but don't be unhappy when you can do something about it.

Candlelightx

[Deleted User]

RAINY DAYS I could have written your post, it so exactly fits how I felt after an unwanted and rather forced on me job move to Hampshire some 22 years ago. We'd just returned from an overseas assignment when He Who Knows had been made redundant and the new company here in the UK who were his employers decided that they wanted more commitment from him and we had to up sticks and move here to Hampshire. Oh my, the pits of depression were my haunt in those days, I spent about 6 years hating the entire world, no contacts here, one neighbour the noisiest I've ever had to endure and the others so remote and set up in their own superiority that we were like a nasty smell under their precious little nostrils, very uncomfortable indeed. The changing point came when my younger daughter decided she wanted to read medicine at uni so I got a job, luckily it was a job in the village here and earned her fees for the entire 5 year course. What that did was to earn me a place in the village which has made this my home and now I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. If you could find a way to become involved in the local community it would give you contacts and ultimately friends and make your lives so very much richer and happier, believe me love it's well worth doing, Lyn xxx.