Get a grip woman!

badmemory

I certainly do not blame the pharmacies, sorry if it came over as if I did.  They are obviously having issues.  I have the same meds in 3 different sizes, but one of them is not done in this country & unlike the other 2 is a different manufacturer every time I get it.  That tells me that they are having issues sourcing it consistently.  It is all pressures on their time.  They are going to get like all the rest of the health service where even the basics are taking too much of their time up & just adding more on them seems just plain wrong.

Suffolk_lass

badmemory said:

I certainly do not blame the pharmacies, sorry if it came over as if I did.  They are obviously having issues.  I have the same meds in 3 different sizes, but one of them is not done in this country & unlike the other 2 is a different manufacturer every time I get it.  That tells me that they are having issues sourcing it consistently.  It is all pressures on their time.  They are going to get like all the rest of the health service where even the basics are taking too much of their time up & just adding more on them seems just plain wrong.

It didn't come across as criticism, just frustration. Like everything else in this country, it is suffering the aftermath of the pandemic. Having one spare takes the stress out of the situation and my Dr was happy to issue a custom request when I said we were going on holiday and wanted one for travelling.

foxgloves

That's a proper good deal on your compost supplies, @Suffolk_lass..Garden centre compost prices, even the multi-buys, have really risen in price in the last couple of years.
F

Staffordia

It seems that I am incredibly lucky with my GP/ Pharmacy. Online request submitted in the morning, pick up often ready that evening, but definitely next day. 

angela110660

See that you are chitting the 2nd early potatoes already and wonder when you would look to plant out? We bought some this week and planned to plant out by end of March - do they need 8 weeks to get ready do you think? 

Suffolk_lass

@angela110660 I don't usually go by a set time, I wait for the ground to start warming and the potatoes to have green sprouting shoots on all of them. We usually have cold springs in the East so late March is probably when we get them in. The other driver is when I want the extra room to start more tomatoes, but I have electricity in the greenhouse now so I might use my heated propagators out there - they are seed-tray size, and work well with about 12 small rectangular pots, so I plant tomato seeds individually.

Yesterday was the day to get the giant cherry tree down that has been making the extension crack. It took nearly six hours but it is down, and my friend took all the twiggy bits away to the farm for burning. We cut the small branches for kindling (a builders' aggregate bag that takes two to lift it). A second bag of logs up to 10-12cm diameter that were the trunk end of the branches. He was up the tree, I was on the ground, collecting and dragging away all but three of the branches. That bit took a good two hours. Then a second two hours to cut the branches up and load the brush on the trailer (which he towed away with his tractor that has no lights). Then a third two hours with me taking a turn indoors and DH cutting up some of the branches, while my friend was back up the tree, chainsaw-cutting down the main trunks (two). They are still at the foot of the tree and some are enormous, but DH wants to turn a couple of bowls. They will all get moved to the cart lodge today, but that means getting some stuff out first. It could be an all-day job!

We had lovely oxtail stew (it was a proper stew, rather than a casserole, really. With half a jacket potato that cooked for an hour and a half in the hot oven, so was just thick crunchy skin, and enough fluffy potato to soak up the sauce, and steamed cauliflower. It was so yummy and we have some left, for a less generous dinner, when we have not had so much exercise. Then we had cold stewed rhubarb (so sharp) with lovely sweet hot custard. Such a simple dinner and so good.

I was shattered and slept long and deep (sorry to those who read here and suffer with their sleep patterns). When I used to wake up (very occasionally still do), I used to have a pad of paper and a pencil on my bedside table for writing the worry things down (often these were I must not forget, Ooh, we could do this, or Oh no, I am worried about X, normally workload). Writing them down allowed me to get them out of my head and often (not always) I could then sleep. This stopped working after DH told me I woke him up when I did this - so I started first going to the bathroom (closer) to write my head contents, and then found I was wide awake so on downstairs to the study to clear some of the (I can't cope with this workload) things with a cup of decaf hot drink. Sometime I would be up then for the day, but sometimes I would go back to bed, if it was before 5.00, for another try.

We are out for dinner tonight and dog is going to a neighbour's for their daughter to look after him for the evening. So although the meal is 2 for one, it won't be a cheap night out as we are with friends and I must pay the neighbour's daughter as though she were babysitting. 

A long-overdue trip to the bottle bank is another must today. I hate it when someone says "that must have been a good party!" and I mumble back yes, but it is actually because we have all these empty bottles built up at home...

Oh, and I made chocolate brownies here this morning, as we have no chocolate in the house and sometimes (last night, after so much exercise, for example) you just have to have chocolate! As I typed that I remembered there is a bar of good quality cooking chocolate and some Belgian chocolate chips for cooking in a glass jar (the giant size version of your spice jars @foxgloves). Time to get dressed now (this slouching is becoming a slovenly habit...)

Watty1

I love this rural potter of good wholesome food and gardening tales.  Just wonderful   I can recommend a fabulous (but not cheap) sheepskin wash if the rug has not recovered well.   I have a couple of sheepskin girths for my horse and after struggling with the matting in the wash I invested and it is one of those times where the investment paid off.  One has recovered to be like new whereas the other that had had the trial economy washes is not so good.

Suffolk_lass

Watty1 said:

I love this rural potter of good wholesome food and gardening tales.  Just wonderful   I can recommend a fabulous (but not cheap) sheepskin wash if the rug has not recovered well.   I have a couple of sheepskin girths for my horse and after struggling with the matting in the wash I invested and it is one of those times where the investment paid off.  One has recovered to be like new whereas the other that had had the trial economy washes is not so good.

Ooh yes please @Watty1 - I have already washed it once and was considering brushing it but that sounds like a better option. Thank you x

Suffolk_lass

Just popped back to say that the printer cartridge was beginning to pretend it had run out of toner so I commissioned DH to get it out and give it a shake while I went to the bottle bank. All done and an extended lease of life means the spare does not need to be deployed - yet.

Of course the bottle bank involved meeting someone else who quietly queued behind me until he realised I had more than one crate to empty (three and a huge cardboard carton). Then out of completely unfounded guilt I volunteered that judging by the number of coffee jars I clearly had not been for months. Unfortunately I was stuffing brown beer and wine bottles into the letterbox by him for the second case running at this moment and I believe I saw a barely perceptible flick of the eyes to what I was getting rid of and maybe a little shake-like head movement. I have expunged it from my paranoia for the time-being though. Time for a quick coffee and quality control check of the brownies. I think my additions of tabasco (two dashes), instant espresso powdered coffee (teaspoon) and three handfuls of chopped walnuts, all improve the original recipe, but I must just check...

Oh yes, and the "check system" amber warning light on my car turns out to be a problem with the parking sensor. The paperwork helpfully suggests checking for muddy deposits in the vicinity. My car is so filthy I had to clean the number plate to make sure it was legal and the boot grab is so dirty I have been opening the driver's door to use the internal electric switch. So slovenly!

Fortune_Smiles

Apparently the bottle bank is the new 'walk of shame' SL 😆  I can sympathise with you - we have our recycling collected here in the Shire but back in the Garden of England we had to take our bottles down to the bottle bank.  I always seemed to have far more than anyone else but I think perhaps they all visited more regularly and not once every several months like me.  Maybe they didn't make quite so much fruit gin either 🤭

The week after we moved in at the Shire we had a party and when the bin men turned up to empty the crates I heard one of them say 'Bl**dy Hell - look at all this!"

How rude though to judge someone's recycling - I hope you're not minding it because it's just bad manners 😠

Fortune x