We'd like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum... Read More »
PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING
Hello Forumites! However well-intentioned, for the safety of other users we ask that you refrain from seeking or offering medical advice. This includes recommendations for medicines, procedures or over-the-counter remedies. Posts or threads found to be in breach of this rule will be removed.We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
5 OS pleasures in your day today - part 3
Options
Comments
-
Hello
My working week is done! Hurrah!Up early and had a nice walk with doggy. Posted a letter to DD1. Our collection time has changed from late afternoon to 9am.In at work early so I could nip away. Was nice having a peaceful kitchen for a couple of hours and then of course nice when my colleagues joined me.
Home and what no fence? Fence removed and leaves me very exposed! But will be a nice new one by tomorrow afternoon. Took doggy a quick walk then back to work.It was a tad busy! Felt a bit crazy whereas yesterday didn’t. Though yesterday was busier!But excellent tips and it’s over for another five days!Home and hello doggy I am so happy to see you too. But no you can’t go out in the garden as there’s no fence! As he sits forlornly at the back doors.Someone picked up something I was selling for DD2. They were rather exuberant over it! Hey! Whatever floats your boat! They’d literally just left when…Fence chap came by to confirm where I want trellis panels put up. Had a rather convoluted conversation this morning after I got back to work. So he just wanted to check where he thought it was to go was where I wanted it to go! Anyway he’s a bit of a blether!And finally I got back inside and have had my shower and remembered I’ve got a cream cake in my bag from work! So shall go and have that!8 -
Pleasures for today (Monday)
1) Not a bad sleep.
2) Did a few jobs round the house.
3) Went to the library to print out sheets for English class.
4) Went to M and S to do some Arabic and drank about 6 cups of tea.
5) The Blood Sugar Diet started again (hereafter BSD) and it wasn't too painful. I remember that day 3 is the worst. For brunch I had 2 sausages, 1 egg and some tomatoes. For tea, we had salmon fillets baked in the oven with purple sprouting broccoli and a few radishes that were left so they got roasted as well! Smaller son also had mashed potatoes. Not too hungry not but the usual very dry mouth. There will be a glass of orange juice later to take the enormous dose of iron.
6) Had English lesson this afternoon. 2 nice chaps. One could speak English pretty well but doesn't know the alphabet, which is a first. The Arabic got put into action again, including translating his name into English letters.
7) Off to Sainsburys then waved to the incredibly cool English learner, who I can recognise from a distance as he walks like Sean Connery!
8) Sainsburys have just delivered.
9) My brother popped in to sort his car insurance online.
10) Getting a bit obsessed with Race Across the World so I watching series 3 and am starting series 1.8 -
boss has all but lost her voice
1) after our workshops a very good night's sleep so no early walk
2) boss' voice came back enough for her talk at 11
3) between end of conference and supper managed an online meeting with Scotland, emails, wrote an abstract and spent 45 mins in the gym - this time on my stationary bike read my book
4) as boss still not 100% we had supper in the hotel and we all had 2 starters
5) planning to walk down to the harbour but the rain came down so a shorter walk, lovely fresh air. jeans now drying!MrsSD declutter medals 2023 🏅🏅🏅⭐⭐ 2025
25 for 25: 127 / 625
declutter: 173 / 2025
frogs eaten: 68 -
Did the BSD once 6 years ago, lost 24lbs in 8 weeks but all gradually went back on once started to eat in anyway normally sorry to say.For yesterday,
A warm, sunny day so four loads of washing done inc mattress protector which had been changed with the bed, all dried on the line.
Opened up the cold frame so the seed trays could get some fresh air, it’s still a novelty but will no doubt wear off ☺️A surprise for great nephew sent in post and ordered a treat for other nephew who recently moved in with gf.
Later at the yard and it was really warm in sunshine, girlie was sleepy coming in and dozed as I removed all the mud, did a bit of long-reining to mix things up.
All day veggie breakfast for tea, just baked eggs in a nest of pot rosti, mushrooms and tomatoes but one of our favs, leftover choc fudge cake for afters.8 -
Yikes RL has been a bit ongoing & today is that Should Have Been our 25th wedding anniversary with bonus Why Didn't I Realise moments. Still
OS Pleasures recentlyYoungest tells me there was a planet Vulcan named for the god not the science fiction hypothesised. On a walk & he wouldn’t let me stop & wheeze & Google it. [later, I did, it was a thing but then Einstein took the fun out of it.]It’s all getting slightly out of hand. A net of tangerines put fruit into my hand & thus diet, and one had a pip! So I devoured the other tangerines carefully & now have another little ziploc of hope.Love this from QI Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin — 'Burgundy makes you think of silly things, Bordeaux makes you talk of them and Champagne makes you do them.' Leaves me wondering if I should take back up alcohol, just I’m so out of practice I didn’t like the taste.I am proud of myself for not panicking but the boiler has switched off & is one of those so smart touch screen things & it’s as responsive as a floor tile. On a bank holiday weekend. Ah well. Kettle Ho! [Sorted, since.]The one joy of a fitted sheet is you may not need to peg it to dry. Currently twanged over the rotary airer thing in the sunlight. (I slept on linen with merciless hospital corners - blissful!) [Middleson did Not Notice we stripped washed & remade his bed. Should I worry?!]Ooooh. Line dried tee shirt has special smooth crisp rightness tumble dried lacks...Ah, finger tip weeding. Still, the cleared areas can be drowned in bark chippings til I can plant. I took a ‘before’ photo this time! (The mid-way-through is very disappointing.) and now done & a stack of little sycamore seedlings transferred to germinator trays. Weeds in one place, possible baby trees elsewhere!Turns out boiler had a blown fuse & needed a stern looking at (by me) before hot water was back running, but then I did the washing up.Tea! Gardeners joy, lubricant & hopefully painkiller… [Um. Briefly. I’ve stiffened back up again.] Could I possibly be getting old & overdoing things?! <More tea!>One of the flowerpots in the nursery has water in & yesterday I saw a blackbird having a splashing bath!Bristol colleague sent me a glorious snap of cherry blossom - up here the municipal cherries are thinking about it but still in bud. So far.Youngest brought me tea & complained I (on bean bag) had slid away from the civilised coaster so I flailed & kicked & ended up a few inches closer. Without leaving the beanbag. “That was delightfully undignified” he approved…Father Brown, Flambeau, hostages, “my kind of girl” - briefly I yearned to be Penelope Windermere but really only for that look. Flambeau is such a glorious “baddie”…Cousin who loves to dance (but whose skeleton extorts revenge next day) has sent me a delighted text to say the Epsom salt soak really does speed negotiations!Aw, we missed the ice cream van. That used to be the slogging in the front garden Treat/reward/bribe! Still, Youngest now holding treasury note.Neighbours handed over two big chocolate eggs. Youngest gracefully delighted, Middleson thinking he’s a bit old. Me eyeing them & wondering if resistance is futile…. Also neighbours drove off before could exhume bottle of wine - traditional exchange!Carry on up the Khyber - oh the dinner party scene - it’s one of my favourite bits.Some films have the whole family crooning along at points - Kelly’s Heroes has us all hooked, even the silent voices joining in with “a Sherman can give you a very nice edge”, “negative waves” etcBough a cross stitch kit as an experiment & yep, it’s making me cross. Ah well, which relative (or charity) shall I foist it on, when I’m done?Weeding old emails I l find one running conversation discussing Middleson wicked hungover after a party in 2019…. And just domestic flickering back in 2016 when everything was where it was & we had no idea was was coming down the track. The old jokes are still funny.Crooned over folding library chair & Youngest firmly “see if you still want it in the morning”. He’s absolutely right. [Twice over.]Middleson has chivvied me into a new broadband contract & opines I do not need a landline. What will his (sole remaining) grandparent phone me on then? All in hand.Going through old email clearing space. PayPal from 2014?! No longer! Just, oh, email exchanges.Strange disturbed sleep - turns out Middleson is on lates today but had got up gone & come back from thought-to-be-early shift…Reminded tartan is identified by setts & briefly trying to contemplate a tartan badger.Family tree climbing all good clean fun. Amusing when the second (or third) wife words the death notice. One can almost hear the snarling acknowledgment of the step daughter whilst leaving her mother nameless. Whereas another daughter cheerfully appreciated her stepmother’s role in keeping dad happy - fascinating!Some days you can see what’s been cooked by the trail of pots. This morning, all washed dried & put away as best I can. So the cook knows it’s done & appreciated.European gymnastics, chaps on rings, Miword. Specsavers not needed, I can focus just fine! Damsels on bars, fun, but happily awed by the chaps. Chuckling at “good bar work” - somewhat context sensitive!“Why is that horse wearing a Batman mask?” Youngest intrigued by the red headwear worn by some of the Grand National runners. It’s to reassure them against the crowds: “I can relate…”I enjoyed the extra laps of the collecting ring but do get that wasn’t the point. Still, not bombs this time.Jockeys “unseated” - polite way of saying went down with the ship when riderless competitors lurched in front of you?Youngest, clutching HWB, “I can do more than one thing with hot custard” Should I be worried?!Introduced Youngest to the enchanting rasp of Leonard Cohen. He understood why I get picky about some voices, some performances. That or was being shockingly tactful!Heard the klaxon saying rail crossing closing & stood & watched to see a train ('Captain Bill Smith RNR' - researches as a top bloke) coming in.Sat on the garden wall sharing sticky bun & listening to birds chattering. The ice cream van chime has been heard but is eluding location, so while we feel Himself is close we also get that today is about the sticky bun.Very late to the party but hot cross buns toasted & then jewelled with butter….Scotland, That Hot?! Pleasure that I can be so surprised.Met this “studying history will sometimes disturb you, studying history will sometimes upset you, studying history will sometimes make you furious. If studying history always makes you feel proud & happy, you probably aren’t studying history.”
Health strength love & courage to all as have need & protection from the strange bright thing in the sky! (Is Kitty HP on Raffles' old duty? As strewth!)10 -
Pleasures for today (Tuesday)
1) Not a bad sleep.
2) A morning of cooking. 3 shepherds pies in the freezer along with 7 Spanish chicken portions. Also made my lunch, roasted a chicken fillet for smaller son's wraps tomorrow and am about to make steak and chips!
3) Smaller son and I went to Sainsburys. Managed to get more iron tablets (not from the snooty lady in Sainsburys pharmacy, where they had sold out anyway).
4) The house survey report has arrived and just says the electrics and gas need checking, the skylight over the garage leaks and so does the U bend under the kitchen sink.
5) Still watching Race Across the World.
6) Smaller son and I laughed quite a lot when our ballot papers arrived for the council election next month. One of the candidates is called Cloud Gollop !
10 -
Hugs D4V
1 Leftover curry was lunch, wraps rice and chicken for tea with salsa and mayo, rice was leftover, chicken bits from the freezer.
2 That fresh bedding feeling will be later.
3 Ooodles of washing - done is the pleasure.
4 Part of the Thompson and Morgan order arrived, so to the green house and planted them all up, and got sunflowers, aubretia and peppers planted
5 I was literally about to start painting the fence but held off and sure enough it rained, a pleasure not to waste the paint.
6 Watched a Royal Institute lecture.
10 -
DFV it was certainly very warm in my part of Scotland this afternoon! Big love…like me you got to Tanzanite not quite silver.Hello. A day of being busier than I’d expected!Nice walk this morning. As the sun was just rising and surprisingly mild.Chat with sister at 6.30am…we are both early risers.Had an appointment at the tip. The very helpful chaps there took my stuff for me.Supermarket. Don’t need much really when it’s just for one!A quick hello doggy, oh the fence is finished ( hurrah) and filled my car with empty boxes from DD2’s move to drop off at a friend who is moving . I’ll just pop in for 5 minutes…left about an hour later but we had a lovely chat.And then it was hello doggy, I’m definitely in for the rest of the day ( ish)
Admired the new fence. And then spent the next hour or so humphing heavy pots back into place. I’ve had two big/wide trellises put up so I’m hoping for joyful clematis and jasmine growing this summer.Then it was time to choose a new book and make myself comfortable on the garden sofa…I may have shut my eyes. However the dog started barking as the fence chap was at the door. So he came round the back and was there for a while blethering! ( me…thinking I’ve a book to read!) paid for the job which was a bit of a gulp moment as a big job and not cheap but very definitely needed.Then I went back to read / snoozed. Woke up and thought argh it’s Tuesday tea and I need to start cooking! DD2 was on her way but had to return to her flat as a chap was there to fix something. So friend and I sat in the garden and ate our tea. It was still lovely and warm sitting out. Had sausages and some chicken goujons ( that were lurking in the freezer) and nice veggies. Then I made a peach crumble for pudding with extra crumble mix popped in the freezer for the next time. So that was lovely ,just sitting chatting.Then DD2 wasn’t going to make it over and could I drop tea off for her ( which I duly did, I’ll not be long said to the dog who’d been told I was in for the day!)
Had put up new solar lights this afternoon so they’re nice and sparkly tonight. Was a lovely sunset as we went out for a last doggy walk.It’s been a good day.8 -
hugs dfv and mhags
sitting in my hotel room, suitcase packed, last night and listening to lark ascending on radio 3. so for today (still Tuesday for me)
1) joined a work meeting hybrid at 7am my time then breakfast and long work meeting with colleague, the sort we never seem to find time for when we're both in Dundee!
2) another work meeting then colleague and I headed for Montmorency Falls - wow! did the bridge and nearly 300 steps of the 487 steps down but panoramic staircase was closed at that point (it had warned us at the top) so we had to walk up again then back across the bridge - no complaints, the views were stunning
3) then another uber back to Quebec City where we had a light lunch, walked round the old port (some quays still frozen) into the old town (soooo pretty) a gift shop then up the funicular and back to the hotel
4) a swim in the 3rd floor outdoor (!) swimming pool - great fun - you went in inside then through a flap and out into the open
5) quick shower, pack while listening to the archers (poor Adam) and off to our fave restaurant where i had a lish warm duck salad. now back to the hotel room, early start tomorrow so will go to bed soon. uber booked for 7am, first flight 10:30 to Toronto then to Newark, due back to auld reekie 8:05am Thursday. Guess all good things must come to an end. Has been an amazing trip.MrsSD declutter medals 2023 🏅🏅🏅⭐⭐ 2025
25 for 25: 127 / 625
declutter: 173 / 2025
frogs eaten: 67 -
Hugs Dfv
The falls sound amazing DD and worth all those steps.
For yesterday,Tackled Mount Ironmore whilst looking at across the fields and was rewarded by the sight of a deer making its way across.
Over to the yard, worryingly on the way I got a warning light re oil pressure so checked when I got there and very low, the owner saw me and kindly asked one of the farm guys to top it up once it had cooled a tad, just another reason to love this place.
All the stars aligned and equine girlie worked really well during our lesson.
My hay fever seems to be ramping up and felt a bit rough when I got home so watched an old B&W film and didn’t do much all afternoon.
Tasty tea of baked salmon and fennel.7
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply

Categories
- All Categories
- 350.8K Banking & Borrowing
- 253K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 453.5K Spending & Discounts
- 243.8K Work, Benefits & Business
- 598.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 176.8K Life & Family
- 257.1K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards