Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Farway

Hard frost this morning, with accompanying blue sky & sunshine.

Dusty, your Gladys will catch her death if she doesn't get some clothes on sharpish.

Sniggered at the aptly named swimming group

Oh dear, fingers crossed for everyone with aches & niggles, hope they clear up or at least ease up a bit

Nice bird pics PP, they, the birds, do seem to be getting into this Spring malarkey now. The magpies outside my window, that were gifting lichen the other day, seem to have tied the knot & are now twig collecting, presumably for a nest.

If anyone is sorely tempted, itching for summer, and bad backs, poorly purses or weakened wallets etc allow T & M have bare root strawberry offer. 

18 plants, 6 of each variety £4.94

https://www.thompson-morgan.com/p/strawberry-full-season-collection/CWW3188TM?source=newsletter-season-060225&acq_source=

Offer ends midnight, 7th February 2025 or while stocks last. Limited to 1 per order. Normal delivery charges apply. Use order code TM_TN5648W

Must have missed it somehow, seems this January was the hottest ever. Anyone want to buy a bridge? I have one for sale.

OT, My council is being abolished, I come under the cancelled elections & shuffle it all about for 2026. One mega Hampshire council with an elected Mayor.

That should be fun, not. At least we have a few ex MPs around here that I bet are itching to get back troughing serving the public.

I bet one thing is certain though, the cost of my garden waste collection will not go down.

If the sun keeps going I'm hoping to get out in the garden, came over cloudy yesterday, and lightly carry on the tidying, and hunt the Missing rooted Blackberry

twopenny

I could do with more strawberries Farway but it requires me to sign in etc to find out delivery charge and I don't have the time to work out passwords etc and note them.

I rejigged mine as the friends donation didn't thrive or taste or anything but they are sitting looking as though they are just hanging on and not about to burst forth with foliage. To be fair I haven't looked after them well until now and that may be too late.

Though I was spying pots with holes in that were on sale in the GC. Then we come to the new compost

Think you are right about the health service. People using it say it's in so much confusion that it's going to go bang before too long. My neighbour having chemo has a different nurse every week - we have no doctors - now they are going to visit but he just had to do a 50mile round trip for a blood test

I was told the other night from one hospital that I could go to the hospital an hour away (no one to drive) and it would be a 6-7hr wait then an hour back so through the whole night in agony. Thank goodness the pills they gave me worked.

Poppy that's awful not being able to sleep. My cure is a fried egg sandwich + cup of tea and reading. Then I oversleep

I recently bought an ankle support. Not sure that would help.

Still at least you have a wonderful place to sit and look.

Cold last night down to 3c but felt lower and everywhere is wet with condensation again. Struggled up to 4.5c now but at least no wind or rain and although light grey it's brightish. Another 6 weeks or so to stagger through then fingers crossed it's more spring like.

Snowdrops everywhere on banks which is lovely. Tiny little lambs in the fields. Daffs in the garden waiting to come out. But the real tell of Spring for me is when the primroses come out in the countryside.

Dustyevsky

Farway said:

Dusty, your Gladys will catch her death if she doesn't get some clothes on sharpish.

Must have missed it somehow, seems this January was the hottest ever. Anyone want to buy a bridge? I have one for sale.

OT, My council is being abolished, I come under the cancelled elections & shuffle it all about for 2026.

Poor Gladys has no arms, as well as no legs, so clothes are a problem for her.

You forgot to mention it was also about 3rd or 4th sunniest January....ever. I read that on the Beeb, so it must be true. Of course, the fact that over 40 vineyards were listed in the Domesday Book, nearly 1000 years ago, is no indication the climate was just as warm then.

Do you ever watch Intel Lady on't Tube? Has Growler down to a T!   This comment may soon disappear, as it's not Friday afternoon.

pink_poppy

It's a beautiful sunny morning here, as promised   I think I finally fell asleep (on the settee with pussycat on my lap) sometime after 3am, so feeling a bit zombified and back is twinging. No fried eggs here, so just a black coffee to wake me up.

Glad you're back to just normal aches and pains, Dusty, but sorry to hear Mrs Dusty isn't great   I'm nowhere near pensionable age either, but feel like an old crock sometimes. I'm sure if you decide to head to pastures new your place will sell easily with all the work you and Mrs Dusty have put into it. I was seeing the hospital podiatrist for about two years for my achilles problem and was no further forward. I'm not really sure what I expected, but it was more than just a piece of paper with some exercises on it. I hope Mrs Dusty has more luck.

I like Gladys, she wouldn't look right in our garden setting though. We had a couple of ornaments in our last garden (not as classy as Gladys) and I'm wondering now where they've got to.

I'm tempted by the strawberries - that is one thing I would love to grow. I have nowhere for them to go at the moment though, plus I'm not sure our climate is right, with a lot of rain and not always much sun in the summer months.

That's a lovely pic of the countryside, twopenny, looks very peaceful. Sorry you've been in so much pain, but so glad you've got meds that help ease it, there's nothing worse than constant nagging pain, it's absolutely miserable

I can see a collared dove backwards and forwards collecting twigs in a neighbour's garden, so obviously nest building. Mr Robin was singing away again when I was putting food out and Mr & Mrs Blackbird are mooching about too. Spring is coming.

It must have been frosty overnight as my windows have defrosting icy tentacles...

the_lunatic_is_in_my_head

twopenny said:

I can recommend a bland diet for a couple of months Less

Indeed! Trying that as well, it's the snacking that's the problem, very hard to cut out but picking up a piece of fruit instead of rubbish from the sweet cupboard seems to be doing the trick. 

pink_poppy said:

Gorgeous views, lunatic. I bet it was lovely living in that house, even if it was a bit of a trek back to civilisation.

Lovely pictures of the birds, the Robin in our garden is very brave, comes and sits right next to you, bit too close for comfort really, I think he uses me as a scarecrow having figured out the blackbird flies away when I'm near by. 

Easy to get swept away by the views but it was pretty boggy up there despite the dryish weather and being some 300m above sea level I'd imagine they had a heck of a job lugging firewood up to the house to keep it on the warm and dry side.

Some freshly cut timber stacks on today's walk



Poor trees but there was a rich, sweet scent in the air. I think most of the forest will go in this section.



This house is pretty remote as well but at least it has a nice track leading to the front door



It's nestled down the bottom at the end of the valley



Hope everybody's aches and pains subside  

twopenny

Oh now that's a place I could stay longer

Sitting out by the waterfall with a book in the summer..........mmmmmmmmmmmm

We had a woodland cut down, had been our playground for many years so it was a bit of a shock when they did it.

But then with Spring up came lots of Foxgloves and other wild flowers.

LessImpecunious

pink_poppy said:

I couldn't sleep so I've been outside stargazing. I only came back inside because I was getting spooked being outside on my own at silly o'clock in the morning   The moon is really bright considering there's only half of it visible. I didn't see the ring around the moon that twopenny had, but when I first got up and looked out of the window there was definitely an 'aura' around it. I could see Mars, but couldn't identify Saturn, Less.

Think Saturn would have sunk by that time (below the horizon - it was on its way when I saw it c. 7.00)

Dustyevsky said:

Poor Gladys has no arms, as well as no legs, so clothes are a problem for her.

Swimming might be problematic too...

Lovely clear sun all day, bright yellow ball as it was sinking, surrounded by apricot skies; but very chilly wind to go with it... Birds definitely getting chirpier here in the morning too, tho' no nest-building spotted yet...

pink_poppy

Ooh, what a beautiful house, lunatic. I love everything about it, the location, the scenery, the wall surrounding it, just gorgeous. Is it for sale?!    

We see a lot of logs (love the pic, btw), but I think they're grown for that purpose. Always a shame to see them cut down though. Talking of which, I noticed today that one of the neighbour's smaller trees had toppled over. I'm wondering if it happened during Storm Eowyn and I just hadn't noticed it before as it's in amongst other trees. If any of the big ones go we'll be in trouble...

Every cloud has a silver lining, twopenny. Is it still wildflowers now??

It's been a beautiful day today - sunny and blue skies. We're due frost overnight though, the cost of having clear skies, but I'll be out stargazing - Venus is already shining brightly. Shame I missed Saturn, Less, I would have liked to have seen that, but I'll try tonight if it's not too late (did you mean 7pm - if so, I'd better go and have a quick look now).

Here's a bit of cheeriness that greeted me when I opened the front door this afternoon. I hope the birds don't spot them, or their heads will be pecked off...

twopenny

Congratulations on being the first Crocus Poppy

And yellow ones, really sunny and cheerful.

Just popped in because I won't remember this tomorrow morning.

When I hurt my Achillies tendon I wore heeled boots. Just a little heel 1.5" or so, a small wedge heel like you get on ankle boots would help.

I thought the doctor would give me what for but he said, no that's fine.

Really seems an odd idea but it took the pressure off.

I've got rooted cuttings indoors - going into competition with Farway as long as I don't do the same and drop them  It's very possible.

pink_poppy

Happy dance - I saw the ISS going over this morning    I had a wander outside to look at the stars and there it was   

Thanks for the boots tip, twopenny   I need more boots as the sole on mine (flat) are flapping   I've glued them, but I'm not convinced they'll stay glued, especially when it rains. I actually partly blame my Fat Flops for my achilles problem as I used to scrunch my toes to keep them on - that can't have been good.

Frosty this morning with a clear starry sky. I'm hoping it 'warms' up a bit and defrosts because I need to skate walk to the post office this morning.