Awful weather - typical Brits talk

Dustyevsky

UPDATE: We'd not long returned from putting the car in for service/MoT, when threatening clouds approached from the west.    Mrs D had gone in the shower, so I whizzed stumbled down to the lawn and somehow managed to fold up our 10' x 10' heavy-duty shelter, seconds before the heavens opened. It's normally a 2-person job, but I just managed to carry it inside the bigger marquee thing.

Probably a waste of energy, as it's sun & blue sky again now, but during the downpour I was cold. It's been shorts and t-shirt for weeks. Look out 2p, it's heading your way! 

pink_poppy

Haha, I make names up for some of the neighbours and also one of DH's side of the family, twopenny. I have to be careful when I'm talking about them  
Are you sure the mid-life cottage is a no?? I'd be tempted to view it, just to see for myself what needs doing.

I don't know about Hydrangeas, YBE, but I would probably have stuck it in a dish of water, rather than watering it from the top. If it doesn't recover, I'd be tempted to take it back to Lidl for a refund.
I think Aberdeenshire was the hottest place in Scotland during the heatwave. I might start looking on RM to see what's available in our price range. I love where we live now, but some aspects of it do get me down and I do ask myself if it's worth it. Nothing will happen until DH retires anyway.
I've got another application form to fill in, but jobs seem to be few and far between at the moment. I'm still looking though and still hopeful.
Orange chocolate gives me the boak, btw... I had a Cadbury's Iced Latte bar of chocolate yesterday (a bit daft to be eating it in the heat, but whatever) that was lovely and I ate the whole thing over the course of the day - they don't call me Miss Piggy for nothing    

I can't take the credit for the 'lemon tops' pic, Dusty, it was my DD who took it
Your Rozanne pic is lovely - I'd have that in my garden, no matter what the panellist on GQT says... he's not the boss of me (Father Ted quote)

Farway, I would have described our weather this morning the same as yours, but it's actually raining now.
I agree with the owners of yappy dogs being deaf hard of hearing. The neighbour who takes her dog out in the car must get that constantly until they arrive at the beach or wherever they're going, it drives me mad just going past my house. Note to self - I must learn to be less intolerant     

OT - it's still very sticky today, but not as hot as the weekend. Pouring with rain at the moment too.

twopenny

Wonderful photo Dusty!!
I think that's a go on the wall one 🙂

Farway I don't even bother with Morrisons now. Poor and higher prices. I'd rather pay more for something that's going to grow.

Speaking of which, your hydrangea looks fuzzy and grey . Get it away from the other if that's so. Botritis (sp) a mould from being in lack of air and moisture.
You could cut it all off and dry it out and then a slim chance. Or go and buy another 😢

Poppy, the was desired cottage needs new windows, chimney redone, electric and plumbing, trees felled and garden dug out and it's a Grade 2 in a national park - so no 

OT a goodly breeze and sunshine. The rain turned out to be a light mist for 10mins and as Dusty said, really cold.
Now back to sun. All windows and doors shut in the hope of catching up on some sleep but still horns hooting, drills going etc. 
But it's not stifling. Eyed up a spot by the sea to go with my book this after if I can find a parking space. 

Farway

Main job done, bin out for collection, and managed to finish pruning one apple & the grape

More wild blackberries scoffed, not enough for a pie, just a few to taste, a very sweet one, with thorns like daggers.

Merton T is getting some ripe as well, maybe by the weekend?

twopenny said:

Farway I don't even bother with Morrisons now. Poor and higher prices. I'd rather pay more for something that's going to grow.

 Eyed up a spot by the sea to go with my book this after if I can find a parking space. 

I only go there for grocery items, I get most delivered by Asda, but they can't be trusted to consistently supply decent meat or fish, so It's Morries to poke & rummage among the dead flesh

Needless to say, no butcher, baker convenient, except an Olde Farm Shop, which would entangle me in a GC trip

Hope you find a parking space, it's all pay parking here

My hibiscus is out, photo time

YoungBlueEyes

Dusty said "A weak, undemanding human, makes them feel insecure" is about the best way of describing it I've heard in a long time. Dogs need a strong leader cos they're a pack animal. It only takes a bit of training, consistently, and they'll get back in their place. Once they trust that you're making good decisions they'll follow you to the ends of the earth. I don't know if she knew it but when gb said Anonymous Dog is happy being taken to the vet - that's a perfect example   Glad to see Cissie's weather lore is working for you Dusty, and nice to hear yous got the bales lifted in I can't see what's wrong with Rozanne myself, and how can it be too popular?!

If you could trust yourself to fall properly you should've opted for compo Farway. Got some pennies in your pocket for a gardener/rent-a-yoof to drag the bins out And make Ye Olde Farme Shoppe a regular haunt, if you got enough moolah out of them. Are you going back next week, same time same place, for a better go?
 
I never realised "you're not the boss of me" was Father Ted pp, thanks for that. My sister used to say it all the time and I never knew where she'd got it from :rolleyes: I wouldn't say be less intolerant, I'd say reframe it so your brain doesn't chew at it. Instead of yappy dogs going past barking, make it yappy dogs full of excitement for going to the beach. "Drive faster, drive faster!"   I haven't (knowingly) eaten cadbury's choc in years *boke* I much preferred Aldi/Lidl choc when I discovered them. Near unbeatable imo. I've never had an iced latte either, or been in a Costa.  And I've never seen Star Wars.....

Thanks for the hydrangea advice 2p I've cut off the misbehaving stem, and moved the pots apart. I don't want the blue pink one siren calling to the white one cos that's fine at the moment. That's a bu99er about your cottage, but maybe a blessing in disguise? Now you'll not be thinking 'ooh what if' when it wants all that work doing to it.... Did you and your book get sat by the sea..? 

Remember me asking about tree spinach for a woman at work? Well she thank you for the cooking/dish recommendation. She looked it up and tried it and now it's in her repertoire. So she said to say thanks very much whoever suggested it  Taff maybe....?

OT lovely and cool, it was single digit temps when I got up this morning, and it still is They're sticking to yesterday's forecast - 9'c currently with a breeze, a high if 14' to come, but they've brought it forward to 1900 . Rain and 30mph gusty winds all aft too, they say.

twopenny

It's 14c here this morning and they promise rain all day but no sign of it yet.
It's hard to breathe it's so dry for so long and yes, lovely trip to the beach yesterday 😁 just lay on the stones with the sound of gentle waves and a fresh clean breeze. Read half a book and came away so relaxed I wanted to do it again today but looks unlikely.

Dusty, West country time used to be a thing round our way.
I remember training days when the folk came from cities into the wilds. They were frantically setting up all sorts of machines from early on.
We were gathering from the wilds of Exmoor, hadn't met for some time and were having a good chat. Coffee and biscuits came first.
The organisers were frantic and told to chill, drink coffee and relax. We all needed to catch up.
It took them a while to adjust then joined in smiling. Don't think they'd come across this before.
It was also when I heard that some of my school had burnt down. I thought I was being teased. Unlike the always connected of today it could happen.
Ditto, if you needed to go to big town for a meeting you were allowed to leave half an hour earlier to account for sheep being moved on the road, tractors and so forth.

Watered out back last night but some raspberry canes, probably the ones moved in spring, are curling up their toes.
The goosegogs leaves are going brown and the apple leaves are curling. 
The runners have barely made it halfway up the canes.
Don't think there will be much in the way of stores for winter.

As Farway says, found some early blackberries in the village car park. Huge but tasteless 😕

No worries about the cottage, it was a thing of the past. New adventures to be had now.

Got to find something useful to do today. I have so much stuff to do indoors and I was hoping for rain ☔ to get me motivated but not in the mindset.

Farway

Cooler here at last, a bit dull and even had about a minute of rain this morning, no use for anything except to dampen the leaves

I was hoping for a bit more rain, noticed some of my border plants are shrivelling, taking their cue from 2P. Includes my aubretia [sp] & JapAnems. 

I'll dump a watering can of water on there later on today, but I don't want them to get lazy

I also need to top up the bird bath again, can't rely on rain

My Autumn rasps now have buds on, I thought they were heading North, but maybe just got the timings out. 

And, my canna is now growing again  , it did grow after overwintering outside, but then stopped and just sat around studying Norwegian holiday brochures

Garden wheelie bin has been emptied, seems they are back in the habit again. Next job is getting it round the back & prune more apples.

Today would be a good pruning day with the temperature, but I had another restless night and am worn out already

Lots of e-mails arrived, order spring tulips, gosh, it's relentless prising dosh out of your palms, but I've no room, and squirrels, so I'll stick with dwarf daffs that seem to work for me

pink_poppy

It was Father Damo, YBE, Father Dougal's pal - makes me laugh every time.

I really liked the Iced Latte chocolate, even though I've never had an Iced Latte drink. I don't think I've tried Aldi/Lidl chocolate, or if I have it was a long time ago. Do they do coffee flavour, do you know?? Yum.

Busy with job application today, but the weather is a bit grey so I'm not bothered about going out. Not sure I can put a positive spin on the gardener who's been strimming a neighbour's grass for hours...

Dustyevsky

pink_poppy said:

Haha, I make names up for some of the neighbours ....

We do too, but most would get me banned if I told you them!  Horseface is the only shareable one. 

twopenny said:

Poppy, the was desired cottage needs new windows, chimney redone, electric and plumbing, trees felled and garden dug out and it's a Grade 2 in a national park - so no 

You've convinced me!   TBH, Grade 2 and within a NP would be enough!   

YoungBlueEyes said:

I never realised "you're not the boss of me" was Father Ted pp, 

Nor me. I know Father Tedros  isn't the boss of me either, but I'll not go far down that road!   

YoungBlueEyes said:

 I can't see what's wrong with Rozanne myself, and how can it be too popular?!

It's Ford Focus Syndrome. Something works well for most people who have it, so the snobs look down from on high and praise the virtues of something less ubiquitous. I think Geranium magnificum was mentioned as an alternative. Magnificum has great foliage, and the flowers are lovely too, but it doesn't stay floriferous as long as Rozanne, or produce as many blooms. People with smaller gardens, where choices have to be made, will probably go for Rozanne, rather than magnificum, or something rarer, like Phillipe Vapelle. Quite right too.   

Late here today, thanks to a complex series of circumstances, with our car still having its MoT, SiL's car being towed away, broken, and DD2 needing to be at the new house to take delivery of a bathroom.  The only solution was to put DD and baby in the van and head south. The delivery was, of course, late.   

As DD's new place is so near the GC, we called in on the way back to get 270litres of compost, a bag of grit and 3 plants. It was nearly 1 plant, because a lady lifted a salvia I wanted from under my nose, but seeing my expression, said, "Oh, do you want this one? You were here first! " 

I said "It's OK, there's another." but 'another' was broken, so the lady handed me hers.  Wasn't that good of her?  This is what it was:https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/317492/salvia-dyson-s-joy/details

AGM plant. As was:https://www.rhs.org.uk/plants/109004/agastache-blue-fortune/details

Both in 9cm pots @ £2.50. Last of the big spenders! 

(EDIT: 3rd plant was daughter's lupin. She's a lupin fanatic.) 

Another lady has just delivered a box of sample tiles to DD, which is more than Royal Mail managed to do. The package is correctly addressed, and she lives 4 miles away! Aren't some people lovely! 

twopenny

Yes there are moments that make you like people again Just wish there were a few more.

You know we have no doctors here. the surgery was sold to a company that gets one star on Trustpilot in uk and the usa. They already got my blood test and pharmacy wrong. Now just had a text to say no routein appts for a month while they go online.

Another reason I might move.

Very gloomy here, the rain was light but enough to get people not plants, wet. Some high wind too. All still and grey now and 15c which feels cold after the last month.

I sat by the river the other day and just watched. Here's a little of what I saw.

The robin had a nest in the brambles on the bank and was frantically collecting insects.

The damsel flies are factinating, this year brown, only one blue but I have a photo on my wall with 8 blue ones including one in flight which took ages to get.

My camera has come out in sympathy with Farways computer and refuses to connect to the laptop.

It may be time to bite the bullet and change it. Trouble is I can't find one with a viewfinder now and I really want that.

Catching up on stuff in the house isn't as rewarding as it should be. Sometimes it can be satisfying , others its just plain boring.

Hope others are more in tune with the universe.

Enjoyed Dustys good fortune. Great to know its still out there