Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Squirrel is comfort eating. His mate was ended by Colin next door’s cat (hereafter known as The Murderous Colin). 

Farway

Another grey morning here with Nil gardening

Must be mixed feelings about one fewer squirrel, YBE, that cat must be quick, or cunning, to catch one

I can't remember many friends from schooldays, moving soon after I left school, so just lost touch with them. Probably just as well. Especially as the area has now become what is often referred to as a poo [polite] hole & now swallowed up by Khan's Greater London and about to be sucked into his low emission pay per day zone

Update on the T & M BF bulb deals, told the order is on the way, but that is T & M so is probably on a trolley near their loading bay

Woolsery, your Canada border, reminded me of an "Aunt" we used to visit in Reading, her house back garden was very steep, so steep it was terraced and must have been a devil to look after because barrowing anything would have been out of the question, a couple of llamas would have helped

Talking of which, how about some alpacas to help with your grass? Certainly be a talking point, and supposed to be good fox deterrent as well with you chickens

This is the last of the nasturtiums, a bit damp but still here at the end of November

Woolsery

YoungBlueEyes said:

I'm amazed when people keep in touch from such a young age. I can barely remember anyone from my junior school. Actually the only one I do remember is a lad called Owen McGuinness who was forever telling me he was the heir to the Guinness empire and I should marry him while I had the chance!

I expect someone took him up on that eventually, but it was clear where his priorities lay!

People often reconnected when Friends Reunited began around the year 2000, although I contacted Ann when I spotted her in a local newspaper article in the '90s. It was a bit random, as I'd been living 100 miles from here for well over 20 years, and she'd already gone to BC. I only picked up the paper to find vouchers and stuff for the kids while holidaying here.

However, thanks to Friends Reunited, I can go back further, to another young lady, paired with me for remarkably similar reasons in or around 1957. She was an almost saintly person, and I was very sorry to lose her friendship when my parents took me away from London into the wild West Country to escape The Bomb. No doubt her kindly tolerance came in handy, as she was running a pub in Australia when we messaged last, before FR closed down!

From knowing hundreds of kids and having a couple of them myself, I'd say links with pals from primary school often survive a long time. Of course, not all teachers enjoyed the facility Friends Reunited provided for outpourings of long pent-up emotions! I got off quite lightly; the worst ones being "Mr Woolsery's insane history lessons; what was that about?" and "Do you remember when he set fire to the equipment in some experiment and threw it all out the window!?" Sadly, the latter is accurate. Those spirit burners were lethal, but all we could afford.

Zeebrugge was 1987, apparently. Where had you arrived from?

YoungBlueEyes

Ooh pretty nasturtium, I like the deep red veins Farway. Sadly one fewer squirrel isn’t gonna make a blind bit of difference, we’re a couple hundred yards from a big church and it’s riddled with them 🤷‍♀️

So you were a teacher woolsery? Bet you were a riot - throwing disasters out the window 😁

I’m from Norn Iron. We moved from Lisburn to Staffordshire when father’s bosses suggested he might enjoy a change of scenery. (He didn’t suffer fools or pull his punches, so when problems arose at work and he disagreed with how to handle it,  it was suggested he could move to Staffordshire and keep working or take early retirement. So we lived near Uttoxeter for a few years ‘til he could retire early on full pension. Then it was up to Yorkshire when his ma started going downhill. 

Christ sake, I’ve become one of those people who tell their life story to strangers on the internet  🙄😄

in_my_wellies

Mum sadly passed away aged 90. She lived with me for 5 years. I'm looking forward to living my normal rather than her normal so today I wandered round the garden for the first time in five years without having to hurry or rush back to see what mum was up to. My how it has changed, or in many ways not changed but should have done. Serious work needs to be done. I 'exchanged' homes so she could be settled but now it's time to return to Devon or maybe Dorset or possibly Somerset is in the picture. I've a long list of possibilities on Rightmove but head must rule heart. I'm five years older and not so fit. Back to Devon for Christmas and then I shall plan. 

I went out today but it was so foggy I was pleased to be back by 3pm. The leaves are down from the ash and beech but hardly a leaf has fallen from the Bramley apple trees. Is that normal - after living here 39 years you would think I would remember. 

Thanks for the pictures everyone. Perhaps I'll have time to post some soon although I'm a bit short of flowers. The holly tree was like a flaming torch last Thursday but I looked today and it's been striped apart from a few berries near the roof of the hen house. Normally redwing come in a flock but later so I've no idea this year. 

YoungBlueEyes

My sympathies in_my_wellies

Woolsery

Sorry to hear Mum has passed, wellies, though having walked in similar shoes, I know it'll be a time of mixed emotions; relief merging with the expected feelings of loss and great sadness. Don't feel guilty about that. Considering how elderly, frail and confused people were treated 'for their own good' while in care a short time ago, your Mum was, indeed, a very lucky lady. 

twopenny

She sounds an interesting woman in_my_wellies. And a good life.

So, no rain today!

But thick mist decending rapidly and it's now icy cold outside.

Supposed to be dry tomorrow but so much else to do. It;s a dismal view of the garden outside, sodden, leaf strewen lawn and pots and tarpaulin to deal with the leaking gutter.

So want to do something with it but I can't see it drying up.

Ah well, at least I will tackle it with vigor when the oportunity comes - perhaps

Woolsery

twopenny said:

But thick mist decending rapidly and it's now icy cold outside.

Yesterday began here with a temperature difference creating a thick mist in the valley. Sadly, by the time I'd dealt with the hens, the best of the mist was gone....

The posh property over there has a great, south-facing location and a colourful arboretum behind it.

YoungBlueEyes

Zoomed into your pic, those trees are beautiful and so many colours 😊