Awful weather - typical Brits talk

YoungBlueEyes

Ohh ok. I didn’t realise MSE had multiple fora. 

Every day’s a school day eh. 

RobM99

YoungBlueEyes said:

Every day’s a school day eh. 

I never knew that! 

YoungBlueEyes

Ba dum tsch! 

in_my_wellies

Wet, damp and very still here too. It didn't inspire me to plant my bulbs. I'm blaming whoever said 'they need to be planted by New Year' because in my head that's given me an extra week. 

Son announced that he has planted all his, ones I gave him, so at least I'll see what they should have looked like. He's come home so that saves me driving via Oxford to collect another son. Downside is that we're going in his much larger electric car (sensible) but I have to learn to drive it (not sensible) so I can drop him off at Heathrow on the way back as he's off skiing. Now I wouldn't mind one of those nice sized Leafy electric cars but his is an American monster for too big for Devon roads and parking on the High Street in Crediton. 

I filled up the bird feeders today. From my bedroom window I watch a jackdaw land on the top of the frame. He bounced about for ages and having merely human intelligence I thought he was flapping about trying to get his balance but then he jumped down and ate all the fallen nuts. Rinse and repeat several times. They are such clever birds! 

RobM99

@in_my_wellies Crow family can work things out and use tools (not hand tools, obviously!).

goldfinches

@Farway - sorry to hear Woolsery has been banned but thankyou for letting us know.
@in_my_wellies - sorry you won't be visiting Oxford any time soon but given the shenanigans going on here with traffic gates and LTNs you'll probably be thankful.
@Woolsery - you think you're hard done by with your BEd. When I was struggling through the coursework for my MA my mother told me that when she and my father graduated from Oxford in the late 50s/early 60s all you had to do to convert your BA into an MA was to pay a fee of £10. That entitled you among other things to vote on the candidates for honorary degrees each year. The year that Margaret Thatcher was nominated the University administration is widely believed to have made a mint from those who wanted to vote and hadn't previously bothered to pay said fee.

I haven't been out and about much as it's been either freezing cold or soaking wet here for days on end. I am still managing to keep last Christmas's poinsettia alive and thriving and am planning to try to snap up some pots of ready planted bulbs, pansies, cyclamen and so on if they are reduced in the local shops once the present buying has died down. I'm glad we're finally past the shortest day of the year too as the lack of light is really disheartening. So, onwards and upwards and more power to all your gardening elbows.
See you in '23 if not before. 🍾

Farway

It's a really awful day outside, dull, wet & windy, which has stopped the one bit of gardening I had planned, I need to dig up some Lucifer crocosmia to take over for my horticulture student granddaughter for her wild life pond edges, she only has the orange ones and the Lucifer will certainly brighten it up

RobM99 said:

@in_my_wellies Crow family can work things out and use tools (not hand tools, obviously!).

Perhaps a crow bar?

Talking about birds, I spotted I think it was a jay or maybe woodpecker leaping around a tree just outside my window, of course by the time I had a camera to hand it had cleared off. That was the second time I have seen it so will get a camera nearby just in case

twopenny

Dryish with heavy drizzle. Windy.

I had to swap the patio pots. The geraniums took a hit from the frost and while that wasn't all bad they are looking most peculiar now. I mush get out and take off all the leaves I think.

The tidying up I did a few days ago the weeds have all grown straight back up so may leave them as 'shelter' for the veg.

There is a promise of a dry spell over Christmas so hope to do as others and strim the bed edges in the hope of making it look less like an abandoned roadside.

The bulbs remain in the garage - that's another thing to consider for a dry spell.

Farway I've had quite a few birds of all types around and when walking in the woods very few. I'm thinking that like us, they head for the more sheltered gardens in this weather.

It's still not the same as before the drought though.

A grey squirrel is back running around the perimeter. He/she's a regular on top of the fence. I'm between growing or nailing something to keep it from it's run around but then so far it's done me no harm and it obviously has it track between wherever it comes from to wherever it goes.

It's very quiet without Woolsery..................

YoungBlueEyes

I am sans bulbs. Sans garage too actually. Still got a squirrel though. Well I say “a”, I bet there’s more than one nipping into my garden to snaffle up the suet pellets and dropped seeds etc. I’m very close to a church and it’s graveyard is slathered with them 😒 The only birds I’ve seen are pigeons and a pair of blackies and the long tailed tits. But it’s majoratively pigeons. 

Started raining here just after lunch, and it’s still going. Kinda drizzly now. 

Himself and his manthrax have just gone back to bed, so I’m stretched out on the sofa eating his chocolates and about to watch Casablanca! 😁🫢

Farway

Dull weather, nothing exciting about it, it's just grey

At last, I have potted up both of my amaryllis, all being well I may have flowers sometime in Feb / March. Just need to sort out the hyacinths to plant now, still waiting on the sunny/ dry spell before watering on the vine weevil killer before I plant, it was promised Boxing Day, but that has turned out to be a lie wishful thinking

The Cape Primrose leaf cuttings I moved inside onto the window sill have certainly perked up since I did that

My Christmas cactus has fulfilled its commitment and is in flower, I'll try for a photo later to keep the Christmas spirit up

PS, I may be missing in action tomorrow, sponging a meal over DDs. Happy Christmas everyone, including Woolsery if you are lurking