Old Style Daily Saturday 31 January 2026

Gers

Morning all.

TravellingAbuela

Morning all and thanks GERS for the new thread. Finally it's the last day of the never ending month of January. It has dragged on forever.

Not a very good start to my trip out yesterday. Whilst waiting for DD the snow started falling from nowhere. It was like a blizzard! I was really careful going down the sloping steps to the pavement. Although DD was on hand to grab me if I started sliding down them. By the time we had got down into town it was just rain.. plus fog.

First stop was taking dgd to Skipton. It was chaos at the college, cars everywhere and hundreds of children milling around! YL she's not as old as it came across! She's still 15 (16 in August) and her present school doesn't do 6th form so the kids have to go elsewhere! So the college is actually just a 6th form college. We had two hours to kill after dropping them off and it was so cold we didn't fancy traipsing round Skipton so had an exciting couple of hours away from the town centre and wandered round the big B & M and Morries, plus a drink in the cafe, instead!

Once DGD had been deposited back at school we tripped off to the retail park in Guiseley for the big Homesense and TKMaxx. Not a lot spent, just some tea lights and a nice wooden cheese board (with small knives).which got stashed away in my gift drawer.

Today is a bit disjointed. DS taking his DP to the airport this morning for a girlie few days in the sun so shopping will be on his return early afternoon. Meanwhile the hairdresser asked if around 12 would be ok. I said yes and you can bet they both turn up together if one is late and the other early!

Have a lovely day folks if you can with ((HUGS)) for our poorlies, sad or lonely. Take care all, be safe xx

Chrisca50

Morning all

Dry day today. Weather seems to alternate between a dry day and then a wet day at the moment!

Chocolate muffins to make today between stripping and re-making bed. DS is popping in to help DH to fit a new thermostat, one of those ones with an app for your phone, as he's already got one and 2 heads are better than one!

Nothing else planned. Does anyone else have S*y tv app where they give you a coupon for something free to get in Sainsbobs? Got a free pizza this week so that's tea sorted!

Have a good day all x

Suffolksue

a bright and sunny morning .

Looks as if a lot of rain overnight

Out this morning with my Saturday coffee mates

Then housework etc

Stay safe all

Gers

Morning again, though outside looks just the same as an hour ago - dank, grey and miserable.

What a nightmare for you @TravellingAbuela my fingers are crossed that your DGD gets a place.

Making chocolate muffins on such a dreary day is just perfect @Chrisca50, I can almost smell them already.

Enjoy your coffee morning @Suffolksue

My immersion in spreadsheets yesterday was productive and enjoyable. Since my encounter with the complexities of HMRC I needed yet another one which pulled together all the interest in a more clear way - I'm three-quarters of the way there.

In the evening I had a long and very emotional phone call with Lionel's niece who wanted to know the answers to lots of questions, a lot of which were about the direct cremation arrangements. Seems that up to six people are allowed to attend (so different to when my DM died in 2021) so we talked about who to invite. She was very generous in giving me the choices. We both ended up sobbing! I'm going down tomorrow morning to meet her and hand over the four items I took from the hospital for safe-keeping.

I'm going up to the big town shortly. Got blister packs and soft plastics to deposit as well as some shopping to do. I'll visit my friends on the way back. Later I have a planned call with an ex-colleague of Lionel's to discuss what to do with his research project, luckily.

Take care all, keep warm and dry. Hugs to all our poorlies.

camelot1001

Morning All

Damp and dreary this morning, WM doing it's thing and I'll hang the washing on the pulley once it's done.

I had a terrible night, eventually got up for a drink and a sit downstairs then slept until 8 so feeling a bit disjointed this morning.

The heating didn't work yesterday so I've sent a video to the engineer who can hopefully come next week some time. Almost glad it didn't work!

I'm off for lunch in Glasgow followed by the ballet which I'm really looking forward to. I'll collect the little one from Granny's on the way back as she's staying here tonight.

Hugs to you Gers, such an emotional time.

Must go in the shower and start getting ready. Take care. XX

mehefin

Morning all from Mehefinland

Well the yellow ball in the sky didn't last long and the inevitable wet stuff set in after lunch yesterday. Continued overnight with strong gusts of wind, and has just renewed it's efforts within the last few minutes. The outlook is bleak for February too - my mum always called it 'February fill dyke' -think she had a point lol.

Went to an over 40s lonely people event ( that sounds bad!) being run by a charity called Archway. I toddled along in my role as councilor (honest guv)and there was free buffet. A reasonable turnout considering the weather. Apparently senior loneliness is one of the current major health problems - I certainly know a few who would benefit form this type of meeting, but so many are reluctant to admit they need support.

@snoozer you have my sympathy re the amount of new town building being foisted onto your area. Here, the powers that be, seem to think because we are semi rural that there is lots of greenspace for people to utilise. Sadly, that is not the case as most of it is farmland and in productivity. There is more public space in our local towns available for use than in the whole of the area in which I live. I understand very well the limitations on brown field development and the reasons the councils and developers are reluctant to use it. We currently have a major coal fired powerstation being demolished - a potential 5year project - on a massive site. We have just been hit with a planning application for a 7 hectare battery farm within 2 km of said site and utilising farmland within the Heritage coast belt. It beggars belief!

Also, within our ward we have the biggest ex RAF camp in UK which has a mass of facilities which could be utilised, but as it is now owned by the Welsh Government it is being allowed to rot with no access allowed. They obviously have 'plans' but they are never keen to share them until it's a done deal! You can see why the 'natives' are restless.

Need to sort out a gift for tomorrow's 80th birthday girl.. out to lunch so that will be a lovely change.

Hugs and spoons as always

Mehefin aka Derek

silver-oldie

Good morning

Thank you for the start @Gers

January seems to have been such a long month but the evening seem to be lighter.

Waited ages for a bus that didn't arrive yesterday, got very cold and wet.

Nothing much planned for today, need to pop out for some milk but that's about it.

Take care

AlwaysAllie

Grey but dry - for now! Will walk Bdog before the inevitable rain

Gers - hope you can continue to decompress, such a sad time for you all

Camelot - fingers crossed for the heating!
Chrisca - chocolate muffins in this direction please 😉

Loads of jobs I should be doing but don’t really feel like it and I’m blaming a sore back that seemed to develop yesterday. I’ll see how I feel later

Take care all

AA

YorksLass

Morning all, thanks for the start off @Gers. The weather here yesterday didn't improve in the afternoon as forecast; instead the mist rolled back in and it looked even more dreary than before! This morning it's dry and bright, light showers are expected early afternoon, getting heavier as the evening progresses. It may be the last day of January, but sadly February's forecast isn't promising anything better. 😕

Not too bad a day yesterday but I've had to add something else to the top of the list of things I want DS to help me with - pull out the washing machine so it can be drained and disconnected. Yes, my washing machine has finally died. 😞 It sounds as if the bearings have gone and, given its age (17+ years), I think it would be more cost effective to get a new one rather than go for a repair. Ideally I'd like a similar replacement but navigating the bewildering array of choices is going to be a challenge! Dinner tonight is courtesy of the freezer, a h/m chicken tikka, just need to cook some rice to go with it.

DS will be here soon so I need to get a wriggle on but will pop back later. X

Coxy11

Morning everyone and thanks for the start @Gers x Safe journey to meet Lionel’s niece, and do the handover. Such an emotional time for you both xx

We had a great time at the party. Walked back to Victoria from Whitehall which cleared our heads and helped boost my step count. DS2 was waiting at the station to run us home bless him. Talk about role-reversal!

We may go to view the bathroom plans today. Depends whether the chap is available.

Hope your DGD is successful with the college application @TravellingAbuela x

The cafe sounds fab @mehefin - something similar running here too on a Friday morning. Not just for seniors but it’s mainly seniors who attend.

Hope you feel better soon @camelot1001 x.

Have a good day all

Coxy

ETA yes @Chrisca50 I only found out about those S*y VIP freebies recently. I’ve had a few pizzas, crisps and biscuits but our branch sometimes runs out quickly! Good to know though x