Wet Sink and Sky.......

 
With all the plumbing checked when the new boiler was installed, Hubby was still trying to find a way to improve the pressure of the hot water coming out of the mixer tap.  Taking it all apart again he thought it must be the small bore tube inside the tap head, so he tried to drill it out a bit but only succeeded in making it unusable. We have a new tap head on order but until then we have Hubby's temporary solution! 

Two more tap heads later and it looks better and maybe a little faster. 

Lots of rhubarb to pull and I've found a new recipe for a rhubarb cake. It was yummy. Three boxes of stewed rhubarb now in the freezer too. 

Out of the blue I've received a summons for jury service! Hubby has been called twice during his adult life, I've never been called before. It's not till the end of August and I'm hoping it will be interesting, not gory or boring, fingers crossed eh? Amazed at the few people I've told many of them were really negative and expected me to get out of it. Of course I'd accepted. 

There has been almost nothing worth watching on TV for a while now (apart from sport) and a few of our favourite series have reached their final episodes ever. Then I saw this

For something to have great reviews for 20 years it has to be worth us starting. We had avoided it before as we already watched Casualty, Holby City and The Good Doctor but now only Casualty remains. Series 1 Episode 1 of GA was really good and we met so many different characters. We've watched two more since. 

I'll not say too much about last Sunday night's football, but eventually England's two goals got them through. At about 75 mins Daughter and O arrived back from Kentwell hoping to unload her tent and roofbox, but we made them sit and watch the end of the football first which unfortunately went to extra time, another half hour! While watching she told me how she'd chopped the top off her finger with an axe. I found her some extra dressings to take home. It proved impossible for her to do the roofbox with Hubby so they unloaded everything with O's help and the box stayed put. 

Glad I'd chosen a roast dinner of meatballs that didn't suffer being so delayed as it was nearly 8pm before Hubby and I ate. 

And then it was July! Gosh half this year has gone! 

Tuesday was a medical day. In the morning I had the full hearing test at Specsavers. As suspected I would benefit from aids in both ears so that's the direction I'm going. Then straight to the hospital and a quick sandwich in the Costa there, then admitted as a day patient for a small procedure. It rained on and off but thankfully we seemed to dodge the worst of it quite well all day. 

Hubby took the car back to Audi for them to sort the loss of settings problem, hopefully just a bit of software, but very annoying when all radio favourites and other things Hubby had set come back sometimes but often don't and have to be set again! He got the car back with a temporary fix as the main people still work on this as Hubby isn't the only one to have this fault. 

A very important Thursday as it was the 4th July so USA independence day, also the UK general election day, however more important for me was seeing the  Thomas Wolsey 550 parade in Ipswich. This was nearly a year's work coming together for the team and Daughter as the lead of music and school's involvement teaching the children of five schools the songs and dance moves, she also lead the whole procession of about 400 including the Colchester and Cambridge Waits musicians. 

I couldn't actually be there in person but followed all the reports on social media, Daughter's radio interviews, local press and local TV news both BBC and ITV. So pleased it didn't rain on their parade. Sorry that was a bit corny but it's been raining a lot this week. 

After all that Daughter came over to finally remove the top box from her car. You might see from the photo above that her index finger is still heavily bandaged, healing slowly but challenged with all that performing and playing, so M came too to help Hubby raise the box into it's garage roof harness. After they left we nipped down to vote. 

Friday morning we woke to our new Labour Government with Sir Keir Starmer as PM. Wonder what changes that will bring. 

I'm feeling sad about Hurricane Beryl doing so much damage through the Caribbean at the moment. Hearing my name so often on the news is making me feel a bit responsible. 

Here our forecast is for an umbrella weekend, so keep yours handy.

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Resting and Raised......

 
Foot now feeling a bit better each day now I'm barely using it. A little potter then a lot more leg raised sitting. 

Sunday Son came over with "get well cake". The weather was lovely so we sat in the garden. 

Monday was already about 23°C by 10am so coffee morning outside needed a little help. Umbrella over the table for some shade and ice packs under the biscuit plate, ice packs inside the cold water jug

and ice cube bags around the milk jug. Everyone was under strict instructions to eat the chocolate fingers quickly hahaha. 

Before everyone arrived we had the delivery of the new boiler and tank being installed later in the week. 

After everyone had left Daughter arrived and left the dog while she went off to the choir group she helps run. Hubby picked her up after choir and they went to look at the car he'd put on reserve. They came back smiling, Daughter has a new(to her) car that she can collect in a couple of weeks as it needs a little body work put right first. 

Wednesday early start as the boiler man arrived at 8am. Hubby had already cleared that whole corner of the kitchen and all the airing cupboard which he was very grateful for. 

First thing was turning all the water off. Second thing was covering all the carpets on stairs, hall and landing with a non slip tacky plastic. Kitchen floor he covered with thin mats. Very thoughtful and customer focused attitude. 

There's been lots of banging and drilling, up and down stairs to each radiator and in and out of the loft. He's needed an open front door and an open side gate and back and forth to his van. Cold water went back on after a couple of hours so at least we could flush the toilets and fill the kettle (important stuff right?).  

I was needed for some dog sitting, but because of the chaos at home I went to Daughter's for five hours (still sitting with my leg raised). Another really hot day so we stayed inside and while I read she slept. 

Thursday and the boiler man was back, 7:40am this time and soon after an electrician arrived, a little confusing as they are both named Jack. Water went off again. 9ish cold water back on so not too bad. Now a third guy has arrived, he's called Leigh. Noisy banter and they are constantly moving all over the house...... I've gone back to my book. 

On a day that reached about 24°C we had to have the lounge gas fire lit twice and then all the radiators on up high for about half an hour phew. 

About 3pm-ish after electrician Jack and Leigh had left the first Jack took Hubby round to check everything, show him how the new boiler works, explain all they'd done with the tank, wiring, loft changes and how they had flushed through and replenished all the radiators with whatever they need replenishing with. Jack then moved old tank, boiler and bags of rubbish neatly beside the garage on the drive for collection by their refuse company then he left, all done! 

Friday back to Doggy Day Care, back at ours. Another easy day that thankfully wasn't so hot. Hubby took the dog home home just after 6pm when R told us she was home and said we weren't needed for Saturday as she's home.

When Hubby has finished cutting up the airing cupboard shelves to fit round a few new pipes we'll be back to normal, whatever normal is!

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I'm New to Northumberland........

 

One week after my fall and some bruising has come out on my foot and it's quite a bit easier to walk on. Thankfully I managed to convince Hubby I was fine to leave so he could meet up with his old school friends which had been planned some time ago. 

Sunday Daughter sent a message and Son popped over both giving their love this father's day. Daughter is performing all day in Kings Lynn and I hope it's not as wet there as it was here. While on our second cuppa conversation between father and Son moved to finding Daughter a replacement car (all three have been looking for a long time) and as luck would have it Son then found one that not only looked ideal but it was in one of our local dealers. Last mouthful of tea and off they went. Unfortunately it wasn't on the forecourt as it had only just come in and still in their prep area which isn't open on a Sunday, so Hubby put it on reserve and booked to view as soon as we get back together with Daughter who is away again till then too. 

Monday 8am we set off, heading north. One stop at Rutland Water for a cuppa and loo and the weather was warm and sunny enough to comfortably sit outside (which was lucky as the little tea shop didn't have inside seating. 

We had a varied journey of clear runs, traffic jams, road works and at least three heavy downpours to drive through. We reached Seahouses at 3pm. FriendsL&K were already there. We had a good catchup in the bar and eventually friendsL&M arrived. We had booked to have dinner at the hotel and it was all good. 

Hubby and I decided to have a little walk after dinner. This is the view from our hotel bar and restaurant areas as it's opposite just across the road. 

Only disappointment was discovering my misunderstanding of checkout day. I was told 17-23rd so assumed we checked out on Sunday 23rd, however we have paid for 23rd and therefore checkout 10.30am 24th! We could rearrange next week's coffee morning but Hubby has also booked to view a car with Daughter Monday afternoon and our new boiler is being delivered Monday too, plus next Tuesday also has important stuff booked. So we will head home a day earlier than the others.  

Tuesday after a good night's sleep and very good breakfast we sat for a while in the lounge and debated what to do as it was raining. We decided to have an easy day after all the driving done the day before. So after the rain stopped we walked into Seahouses main high street to see what they had. I managed the short walk there (about 20 mins at my slow pace) and we stopped in a tea shop when I really needed to. After our break we set off again looking for information about the local boat trips. Hubby could see I was struggling so told the others he was walking me back to the hotel while they went down to the harbour. Back in the bar/lounge they told us there was only 4½ hour boat trips at £45pp. So they had checked with the coastguard and have the tide times and planning on driving over the causeway. 

Our evening meal was in a local Italian restaurant we had seen earlier, we all enjoyed everything we ordered. FriendsL&K had walked and Hubby drove the rest of us, I couldn't have walked it again. 

Wednesday we had breakfast and friendLW said she had been ill all night but felt a lot better now. As planned we drove across to The Holy Island of Lindisfarne.

This is us crossing the causeway about 11:30am. 

FriendsL&M came in our car and so did their wheelchair which M wasn't using so I did as my foot had suffered from doing too much the day before. FriendLL had her disabled parking badge so we parked for free, then visiting the museum and priory I got in on the concession and Hubby was free as my carer. 

The Museum was interesting and fully wheelchair accessible as was this church. I love stained glass windows. 

Pushing me over the grass areas within the priory ruins was a little more challenging. 

We had a pub lunch and then another walk/push around. We headed to the castle, however when they all saw the downhill road and then the steep rise up as the castle is on top of the hill it was decided not worth the effort for FriendM's healing knee replacement and Hubby pushing me. So we chose to head back towards the carpark stopping at another cafe for a cuppa and cake ready for heading back about 4:30 pm when the tide had cleared the causeway again. 

Once back they all went to their rooms to rest and I stayed in the lounge reading. Hubby joined me soon after and then we heard FriendsL&K were not coming down again as LW was unwell again. So four of us had dinner in the hotel again. It was turning out to be a bit of a geriatric trip and I could see that Hubby couldn't relax. 

Thursday and although we were both very nearly awake we had to leap out of bed about 7:20am when the fire alarm went off. Hubby got clothes on first and while I was dressing he opened our door just as the alarm stopped and heard it was now under control, panic over but no going back to bed after that. Obviously the thought of needing to evacuate when I'm hobbling worried him and that helped Hubby decide and he told me he thought we should go home, I agreed. So we packed then went down for breakfast and to tell the others. 

We all gathered in the lounge after breakfast and said our goodbyes and we left with them at the window ready to wave as our car went by. 

When we fancied a stop we followed a brown sign which actually took us further off route than expected but we did find Ripon Walled Garden which supports the Help For Heroes charity and had this amazing knitted tank! Hope you can zoom in and see it's all knitted! Tea and cake was good too. 

We didn't make anymore stops and listened to the England v Denmark game on the radio and arrived home at half time. After that it felt like a normal Thursday at home and even did our usual online quiz. 

Friday I'm back to sitting with my legs up and resigned to the fact this healing is going to take time. 

We both liked what we did see and all the countryside we drove through so Northumberland is still new to me but I'm sure we will go back and try again. 

See you (probably still sitting here) next week.

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Oops and Ouch.......

 
Saturday started with friendM sending me a message asking if Hubby could help with her TV problem. Hubby had installed her small TV in the bedroom and just the other side of the wall in the lounge her partner had installed her new larger smart TV after he had painted the walls. Now she can't get either of them to tune in properly. We both went to see her. Turned out both tv's were now linked to each other and neither were in the aerial socket. There was no sign of the cable that should have come with the new one, so Hubby made up a new one, the connection was made though not ideal. He went out to the car to put his tools away and spotted the cable he needed abandoned in the porch! All done now. 

Son and fiancé took us out to dinner Saturday late afternoon. A local rustic pub in a beautiful river location that benefits from daylight to appreciate the view. Butt & Oyster, Pin Mill

This is the table we were given and the tide was right out, but there were a lot more boats in the mud than in this photo (I took the photos from their pub gallery. 

Not by choice of course, I made a dramatic entrance into the main bar area, as I said it's old and rustic with flag stone flooring, and I missed the small step so arrived in an undignified prone position on the floor. Ouch ouch ouch! Son and a customer got me up and with support from Hubby behind and staff that made the nearest bench comfy for me sit down. Our table was near enough for me to hobble to and it felt like the only injury was my right foot. I felt bad that I ate very little of my dinner as Son was paying but they all enjoyed theirs and all had deserts too. Back to ours for a cuppa afterwards which was lovely. My foot was very very painful getting back to the car and then from the car to the house, I couldn't put my weight on it at all. 

Stairs are the worst of course, but with a lot of help from Hubby and my mum's old walking stick I made it up to our bed and down again in the morning. I did think about going to A&E but there's no swelling or bruising so don't think it's a fracture just a very bad sprain, so I'm using the recommended RICE (rest ice compression elevation) treatment along with paracetamol. 

Unable to move around Sunday Hubby downloaded a film for afternoon watching 

Hard to believe the original film was 1986.

Nothing much to write about as I've sat with my leg up and done little else. Coffee morning I asked neighbourL about my foot as she's a chiropodist and by the way I described what hurts she doubted I'd broken anything and said even if I had they wouldn't put a cast on just recommend RICE which I'm doing anyway. 

Wednesday update and I'm walking without a stick (just to the loo and back really) still painful but one I can tolerate.

Lovely unexpected visit from Daughter Tuesday lunchtime. She is taking her Tudor self round the primary schools at the moment and Tuesdays early morning group and much later afternoon group left her with a big gap which she filled chatting here. 

Thursday I had a Hospital appointment for recent CT Scan results. The clinic area is quite near the outpatient entrance so I walked with Hubby to hang onto. The consultant said they'd seen a little something that needs a biopsy, it may be nothing to worry about of course, but better to be cautious. He said I needed a blood test and that is far enough away for Hubby to insist on getting me a wheelchair, I'm glad he did. Possibly due to walking badly for days I've now got a nasty pain in my lower back! Thinking we are going to have to take a wheelchair on holiday.

Friday Daughter and R came over with the dog (Daughter also has a poorly knee, so we swapped sympathies). R was supposed to be doing research for the next play she is writing but kept getting distracted. Daughter and Hubby sorted her roofbox, coming out from the top of our garage and fitted to her car roof bars. She won't need it for another week but just before we get back. So good to see them both especially R who we see a lot less of now. 

Of course I can never praise Hubby enough, he is doing everything including all the packing (wonder what I'll be wearing)! Next post should be from Northumberland.... unless I'm having too much fun hahaha!

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Finally........

 
Saturday Hubby went over to Son's house and helped him finish his side path. They came back here together and what was Hubby's car is now Son's car. We still have my car which is getting tired but we'll keep it going for as long as possible as it's a good workhorse. Unfortunately the new car, which I thought we were picking up Tuesday, has had yet another delay and that's now Friday! 

*private note just between us..... Hubby has a lot more patience than I have, I desperately want to tell the dealer what I think about an expensive purchase we expected in February, but I won't. Can't spoil it for Hubby. 

The very wet spring has made everything grow like mad, so Hubby is frantically chopping, bagging and taking to the tip. He filled our brown bin and was really pleased when the new bin arrived and they took the very split and full old one away, so he then filled the new one, added to our three compost bins and filled three big garden bags ready for the tip this afternoon (and it's only Tuesday).

He's now working on these two bushes at the front. 

He's booked to do Daughter's big hedge tomorrow and he's offered to do an enormous hedge for FriendM (she has been doing my nails for years).

Actually our big front hedge wasn't finished last time as our neighbour had cars parked. 

Our usual Wednesday night saw the return of FriendsT&F, friendT has been unwell for a while so it was really nice to be the six of us again. We went from Prezzo to The Grosvenor as usual but their monthly quiz night is now so popular there wasn't a free table for us to sit at, so straight out the door and down to the snooker club. Made a nice change. 

Thursday, I had the second shingles jab at noon and five hours later not too bad at all..... hope it stays that way 🤞

Was quite sore overnight and of course I couldn't turn onto that side but did get a little sleep. 

I created our family tree more than 20 years ago, unfortunately I lost access to that software and the data file wasn't compatible with other software available at the time. Thankfully I had printed it all out. 

Much later Daughter registered an account on Ancestry and we've both transferred what I had and done a lot more searching when time has allowed. 

This week Daughter received this document as a records group had matched info with our tree. 

IBMT = International Brigade Memorial Trust

YCL = Young Communist League

Maurice was my dad's brother, two years older. We hadn't got exact date of birth or death before so another useful piece in our family jigsaw. 

Finally Friday morning we picked up our new car. 

We had as a little ride down to Shotley, which is a gentle run, only about 20 miles round trip, giving Hubby time to play, although it's very similar to Hubby's previous car. 

Unfortunately Friday afternoon I felt a bit yuk, which was probably due to the jab and poor sleep. Hopefully it will pass very soon.

Enjoy your weekend.  

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Summer Could Be Soggy........

 

Raining again but enjoying the view, especially that display of foxgloves. 

Saturday evening Daughter, O and I went to our favourite theatre to see this. The Chainers is the amateur youth drama group R started with here and she is now a professional actor with Red Rose. She is also now the director of this group. Unashamedly proud grandma bragging! 

This was the first immersive theatre experience I'd been to so wasn't sure what to expect. The crew were on an airship of sorts and we were invited onboard. There were games and puzzles to take part in and crew members wandering amongst us telling their tales. The ship landed and we followed the crew into the main hall with bench seating all around. During their story they recruited from the audience to join them. There were some very funny moments and a few dark moments in the well balanced script. 

At the end, as director, R comfortably led the Q&A ensuring every cast member joined in with the explanations and answers (I'm still grandma bragging).

Sunday morning when the rain had stopped Hubby collected our first little crop of ripe cherries. Always a bonus if we get there before the birds do, although I don't mind sharing. 

Sunday afternoon I had a hospital appointment for my regular CT Scan. I so appreciate still having them annually even though it's now three years clear. We were also grateful that being a Sunday there wasn't much traffic and lots of space in the car park. So we got there early and seen early. Fingers crossed eh? 

At last week's WI quiz Hubby won twice in their raffle and both times he picked up unopened jigsaws. He's completed the first one (I helped a little).

The second one is larger and looks much harder, but I'll show you when it's done. 

Daughter was taking O to Colchester so I went with and after we dropped him off we went into Wivenhoe (a small Essex town) as a friend of mine is exhibiting some of her work there. We both enjoyed looking at all the works in fabric with hand and machine embroidery and my friend did the ones with these tiny delicate bees, I came away with two of her cards. 

Daughter and I then found a very busy teashop, which is always a good sign, and we were lucky to get a table in their tiny suntrap courtyard and had a yummy lunch. 

We had a walk around and lingered a while at the pretty Waterfront. 

We had our usual Wednesday night out and Thursday night friendM and I had another meal out with friendHM and friendJB, we don't see these two very often but always try to celebrate together when one of us has a birthday. 

The odd thing that night was on a table very near to us I thought I recognised the young chap but couldn't think where I knew him from. It also felt like he kept looking at me, but of course I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't kept looking at him. 

Friday morning got some good news, the new car we had ordered last August and should have received in February is finally here at the Ipswich dealer's and we can pick it up Tuesday! 

Lunch time Friday, in heavy rain, we drove into town as I had an appointment at Specsavers Hearing Clinic to have their micro suction wax removal. Thankfully not painful just noisy and some odd feelings. Immediately my tinnitus seemed a lot louder but that settled down. Not sure my hearing has improved though because during the evening when Hubby was talking about Christmas gingerbread houses I really thought he'd said gingerbread trousers! 

Gosh 1st June but twice this week we've needed the heating on.

I hope you can stay warm and dry this weekend.

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Fun and a Little Frustration.......

 
Dog sitting started Saturday off, while Daughter and O took the train to Norwich so O could attend a college workshop for their open day, as he's thinking this might be his next move from home education. 

Saturday evening we drove into Essex and joined friendsN&T together with two friends of theirs to make our team for the WI fundraiser quiz night. At the half way break our team were in the lead (think there were 12 or 14 teams). FriendN had made all the ploughman's suppers which was good. We had a good second half to the quiz but ultimately was overtaken by just two points at the end so finished a very respectable second place. 

On Sunday I had been invited to a surprise baby shower. The baby is now actually three months old but it had been a difficult pregnancy, with a very premature and complicated birth. So the baby's mum's best friends left it till now. The surprise went really well, the weather was perfect, the two main organisers had decorated up and organised games. It was a lovely afternoon. 

We got up Tuesday morning and found two areas of the garden covered in feather carnage, guess the sparrowhawk had hunted a good breakfast. I know it's what they do but I was glad not to have been up early enough to have witnessed it this time.  

Hubby had done lots of gardening whenever it stopped raining and needed a run to the tip on Wednesday with a full car. He'd also helped Daughter on Thursday do a lot of garden clearing, including breaking down R and E's 20 year old garden playhouse which was now beyond repair, so did a second tip run with a full car. Think Daughter has enough for another tip run! 

Gotta have a little grumble too as my doctor's surgery is letting me down, which I have to say has been unusual. I phoned Monday of last week, in the afternoon as the lines wouldn't be so busy and my problem wasn't urgent. I was told they are now a day surgery and I must call back at 8am. Wednesday calling at 8am after being in a long queue for about 40mins I got through and told reception that I wasn't urgent but complex and explained why, and it had to be dealt with by a doctor. Late that day the surgery pharmacist called me. She discussed it all and made suggestions but needed to run it by a doctor before adjusting my meds and prescribing. She rang on Thursday, told me the doctor's suggestion and I agreed..... then she noticed that the new drug wouldn't suit with one of my other drugs, so she needed to go back to the doctor. By this Tuesday afternoon I'd not heard back so Daughter suggested I should fill in the econsult form on the NHS app (not used that before). Wednesday morning a call again from the pharmacist who said the doctor hadn't realised what else I was on.... HADN'T REALISED! I was horrified and told her so. She has now requested I'm given an appointment with a doctor, but it's now Friday and I've heard nothing! 

Sorry to offload but this is my diary so you get my moans as well, but as you know my life is mostly good which I'm always happy to report on. 

Enjoy your Bank Holiday weekend.

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It Needed Watering..........

 
We are checking the new(ish) rose bed daily as more and more buds are opening up. The plants are all looking strong and healthy, great eh? 

Hubby needed to clear the excess plant from the pond. He always leaves heaps of wet stuff on the side so hidden frogs and insects can escape before it goes into the compost bin. Unfortunately the netting has a large hole in it now, so another job on his to-do list. 

Saturday afternoon-evening we were dog sitting. Fortunately the day before I asked Son what time he was coming and he'd forgotten all about it. They have tickets for Twelfth Night performed in Regent's Park open air theatre and a speedy rearrange meant their tickets weren't wasted. 

Monday another hot and sunny coffee morning outside. 

Our evening was meeting friendsL&K and friendsL&M for dinner in Chelmsford (sort of half way between us). The pub had their quiz night going which thankfully wasn't too loud to spoil our conversation but unfortunately just loud enough to hear bits of questions which were distracting hahaha.

Tuesday lunchtime the xBT team from work met in our favourite pub. Just three team members this time (we were only five but L died almost a year ago and R was unwell) B and I brought our spouses so a table of five and lots to chat about.  

Thursday and the second day of almost constant rain. I didn't bother getting dressed till nearly lunchtime and while up there managed a token bit of ironing, but really it's a good day for reading a book. This was passed on to me quite a while ago

Interesting but it's slow going as it's printed in a tiny font. I'm on page 206 of 307 so a few more rainy days will help. 

And then the sun came out and Hubby is already mowing and bagging what won't fit in the compost bins to take to the tip. 

I'd better show some action too, so I'll sign off for now.

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Helping When We Can.........

 We never plan to do too much on a bank holiday weekend as often the traffic is really bad, the venue is crowded and the weather can be bad too. So we were around for Doggy Day Care, Friday into the evening, Saturday morning and Monday afternoon while Daughter and O are being Tudors, R had her theatre group performing for the first time (I read a great review) and M was teaching. 

Hubby watched the Ipswich Town v Huddersfield football game. The Ipswich win gave them promotion to the Premier League and after waiting 20+ years the crowd went wild, in fact Ipswich wildly celebrated all weekend. 

Sunday morning Son called in, we haven't seen him since our holiday. While we were chatting I asked how his fitness and sponsorship were going for the Scafell Pike charity hike he's about to do (less than three weeks time), he said the fund could do with another push so I posted it again on my Facebook page and two of my friends donated, which was so kind of them. Jake, the founder, is fiancé's nephew. 

Monday morning we had coffee morning in the garden for the first time this year. It was warm enough most of the time, chilly a little of the time and trying to rain a couple of times. It was nice though not to be so many in our dining room as it gets so noisy. It did rain for some of the afternoon so we definitely were lucky. 

NeighbourA brought over her husband's jumper that he had splashed with bleach to ask if there was a way I could repair it. I do have fabric paints but told her they didn't seem to do well over bleach. She said she'd try to sew over the stains with a dark grey thread. 

Tuesday morning I pulled out all my old kit to see what I still had. You might think it odd that I needed to check but I had been a Tri-Chem sales demonstrator/teacher in 1983! It was run as party plan so I worked evenings after Hubby got home from work. I did really well and during my four years with them I rose to their second level manager and recruited quite a few into my team. As a craft person I was doing a job I really enjoyed. 

I popped over to friendA's who had already tried stitching it all but as that wasn't successful I said I'd give it a go. 

It took me quite a while to unpick her tiny tiny stitches. As well as embroidery scissors and tweezers I needed to double up my specs and use the magnifying stand with the spot light on. I managed to get the tips out of old paint tubes (they should work like ball point pens but don't anymore)  and had to mix two to get a reasonable colour match. 

I'm quite pleased with the result. Now it will be a wait and see how it survives being washed. 

I hope you've had the really good weather we have had as the rest of our week had been a lot of garden, Hubby gardening (needing two tip runs) and me mostly wandering round, fish watching by the pond, and generally relaxing.

Strawberries and cream anyone?

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Stupid Blip Amongst The Good.......

 
It was only last week we called out the British Gas engineer as the water wasn't heating up. He fixed it by replacing a worn out part (Hubby did tell me details but I can't remember what) he was at the boiler, up in the loft and in the airing cupboard and while he was here he did a service on the boiler as that will be due soon anyway. This Sunday morning I found my box of pills, which sit under the boiler and thankfully in a sealed plastic box, had a huge puddle in the lid. Hubby called British Gas and an engineer came the same morning. It turned out to be a small pipe that needed replacing and not caused by the previous engineer just coincidence. 

Lovely sunny Wednesday and Hubby took advantage by cutting back the hedge. Nice weather also brings out neighbours to chat. 

I had a lunch date with friendM and we never run out of conversation. 

Local election day Thursday. Not an easy decision this year. We always try to agree so Hubby and I vote the same, otherwise I feel we just cancel each other out so no point even going. 

Arrgghhhh I've lost count of the times I've said "if it looks too good to be true then it probably is" however I stupidly got caught without doing all my usual checks. It was an ad on Facebook that looked like it genuinely came from amazon and it was only £2 so if it turned out to be rubbish I haven't lost much. After doing all the order form and placing the order it told me a different name would appear on my statement. Amazon sell for all sorts of companies so I wasn't immediately suspicious but a bit later I was curious so went to Google....... it was definitely a scam, I'd get no product at all and they have my credit card details! Stupid! I've now cancelled my card and waiting for a new card to arrive (which was also a long story I won't bore you with).

Friday evening (while Hubby was home dog sitting) friendKK and I went to our local John Mills theatre. 

When we arrived there was an Irish band playing in the bar and we were told there will be a Ceili/Ceilidh after the play. 

The play was brilliant, two actors that worked so hard to bring so many characters to life for us. Humour and sadness together. 

And afterwards friendKK danced getting overheated with a roll neck jumper on and clomping a bit in her riding boots. I found watching very entertaining.