Jabba Jabba........

 
Our Saturday started with our booked flu jabs. We normally refuse them as we have both felt very unwell with them in the past, Hubby's last one was about 10 years ago and mine about 40 years ago! However, this year it's different of course and there's very reasonable pros and cons that were worth considering, the main ones were....

- If I'm not going anywhere or seeing anyone I'm far less likely to come into contact with flu so I don't need it! 

- If I do get a winter illness I'll know it's not what I've been vaccinated against so I do need it! 

Our main surgery in the town centre (we normally use the local annex) is set up for the whole day just for this and it's very efficient and well managed to keep everyone safe and moving through quickly. We went in to one clinician as a couple and I got the pneumonia jab too. 

The morning after report is my flu arm feels a bit bruised, my pneumonia arm is fine, but Hubby said he had a very restless achy night and felt yuk all day Sunday. 

By Sunday evening both my arms were quite painful, thankfully no other aches but I couldn't sleep on either side so my turn for a restless night but Hubby slept well. Monday morning apart from feeling a little sore at the actual injection point Hubby is back to normal, both my arms still hurt. Wednesday night I could finally sleep on my side comfortably. 

Winter TV schedules now giving us a bit more variety and good to have some favourites back like 

So impressed how they are managing covid 

restrictions and can still produce programmes. 

Hubby has picked up his advance motorbike rider course again after the instructor took a covid pause. Hubby isn't too bothered about the qualification but as a bloodrunner he should have it and is quite enjoying the experience. 

Just as I was thinking that was all the uninteresting news of the week, last night that changed. Sitting relaxing with TV on, just before 9pm there was a huge bang, definitely at the front of the house, much louder than a bird hitting the window, and we both jumped out of our skins! 

Hubby tentatively checked around the house, putting outside lights on and looking through curtains then eventually brave enough to open the front door, nothing! 

We have cctv so brought up the cameras on our phones and after a lot of scrolling back and forth discovered this.....

That cat is walking in front of the camera sited by our bedroom window, so he must have jumped from the fence between us and next door and landed on the roof across our front door and bay windows, hollow roof so hence the bang! It obviously did make me physically jump as I've broken a spring under my seat 😒

Till next week then, stay safe. 

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Beautiful Autumn........

 
My favourite season. I like getting back into jumpers, thick socks, wrapping in scarves, heating on and comfort foods and of course all the beautiful colours of nature. So far in our garden it's mainly the pyracantha or fire thorn full of berries ready to feed the birds. We've four of them around the garden so they won't go hungry. This photo was zoomed right in because I'm not going out there while it's raining so hard and I can't see the others from the house. 

Monday we managed our on-your-own-drive coffee morning, all wrapped up warm then melting a bit each time the sun came out. 

It was the same on Tuesday when Daughter, R and the dog came over but less sun so it was only a one cuppa visit while shivering outside.

Wednesday FriendsT&F came for a garden tea/ cake/ chat and it was lovely, we last saw them early March although we do use messenger often. It wasn't warm! 

Our garden is large and open and sweeps around the house at the top of a hill, so it's always a case of deciding which way the wind is blowing and move the table and chairs to a place for shelter or shade accordingly. 

Lucky they came when they did as Thursday was raining again! 

This week our Son turned 40. Sad we couldn't celebrate it with him on the day but with most things this year it's postponed until we can. 

All grown up now but still so cute 😍 

Seems a short one but if I've nothing else to report I'll not bore you any longer! Stay safe.

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Just Another Week......

 

Hubby was quite excited as he had his first fundraiser for SERVSC this year. 

They would have normally set up taking as much space as they can. Coming forward with the big bikes and mini motos for children to sit on. The tombola always a good attraction and lots of volunteers ready to talk to the public and hopefully collect lots in the buckets. 

This time it was one small gazebo with back and side on to discourage people wandering in, no tombola and no mini motos and the front roped to the banner..... so they had their space for just three of them. A few people stopped to chat and a little money made it into the bucket so it proved worthwhile. 

Fortunately it wasn't too cold or wet for them standing around outside for hours which I thought it might be as I had the heating on at home. 

30th September is the anniversary of moving into this house 37 years ago with our two little ones just three and four years old. No drastic changes apart from adding an extension and the two huge trees that made me fall in love with the place have both gone, and I still love our forever family home! 

A lovely gift from Daughter arrived, a table top outside electric heater.  So now as the weather is getting colder at a time when we may want to start inviting friends for a socially distant garden cuppa we can without freezing. Thankfully Daughter was actually here when it arrived or we wouldn't have known who had ordered it. So so thoughtful 💕 

Then October sneaked up on us! 

Just four of us for Jay's Virtual Quiz this Thursday evening and we got our best score of 47 out of 50!

Two holidays cancelled sadly (not totally covid related), weather dreadful, virus gaining pace for this second wave, and nowhere else we need to be, so we're happy staying home warm and dry. 

Stay safe everyone.

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Needs a Catchy Title.......

 

Do you find naming each post the hardest bit? I do. Sometimes as I add bits and pieces to the content I change the title, maybe more than once hahaha. And today (Tuesday) is the six month mark of when national lockdown had to start and now the second wave is increasing enough to have much stronger restrictions reintroduced just as schools/ jobs/ pubs/ restaurants/ etc were moving forward. I'll not change the title to counting weeks again! 

Last year I made quince jelly as I'd found a bush in my garden I didn't know existed, this year we seem to have three bushes in three very different parts of the garden (if it's birds or hedgehogs leaving gifts thank you) but this year no jelly as this is the sum total of fruit and they are all tiny. Smell nice just sitting in this dish though. 

Hubby was ready to drastically reduce this flowering cherry tree down again (happens every two or three years) and Son offered to help.........I have a whole family who love climbing trees! 

Lots of shredding, some long straight branches saved as plant supports and thicker branches chopped for Son's chiminea, and the job was done. 

I've also wasted spent quite some time watching a massive neighbour's tree being reduced to fill the back of a trailer. (Oops that's a massive tree not a massive neighbour).

Our lawn (bit cheeky even calling it lawn) is in a dreadful state at the moment with big barren patches of hard dry ground. 

And if you zoom in on this patch you'll see it's swarming with hundreds of tiny bees! 

And the whole week has included a game of people juggling with us two and Daughter's five, to cope with two needing the test and one pre-op isolating and two staying away till there were negative results. How lucky we are to have the facilities to allow us to keep everyone safe and stay within government restrictions at all times. 

With jumpers on and the heating too I'm happy inside watching Hubby and a neighbour replacing some fence panels in the wind and rain (no I'm not going out there to take a photo).

Hands - face - space and keep yourselves safe.

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And The Next Thrilling Instalment........

 

.....is much the same as all the recent weeks hahaha. 

Sunday was lovely weather and when Son, Daughter and R came over we had lunch outside. Later M and O came over as O had built a rocket so they wanted to launch it in our garden with an audience. It was very successful but they stopped after the fourth time when it came down in a neighbours garden onto their conservatory roof. Phew no damage done and the neighbour didn't seem cross. Oops!

We watched The Good Liar and both enjoyed it with so many twists to the tale and the good acting we expect from these legendary actors. 

Lunch today (Wednesday) was a beautifully crispy toasted cheese sandwich. You may remember the mini saga of the broken sandwich toaster, well yesterday I finally got a reply from Russell Hobbs to say as it's within the six months it's the retailers responsibility and to quote their reference number to prove that I've spoken to them. So off we went to Argos with the sandwich toaster and removable plates in a makeshift box together with all the long conversations about it printed out as proof........ and they replaced it without question! So of course once home I washed it and tested it out and working just fine. 

With all the lockdown gardening Hubby has been doing he's gone through the knees of all his scruffy jeans and has even relegated a semi-decent pair to scruffy status. So I've done some patching and tried three different methods. In the middle l used fabric glue (which feels a bit stiff), on the right l unpicked the side seams and machined with a stretchy zigzag stitch then had to machine the side seams twice as don't have any strong thread and finally on the left is the very slow hand sewing which is still in progress! 

Plus there was all the usual...... outside coffee morning with the neighbours, shopping by click-and-collect, quiz night, Daughter with R and dog coming over for garden cuppas etc. 

And now it's Jewish New Year, so here's wishing you all happier, healthier, safer, sweeter times ahead. Shana Tova!

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A New Adventure........

 

Oh my, I've a Granddaughter old enough to have now gone off to University! I'd asked Daughter a few times what we could get E, was there anything she needed and Daughter had said E was choosing all she needed and they had it sorted. Then at the last minute Daughter said jokingly/sarcastically that she'd probably love a blanket that grandma had knitted specially for her for when she was feeling homesick, then she laughed and said "you've got a whole week"!

Well of course if I'm challenged like that I just had to, didn't I? 

So with very chunky wool and big needles my little fingers steamed for a few days. Because I'd knitted on the diagonal it wasn't until I'd cast off that I discovered what an odd shape I'd ended up with. 

Too much work to undo and no time to do it again so decided to turn it into a poncho. 

Made a cord to lace the front with. 

Made a cushion cover for it, so it can be useful on her bed when it's not being worn. 

And thankfully she loves it, phew!

It won't be quite the free and easy teenage/ young adult adventure of previous uni freshers week with the Covid restrictions etc but I'm sure she'll have a great time. 

Yaay I've just had my nails done for the first time in six months! Instead of having my lovely nails lady come to my house as she'd always done, I went to her's as she has a professionally covid-safe setup with screens and extractors etc so seemed more sensible. 

Daughter and E drove north on Tuesday and stayed with friends overnight and E moved into her uni home on Wednesday. So R and the dog stayed here overnight for company. Another first for us in six months. Tilly never has a problem making herself at home. 

Another quick trip to the garden centre. 

The lemon tree is a gift for a really thoughtful and generous lady. I never know what to get her and Son happened to mention, just in casual conversation, that she'd bought a lemon tree for a friend and later had wished she'd bought one for herself. I didn't even think about getting one for us as anything that needs special care dies here. 

So remember "Hands- Face- Space" as the new slogan goes and let's hope this latest spike can be controlled.

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And What Happened Next.....

 

There's been more discussion with friendM about our October holiday in Spain. Originally three couples going again to friendM's apartment in April so bargain flights booked with Easyjet, then lockdown had us transfer the flights to October (had to pay a bit extra) and now Easyjet have stopped flying from Southend and Stansted so friendM has applied for a refund. She will book flights with Ryanair but I've suggested we wait till nearer the time. FriendsT&F have cancelled completely as they don't feel safe travelling anywhere yet and although friendM has holidayed there in July on her own and again in August with her partnerP and feels safe enough I'm still a little undecided as we watch the COVID numbers rising in parts of Spain! This needs closer monitoring and serious thinking about. 

A downward change in the weather, cold, wet and windy. Of course the new plants are enjoying the wet. Son visited Saturday morning and Daughter and R came over Saturday afternoon and both times we had to sit inside. Thankfully our dining room is big enough for us to sit more than far enough apart. Our heating even went on for a brief "take the chill off" hour! 

And actually there was nothing else worth writing about this week, it's all been the usual plodding along. Weather watching for getting bits of gardening done and pegging out washing and I've had a bit of a project to get done quickly which I'll tell you about next week. 

So for now I'll show you the new plants all looking quite happy planted out. 
Fingers crossed they fill out the spaces. 

And some round the pond paving to fill the gaps. Strange photo makes the water look like shiny black treacle 🤣

Plus there's more grass seed down and covered to try to help our horrid patchy lawn.

Till next week then TTFN.

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Life Goes On.......

 

After so many regular weekly updates, needing to acknowledge our lockdown, I'm not sure life getting back to whatever is going to be the new normal, but staying very careful, is going to have enough variety or excitement to write special posts or should I keep doing the same sort of snippet updates....... we'll see. 

I'm usually a very tolerant person but if something is wrong I'm not reluctant to point it out. For the first time in absolute ages I've had to complain, and amazingly I've had to complain about three different things in the space of a few days! 

• In April I'd bought a 3in1 sandwich toaster from Argos which is now not working. I hate phoning help desks as there's no conversation record and so many people online saying they couldn't get through, so I sent an email to the only email address I could find and that bounced with an auto reply saying how very busy they are and to ring the help desk but be patient as that's busy too. Next step was going through their Facebook page to send a private message. I stated the problem and attached a screen shot of my first email with all the details on. I received two auto responses telling how very busy they are. Eventually I get a reply from "Simon" who asked "How can I help you?" I replied with "All the details are there above" apparently my screenshot was too small and unclear,  guess he didn't know that you have to click on a thumbnail to open it doh! So I repeated all the details again. Simon told me I have to contact the maker's help desk and gave me the number grrrrr. After a lot of searching I found the Russell Hobbs product support email address and sent on my problem. Of course I got an auto response to tell me they are extremely busy and thank you for my patience! 
• Amazon order of 24 cans and nine of them are dented. I immediately went into my Amazon account and informed them. I also said I'm happy to keep them as none of the contents appear to be compromised but wanted them to know. I've just been back into my account to see if there was a reply and there isn't, in fact I can't even see my original online form to them? 
• A follow on complaint to my GP surgery was needed, this time in writing to The Practise Manager. I have been taking, as prescribed, Adcal vitamin D supplements daily since 2007, that’s 13 years! Following blood tests at least four times that I can remember I've been sent a standard letter saying I've shown a vitamin D insufficiency and a list of what supplements I should buy over the counter. Because I'm already medicated for this I've phoned the surgery each time and been passed to nurses, doctors and even a pharmacist and each time after all these various calls I've been told to ignore the letter and not increase my dose. After my latest blood tests a doctor phoned me to discuss all the results and to add some medication and during that call we discussed my vitamin D level and she said what I'm already taking is enough as its just borderline.......... then I receive their standard letter in the post AGAIN! Thankfully I'm fully aware of my own medical history and needs so consider this an admin procedure that needs looking into. We have an online system where I can view my records and order repeat prescriptions but the messages facility has been deactivated. There isn't an email address available for patients to use so determined to have a written record of this I've had to type up a letter, print it and stamp it and Hubby then walked it to the letter box! It's 2020!

Now I need to find something cheerful to tell you about as I don't like the grumbling me. 

Well I didn't have to wait long as this was delivered by the postman with the note from my lovely friendLE who sent them from her family as a get well gift. Yummy

New series we've started watching is Emergence. A gripping story line that's quite different. 

Our first going out today (Wednesday) that wasn't medical appointment related. My quarantine ended Sunday and Monday was our usual neighbours coffee morning outside and Daughter was supposed to be bringing my car back in the afternoon, but it wouldn't start so Hubby had to go there and managed to get it home. Tuesday was a horrid wet and windy day so that's why it was today. Quick stop at the post office then to our small local garden centre that is never too busy and all outside so felt totally safe...... safe enough to spend lots 🤣😉

Despite all the education and exam result fiasco this year, E got her Art final result with distinction and secured her place at Manchester Uni. She moves up the in a couple of weeks. Proud Grandma! 

Daughter, R, O and the dog came over Thursday afternoon and Daughter spent the whole time peeling, coring, chopping out the rotten or bug filled bits of all the apples off the tree, as I really couldn't manage them this year, so there's now lots in the freezer. Another photo opportunity missed though as O is back into his magic card tricks which I had to stay involved with. 

And that's about it for another week.

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Last of my shielding, hopefully (week 2 of 2).........

 Saturday 15th August

And on our screen this week........

I enjoyed the next one but Hubby found it very slow

This one is just for me and it's just four episodes based on a real life story

Unorthodox

We've had our solar panels about seven years now and very quickly doves took to nesting under them, as they had to all the others around us and beyond according to all the local fb pages. We didn't mind the noise they made or the usual flurry of white feathers constantly floating past the windows. We learned to live together. Gradually the houses nearby started adding measures to evict and block further nesting under their panels..... so more and more birds now happily and prolifically reproducing had fewer panels to colonise. Our roof got busier and they were definitely more of a nuisance. When any perched on the satellite dish our signal was interrupted. Guttering and downpipes were getting blocked and overflowing by their waste etc. 

This week we had our panels blocked, although I felt bad making those beautiful birds homeless. Hubby took before and after photos but typically he went out when most of the birds had flown away. 

Daughter and O had done some paid filming work, in period costume, quite a long time ago and she suddenly let us know it's on TV now. She's in a field this week as her Tudor self so won't get to see it until she's home, so we are recording it. It's a narrated historical documentary and O was the young Henry with Daughter in support in a group scene and as one of his nurses. 

 Henry VIII and the King's Men

Very proud grandma😊

More disruption on our forward planning as another pandemic economic casualty caused Easyjet to shutdown their Southend and Stansted Airport side of the business. Our April flights had already been transferred to October. This was our usual Six-to-Spain holiday and it was nice to have it to look forward to. One couple are still too nervous to even consider travelling again yet so they've cancelled. FriendM has put in the refund request and we can hopefully get Ryanair flights to replace them. 

 Get well sunflowers from my lovely coffee morning neighbours

We still played the Thursday night Virtual Pub Quiz even though most of the family are away. R was home alone and set up the zoom room Hubby and I set up here as usual. R had also invited her US friend to join us. We all watched the quiz on YouTube, the three of us on zoom and the girls messaged answers back and forth (R types really fast) and it all worked really well. Our 37 out of 50 score was no disgrace. 

And today after 154 days (22 weeks spanning six months) of only leaving home five times for medical appointments, my shielding/ self isolation/ quarantine or whatever they are calling it this week, ends. So as soon as I feel mobile enough, as I'm only 15 days post-op, we'll be thinking about getting out and seeing what the new-normal world looks like.

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Last of my Shielding, hopefully (week 1 of 2).......

 

Saturday 8th August

Major surgery Friday 7th and sent home Saturday, very quick eh? The ward was unbearably hot so really pleased to get in the car with air con. Hubby is taking really good care of me as always. Two weeks further shielding but in this heat I'm not moving far from this fan. 

Forgot to mention last week that I'd made a bean bag tablet stand to sit on my lap, which is ideal now when I keep nodding off. 

Surfing through Amazon Prime we came across this Gourmet Detective which looks like our sort of joint thing to watch. Light but with a story. It's not a series but a collection of films, each about 80mins long. We enjoyed the first one with plenty of humour. 

Grrrr I thought I was getting the hang of this new blogger editing, but this one will just not behave! Every time I open this page it gives it to me in raw HTML and I have to change it to compose mode. Now after adding in the first pic it decided all the text would be centred and refuses to let me left align it again. I'm not in the mood just now to do anything about it. 

Sunday and Monday I felt I was making gradual progress, but Tuesday was a really yukky day for me. Tuesday was also my birthday. Lovely getting so many cards in the post, and some special ones ordered online from those family members not venturing into shops yet. There were phone calls emails and more messages of good wishes on social media than I could count. 

Plus three deliveries of flowers.

These from friendHM which fit nicely in the vase she bought me last Christmas. 

These from friendM and they came with chocolates. 

Took three of my large vases! 

And my favourite are from Daughter&co who not only chose beautiful flowers but managed to find some that come already in a jug..... she knows me so well 😍

Another film recommended to us by our Son.

A good old fashioned who-done-it 🙂

The rest of my week has been feeling battered and bruised and really suffering with the heatwave. Hubby waiting on my every need. But I am making progress and better than doing too much too soon and this weekend will be cooler...... we knew it would as soon as we ordered another cooling unit which arrived Friday hahaha. 

Take good care of yourselves.

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