Soop's Kitchen Extension

Happy birthday, anno! Here's a chocolate cake, with a nice candle on it! Let's help her celebrate!

Thanks for looking after me yesterday, folks. the sloe gin worked a treat, BTW. Didn't cure the knee but certainly helped me forget it! Cortisone injections tomorrow, and Ortho assessment coming up.

How about a wee dash of something in our coffee...?

HAPPY birthday dear Anno...if you like, you may sit on the chaise-longue bit of the sofa, [said in a Hyacinth Bucket/ Bouquet tone of voice]. Sorry, I don't know whether that's the correct spelling of her surname. We'll also make sure that someone peels a grape for you and we'll all quaff some and make a lot of noise blowing on those funny feathered whistle thingymebobs.

Liz I've made you a warming hot toddy. Put Rory's rug across your knees and relax for a while. Enjoy the birthday celebration. You are so right, some family situations can be extremely difficult. Extended families, given time, often find a way of encompassing new "members" and embracing new routines.

Agus that sounds like a bath from a fairy story. Wow! Such a treat!

Ariadne I'm sorry to hear that your knee is causing you so much discomfort. Our joints can give us jip when they reach a certain age. Since I had Scarlet Fever as a child, my right leg has always been very weak. Scoliosis of the spine and the weak, shorter leg have, over time, helped to wear away both hip joints. My right knee is arthritic and causes me to limp. All a bit bothersome.

JessM Thanks for the delicious Welsh bacon. There are few things more mouth-watering than the aroma of bacon sizzling in the pan. Gracesmum will make a fresh batch of butties.

mrshat keep up the good work. Don't forget to look after yourself. Take a wee break and enjoy a fresh ...

when the conversation 'twixt your grandchildren made me chuckle. Thanks for sharing.

Tegan and Grannylin We are sharing the uncertainty regarding our missing friend. I am finding it terribly difficult to concentrate on any one thing. I keep getting up, wandering around in circles, wondering what I'm trying to achieve...and returning to the forum. What's more, it is very grey and wet outside the window. We all need one of bags's group hugs.

Still not sure of what I should be doing. Want to be useful. Have lost the impetus. Spent yesterday searching for my hearing aid [all £4000 of it]. Emptied the kitchen bin and found it right of the bottom. Bin day, today. The men have taken the refuse. Had I not looked where I did, when I did, I would now be in a right royal panic. Oh dear! I think I shall empty the washing machine and sort out the ironing. There may be tennis on television. I need something to distract me.

Anno, happy birthday .

You know Soop the smaller lighter and less obtrusive these things get the easier it is to lose them. That must have been very worrying though.

Nellie the audiologist's parting words were..."don't lose this. It costs rather a lot of money..."

Please stay and have a cup of tea with me. I'm feeling low in spirit at the moment. I managed to sneak a few of bags's flapjacks away with me this morning. Shall we indulge before she notices --and comes barging through the door

Starting to get dark again and still no news.
Like you Soop I simply cannot settle to anything so the jobs list gets longer and longer.
Just had a pneumonia jab (can't have the flu one 'cos of egg allergy!) that and a bit of shopping is all I've accomplished today.
I want to see 'Philomena' but know I'll weep buckets, so embarrassing to walk out all red-eyed and snivelly (sp).
Shape up OGM shape up!!!!!

Happy Birthday anno, well what's left of the day! Dropped in for news and comfort and find folk still waiting, waiting ....................... So much needs doing and I have no heart for it. God willing, we will hear something soon. for anno and for everyone.

OGM lovely of you to call in. We can perhaps pep the tea up with a wee slurp of something special. Baileys? Maybe not. Best on its own.
Going to the community centre for the jab is a treat not to be missed by the local folk. It somehow turns into a mini party with lots of laughter.
Never mind getting the snivels...we're all feeling below par. (hug(

mrshat welcome, my dear. Come and keep the rest of us company on the sofa. Oodles of room. Darkness is closing in. The waiting is awful for us. How much worse for Greatnan's family.

Thanks Soop I can feel the hug coming across the airways!
Looking at your lovely sofa and thinking of Mr Soop's fan club.... might it be considered a 'casting couch' or is that too naughty...... see your hug HAS cheered me!!!!

I think that I shall toast a few crumpets. Comfort food! I fancy a Horlicks. Don't have any in the cupboard. But, hey ho, we can imagine.

OGM; Philomena has had rave reviews, and a film buff chum on one of my racing forums has said I HAVE to see it. Although it sounds sentimental, I think the film works on so many levels and with such a lot of humour that it is quite life affirming. Can't see it till next week, though as I'm doing the school run on Thursday and Friday and going to see Cirque du Soleil's 'Alegria' tomorrow. Didn't particularly want to see them again, feeling that seeing them once was the experience of a lifetime, but Alegria is a show I'd always wanted to see, and they're soon going to stop doing it. Somehow, at the moment, seeing the sun go down and feeling the nightime chill is gut wrenching.

OGM Mr soop remains all aglow. The ladies and their messages did him a power of good. I shall mention the 'casting couch' when he finds his way down from moving stuff in the loft. By which time, he'll probably be too tired for a session

Tegan I live in the sticks. What is Philomena about? There was a nun at the convent with the same name. She wasn't what I would call a sentimental person.

The nearest theatre is a three and a half journey away. We do have a wee cinema in Campbeltown. Also, from time to time, a travelling bus/cinema visits the outlying areas on the west coast of Scotland. Very cosy!

Just struggled out of a King size duvet cover which I was ironing; I feel all dishevelled but glad it's done. It looks so nice and tidy once it's on the bed. Could do with a cuppa and if there's a tiny slice of chocolate cake left, I could be persuaded......
I had my flu/pneumonia jab on Saturday and can hardly move the 'pneumonia' arm - it is sooo sore.
Like everyone else, my thoughts haven't strayed far from Carol, even when upended in the cover. Awful for us, but unbearable for her family. Think I'll light another candle tonight - I lit one this morning for John and put it beside Carol's.

It's about an Irish lady that had been forced to give up her baby for adoption but then sets out with the journalist Martin Sixsmith to find him. Philomena is what she calls herself, not wanting to use her real name. I don't remember this happening when it must have been in the news. No great fan of Steve Coogan and feel that Judi Dench just seems to be in everything these days but I think that, for once all the rave reviews will be justified. Really looking forward to it!

I had a classmate called Philomena. She's not one of the ones I kept in touch with, though one of the ones I still keep in touch with did, IYSWIM. Wonder what 'Philo' is doing now.

I suppose people remember you when you have a name like 'Philomena'.

Of course! How daft am I [no comment.] I do know what the film 'Philomena' is about. I read the review in the weekend supplement. It would break my heart to sit through such a film. A very close family member went through a similar experience a very long time ago.

Oh, Gally the thought of you enveloped inside the duvet cover made me grin.

bags there was also a nun called Aloysius [not sure of the spelling.] As a fresh-faced pupil being taught by nuns, I thought, these are good people. I'm sorry to say that I soon changed my mind. All a long time ago. I've grown up since.

My cousin went to St Philomena's Convent School, as did one of my best friends. The nuns were evil!

The rain is lashing against the window. Rory is asleep on his rug. I've fed the daughter cat and she's away into the forest. It's at times like this that I wish I could pour myself a wee dram. Only common sense tells me, that getting tiddly is not the answer.

kitty Had I been taught by anyone other than nuns, I may have decided to stay on at school and go to university. Only I didn't. I couldn't wait to get away from that dungeon of a school.

Gally hugs.

Will support our local independent cinema later this week, must keep them going, another huge multiplex has just opened a dozen miles away.

Relying on David Tennant for distraction this evening, might have a hot toddy to hand (anticipating a) being frightened out of my wits b) a sore arm!)

Luckily no experience of Nuns, none at my huge comprehensive. But the Head was sadistic!