Good Morning Saturday 28th January 2023

@ WhitewaveMark2
It was indeed 4 German women artists, Paula Modersohn-Becker, Käthe Kollwitz, Gabriele Münter and Marianne Werefkin but for me the highlight was the wonderful Käthe Kollwitz and her tender but often tragic images of mothers and their children.
I was moved beyond belief by her Pietà in the Neue Wache in Berlin when I first saw it years ago and felt secretly yesterday that she should have had a whole exhibition to herself.
This is one beautiful depiction of a mother and her very tiny baby

Good morning everyone from a dull and grey Northampton, set to remain so all day; 2° outside at the moment.

Off to the vet this morning with the cats for their annual check-up and boosters; they are usually very good, but during lockdown when only the cats (without me) were allowed in the surgery they were very naughty and difficult.

Back in those dark days the cats had to be left in their carriers in the porch at the vets, then they would be taken in and examined while I waited in the car. The vet would then phone my mobile to let me know the results of the examination once completed; the cats were then put outside in the porch to be collected by me. What a palaver it was!
DD-out-law is kindly taking us, and we are dropping DGD off at her dance school first.

After lunch I shall settle down to an afternoon of rugby on tv; it is the Midlands derby, and we are playing our arch-rivals Leicester Tigers, an away game for us. I shall probably watch from behind the sofa, as we are not playing well at the moment!

I too bought daffodils yesterday, love watching them gradually open.

Wishing all a good weekend.

Yes, I have all the necessary guarantees re. subsidence.
I also have the 3 years of monitoring reports, the original acceptance that the cracks were due to subsidence, and everything inbetween. I have handed it all to the agent.
Yes, I prefer to let the agent handle everything - that's what I pay him for! Having said that, the whole staff is very pleasant indeed and helpful too. (Bribing them with my delicious cupcakes helps too! )

Good morning from an overcast S Hampshire, it’s 0.
A palaver of a day yesterday getting Mr J to see a GP, mission accomplished at 6pm, good job too or it would’ve been an urgent operation today.
So a quiet day is planned, I’ll get my weekly newspaper and we’ll catchup on some missed TV.
Enjoy your trips out, family gatherings and visitors. Maybe you could go home a day early Grandmadinosaur? We’ve done that before.
Have your best day 🦩🦩

Good morning from Durham. Grey and wet yet again here, and still no end to the dark mornings. Must fly out to Tesco, as DD1 and family are coming this morning to help me fit 20 lightbulbs in the rental house and they will need refreshments. DD2 and DGS2 are coming this afternoon, so I need to buy enough treats! I am more than surprised at how little I spend on food since being on my own– although I guess I should factor in cafe coffees and the occasional sandwich, which often replace my evening meal.
Best wishes to all for the weekend. X

Good morning from a dull 0 degree Oxfordshire, let’s hope the sun shines today. I might do some crafting today.
Wishing safe travel to those who are out and about and hugs for those who aren’t feeling so good today.

Good morning from a brightening sky in Essex by the sea.
A lazy day for us, it's our 4th wedding anniversary. We are out this evening for a meal and a glass of something fizzy.
Have a lovely Saturday everyone xx

Good morning from a less chilly Suffolk I hope. An easy day pottering and reading the papers and our weekly Waitrose order this afternoon. I’ve only skimmed through your posts but noticed mention of Paul Jones of Manfred Mann in NanKate’s. When we lived in Stoke Newington in the late70s/ early 80s he was a neighbour of ours. He had a bright green Renault 4 much admired by us and often used to play football in the street with the local young boys( I don’t remember any girls joining in).

He was a friendly unassuming person. I hope the concert is great.

Morning from a fairly bright S Yorks.

it does sound promising this morning, GMattie bests there, (I'd still use a traditional Esate Agent too!) and Maw wow I’d love to have been there - love those artists! I used to whizz down to London way back when doing a Fine Art BA course frequently but find London All A Bit Too Much now. One of those “wish I had a magic carpet” jobs. Whisk there - enjoy - whisk back.

Not a good night but must heave ho and go to the gym, yesterday was a lounge around.

Good morning all from a wet Glasgow, where its currently 2°C.

An episode of dizziness and nausea at 4am and Mr MD hogging the covers has left me totally wiped out. A morning in bed is the plan.

We are quite stressed after DH went to read our outside gas meter. He opened the box to find a new smart meter, we were totally unaware of being installed! 🤬
After checking the usage, according to the meter, we have used 10x more than our average winter readings. We are talking thousands and thousands of pounds here. This is despite actually being very canny and cutting down.
Trying to persuade Scottish Gas that we have a problem, is not going to be easy!

Mick I too love butter mints, but the are not advisable when you have crowns! Does anyone remember Spangles sweets? I loved the buttermint variety.

Ciao buongiorno to nonnadiana, do you have Italian connections or just liked the name?

Usually I have daffs on the windowsill in my yellow themed kitchen, but yesterday Mr MD arrived home with white, tinged with pink and also red tulips. They were beautiful. I also received a box of 10 creme eggs. Do not ask how many are left. DD spotted them. Grrrrr!
I suspect the gifts made up for the fact that DH brought home 495g of lamb mince, instead of the 750g of steak mince, I WROTE on the shopping list!
What's the problem? he asked.

My sassenach pal, *Kate, its nice to see you posting, enjoy your concert.

Have a good day, folks!

Good morning all from Polmont where it's currently 5° with clear skies. Yesterday I got food in and prepared for a quiet day, however dd asked if I would look after dgs2 as she was taking dgs1 to taekwondo and sil was at the dentist. I was round there like a shot! "It'll be easy," they said. "He's just gone down for a nap," they said. Two minutes out the door and dgs2 was up and ready to play. He was such a wee cutie yesterday. Then dd brought me a Big Mac as a thank you. That disappeared quickly. I never have fast food now and I haven't had one for years,so it was by way of a treat. She sent me a message when I got home to say dgs2 has taken his first unaided steps so a red letter day.
Today I'm off to Glasgow to The Beatson to visit my poorly friend. A mutual friend kindly offered to drive. I should have been going out for breakfast too, but that friend cancelled again as her back is still playing up. I'll leave it til she's more comfortable moving around. I'm having a pizza for dinner. I bought pizza cheese bread and I'll add mushrooms and peppers. I'll change the spare room bedding before I go. I should have done it last week but it was forgotten about. Have a good day all.

GB, safe journey! If you haven't been before, the parking at the Beatson is horrendous.
Some of my appointments are at Gartnavel hospital, which is in the same grounds, so if we are stuck, we park in the Pond Hotel for £2 per hour.

Good morning from a cloudy W Kent. Good luck with the prospective buyers gM and glad the Estate Agents are behaving. I remember seeing Paul Jones and Manfred Mann in a club in Oxford Street, London in the early sixties I was 15/16 my then short-lived boyfriend 18 we danced the night away (well some of it, fathers were very strict then). Hope you feel a bit better as the day goes on Marydoll and yes I do remember Spangles.
Not sure what today will bring, possible visit from a GD but nothing fixed. Curry tonight.
All the best

Happy anniversary Sar, enjoy your celebration.

Good morning from dry but dull N. Bucks.
Have had a busy week with clubs, crafting, committee meetings and a hospital appointment . Confirmed that my right hip needs replacing. When? I don’t know but I will be trying to loose a stone or two beforehand.
Today we have to do a food shop. Make some pea and mint soup for lunch . Later we are of to do some babysitting.
Dd3 and SIL exchanged on their house this week and will be moving on Friday so another busy week to come with helping them and other commitments.

Wishing all a good weekend especially those who are or have been under par.

Here’s Matt.

Good morning everyone from south Manchester where it’s dry and seems mild. We plan to pop into the party venue at some point for an hour to see L’il Miss with her friends. Other than that, we have no plans which is nice really.

Himself will be watching Man. Utd -v- Reading tonight. I’ve caught up on Happy Valley so, like everybody, I’ll have to wait till 9pm tomorrow for my next fix.

I’m delighted to be back on track with my weight loss regime, especially as I see the nurse at the GP practice on Monday. I was 15sts 11lbs and this morning I’m 14sts 6lbs. I’m going to buy that half bottle of Moët from Sainsbury’s later, woohoo! Next half bottle when I’m 14sts which hopefully will be before Easter. I won’t need to buy new dresses his summer, I’m hoping to wriggle into one’s I haven’t worn since well before Covid.

Enjoy Saturday all who can. The newspapers are full of bad news. I swerve most of the articles these days and take pleasure in the small stuff of the day. Therein lies happiness. Especially as there’s nothing you can do about most of it.

Sar53 how time flies

Happy Anniversary 🥂🎉

Hi again.
Happy anniversary Sar enjoy your meal and fizz tonight. 🥂

Maw that picture is beautiful but also heartbreaking.

Nonnadiana 👋 welcome.,

Marydoll more stress for you with the smart meter hope you get somewhere with Scottish gas.
My son and his wife have had their next scan today and he sent a fantastic 3D clear pic of the baby’s face. 🌻

Good morning all from the Scottish Borders.
Dull but not too cold.
I picked a few snowdrops for amongst the table vases for our open house café.
Don't worry I have left plenty

Another Scots Night tonight. This is a fundraiser for the food bank.
So much poverty, so many cuts to services too.

Your day sounds fabulous Maw. I usually visit the Turner watercolours at the National Gallery of Scotland in January. Today's probably the last day so not this year.

Have a great day everyone.

Happy Anniversary Sar enjoy your celebratory meal 🥂
Well done Urms, slow and steady is the way to do it, you’ll enjoy every slurp of fizz.

Good morning everyone from an as JaxJacky said an overcast south Hants. JaxJacky I hope your DH is okay 🙏. It’s so hard getting a GP appointment these days - they are like gold dust here!
grandMattie I so hope your 2nd viewing goes well.
Our plans for today have changed as DH is still poorly so an easy day today in the hope that he’s better for our meal and catch-up with friends tomorrow.
Problems with my Mini - there’s an SOS system failure on it which meant that it kept calling the Mini emergency services every 30 seconds whilst driving!! You only get 5 seconds to cancel the call! So the drive to the garage was stressful to say the least! And you cannot disable it. Am keeping everything crossed it’s not going to be an expensive fix 🤞🤞. Ended up leaving it there and getting a taxi home.
Have the best day you can - thinking of those that are poorly 🦩🦩.
A hug 🤗 and 🌻 for you all x

Happy Anniversary Sar53 - enjoy your special day 🥳

Urms well done on your continued weight loss 👏👏x

Good morning all. It's dreich and miserable on the Angus coast today, but supposed to brighten up a bit later. I hope so! All that talk of daffodils today is very cheering though. As my garden will resemble Wordsworth's host in a couple of months' time I don't buy them ahead of that, but I do love them.
Stay warm and cosy today Mick.
I hope the second viewing goes well grandmattie - they certainly have all the information!
And hello and welcome to Nonnadiane - enjoy your little kitten.
As usual when I read through the thread before posting I forget who has said what, so I'm sorry for not mentioning everybody by name. That visit to Central London art galleries must have been fascinating and thank you for the photos. What talent!
Happy 4th anniversary to the Sars - enjoy the fizz. And glad the scaffolding is going up for the roofwork. Enjoy the SYO Brook.
It's a nothing day here but as usual I bask in the reflected glory of the achievements of grandchildren - Dancing GD has her unconditional acceptance for next year's Hons degree course and DGD3 ditto to one of the Colleges she applied to after her successful interview there the other day. She wants a career in something sports orientated - but hasn't decided exactly what yet.
So off I shall now go to do I'm not sure what - but I shall endeavour to enjoy it while looking forward to the Tai Chi Chinese New Year Banquet tomorrow evening.
Have a pleasant day everyone x

Marydoll, good luck with Scottish Gas. I had a smart meter installed recently but received an email last week asking for meter readings. After waiting for 50 minutes on the phone I gave up and started to ‘chat’ with ‘Donna’
I explained I could no longer access my meter due to ‘infirmity’ (it seemed easier than physical contortions)
Donna asked did I have a friend or relative that could do it for me. I replied ‘no’ that was why I got a smart meter🙃
Long gap when I thought perhaps she was calling the Samaritans for me, then a reply saying an engineer would come and read my meter but she couldn’t say when.
Fine, I checked my account and it was £50 in credit.
This morning I got an email saying I was £250 in debit but I couldn’t make any changes to my direct debit because it was due to be paid within the next couple of days. It isn’t.
The £250 figure may well be correct but I honestly have no idea what to do now and I don’t trust Scottish Gas’ figures at the moment.
They moved onto a new payment system a few months ago and it’s been hopeless ever since.
All of this is the electricity bill, the gas bill has not been mentioned and they have always come at the same time