Soop’s always open and very welcoming kitchen.

‘Evening All’.

A better day, thank you. Captain Tom was right indeed, thankfully.

A funny evening. We brought ‘date night’ forward this week. We both fancied a curry. Himself put on a nice shirt and some ‘Eau Savage” and we walked over to the pub ‘for one’. Nice. Then we went to our most regular curry house. ‘Closed on Tuesdays’. Aargh! Never mind. Walked round the corner to our next favourite. Lit up like Blackpool illuminations but not a soul in there. Erm, no thanks - a bit of atmosphere is good otherwise one might as well order a takeaway! Turned round, walked to the one on our main road … again, empty! Tuesdays early doors isn’t for us then, note to self!

So Himself dived into Sainsbury’s for chicken thighs and coleslaw while I came up in the lift to heat the oven and pour myself a glass of Whispering Angel. We are now sat waiting for our dinner to cook and have decided we will try again tomorrow after I get home from watching L’il Miss at her swimming lesson.

When we were sat in the pub we reminisced about when we first met. I said “oh weren’t we young? I was 17 and I’m 70 now!”. We sat holding hands (a right pair of softies aren’t we) and agreed we’ve been so very blessed in life with each other, our girls, our sons in law and our adorable grandchildren . And yet, it could have been a ‘sliding doors’ moment that night ….

I forgot Dixon!
Also have to say your dinner sounds right up my street Yia!
A favourite of mine.

GG13 you are back in the driver’s seat now. 😂

Thank you for your gentle arm, dear Soop, and thank you, kind ladies, for your good wishes for my friend. Much appreciated, what a special,
supportive kitchen this is. I've had an update from her daughter, no change today although the physio was pleased with her, so we're thankful for that.

Grandmabatty, I'm glad your Mum is staying put in the meantime. We had some difficult communication issues with our Mum's nursing home, caused some upset.

Great to hear that Imogen is enjoying the bar work, Jaxjacky. I worked in a local bar when I was a student, pouring a good pint of Guinness is quite a technique!
Many years ago we were in Dublin and visited the Guinness brewery. We had pints with shamrocks ☘ drawn in the head! I remember a cocktail, Black Velvet, I think it was champagne and Guinness.

YiaYia, DH and I enjoyed lovely hot cross buns from Morrisons today. Very moreish!

Well done on your big walk, Redcar, you'll be fighting fit for your Spring holiday.

Grannygravy, hope your injuries are healing well now.

FGT, hope today has been better for you.

It's been cold here too, brook, frosty this morning but bright blue skies lighten the mood. You're a great help to your DD, I'm sure she appreciates it.

We're off to the west coast soon for an overnight with a BeeGees tribute theatre show, my birthday gift from DS1, DDIL1 and DGC. We're looking forward to it, DH and I really like the BeeGees, especially the early songs. Looks like we're back to big coats and boots... on Saturday ( 14 degrees) I was in Glasgow in a light jacket and slingbacks...

Wishing everyone a peaceful Tuesday evening and a good night's sleep. TOYA.

jax and brook thank you for your good wishes for my car’s MOT and service today. It is red and its MOT didn’t go well! A couple of weeks ago I hit the curb rather hard turning into my road, scuffed the wheel trim, which I’d noticed, but also had damaged the tyre! So a fail, and a new tyre needed. Also needed a small part to replace a corroded one in the braking system. That’s being replaced tomorrow when he puts new brake fluid in! It’ll pass tomorrow, hopefully nor too expensive.
My back didn’t like the longer walk yesterday, but is improving now, the extra exercise will have helped my hips and legs anyway.*grannmarie * I’m a fan of the BeeGees too, enjoy the tribute show! Definitely back to coats, gloves and boots today and for the rest of the week. The heating came on this afternoon, after a week of not coming on!
gg13 it sounds as though you are getting back to normal again after your accident?
Have a peaceful evening everyone, sleep well.

Took this pic of the stunning sunset as we stood outside the railway station on our road - on our curry house hunt at 6pm.

Bless you all.

Mr Soop is away having his scalp dressings changed. when he returns, we shall have a game of Scrabble. I understand that it is good for the grey cells.

I have been dealing with a most annoying buggeration.

I ordered a blouse online from what appears to be a London based company. When the blouse arrived, it was unsuitable. I therefore asked for a returns form. It transpires that said company operates from China! In order to return the garment, I need to pay a vast postage fee. I looked up the so-called London-based outlet on Trust Pilot. The comments were lousy, to say the least. I have decided to give the blouse to the Red Cross shop. A decent good cause, methinks. I have told the company, in no uncertain words, to........................

Online shopping is such a minefield Soop.
I hope everyone is well. I have been so lazy today that I've actually sickened myself with my sloth tendencies. I brought in the bin, applied for a garden bin permit and had a shower. So lazy! I'm about to peel potatoes to make mash and have mince and tatties. Dgs1's teacher phoned his mum to compliment him on his good behaviour and excellent work. I'll have to find a wee something for him. The great escaper was complimented yesterday so he'll get a wee something too. Have a pleasant evening Kitcheners

Hi all, boy it’s cold again today, we’ve had hail and I was watching the snow at Cheltenham on the TV this morning.
I did get the crocosmia in, then a brisk walk, washed jeans - drying indoors, then stripped a chicken carcass for MrJ to have with chips tonight. He’s working this week, so the alarm is going at 6:45, ironically he’s on volunteer drives Friday, I’ll be setting the alarm to see the moon eclipse 🤞
A day of rest recharges batteries Grandmabatty, so I tell myself 🙂

We have the 10yr old here for his weekly sleepover. As he now likes to eat dinner with us, he has tea at 3.30pm (sandwich and fruit)

He is having pulled pork, we are having saltimbuca (with pork not veal)

Night Night 🙋‍♀️

I'm a great fan of saltimbocca! Enjoy grannygravy. Jaxjacky I have been ridiculously lazy though! I didn't know there was a n eclipse of the moon. I'll have to try and see it.

I don't post on this thread, I just read it and bask in the warmth.

However! I feel I must reply to Soop about the blouse buggeration. The same thing happened to my OH with a purchase he thought came from the UK (the company had a Cardiff address). He couldn't return it to China for reasons of £££ as you point out.

He got so - goods were very poor quality - he phoned his bank and lo and behold they (a) knew about this company and had had many complaints and (b) agreed to reverse the transaction! Something to do with "goods not as described".

He was mightily pleased with himself.

(I can only think there is some loophole whereby companies can obtain a UK address yet operate out of China. We found the company he had bought from was registered on Companies House but was blacklisted for failure to file necessary documents).

Hello everyone. Really cold again today, I didn’t go out for a walk, I’ve been awake since 3.00 and couldn’t be bothered to go out. I dusted and vacuumed the hall, stairs, landing and my bedroom, enough exercise there. Also did all my exercises twice, and feeling very virtuous! I’m now waiting for my car to be delivered back after it’s extremely expensive MOT and service!
soop I hope *mr soop*’s poor head is healing now. What a nuisance about your blouse. I’ve just had the email purporting to be from Royal Mail wanting me to give them my bank details to deliver a non existent parcel! Deleted and reported!
fgt I hope you find a suitable restaurant open this evening!
Night night everyone.

* soop* That is very useful information from* Retread*. I would hate to see you lose your money when it was not your fault. Money does not grow on trees.

I hope Mr soop's scalp is less painful. This old-age lark is not for wimps

For info - attached was how my OH got to speak to the bank - he exercised the "I recognise the transaction but I have an issue with it". After all, these "fake UK" companies is a form of fraud.

Also, having been refunded by his bank, the goods went to a charity shop!

Apologies for poor grammar - it should be he exercised the "I have an issue" option.

And a company posing as a "fake UK" is engaged in a form of fraud.

Very useful information retread. Thank you. any of us could benefit from it. I’m sure soop will see it soon. Hope you’re having a good evening.

Hi kitchen pals, it’s been a really cold showery day here in Inverness - hat and gloves on again. I did a couple of classes at the gym, a riverside walk back into town and then some shopping. I was looking for something to wear to a 60th party on Saturday night but couldn’t find anything I liked so it’s probably going to be something from the back of the wardrobe
Such a shame about the blouse soop and that you couldn’t return it, good advice from Retread
Well done to your DGS grandmabatty 😇
Hope you’re lucky and get a good view of the eclipse later this week Jax, I might try too but I guess it depends on the weather
Well done with your exercises redcar - twice indeed!

‘Evening All’.

We’ve had a curry! Delicious.

Aargh! Just looked at our passports and Himself’s expires in weeks! We’ve taken our eye off the ball that’s for sure. It shows an expiry date of Jan.26 but that’s because extra months were allocated past May.25 pre Brexit (and they don’t count any more). Passports have to have 3 months on them from departure from the EU and next trip out his would only have 2 months - we’d have got stopped at the boarding gate! 😮

So, it’s off into the Post Office next door in the morning to pay for their speedy digital process. It states ‘up to 3 weeks’ but our neighbour got hers back in 8 days . If his new one arrives by next weekend we can go as planned on the Sunday. If it’s not here in time, we will try just to go for a week instead, booking fresh flights out and using the same flights back. A shorter visit 🤞 but SO glad we spotted our error in time to hopefully salvage some of the holiday! Worst case scenario we can’t go as his scan is early April so we can’t change the return date.

This is going to the wire and will be interesting ….

Blimey FGT! I always do mine on line and the new passport is with me in a week. Another alternative is to go to an actual Passport Office in London or Newport, I think. It costs a fortune but you’ll have your passport the same day.

Hello again kitchen people.

I’ve had a long, long day. Up at 5 am and I drove OH to the hospital. I was back home by 8 am. OH rang later and said the operation had gone well. He will find out tomorrow morning if everything is working as it should do. Hopefully I can go and collect him after lunch.

I got on with some WI admin today. After that I spent most of the day snuggled on the sofa and read.

Yes we did think about Liverpool next week in time to go on Sunday but can’t be arsed LLFL! It does cost a fortune (plus travel expenses) and we decided it’s not with it so we will risk it for a biscuit letting the Post Office do it digitally for us.
#lazygran

Sorry. Meant to say I’m glad your husband is right side of his op. A relief especially for him as he was anxious about it. Hope the result tomorrow is reassuring too.

Oh thank goodness you checked FGT! I hope the post office works it’s wonders and you get it back in time to travel as planned, fingers crossed for you x

A very warm welcome to Retread. The blouse is with the Red Cross shop. I shall not be as gullible in future. In fact, I am now on high alert and will question any matter that concerns me before I am duped. Please stay.

Thank you. This thread performs a public service .