The Lockdown Gang - on parole!

I thought I'd pop in to catch up. A lot of yesterday was spent on either the phone or using FaceTime with my other AC. We had long chats and I was able to see my other GC rushing about their garden. Our little GS is 19 months now and getting quite chatty. He is used to seeing us on the small screen, I just hope he remembers us when he is actually with us. I know his big sister will be fine.

Although I had a pram, my youngest went out mainly strapped into a buggy. Living in a village, I used to walk round to to the greengrocers via the bakers and little supermarket after walking to school. DS never managed to get out of the buggy on is own but during the walk home, he inevitably managed to turn himself upside down. If I wasn't careful he would rummage in the tray under the buggy. I stopped one day to chat and didn't realise that he had managed to pull the crust off the loaf of bread and work his way through a couple of carrots! I gave up trying to get him to sit upright, I just got used to seeing the soles of his shoes. It didn't seem to do him any harm and caused a lot of merriment from passers by.

Today feels rather an anticlimax. For some reason I am particularly tired today. I had an early night last night but feel worse for it. Perhaps Pilates will wake me up (class starts on Zoom in half an hour).

The photo of BradfordLass's grandson with the ducklings is very sweet.

I hope you all have a good evening. Perhaps a soothing massage could be arranged for later this evening Doodle? Thank you.

Good evening ?

I've finally got a plumber to fix my upstairs toilet! The day after you get your sink fixed Doodle. There must be something in the water .. ?

My shopping arrived, with one of substitution. What do you think they replaced my chicken portions with? Do you want to guess or shall I tell you ... tinned chicken! I mean really. I told the delivery man I knew it wasn't this fault but they could stuff it, unlike me ? I did get the nice extras I ordered though.

BradfordLass what a great photo and a lovely memory, of both the friendly mother duck and your grandson feeding her chicks. Am I allowed to have an aww moment, too late I already have.

All this talk of prams and how you don't see them anymore. Today there was a woman walking down our road pushing a pram. It was quite small in comparison to the prams we all remember, quite compact really. It was rather quite lovely, both the pram itself and the sight of it being used.
I had a pram but I was the one in it ?. Of course I don't have any children. My fabulous SiL had a pram for my neice1 and nephew1, even though by the time my nephew was born buggies were becoming relatively popular.

Doodle, not sure how good a day yesterday was when my football team drew. We need all the points we can muster as we're wobbling about near the bottom three of the table and can't rely on those teams below to lose points. I'll be a very worried fan if we lose our next game. That's the joy of being a football fan ?

Posted too soon ?

Mamissimo, I echo Doodle, be careful moving those paving stones it's a hard and heavy job and you definitely don't want to go injuring yourself.
Gosh your girls were small, I'm not surprised you were a bit nervous handling them. Apparently I was a small baby but not that small. As for doing it all again in a heartbeat, of course you would ?

? Grammaretto, have you really weeded your veggies? My uncle used to paint little stones (different colours for different veg etc) so he knew what was where and tried to do it that way, regular checks and if he wasn't sure he let the weeds grow. He always grew great veg and as for his strawberries ?. Our gooseberries are virtually ready to pick, check on them tomorrow and see if Wednesday will be the best day to pick them, it's nearly always just after my birthday when they're ready. We should have a great drop of apples in august, much better than last year but as for the plums ? I'll say no more.

Missedout, you obviously enjoyed yesterday so much that today was always going to be a bit flat in comparison. I hope your pilates class reinvigorated you.

Marydoll we are thinking of you, hope you got through to the nurse ?
Dragonfly and Panache, hope you are okay ??

Oh not the parsnips and pumpkins. I was looking forward to Halloween ??
Large quantities of marshmallows await you tonight grammaretto. Hope your committee meeting went well.

My post might be a bit slilted tonight. I have hiccups oh pardon me.
missedout nice to have a chat with your other family and see the little ones ? as grammaretto said it’s a wonder we managed to bring up our children to adulthood with all these mishaps ?. I too turned round in my pushchair as a toddler and tipped the whole thing down a flight of steps and banged my head. I was taken to hospital for an x ray but kicked up such a fuss the doctor decided there couldn’t be much wrong with me. ?
Well I’ll talk to the masseuse and see what I can arrange. Some lightly fragranced oils in the candle lit spa area (did I forget to mention that has been recently installed) with the warm stones along your spine. That should sort you out ?
cherry hopefully that’s a good omen. Our sink won’t be fixed tomorrow the chap is just coming to look and see if he’s prepared to take on the work ?. I hope so.
Tinned chicken! I didn’t even know they sold such a thing. That’s not a replacement. Good you got your nice extras though. DH still hasn’t got over the loss of his scones and jam and cream the day the cream carton spilt all over the shopping. ?
Sorry cherry not much of a football fan myself but I do understand wanting a certain team/person to win. Hope your team pick up a bit. When is your birthday cherry have we missed it?
Yes I hope panache and marydoll and dragonfly are ok too.
Take care all.

I forgot to add you can have a Masseur if you prefer missedout (although I think cherry might have been saving him for herself) ?

one thing worse I imagine than tinned chicken is tinned mock tuna.
When we had the chance to have a Government food box delivery, the vegetarian option was tinned tunah or tuno.
I tasted it once and never again.

I most certainly didn't bag the Masseur for myself Doodle, saunters off all offended in a huff ?. Missedout I believe the Masseur (actually a female) is available by appointment that can be arranged via your lady's maid. Not sure how good she is as I cancelled my appointment when I was unwell but she has a good reputation ? ? . Meanwhile I hope a warm relaxing aromatic bath may have done the trick, or if not (if you have one, I don't) give it a try ?

Sorry that your plumber, on my birthday, is only coming to see if he he's prepared to take on the work, though he may actually carry it out there and then ?. If not then I hope he does take it on and it gets done soon.

I'm summoning my butler now for a hot chocolate, I hope I can have a little whipped cream and chocolate shavings on the top too ?

Night everyone ?

Sorry cherry I thought you had checked over the masseurs whilst you were “interviewing” the butlers ?. We will wait and see what missedout thinks ?
That tinned mock tuna sounds awful grammaretto. Doesn’t appeal to me any more than the tinned chicken.?
Yes cherry you can have whipped cream and chocolate shavings on your cocoa. Actually that sounds nice. I think I’ll have some on mine too.......and some marshmallows ?
Hope everyone sleeps well.

I typi dng wid my tos. R u sure masers is qualfeyd?

missedout

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202007/medium-80353-baby-hat21.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202007/medium-875744-buses.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202007/medium-823456-cv.jpg

Oh, my goodness, the pram stories have had me laughing out loud. as did Missedout's story of an upside down boy eating bread and carrots!

Years ago, when training to be a designer, one of our briefs was a baby pram.
Mine was like 2 halves of an Easter egg. In rainy weather, the clear, top fitted completely over (like a closed egg but ventilated).
In sunshine, it slid halfway back, like a regular pram hood. Both halves detatched and the bottom could be used as a baby bath or, with a matress and covers, what is now termed a co-sleeper bed.
When the child grew a bit, the whole thing tipped in its frame and a padded seat was fitted so it became a pushchair. It was very versatile. I won a prize for that but sadly not enough to make a prototype for testing and production.

When I first came to NZ, buses carried pushchairs on the front, (remember Grammaretto?) as seen in the photo. You can only do that with a guaranteed summer and that was before the weather gods invented El Nino years!

Cherry of course you're allowed an 'Awww' moment. You may get more if my grandson comes to stay; school holidays have just begun.

Our supermarket uses an online platform which allows customers to write a note on every item, so I can write, 'bananas not too green please. If no bananas, a bag of mandarins' (or whatever.) Don't UK supermarkets have this option?

Having some navy polar fleece left over from the CuddleUp, I made a baby hat and will possibly make a few more. She will be born in November and even though the weather will be okay for adults, a new baby may need a wee bit more protection.

Doodle I'm not sure of the life of a Covid bug on hard surfaces but it occurs to me that when you get a crate of wine, which took you so long to clean, you only need to do the first two you're likely to drink.
The others can be left and the bug will just die off.

I'm awfully tempted to get some fluffy wool in grey and red and knit myself a Corona hat, it looks very like a boucle beanie.

grammaretto your picture of the prams hanging off the front of the bus had me agog. I have never seen anything like that. Surely the babies weren’t in them I hope ? Your pram design sounds very clever, shame it never came to anything.
Your knitted hat looks lovely. Your granddaughter will be nice and cosy in that and her cuddle up. Talking of which, could we have a photo of it please, if you have finished it now ?
Ah yes grammaretto a clever thought about the wine cleaning. I hadn’t actually thought about that ?
Your corona hat could be a fashion hit, you never know ?.

marydoll, read on the GM thread that you have been in touch with the hospital. Sorry to read how unwell you have been feeling. Side effects from new medication can be awful. Hope it wears off soon and you get some respite from it.
panache thinking of you too and hoping you and Mr P are feeling better.
Have a good day all.

Now cherry I’m not sure if it’s your birthday today or tomorrow. I’m guessing it’s today so many happy returns. Hope you have a good day. I have strung up some bunting and have cake and bubbly (and non alcoholic bubbly) in the kitchen for all to share. If your birthday is tomorrow, put it all in the fridge until then (no cheating ?)
?????????

Good morning gang, sorry I've not really been posting much.

I have been a bit low, so didn't want to drag everyone down with me. I thought I was strong and coping well, but reading of people meeting up with family and receiving hugs has just reinforced what I am missing. ?

The side effects of my medication were driving me to distraction, but I will just have to dure it out until my body gets used to it. I've been advised to phone my GP or call 999 if things deteriorate.
Hopefully the antihistamines will help.

Thinking of all my dear friends who are struggling. ?

Indeed thoughts very much with you all and ever hoping life smiles kindly on each of your days.
I too am finding life a struggles right now and feel it is not nice bringing it into your lives when in most cases things certainly seem to be "on the up" be it slow and surely.
Am returning to Hospital so will be away a few days,whilst pleased to say my dearest is holding on,and keeping things ticking over.
Hopefully we shall be together again soon.
Take great care and stay safe.

OH dear Panache. I hope you find some relief in hospital but you will be worried about Mr Dream. Take care both of you. You are very precious.

Best wishes and hugs from me too, Panache. I hope all goes well.

Happy Birthday Doodle are you doing, eating or drinking anything special? I will certainly drink to you.
Such a good prison Guv. I'm sure we don't deserve you.
You gave me the credit for that crazy photo of pram transport in NZ. It was BradfordLass and typically hilarious. I can't say I do remember. I lived in NZ until I was 10 but we lived in Wellington which was and is so hilly I can't imagine anybody using prams. My DS lives there now and they didn't have a pram or a buggy for DGS. They had a back carrier and made him walk as soon as possible.

marydoll really sorry that this long awaited treatment has left you feeling so wiped out. It’s lovely to hear from you but I do understand it takes too much effort to post some days. I keep tabs on you via the GM thread so have some idea what you are going through. Really hope you feel better soon. All the gang are thinking of you ?

My apologies to both grammaretto and bradfordlass. I realised after I posted that it was breadfordlass who posted the picture of the prams and not you grammaretto . I got confused, sorry.
grammaretto thank you for your kind wishes but it’s not my birthday, I think it’s cherry’s either today or tomorrow, have to wait for her to pop in to confirm.
Hope you are having a good day.

Dear panache so sorry to hear you are off to hospital again. We have been aware that you have been under the weather for a while now. Hope you make a quick recovery and are back home with Mr P soon. (I have PMd you) take care x

Oh dear is this the totally confused lockdown gang in la la land?
Many apologies and a happy birthday to Cheery Cherry if it is her. May the sun shine on us all.

xx

Yes grammaretto what a bunch we are ?.
I couldn’t sleep last night so got up and made a mask for myself to wear when the plumber came this morning. He wore a mask too and I’m afraid the poor man wasn’t offered a cup of anything or a biscuit. I just wanted him out as soon as possible.
I made my DH stay in the lounge while the plumber was here and kept him there until I’d been round disinfecting all the things the plumber touched. The chap was very efficient and we will probably have things sorted in a week or two. It will be nice to have a functioning sink in the kitchen again.
Sun hasn’t quite reached here yet grammaretto keep pushing it this direction ?

Hiya ?

Just popping in very very quickly. Yes Doodle you got my slightly cryptic "hint" that it's my birthday today ?
I just couldn't resist telling you in a sideways Cancerian way ?. I like it that way because it's interesting to see if it is picked up on; I'm a bit of a minx ?

I read on the morning thread that Marydoll's GP has prescribed something for her to receive asap. I hope it works for you Marydoll ?

Panache, sorry to hear that you will be in hospital for a few days. It's obviously necessary, I hope you come back stronger. I hope in the meantime Mr P will be okay without you ?. Back later

Right we're off out now so catch you all laters ?