The Lockdown Gang - on parole!

Hello gang! I missed you all so much I came back inside.
I have been reading your stories and getting quite emotional. What a very interesting group is in here.
I agree that photo of the Queen knighting Sir Tom is great - Bradfordlass.
I made a facemask for MiL in material very reminiscent of a coronavirus. Pretty, but deadly.
We are back from the North. It really is another country who are still in Lockdown for the most part. We were glad we brought our own food as there wasn't anything to be had locally. The cottage was very nice and so warm we sometimes had to leave the door open!. We both went for a dip in the icy north sea but could hardly go right under.
It leaves your skin so red and tingly - it must be healing!! There were ducks and seals and a colony of kittiwakes which we never tired of watching. I knitted half the school cardigan for our 5yr old DGD.

Hospital this afternoon. I am glad you have an appointment for the gall stone op. Mamissimo

Hugs for all of you. You are going through a lot. xxxxx

Bradfordlass surely every home requires a corona mat ?

I have to confess that I’m not good with slippers.....I love the idea of them but I prefer bare feet so my family and other animals spend their lives avoiding abandoned shoes. When we had the air source heat pump and solar panels put in for heating we bit the bullet and had underfloor heating put in too as all our radiators would have needed replacing. It’s happy feet heating.

We live in the country and have no gas, our property wasn’t suitable for liquid gas and oil seemed daft. We ran on coal and wood for thirty years but neither of us was up to hefting it about anymore. Electricity is expensive so we insulated up to the hilt and make as much of our own as we can. I can’t get over how clean the house is now that we’re not traipsing ashes from the log burner around.

My DS is taking me out this morning for a treat. I’m very much hoping it involves ice cream!

Hoping everyone has a good and comfortable day.

Oh welcome back all. I’ve missed you.
bradfordlass I was worried the tornado had carried you off. Glad it didn’t. My DGS is autistic. Diagnosed about 7. Not been an easy life for him but we love him to bits.
Like the idea of the GPS tracker ?
Ok let’s see if I can work this out. Need chopsticks to take the stones out of cherries but need to buy a bottle of wine first ?
Maybe chopsticks come with a meal that needs a bottle of wine to go with it? ? Sorry about your kettle. Your homegirl sounds like a little gem. How is her pregnancy coming along?
Love the corona virus mat ?
grammaretto nice to have you with us again.
Pretty but deadly, is that the face mask or your MIL? ?
Your cottage sounds cosy and despite the cold sea it sounds as though you had a good time. I always do a project like knitting on holiday too. Hope the hospital appointment goes well.
mamissimo my son and DIL have underfloor heating in their ground floor too. The cat and dog love it in the winter as they just curl up on a warm patch ?
Sounds as though you have a good heat source there. Do you have an electricity supply too?
Hope you enjoy your treat today.
I am hoping for an ice cream too. We are planning a walk by the river later. The car park there usually has an ice cream van there so fingers crossed.
I am doing some cross stitch at the moment. Used to do it about 20 or 30 years ago. Fortunately I decided to tackle a small one. My eyesight has deteriorated so I am having problems seeing the holes.....and as for threading the needle ?
Hope all have a good day. Thinking of our missing members as usual and hoping they are ok.

Just popping in to say that I read that you can use a drinking straw to remove cherry stones. Also, I have a metal garlic press which has a 'stoner' or should it be 'de-stoner' built into the handle. It looks like a peg on one handle that goes through the middle of a cup on the other side. Be back later!

I have a cherry stoner. A more manual kind. I poo them 8n my mouth and spit out the stones. ?. (Well I don’t actually spit them out I’m far too genteel for that)

Welcome back Grammaretto - it’s been decidedly quiet round here but thankfully no porridge!

With my first haircut since March 15th looming over the horizon I have choices....so I downloaded an app which enables you to try on hundreds of haircuts and colours...and beards!

My DS thought it would be fun to send everyone in the family a screenshot of the look he’d compiled for them.....it was funny to start with but as brothers do he managed to catch one sister on an off day....and she let her displeasure be known. There will be some bridge building in the morning!

Tomorrow I will start freezing beans - I think I planted a few too many and I will be giving beans away with abandon. I’m getting a pound of french beans and more of runner beans every morning now.

We bathed the dog tonight and she’s sulking...you can guarantee a fox or badger will visit the garden tonight and we will be back to square one tomorrow. ?

Sending hugs to the missing,
Sleep tight

The temperature has dropped like a broken lift today and it's a mere 6º with strong winds gusting from the Antarctic. Brrrrrr.

Took my kettle back and it's a good job I'm not easily humiliated - the base and cord were inside it!
The lid was taped down, so when I didn't find the base/lead in the box, it never occurred to me to untape and look in the kettle itself. Duh

I had to laugh, as did the girl in the shop who was not at all patronising to this silly old boot. Of course if I'd been able to read the instructions I'd have known.

Doodle my homecare girl seems to be doing well and goes back to university this week. These are the easy days. When she's past the 6 months mark she'll struggle a bit.

Cherry stoning whilst stoned on wine: You put a cherry on the neck of the empty wine bottle, push a chopstick through the cherry and in theory, the stone just shoots downwards into the bottle.
I shall try it in cherry season though I have little doubt I'll end up with a wine bottle full of mashed cherries!

Alison, my friend with the sewing machine is coming over tomorrow to sew the tacked CuddleUp, I'll post pictures when it's finished. I've also cut out some little hats for our and other babies.

I heard today that because the businessmen of Melbourne insisted on a more relaxed attitude to Corona, they are now seeing hundred more cases per day and have been forced back into lockdown.

The right-wing politicians here have been very vocal against Jacinda's strategy, agitating for our borders to be opened. Maybe this will shut them up.

I envy you your icy swim Grammaretto I used to love winter swimming. How did the hospital go?

Mamissimo you hairstyle app. reminds me of the 60's paper hairstyle cut-outs which you placed on your own photo to see how each style looked. I think they came from Woman's Own or similar.

Have a happy day everyone

Woke up to pouring rain so that's put paid to my yarn group in the garden. Someone has offered a popup gazebo but surely the sound of rain on a canvas roof is not the correct ambience.
We'll see.
I would like to hear the local gossip. Such a lot has happened and we have only been gone a few days.

I have completely missed a saga about de-stoning cherries whilst drinking wine! ???

I can easily relate to your kettle story Bradfordlass . that could have been me. I have had to be shown how the batteries are sealed over in packaging.

The hospital was deserted yesterday and I was grateful to be allowed in with him. He took it all very well and only heard her saying his blood tests showed improvement, whereas I heard, cracked rib (from coughing?) a new tumour on the bone, and a hernia! I actually wondered if it was the right scan. **
It isn't dreadful and the very fact he was first diagnosed in 2002 shows he is a survivor.

**That happened to me once when a dentist and his nurse were discussing "my" mouth on the Xray and couldn't understand why the picture didn't match. Before anything drastic happened they realised they were looking at someone else's notes who shared the same name as me.

Our garden has been busy while we were away. The nettles are 2 feet tall. Why does everything have to come at once Mamissimo. I picked kale, chard, lettuce and broad beans just for one meal.
I like the sound of the hairstyle app. too. But how do you explain it to the stylist?

See yous all later and I promise not to mention porridge.

Morning all. Lovely sunny day here.
mamissimo your app sounds good fun. Trying on different hair styles to say nothing of beards ?
How nice to have fresh beans. They’re lovely straight from the garden. My father used to grow all his own veg.
Isn’t it strange why dogs love to find something smelly to roll in. ?
Oh bradfordlass I’m sorry but I had to laugh at your kettle saga. How funny. It reminds me of the time I took a bottle of something back to Waitrose and complained the lid was on so tightly that my DH and I nearly broke our wrists trying to unscrew it. The assistant took the bottle from me, looked at it and then calmly flipped the top up
Will you lose your homegirl when she goes back to university?
Glad she’s doing ok.
Ah now I get the cherry stoning and the need for a bottle of wine ?
Looking forward to seeing your cuddle up. The mere mention of it sounds snuggly and cosy.
grammaretto I like the sound of your yarn group. Cleverly named I think ?
Sorry about the new tumour. But the blood tests sounds positive. Will they do anything about the cracked rib and hernia. Your TLC must be keeping him well.
Another prolific garden. All these freshly grown veg lovely.
Our gardener is bringing us our veg later (Waitrose). I doubt it will be as fresh and lovely as yours.
Have a good day all. ?

Grammaretto you take a screen dump and then can either save it as a photo or what’s app it - my DS and the intended (but not actually asked ) we’re playing with it last night and he gave himself a moustache, applied skin over his hair .....and there was his father staring back at us! We are perplexed by this because they don’t look alike at all and my DH has a full head of curly snowy hair.....

I’m so sorry you had news of buggerations yesterday. I think the caring brave face is sometimes harder to produce than the patient brave face. I find peace of mind in creating stuff and gardening and my husband makes bread when he’s processing things. Simple pleasures keep us sane.

My poor little GD was bitten by a cat today in a play park. We think it must have been a stray but it was a deep puncture so a trip to minor injuries. She has a plaster and antibiotics but keeps saying it was a bad Fergal! Now our Fergal has been very much loved by her so I do hope she hasn’t been put off cats.

Isn’t it funny how every year we say...”I can’t wait for the first beans” and on day three I’m already calling them the b*st*rd runners. I’ve got a kilo waiting for the freezer tomorrow and I’ve eaten them for the last 3 nights. I took a glass of wine out to the garden tonight and I estimate a further twenty kilos to go. I think I’ll have to set up a table and a jam jar at the roadside so that the ramblers can relieve me of a few.

Shampooing the carpet has worn me out but I’m glad it’s done. I will sleep tight I think - hugs to all

mamissimo sorry about your little DGD. That must have been a nasty shock for her. I too hope it doesn’t make her afraid of Fergal.
It’s funny about family resemblances. I look absolutely nothing like my mother but sometimes when I’ve got my glasses on and I look in the mirror, she looks back at me ?
Glad your carpet is cleaned.
I have been putting the kitchen back to rights today. Throwing out some old bottles of stuff I don’t use anymore or the ones where the contents have dried up (housework not being one of my main occupations ?)
Hope everyone sleeps well and as always thinking of our missing ones and hoping they are ok. ?

DH and I love runner beans, and could do with a few handfuls of Mamissimo's. We tried growing them for several years running but our neighbours had more than we did as the beans seemed to be at their most prolific while we were away on holiday. Then one year, the Bullfinches stripped away every last flower overnight. We can walk down the road and buy beans off tables at garden gates so we have given up on growing them.

The last couple of days have been very boring quiet. My knee, although healing, is still uncomfortable and I'm applying cold compresses (actually half a packet of frozen sweetcorn wrapped up in a tea towel) 3 times a day. I'm missing my exercise routines.

My 'temporary' tooth filling is disappearing so I will have to replace it again. Although the phone at the dentist was answered the last time I tried, today, the message had gone back to the previous lockdown recording.

I have arranged for a couple to socially distance/visit DH and me in the garden on Friday. Although vulnerable, they haven't been shielding. DH and my friend's husband both have similar vintage cars so I can expect them to disappear to the garage while my friend and I catch up. They don't 'do' IT so it will be good to talk face to face (but not too close).

As usual, it is late as I type this. Our little band seems to have diminished. I shall miss these hot chocolate chats when we are let out. I'm thinking of absent friends and BradfordLass's comforting Maori wisdom about being family, and hope you all have a peaceful night.

Hi missedout I think our little group has indeed diminished. I am worried about the panaches . I think cherry has posted recently in soop’s kitchen once and I have seen mention of dragonfly. marydoll posts on the GM thread but is still not feeling great. Sometimes when people are very poorly or troubled they don’t have the desire to post. I just hope they know we are still here thinking of them and missing them.
nfk are you around anywhere?
I too like bradfordlass’ Maori quotes. They are indeed comforting.
Sunny today so far. More tidying and cleaning to be done today. Hope everyone has a good day ?

Sorry forgot to say I hope your knee feels more comfortable soon. My DH is like a school boy with plasters on his knees. His arm is quite painful from the graze but I think that is probably bruising coming out. He is due for another dressing on Monday so see what the nurse thinks then. Hope your tooth isn’t painful.

Dear gang. I am sure you are all here somewhere though a few are resting from all the busyness.
It has begun to get busy. We had to go back to the hospital to collect the remaining meds, which they didn't have on Tuesday, and the roads in and out of Edinburgh were hoaching.
Some people are desperate to get back to "normal".
I had a visit from a friend who works in a residential setting for young adults with special needs. She says she hadn't called on anyone since March and she was acutely aware that the young adults hadn't seen their families or been anywhere either. That the government lumps them with over 80s in care homes she feels is hard on them too because they need exercise and socialising so much more. Even the people who run workshops have not been at wotk so she, as a house mother, does 13 hour shifts.
Everyone seems to be having a hard time.
Some horses have just passed my house. I heard the clip clopping.
I hope your poor sore knee eases soon Missedout
I'll be in for my choccy tonight but I'm a bit sleepy now.

A day of domestic drudgery and some pondering about the cruelty of some nicknames. In my Irish family tree I have strapping boys of over 6’ called Shorty, a gt gt gt grandfather known as Shylock and a recent gran known as Goggles Gran. I’d like to know how they felt about that!

Do children still have nicknames? My eldest Dgd is Jemima by given name but I have been known to call her Jim Minor - much to her mothers chagrin.

With only a week before our shielding is paused I feel I must ask what the road map is Doodle? Are we to go out with a bang? Can we keep our staff? Where will you store your helter skelter in the flat?

I’m ready for chocolate....sleep tight

Choc was lovely thanks Guv.
Are we being evicted when shielding ends? Is there a halfway house? I'm not sure we could cope in the big outside world. We are fragile.
I went outside just now to check the greenhouse door was closed. It wasn't. I met the 2 batmen in their orange suits. I was able to ask about the bats. They have only seen 2 kinds. Common and soprano pipistrelles. We love the idea of soprano bats. There are plenty of midges for them.

Glad your got your meds grammaretto Sounds like quite a trip.
Your friend must have found it hard keeping the children occupied during lockdown. Such a shame for them not to be able to see their families. I know it was the rules but I wonder how many of them couldn’t understand what was going on.
mamissimo domestic drudgery day for me too. Bathrooms today and cleaning the corner cupboards in the kitchen (the ones you have to crawl into to reach the corners). By the time I’d finished I couldn’t stand up properly so I had to use my usual method of getting up where I adopt a giraffe like stance until I finally get my legs back together ?
Yes our shielding is coming to an end. I think our lockdown gang kept us all busy for many weeks. It’s a shame that illness has prevented some from from posting recently and I still worry how they’re doing. I for one have been grateful to everyone for their company. You are a great bunch.
Sleep well and don’t wake Jeeves up, he’s had a busy day polishing the silver ?

grammaretto I’m not sure what we should do. I would miss my contact with you all but don’t know what others want to do. We could have a thread that people could post on as and when they like just so keep in touch and see how we are all getting on. I like the idea of a half way house. ?

I hope 'the gang' can stay together when lockdown is over.
It's the only place on GN (with very occasional exceptions) I go to now. It's completely snipe-free

Alison machined the CuddleUp and now I must hand-sew the hole left for turning it right-side-out.
To this end, I've bought a new LED angle lamp which may help with the task of sewing navy thread on navy fabric
I managed before with black on dark brown by using my thumb as a guide and sliding the needle down my nail. I'll try the same trick with this. Photos at the weekend probably.

Received an email from a friend in Australia which was impossible to read, so got my computer to read it to me - what fun! I LOVE technology.

I also love runner beans - get them to run to Waitakere please

Still cold but the bitter wind has dropped and the sun is making it all sparkle.
Matariki/Maori New Year has had its fortnight of jollities but I could tell by the bird song and my Banksia in prolific bud after its transplant, that Spring is slowly on its way.

Doodle what progress on the job front for your dear son the acccountant?

Glad the knee is easing a bit missedout, the corniest remedies are often the best.

Grammaretto It's puzzling that no one devised a way of letting the young adults let off steam and get some exercise. If they'd been in total isolaton, then opening a hall for their sole use would have worked, surely? A few warm-up games and some dancing would have been brilliant. Maybe these are the things we need to learn in case it all happens again, which virologists tell us it will.

Have been listening to podcast of 'Round the Horne' and 'I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue' - always good as cheerer-uppers.

Hello Everybody

We’ve had a busy few days and I usually have my GN time first thing in the morning before DH surfaces, but lately he’s been waking early. The temerity! We went to pick up DGDog2 on Wednesday, meeting DSiL (DD1 was working) and 2 DGDs (last seen at Christmas) at Barton Mills as it was a convenient half way point to do a swop over. At least we thought it was. There are walks in Thetford Forest and a nice burger place and loos - but as the loos are rather old we thought it best to take the Wagon and be self contained. We’ve only been there with the car before so hadn’t noticed there’s a height barrier on the car park! So, we moved over to the new car park behind McDonalds - with a 90 minute allowance. DSiL, without DD to navigate, drove straight past and didn’t find out his mistake until he arrived in Brandon, so by the time he’d turned around and got back we only had 3/4 hour to have lunch and no nice walk with DGDs and dog. The best laid plans! Next time we’ll stick to Plan A which was to stop at Elvedon Farm Shop which is rather nice - but is shut on Wednesdays at the moment.

Yesterday, shielding friends arrived on their electric bikes and we had a pleasant couple of hours sitting in the garden putting the world to rights. They’ve been enjoying the pretty much deserted lanes around here zooming around and exploring. They keep trying to persuade us to buy electric bikes but I had a go on hers and it scared me rigid. The bike was completely in control and took off up the road with me at speed. I’m still not sure how I managed to stop it. I walked it back.

And - I had a reflexology session. It was wonderful! Hoops to jump through and there’s now a Perspex screen placed carefully over my middle and lots of other new innovations to what was already a spotless room. But my feet and me both feel wonderfully relaxed and at one with the world. I think I missed it more than haircuts or anything else!

In between I’ve spent a lot of time in the garden trying to cut back and dead head everything that went over while we were away. Too much for our compost heap so it added to the heap for the tip. The tip is social distancing with the men there instructed not to help anymore - as if they ever had. But at least there is no queue now and the car port is cleared a bit more. It should be empty after this morning as there’s a local charity shop apparently accepting stuff between 9 and 10. I shall be there!

I planted some climbing French beans in Gro-bags as there wasn’t room in the garden. I can report that they don’t like it. They are now producing but they’re not happy plants. I planted them at the beginning of Lock Down for DH. I’m not keen on French beans and don’t like runners. Memories of the salted runner beans Mum jammed into sweet jars have put me off them for ever.

I must read further back on this thread and catch up with you all, I keep getting side-tracked. Have a lovely day.

bradfordlass I would certainly miss you all too, so we could continue when this thread runs out and the gang can pop in whenever they like to catch up.
I can’t wait to see your cuddle up. ?
I have a LED lamp too, which helps with my sewing both hand and machine. I have been doing some cross stitch recently but require a magnifying glass to count the stitches. I mustn’t complain. I can see fine it’s the small stuff now. I have always been very short sighted but up until a couple of years ago I could manage sewing without aids. Technology is certainly a boon for reading things both audio wise and by being able to enlarge the print.
Thanks for asking about my son. Early days yet. He is still working for the company while they sort out redundancy pay for those who are going. He has sorted out his CV and has applied for some jobs but not really got going as he still has to work.
I love ‘I’m sorry I haven’t a clue’ too. ? I forget all the jokes and punch lines quite quickly so can enjoy them over and over again.
nfk my dyslexia is a funny thing. I read your opening line but misunderstood it and thought GN was a ‘great niece’. I wondered why you had her every morning. ?
Shame you didn’t get to spend much time with your Granddaughters as you’d planned especially as you hadn’t seen them for such a long time. Are you having the dog to stay for a while?
I see electric bikes are not for you ? I can’t ride an ordinary bike let alone an electric one. Good that you had a nice catch up with your friends.
I haven’t dared tackle any cupboards yet as I always get a collection of things for our local charity shops. Not going near any at the moment. Haven’t been anywhere near a shop since lockdown started. Our local M&S in town will wonder what’s happened to me. I used to go in and browse every time we went past. ?
Back later.

I would love a halfway house! I only raised the subject because I wanted to manage my expectations. I would miss you all and like Bradfordlass it’s just about the only place I post these days. I’m happy here ?

The hospital has just rung and my drip is all set for Monday - thank heavens! I have a haircut on Tuesday...praise be! ....and then I’m going to sneak off and lend a couple of days with my DD before I have to start 2 weeks of isolation before my op.

Now back to the bottling plant....

Well I am happy to carry on too. It would be nice to keep in touch and chat. I am more than happy to carry on and others can post as and when they feel like it or are well enough. So that’s settled then ? (we could make a “Carry on” film. The Lockdown Gang carry on posting ?)
We’ve been for a lovely walk by the river this afternoon. Quite a lot of people out but plenty of space so didn’t get too close. Watched a swan trying to fly. A lot of noise and effort without much progress. He settled back on the water trying to look nonchalant and ruffled his feathers as if to say I didn’t want to go anywhere anyway ?
Lots of children on these paddle board things which seem to have become popular recently. We were naughty and had an ice cream each.
mamissimo glad you are sorted out for Monday. How long does it take usually? Any side effects?
I would like a haircut but waiting a bit longer till I’m sure they are set up and running properly.
Back later ?. Jeeves is having a nap so he’s ready for nighttime orders ?

bradfordlass you will have to forgive me but my memory is not great. You may well have mentioned before whereabouts in NZ you live but I couldn’t remember. Then today I saw your mention of Waitakere so I looked it up on Mr Google. Are you anywhere near the Ranges? It looks so beautiful.?