The Lockdown GangSTARS still going

Oh Mamissimo what an entertaining story. That made me laugh. Hope your poorly little ones feel better soon. Honey beagle must have enjoyed her steak. Hope you have a more peaceful day tomorrow.

I’ve been out at a meeting tonight. Got very cold. Came back and had a late dinner now struggling to stay awake. Think I’ll have an early night. Sleep well all

I'm sorry, I am TRULY sorry Mamissimo but I laughed all the way through your account of what must have been a highly frustrating day.

At least the wait in the carpark was free

Yes, I do hope today is better for all concerned.

Good morning 🙂

Yesterday Mr M started stomping around in time to loud music arose from his slumbers at 5.00 am to take DD1 to a distant medical facility for a long awaited minor operation. This op has been eagerly awaited for three years.

The arrangement was that I would continue to slumber on until 7.00 when I would depart to do the school run for her.....while DSiL remained at home with sickness bug youngest.

So Mr M put the lights on....turned on the radio in the en-suite.....lost his keys and put the security light on outside the bedroom whilst he scraped the ice off the car for half an hour safety's sake. He left....the light on. I got up to turn it off....

H Beagle raised an eloquent eyebrow when I appeared in the kitchen at 6.00 and watched me assemble her delicacies ....but just rolled over and went back to sleep. I defrosted the convertible hormone moment that is Mr Ms car - including the inside....and set off for DD1's.

I found the missing shoes/scarf/reading book/ rabbit for other DGD and had a jolly yomp across the ice field to school.

On my return a flurry of messages to say that parking at the hospital was free! Great news! .....and that DD1 was expected to be discharged by mid morning. I did some womanly pink jobs and then settled down to watch some illicit junk on the TV.

A flurry of pings suggested something was going on but it was rest of family on group chat wishing DD1 well......and a one liner from Mr M telling me that he'd eaten all the sausage sandwiches I'd provided for them both because he was bored.....

At 12.00 they told DD1 that she was next on the list......Mr M left the car in search of a loo and missed her message to him that the op would now be at about mid afternoon.

I set off for the return school run and consoled DGD who was concerned that DD1 wasn't home yet.....handed her over to DSiL who had been consoling the younger sickness bug DGD with chocolate buttons. ......wait for it....as I said goodbye a chocolate button volcano erupted along the hallway...🤢

Home by 4 to a message from DD1 saying she was now gowned....and one from Mr M asking what was for dinner. I had to reply that it was going to be steak but unfortunately I'd left it in the middle of the worktop and it was now in the 🐶. Could he pick up fish and chips on his way home.

Then great news .....DD1 rang to say that the surgeon decided not to waste time by doing the op because everything seemed well at the moment and she'd rather not interfere at this stage!!!

Mr M arrived home at 6.30 having spent twelve hours in the car......completely unhungry because he'd eaten so much rubbish from the hospital shop....and with no fish and chips.

I gave up at 9.00 and had an early night.

Today will be better 🙂

Mamissmo sounds as though you are in the thick of things. Hope all the poorly people are on the mend soon.
Gentle stroke for Honey beagle.
Kaimoana what a frightening tale about your helpers son., cuts can so easily lead to infection. I do hope he’s ok. Good thing she has good support from husband and daughter. Sounds as though life has been difficult for her. Is this Karen or have I got confused ?
We have had our battles with IKEA in the past too. Things that wouldn’t go in the holes they were meant to go in.
I used to enjoy the Kripton Factor too.
Grammaretto if we’d have been at our lonely table much longer I would have been chewing at the serviettes. We did have a nice meal though. My DGD had the biggest piece of fish. It was huge and overhung the plate at both ends.
Will you manage without your new teeth till March. I trust you’re not on baby food until then. Nice idea to visit your sister though. I would like to visit Cambridge but not been there yet.
I’m sorry about your sisters son, that must be hard for all of them. Don’t much like the sound of your film. I’ve seen a few like that myself before.
Kaimoana I’m sorry to hear you are having more health problems. I hope your herbal remedy helps you. With all those ingredients it will either help or send you on a hallucinogenic trip 🙃
Love the photos and the story. 😊
Been a quiet day at home today. I have a sore knuckle having grated it’s top layer into our dinner tonight.
I’m trying to make a table top quilt thingy. It’s made up of 32 pieces that you have to put together in a certain way a bit like a jigsaw pattern. Even though I have the picture in front of me I am struggling to get both sides matching.

https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202301/medium-474220-kauri.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202301/medium-722277-gum.jpg https://www.gransnet.com/uploads/talk/202301/medium-920517-digger.jpg

The stay with your sister in warmer climes will do you the world of good Grammaretto.
I hope you'll have a wonderfully relaxing time and there is not a single leaf or snowflake on the line to delay your journey

I had a little weep for 🐶

As my trip to gather rongoa (Maori medicine) is uncertain, I have bought in Kūmarahou, (Pomaderris kumeraho).
I know from experience it has an almost miraculous effect if one can stand the extreme bitterness, even diluted 1-10.
As my health is rapidly sliding downhill as on a sleigh , it is going to be my twice daily tipple from now on. It has a rather pleasant after-taste.

“Early phytochemical studies showed that kūmarahou leaves contain quercetin, kaempferol, glycosides of quercetin and kaempferol, myricyl acetate, saponins, ellagic acid, certain O-methyl ethers of ellagic acid, leucocyanidin, and leucodelphinidin”

So now you know!

The saponins in Kūmarahou give it the colloquial name, Gumdigger’s Soap so if it doesn’t cure me, at least I’ll have extremely clean insides.

Gumdiggers by the way, were the men who dug for the resinous gum around the roots, after the majestic kauri trees were felled by vandals people selling them for ships’ masts,
Gum often contained fossilised insects and became a fascination for the Victorians, especially when turned into jewellry.

Once, the whole of the North Island was covered in kauri forest. When it had all been ripped out, the land reverted to swamp, dunes and gorse.

It's not just our BJ who gives history tutorials!

You always make me smile Lobstars
Sitting at different tables sounds like a movie farce
Mrs Doubtfire comes to mind.

I didn't get new teeth this morning and will need to wait until March . So I have booked a train trip to stay with DSis in Cambridge next month by way of consolation.

IKEA furniture is a pain. I only buy it 2nd hand when someone else has done the construction work.

DS is a dab hand at building them.
I hope the son of your Help makes a good recovery. Kaimoana . My DSis had a son rather the same. Incident prone. He suffers from brain damage after an awful incident where he almost died but keeps dogs fearsome type. His family can't live with him anymore though he is loveable on some level.

The David Bowie film was like spending too long in a modern art gallery with strange music and very bright moving images.
I managed to fall asleep on my friend
Next week's will be better.

Doodle My support lady is back and, at the moment reasonably well but it’s not easy for her.

Her elder (macho) son, having cut his hand and refused medical help, later had to be taken to A&E where he was admitted, put on intravenous antibiotics for cellulitis which turned into sepsis.
It was touch and go for days and he was in an isolation bubble.

He then had skin grafts (which didn't take, so today he's back for more) and is far from well.

We too were reminiscing; she’s been with me over 11 years and in all that time, has not enjoyed more than a few days of uneventful family life. The above incident is typical, it’s never anything inconsequential.

She’s a wonderful mother, stalwart of her family, a lovely, gentle person in frail health herself. Fortunately, she has a supportive husband and a successful, professional daughter who keep her going.

Thank goodness your DS saw you stranded at your lonely table

I wonder why IKEA is like the finals of Krypton Factor? Kitset furniture used to be popular here but it was never complicated.

I wanted to remind myself of the KF from the 70’s which I used to love but inadvertently clicked on a video from 2009.
The dreadful, jangling intro reminded me why I have never wanted a TV.


Old curmudgeon

Hello 🙂

We are just returned home from helping DS with his IKEA furniture......12 hrs of grappling for Mr M! He could do it quicker in his own but we are trying to -- flog a dead horse-- boost DS's diy skills.

This is a pop in as we gave to be up at 5.30 for Mr M to drive DD1 to hospital for day surgery. I'm in charge of the Dgds ......one of whom will be unexpectedly at home as she's just been sick......and the other is coughing and has a slight temperature. I was only down to do the school run! I feel doomed 🙄

H Beagle is still jolly.....but has a delicate digestive process and protein in her urine..... and a visible growth under her ribs. For now she's safe and happy 🐶 but we are watching warily 😢 She couldn't manage to eat the whole sausage she stole at DS house.....we had to cut it up for her 🙂

Hello all.
Cherry thank you we had a lovely time today. We spent a lot of it talking about our DGDs and the books and TV shows they used to like when young and also what their parents watched when they were young. Had a fun time reminiscing. Nice restaurant with lovely comfy padded chairs (always important when you reach a certain age 🤣)
I had similar training when I was at work too. Certainly the bit about not putting anything in the persons mouth and just making them comfortable. There really ought to be more basic training of simple things that everyone is taught at school. Like resuscitation and lifting someone’s chin up if they are unconscious.
No I don’t like cacophony either or background noise.
Just remembered a funny thing that happened at the restaurant today. DH and I arrived early and after saying we had a reservation in our name we were led to a large round table towards the back of the restaurant. We ordered a couple of tonic waters and sat waiting for the family to arrive. About 10 minutes later our son and family arrived (unknown to us) and a different waitress took them to another reserved table at the front of the restaurant. We were all sitting there waiting for each other to turn up. Fortunately our son spotted us as he went to the bar and we were all reunited (they joined us at our table as it was a nicer one).
Grammaretto that’s an amazing story about the horse. Good thing it was calm and under control.
Your Burns evening sounds fun. I will join you in spirit(s) and raise a glass to you and yours. 😊
Kaimoana I like the sound of the year of the rabbit. We could all do with a calm balanced life.
Is your helper better now and back with you yet?
DH is snoozing quietly in his chair. He’s just done 10 minutes on the treadmill and seems to be coping well with it. Talking to our family about the treadmill at lunchtime, reminded my DIL of the time when I went on the girls’ trampoline in their garden. I don’t think I’ve ever heard my DIL laugh so much in her life.

Sorry, memory went walkabout again

Interesting article from the BBC on this Year of the Rabbit.

www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zdbpvj6#:~:text=While%202022's%20Year%20of%20the,very%20gentle%20and%20clever%20animal.

Cherry Thanks for that advice - probably what I would have done anyway; never did like the idea of shoving anything into the mouth of a person having a seizure!

Grammareto I love Cranachan but these days, almost all the ingredients of Clootie dumpling are off my menu.

The Scottish songs sound fun, just the sort of thing I used to enjoy as a folkie.

It's interesting how climate (and finance) affect food choices. The further north you go in Britain, the more, warming, filling foods are traditional.

Sunken cakes are just another name for a delicious pudding - best with custard, cream or both

Hope the lunch celebrations went well Doodle

It's the New Year of the Rabbit/Hare.

According to Dr Hong Ling Liang of Glasgow University: "According to Chinese tradition this year is likely to be calm and gentle, bringing an energy that will help those looking for more of a balanced life.”

About time too.

I'm sure your dgds will support this theory Grammaretto

What news of Honey Beagle?

Thanks Cherry. I think it's possibly better without the fan and hotter. However I have been eating my way through the sunken offering.
Once when I was leading a horse at RDA a rider had a seizure. The carer thought it best to keep him on the horse, who behaved impeccably and seemed to know he was to stand still until it passed.
Horses are incredible.

Ah well Doodle there will be other delicacies at the Burn's Night. A df is bringing a clootie dumpling and I shall make cranachan. I will miss you.

I was at an evening of Scottish songs last night. It was good and very funny.
Seemingly there are more love songs in Scots than will ever be needed!

Grammaretto not sure if I can help really. Are you using a fan assisted oven to bake your cakes or a conventional one? You probably know this but with a fan assisted oven the top of the cake can often be cooked before the middle and therefore then the cake sinks. Conventional ovens, of course, do have their own drawback as usually the oven has to be opened to turn the cake for even baking which risks it from rising. Personally, my baking turns out better when the cake/sponge isn't to deep/thick in the tin but it doesn't always work. Not really being very helpful am I?
I've never eaten haggis, not sure I fancy the idea but ... I was a very picky eater when I was a child, now not so much ... still not sure about trying haggis though 😬. I like the sound of the rest of your Burn's night celebration 😁

Doodle my WP is quite a laid back individual except when he's trying to fix something so is naturally a calm presence quite fortunately with me as his partner ☺️ Your DH is fortunate to have someone similarly calm I think 😊
I hope (I'm sure you will) you have a lovely time with your DS1 and family today.

Kaimoana, yes first aid for when someone is having a seizure has changed considerably, thank goodness. It's pretty basic really, don't put anything in the person's mouth (unless it's to administer rescue medication), never try to restrain, if available put something soft under the person's head and then after the seizure reassure and keep the person safe if (which is usual) they experience post seizure confusion.
I must say I don't remember the experiment with 'Smellyvision' could be vile I think. I love music, but not Slade but I also love it quiet or silent. For me there is a time for both but I don't like cacophony 😁

Gulp! Haggis……eat it…😳. Ooh sorry Grammaretto I’ve just remembered we have a prior engagement that night.
Will you have a man with a sporran and bagpipes? We were on a cruise one Burns night and the cruise line had booked a piper but due to bad weather they kept cancelling the port he was due to get on at. Poor chap was chasing the ship around the med before he finally caught up with us. I had my picture taken with him. He was about 6ft 3 without his bonnet. I think I came up to his waist 😊
If the sunken lemon drizzle is going spare I know a good home for it. Have a lovely time tonight and hope your MiL is getting on well.
Cherry does your WP ever panic or is he a calm person? Whenever something has happened to DH I tend to become very efficient and calm sorting things out then fall apart later.
Our team won!! Fantastic news about time too. 😊
Kaimoana I kid you not, that Slade song is played everywhere here at Christmas. The singer who wrote has been quoted as saying That’s the pension sorted. He was right about the royalties.
I loved Foyles War too. Probably watched the whole series at least 3 times (I forget the plot). I really like Michael Kitchen too (although if I were an actor I might have chosen like drawing room or orangery rather than kitchen for my surname)
Off to lunch with DS1 and family tomorrow.

Cherry You know, I wouldn't have a clue what to do if someone had a seizure in my presence. I know basic first aid but the old style, 'don't let the person bite their tongue' seems quite feeble now.

Yay! 'our team' won - I think you should send them one of your magnificent commentaries as an accolade - what could honour them better?

Grammaretto Just as you posted that lovely picture of your fire, someone local lit a wood fire which sent deliciously smokey aromas into my house.

Do you remember the experimental, 'Smellyvision'? cinemas pumped appropriate aromas into the auditorium so moviegoers had a 'complete and exciting experience'.
It didn't last long and the complete and exciting experience was once more confined to the back row.

I love Haggis and we can buy it locally, in fact my son has just asked what I'd like for my birthday

I wouldn't presume to recite Ode to a Haggis when a braw mannie like this can do it so dramatically.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VFIIABZVzk

The piper's face is a picture.

Thanks for the link to Slade, Doodle.
I lasted 3 seconds...then they started 'singing'.
What a truly horrible cacophony - and that's played in supermarkets every Christmas? Good grief!
I'm surprised the customers don't run for the doors in droves.

I don't do noise, I don't do musak...a plague upon that George O. Squier.

It's much cooler today and I shall spend it peacefully listening to the excellent Foyles War. Michael Kitchen is a favourite.

Last night I listened to the original version of St Trinians, still comical after all these years.
Lovely Alistair Sim as Miss Fitton.

You're both right Kaimoana and Grammaretto seizures, especially generalized ones, are scary and shocking for those who witness them. How my WP coped in the early days after I developed epilepsy I don't know, but he did. He still finds them scary but not for the same reasons that he did at first. I think many people have a better understanding of what not to do when someone is having a seizure now but I know many people do panic a bit. As for (focal) impaired awareness seizures, that's a whole different matter! I had one in front of a previous GP before I had a definitive diagnosis and he didn't recognise it for what it was, he called it "an episode" 🤨.
Grammaretto, please don't imagine, I hope your family never witness you or anyone they love having a seizure x

Thought I'd give you all a football update today whether you like it or not 😁. After losing spectacularly week in week out, today we won (and didn't concede either) 🥳. I'm thinking of sending the team a simple message, just saying "now rinse and repeat". Do you think I should 🤣

Doodle The theme is Burn's Night for the dinner party. You know the menu. You are welcome if you can recite a poem, sing a song or bring some wood for the fire and can eat haggis
Consider yourselves invited!

My lemon 🍋 drizzle cake sank in the middle again. I asked DGD if she could detect the cause so she is away doing her homework.
In the old Rayburn it was never so disastrous.
I quickly made an apple pie instead as that isn't supposed to rise.

Luckily the rug, (it's not a carpet really) is various shades of red so the wine stains are hardly noticeable.
Thanks for the bicarb tip Kaimoana. Maybe that's also the answer to sunken cakes?

I am going to venture out soon to an evening musical event and tomorrow I plan to visit DMiL.

Just spotted your fire Grammaretto . That’s so nice and cosy thank you………where’s the crumpets?

This is Dave Hill from Slade the guitarist not the drummer,
I think this is who Mamissimo meant. A very short fringe.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpfHSqLXePI

Slade and their hit record Merry Christmas which plays in every supermarket in the country every year 🤣

Kaimoana I always feel the house (flat) is tidier when the carpet has been hoovered (I still use hoovered though I suppose vacuumed is more correct coz my hoover is a Dyson 🤣) looking forward to the book launch in September we must have a signing party in the Lockdown gang .
I have read a Maureen Lipman book too but don’t think it was the same one. I have always loved her sense of humour and especially the ology BT TV ad.
Your drink sounds nice I’ll have to get Jeeves to bring me one too.
Mamissimo ooh I hate the short fringe. Mine is short but it’s only a whispy thing so doesn’t matter too much. Why do they have so much trouble in getting the right balance between Slade and Claudia Winkleman.
Well done your MP for helping with the meds. The alternative would have made for an interesting election poster. 😊
So pleased your SIL has a new job that will help your DD relax a bit. Hope the wardrobe building goes well, if we don’t hear from you again we’ll assume you have built yourself into a wardrobe.
Cherry what an eventful afternoon. Glad you didn’t get carted away to hospital. Your WP sitting in ignorance in the car park. Thank goodness you were able to make them understand. Did you actually get the dental treatment you wanted?
Yes pleased about the treadmill. I was dreading trying to send it back. Getting it out of the box was hard enough, getting it packed away inside would be a big problem.
Hope you are doing ok too.
We are going out to lunch on Sunday for our DGDs birthday. So looking forward to that.
Ooh no Kaimoana that photo is of a member of Slade. The drummer I think. Slade were an extremely popular and successful group many years ago (in fact we have a singing Dog which plays their Christmas hit when you press it’s paw)
I will try and find it for you.
I love the story of the Hon Clarissa and the Axminster carpet.
🤣
Grammaretto I love your photos. That is beautiful.
We have a frozen pond too. Unfortunately, ours is at the end of our road It’s been flooded for ages but is now a large area frozen solid. We have to skirt round it with great care.
Really can’t trust the Royal Mail these days. My invitation to your dinner party hasn’t arrived yet. I will have to sort out something fancy to wear. What day is it? 😊

My fire to keep us all warm

Indeed Cherry an ordinary day sounds very attractive doesn't it.
What a shock it must have been for the dentist and crew!! I'm trying to imagine my lot if I had a seizure. They wouldn't know what to do.

I am glad your card fraudster was prevented from stealing from you Doodle . My df found he had paid for his fraudsters holiday.
Well done too on getting the treadmill working safely and you and he are having some fun on it
I had a busy day for me serving in the shop and planning my dinner party next week.
I also walked along the Riverside and my df came for his usual supper at my fireside.
This is the frozen pond.

I should imagine the hospital dragged it's feet on your medication Mamissimo simply because they were all hoping you would stand naked on the steps.
I'm sure they'd have brought all the patients down in beds and wheelchairs for what promised to be a guaranteed panacea.
Laughter is the best medicine and the look on the MP's face would have done them all the world of good.

I don't know Slade, apart from the art school, so looked it up and if this is the chap you mean, I'm glad I'm not the only elderly poseur with coloured hair. But if you look anything like this......

Blimey Cherry what a drama for you - and scary for them. Glad you're fine now though.

When I was a nanny in London, the Hon. Clarissa and her friends were having "drinkies and bikkies" (yes, the adults really did talk like that) at a house across the estate.
Someone spilled red wine on a white carpet (the hostess had no children) and of the 26 people there, not one knew what to do, so they rushed for 18-year old me.
I didn't know either but had a lucky guess, covered the stain with salt - and it worked.

On your estate Grammaretto you could make a paste of Bicarb and spread it on.
Also a thick mix of salt and white vinegar works. Then clean with warm water and washing up liquid.
Of course you've already done this, haven't you?

I didn't do so well on another occasion when the Hon. Clarissa's washing machine spat the dummy and sent foamy lake across the kitchen and all over their adjacent sitting room carpet.
I quickly grabbed all available towels but those machine hold a heck of a lot of water and the children were having a wonderful time paddling in the suds.
I threw down huge wads of stored newspaper and encourage them to stamp on it to soak up the flow.

Alas, by the time Hon. Clarissa and horse returned, The Times Literary Supplement was indelibly printed on the beige Axminster.

Well, I had my dental appointment yesterday .... it took a curious turn 😬. One minute I was talking to the dentist at least I think that was the case, the next ... there were two nurses and a trolley bed next to the dentist chair 🤨. Then I heard some voices muttering something about moving me to a hospital bed (my dental practice is next door to a hospital). No I hadn't passed out in fear of the dentist 🤣. All that had happened was that I'd had a seizure and I wanted to go home, my WP was sitting in the car in the carpark waiting! I was fine by this time but what a fuss they were making mountain out of molehill. I tried to sit up and was ushered to lay back down. I told them I was fine .... eventually seemed to take an age for them to realise I managed to get them to listen. They insisted escorting me to the car though. Quite embarrassing!
I've got antibiotics from the dentist 🤣

Brilliant news Grammaretto, now you pay your debt and avoid the bailiffs. 👍 to your MP.
Don't know what the answer to a red wine stain is other than what you tried. It happened to us years ago, we had a lovely rug. The rug's on the garage floor now, sorry not something you wanted to hear.

Good thinking batman Doodle, very innovative 😊 I do hope the treadmill helps your DH.
It's ridiculous how someone's credit card number issued in the UK can be obtained fraudulantly and used in America. I'm glad your bank was on the ball, phew!

Sometimes it's good to have an ordinary day Kaimoana see above 🙂

Hope the quieter lobStars are doing okay.