🦞 The Lockdown Gang still chatting 🦞

Hello Lovely Lobstars!
I'm feeling rather virtuous because the Christmas cake is in the oven and I m about to make a cuppa.
My friends (I've had 2 staying) have gone into Edinburgh for the day so I can now slump in a chair.

I must wake up later as I have a vaccination appointment at 4pm.

I've arranged a viewing of a house in Edinburgh on Tuesday which is rather exciting.

Yesterday I was foraging with the group I forage with and as it was the last one of the year we our teacher set up a stove and table in some local land and we cooked flatbread, made hawthorn chutney and cooked blewits. We also made ink from oak galls and rusty nails. there were several children and he made tea from mugwort which is supposed to give you vivid dreams.
I passed on that 🤣

I like dogs too but with reservations. I don't think they should be in cafés . Pubs with gardens yes but crowded cafes smelling of wet dog is not nice.
Also after the dog bite a couple of years ago I am more wary than I used to be.

I hope you enjoyed your day out with your friends NN it sounds so special.

Ooh Doodle what a coincidence. Sometimes the train would arrive at PD on the up line and we'd have to cross the line in front of the Steam Engine...I was terrified. The train sometimes used to continue into the actual dockyard and the track went over the main road and between 2 houses...the clearance either side was just inches. The houses are still there and I'm always amazed at how narrow the gap was to manoeuvre a beast of a steam engine through it.

NN I actually went to Pembroke on a steam train when I was young. My cousin and family lived there and I went to stay with them for a week.
How lovely to meet up with such old friends. I love ABBa hope the tribute band is good.
I like dogs. We have three in the family DS1 had a cockerpoo and DS2 a German shepherd and a golden retriever. the GSD is the most scary looking being big and black but is the softest thing imaginable.

Morning Lobstars...it is really cold here this morning... Apparently I've been growling since the temperature started to drop on Thursday. DH is not helping but showing me pictures of the car temperature guage showing 38 degrees ( that was a tad hot actually).
Grammaretto... I'm at glad you had a lovely trip to Cambridge...it sounded just what you needed and now a date for moving too.
Notspag....ooh I felt your pain when you removed the wardrobe... I'm hoping the prospective buyers don't kick off about it and have an equally large piece of furniture to cover it. What a lovely legacy for you and your DH that your DMiL was and is held in such high esteem. I hope they all raise a glass to her as they enjoy her gifts one last time.
Doodle..I love a good train journey...memories of the Pembroke Coast Express all the way from Paddington to Pembroke Dock to see my maternal GM. It was actually a steam train ( even writing that makes me stop and think...Really...you are actually that old that you remember steam trains) and about 15 minutes before we were due to arrive Mum would produce a flannel and star to try and wipe the smuts off my face from hanging out the window at the first sign of the sea ( Port Talbot). No health and safety back then.
One of my favourite books is one I first heard as book of the week on Radio 4.... The narrator was reading an excerpt about a phone conversation he was overhearing...It was a Geordie ( is it PC to say that) Nanna talking to a grandchild... Saying Nanna loves you...she does...Nanna loves you...etc. It perked my interest and it's one of only a few books I've re-read. It's called Attention all Shipping and the author set out to visit all the places mentioned in the Shipping Forecast. It's a real dip in and out of book. Anyway that's what I thought of when mention of trains and overhead conversations came up. I think I need to get out more🤣.
We are off to Wells today to meet up with some dear friends of over 40 years ( for me...7 for DH). We've tried to meet up 3 times and each time I've come down with something and couldn't risk pushing it on as A is very frail. We are then going to a pub somewhere SW of Bristol for an Abba tribute night. It's the place we stay at in Maeve when we break our journey down to Wales. It's part of the Brit stop scheme that we can park in the car park or field for free and that was the plan for this weekend but common sense prevailed and what seemed like a good idea when we spotted the flyer advertising the show back in June ( temperature in the 20s) was definitely not so appealing at minus 3. DH mad fool would still have done it but Lady No Way...put her foot down..( stamped it actually which made him roar with laughter) and said complete with pointy finger... There is no way that I am going to freeze my...( Well you can guess ) off in a pub car park when I have a log burner and a lush comfy bed to sleep in only an hour away. This Dancing Queen got her own way...

I put my head above the parapet and commented on a thread about dogs. I probably shouldn't have but people are never going to agree where and when dogs should go...I love dogs... Especially Spaniels who are known to be nuts until they about 3 so I am mindful of their behaviour and always keep them on a lead ( unless on a dog friendly beach) but it does annoy me when women ( and it's nearly always women) start acting hysterically ( not always an over exaggeration either) at the sight of them on leads walking to heel. We always try and cross the road or move away if it's obvious a person is worried but is it really necessary to carry on making a scene when it's obvious that neither of them are going to jump up at you from 30ft away. I didn't actually put all that on my post...I just quoted someone else who said...
I trust dogs who don't like people...but don't trust people who don't like dogs. It didn't go down well!!!!.
Oops.

Have a happy day Lobstars...❤️

What a lovely thing to head Notspaghetti she sounds a lovely lady.
Went for a walk this morning but it was bitterly cold despite the sunshine. Early night for me as I have lots of jobs tomorrow
Sleep well all

Thanks Doodle - I think, had she lived, they may have shared Christmas drinks with her.
Certainly the ones she was closest to.

As regards moving late in life.
She moved to be near us agefmd 96.
She joined U3A, book groups and a bridge club.

A not-so close neighbour (a bit further up the road and really somethingof a "loner") stopped ne yesterday and said how she thought she was a lovely and inspiring woman. She said she had brought experience and energy to the book club "according to my sister-in-law".

How lovely was that.

I hope that when we Lobstars move in later years we also bring energy with us.

In "off" moments I think of her determined attitude and make myself "get a grip"!

We can all move in our 90s if we want it enough.
💃🏿

Thanks * Grammaretto* i did.
The trouble with being a bit older like us is that buying a home means we’re likely to stay there possibly for the rest of our lives. Being close to people you know is worth a lot as is being happy with your neighbourhood. I think when you live on your own that’s as important as what the house is like. Also how much maintenance will be needed going forward.
Hope something just right for you comes up before mid January. 😊
Notapaghetti what a wonderful thing to do for your MILe neighbours. A very kind idea I bet they appreciated it.

Today we emptied my mother-in-law's garage cupboard where she kept her wines. There were maybe a dozen bottles there which she bought in ready for gifts and entertaining last Christmas.
We then found a collection of her holiday postcards and my husband wrote "Thank yous" on them to her lovely neighbours.
...then we went out like 🤶 🧑‍🎄 and delivered them.
It made me smile (and weep a little) as she was always generous with wine and biscuits/cake/mince pies 🙂

I was going to buy some plants for her local friends and neighbours but this seemed fitting.

The auctioneers collected some items too... I hope their sale realises more than their collection charges!!!

Hello Lobstars.
I think my news is a bit better.
I now have a date mid January when the house buyers want to move.
I have just viewed another house with my df from the North who is staying for a few days.
We were disappointed with the kitchen which is totally fitted recently but is small and not at all to my taste.

I could live with everything else except it's at the opposite end of town from where I am now. I'll have a think. It's a bungalow and they go quickly.

We both liked the garden. Trouble is there's very little on the market at present.

I hope you have managed to catch up on sleep Doodle. I had a much better night. There's no rhyme nor reason it seems. 🤔

Night night all. I’m off to bed. Didn’t sleep till gone 4 this morning so need an early night
I hate it when people talk on their phones in the trains or play games or music. Why do they think we all need to hear what’s going on.
Sleep well all x

I keep thinking about the phone calls ixion
😂😂😂

Re "business connections" my son took a call whilst he was last here - it was from someone asking him to quote for something... He was very chirpy.
It was someone he just met on a flight from Los Angeles the week before.

Very clever ixion.
That made me laugh!

I remember reading about a young man who, on his mobile, throughout a long train journey passed the time by regaling his life and business history to the whole carriage, who, in turn, were getting increasingly angry about the intrusion.

He closed by spelling out his mobile number and a great, knowing, smile went round his fellow passengers who spent the rest of his journey ringing him non stop.

My oldest son doesn't use trains very often but he always comes off a flight with new "business connections".
🙄

Safely home and in my freezing bed, I am chuckling at Ixion's description of our fellow travellers who broadcast their lives on their phones.

Actually it wasn't too bad at all. More wartime spirit and very few noticeable phone conversations.

grammaretto i Hope by now you are home. So pleased you had such a good time with your siblings.
I’ve had a busy day and just sorting myself out for bed.
Hope everyone is ok. Church for me in the morning.

Peterborough x2 seems to be your nemesis, Grammaretto. I hope you are chugging safely homewards now. At least having a seat is a relief essential to someone of my age.
Did you get any interest in, or support for, your prospective move from your siblings and family?🤞

Your MIL's carpet laying experience reflects exactly that of my mother's, NS.
You are not alone. My mother's carpet came from John Lewis too, newly fitted when she moved house in her early 80s. Like so many household names of her generation, John Lewis were her 'go to'.

She had a massive Edwardian triple wardrobe, one that broke down into 3 separate units, all held together by a plinth and cornice, I suppose you'd call it.
Hats off to the removals people who got it into her new bedroom, but after that, there was no-one who was interested in deconstructing it, finding somewhere temporary to put it and to rebuild it afterwards.
I think it must just have been too much hassle to do anything other than say to the fitters 'oh, in that case, just cut round the blessed thing it'.

After all, it was always planned to be her final move and in those circumstances, I think I would have done the same, tbh.

I find these days that one doesn't usually have to engage one's fellow long distance traveller in life story conversations - fine details of others' lives are mostly broadcast during mobile phone conversations they are holding.

Whatever happened to simply I'M ON THE TRAIN. ?

I'm that traveller NotSpaghetti !
Not the whole story it would take too long but the poor man next to me has had to pretend to be interested in my train journey adventures 😃🤣

DS has just texted to tell me British trains are the safest in Europe but that could be because they are often stopped.

People always tell me their life story on trains.
Usually quite weird things... and things they haven't (apparently) told anyone before.

I've managed to get caught up in delays.
power lines are down so after 2 hours stuck at Peterborough we were moved onto a diesel train bound for Aberdeen. It's very busy but at least it's moving and I have a seat. I do seem to have adventures on trains.
😕

Ha ha.
We did have one till about a month ago Doodle - it went to the tip with some other carpet offcut, no longer in the house.

No! That’s awful Notspaghetti. How silly and annoying. Don’t suppose you’ve got an off cut you can put there.
Grammaretto I’m so glad you’re enjoying your stay. Maybe you can visit again soon. Yes we do have some lovely pubs. Some of the rural ones are great. Not the city ones though. Too modern.

No.
It's gone!
😬😬😬

Not impressed with John Lewis though!

That's awful NotSpaghetti. Quickly put the wardrobe back?