General Chat

I am sure that Esme benefits from your games with her Linda.

I hate it when it is icy as I am then really a prisoner in my house. As I need to walk everywhere unless I can get a lift it would be lethal to walk on the icy paths. Still I am grateful that I can afford to heat my home and also grateful for technology that gives me the opportunity to communicate with people so I don't feel lonely. Friends on here are a godsend in these icy times.

Morning all


Well it didn't snow overnight and the roads are clear so my friend is coming to take me out. The pavements in town are a bit tricky but Ive flat shoes on today not heeled boots so will just have to be careful.

AnninGlocs, I know what its like to be stuck inside as I haven't left the house since 7 Dec!! I was beginning to get a bit tetchy with being stuck inside so glad im off today .

I received some fab news yesterday in the post to say, I'm get my eye op now on the 29 January at 8.30 so don't have to wait until after April like I was told. A taxi is collecting me and taking me back as far too early for Patient Travel so that is marvellous.

I hope everyone else looking in is well and keeping warm.

Yes Ann I agree, this site is a godsend when one is on their own indoors as there is always someone around on here to chat too.

Have a good day all

Florence int he hebrides

It is boring to be stuck inside Ann, I am going to miss playing with Esme this afternoon.
I should have gone to my slimming class this morning, but I haven’t. I normally drive to some free parking just outside the town centre, then walk in, but the pavements are just hard packed ice. There is a paid car park right next to the hall where the class is held, so I could park there, but I saw a photo of that on the local Facebook page. It hasn’t been cleared at all, so is treacherous and not worth the risk.
We went to Morrisons on Monday when it was deep slushy snow, they hadn’t cleared any of their paths, my daughter went yesterday and everywhere was just lethal, so thank goodness we got all our shopping in earlier. I wouldn’t have thought twice about going out a few years ago, but now I worry about falling. Luckily we have a long open porch on the front of the house, so no snow could fall there. There is just a short section of snow to walk on before I can get into the car , so I don’t like that. I have a friend who was getting out of her car a few years ago, when she put her foot down on the ice, she fell and broke her hip, so I am very wary now.

Great news about your eye op, Florence!
Where do you have to go for that?

But 8.30! I don't know why appointments like that always seem to be so early.
From here we have to go to either Glasgow or Inverness for most operations, and sometimes clinics too. Even though that's a drive of at least a couple of hours, and more by public transport when there is any, appointments always seem to be early in the morning - which can often mean going the evening before and staying overnight.
They don't seem to take distances into account.

I have to go along to our village hall at lunchtime today. I hope their carpark is OK. It's a gravel surface, but even so, can be really slippery when icy.

Have a good day shopping florence.

Linda, I think, as we get older, we are more aware that it is easier to break bones and having done so it is an inconvenience while they heal. I am also aware that, because I am nervous about it, I am more vulnerable as I don't walk with confidence.

We must have posted at the same time Florence, it is great news that your eye op is going to be earlier than you thought.
I have spent the morning reorganising the kitchen cupboards. When the new kitchen went it, I put the things where I thought they should go, but I realised that there was too much stuff in the larder unit. By rearranging things, I managed to free up a deep drawer which now has all the pasta in it. That gave me two free trays in the larder unit to spread out all the tins and bottles. I don’t do much baking these days, so I could throw out a lot of baking tins and I have too many casserole dishes, but they can stay put until the next time I feel enthusiastic

I asked my daughter if Esme has gone to school and she has. The school bus normally comes down their drive to the house gate, but as the drive is so bad, Esme had to walk to the road. Apparently that took a long time to do, so her mum is going to take her large buggy to the end of the drive to bring her back . That won’t be easy to push or pull, but it will be safer for Esme .

My eye op is here in my local hospital in the day surgery unit. All being well, i should be able to go home after lunch.

Had a lovely day out but....the town was full of snow on the pavements so we were careful where we went and was lucky twice to get a parking space outside the 2 places we wanted to go to.

I managed to find a new washing machine and that has been ordered and should be here next Thurs/Fri. i got an 8kg 1400 spin for the same price as the 6kg 12oo spin, so a real bargain and free delivery too.

So glad Im home now as its starting to freeze outside and its cosy indoors as daughter had put on the heating at 3pm.

Coffee time, then a read of the paper and then tv.

Florence in the hebrides

The weather here is still the same, sunny, but absolutely freezing. Originally, it was supposed to thaw by now, but that has gone back until Sunday or Monday. We decided to go to the super market today instead of tomorrow. That was fine apart from the car park being icy. Then we decided to go for lunch in our favourite cafe on the nearby retail park, it is part of a posh furniture shop, the food is not the standard cafe fayre, so is always very nice. We had parked at the far side of the retail park as OH wanted to look in TK Maxx. We walked over but the last part was icy, so once we had finished lunch OH went for the car while I waited outside the shop. It was so cold , I was wearing jeans and in just a few minutes, my legs were incredibly cold . It just showed why you shouldn’t wear jeans when you are hiking

Another reason to not wear jeans when hiking or walking is that, if they get wet, they don't dry quickly.

Pleased that you managed all that without slipping over Linda. We used to go to a department store in workington (and also have been to the one in Whitehaven) for morning coffee or lunch. It was really nice but the workington one has closed. It was Dixons.

No change here, it is still minus one and everywhere is covered in frozen ice and snow. I think that I have tidied everything I can, so am getting bored now. I can’t wait for it to thaw so I can get out for a walk.
I have been looking at the family tree again, so will probably do that again this afternoon to fill the time in.

The thaw has set in here, thank goodness - so far.

First thing this morning, every twig on every tree and bush still bore the snow which fell on Tuesday evening.
Little bits have gradually melted or fallen off during the morning, and now many are snow-free.

The ground (except on the roads, which are clear) is still covered with snow, but less densely than it was.

On the other hand, milder weather will mean rain instead of sunshine and blue sky.
We're never happy!

It was -5 earlier but has gone up to -1. Lovely sunshine and pale blue sky so looks nice out, but I am staying in the warm. :-)

Afternoon all
A bright sunny day here but the brisk NE wind means it is very very cold outside. No snow here but there was a lot more in town on Thursday. Daughter went off to town today so i shall hear what it was like later.

I managed out to the recycling bin with a load of broken down boxes and was good to get some fresh air for a few minutes but I didn't hang about brrr. It is good to see the sun though even if there isn't heat as it brightens up the the surrounds etc.

Plenty jobs to do indoors today to keep me busy and a baby's blanket to finish off later.

Well better see to the laundry as the wash has finished and so to tumble it.

ironing can wait until tomorrow!

Hope everyone is safe and keeping warm

Florence in the hebrides

-2 now and misty sun has disappeared.

Been lovely up to now. Bright blue sky and sunshine. But now the sun has gone and the temperature is falling rapidly. It wasn’t warm and the frost on the grass and shrubs is still there. Not due to be so cold tonight.

Yep sun has gone so heating on now and the wind is picking up once again...

The sun is setting now, but has been shining nearly all day, after a frosty start.
We have had no snow at all this winter.

It was a lovely afternoon looking out from indoors ;-)

I do believe the afternoons are already looking lighter for longer :-D

It is due to be minus five here overnight. The temperature is dropping really quickly now it is getting dark. All the curtains are closed, so the house should be nice and warm.
I managed to find some fairly recent baptisms this afternoon for OH’s mother and her siblings. They must have been added to Ancestry fairly recently, so that was time well spent this afternoon.

I hope that you are all warmer than we are. It was supposed to creep above zero today, but I don’t think it has. It is due to be minus three overnight, so not as cold as it has been. It is now foggy, so that isn’t good. Tomorrow it is forecast to reach the dizzying temperature of five degrees. I hope that it does so that the ice can start to thaw.
We haven’t been out again, so OH was looking for jobs to do. He decided to move a couple of rails up in his wardrobe, so he can store some shoes in the bottom. The previous people were quite short, so the rails were low. As we are much taller, we can have them higher. After he did his, I asked him to do mine. As it meant taking all the clothes out, I have sorted out a bag for the charity shop before I hung them up again. The clothes in the wardrobes where we have a second tier hang better now the rails are higher

It is five degrees here and a weak sun so positively tropical. Can't see any wind either, the frost had all gone yesterday so maybe a taste of looking forward to spring.