Once this is all over, I hope people remember which garages hiked up the prices - and avoid them like the plague.

Ive got my son,s "Oor Wullie" boots, theyre fair braw   He has a hard hat here i am tempted to wear it too

Get that camera out, missus!
Oooh, a hardhat................I could do with one of them, when I go under the icicles.

  If we lived nearer i wouldve handed it in to you

Thanks Skylark.

I better get on with some housework, catch you later.

Byeeeeeee 

I had a phone call this morning from the son of a an elderly client of mine who was terminally ill to say that she had passed away peacefully last evening. She had had a good happy day, so to the extent that anyone can have a good death, she did. I've know her and her son for many years as we used to be neighbours, and I have been doing her tax returns for some 18 years.

Strangely enough, an hour later and someone rang looking for an accountant, so I may get him and his wife as clients.

I was looking at this thread a few moments ago and suddenly, as I moved my mouse, the images on this page started getting bigger and bigger, until it was ridiculous. Skylark fully magnified . I was wondering what was going on. Other websites were normal, but the forum wasn't. In the end I discovered that Firefox has a zoom function which is controlled by Ctrl and the scrolling button, and a file of paper had been pressing against the Ctrl key. Back to normal now

Oh El           Do i need to go a diet then ???   Off food shopping, catch up later xxx

Afternoon everyone.    Yogi and Skylark please take care when you are out and about.  Would not want anything nasty happening to either of you.

El Loro, sorry to hear the sad news that another of your clients has passed away.  As you say she did have a peaceful death and is now in a better place.  I do hope all of these sad happenings won't bring your spirit down. 

Although I'm sorry that my client has died, I had known for several weeks that her demise was imminent, and I rather she went quickly and peacefully, rather than just linger on. It doesn't bring my spirit down though .

Skylark, you will be relieved to learn that I was able to shrink you back to normal size, so you don't need to diet, at least not until after Christmas

The BBC news at lunchtime showed the soldiers shovelling away the snow in Edinburgh, I think they said the heaviest snow in 40 years.

Hi everyone, glad to be home again, its a bit exhausting all this whizzing about.  EL I do hope that you gain new clients as you say a sad goodbye to your old one, I am glad that she had a peaceful death.

Do take care Yogi and Skylark, conditions sound atrocious where you are.  Skylark I would so love to see a pic of you in your son's boots, as you said the other day I bet you looked a right ticket, what a lovely descriptive phrase   I hate places which cash in when there are shortages, I do hope people make a mental note of such places and go elsewhere when the crisis is over.  Speak later, going to stretch out for a while.

Evening all.  Hubby has just rung to say he's on his way home so I won't be back again tonight.  Need to get tea over and done with before the live episode of Coronation Street comes on at 8 o'clock!!

Will catch up with you all tomorrow. 

hi everyone Ive been out shovelling some of the pavement at our door, its been hard work and didnt make much impact really. The old man 2 doors up came out and said he hadnt been out for days poor thing. I offered to go to the shops for him but he said was ok. Dont think he is to be honest. Was thinking about handing in bread and milk tomoro (thats if there is any) but dont want to offend him, he seems very proud. What do you think ?

Skylark, I would be tempted to get your neighbour some bread and milk, unless you know he has got people who visit him regularly. Many elderly people are very independently minded and just won't ask for help even though they need it, and in this horrible weather, it can be a life saver. You could say somethink like "I was doing my shopping and realise I'd bought more than I needed - would you like to have some, so it doesn't go to waste?"

Dont think he has anyone visiting or a Home Help etc. Thats a good idea El, thanks x

Good morning everyone.
Just a quick visit as I'm going Christmas shopping with hubby today.
Skylark, I agree with El and would drop in on your elderly neighbour with some bread and milk.
El Loro, sorry to hear about the death of your client.
Squiggle, I hope you aren't overdoing it with all your buzzing about.
Joyron, did you enjoy the live episode of Corrie? I thought it was well done - but I don't want Peter to die.

Good morning everyone

I see we've got a blue theme now, it's called Blue Winter - Seattle must think we are in winter, I wonder why . In Gloucester, no frost today, just very cloudy. At least there's no fog here, but according to the forecasts, I've got fog here througout the day, tomorrow, and Sunday.

I don't watch Corrie so didn't see yesterday's live episode, but I didn't have a power cut at the end of it as I did on Monday

Good morning everyone, I agree Corrie was very good this week, and if last night's episode was genuinely live then I am impressed.  A quieter day today I hope, I need it.  Good luck with the Christmas shopping Yogi, I hope you get everything you want, at bargain prices, and the crowds aren't too annoying (I can't bear it when I get hemmed in when I want to whiz down the high street - what am I like?)  Ooh I've just caught sight of the tropical palm tree background against the blue, very pretty.
 
         

Afternoon everyone.   Great picture Squiggle.  Yogi, I really enjoyed Corrie last night.  The whole cast did really well and it's hard to believe the episode was live.  I really hope that Peter pulls through.  I'm sure in the medical dramas (Holby & Casualty) they don't get a specialist in for such an operation; in fact I'm sure I've seen them deal with this condition in the ED!!  We will just have to wait until tonight, when hopefully Peter will make a miraculous recovery. 

Hello there again.    You must all be busy today.  The halogen heaters arrived a while ago.  Put them together and tested them out.  Both work, thank goodness.  I think it was Skylark who said the lights are quite bright, which they are, but the heat thrown out by just one setting is pretty impressive.  Just have to wait and see how they affect the electric consumption now!!  Hope you are all having a good day, whatever you are up to.  Will try and catch up with you later. 

Joyron with my halogen heaters I have them positioned slightly away from me because, as you say, the light from them is very bright.  They heat a room quite quickly and the light is quite cheery.

Good afternoon everyone

I love your series of Chrismassy pictures, squiggle

That's good your halogen heaters have arrived, Joyron

Considering the weather forecast was foogy all day today in Gloucester, the weather's not bad. No fog at all, that I've seen, and the cloud has broken up to leave a pleasantly sunny afternoon, though obviously no heat wave.

I've just been shopping in the local Co-op getting exciting things like bread and milk. I also got a couple of bottles of Shloer, 2 for the price of 1. I'll be taking a bottle with me to our Church Christmas meal tomorrow evening. Looking forward to that  Of course I missed out last year being in hospital.

Whilst I was in the Co-op I noticed that they now stock their own range of sundaes, a caramel one, a chocolate mocha one, and a strawberry one. They cost £1-25 each. Marks & Spencer have had exactly the same range for quite some time, also costing £1-25, but you get a discount if you get a couple. Either the Co-op is copying M&S, or they are actually made by the same supplier. M&S have also recently introduced their own version of a few of the Muller corner yoghurts, but these are slightly different, though I think the price is similar. As they say, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

Hello everyone.
I have returned from my Christmas shopping trip. I didn't get everthing I wanted, so another trip will be required in the next few days.
I need a cup of tea and a lie down now.

Hi everyone  Working today, feel really tired. The weather is a bit better, thank goodness. The thought of trudging round Christmas shopping fills me with dread, the shops are always so hot and loud music thumping out. Will get as much as i can online!

Good morning everyone

I hope you are all well and ready to face the madness of the Christmas shopping frenzy that's likely to take place this weekend according to the news.  i'm off out in a few minutes as I reckon that I'll then avoid the worst of it.

See you later.

Good morning everyone, hopefully staying in and watching a Christmas movie today, don't fancy joining the crowds for Christmas shopping

Good afternoon everyone

By going into town early I succeeded in avoiding the pandemonium of the shopping frenzy. I succeeded in getting things like presents, cake and puds for Christmas. Then as it was the second Saturday in the month, it was the coffee morning at the church hall, so I was in time to go to the second half of that. I tend to go to that to help out at the end in putting the tables etc away, but that wasn't needed this time because they are needed out for this evening's Christmas meal. And I had my first mince pie of the season

Amongst the people I chatted with was someone who sometimes goes to our church. He's not the most cheerful person I've met, and always seems to have something to moan about. He doesn't like the Christmas season because he doesn't like the commercialisation of it. Quite a few of us don't, but he lets it get to him. His wife is the same, so they are suited to each other, but it's not surprising that they don't really fit in with other people, so find themselves a bit isolated. I try to be friendly with him, but it's a bit of a hard job.

He works in one of the well known banks and deals with loan applications - probably the perfect job for him

Good afternoon everyone.
I've done some more online shopping today, as I can't face any more shops.
Middle son has volunteered to help me put up the Christmas tree and decorations this afternoon. He normally avoids it like the plague but his girlfriend loves all things Christmassy, so he has had a change of heart.

My mum would say, "it saves wasting two houses".

Afternoon everyone.    Hubby has gone out for a little while so I thought I would pop in and say hello to you all.  Glad you had a successful shopping trip this morning El Loro.  I had to go to the shops this morning to buy a new kettle.  When I turned the old one on this morning it tripped the fuse box out.  Hubby changed the fuse but the same thing happened again, so I decided it was time to invest in a new kettle.  I had to resort to boiling water in a saucepan for our early morning cuppa.  Couldn't start the day without it.

Probably won't be about much until Monday.  Have a good weekend whatever you are doing. 

Yogi your mum sounds like a very wise woman   Mind you I do feel sorry for those for whom this wonderful season is a time for misery and not rejoicing.

squiggle, I love your picture of Santa.

 I hope he's got breakdown cover with the Reindeer Arousal Company

My mum is a gem, Squiggle.

Good morning everyone

Rescued from the depths pf page 2

The church Christmas dinner was good - I left here at just after 6 and got back at 11. There was a little puzzle sheet for everyone when we sat down, 25 lists of initials representing various Christmas characters, biblical, films, pantos, books, for us to try to complete during the course of the evening. Whoever got the most points got a bottle of wine, which because of medication, I should avoid. So I did my sheet with assistance from my regular dinner buddy, and put her name down. She felt a bit embarrassed when it turned out that we had won and she told me that she would give the wine to a friend.

The only question which no-one got was HTR. The question setters had got the questions of the internet, and I won't waste your time by seeing if you can work it out because it was wrong. The answer given was Harvey The Rabbit from the film It's a Wonderful Life. Of course they got the films wrong. They must have been getting their James Stewart films miced up because of course the correct film is Harvey which I don't think has anything particular to do with Christmas.

There was a short presentation from a teenager who through her school had spent a couple of weeks in Roumania in the summer on some school charity work.

The evening finished with a Christmas quiz which was excessively tough. I think there was a maximum of 30 points. After we scored our own sheets, the question master asked if anyone had got 25 points or more - No. 20 points or more - No. Eventually it turned out that the winner was someone who had got 11 points. I and a handful of other people had got 10 points. I think the question master realised that he had set the questions at too hard a level, more appropriate for the top-end questions for Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

Good morning everyone, wow those questions sounded tough EL (how did you sleep btw?) off to church soon to see the children doing the Nativity, I always love that   Speak to you later

         

Good morning everyone. I managed to get the tree and decorations up yesterday, with help from my middle son.
El Loro, that sounds like a difficult quiz.
Squiggle, I love watching the little ones in the Nativity.

Hi everyone, got my grandaughter today so it just a quick hello and cheerio

Like a log, but not on a fire

But toasty warm I hope

Yogi our Joseph was about 4 years old, with a beard!

Not getting the wee one till 2 now, so i can get a cuppa in peace!   Aww squiggle, i love seeing the Nativity, with all the children

Snug as a bug in a rug, but without the bedbugs