She's a great age, Skylark - must be all the good care you've given her.

She my pal, saw me through some bad times i can tell you xx 
Going thru to my bed now, settling down, been a busy day. 
Goodnight everyone 

They become part of the family, don't they?

Goodnight and sweet dreams, Skylark.

Of course it goes without saying .
Goodnight to you, sleep well xx

Goodght and sweet dreams everyone.

Hugs for the night owls.

night yogi

*night owls*

Popping in to wish you all sweet dreams

Skylark that's so lovely I hope you thoroughly enjoyed yourselves

Good morning everyone

 

Fair weather here at present but rain is forecast for this evening and overnight.

 

 

Good morning all milder and damp here.
I can't believe it's a week until christmas!!!!

Good morning everyone.

 

Weather is cold and damp.

 

I need to finish off my gift wrapping today. I was going to do it yesterday but eldest son hijacked me and we went to the garden centre for a wander round.

 

Have a good day everyone.

 

 

Good morning, Summer.

I know, it's suddenly upon us!!

Good morning everyone, it's dry at the moment but loads of rain later on. As we are having our Christmas a little earlier it really is rushing down upon us now and I am just about to start the first preparations for the meal.

 

We have the house group Christmas Party this Thursday, has anyone else got Christmas 'do's this week'?

 

Enjoy your day everyone

On our church website we have listed the various Christmas services. The person who had updated the site would have done a copy and paste but in the process something had happened. The result was that the midnight service which starts at 11.30 pm was being shown under the services for the 25th instead of the 24th.

I've corrected it but the mistake could have resulted in people who only come to church rarely might have come to church on the wrong day.

 

A Paddington Bear story on the radio this morning:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02f84dc

The latest Paddington Bear book (Love from Paddington) is a collection of letters written by Paddingon to his Aunt Lucy who lives in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima. The story on the radio was written for the Today programme but would be similar to those in the book.

 

Good job you noticed it, El.

 

I was in a long, very slow moving queue in the bank today. At the head of the queue was an eldery and very grumpy gentleman who complained loudly at having to wait. He accused one lady of skipping the queue and complained that she was gossiping with the teller instead of doing banking (neither of which was true!).

The irony was, when he sat down at the teller's desk, he proceeded to regale her with lengthy tales of woe instead of doing any banking.

The people in the queue were either laughing or shaking their heads in disbelief at him!

Yogi, I wouldn't be surprised if that grumpy gentleman is hard of hearing. That would explain why he was speaking loudly not aware that he was and wouldn't hear the people behind him in the queue. He may feel isolated as a result of his poor hearing and that could be why he was so grumpy.

Or he may be a Victor Meldrew.

 

I'd like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but I honestly think he was a Victor.

I decided to read my gas and electricity meters and submit the readings as my quarlterly bills are due around now. That was about 11 this morning. I noticed that in the last couple of days they has used estimates for the bills, not that the bills have come through yet. My gas reading was slightly more and the electricity slightly less. For some reason, they questioned my electricity reading as it was significantly different to their estimate. 10 units is hardly significant. I still submitted it and the response was that they may email me about this.

 

At 2.30 a meter reader came and read the meters. Now either it's a coincidence that I read my meters shortly before they did, or they were so alarmed by my reading that they arranged for him to visit me as a matter of extreme urgency.

Oh poor Victor, perhaps he's having a bad day.

 

Ooh I wonder whether it was just a coincidence EL, 10 units doesn't sound that significant

The electricity reading 3 months ago was 13148. My reading today was 13642 so 494 units used. Their estimated reading 2 days ago was 13652 so they are using 504 units. So in the quarter my actual usage is 2% less than there estimate which is why I'm puzzled by their reaction.

It's possible that their computer thinks that I've used minus 10 units in 2 days

I had that once before EL.  The meter reader came and the reading he took for the electricity meter was way above what it actually was.  No idea why.  So I checked and submitted the real reading and I think the gist of it was that their computer thinks that the meter has gone all the way round the clock as it is a minus reading from what it was before.  Yes crazy isn't it, but that could be the explanation.

I truly believe Victor's rant was not an aberration, it seemed like a permanent state of affairs to me. 

They better not bill me 99990 units of electricity as a result if their computers are stupid enough to think that the meter has gone all the way round the clock

10 units hardly seems a lot, so their reaction does seem OTT. Probably nothing to worry about though.

 

Recently, I tried to submit my readings online and they wouldn't accept my gas reading. When I called up to give the readings, the lady said my current gas reading was less than the last (vastly overestimated) reading which is why it wouldn't register with the computer. So much for computers making things easier.

Surely they won't be that daft?! 

I'm waiting to see what happens. I may not know for a few days though.

 

The next US presidential elevtion in 2016 could be between Clinton (Democrats) and Bush (Republicans) and I'm not joking.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30503524

 

 Hope they let you know soon and put your mind at rest.

Oh no!

Ditto!

Goodnight and sweet dreams everyone.

Hugs for the might owls.

Nite nite, sleep well and have sweet dreams Yogi 

Good morning everyone.

 

Weather is very windy atm.

 

Sorry I missed you last night, Moonie.

 

It's a PB day, so I won't be around until late evening. Have a good day everyone.

Good morning everyone

 

Very cloudy here but the rain has stopped.

 

Yogi, I hope you have a good day with PB

 

It's just possible that there is life on Mars (at a microbe level):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/scie...environment-30456664

 

Good morning everyone, we have rain rain rain forecast as far as the eye can see sadly.  Mostly not downpours but enough to be irritating when you are trying to get things done.

 

I am sure it will be a great day, as always, with PB Yogi.  Is she really excited about Father Christmas?

 

Enjoy your day everyone - nice to have moonie popping in

Squiggle, I hope the rain isn't as persistent for your area There is some rain forecast for my area but not a lot and some dry days over the next week.

Good afternoon very mild here indeed today, I can't believe the difference.

I've been busy running errands and am going to the dentist shortly to get this angry wisdom tooth looked at.

Yogi I hope your PB is going well and you're having lots of festive fun

Squiggle, when is/was your xmas dinner? I hope the plans for house group are going well

El & moonie I hope you are bith enjoying the day

Summer, I hope all goes well at the dentist, you don't want problems with wisdom teeth over Christmas 

 

I haven't mentioned anything about the Cheltenham Banksy for some time. That's because nothing significant has happened since I last posted as the application for listed status is taking a long time.

 Everyone
Was busy yesterday and couldnt get on.
Oh Summer, hope all goes well at the dentist, the last thing you want at Christmas is toothache.
Granddaughter is going to a Christmas party after school today, so sorted out her clothes. Nana taking her, she is having a great time with all her activities!
Hope you having a lovely time with PB Yogi
Weather here a lot milder, thank goodness. I went out this morning all wrapped up, but didnt need it. I went into BHS toilet to remove my cardigan!
Hope you get the electric issues sorted El

I too really hope you can get the wisdom tooth sorted out before Christmas Summer, tooth ache is the last thing you need.  Our Christmas Dinner is next Monday, I have done the breadcrumbs ready today and will hopefully do the stuffing on Friday and the bread sauce on Sunday when my daughter will be over to stay to lend a head.  The groceries, plus turkey, are scheduled to arrive on Saturday.

 

Our house group Christmas get together is tomorrow.  It's turning out to be a little manic.  Because I didn't manage to get to church on Sunday I have so much running around and picking up of friends to do before the 1pm kick-off and with a long-standing hairdressers appointment in the morning at 10.30.  I am hoping to cook the quiche which is my contribution to the lunch whilst I am at the hairdressers, I will set the oven.  And then I have to pick up one friend, go to another friend's house to drop off presents and pick up something she has left for me, pick up another friend and then get to our friends' house where the meeting is. All I can say is wish me luck.