Moonie, I'm glad you are feeling better

 

Cute lamb, squiggle

Thanks El 

Have you finished your "letter to clients" extravaganza yet? 

Moonie, I finished that engagement letter yesterday. Took most of the day. It's a template letter I would use for future new clients. I have a client database spreadsheet with their names, addresses, and columns for different services such as company accounts, self employed accounts, self assessment tax returns etc. If a client uses a particular service then a Y goes in the cell for the client in the appropriate column. Then when I run the letter template it automatically includes the relevant section for that service.

I know it sounds complicated and it is. Although creating the letter template has taken time now, it saves time and messing about in the future.

 

Good morning overcast here but dry and calm

El, good idea keeping the template, I would do the same because it'll make life easier later on.

Squiggle that lamb is very cute indeed I wish the little fella yesterday had let me catch him, I'd have like to have stroked his soft wooly coat

Moonie I hope you feel warmer today, and slept well. Did your favourite team win last night?

Yogi I hope you do go to the garden centre I'm tempted to do the same myself!

Summer, one thing I discovered when doing the template was that in covverting the Word document from Word 97-2003 format (doc) to the current format (docx) the field links to the client database spreadsheet were disrupted. I needed to re-establish the link to the spreadsheet and rematch some of the address lines with the columns in the spreadsheet. If you've ever used Mail Merge in Word this would mean something to you, if you haven't then it's meaningless and would sound more technically complicated than it really is

 

Sounds like you have it all in hand El, excellent  

Sweet, my lot didn't play yesterday. It was just games that happened to be televised 

Yep, feeling much better today and slept well too fankoo 

 

What is it with women and garden centres? 

 It's council refuse collection day here today. We put our wheelies at the edge of our properties and the binmen leave them just about anywhere. Just went out the front. Our side of the road had been mostly emptied but the other sides bins have been left in the gutter. The refuse truck has just been along to empty the the unemptied bins and and as usual left them strewn all over the pavement. 

 

I would have thought it was a tad dangerous to leave wheelies in the road as it is a little breezy which could cause one to be blown infront of an oncoming vehicle

 

 Sorry, rant over 

Second lot of washing on the line, third one in the washer 

I am having a very efficient wash day today 

Moonie, if it's not too late you could take a photo of the bins left in the gutter and make a complaint to your local council. As you say, they could be blown in front of a vehicle.

 

It is very dangerous moonie, as EL says you should take a pic and publicise it.  As my grandsons are bikers I know how something like this blowing suddenly into their path could be lethal.

 

It's turning into a beautiful day now so lovely for getting washing dry.

At the time of your post the binmen had returned, emptied the bins and put them on the pavement El 

I agree with you and El, Squiggle but never thought of it at the time 

Lovely sunny day here now, with a nice breeze too 

Moonie, something to remember if the binmen do that again.

Yes indeed El

 

Washing three and final wash of the day on the line  

Afternoon all.

 

Weather is still wet and windy up here. I am envious of Squiggle and Moonie's good weather for drying washing.

 

El, good idea to make and keep a template letter for future use.

 

lol Moonie, I saw plenty of men as well as women in the garden centre today.

 

Summer, did you venture out to the garden centre?

I bought some veg plants to add to the ones I already have - onions, beetroot and (a first for me!) Swiss chard. I also bought another tomato plant to add to the ones I'm growing from seed, and some thyme.

I also got a triple pack of giant bubbles for PB to blow.

 

I think there is a universal problem of empty wheelie bins blowing about on windy days, but if binmen leave them in the gutter, it will only make the problem worse! I agree that taking a pic is a good idea for the future, Moonie.

 

I had some soup and crusty bread at the garden centre - NO CAKE! - and now I'm going to have a cup of tea while my chilli cooks away for tonight's dinner.

 btw, we seem to have another wasps nest in our garden and it appears to be in the trees close to me washing line 

Every time I go out to me washing a wasp hovers near by. Last time he brought in reinforcements, well another one 

Hi Yogi  

I bet those men where dragged there by their good ladies  

PB will be one happy bunny on her next visit then 

 

And you didn't happen to go into the supermarket in case some cakes happen to fall into your trolley then Yogi? 

 

*is shocked* 

 

 

Haha, you might be right about the men being dragged there by their wives!

 

Yes, I think PB will like the bubbles. Somehow I think I'm going to hear, "More Granny, more please!". Granny is going to be out of puff!

 

Even when I nipped into the supermarket for kidney beans to put into the chilli, I didn't let any cakes fall into the trolley.

Do your council do a wasp removal service?

 

We've had to get someone to remove a jackdaw's nest from our roof, before the birds laid any eggs. There was one nest in our roof and one in my neighbours, so the guy did both today. Let's hope they don't find another way in, now their point of entry is blocked.

Awww she is a lil darling 

 is even more shocked 

Should be more  and less of  

 Don't panic, I'm sure my devilish side will return when I go to Morrisons later this week.

They did two for me last year Yogi. One in the enclosed entry between our and next door houses. One in the porch over the front door. Not sure if they will do the ones in gardens though. But will give them a ring 

 It's worth asking them.

Teabreak over, off to hoover and polish the bedrooms. 

I did all my hoovering upstairs and downstairs Sunday 

Btw I just rang the council re the wasps nest and they are sending someone to have a look Thursday next week 

Good result, Moonie

Yes indeed El 

The HMRC has replaced the way that it answers the phone when people ring them on many of their lines (not the agents line so doesn't affect me). They now use voice recognition to work out the service that callers want to speak to.

One of the accountancy websites and HMRC are looking for feedback from the public. Of the comments posted so far, this is the stand out one. It's the voice recognition system which asks him the questions rather than a human being.

 

Posted by a Derek Redwood:

I initially asked for " Bereavement Service " and I was then asked to explain the nature of my call
I stated that it was in relation to an income tax repayment for someone who had died recently and was then asked...

" Is the call about your own affairs ? "
After saying " No. I am still alive ! " someone picked up the phone

What a terrible way to treat " customers " or whatever it is they call us these days

Some way to go before becoming a contestant on Masterchef.

 

Evening I've had the best day!
I went out for a gorgeous walk but didn't want it to end so went exploring further and discovered a fantastic add on loop, where I saw the first of the season's bluebells starting to bloom!
I then found some eggs for sale outside a cottage, so decided to pick up some bread & salmon on the way home.
I did 7.5 miles and the wild garlic smelled, and looked amazing
I share my salmon with a tired Bramble, and the eggs were delicious.

I've just had s nice bath and am going to get the yoga mat out shortly. This time off work is just what I needed

El, I've never seen mail merge what does it do? I hope the issue is now resolved and doesn't slow down your work any further

Moonie, oh no! I hope those wasps can be evicted?!

Summer, that sounds a fantastic day

 

Mail merge is used in Microsoft Word when you want to add things like addresses to a letter. If you want to send the same letter to lots of people it's useful as you just create a database of their addresses, put in an address block in your letter, run the mail merge, and there's your letters done with the addresses put in from your database. The advantage is that once you've created the database, then if you want to send another letter to the same people you can do the letter with an address block and there's your letters done without having to type in all the addresses again. You can do labels with addresses in a similar way.

It's a bit fiddly to get used to working out how to do it but once you know it can save time in the future.

 

Hi Sweet  

Sounds like you have had a super day. I'm so pleased the weather has been kind to you 

I see the lucky Bramble had some salmon. She is a lucky gal 

Sounds like you had a fabulous day, Summer, and Bramble was very lucky to share your salmon.

Evening night owls I've been to a lovely yoga class. I hope you're each having a good evening

El, I'm going to have a look for mail merge I mistly use excel but I do use word from time to time

I gope your yoga class was relaxing, Summer.

 

I'm going to get off and read for a while before bed - TV is rubbish tonight.

Goodnight and sweet dreams to you and Moonie.

Night owl hugs for Ros and Velvet.

It was thank you yogi

Aw sweet dreams, hope you enjoy your read

night yogi

Good morning everyone

 

A bit foggy here, should lift soon and be a warm sunny day.

 

I'm off shortly to go to visit a client. Won't be back until mid afternoon.

 

Summer, it's worth having a look at Mailings/Mail Merge. I think squiggle has used it a lot.