Very windy and wet here, I am hoping to stay in.  Yes please do tell us any news of your client EL.  Lovely picture Yogi

 

 

 

         

 

         

Morning all x
In a rush , as per  

Hope news is good re your client El x
Bye for now xxx 

Very nice pictures, Yogi and squiggle

 

I'm back from my client. My ill client is back home. He had been in Dilke Memorial Hospital for a couple of weeks recuperating. The Dilke is in Cinderford and is a small hospital in the Forest of Dean. I've never been there but I would like to think that it is the modern equivalent of something like the Royal in the series of that name.

 

They think that it is a pancreas problem which would explain some of the other symptoms he's had. In the last few months he has gone from 11 stone to 8 stone and has lost much of his strength.

Thank you for letting us know EL.  I hope they can successfully treat the pancreas problem, the trouble is once you lose the weight it does sap your strength.  My hubby was carrying a little bit of weight (just the suspicion of a tummy) when he got ill and he was adamant that you need that reserve in case you do get ill. 

 

I came across this picture in one of my emails and it made me smile and I felt it would be very fitting for us in this thread

 

 

 

         

Squiggle, lovely and fitting picture

 

I hope they can successfully treat my client, but given that he has been a smoker, it doesn't take a genius to suspect that the outcome may not be good.

Hi everyone. I have returned from my shopping trip with eldest son. We managed to get quite a few gifts, so I am feeling tired but upbeat. 

Squiggle, my mum also subscribes to "keeping something in reserve in case of illness".

Atm, I've got enough in reserve to see me through several bouts of illness.

El, I hope they are able to treat your client's pancreatic problems.

You may remember some time ago I posted about the roadworks in Gloucester by Severn Trent which resulted in a telephone cable being cut and thousands of people were without phones for several days (I wasn't one of them). I've just found out form the local paper what the roadworks were all about and why they were there for such a long time.

 

Since September last year, Severn Trent has been working to increase the capacity of the city's sewers so they can cope better in heavy rainfall.

Large scale work has been undertaken in Worcester Street, Kingsholm Road, Black Dog Way and in Westgate car park.

The project is expected to draw to a close, and be ready for use, in March.

Severn Trent's solution manager Wayne Ellis said: "We will be completing the project a few months after we had originally anticipated.

"But we have vastly increased the capacity of the sewer system here.

"And in the case of an emergency, Gloucester will benefit.

"If this was here in July 2007 when the floods came, the city would have coped a lot better on the first day as this station would have pumped the water away from the city.

"It basically acts as a release valve."

The station, with a perimeter of huge concrete rings, measures 20m by 10m and contains three pumps capable of shifting 6,000 litres of water per second.

The new sewers which are installed in the city, around 850 metres in total, are able to hold the same amount of water as two Olympic-size swimming pools.

However, the point isn't just to hold waste water, but to move it quickly away from the town centre.

That's where the pumping station in Westgate Car Park comes in.

"This station filters the water of debris and pumps it over to the river, away from the city," added Mr Ellis.

"Usually the water would be up to the drains in the roads, but now it will have somewhere else to go thanks to the new sewers and the pumping station."

When the work is completed, the station will be fitted with an enormous concrete lid and the surrounding area will be landscaped.

Severn Trent staff will receive training in how to operate the machinery in times of emergency.

Andy Aston, mechanical and electrical installation manager on the site, said: "We will probably train around 15 to 20 people in total.

"They will then respond and use it when it is needed."

Meanwhile, further work is planned in Kingsholm Road, Northgate Street and Heathville Road in Gloucester before March next year costing another £2.8million in total.

 

Looking down: A view from a crane of the work by Severn Trent Water in the Westgate car park.

I found this lurking on Youtube:

 

Brilliant EL

Love the video, El.

 

Let's hope the new sewer system is worth the months of disruption to the people of Gloucester.

I think the main reason for the work is to reduce the risk of flooding in the part of town close to the River Severn, in particular the part near the electricity substation. Back in the summer of 2007 when we had the worst floods in out lifetime, the flood water got within half an inch of flooding the substation. If that had happened, the people of Gloucester and nearby would have had to been evacuated. Contingency plans were drawn up for this with people being moved to Bristol, Birmingham and London. It would have been the biggest evacuation since the height of the Blitz in WW2.

 

With the level of the sea expected to increase over the years due to global warming, the risk of major flooding in Gloucester (which is only 30 foot above sea level near the river) will increase, so I think the disruption was well worth it. Lets hope that we don't get as bad a flood for many years, but it is better to be safe than sorry.

 

Although the new system helps the centre of Gloucester, I doubt if it would have helped the people who live on the outskirts of Gloucester who were flooded. Although my house is not on the area most at risk of flooding, it is not that far away, and with increasing sea levels, the risk will increase, but hopefully not whilst I'm around.

 

In that case, I hope there are no floods for many years to come.

 

Signing out for the night, my shopping expedition has left me feeling a bit tired.

An early night required, I think.

Goodnight everyone.

Night night Yogi, I hope you will sleep the sleep of someone who has had a very productive, and hopefully enjoyable day   Sweet dreams.

 

I'm off too so night everyone, hugs for the night owls

quick hello & goodnight hugs in here, will catch up properly tomorrow but hope you all had a good day x x

night summer yogi squiggle

EL you always come up with some really interesting stories

Good morning everyone

 

I don't know if you have realised it yet, but today is going to be rather windy I know that there are those in Scotland who want independence from England, and after today's wind, I wouldn't be surprised if Scotland becomes physically detached.

 

Take care if you have to leave home today

Good morning everyone, you could well be right EL .  I don't know what the winds are like in the North and Scotland but they are gale force here, not looking forward to driving past the coastguard station later, if you get a gust up there its quite frightening for a minute or so.

 

I hope that everyone stays safe today, I wouldn't be going out if I didn't have to, and we are promised heavy rain this afternoon too

 

 

 

             

good morning It's very wet, cold & wiiiindy here today! My poor mum has to travel home in it so I'm hoping everything goes smoothly, the radio are reporting delays on eastern railways We did enjoy her visit though, it went by fast. Yesterday we went to Harrogate, originally myself and SIL planned to go as a Christmas treat, but ended up with 6 of us going lol Harrogate's christmas lights are stunning! I'm just catching up on everything I've missed, it's amazing how much you do miss in just a few days lol El I hope your client is going to be alright & is being well cared for. I'm loving all the Christmas pictures in here Stay warm & safe everyone

Morning x
 El, yes today may be the day ! 
Very high winds here and lashing rain thru the night.  I believe the north is suffering very badly. I have to go out 

Keep safe everyone xx

For all those who are thinking of travelling anywhere in the north today, keep a check on your local news before setting out. The police in Scotland are at present saying that if you do have to travel, travel with caution, but they may say later that people must not travel. If I was having to travel there today I would think of taking sandwiches and drink with me in case there were delays.

 

Although the weather is nowhere near as bad here as it is up north, it is still very windy, and heavy rain is expected this afternoon. I'm in the lucky position of being able to work at home and have some control over when I decide to visit clients - I deliberately did a bit of local shopping yeaterday so that I don't need to go out at all today.

I hope everyone is OK with this stormy weather. No sign of Yogi today which is unusual, though I do know there are power cuts in parts of Scotland.

 

Take care everyone

I hope Yogi is OK too EL, I have heard there are 130mph gusts in parts of Scotland.  It is simply horrible out there down in the South West, I was glad to get home again.

I'm glad you got home as well Here it's been very windy all day though it does seem to have eased now. Much of the day there was some light rain, but just over an hour ago there was about half an hour of very heavy rain. Anyone on foor who got caught up in that would have been soaked to the skin - brollies would have been useless.

Hi all x
Computer not working well , tried for ages to post. No TV either  
Very high winds here, buses going off early etc
Where Yogi is, is very bad so she may have internet problems and powercuts  
Hope you are all safe and well. Wont be back on tonight.
Take care all xxx 

Thanks for letting us know - at least you are safely back at home

Thank goodness you are safe home Skylark they just showed pictures of a closed bridge near Edinburgh and the reporter was having trouble standing up, I hope Yogi is safe and I hope there will be no serious injuries from this storm.

Good evening everyone. The strong winds have been quite frightening today and I think there may be a few slates displaced on our roof - we could hear them lifting with the wind. I've been in bed all day (still am) as the stomach pains and sickness came back with a vengeance last night, so I haven't gone outside to see if any slates have actually fallen off. Hopefully, it wont be as bad as it sounded.

Hope you are all safe and well, and Summer I hope your mum got home safely.

You've had it rough in more than one way today, I hope you feel better soon, and I hope your roof is OK

Me too, I really hope your stomach settles down

Morning x
Hope you are feeling better this morning Yogi x
It seems a lot calmer here today, thank goodness , i hope you all had a peaceful night.
Having a family day today so wont be around.
Take care  

Good morning everyone

 

A much quieter day today than yesterday. Yogi, I hope you are feeling better today and that there's no damage to your roof.

 

Skylark, I hope all goes well with your family day

good morning hugs for yogi & skylark, yogi sorry to hear you're unwell I hope you start to feel better soon. Skylark good luck today. I hope both of you stay safe in the gales It's milder here today, but I'm still wrapped up extra warm because I'm fighting off a sore throat. So far i appear to be winning

Good morning everyone. The gales have gone but we've had a couple of light snow flurries this morning.

My poor greenhouse has not survived intact, I will need to replace the panels in one side of the door. Considering how strong the wind was, I fully expected it to be flattened, so I think I got off lightly this time.

Summer, hope your sore throat gets better soon.

Thank you all for your good wishes, I am feeling a lot better today.

Good morning everyone, I am so glad the wind has died down for everyone.  I hope your family day is filled with love Skylark   Yogi its a nuisance about the greenhouse but in view of some of the winds we were seeing it could have been so much worse, hope your roof survived more or less intact.  Summer make sure you stay wrapped up warm, and don't forget to gargle with warm salt water to fight off that sore throat.

 

Two interesting points, the headline picture of my paper this morning shows a wind turbine on fire because the wind was too strong, makes you think.

 

And secondly round my friend's house yesterday was the most beautiful Christmas tree.  Artificial but it looks absolutely real, about 10 foot tall with the most beautiful baubles.  Guess where she got it?  Well her daughter works up our local Tesco and every year they take the store Christmas tree, baubles and all and throw it in the skip so her daughter had a word with the store and took it for her mum instead.  What a waste!  And they say every little helps.

 

 

 

         

I'm glad you're feeling a bit better yogi I hope it continues on for you. Oh your poor greenhouse! Thank goodness it wasn't completely flattened

Squiggle, I'm shocked at tesco! What a waste, they could have donated it to charity!

Or they could just pack it carefully away in a corner of their warehouse and bring it out every year as most do.  I hate waste, for me it speaks volumes about how much they actually care about saving money, with that attitude I don't trust them to give their customers better value for money.  And I bet if the truth were known none of the big supermarkets are any better.

I dare say you're right squiggle, what an un-Christmassy thing for them to do!

I had yet another idiot ringing me claiming that there were problems with my computer. I told him that I knew this was a scam, to stop wasting my time, and put the phone down on him. That's the third time they've tried it out on me in the last year or so. The phone number shown on my caller display was 01234567890, so that's an easy one to remember. I had one a couple of days ago from the same number going on about being a survey of some sort. Today's caller announced himself as David, and the one a couple of days ago as Austin White. Both good English names for people with obvious Indian accents.

 

Another good reason for me not to shop at Tesco, squiggle - they are wasters.

My goodness el, what a ridiculous phone number! Can you ask BT to block that specific number?