done that loads of times when my son was little skylark glad you had a lovely day

aaww squiggle - so pleased you daughter loved her photo book - yogi  I hope you enjoy your visitors tomorrow

Well Christmas Day is nearly over and it's the end of a very long day for me.  I am glad to read that you have all had a good day.  I'm looking forward to a restful day tomorrow.  God bless and all my love to all you lovely people. 

Good morning everyone and a happy Boxing Day but try to avoid the fisticuffs

 

I hope everyone had a great day yesterday and aren't too exhausted to enjoy the rest of the Christmas break.

 

My brother and I are having a good time. Started on that M&S christmas cake and it is possibly the best one I've had - nice taste, soft and yummy.

 

I had taped the Doctor Who and we saw it later, and thought it was a very satisfying story, and the best of the Christmas ones. And a nice touch at the end.

 

I saw your comment about Downton Abbey Skylark, and although I don't watch it, I agree with you that ITV made a bad mistake. It's just as bad as when at the end of the first part of say a two part drama, ITV show the highlights of the second part giving away everything which happens next week.

Good morning everyone, I am planning a nice quiet day today.  Still some tidying to do but I am sort of doing it bit by bit because I just feel lazy.  I heard on the radio that some people were queueing for the shops to open from 5am to return gifts and also I suppose to get some bargains in the sales.  Good luck to them but its not for me.  How about you?  What are your plans for the day everybody?  Hope you have a lovely time with your visitors Yogi.

 

EL I am glad it is going well and that you and your brother are enjoying the food, the Christmas cake sounds yummy, I might start on mine today, depends on how hungry I feel later.

 

Love to everyone and look forward to catching up on all your news

Nice you and your brother having a good time El, and yes very annoying when the TV company show you something that gives the plot away before you have actually seen it 
Have a nice lazy day squiggle, no the sales arent for me either ! My son has gone uptown with his Christmas money but he wont be long as he doesnt like busy shops.
Got my sister and a couple of friends coming for lunch.
Have a good day everyone  

good afternoon everyone and happy boxing day I'm glad everyone had a lovely day y'day and is relaxing today I slept for 13 hours and still had to force myself to get up, I must have needed it! I could easily go back to sleep again now We too are lazing about until tonight when we'll call in on my MIL Skylark did you enjoy Downton? I thought it was a little slow in places but I still enjoyed it

Hi all x
That was a good sleep Summer ! Yes i found the beginning of Downton a bit slow, but it got better. Wont say anything else to spoil it for others who havent seen it yet x 
Hoping to get granddaughter to bed early so i can relax a bit x 

Hi everybody

Hi Ros, how are you? 

Hi - I am fine thank you been to a family buffer - Have you had a good day???

Yes thanks, had a couple of friends down for lunch. House is a tip, but it will keep till the morning 

aww same here -  myhouse is looking distinctly tatty - but housework can defo wait

 

Signing out, got a busy morning, then the rest of the day is mine 
Goodnight all 

night skylark

Good morning everyone and a happy Bank Holiday Tuesday to you all

 

Yesterday I opened the surprise present from the person at church I helped with their tax, and, as I thought, it was a large box of chocolate biscuits. With the smaller boxes I bought before Christmas for my brother's visit, I've got quite a lot

 

We saw Poirot last night which was quite a lot lighter in mood than the previous Murder on the Orient Express one which was grim in mood.

 

Just put out the neighbours wheelie for them as they are collecting today (instead of the usual Monday) and transferred some of their rubbish to mine as theirs was overflowing, which might mean that the collectors would just have left theirs. Although the neightbours' cars are there I havent seen any sign of them over the last day.

Good morning everyone.

Yesterday was a lovely day with the family, and today is going to be a chill out day for Mr Yogi and I.

It was nice of you to help out your neighbour with the wheelie bin, El. Our binmen won't empty the bins if they are overflowing, so Mr Yogi is going to take a trip to the tip and get rid of our extra rubbish.

Summer, I did get a couple of pics of Keira opening her pressies, so when I have some time to myself (and can remember how to do it!) I will post the pics for you.

Love to everyone and I hope to pop back later.

Good morning and happy bank holiday I hope everyone had a lovely boxing day I felt unwell so laid around snoozing, I didn't like being off my food, but I plan to make up for it as soon as I can I need to tidy up this morning because my SIL is dropping off her house bunnies for a couple of days. I hope they remember me, I plan on making them feel less shy around me! They are timid little creatures El, that was a very kind thing you did for your neighbours this morning I'm sure they appreciate it

Good morning everyone, sorry to hear you were feeling a bit unwell over Christmas Summer, hope you can make up for it a bit eatingwise now   Enjoy your chill out day with Mr Yogi, Yogi, I am having one too.  I managed to get the house back to normal bit by bit yesterday (a good way to do it I exhausted myself the previous year trying to do it straightaway, this year I hardly noticed it).

 

EL what a kind man you are that was very neighbourly of you.  And I was impressed that bin men are collecting today!  When we moved down to Devon 10 years ago about a month before Christmas I looked at the little chart they had given us to see when my collection would be at Christmas and was a bit nonplussed to read the little symbol which said if your collection is due today you won't be getting one where we had lived before they always came for the rubbish even a day or two late.  They had laid on a skip up the rubbish dump (before it came to be called the recycling centre ) because of course they didn't normally take food waste and I had to run it up there.

Summer, I hope you are feeling better tonight and have been able to eat something.

Hope everyone has had a good day.

Signing out for tonight. Leaving hugs for any night owls.

*early birds* Heavy rain woke me, it's stopped now but I'm awake Yogi I must apologise, I've only just seen your post from yesterday morning, you must have posted while I was typing mine! I would love to see pics of Keira thank you. Did she enjoy herself?! I hope everyone had a good bank holiday, and are having a lovely time still. I didn't do much at all but did start to feel better So what are our thoughts about the new year? I like to look back and list my highlights of the year and then look ahead at hopes for the new one. *leaves early bird special of pancakes, waffles, fruits, toasts & cereals*

Good morning everyone

 

Squiggle, I hope the Christmas rubbish collection in your area has improved from 10 years ago. In Gloucester, the black wheelie (for non-recyclable items) is collected every two weeks on Monday in my area (garden the other Monday, recyclable & food waste every week). In the last few years, my black wheelie Mondays have tended to be on Bank Holiday Mondays so if they didn't do it the following day, that would be very unfair for people in my area.

 

Summer, thank you for brekkie and I hope you are feeling better than the other day

 

We watched the first episode of Great Expectations yesterday evening. It is good and Gillian Anderson is hypnotic as Miss Haversham.

 

Summer, my thoughts about the New Year are that although I am financially secure for the future, a lot of people are concerned about theirs, particularly job-wise. As my parents were not well off when I was a child, I had a frugal lifestyle so I have never lived beyond my means. Unfortunately, a lot of people have lived for years on credit, and when the bubble bursts, they become unstuck.

Good morning everyone, Summer I do hope you are feeling better this morning.  And I hope you don't have to start back to work too soon, you worked so hard before Christmas

 

EL so true, its a very uncertain future for very many people and I do really feel for those who have got themselves into debt, its so easy to get into and so hard to get out of.

 

Hope everyone is feeling well and enjoyed their Christmas.

 

Yes Yogi we want to see the doggy pics

Morning X
Very windy and cold here today  
Just off out, computer making a very strange noise, son says it wasnt working well yesterday so if i am not back you will know why. Fingers crossed tho 
Have a good day  

Good morning everyone. Weather here is awful. It's blowing a gale and very heavy rain and hailstones, too.

I'll get son or hubby to upload the pics of Keira in the next couple of days.

I watched the first episode of Great Expectations last night. I agree that Gillian Anderson is very good as Miss Havisham. I look forward to watching the rest of the series.

I thought the Christmas episode of Poirot was fabulous. I love David Suchet as Poirot!

Hope you are feeling better today, Summer, and thank you for breakfast.

Ros, hope you've had a lovely Christmas.

Good morning Skylark, I'll keep my fingers crossed for your computer.

good evening Thank you all I am feeling much brighter, I ventured out for a windy walk this afternoon and although I didn't feel up to my usual energy levels, I'm glad I went the fresh air felt wonderful Squiggle I'm back at work tomorrow but only for 3 days and then I'll be off again for another 4 I hope you're having a nice time, are you having visitors around new year? Skylark I do hope you're computer holds up, they are such a pain when they go faulty El I'm pleased that after your childhood you now don't need to worry about financial stability, you work hard so you deserve it My parents were penniless when I was a child, I often used to claim to my school friends that I got clothes & money for Xmas so that they didn't laugh at me for not getting a fancy new bike etc it was a lie though, I'd always get some pound coins in a card from someone and a pair of socks or gloves in the presents.. I did have a happy childhood though so can't complain. It made me very careful with money too, mr summer & I use out credit cards for online shopping (it's safer than debit cards) but we pay the bill off swiftly and have no debt. We don't have a lot to spare each week but we live within our means and are much better off than many, it seems commonplace for people to have 10,20,30k debt these days which is frightening! Yogi I look forward to seeing pics of Keira, I hope she didn't get too wet & windswept today

As for the new year, I would like to hike up Snowdon

Evening all. Still incredibly wet and windy weather up here.

Got my middle son and his fiancée popping in tonight for a visit, but I'll try to get back to post before I go to bed.

Popping in to say goodnight, computer playing up badly. Hope to see you all tomorrow 

Signing out now, I do hope your computer doesn't need an expensive repair Skylark, its all expense at this time of the year. Leaving hugs for the night owls

Good for you Summer, that's something to aim for.

My goals for the New Year aren't quite as energetic as yours, although I do intend to do more walking. As a side-effect, I am hoping to lose some weight, too.

 

Goodnight to Skylark and Squiggle, hope to catch up tomorrow.

Ros, sorry I keep missing you.

 

Off for a bath and a read of my book - starting a Val McDermid one tonight.

Good night everyone.

Yogi, I've gained a few pounds myself this last couple of weeks, we'll both soon shift it when normal eating habits resume Skylark, I hope your son can sort out your computer issues for you *crosses fingers* Sweet dreams everyone in here, sleep well

Good morning everyone

 

Skylark, I hope your computer starts behaving itself. If it's making noises, I would think that either one of the heating fans is on the way out, or that the hard disc drive is having problems. Both of these need to be checked out by a computer engineer as soon as possible. I would also take an external backup (such as on to a pen drive or a CD/DVD) of any files you really want to keep as if it's the drive failing you could well lose the files if the drive had to be replaced. You don't want to leave things then find out one day that the drive has crashed and you've lost everything.

 

Yogi, it's quite a coincidence that there are 3 connections between Great Expectations and the recent Poirot. The obvious one is David Suchet as Jaggers and as Poirot. Then Frances Barber (who was the strange eye-patched villain in the last series of Doctor Who) was Merlina Rival in Poirot and a small role as Mrs Brandley in Great Expecations. Finally Ray Winstone is of course Magwitch (can't think of a more appropriate actor for that role) and his daughter Jaime was the secretary who was framed by her boss in Poirot. I'm sure she is relieved that she dosen't particularly look like Ray

 

 

Good morning dry but windy here I'm at work, I don't want to complain though because many people are out of work.. I'm delighted to be here

Good morning everyone, its very windy and cloudy here too Summer and we have had a lot of rain.  I hope you have as many customers as you want and all nice ones, but plenty of breaks in between.  And you have another 4 days off to look forward to

 

Yogi you finished just before me, I will probably finish the book today, again I have really enjoyed it, hope you enjoy your new one too, I will probably stick with the Christmas theme.  I have one to read called A Dog Named Christmas which I want to read before the film I have taped which is the book of the film.

 

Skylark I hope its something simple with your computer, good advice from EL though, get everything you want to keep backed up, I hope your Christmas was a good one.

 

Hope everyone else is feeling bright-eyed and bushy tailed this morning, don't get blown away if you venture outside.

The newspaper this morning has an article about blood donations, as usual for this time of year. It claims stocks are low and that people are too busy to bother donating, and a very small percentage of those who can, do.. This infuriates me! mr summer and I are both o negative and used to regularly donate blood, we stopped when they introduced the appointment system. Not being able to guarantee what time either of us finish work, we were perfectly happy with the turn up and wait system. At first they ran turn up and wait along side appointments, but then they added more & more appointments, and we're foul to us for not having one! I got tired of explaining why I couldn't commit to appointment, and being treated with contempt, and after writing a complaint I still went. Then, the last time, the staff were so foul to us we walked out without even donating and have never been back since.

I'm sure she is!

 

Of course, you are!

 

Good morning El and Summer. Good morning everyone

I'm glad to say the wind has died down considerably and the rain is off atm.

I can't decide whether to do my grocery shopping today or tomorrow - decisions, decisions!

Good morning Squiggle. I really enjoyed the Trisha Ashley book and will definitely buy some more. I like "feel good" books and films.

 

Summer, it beggars belief that you were treated so badly when you tried to donate blood. I can understand that it makes things easier if people have appointments but that system doesn't suit everyone, and to treat people who are trying to donate blood, in such a rude way is awful.

I thought they were supposed to be encouraging people to donate, not chase them away!