I was just preparing a surprise too before you all got up..

^yogi could share that with her blackbirds

Morning Summer, you are on the go early today! 
Lovely breakfast  

Good morning everyone. It's very foggy up here - you would think it was the end of November instead of June!

Skylark and Summer, you are very early birds today.

Thanks for the pancakes, Summer, and how kind of you to think of my blackbirds.

I forgot to say yesterday, that we had another blackbird caught in the netting. It was one of the chicks, which had managed to stick it head through the netting as well as getting it wrapped round one of its legs. I held it (it was quite calm and didn't try to peck me, and felt very soft and warm) and hubby was able to snip off the netting. It was none the worse for its ordeal and flew away straight away. Both chicks have returned to the garden, so all is well - and the netting has been removed. I don't care if the veggies get eaten, I don't want another little bird to get tangled up.

Good morning everyone including the 2 early birds

 

Quite cloudy here and dry, may be showers later.

 

Great Bramble photos here and elsewhere, Summer and a yummy breakfast.

 

Skylark, I hope RBS sorts it out fast for your son. RBS said yesterday that 99% of bank accounts were now up to date but I'm a bit doubtful of that.

 

Sorry, I didn't read back far enough.

Skylark, I hope your son's wages get paid in soon - what a shambles this has been and so many people affected.

@ Bramble pic. Pups do sleep in the strangest places, and sometimes in the weirdest positions.

Morning again! 

Poor wee chick Yogi, glad it wasnt hurt.

The wages are done, its RBS who havent distributed them around the accounts. Son isnt too concerned, but some of the men have families and bills to pay. It has a roll on affect when direct debits etc have to be cancelled.
Have the nurse this morning for my Bp check, i suspect it may be a bit high, we shall see. Bye for now x 

Good morning everyone, Skylark and Summer you have been up for ages Thanks for the delish brekkie.  I agree the pics of Bramble are lovely, she does look a happy girl.

 

Hope the BP test is OK Skylark, I hate having mine taken, I get white coat hypertension but I am calmer with the nurse rather than the doc, I don't know why he terrifies me so much

 

Well done on releasing the chick Yogi, and for taking away the netting, I hope the birds don't eat everything

 

What a shambles NatWest and RBS are being, perhaps it will convince these companies to base their IT support in this country.  We need jobs here and it makes much more sense to bring these support services back here.  One of the chief reasons I am with my ISP is that their support services are UK based and I am sure most people would sooner talk to someone here rather than find they are suddenly connected to Calcutta or wherever.  Steps down from soap box and takes a deep breath

 

Have a good day peeps.

I wanted to share this with you

 

After weeks of corporate freeloaders and Z-list celebrities hijacking the Olympic Torch, a REAL hero steps forward

 

It took the courage and determination of a gravely wounded soldier to remind us what the Olympic Torch relay should really be about. Lance Bombardier Ben Parkinson battled for 27 painful and exhausting minutes yesterday to carry the torch 300 metres. Few who saw Ben - the most severely wounded soldier to survive the fighting in Afghanistan - could fail to have been stirred as he walked slowly by the cenotaph in his home town of Doncaster.

 

Schoolchildren shouted ‘Go Ben’, fellow soldiers walked behind in battle dress and watching mothers sobbed. They were 15 deep on the pavement and every vantage point was taken.

For Ben, every step was a triumph of mind over matter – a victory for human endurance and a stirring example of what the Olympic spirit should embody.

His inspiring walk came after revelations earlier this month that some of the coveted places on the relay had been handed out by sponsors to their own staff.

 

Squiggle, Ben Parkinson's bravery is an inspiration to us all. Clip to accompany your post:

Skylark, I hope the BP test goes OK. Like squiggle I get white coat hypertension so I have my own meter, take readings during the couple of weeks before the test, and they use my readings instead.

Thank you for the clip EL I defy anyone to watch it without a tear in their eye.

 

Ben before his accident

 

   

Well done Ben  Such a handsome chap, its breaks your heart doesnt it . An inspiration indeed. 


El and squiggle, my sister too has white coat hypertension, i dont thankfully.
My Bp is a tad high 120/90 so will have to work on that to get it down. Stress most likely. 

I agree with you squiggle re the RBS situation


 

Ben is a real hero 

 

Skylark I hope you get the chance to lower your blood pressure, what figure is the doc aiming for?

Summer, the first reading of 120 (the systolic one) is close enough to the desired range of 90-119 not to cause concern. The second one of 90 (the diastolic one) is  higher than it should be - the desired range is 60-79.

Hi Summer, the lower rate (Diastolic) of 90 is a bit high, not really worryingly so, but ideally for me, should be around 75/80, so aiming for that. 

Thats son in moaning about not having his pay! Will let him have comp may shut him up 

just saw your post El 

I've always wonderd why they do the reding with 2 sets of numbers. 

Im glad it's not miles out skylark, hopefully that will make it easier to bring back to target.  

Good morning everyone

 

Rather a warm night here so I chenged the duvet in the early hours to get more comfortable. I think there was a bit of rain overnight and there may be some here today but not as wet as it looks up North.

 

Summer, the first (systolic) reading is the blood pressure when the heart is beating and the second (diastolic) reading is the pressure when the heart is resting between beats. 

Good morning everyone. It's pouring up here and muggy, too.

Skylark, has your son managed to get his wages yet? It must be a nightmare for people with mortgages and bills to pay.

Is anyone still watching BB? I have given up for the moment, I can't watch the nasty group ruling the house any longer. If some of them don't get evicted soon, I don't think I'll be tuning in again.

 

Morning Yogi  

 

Pretty heavy overnight rain and damp with more rain forecast.

 

The highlights thread isn't the same without you and I noticed your absence last night so please give a go if only to analihate them. That's what I'm doing - and I'm your internet boss ( well Baz's first Lieutenant twice removed )  

 

Baz is definitely the boss.

Okay, as long as I can do lots of grrrrrrrrrs and and , I'll come back.

Good!  

 

It's like shooting fish in a barrel  

I've never held a gun, but I'll give it a go.

That's what I said on my first Post Office job  

 

You should see my stamp collection.

ROFL. You have no idea how much you have cheered me up this morning.

I've found out that a film is in the process of being made for release sometime next year. It's called Hitchcock - I know nothing about the storyline but looking at the cast list I see:

 

Alfred Hitchcock is played by Anthony Hopkins (oops I'd put Perkins )

Alma Reville is played by Helen Mirren. Alma Reville was Hitchcock's wife and worked on the screenplay for most of his films though often uncredited.

 

Other parts give a very strong clue as to what the film is about:

Janet Leigh is played by Scarlett Johannson

Vera Miles is played by Jessica Biel

Anthony Perkins is played by James D'Arcy

 

From those and from other names in the cast list, there is no doubt that this is about the making of Psycho.

Good morning everyone, at Velvet and the stamp collection.

 

It does seem odd that film EL with Anthony Perkins in it and someone else playing Anthony Perkins.

 

I am still watching BB out of sheer force of habit, it's like watching paint dry it's so boring and I honestly have never seen such a horrible mix of people, it's morbidly fascinating.

Morning a very wet night here, humid & cloudy this morning with small sunny intervals. Heavy rain & thunderstorms are expected this way ... Since I wrote the above, 3 haircuts ago, it's started chucking it down!

I agree about BB, I've caught the odd bits here & there but sometimes 10 mins is too much and I switch off. I was totally engrossed in tennis last night, far more pleasing

I made a bit of a typo, I should have said Hopkins

I liked Hitchcock films, so I might have a look at this one when it's out.

 

Off to the tip, chemist and grocery shopping, see you all later.

Morning all x

You do make me laugh Velvet  

Weather here awful, wet and so humid, very tiring. Granddaughters nursery Summer Fair today, looks like it will be a washout, such a shame. I cant remember a year with all this rain. 
No wages in yet for son, its really not on, he works hard and deserves his pay. Hopefully it will be in tomorrow. 
Off to the nursery soon, have a good day xx 

According to the Met Office it's currently dry here in Gloucester and the closest rain is more than 15 miles away.

 

According to me, it's bucketing down like crazy. I must be hallucinating as the Met Office can't be wrong

It is easing off now though.

 

Surely not el and there's me taking every word the met office say, to be true

That's some big names in hitchcock, it's bound to have big publicity when it gets released

Me too, I am going to House Group later, it is summer after all so I am wearing a blue pleated skirt and a crochet top, even though the weather isn't cooperating I am still trying to be summery, and then it buckets down when they said it would be just cloudy I want my money back - oops I didn't pay for the forecast

If any of you saw the BBC news at lunchtime you would have seen the item about flash flooding in the Midlands and 1 death. My posting this morning about it bucketing down obviously is connected but the worst seems to have been away from Gloucester to the north. Here it seems to have stopped raining and the sky is brighter.

 

No rain at the moment, although the sky is full of ominous dark clouds.

 

It's now sunny here in Gloucester though a bit windy.

 

Squiggle, they would let you have the money back for the forecasts but they've just been liquidated