I'm on my way, may pop in later today but if not see you tomorrow

I've been thinking of you EL, and hoping that all went off well, I sent a little prayer up too that those present at the funeral will feel the Holy Spirit and that they will be comforted.

Just popping in to say Hi all.......Hope all went well El     Joyron is in Cannes , how lovely. I have the wee one overnight just off to get her PJ,s on, hopefully will get her sleeping for about 9...she isnt a good sleeper i.m sorry to say     Oh nipped in here for a second and she has written over the living room wall ...must go , bye for now xxxxx

Thanks you for your words today everyone

I've only just got back in, and I'm a bit hungry as I had to have an early lunch.

Slightly unusually, the family decided to have a private cremation service at the crem elsewhere, then have the memorial service at their local church. They lived out in the middle of nowhere almost 50 miles away from where I live. The church was packed with some having to stand, and the parking was chaotic - it could well be the biggest service for years at that church as of course John was known by a lot of people - clients, friends and family, and he was also well known at Gloucester Rugby Club (Gloucester is one of the major sides in the country when it comes to rugby).

Another colleague of mine and John gave the eulogy at the service and did a good job of it, particularly as he was even closer to John than I was.

There was a reception at John's house afterwards. It's a large house with large gardens, so there wasn't a problem parking there. I got a chance to talk with his wife, his brother (I didn't know he had a brother but had no difficulty in recognising him), and his son. I also chatted with some people who used to work with him at the office when I started all those years ago, some of whom I hadn't seen in many years.

And I and some others were shown by his son to an outbuilding where he had been working on over the past year - something which I had no idea he was interested in. A large scale electric model railway set up.


I'm signing off to get my tea. See you tomorrow 

El Loro, the funeral sounds like a fitting tribute to a man who was much loved and respected by the people who knew him. May he rest in peace.

 Ooops!  I hope you manage to wash it off.

Good morning everyone

I hope everyone is well

It's nice and sunny this morning, an improvement over the greyness we've had over the last few days. It's cold, but still cheerful.

Hi everyone, yes the same here EL blue skies but it looks cold outside, the heating is on so its hard to judge but I think it probably freezing out there.  How 'bout you Yogi?

Joyron is in Florence/Pisa, both absolutely beautiful places, especially Florence where you could spend a month and not see it all and I bet she's a darn sight warmer than we are.  Thinking of you Joyron, bet you're glad you're not here!

Lucky lucky Joyron

Hello El Loro and Squiggle.
It's a lovely, sunny day up here.
I've been shopping for some trousers, as we are going away for a few days (I think a diet is required on my return, as I had to buy the next size up!!). We go away on Monday and come back on Friday. Unfortunately, it's nowhere as wonderful as Florence (lucky Joyron), we are off to Berwick with eldest son and DiL.

Hello everyone

A few months after I passed my driving test I went for a drive. I left Gloucester on the A38 and on the A38 for rather a long time. Eventually I went past Belper where one of my aunts (a nun) used to have her convent and shortly afterwards turned on to the M1 and went North. It eventually became the A1 and I kept on going past Berwick. I kept on until I came to Edinburgh then turned west until I came to Glasgow, then turned south on the M74 until it became the M6, then the M5 and eventually arrived back at Gloucester.

Although I had breaks, I did this during the course of 1 day It's around an 800 mile journey.

I'm not intending to repeat this in this lifetime - I was a bit tired by the end.

I've just posted a little romantic story over in the Parrot Sanctuary thread - it's too long to post here but you might like to look at it.
Click here to go striaght there.

Aww I love that story, El Loro. I have to admit I was laughing at "Eddie the goat" though.

Wow, that was a trip and a half you did in one day - you weren't too far from my neck of the woods, if you were up as far as Glasgow.

It was. Some have driven further in the UK in one day, but whether they were within the speed limits is open to question. The longest I've seen internationaly is something like 1200 miles but in countrries which have faster speed limits or no speed limits.

I shall just echo everything Yogi said

Hi all

Hi Skylark

Hi El, how are you? Had a read back at your post yesterday at 19.29 . Sometimes words dont seem enough, but a cuddle does

Hi Yogi, the wee bissom had blue pen over  my wall at the window, wasnt sure what to clean it with....Pampers bum wipes done the trick

Skylark, thank you for your words and hug . I am actually OK - it was a dreadful shock when I heard that John had died, but that has gone, and I'm back to my normal self. I didn't mention in my post yesterday that I sat with John's staff in the church and they are faced with the realisation that not only has John gone, but their own futures are affected as who knows wether whoever acquires the fees will keep all of them on - so although I am affected to an extent, nowhere near as much as they may be.

However a local practice has been pestering them to try and buy the practice. This has not gone down well and it reeks of ambulance chasing. However today I talked to someone I know who has inside knowledge of this other practice which has raised a major red flag about it. I have therefore been in touch with my colleague who is holding the fort to tell him what I have learned so that he now is adamant that this other practice will be firmly told that they have no chance.

Human vultures. They make my blood boil.

Good morning everyone.
Weather is overcast but it's mild and dry, at the moment. I hope it's better where you are.

A late good morning to you all

Skylark, I've sent you back a reply.

The weather here is a bit foggy, but it will clear to another sunny day. But this is the first day this autumn where at 7.30 the cars had frost on them.

Morning everyone, well the day hasn't got off to the best start, the boiler didn't fire up and so that's the plans for the day scuppered.  I am waiting in for the engineer to call and then he will make an appointment so presumably that's this afternoon's plans out of the window too, wish me luck.

Poor you, squiggle and on a Sunday as well. At least the boiler failure happened before winter really sets in. Let's hope the engineer will come and sort it out quickly .

Squiggle, I hope the engineer is able to fix your boiler quickly. It's becoming too cold to be without heating..

squiggle, I hope your boiler engineer has sorted out the problem or at least made an appointment. Otherwise I will set "Lucas El Loro Diabolico" on to him.

What a cute bird EL!  Boiler engineer going to come in the morning hopefully, hope everyone has had a good day.

I don't think I'll be able to post while I'm away, so I'll say farewell for now.
Take care of yourselves.
Be back on Friday. (Big hugs)xx

Good morning everyone

I hope you are all well

I hope you have a good break Yogi , that your engineer sorts out the boiler this morning squiggle, and Skylark .

Morning everyone (well those that are left ) El Loro and Skylark we had better huddle together, we are a skeleton crew at the moment .

Huddles together to get warm

Update on the boiler situation.  The guy came and it looks like the boiler needs a new pump (he said fan but we had the pump replaced on our boiler in our old house and I think its probably the same thing, the thing that circulates the heat).  He has got it going for now but he said it probably won't come on again as it is broken.  He is going to order a new part and come back and fix it on Wednesday so I have the heating on all day to warm up the house as much as possible.  Now here's the good bit, at the start of September my insurance company rang me up to say we notice you don't have emergency home cover and went on to explain the benefits, all parts and labour covered, a 24hr call centre to report home emergencies and it sounded very good.  It costs me an extra £5 per month and it covers this boiler repair!  Well the total bill will come to £356 and as my limit is £300 I have had to fork out the £56 but that's not bad is it? I'm quite chuffed.

That's good news squiggle

Just a quick bump for the thread

You beat me to it squiggle

Hi all, not been on, had a few things to sort out. Hope you are all well  Chilly up here, no kilt wearers today

Lucky Joyron, looking forward to hearing her stories

Good morning everyone

I hope everyone is well

So far it's a nice sunny morning, though some heavy showers are expected later on.