I've had my heating on throughout October , but then it's thermostatically controlled by the everage temperature in the house so only comes on when needed, and hopefully being more efficient, my heating bills will be lower than in previous years. So as the house doesn't take very long to warm up, my radiators at present are cold as the house is at the right temperature.

And the rain stopped a couple of hours ago so I didn't get soaked when I went out. Although it's still very cloudy, it is brighter with tiny bits of blue trying to poke out. But I know that there is more rain to come.

Afternoon everyone.    Hope you are all safe inside on this absolutely horrible day!!

Managed to get all my chores done and resisted the temptation to turn the heating on until 3 o'clock.

We've tried your idea about leaving the heating on all the time El Loro but it just didn't work for us.  My oil tank emptied out at a rate of knots so I have to just put on a few extra layers of clothing and leave the heating off during the day.

May not be back again today but will catch up with you all when I can.  Have to go to the shops tomorrow irrespective of what the weather throws at me!! 

I've just noticed I managed to start off page 100.  That was nice!!

It's freezing cold up here, I've had the heating on most of the day.

Well done, but who will be the person to post the last one on page 100 because that will be the 4,000th post

My heating is a modern gas-fired boiler. And the boiler only heats the water for the hot water supply when I turn on the tap. So it should be more efficient gas wise than in previous years. The only downside is that I have to waste water whilst it's heating up, but I'm not metered and the water will get recycled.

I don't know how large your house is, but if your oil tank is emptying out that quickly and you have to have extra clothing on to save money, it doesn't sound as if it is a very efficient system. It may be worth while looking into it.

I wonder who it will be!!  Perhaps we should have a sweepstake??

Our boiler was changed quite recently so it is super efficient,  but I'm afraid to say that our house is very large bearing in mind only two of us are living in it!!  That's way I wanted to move but unfortunately that has not happened as yet. 

Just seen Ben in the clip for the next bit of Coach Trip.  I hope he gets on okay and doesn't get sent home too early!!!

To celebrate us being on page 100, well done Joyron for taking us there

Thank you for the celebrations Squiggle.  Unfortunately I'm feeling a little sad as it looks as though Ben and partner won't last long on Coach Trip!!!  Let's hope the others have a chnage of mind tomorrow!!!

Just watching Coach Trip , forgot it was on!!  Decorating my sons room so wont be on for a bit

They're nice celebrations, squiggle.

And Joyron, congratulations on having posted your 2,222nd post today. I expect to get to my 3,333rd post in the next day or so. And squiggle, congratulations on getting to 60,000 forum points recently. And Skylark, congratulations for when you get to 50,000 forum points - you are not far off.

And Yogi, the biggest congratulations go to you for reaching 150,000 forum points probably in the last couple of days.

to us all

 Oooohhhh!  What did I get the points for?

As Brucie says points make prizes!!! Where's our prizes???

Good morning everyone

I hope today's weather is better than yesterday's though I know that it's pretty rough in the South and South East.

Yogi, I've no idea why you have so many points, probably because you've posted lots. I did once ask Lori how the forum points are calculated (they are shown on the Members pages), but she didn't really know apart from that the more active you are on the forum, the more points.

squiggle, in the old days on the C4 forum, the points would have been used to award the shiny stars. I know from the Livecloud help documentation that their forum/blogging software has the option of giving titles to users depending on the number of forum points. But the Gagajoyjoy forum does not have that option in place, and I think that Seattle took the decision not to, to discourage people posting for no reason other than to get a higher star.

Good morning everyone, I have been up all night wrapping prizes, help yourselves

squiggle, good morning You have been busy. Thank you so much

I'm opening mine now.


The Dummy's Guide on How to Train your Unruly Parrot

I wonder what the others will get.

And here's yours squiggle from us all:

How thoughtful, a huge box of (completely non-fattening) chocolates, thank you all so much

Good morning everyone. We have had heavy showers overnight but the sun is shining ATM.
Thank you for the present, Squiggle.

I've just discovered that my lawnmower was stolen from the wooden shed overnight.

However, it is many years old, the blades are not great, the wheels have a tendency to come off, and the grass bag is torn.

And I will just get the much newer mower from my parents place, which was too small for them, but fine for my garden.

So the thief has actually done me a favour from having to get rid of the old one

I have told my neighbour because they need to check to see if anything has been stolen - they use their unlocked garage for storing things rather than for the car, so they could have been hit.

I'm not bothering to get the police involved or making an insurance claim.

Its an ill wind EL! I kept having my petrol can stolen from my shed (for the lawn mower) so I have had to fix a stout padlock.  It wasn't only the nuisance of replacing a gallon of petrol but the can as well that was so annoying.

It's more a nuisance for you squiggle as that costs money, whereas for me, it's has saved me the hassle of getting rid of the old mower. I can't remember when I bought it but it looks as if the manufacturer ceased producing that model back in 1994. I think it's fair to say that the market value of that mower would be about 1p.

That's why I said its an ill wind EL, saved you the hassle of a trip up the dump with it

squiggle, you and I use ill wind in different ways which is why I misunderstood you.

I found this:

Meaning

A negative effect.

Origin

The use of ill wind is most commonly in the phrase 'it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good'. This is first recorded in John Heywood's A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the Englishe tongue, 1546:

"An yll wynde that blowth no man to good, men say."

Its listing there as proverbial demonstrates an earlier derivation.

That meaning, which is still understood today, was subverted somewhat later to provide a second meaning. In Rob Roy, Sir Walter Scott included:

"Nane were keener against it than the Glasgow folk, wi' their rabblings and their risings, and their mobs, as they ca' them now-a-days. But it's an ill wind blaws naebody gude."

The meaning there is clearly the opposite of the old proverb, i.e. a wind that didn't provide benefit to someone would be a bad and unusual one indeed.

 

So I was assuming the John Heywood meaning but you were using the Sir Walter Scott meaning,

And, by the way, before our Glaswegian friends start screaming at me, take it up with Sir Walter Scott

So its not just we and our 'friends across the pond' who are divided by a common language then

There's lots of differences in the words and phrases we use around this country.

For instance I and you probably know what daps are, but everyone else on this thread probably don't (= plimsolls), and for our friends across the pond will call them sneakers or tennis shoes, and in Australia sandshoes, South Africa tekkies, East Africa tackies and India keds.

So to simplify things, lets forget all the above and just settle on trainers, though I tend to think of them as somewhat more sturdy than daps.

No I've never come across the word daps, they were plimsolls when I was a kid but I quite like the American sneakers.

Evening all.    Sorry I've not been into the thread today but it's been a busy day.  Looks as though the thread has been very educational too!!  Sorry to bring it back down to earth but I'm pleased to see that Ben and Rafe (I know I've spelt it wrong) escaped the red card this evening.

It's been cold and wet here today, but not so windy as yesterday.  Hopefully we are in for a slightly better day tomorrow.  Hope so as I've got some bedding to wash!!

Probably won't be back later but will try and catch up tomorrow.  I don't have to go out tomorrow so it should be a slightly better day, at least I hope so. 

I'll have to do some research on which areas the word daps is used. I know it is a traditional word in South Wales, Gloucestershire, the Bristol area and Wiltshire. But it looks as if it doesn't go south into Devon. So it looks as if somewhere in Somerset is the border between dapsland and plimsollland. I'll have to discuss this with someone I know who lives in Nailsea for his views, then I can talk to someone I know from the Ledbury area to see if this stretches into the wilds of Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

No-one knows where the word dap comes from. It does not come from Dunlop Athletic Plimsolls as some people think as the word was being used before Dunlop started making them.

Alternatively I may decide not to become obsessed with daps and go and have my tea.

In my youth, they were called sandshoes or "sannies". Hope you enjoyed your tea.

Also as I grew up in Essex any research into Devon's usage of daps is pretty academic - sorry to waste your research

Good morning everyone.It's a cold and frosty morning - I feel a song coming on.
I woke at 6 a.m. and couldn't get back to sleep.

Good morning everyone as well

Yogi, you are hereby officially appointed as our forum early buddie , but I hope you didn't go out looking for worms.

Yogi and squiggle, thank you for your input into my daps research.

 I settled for some toast and marmalade.

Good morning everyone, Yogi was it "In and out the dusky bluebells" on a cold and frosty morning or "Here we go round the mulberry bush" on a cold and frosty morning???

Confused of North Devon

Good morning everyone.    It's cold but sunny here this morning (don't know of any rhyme for that).  I've washed the bedding from my weekend visitors and it's blowing nicely on the line in the sunshine.

Just sorted through my Christmas cards and intend getting them written today.  I'm always pleased when that job is done.

Hope to catch up again later, when I will report on my progress with the cards. 

  Good morning Squiggle.
Good morning Joyron. You are really well organised, writing your Christmas cards already.

I have taken a snapshot of me to show you how I am dealing with
the current cold snap

Aaaaahhh, squiggle

It may be cold, but it is gorgeously sunny

Ah but are you doing any 5 mile walks today?