Evening Mollie.

Lucky you got your post to Oz off in time.

Had no rain today, thank heavens.
We are very pleased with the work done downstairs, it's lovely now and loads of room.
Have been wearing my thick socks instead of slippers, they feel nice as way.

Didn't eat too many chocs, you can only eat so many.

So glad Stacey won, what a cheerful girl she is.

Am liking Rebecca, also like Cher though, don't count fellers.
Don't like many male singers, not my thing.

I went to the garden centre, didn't go to B&Q, got some vine eyes and wire to train the plants along.
Also got some new pruning shears.
Have been looking up pruning the Wisteria & Clematis that's on the Pagola, I know what to do, will wake for the weather to warm a little.

Hi Mollie.
Good job you remembered your Aussie deadline.
I suppose Christmas cards are something I'll have to think about soon as well?

I think it's Rebecca and Cher for me, on the X-Factor. Glad Cher got through.  
Watching the programme on Abba songs now.    

It's very cold here tonight.
Have the central heating cranked right up in the lounge, and it's still chilly. I'll have to put the fan-heater on as well.
Also I noticed today that the price of heating oil has shot up in the last few days. From about 46p per litre to 66p per litre. I'll need to buy in a few weeks as well. 

Hi Emptybox.

Was pleased Cher got through, it's going to be close next week.
Yep, Rebecca & Cher for me as well.
Watching Extra Factor on ITV2 now
Going to bed in a mo, work in the morning.
Temperature says -5 on my car roof but -3 on the floor.
Have turned the heating down at 9,30pm to 18, at 10.30 to 15, have it on 20 if we want to stay hot.

Not good having your oil go up by 50%.

Good morning all
A lovely birght and frosty morning here today.
And a temperature of minus 10 in our front garden. This year in Wales, we seem to be getting the very cold nights, but none of the snow.

Emptybox
Yes indeed, it makes you sick how these fuel people keep shoving up their costs to the customer, just to make themselves an even juicier profit. And we have no choice but to find the extra money to pay to keep our homes warm in this weather.   Best to make sure you don't run too low on your oil though, incase the snow comes again, and they cant get to you.  We have British Gas and they have just put their prices up 7%, I think it was.

Hicky
Yes, we too have our heating on at 15 at night, to keep it nice and constant.
Hope you are not too busy at work today.

I enjoyed X factor, but didn't want Cher through, because I think Mary is the better singer. And unlike lovely Stacey, Cher always loooks so miserable, and sounds confrontational. Don't like her at all. Howver I think Rebecca is lovely.   Great voice, and she always looks so sophisticated in whatever she wears. Hope she wins. However, I think the young lads may win though because of the young girls voting.

time to sort some more washing, and then get my Europe cards done.

have a good day both. xxx

Hi Mollie.
You definitely seem to be getting the colder nights, but it's snowing heavily here again today.

Cher v Mary? Mary is definitely technically a better singer, and will certainly be in demand in clubs etc and could sell a lot of albums. But I think Cher has the potential to be a star. She has the vulnerability and can put the emotion in, and judging by her sing off performance yesterday, could be a really good singer if she puts the work in.
I haven't followed the back story, so don't know about the confrontational thing that you mentioned?

We can all agree that we like Rebecca though.
But you are probably right, and 'One Direction' will win.

I'll do my invoices today, but I doubt I'll have many to send out, because the snow stopped me finishing a lot of jobs I had on the go, and I can't really invoice till I've finished the work.

I wish I had a proper thermostat on my central heating, so I could set it by temperature, but I've just got to adjust each radiator manually.
I think my oil will last OK into the New Year, but I'll definitely have to order in January. I doubt the price will have fallen by then unfortunately.

Good afternoon Mollie & Emptybox.

I thought Cher would get through, Mary is getting on a bit to start making a career, she can do that anyway I suppose.


Rebecca is giving a concert tonight in the Liverpool Echo Arena, it's free and you just get the tickets from the door, only 4 per person.
Cheryl Cole is there with her.

Your not having much luck with the snow Emptybox, think you have mine & Mollie's as well.

Rebecca should win, but as you say, One Direction will get all the votes probably.

You can get a 2 wire thermostat which you put in the hall and run a bit of cable to the Boiler, most boilers have a place to connect the stat, you just remove a link and insert it.
Using the hand ones on the radiaters is not a lot of good really.

Good Morning Mollie & Emptybox.

Nice and Sunny here, very cold, -8 last night, will see if I can get some work done in the garden later.

I see hundreds have been stuck on Motorways etc, the cars that could get through, are blocked by cars that can't get anywhere.
They should keep a lane for 4x4 vehicles and then the system would keep open, it's crazy everyone being stuck all night for the sake of some.

Hello all you Hicky's chat people. .

Just heard from Mollie's hubby and he asked me to let you know that she is in hospital having tests for a possible Chest Infection and may be there for a few days.

Am sure you'll want to leave her your best wishes

Get well soon Molls

Oh dear! Poor Mollie.
I hope it turns out to be not too serious, and she recovers quickly.
Thanks for letting us know Olly, and thanks to Mollie's OH for thinking of us.

Sending you my best wishes Mollie.

no probs emptybox

Knowing Molls I'm sure she gave Hubby a 'to do' list which included letting us all know she was having to stay in Hospital to be poked and prodded a bit

I thought I'd try uploading some pics, taken this morning, of some fearsome looking icicles on the front of my house, and also one of my weathervane braving the snow.

Some of the motorway problems are happening over where my Brother lives. I hope he hasn't been affected? Haven't heard anything anyway. It's a bit ridiculous if they can't keep motorways open, even at a reduced speed.

Thanks for that Mount Olympus.

Very kind of you, so sorry to hear about Mollie.
Hope she doesn't have to stay in for long.
Thank her Hubby for letting us know, I'm very appreciative.

Hi Emptybox.

Great pictures, love those big icicles, the size of them!.
Hope your brother is OK where he lives.
I can see what you mean about the snow on the ground, plenty of it.

Sorry to hear about Mollie, how awful for them all, hope she doesn't have to stay in for long.

Not much on TV tonight, will see if I can find something to watch.

Hi Hicky.
I just hope the icicles don't damage the guttering. It looks to be bending with the weight.

As you can see from the pics it was a sunny day here, but bloomin' cold.
Only went outside a couple of times. Once to take those photos, and once to put the recycling in the bin, and my hands were frozen each time.
My computer widget tells me it's -14 outside.

It's a real pity Mollie has had to go to hospital. I know she suffers from Asthma, wonder if this has anything to do with that? 
Anyway, hope she's back soon, in good health.  

Yeah, I can't see much on the box, might have to watch a DVD tonight?
Ooh! I see they've just changed the background again. I quite like that one.

I've just bought a couple of electric guitars on Ebay. A secondhand Ibanez 6 string, and a bass. About £200 the pair.
I think I've said that I fiddle about with guitars sometimes, although I've never really learned to play properly. I thought as I had some time on my hands, I might as well indulge myself.
They'll probably arrive next week.

Hi Emptybox.

I'm lost without my IAC coming on.
It's pretty cold out tonight, forecast says-4 and it won't get above freezing tomorrow.

All that ice is putting an awful strain on the gutters, but you might break the gutters getting the icicles down.

It's awful about Mollie, must be serious to need hospitalization.

Those Guitars should occupy some of your time anyway, all I've ordered is a new pair of Toe nail clippers, hoping they are better than the ones I have now.
And a file.

Went to B&Q for a look round, was going to get some wood to strengthen my trellis but there was ice on it so I couldn't be bothered.
Will see if it warms up later in the week.

Was going to get an outside power kit, but I think I'll just buy the parts and make it up.
Used to have power in the greenhouse before I got rid, took all the armoured cable out.
Will get a hole drilled through into the back room and run a cable down to a waterproof box which I will fit in my new plastic walk in shed/greenhouse.
Will buy a weatherproof socket and a plug-in ELCB unit and the cable, I need about 15m plus some for in the house to the socket.
I need a box because all the outside Christmas lights have little transformers, so need a box to put them in.
Will be able to use the socket in the summer for my electric garden tools as well.

That's a good idea, to get an outside electric source sorted out. Especially for your Chrissy decorations.

I think it is supposed to get warmer for the weekend? Hope so, because i shall be wanting out again.

My widget now tells me the temp has gone up to -7. Not that it feels any warmer.
I have a back kitchen that is like an extension on the back of the house with toilet, pantry, fridge, freezers. washing machine etc. It's not heated, and is only single brick and single glazed windows.
I went to the toilet, and found that the water in the bowl was freezing over, and the cistern was frozen.
I've put a fan heater in there for a while to thaw it out.

Good Morning Everyone.

Hope your feeling a bit better Mollie, awful you having to be in the Hospital.
Get Well Soon anyway.

Hope it gets warmer as you say Emptybox, think it will.
Have so much to do, hate wasting all this time out of the garden.

Be careful if your thawing pipes etc out as when they freeze they very often burst open with the ice expanding.
So don't go away and leave things unmanned, keep an eye open for water gushing.

It's only zero deg here, no white frost or snow this morning.
I was out at 5.30 so I could take it easy coming to work.
Want to try and get my outside power sorted by the weekend and get my lights installed around the fencing.

Hi Hicky.
Hope Mollie is OK.

Still very cold here. -5 at the mo.
I think last night was the coldest night? I just went and had a look at the max/min thermometer in the greenhouse, and it registered -15 last night.

Thawing out my loo again. Not sure if it's a good idea to thaw it out every day, or wether it would be better to leave it frozen until it thawed out naturally?

Sunshine and the bluest sky here today. Beautiful.
Took another picture of a frozen tree against the azure background.

Hi Emptybox.

Great picture of the tree, not so nice if your out in that frost.

That was pretty cold last night then, -15 is not good.
You would be better trying to stop your Loo freezing up than to keep thawing it, if the pipes burst as they often do depending on where it gets frozen then you could be inna worse mess.
Maybe you can tern the water off to it and drain it till you need it, empty pipes don't freeze.

There's not much difference between you thawing the pipes and nature thawing them really, but you need to make sure that no joints have pulled or pipes have burst open.

Hi Hicky.

There's no sign of any burst pipes yet. Don't think I can turn the water off to the toilet. I can turn it off just before the cistern, because the plumber put in a little valve when he replaced the cistern last year but I don't think that is the problem. I can usually flush it, but then it won't fill up again until I thaw it out, so I think the pipes are freezing further back.
Having said that, there is a sink in the back kitchen, and the cold tap on that has never frozen, and the feed to the toilet branches off that, so it might be that the water isn't freezing at all, but some valve in the cistern is freezing and not letting the water in?
It's a puzzle.

All I know is that it's not very economical to have the fan heater going for 2 hours at 1KW each time, in order to defrost it. Might be better just to leave it.

When the cat was here, I always used to leave the door to the back kitchen ajar, because that was where her water bowl was, and the cat-flap is down there. So heat from the house was going down there and keeping it slightly warm. Now I keep it tight shut at night to keep the heat in the house, so it's bound to get colder down there.
I might try leaving the door ajar again overnight. It would be cheaper than the fan heater anyway.

Anyway, I hope you've had a good day at work, and get home without any difficulties?

Hi Emptybox.

If you leave the door ajar some the heat will get in and it will make a lot of difference.
Leaving it isolated will give trouble.
You could do with one of these laser thermal units, that would tell you the temperature of the pipes etc so you could see what is freezing or not.

I use it to tell me the temperature of the oil I use in a pan to do my Sausages, I like the oil to be deep enough to cover them, then when they are cooked they usually float, but If I put them in the deep fat fryer it would ruin the oil.

The weather forecast here has just said that the temperature tomorrow and for a few days will be above 7 degrees, thats not what it said yesterday.

Hope you are OK Mollie, it's not the same without you here.
Hope you aren't suffering, the food there is not up to the standard you would expect at home.

Well I think that was the silliest Apprentice yet?

None of them had a clue what they were prattling on about on their tours. And there was almost a punch up when Stuart tried to steal the other team's customers.  

Stuart should have gone, but unfortunately Lord Sugar has taken a shine to him. I can see him winning unfortunately. 

I don't think it's going to be quite as warm here Hicky, My widget says it's -5 tonight, but I think I'm at least going to get above zero temps for the next few days.

I hope Mollie is well enough to keep up with the telly in hospital.
Perhaps she might even get on her laptop?

Hi Emptybox.

I didn't think any of them shone tonight, a strange task anyway, not easy at all.

Think Stuart should have gone, not seen anything good come from him, he's all talk.
The forecast looks good for the next for days anyway.
See here.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/342

I'm off till Monday now, might be able to get some work done in the garden.

*pokes head around door*

ello you two boys

I've not had any further updates re Molls  but was going to give her hubby a buz later today or tomorrow to see how she's doing.. will let you know as soon as I know..  fingers crossed she is on the mend. .

Thanks Mount Olympus.
Hope Mollie is OK and they don't have to keep her in too long.
She won't be enjoying that if she is still in.

How do you quote a post now?, don't seem to able to, don't know how anyway.
Any idea's?

Afternoon.

Thanks for keeping us in the loop Olly.

Hi Hicky. No I can't get it to quote now. Probably something to do with them messing around with the themes?

It's thawing here. Not much snow has shifted yet, but the icicles are all dripping.
The postman seems to be delivering normally now. I got my first couple of Christmas cards.
Have to start thinking of writing mine at the weekend.

I had a bit of a panic earlier, because my back kitchen sink wasn't running away.
Nothing else seemed to be frozen, so I thought it might be blocked up with fluff from the washing machine or something. The run-off pipe from the washing machine goes into that sink.
I took off the U trap, underneath the sink,  myself, but that was clear. Then I had fun trying to get that back on without any drips, but I managed it on the third attempt I think. I've got a bucket under it just in case though.
I uncovered and opened a manhole outside to see if the main drain was running when I flushed the loo, and it was, so I concluded that it must be blocked in the spur from the house to the main drain, and I would have to phone the landlady.
However I'd run some more water into it to check my seal on the U trap, and that suddenly ran away by itself (U trap still dry), so something must have been frozen outside after all, and suddenly thawed.
It was a big relief, I can tell you.

I see there's another 'Apprentice' programme on tonight at 8pm BBC1. I think it's just people dicussing the remaining candidates.

Hi Emptybox.

It's been thawing all day.
Went to B&Q for some metal flat bar to strengthen my trellis supports.
Bought some support wood 25x40x2400 for the trellis.
Also bought 5 more lengths of decking to start making the tree tub boxes.

Went to Costco this afternoon, got loads of food, meats etc, toilet rolls and kitchen towels, lots of food for Christmas.
They had some crab legs, in packs, couldn't resist that.

Am watching the Apprentice 2nd program, interesting.

Your having fun with these pipes, hope they are going to be OK.

Hope Mollie is OK, wonder when she will be home then?

Hi Hicky.

I like both the girls that are left on the Apprentice, but I think I'm supporting Stella.

I'll need to go for provisions again, in the next few days, I'm just hoping that some of the snow gets away by then.

I'm quite proud of tackling that sink myself. Haven't done anything like that before. And it wasn't one of these easy plastic jobs. Proper copper pipes and big brass nuts/connectors.
I probably shouldn't have touched it really, being a rented house, but I thought it might have been my washing machine that had blocked it.
If it happens again, I'll know to wait to see if it thaws out by itself.

Thinking of you, Mollie.

Hi Emptybox.

I'm ok now if the weather turns nasty, got some food in anyway.
You need to get get some stocks in though, this bad weather isn't going far.

You must have old sinks etc, everything is plastic now, not better, just cheaper.

Going to get a bit more work done in the garden, but putting the Christmas decs up this afternoon.

Hope Mollie is OK and has come back home again.

GET WELL SOON MOLLIE.

Get Well Graphic Comments

Hi Hicky.
Things are thawing apace now, water dripping everywhere.
I'll leave it to the weekend to go out I think
I think the warmer weather is supposed to last till Tuesday at least.

The sinks in the back kitchen are very old Belfast sinks. Very deep porcelain or ceramic affairs.
I've got modern ones in the rest of the house though.

I've done some ironing this morning, and I might write some Christmas cards this afternoon.
I'm not going to bother with decorations yet. Maybe in a weeks time?

Hi Emptybox.

I'm going to sort the power out for the garden tomorrow or all my hard work putting all the lights up will be wasted.
Also want to make up one of the Fruit Tree Tub Boxes.
My Christmas Tree is ready for a pic now, will take one and see how it looks.

Hope Mollie is OK.

Hi Hicky.

I bet your decorations look great.
Hope there is good weather for you tomorrow.

Just been watching 'The Event'. Great stuff.

Yes, I hope Mollie is getting on OK.

Heya Boys

Just to let you know Molls is still in hospital . .she has to have an op as her windpipe was being squished making it hard to breathe..   but hopefully it will be done  soon and she will be out asap. .

She has a dongle that her hubby brought in fro her and may be able to pop in herself to tell you all about it if she can.. she has to do it when the nurses aren't looking tho...  .but I  thought I;d let you know the news so far just in case she can't get on for a while..

Hi Olly.

What a pity about Mollie needing an operation.
I hope it all goes well.

Hopefully she will be able to get on here herself soon.
They can do marvellous things with dongles nowadays, so I'm led to believe?  

Nice sunny day here, but a bit frosty overnight, so the thaw has been halted, and the drive is icy again. I've put some sharp sand on my bit, but I haven't enough to do right up to the road. The bag of sand is kinda frozen solid anyway. Still, it stops me slipping and sliding when I go to the car. And means the postie won't fall A over T.

Looking forward to the X-Factor final over the next 2 days. Hope Mollie can catch some of it.

Heya Emptybox

They have to clear the infection first before she can have her op. .she is hoping they won't do it til after Xmas and can let her out before then once the infection has cleared up so she can have Xmas at home ..  hopefully she'll respond to the meds well and be let out for the holiday season... she was feeling a bit better today..

She has missed Corrie and will miss Xfactor too so is a bit gutted about that... but hopefully she'll be able to catch up online somehow when she is better or the kids have recorded stuff for her...

She sends her love to you all 

Oh dear. That all sounds more serious than I first thought?
Hopefully she'll be able to enjoy Christmas at home.

Hi Emptybox & Mount Olympus.

Thanks for the update,
Just typed out a big post and it disappeared.

Hope Mollie is OK, hope she can get home for Christmas anyway.

Got my outside power sorted, just need the hole through the wall, will leave it for my Lad now.
Got the lights on with a temporary lead.

GET WELL SOON MOLLIE.
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Hi Hicky.
Your tree looks great, and looks like you are lighting up the neighbourhood, with your fence lights.

Such a pity Cher went on X-Factor.
It seemed to me she was the only one not overwhelmed by their duets?
Don't think Cheryl's choice of a first song for her was very good though?

It has to be Rebecca for the win.