Hi Hicky.
Damp but mild day here.
Went for my paper, and went to Sainsburys this afternoon as usual.

In truth the garage has a lot of leaks, and really needs the roof re-doing badly. But I didn't realise the beams themselves were rotten in places, until my brother pointed it out. I'll do some work to strengthen the beams immediately, and then I'll have to think of a way to re-cover the roof, that doesn't break the bank.
The garage has a lot of my Dad's tools in it, and also my lawnmowers.

Pity your lad missed giving his mother flowers directly, because of her working hours, but I bet she was pleased to receive them.
Sounds like you might have solved the mystery of the damp in your office? Hope it can be fixed.
Glad you enjoyed your Sunday roast.

Those Hive gadgets certainly are expensive.
Thanks for the slug pellet tip.
I've saved the link in case i decide to get them.

I watched some of those videos of little kids making fish curry. 
As you say, 3 yr olds in this country would never be allowed near a sharp knife like that. Or near the open fire.
I enjoyed watching Morse tonight. :cool;

Evening Emptybox.

A rotten day here weatherwise, rain all day, 7c with winds of 10.

Stayed in as i don't like the rain, would have to put my waterproof gear on, didn't need to.

Had an unusual brekkie, well i say unusual, i got 8 skinless sausages from the freezer, defrosted them and referred to one of my recipes for coating in a spicy mix, anyway, cooked them first in the wok as it's so quick then coated them in spices, cut the sausages into 3 pieces each, after marinating i fried them in the wok, rather nice, and ate them all.

To save going out to garage for food i looked in the house, decide to make more spicy chips, found a piece of cod as well, used the fried fish recipe top coat the fish in spice, fried the chips, coated in spice then fried the fish all very nice.

I used galvanised corrugated roof sheeting, fixed with the self tapping 6mm fixing screws, easy peezy, 2 examples.

 http://www.eroofs.co.uk/subdep...Metal-Roofing-Sheets

An idea of sizes and prices, my garage was 6300 x 2600 and think i bought 12 sheets, 3 length and 4 width because of the overlap needed.

http://www.steelroofsheets.co....pecial-offer-sheets/

Yes, i think the meter cupboard outside is causing the damp problem, it doesn't seem to have a damp course and a principle of capillary action is that water can run uphill against gravity, i found out that you can start that reaction quite easy, i found that that if i got water flowing down capillary matting first, then stopped it then the water turned around and went back up, i used to have water tanks under a low bench with grow bags on the bench years ago and got the water from underneath to flow up the matting into the grow bag, problem was cutting the water rate down as too much flowed. 

If the Hive unit gives trouble i will have 2 options, this model has been superseded so would have to enquire about the next model to see if it's compatible, or else go to the wired version i can get.

I couldn't believe they let that 3 year old use the vertical knife, it seems all the villagers  use that type of knife, it's probably safer than using the knives we use, it seems safer.

Hi Hicky.
Damp and foggy here, but not actually raining. Didn't do much.

Your spicy sausage brekkie sounds good.
Thanks for the roof links. Corrugated iron is one option I'll consider.
The roof is covered in roofing felt at the moment, but as I say, it is leaking at many points.
There's also a lean-to shed to the side of it that'll need to be done as well.
My Dad bought the garage second hand in 1992, and we re-felted the roof then. So the roof has lasted 25 years plus. He built the shed himself a few years later.
I guess the easiest thing would be to buy more roofing felt.

I don't think that vertical knife that the kids were using would be safe if they fell on it.
But probably safer as they don't need to hold it to cut the fish.
It's a different world though.

Not much on telly tonight to interest me. 

Hope Mollie had a nice 'Mothers' Day' weekend away?

Evening Emptybox.

Felt roofs are a constant problem, they have a life of a predetermined time for some reason.

I would never re-felt a roof again, at least galvanised steel won't rot and it's designed for garages or some sort of outhouse or farm building, one problem is that the heat of summer and the cold of winter takes it's toll, it is easily torn & hard to fasten down.

Had a lovely day here, 10c sunny and light wind, gave me a chance to uncover each tree tub and feed with some manure and some feed pellets, warmer tomorrow with 11c but less sun, but i could be outside all day again.

Made the hard boiled egg meal this morning, very nice to, made enough for 2 meals so can have some in the morning as well, will post the video at the end.

To give my body a chance i had 2 steak pies for tea with a pack of microwave chips.

I would fancy one of those knives, i notice all the main videos of Indian cooking outside in the villages seems to use them, have seen a dozen of them sitting around cutting everything from fish to chickens to veg, the lot.

Here is what i made this morning, the name of the video is on the video.

both

Hicky

how exciting to hear your lad in Oz and wife are expecting.

I can see your lad, like you, enjoys a good brekkie. Sets you up for the day, so they say.

Hope your planned adaptations to the watering system work out well.

Thanks for the Mothers day piccie, what beautful pink roses.

can't believe 3 year olds cooking and serving in those videos.

That is good you seem to of worked out what the damp problem is.

Emptybox

glad the visit went well and they enjoyed your food. Fancy having to sacrifice your usual beer and spag bol though!  

Pity you have rain coming in the garage. If it is a big job, won't your landlady sort it? I would of thought it would be her responsibility. Or are you just planning on doing it yourself as it would take long for your LL to get round to it? And you don't want your things damanged in the mean time?

We had a nice weekend away. On the saturday we went round Llandudno seafront. Our little niece had fun on the pier with the Shove 2p machines, winning those tickets, then a little prize. We went to Weatherspoons for lunch with OH's family We took our little niece for a day out on the Sunday, and she  loved it, just as much as we did. At one stage I did decide we were quite mad choosing to be outdoors on a cold farm all day, and going on the tractor ride was absolutely freezing. We could even see all the surrounding mountains still covered in snow! Niece loved it and feeding the lambs, we saw 2 lambs who were only a few hours old, so sweet. Daughter took niece on this big bouncy things and daughter was freezing too after as they both had to take their socks/shoes off and it was wet! But niece did not seem to even notice.

All round we were pretty lucky with the weather though, not much rain at all.

Exhausted now as spent ages at solicitors today. Had to get mum's jewellery valued, as my brother seems to think it is worth more than it is!   But as you know, getting it valued costs too. Anyway, as me and OH suspected, most of the stuff was worthless! Valuer said it is never worth as much as people think for resale or probate value. It was not nice seeing stuff I remember her wearing being valued. We don't know full value yet, as he has to do report. My mum wanted me to have the jewellery to keep in the family, as brother doesn't have family but I will have to buy him out if I want to, if not it goes to auction, as she didn't include it in the will. So have to wait to see the value of just a couple of things. Solicitor said he will deal with it all though, thanksfully.

Solicitor is only waiting for 2 final account figures to come through now, then we can put in for probate. Good, as I want this sorted asap.

Goodnight both..... bed for me now as Im' done in. xxx

Evening both.
Not bad day here. Cloudy with a little drizzle in the air at times, but not too cold.
Got quite a lot done for a change.

I tidied the greenhouse and got rid of the old tomato plants and growbags. I planted my tomato seeds in the propagator on my windowsill.
I also pruned my apple tree.

Then I fastened a couple of struts to strengthen the beams in the garage that were beginning to rot. I had to drill holes through and find some bolts long enough, but seems to be OK.
Hopefully if I can get the roof redone before too long, then it shouldn't rot further.

I also started my spare mower up while I was out there, so i know it's working at least. I've still to try to fix my latest mower by fitting the new carburettor that I bought. I don't hold up much hope though.

Hicky. I'd quite like to put a galvanized roof on the garage, but it seems quite costly from your links. Plus it would be quite a bit heavier than felt, and I would be worried about water getting in the screw holes. I'll need to measure up and find out the cost of felt. The last time it was felted we used tacks to secure it, but I'm sure the water is getting through at some of those points where it was tacked, so I was thinking of gluing it down or securing it with batons?
Haven't got beyond the thinking stage yet.

Glad you got a good day to get some work done on your tubs.
I'll have a look at that egg video, if you thought it was a nice meal.

Mollie. Glad you enjoyed your weekend, even if it was cold up north.
Sounds like you had a great time entertaining your niece.
Shove 2p? I remember when it was shove ha'penny.

Pity you had to get right back into dealing with solicitors etc as soon as you returned. But that's good if can soon go to probate.
Would have been easier if your Mum had mentioned the jewellery in the will I suppose, but better to do it by the book, as sounds like your Brother is taking notice from afar?

No the garage and shed belong to me, as I said, my Dad bought the garage and built the shed himself. Same with the greenhouse, that belongs to me.
Don't suppose I'd bother taking them with me if I moved, but I'd rather they didn't fall down.
We rented the place unfurnished and undecorated and were told we could do what we liked in the garden etc. That doesn't mean I have any security though. I could still be asked to leave with only 2 months notice, on the whim of the landlady.

Enjoyed watching Shetland tonight. Only one more episode of the series left next week.

Evening Both.

A bit windy here today, temperature ok at 11c but just cloud, winds of 18 so i didn't do much in the garden, just mixed the feed into the top of the compost to keep it moist, have left the covers off.

Just had some fried bacon and black pudding and finished off the egg clumps from yesterday.

Couldn't think what to have for tea, decided to use one of the meals of mine from the freezer so got a chicken curry and made some chips to cook in the wok.

Phoned the Urology dept of the hospital to check they hadn't forgot about an appointment in March, i last saw the Registrar in September and he said 6 months and he'll see me again, anyway, i am in a queue and they are behind, probably because of more urgent cases, anyway, ring again in a month.

My Cornmeal came today as did the 20 rock spikes i use in the raised beds, they are pretty handy.

Think i have a problem with my right eye, it's making it harder to read.

Mollie, Yes, my lad in Oz is a good eater, so are all of my Lads, don't know who they take after.

I was surprised to see the 3 year olds using those tools but if you see them from birth then it's second nature, the parents didn't seem concerned at all, it is also dangerous for little ones to be kept away from sharp things etc then one day they get the chance to get hold of them and cut themselves because they have never handled them.

With swimming, in warmer countries the babies swim from birth so they never have a problem.

The one that was going to look at the damp problem hasn't arrived yet, he could be working away.

Glad your weekend away went ok, you needed that

Emptybox, The galvanised corrugated steel sheets are very light, no weight at all, and the fixings are special screws for the job and have special washers under the hex head of the screw or bolt depending on whether you are screwing into wood or steel, and they are self tapping anyway.

This is what i mean for fixing, the fixing goes through the high point of the sheet so you have to buy the right length.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0...604031_t1_B00QE3IVDU

On the page you can see the different lengths, also you can use these for going into wood as the self drilling part lets you drill right through the metal sheet then into wood or steel.

Yes, watch the egg video, it was a lot of work, i wouldn't recommend you to try it though, and i never worked out what he did with the yokes.

2 Supervet on tonight, More 4 now 7pm, C4 the new series at 8pm

both xxx

Emptybox

hope your tomato seeds do good this year.

Sounds like your garage work is going to keep you busy, let's hope the weather is kind so you can get it all done without delay. Oh yes I remember now you saying the garage is yours, such a shame you have the upkeep and probably won't take it when you leave though.

Good job your spare mower at least does appears to be working fine. Good luck fixing the other one, as i know it won't be long now till your busy mowing season starts soon.

Yes this 2 months and you are out even if you don't do anything wrong, for tenants in the UK rule is just ridiculous. It happened to us when we asked the LL at our last place to see to the mould. She just gave a 2 month notice to us! And never did fix the mould, so the next tenants didn't stay long either. She has now moved her son in there, so I guess that mould will never get seen to.

Hicky

hopefully now you rang urology, your appointment won't be too long coming.

Sorry to hear you are having problems with your right eye. Are you going to the GP;s to check what he thinks it may be?

Hope your mould man doesn't take too long to come back off his hols.

Seems to of gone colder again today after a warm sunny day yesterday, so it is back on with the warm vest again. Drizzly too today, so not a good washing day.

Son had a real full day at uni today, so went to lunch with him in tesco. I just had vegetable soup and he had sausages on a bread roll with cheese.

Watched Corrie tonight and then One Born Every Minute.

Goodnight both xxx

Hi both.
Another dull day and fairly windy.
I decided not to work outside, but I got my February accounts done on the computer (didn't take long).

Looks like we are in for a cold weekend. I've already cut back on the hours that the heating is on to save oil, as i don't want to have to buy more while it's expensive again.

Hicky. Pity the Urology department is running behind with your appointment.
That's not good if you have a problem with your right eye. You should go and see the optician.

That's good that galvanized steel isn't very heavy, and thanks for the info on fixings.
I don't want to spend too much on the roof because I might not benefit in the longer term, if i have to move. Maybe about £100?

I watched the egg video. He uses a lot of oil and a lot of salt.
I notice sometimes he wears gloves and at other times he uses his bare hands.
Also he doesn't seem very fast cutting up things with that little knife.

Mollie. Yes it's very bad that I've been in this house for over 25 years and yet I could be kicked out at any time. I think they have much more security in other European countries.
That was very bad of your old LL, to kick you out just for asking for the place to be maintained.

Pity it wasn't a good drying day for you today.
That was nice, that you had lunch in Tesco with your son.

Forgot to say before, but I've been back on the Turmeric capsules for over 2 weeks now, with no ill effects. So it was obviously just a coincidence that I felt bad the last time i tried them.

Watched Supervet then Benidorm, now watching the tribute to Stephen Hawking. A big loss.

Evening Both.

Wet this morning, 11c some sun in the afternoon but wind was 18, annoying.

Just had cheese on toast with tomato for brekkie.

My new Chip maker came, it does veg as well which is handy now i use potatoes and onions etc, it looks good but i ran out of potatoes, we don't have a deep fryer now as i found them such a problem, the oil gets in such a mess and you need to keep changing it but trying to clean the tank etc was such a problem, the oil that was on the sides of the fryer wouldn't come off, it wasn't soluble with normal solvents, it was a night mare.

This is the Chipper:  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0...11_189395841_TE_dp_1

Whereas with the Wok i can just empty the oil into something, only use a drop anyway, and then i just either give it a wash (no soap) or wipe with kitchen towel.

Fitted some of the spikes that came, i drill a 7mm hole then hammer it in till it stops at the bottom of the hole, they are part of the support system for raspberries, vines, and tomatoes and peas.

For tea i decided to use some of the Satay chicken sticks, i have loads of the peanut sauce and it's quick to do in the Wok, fried a few chillies to go with it and added a bit of spice. very tasty.

Rang the Eye place where i got my last eye test and glasses, it was last May, have an appointment Tuesday.

Just done my Shopping list, it's getting smaller with me having so much stuff in and it's so easy to get it off the web which saves o/h carrying it as well.

Mollie, My waterworks have been the best ever, but i was wondering if these tablets have to carry on or have they done the job.

Yes, it will be cold this weekend, but my forecast shows it nicer next Tuesday/Wednesday. 

Emptybox, I think i lose a lot of heat from the vents, the stove has one above it, the kitchen has a vent in the wall, the kitchen doesn't get hot which is a good thing, i have a vent in my office, there is a vent in the bathroom and the on-suite shower, the heating settings now are from 06.30 it is 19c, from 6pm it is 20c till 10pm when it goes to 17.5c till morning.

Those fixings for the roofing, i have bought that pack of 100 also bought a 100 pack or 6mm penny washers 25mm as i can use them on the gazebo roof as the wind wants to blow the roof tiles off with them being thick sanded felt, but if i drill down into the wood frame with the fixings and have a stainless penny washer under it it sure won't blow off, i did one side last year so will do the other 5 this year.

Yes, Grandpa uses a lot of oil but the oil has to be deep enough for what he is cooking/frying, not sure about the salt, he cooks so much food for so many and salt brings out the flavour so it's hard to tell.

Not sure about the gloves he uses, whether it's to do with the ingredients or whether he need to be able to clean his hands and they don't have anything but water which might not clean them too well.

Saw Supervet and the Tribute to Steven, a busy feller, he needs so many carers, no wonder.

  both xx

Emptybox

that is good you got your February accounts done trouble free.

Hope your oil supply holds out during the next cold spell they say we have coming.

Yes I had heard that tenants have much better tenancy agreements than this riciulous 2 months and chucked out for no reason rules we have here.

That's good the tumeric is not upsetting your tum now, as they do say it is real good for you. I am taking it too.

Hicky

I remember those chip makers from when I was a kid, my parents had one similiar, but it was metal. So have you tried making chips on your wok yet? I know sweet potatoes also make good chips if you fancy a change. What other veg are you likely to make into chips?

Glad you have an appointmet to check your eye problem out. Do you think it could be that cateract thing that many get now?

Glad your waterworks are so good now, but as you say, you need to check the meds in case you don't need them. Have they given you enough to carry on till you get an appointment through though?

Sounds like you are going to be busy sorting your roofing soon.

Looks like it is going to be so cold for a few days, so that will delay us all doing much for awhile. I see they have even given out a snow warning for round here again! Very unusual. I can see how lucky we were with the weather last weekend. There was quite a lot of snow heaped up in places on the way, but no problems though.

I finally got round to going to see the day centre manager today to return the things mum had from there. I thought I would be ok but it was horrid going back there knowing it had been such a large part of her life and she wasnt' there. Oh dear, I started to cry, so the manager took me in a room for a chat and told me how much they had enjoyed looking after her as she was so sweet and what a good job I had done keeping her at home despite her illness. I gave them a big box of biscuits and a card. Costco do these huge tins of choccy and mixed biccies, so I got them from there.

Did a quick shop in Costco, lots of nice free food samples as usual. My fave was the piece of warm bread with pesto on it.

Then went to John Lewis and got a new tv box as our sky one broke and I cancelled the sky, so that saves us £35 a month. We still keep broadband and phone with them though.

this is the one we bought....have to try and get used to how it works now though.

https://www.johnlewis.com/huma...1786#tabinfo-ratings

Watching a show about Benidorm now, bit boring though, but not keen on Thursday tv though.

Goodnight both xxx

Evening both.
Raining here most of the day, so nothing done outside. Cold and windy as well.
Went into town to do my Lidl shop. £25 and that included some potting compost (not John Innes ) and a bottle of wine to boot.
It was bitter walking the streets though.

Hicky. Glad your chip maker came. A fan of regularly shaped chips obviously?
Can you make them in the wok?
That's good that you've got an eye appointment quickly.
Thinking about it, I think Grandpa only used the gloves when he was cutting stuff up, including green chillies, so that was probably the reason.

Mollie. That's good that you've got the visit to the Day Centre over with, even though it was very emotional for you. Nice that they said you'd done such a good job for your Mum.

I was actually a bit shocked with the amount of oil that I'd used whilst we had all the snow and sub zero temps. I was hoping it would last till the Autumn, but might not now. And also the price has gone up a lot since i last bought in January, so that's a bit worrying. I'll need to keep a close eye on the level in the tank, and on the prices.

That is a great choice of TV box. It'll just connect up to your Sky dish with no problem and give you all the free channels. And it's a very reliable make.
You'll have to get your son (or OH) to play about with 'non-Freesat mode', as you can get a lot more channels in that mode, especially HD ones, but it takes a bit of organising.
But it's easy to switch from Freesat to non-Freesat modes in the menu, and Freesat mode is easier to record from and stays organized itself without any need to mess around, so perhaps better for you.

Watched Location then 'Not Going Out' and 'Still Game' on BBC1.

Evening Both.

A wet start to the day, better this afternoon, sunny and the wind dropped, it was 10c with winds of 10 to start.

Got some work done outside, not a lot but marked the cage posts out.

Had to re-cover some of the peas i planted as the rain must have forced them out of the ground, some where on the top of the soil.

Had bacon, egg, hash browns and mushrooms for brekkie, but decided to use another of my home made frozen meals for the freezer for tea with a packet of egg fried rice.

Have been writing down a recipe from Grandma, they are all at it, anyway, i rather liked the one for Samosa, i enjoy them so much and this shows how to make the cases and fold them and the filling for a potato & pea Samosa, will post it at the end, i saw it used Carom seeds which i don't have so ordered them, o/h could find the wheat flour in the shop so i looked on the web and in the uk the wheat flour is called wholemeal, don't know why, just another difference between us and the states.

Mollie, I have made chips with the wok, not used the new chip maker yet, when i said it also chips veg i only meant to save me slicing it with a knife, yet to try it though.

I looked on the web about my eye, it seems to match, but it seems to have come quick as i only had a test last May so will have to wait and see, it's sure a nuisance.

The prostate tablets are on the normal repeat prescription, the hospital just give you the first month then the doctors take over.

You are bound to get upset if you go back to the day centre, that was lovely taking them a box of biscuits, they would enjoy those.

That Freesat recorder is fine, it only record one thou if you are watching another station, you just use the original dish you had used before.

They keep sending leaflets about changing, Virgin want me to join them as the road is wired all ready, i looked at the most expensive option for channels, it's £88 a month, i had Sky at the last house before i scrapped it, that cost £40 a month for limited channels, it's a con trick as you can't pick the channels you want, you have to buy a packet and pay for what you don't want, well they lost out, they have a monopoly, no thanks.

Emptybox, I am not bothered about the chips being so regular, i am fed up with cutting them by hand, such a pain, will take 2 minutes with the machine, ues the wok is fine with chips, i can check the temperature with my Laser thermometer.

Yes, it is not a good idea to touch chillies with your bare hands, i usually use tongs or a fork to hold it while i cut.

This is the Samosa recipe from Grandpa it uses mainly potatoes.

This is a mixed vegetable Samosa by Grandma, will be making this when my Carom seeds come.

both xxx

Emptybox

sounds like the Beast from the East has come back to you as promised.

Pity you have used so much oil, but it has been been incredibly cold, especially for you most of this winter. Damn typical how they put the price up when you need a lot of it though!

It was incredibly mild here today, I even sat in the garden with dog for awhile today. Can't believe they say it will barerly go over freezing this weekend.

Glad you got a bargain shop in Lidl, good all round I find it, and not only for food. 

I noticed how awful the caulys looked in asda, but when we went to Lidl the next day, they were real good qaulity, and cheaper too.

Thanks for the tv box hints, I will ask someone in the family to look at that. At this stage I am just trying to memorise how to use the new control to turn over and the volume up and down.

Hicky

yum... vegatalbe somasas, just up my street, I love them. When your seeds come, let me know how that recipe turns out for you.

Hope you enjoy your chips made with the cutter.

We don't have Virgin wiring in here yet, but expect we will get leaflets too as soon as we do. But at £88, that is a lot of money!

Do you have fast wiring there Emptybox?

We only have the Sky one or the one BT use.

Got a bit of food shopping today.

And got washing dried on the line.

Barclays at last sent mum's final accounts through, so we are just waiting for one lot of savings account statement to come now, then solicitor should be able to apply for probate. He said that it takes around 2 to 3 weeks after the form goes in before I can go and do this oath thing. Was it a few weeks wait for you too Emptybox? Solicitor said it is then normal to wait 6 months before an exectuor splits the estate money up though, because creditors have 6 months to come after anything owed. If it is distributed before 6 months then the executor (me) alone would be liable. Did you wait the 6 months Emptybox? Solicitor said it is highly unlikely someone will come after cash, but he said he did have one person once where benefits had been overpaid by £20,000! So the exectuor had to repay the lot alone.

Talking about overpayments....my carers allowance was cancelled correctly when mum died, and they correctly stopped paying it 2 months ago. However today, the stupid people for some reason have suddenly reinstated it and today have backpaid me for the 2 months since my mum died! Oh dear, I now have to ring them to tell them to not only stop it again, but to reclaim the last 2 months that they should not of reinstated! 

Watched Corrie, and now watching Gogglebox.

Have a good evening both xxx

Hi both.
Drizzly here, and very cold and windy.
Went outside to try to measure up the garage roof, but it was too windy and I couldn't control the tape measure. Plus I was frozen, even wearing my heavy fleece jacket and woolly hat, so I gave it up as a bad job.
I got as far as finding out that the garage is 5 metres long, but that was it.

Hicky. Glad you could get something done outside.
Pity the rain had messed up your planted peas though.
Are Grandpa and Grandma related?
You've got a fast fibre connection already, haven't you? So you don't really need Virgin.
That's good that you can make chips in the wok.
I usually just buy ready made oven chips, but might try making my own sometime.

Mollie. That's good that it was mild for you today. Hope the weekend's not too cold.

No, I don't have fibre broadband here. 5 Mb/s if I'm lucky and the winds blowing in the right direction.
The Government says everyone should get at least 10 Mb/s by 2020, but they don't say how they are going to get that to me out in the wilds.
In fact the Scottish Government has gone further and said that everyone in Scotland will have at least 20 Mb/s fibre by the end of 2021. But then the Scottish election is earlier in 2021, so they probly think they won't have to make good on that promise.
They'd have to spend a lot of money to get fibre broadband out to me.

There's a different system in Scotland called 'Confirmation' rather than Probate, but yes I think it took a few weeks. I didn't have to go anywhere though, the solicitor just sent me something to sign, as I remember.
And yes, it took about 6 months before anything was paid out I think.
That's annoying, that they got your carer's allowance mixed up, and you'll have to send some back.

Watched Jane McDonald and Friends (I like Kerry Ellis), then I watched Will and Grace, which I enjoy.

Evening Both.

Not nice today, max of 3c, -1 tonight, had a quick snow flurry thats all, wind was the problem at 22 which spoiled the fact the sun was out a lot, i walked the garden but not nice enough to stay out.

My roofing screws came, have to wait for the penny washers before i can do anything, these fixing are what i used last year to fasten the gazebo roof section that a gale destroyed, they were left over from when the garage roof was replaced.

Made an omelette for brekkie, really fancy making some sort of Samosa but will wait for those seeds.

Didn't know what to do for tea but had half a duck so decided to have that with a couple of baked spuds, got so many options now for meals, crazy.

Mollie, I didn't know how to make the case for the Samosa, have watched a few videos and have practised on a piece of paper so it's no problem now, Any filling can be used, as long as you can make the case then it's fine.

That cost of £88 a month was for all the channels, but it's not a cost i'm willing to pay, i will stick to my free ones.

Wonder why they reinstated your carers allowance, crazy things that go on these days.

Emptybox, I just recovered the peas, some looked as though they had germinated as well.

Are you sure the garage was only 5 metres long, that doesn't sound right, some Jags are almost that length, some are over 5m.

No, don't think the Grandpa & Grandma are related.

Yes, i have fibre part way, but get speeds between 50 and 80, but faster costs more, usually.

O/H uses oven chips a lot but i'm not keen on them, but with the chipper and the wok i think it should work out, mind you, in the summer i probably wont be in the kitchen so often so might be using the wok on the BBQ.

both

Emptybox

pity the weather stopped you making much progress on the garage work yesterday. I am guessing it is no better weather wise today.

Our mild weather here suddenly disappeared, woke up to see a few snowflakes, but didnt' last long. But when we went out, the wind was bitterly cold!

However it was nice and warm inside the WEatherspoon pub for brekkie I am pleased to say. I had a Hicky variety type brekkie....a bagel with cream cheese, mushroom, tomatoes, beans, 2 hash browns, veggie sausage. Very nice it was. And I had so much, I bought home a sausage for daughter for her tea. I always tell them to leave the egg off and give me extra beans as I hate eggs, but love beans.

Pity you haven't got the fibre, I don't know what mbs we have, but gaming son is always complaining it is not fast enough for him! He uses Steam a lot.  I think 5 of us using it at once in the evenings slows it down. But sky tell me we have the best one they have in this area, appartently we can't have the top one as we cant' get it round here. (not sure what that is though!). They put fibre in here around 4 years ago I think. As you say, the trouble is the usual big business not wanting to spend in remote areas.

That is interesting it is not called probate there. Solicitor said I have to go to another solicitor's office with this form and swear an oath for this blooming probate thing. What a pest, wish it was like yours and I could just sign the forms instead of having to treck to a solcitors appointmet again! Ridiculous really as the power of attorney thing was far harder to do and I had control of everything and had to do that for years. Every time I took money out or paid bills I had to account for it, even cash for food etc. I will just be glad when this is all done and dusted now. My brother is not going to be too pleased when he finds out the jewellery he thought was so very valuable isn't at all! (that is why I had to take every single thing in for an independant valuation). The valuation man was so interesting, he put this thing on his eyes and used this machine to check for diamonds and weighed the gold things. He took lots of photos, then he does a written report on everything. But he said, the old stuff is out of fashion so only melt down value. And the possible platinum ring could only be classed as metal because it didn't have a proper hallmark, so worthless. He said it is pointless to look at jewellery for sale on sites/shops, as most people do to value it themselves, as jewellers mark prices up by 90%! He said this is why most  peope don't realise how little the family jewellery is actually worth. I did guess though. But I never checked monetary value, as I didn't think of it in monetary terms any way, it was just sentimental stuff to me. eg my nans old ring. Valuer also told us he often has to do house clearance, and people are shocked to realise that it is going to cost them for him to clear it, rather than him give them money for their old furniture! But again I guessed that, as we had so much trouble getting rid of the stuff in mums flat.  Charity shop wouldn't take most of it. eg no furniture unless it had fire safety thing on it, and they didn't want wardrobes or drawers either. So OH had to chop it and take it to the tip.

Hicky

shame it was still not nice enough for you to do anything in the garden.

Yes I did wonder how you would make the samosa case, but what a good idea to practice with the paper. I think the seeds on them will make it so tasty.

I am not keen at all on oven chips either, proper home made ones are so much nicer. (not that I ever do them now though).

I had a letter today about carers allowance...oh boy was it nonsense. ...some weeks ago they wrote to say they would stop carers allowance benefit from when mum died mid January. So this letter started off the same as the last one along the lines of  ..... they are sorry about mum dying but by law they have to get in touch about changes to my benefit.

Then they went on to say... they now have looked at the "facts and evidence" and as a result they have changed their original decision!  (to stop the carers allowance!)   
What!!!???? And so they have now paid me the back pay from when mum died to now, so 2 months allowance for Jan to March!
What "facts and evidence" could they possibly have to make them change their decision about someone dying, despite the fact they were provided with  the death certificate ?? !   It should be simple, if I have no one to care for any longer, then I dont get carers allowance! If they can't even get that right, heaven help us! (irony).

We now have an amber warning for snow, not sure when though as we have only had a few flurries so far.

Watched Ant and Dec, now watching the Voice.

Goodnight both xxx

Evening both.
Another very cold day here with some snow flurries but some sun as well.
However this evening the wind has really got up, and there's now some snow lying, but not a lot.

Hicky. Glad your roofing screws came.
Half a duck sounds like it would make a good supper.
Yes I think I'm right about the garage measurement, although the tape measure was flapping in the wind.
Don't know if it's ever had a car inside it, never mind a Jag?

 Mollie. Sounds like we've all three had snow flurries today?
Glad you enjoyed your nice warm Weatherspoons brekkie.

Yes the more people you have on the internet at once the slower the connection.
As I'm the only one here, my 5 Mb/s connection is usually enough for me to watch HD videos on Youtube, but if my phone starts doing updates at the same time that slows everything down to a crawl.

This Probate oath thing sounds annoying.
Pity your Mum's jewellery wasn't worth much, but hopefully that means you'll be able to keep the sentimental pieces, rather than having to sell them to give a share to your brother?
That's a bit of a waste that you had to chop up your Mum's furniture and take it to the tip. But I guess it had to be done really.
No idea about the carer's allowance? Perhaps you are actually due it for some reason? But you'll have to check with them.

Watched Casualty then Troy.
For some reason I haven't been watching The Voice this year? Maybe I'll watch the finals?

Evening Both.

Not a very good day, 1-3c cloud and cold wind of 21.

Stayed in except for a quick wander around the trees etc.

Just had a piece of haddock, some boiled chopped up spuds and a pouched egg, all with a little spice over.

Couldn't decide what to have for tea so decided on a ribeye steak with onions mushrooms and chips, tried the chipper, have to cut big spuds in half as too hard to close the machine.

Added more recipes to the new book, also making a list of what to feed which trees with starting pretty soon.

Hairdresser came for his 2 big luggage cases, relation coming Thursday to see about damp.

Mollie, I've watched a few various videos on making the Samosa cases, it seems that i need to end up with 12" diameter, watching a lot making them they roll them out to say 6" then oil it and layer each one on top, don't oil the top one, just put flour on top, then they roll out the say 6 to the final size then separate and dry fry each one, then cut into quarters.

I don't understand that letter you got about carers allowance, it doesn't make sense to me, unless they are saying they owe you backpay.

Hope you don't get much snow, had about enough to cover my hand. 

Emptybox, I only had the duck in the freezer as i like to have some of every type of meat, fish etc, then i can have what i fancy at the time.

On the Voice yesterday, each 3 sang and the judge had to pick one, heaven knows how they do that, must look at record deals etc.

both xxx

Emptybox

papers today, or was the road too icy? Hope it warms up for you soon, to help your oil last, if nothing else. And of course you need to get on with the work on your garage when the weather improves.

Sounds like it is a good job there is only you there as your internet is not too powerfull. You could always test the theory of how much it slows down with more than one user, if you got your brother and his wife using it at the same time when they came....or maybe not...., they might think you were bonkers using them to test a theory when they have just come to see you!

I am actually glad mums stuff is not worth much, so hopefully it will be easier for me to get them to keep, just to remember her by and to keep them in the family, as one ring was my nans and my brother has no kids. Valuer said they can go to auction, then I have to bid for them if I want them, but of course that way I have to pay part of the selling fees, and all of the buying fees. So I have to wait and see what happnes. We still have a lot of mum's furniture to get rid of that was in storage, the carer is coming to see if she wants any of it, as I would rather it go to good use, than OH take it to the tip. OH needs some better weather to go to sort the storage out though.

Hicky

Pity the weather kept you from working in your garden again. I real hope we get a  good summer after what we have had to put up with this winter!

I too stayed in as we had some snow, not much though, just a light covering. That is good your relative is coming to see to the damp Thursday.

Sounds like your recipe book is gettng thicker and thicker.

I think those samoas are going to keep you busy, but knowing you, they are going to be delicious when you do make them.

Yes makes you wonder how they choose just one out of the 3 on The Voice, What I don't understand is why, unlike the X factor, not one person who won the Voice ever seems to become well known in the industry?

Made a roast dinner for the family with Yorkshire puds, and I had cauly cheese instead of the chicken. I love cauly cheese.

I watched the new series of the Good Karma Hospital. REally enjoyed it.

OH bought and planted some pretty pink, purple and liliac flowering plants a few days ago, but now they are covered in snow. Hope they will survive ok.

Goodnight both xxx

Hi guys.
Very cold here, about -2 degrees most of the day, and a few flurries of snow.
So there's now more on the hills and the fields and some on the lawn.
Hopefully that's the last really cold day though, and it warms up a bit from now on.

Hicky. Good choices of food.
Didn't realise you'd borrowed the big cases from your hairdresser?
That's good that your BiL is coming to look at the damp. Hopefully he'll agree with your theory about the cause.
I see there's only 3 episodes of the Voice left, so I'll have to start watching it. No idea who the contestants are though.

Mollie. Yes I went down for the papers, but the roads weren't good. Not too icy, but covered in slushy snow. 
Don't really need to test the theory that the internet slows down, because I know what happens when I'm doing updates on more than one PC at once.

Now you have the valuation for the jewellery I would try to come to an arrangement with your Brother, rather than putting them in an auction and trying to win them back. You could either pay him half the value for the bits you wanted, or split the pieces between you?

Bet the family loved the roast dinner.
I watched The Durrells then the Good Karma Hospital as well.
Hopefully your flowering plants will survive the snow. Were they bulbs?

Evening Both. :

Temperatures of 2 to 6c here, sunny spells but winds of 15 decreasing.

Didn't do any jobs outside because the wind made it colder, had a walk around but that was that.

Had tomatoes, tinned, bacon and sausages for brekkie, wasn't sure what to make for tea, decided on making the Tomato/Rice dish as i have everything and made enough for 2 meals, will post the Grandpa video at end of the post.

My jars of Green Chillies won't be arriving as they should have arrived last Wednesday, then they found them but it seems they got broken being delivered today so i am being refunded, will have to ask o/h to get some again from Sainsbury's.

Ordered my repeat prescription this morning, got the Opticians tomorrow, quite hard to read with a good eye and a bad one, just hope it can be fixed.

Have ordered a 28cm crepe pan for the hob as part of making the cases for the Samosa is to dry fry them before you cut into quarters and make the Samosa, i cut a piece of paper that size and have been practising making the case by folding the section of paper, it should be ok, really needed 30cm.

Mollie, I have 11 of the best recipes in the book, with 7 snacky types, more to go in yet.

I have been reading about the Samosa cases, watching various people showing how to do it on the web, you make them smaller then oil each and stack then re-roll and cut then separate then store in the fridge, use them up with various fillings fry them and then you can freeze them.

Yes, the singers, winners or not have it tough, there are too many out there already so you have no chance of getting anywhere, maybe singing in bars and clubs, thats it.

Hope your flowers don't get damaged by the frost, maybe you need a cloch over them.

Emptybox, I agree with you, had enough of the cold, a bit warmer weather here for the next 10 days, but still some lows of 2c.

We were going to buy cases and we both get out hair done with him, he offered to let us use them for out hols, they are a bit big and too much for me to rush around with in the airports, thats why we sent one to Oz, and just took the one, then what we had used in Singapore and Oz we left in one case to be sent back to us, the one we took to Hawaii and NYC we left in New York and got that sent home, we bought a smaller case in NYC to bring home with the presents in and also the case on that flight to Gatwick had a limit of 20kg for any cases, but you could have 2 each.

At one airport, although i had told o/h what the limit was for the case she had too much in and had to take stuff out, lucky we were with my lad and his gf so we could put stuff in their case, she had 30kg and the limit was 50LB, just under 23kg, i saw a few people having problems because all the airports have different baggage rates for the airline, crazy, some are 30kg, some 23kg, some 20kg but it also depends on what ticket you have and which airline you are flying with, with us going on and off planes of course it was more of a problem.

both xxx

Emptybox

yes hope you are right and it does warm up from now on, it should though as it is the spring equinox tomorrow. Hopefully today the ice/snow started to clear for you. We had a cold wind today, but it has gone now.

Gosh only 3 episodes of the Voice left, yes about time you gave it a go now.

Glad you managed to get your papers despite the sludge.

For the jewellery, I don't have the official valuation letter with the figures yet, I am just going on what the valuer told us at the time was approximate. The problem will be if brother wants the same items as me for SIL, as she loves jewellery, then it may have to go to auction. So I will just have to see how things go. I am not bothered about value as I just want to keep it to remember mum, and mum did want me to have her jewellery as a keepsake (brother doesn't have kids), but she didnt' put it in the will.

HIcky

hopefully the wind has eased there too now, it was a real cold one today.

I am sure you are impatient for it to warm up now so you can get your garden jobs done now.

What a shame your chillies got broken during delivery. Hope your OH can get some now.

I hope the optician can sort your eye problem out tomorrow.

Don't think I would give samosas a go, it sounds so fiddly, I would be bound to mess it up. But I am sure you will soon work it out, especially as you are practising.

That was lucky you were able to move the stuff to your lads suitcase as it is so expensive if you go over the weight on planes.

There is certainly a lot of tomatoes in that video! How did your tomato/rice dish come out? Hope you enjoyed it.

A lovely sunny day here today so got lots of washing dry. The wind was very cold but the dog decided she wanted to sit out, so I sat out with her, but I had my coat on and a blanket over me and sat in a corner to try and get away from the wind. It did not seem to bother the dog, even though she is old now, but her breed does originate from Tibet, and we have let her fur grow a lot this winter. So it must of done its job. She has like 2 layers to her fur. A soft undercoat and a longer tougher haired over coat. She is a non shedder, so we are supposed to brush her, but she doesn't like it so we dont' do it much. We just cut the knots out when we see them. Her fur is more like wool than hairs.

Watched 24 hours In Police Custody, what an interesting show.

I see the audition application for BB closed today, so all 3 of us missed it again!

Let's hope they select some interesting HM's this year.

Goodnight both xxx

Evening both.
Calmer today, and mostly sunny, but still cold.
Most of the snow has gone again now.
I see they are forecasting another cold spell around the Easter weekend, with maybe more snow.

Didn't do much. I went round outside to see if the high winds had caused any damage, and noticed one of the slates had been displaced, so i got my long ladder out and was able to push it back into place. Saves bothering the LL.

Hicky. I'll have a look at that tomato and rice video.
Pity your chillie delivery got damaged, but at least you are getting a refund.
Hope the optician can give you some answers about your eye.
That was good of your hairdresser to lend you the cases, even if they were a bit big for easy carrying.

Mollie. Well I hope you manage to keep the bits of jewelry that mean the most to you.
That's good that you got a good drying day. I hear the west country got a lot of snow, so that's good that it didn't venture into your part of Wales.
The dog must be grateful for her woolly coat at this time of year?

I watched 24 Hrs in Police Custody as well, then the last in the series of Electric Dreams.

Evening Both.

The tomato rice dish was great, one portion is in freezer.

O/H was at work this morning and i popped into the garden to do a few jobs, while i was outside i missed a phone call, and the phone doesn't display what is going on as the screen goes black, it was a call from the Optician's to tell me that the appointment was cancelled as the Optician wasn't available and to rebook.

I didn't find out till i arrived, oh dear, got a new appointment for Friday.

For brekkie i decided to make the hard boiled egg masala/egg curry, i had half of it, not too bad, threw the rest away because you can't freeze cooked egg white, you can freeze the yolks.

Decided to have one of the tinned steak pies for tea, very nice for a change.

For some strange reason the non youtube videos you get in the news pages, they run with the content black, have tried everything, the player is Brightcove, never heard of it, so installed MS Edge and they work fine, the videos used to be fine, probably the browser updated and that messed it up, so got 2 browsers running now.

F1 starts this weekend as well, yippee.

Oh, my gift wrapped parcel came today, ordered an Easter egg from Amazon gift wrapped with a little message, so thats sorted, don't think she got one from me last year.

Mollie, I fancy making the Samosa, when the flat crepe thingie arrives, it has been sent, it's not due till Friday but stuff often comes early, they seem simple to me, the filling is one thing to do and the cases are the other, both seem fine, of course if you can't get the circle large enough it means you have less filling.

Where the dog goes so does Mollie.

Emptybox, The slates are nailed on aren't they,unless you mean tiles, don't think tiles can slide out though, slates don't have a ridge to hold them in place.

Yes it was a blow not getting the chillies, could do with getting a load of large fresh ones, the Jalapeño are best and they slice rather nice, that was what was in the jars.

I explained the Optician problem in my opening speech.

both xx

Days are getting lighter, hopefully weather warming up soon now we are really into spring.

Emptybox

glad the wind has died down now.

Well done replacing the slate yourself, as I know what a pain it is if you have to contact a landlord to do stuff.

Did you get out and about today?

Hicky

oh no what a nuisance the optician cancelled and even worse that you missed the call telling you. Did that mean you wasted money on a taxi going there? What a nuisance you now have to wait all week till Friday!

How odd you had problems with the news videos. Good job the Edge sorted it.

How lovely, I bet your OH will be well pleased with your gift wrapped Easter pressie this year. I bet she will be surprised with your remembering it was Easter, as she is so used to you forgetting her birthday. Hope she gets you an Easter gift this year. Mabye you should buy yourself one just to make sure you don't miss out?

Let me know how your samasos come out when you make them.

Glad the tomato dish turned out so well.

My family are really enjoying some fresh pesto sauce we got from costco, so I have made some oven baked bread the last few days for them to dip it in. We samped it originally in Costco, so of course we had to buy some then. They are very clever giving out free samples, as it often pursuades people to buy stuff they wouldn't normally.

Not a bad day today weather wise, got all the washing dried too.

Did a bit of a food shop and met son in tescos. I had to calm him down as the assignment work is being piled on him before Easter and the group assignment work they have to do at the moment is driving him mad. His group were supposed to meet at 9am as agreed yesterday morning, he got there on time and none of the others turned up, despite him hanging around an hour for them! This is not the first time they have done this. Now they have to be in the Uni till 8pm tomorrow! I told him that is real life, and you just have to get on with it, when others let you down, but I bought him his sausage and cheese bap and a hot choc to cheer him up, which worked well.

Watched the train man in India, very interesting, now watching the hotel man in Ireland.

Goodnight both xxx

Evening both.
Not bad day here again. Quite a lot of sunshine. Wouldn't say it was warm, but it wasn't so cold.
Spring Equinox eh? At least it's getting lighter in the evening, and it'll be even more so on Sunday when the clocks go forward.

Hicky. Pity you missed the phonecall about the opticians. You'll have to get an answer machine.
Don't think I could live with a phone that didn't have caller display. I get so many of the 'unavailable' calls every day. Maybe up to 10 calls a day.
What a nuisance that you had to get all the way there, only to find the appointment cancelled.

I've heard of Brightcove. It's not supposed to use Flash any more, so that's not likely to be the problem. At least you can watch the videos in one browser anyway.
That's a wonder, you remembering to buy your OH a present.

Yes the slates are held on by nails, but this one must have lost it's nail or something. I just pushed it back into place, and it seemed quite tight, but it may well slip again without a nail. It's at the bottom of the roof, so quite easy to reach if it happens again.

Mollie. Pity your son is getting stressed about Uni work. He can only do his best in any event. If others in the group aren't pulling their weight he can't do much about it.
There you are you see. You thought you were getting free samples in Costco, but actually they've made you purchase something you wouldn't otherwise.
I presume the "train man" is Michael Portillo? No idea who the "hotel man" is?

I watched the Celebrity Bake Off, and was glad to see Ruth Davidson get Star Baker.
Then I watched the last episode of the current series of Shetland.

Evening Both.

Not too bad today, 8c but sunny and winds of 16 which isn't too bad.

Just made bacon and black pudding sandwiches for brekkie.

Am just making the Vegetable Biryani at present, just letting the veg cook before i carry on, i'll post the video at the end, it should be tasty, using most veg from my freezer.

My new flat Procook thingie came to make the Samosa cases, this one, https://www.procook.co.uk/prod...63c7&fo_s=gplauk

Mollie, Thanks for the picture, lovely, not like Spring though.

O/H took me to the Opticians so she wasn't too pleased, will have to get a taxi Friday i think.

I nearly ordered 2 eggs but it's not that important and she usually gets me one.

Good idea making bread, you sure can't beat that, and with pesto, yummy.

I will let you know how the Samosa's go, just waiting for the seeds.

It's not fiair on your lad getting all that work to do, and the group not turning up, what happened there?

Emptybox, The phone has caller display, but if you miss the call it doesn't tell you, the screen is black, you have to pick it up to get the screen back, crazy.

I have a feeling you have to pay to use the Brightcove player, what a fix.

If the slate slid out once it was because whatever held it had gone, but it will slide out again no doubt, but you can only fix it by taking those above out.

Not like Spring really, think it's running late.

Vegetable Biryani by Grandpa, and by the way, The Grandma video lady is aged #106

Just had some of the Biryani, wow, heaven, got rather a lot though, probably got 3 or 4 more portions so will put in containers when colder.

Will certainly make again, a bit of prep work to do but worth it.

It made 4 meals so 3 are in containers, very pleased.

  both xxx

Emptybox

glad to hear it wasn't so cold for you yesterday.

The wind has gone real cold here again today! So back to 3 layers for me again....plus my fave pink scarf with black doggie pawprints on it.

Oh yes of course with the clocks due to change, we will be getting nice light nights next week.

We have call display too, along with a little junk call japper machine. So my junk calls are rare now. Are you registered with TPS Emptybox, as all those calls each day must drive you mad? Might be worth you thinking of getting a junk call zapper too? I love pressing the red zapper light when they ring, knowing they won't be ringing me again!   We paid £25 for our zapper.

Hope your slate stays in place now.

The hotel guy goes to posh hotels to help out in them. They were in Ireland this time. But I can;t remember his name or what channel it was.

I am too busy trying to get used to the new remote for the new tv box to remember what I am watching half the time.

The new Humax box is wonderfull though......we are real pleased with it so far. Much better than the sky box we had,... a really good tv guide, rewind, pause, catch up tv, we even watched Youtube on it last night, and 600 hours recording space. The picture is so clear too.

HIcky

glad your biryani recipe came out so well and you now have plenty more of it to eat at a later date.  

Wow, can't believe the grandma is aged 106! What a good age to reach.

Your Procook looks usefull, and not only for your samosas, do you intend making crepes on it some time?

Your poor OH having to take you to the opticians when it was cancelled! Hope you get on ok there Friday, and they see you this time, especially as you are going to have to fork out for a taxi this time.

A good drying day today as no rain, but the wind was real cold again.

Son was at uni from 9 till 7, but he managed to do some of the team work this time. The tutor told the students to be a bit more reliable with their group studies! Son cheered up now, especially as one of the girls in another group has invited him to her birthday party and it is Easter hols next week.

Watched the GP show and am watching Supervet now. Supervet is amazing. How complicated is the work he does! Aaww those poor dogs, they look so helpless.

Wonder who donated that couple the money for their labrador to have the op?

The big black dog looks like an enormous version of our dog.

Our dog is 12, so has arthritus now, so she has slowed down, but she still loves going out for a walk, at her own pace though. The bad part of having pets is knowing they get old and you only have them for a short time. But I just love having them around.

Goodnight both xxx

Evening both.
Not bad day here. Some sunshine, but windy and quite cold. But got up to 8 degrees this afternoon.

Went to Lidl this afternoon, and also picked up my prescription.
Lidl seems to have been doing reorganisation as well. I think they are bringing in a hot food section, or something like that. Anyway, everything was in a different place to usual, and I'd only just learned where everything was.
However, as it's a relatively small store, it didn't take long getting round everywhere.

There are still piles of snow in some of the car parks in town, but it's more or less gone from everywhere else now. Even the hills are only patchy now.

Hicky. Glad the vegetable Biryani was a success.
I also can't believe the Grandma one is 106.

Mollie. No I haven't registered with TPS. Can't see how it could do any good as the callers are mostly scammers who wouldn't take any notice of the rules anyway.
If it's an unavailable or withheld or international call I either just let it ring. Or if I can't be bothered I lift the receiver but don't say anything and then just click it off again. Bloody nuisance though.
Haven't heard of this call zapper gadget. What does that do?

Glad your new Freesat box is living up to expectations.
The only annoying thing for me about Freesat is that CH4 HD recently left the service. You can still get the SD channel, and CH4 HD is available in non-Freesat mode.

Glad your son has cheered up as the Easter break approaches.
Having a girl invite him to her party must have helped?

Watched Supervet as well. Very sad that the big black fluffy dog had to be put down.

Evening Both.

Strange, can only see posts from 2 days ago.

Am sure i posted last night.

Anyway, not bad today, 9c max cloud and sun, winds of 21 dropping to 4.

Got my shopping, had some of o/h's fresh cooked chicken and hock she brought in for brekkie.

Went to opticians, got a taxi, the right one has Macular Degeneration (AMD) and both have cataracts so will be referred to eye hospital, can't do anything about AMD at the moment.

For tea i had a piece of the Salmon that arrived with the shopping, i'll freeze the rest, i put a few spices on the fish before i fried it, had a pan of parsley sauce to go with it and had 2 baked spuds as well.

Where have yesterdays posts gone?

If i see them i'll call back.

Hi Hicky.
I didn't post yesterday as I'd just have been telling myself what I did, and that wasn't much.

Didn't do much today either as it was very windy outside. Plus I've been having symptoms again, for the last few days.
Much milder this evening though, have been able to turn the heating down a couple of notches.

Sorry to hear you've got cataracts in both eyes and Macular degeneration in one. That's bad news.
As you say, I don't think there's much they can do about AMD as yet, apart from give you stronger lenses. Hopefully it's the 'dry' kind, which is slow developing?
Think both my parents had that,to varying degrees.
Cataracts can be fixed though, so hopefully the eye hospital will be able to help.

both xxx

Yes, how odd, it seems to look like it has been unusually quiet here for a couple of days.

Emptybox

pity you didn't post to tell yourself what you did, as I could of caught up with what you did when I got in here today.  I know you said you didn't do much but for all we know your not doing much could of been something real exciting like climbing Everest and I won't know now.

Regarding your Lidl changes, do you have a bakery yet? If not, it could be that. We have a lovely bakery at ours. But we don't have a hot food one.

The call zapper thing is called a CPR call blocker. There are some different ones...this is our one...

https://www.cprcallblocker.com...-stop-nuisance-calls

We paid around £25 for it though off ebay, as it was a 2nd hand reconditioned one. Works great, and we have had it at least a year now. A lot of junk call companies who are overseas now use UK numbers to disguise it, but our zapper can block these as well, so we rarely get junk calls now.

I just press the button and they can't ring us again.

thanks so much for the freeview hint to do with C4, my OH has now set it up as you advised. There is a lot of things these boxes can do, so it takes awhile to work them out. Yes annoying how humax and C4 had some sort of disagreement, so C4 withdrew. Also, we can't automatically rewind C4 like we can on other channels, but it is not a problem, if we cant' watch it, we just remember to do plus 1, or choose to record C4 over the other channels.

Aaaww yes the ending of Supervet was so sad this week with the loss of that gorgeous big black fluffy dog.

That is such good news you have at last managed to turn the heating down a few notches. Still chilly here in the wind, but overall does seem milder.

Sorry to hear you have been having symptoms again recently. I so hope it doesn't last long, and you feel better again soon. Such a nuisance that you usually can't see a pattern as to what triggers it off. That is the best thing you can do I guess, is to not do a lot when it occurs.

Hicky

Sorry to hear about the eye problems, let's hope the referral for the cateracts does not take too long now. I have heard this is a very straight forward procedure to correct. And I hope the AMD can be helped with lenses. A shame you had to go by taxi because they messed you about earlier in the week.

That is good your shopping came and your OH got you some unsual brekkie items.

I bet you enjoyed your salmon.

Yesterday we went to an animal park near Tenby. Fascinating, it is in a real open rural place with lots of open space for the animals. We saw them feed the monkeys. After they ate their carrots, they swung for tree to tree and make a real loud noise. The keeper said these monkeys pair up for life, so the male is letting all know that the female is his alone, and no one elses. And she is agreeing.   We also fed some wallabies. 

We are sorting mum's furniture that was in storage... luckily the carer said she'd love some of the old stuff, as her dad likes doing up old furniture. It is real solid wood, so should last her well and look good too when worked on.

Emptybox...we have received the jewellery valuation, and as we guessed most was not worth much, except for a couple of pieces. The valuer gave 2 figures... the probate one and the forced sale one. The probate he said was always high as the tax office are crafty and like a nice high full marekt valutation figure,  so more people are pushed up into the brand so likely to have to pay inheritance tax. However ours was always going to be well below the iheritance tax figure anyway, so the valuation was only done for my brother's benfit. Do you know if I want to buy him off, for some of the jewellery, would I have to pay him the probate value or the forced sale valuation? Some of the stuff is just not worth me buying him off if I have to pay him the probate value. As said I do want some for sentimental reasons though... and to keep in the family by passing onto my own daughter. (my brother has no kids).

Don't forget to watch the Voice tonight Emptybox as it finishes soon.

Enjoy your sphag bol. Hope you are you able to have your usual beer, or do you need to skip alchohol if feeling unwell?  But hope things have improved today.

Goodnight both xxx

Evening Both.

Not bad here today, 9c, cloud with sunny spells, forecast said drizzle but never got any.

Went out for brekkie, got a large one but couldn't eat it all.

Did some strimmering of the leaves using the gardening wheelie bin, put the new loaded double spool onto the strimmer, it works fine, 1 problem is the dust it makes while pulverising the leaves, i'm half way through now.

Wasn't sure what to make for tea, not enough chicken left from last night, went to chest freezer to get a meal and saw the pack of Chicken Satay, 10 small sticks, have lots of the sauce to go with it so had that.

Will be making the Samosa one day next week, not sure how many to make though, but they freeze ok as i used to have a lot of frozen ones, i'm looking into seeing if i can make the wraps one day then make different mixtures for the fillings.

Mollie, They can't do anything for the AMD, just the cataracts as far as i know.

That was nice feeding the Monkeys, they are so clever.

The wood in some of the old furniture is just too good to be burnt, but it's not easy to get someone to bring it all up to date, love watching that program, 'Money for Nothing' real good use of recycling.

Just watching the Voice, don't like knockouts though.

Emptybox, Sorry to hear you've been having symptoms again, hope it doesn't get worse, or last long.

They can't give me anything for the AMD as it's the back of the eye.

https://www.bupa.co.uk/health-...macular-degeneration

It is the Dry kind at the Moment

Don't forget, Clocks Forward tonight.

Hi both.
A lovely sunny day here, and up to 11 degrees. The first properly spring day here.
Still down to freezing overnight though.
Yes, I remembered about the clocks going forward.
While I was changing the clock on my central heating timer, I also changed it so that it now just comes on between 7pm and midnight.

My symptoms laid off today, so i took the opportunity to go to Sainsburys, as I don't know what the symptoms will be like tomorrow.
You quite often get a good day followed by a bad day. You just can't tell.
I still enjoyed my spag bol and beer tonight regardless.

Mollie. Glad you enjoyed your day at the animal park. Yes monkeys can be funny, and noisy.
That's good that the carer may take some of your Mum's furniture.
I guess if you wanted to keep some of the jewellery you'd have to come to an agreement with your Brother over the price. Not sure if there are any rules, but I suspect he'd be looking to go with the higher valuation TBH (from what you've said of him).
If you're the sole Executor you'd have to be fair and transparent, or I guess it could be challenged by your Brother later.

I think my Lidl already has a bakery. There always seems to be fresh bread products anyway. It's just there were empty metal closed shelving units there, that looked like they might be for hot food, but that was just a rough guess. They might turn out to be something else. I suppose I'll find out next week?

Thanks for the info on the call blocker. If I could get it cheap I might give it a go. My only worry would be that my docs surgery call on a withheld number for some reason, so i would miss those. That's only once in a blue moon though.
The other problem is these scammers never use the same number twice. So blocking one wouldn't stop others.
But it would get rid of the 'unavailable' calls, which are the most annoying.

It's a disagreement between CH4 and Freesat over the cost of being on the Freesat EPG (electronic programme guide). Humax is just the box manufacturer.
Yes it's annoying that you have to get CH4 HD in non-Freesat mode, but they may come to a new arrangement, and then it might be back on Freesat in the near future. Nobody knows for sure.
My Freesat box isn't a recording one, so i don't have to worry about that. I record using my Freeview one.

Hicky. That's good that you able to get some leaves mulched with your strimmer and wheelie bin contraption. Pity it throws up so much dust.

I read today about a possible cure for some sorts of Macular Degeneration, involving inplanting stem cells in the back of the eyes.

https://www.theguardian.com/so...oring-patients-sight

Not sure how long it'll be before it's more widely available, or whether it would be appropriate for what you have. But at least it gives some hope.

Didn't watch The Voice again. I was watching Troy.
Think they changed the time of it anyway, because the Ant and Dec thing was cancelled this week?
I'll really have to watch the semi finals next week.
Are there any good singers this year?

Evening Emptybox.

Not bad here either, 9c sunny spells, light winds of 8 to 11.

Just had bacon and egg on toast sandwiches.

Gave the trees a pre-bud-open spray, wind was a bit stronger than i wanted but had to chance it, 3 litres does all the trees, couldn't do one of the plum trees as it is in bloom.Need to get another spray in if the weather stays good in the next few days.

Have got some special 3 in 1 paint to paint the tree trunk and branches, got to do it before the leaves come.

Watched F1 highlights, Lewis lost the lead because of a non vehicle safety car issue and Vettal did a tyre change and because Lewis was under safety speed control he could speed up so Vettal came out in front and won the race because Lewis couldn't get close to him to overtake as the engine doesn't like dirty air.

Have made another kg of Yoghurt for next week.

Decided to get one of the Veg Biryani's from the freezer, added some more slices of chillies and some more rice, very nice too.

I Put the supports up on one of the raised beds for the tomato and pea climbing, going to ring up the nursery tomorrow, trying to find out when their veg plants are coming in, they said they aren't getting many this year so i want to get in first.

My Humax box has been playing up a bit, the other night it kept turning itself back on when i turned it off with the remote, about 4 times, i was in bed as well, had to turn the tv off.

And a couple of times it says so signal but BBC is fine, if i come back later it is fine, it's not the aerial as the one in the kitchen is ok, it must have a booster somewhere as we have 5 aerial points in rooms but only 4 twin Dish points, the kitchen just has Aerial.

The AMD cure for the wet condition looks good, they take so long to put this stuff into practice though, also the queue for that type of surgery must be at 500k.

The voice was ok last night, the problem is, the ones that went home, all except 4, the ones that went were as good as the ones that got through, all the singing was equal just the long term might come into the judging.

All the singers seemed fine to me, but i'm no judge.  

HI Hicky.
Not too bad here, some sunshine, but colder and windier than yesterday.
Went down for the paper this morning, but as I'd been to Sainsburys yesterday, I didn't need to go out this afternoon.

That's good that you got your trees sprayed, and put the supports up on the raised beds.
Yes I'd heard that Hamilton only came second because of an error.

Pity your Humax TV box is playing up. It's not trying to update itself is it? Mine turns on at 3am to look for software updates etc. Turns itself off after a few minutes though, and doesn't turn the TV on.

I didn't realise that AMD cure was only for the 'wet' kind. And as you say, can take an age for these 'cures' to filter down to ordinary GPs.

Watched The Durrells then The Good Karma Hospital. :cool;

Evening Emptybox.

Very nice here today, 10c sunny with winds of 5, just what i like.

The last 3 spices that i ordered cam, also the tins of sliced green Jalapeno chillies, wow, each tin weighs 2.8kg they are gigantic, commercial restaurant size i would think, i'm going to take the chillies out and put them into bags to freeze.

I had bacon and tomato toasted sandwiches for brekkie, then sprayed some of the trees with more protection, then made up the tin of paint, it comes as a powder with special oil to tip in then add some water to top the tin up, i'll let it stand for another day.

Decided to make some Samosa cases/wraps, well decided to try the circular ones, not too good, i made it too dray as with using the wholemeal flour equal to normal flour isn't the best thing to do, should have had twice of normal flour, it wasn't flexible enough, will do better next time.

Made the filling with onion, pepper, peas, carrot, green chilli, sweetcorn, you add all the spices and salt then let it stand for 10 minutes, interesting thing is you don't cook anything.

i made the Samosa's, quite a struggle with the case being a bit stiff, just ate 45 of them, will freeze the 9 thats left, have still got some filling in the fridge, i watched a video of making the cases and one looks a lot easier, you start with oblong dough and cut it into 3 strips which then get folded as per video, that will do me might try some more tomorrow.

At least the weather is letting you get out to the shops, the temperature is picking up but nights still cool.

Hamilton came second because another driver spun out and the Virtual safety car was on screen meaning the cars can't speed up so Vettel shot into the pit, changed tyres and came out in front of Lewis, it was as easy as that and Lewis couldn't do much because he can't follow close behind a car.

Don't know whats up with the box, just realised i can plug aerial lead into the tv to see if the signal is good or not.

They only look at the AMD if it is wet, which is a very serious conditions as it is bleeding and if they don't operate that eye will go blind.

both

Oooppss, forgot to post yesterday, but my excuse was it was my birthday, so we went to the pub for a meal and I had a drop of rose too.   I had vegan cottage pie, sweet potato chips, peas, salad. Very nice. Son bought me new phone, (my old one was ancient), OH a jumper and perfume, daughter a magazine subscription and son a book. So I was spoilt.

Emptybox

That is good your weather is slowly improving, not before time either!

Glad your symptoms eased, and you were able to go shopping.

How are you today? Hope you are symptom free now.

As you already have a bakery in your Lidl, we will now have to wait in anticipation to see what they come up with.

The call blocker doesn't stop witheld numbers if you dont' want it to, mine doesn't. But I rarely get witheld ones now anyway. I know scammers do use different numbers, but we did find it so simple to block them for each number they used, and they soon seemed to dissapear.

I too watched Karma hospital, very good show.

Hicky

so glad the weather has at last perked up enough for you to get in the garden.

Be carefull of that dust when you pulverise the leaves, do you have a mask you can wear, as the dust won't do your lungs any good?

That is good you are so pleased with your giant tins of spices. Lots of nice menus to come from them I am sure.

Shame your samosa cases didn't come out well, but I am sure you will improve on this next time. You still ate 45 of them though! So you must of enjoyed them.

How annoying your Humax box is playing up, let's hope it is just an update.

Not a bad day here either, got my washing dry anyway.

Took dog a walk down seafront and had chips and mayo on seafront. Always nicer to eat them outdoors.

Am watching corrie, then 24 hours in Police Custody tonight.

Have a good evening both xxx

Evening both.
Cloudy but calm here. Cold again tonight.

Spent most of the afternoon fitting the new carburetor to the mower.
Unfortunately it hasn't fixed it. The mower started after many pulls, and I ran it for about 15 minutes to warm it up. It runs fine. However after I'd shut it off it refused to start again, just the same as before with the other carburetor.
So I can be fairly sure it wasn't the carburetor at fault. And as I've already tried changing spark plug and coil etc I've run out of ideas.
Looks like I'll definitely have to buy a new one.

Hicky. Glad your spices came, and the chillies. Did you know you were odering such big tins?
Pity the samosas weren't quite right. But you must have enjoyed them, as you ate so many.

Mollie. Belated Happy Birthday.
That was nice, having a pub meal. And nice pressies too.
Glad you got a seafront walk with the dog today (and chips).

Still having symptoms off and on. A bout often lasts 10 days with symptoms coming and going. Not too bad, but having difficulties getting back to sleep after I wake through the night.

 I watched 24 hrs in Police Custody as well, then the thing on the Russian spy attack.