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General => The Stay Safe Board => Topic started by: Roobarb on Tuesday 23 February 21 00:31 GMT (UK)
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A wet and miserable morning, no aches and pains after all the gardening yesterday. The rain stopped late morning so I decided to go to the nurseries for some compost and have a walk later when it was forecast to clear out. Got in the car, turned the key - Nothing. Tried again and even the ignition lights didn't come on. Oh no! This is a car that has never ever let me down. Went back indoors then heard the car alarm going off, it wouldn't turn off with the key fob. It stopped then kept starting again, I opened and closed the boot, eventually it stopped. By that time I was getting in a stew but realised that it was probably just the battery that was flat, I can't remember the last time I drove it. Phoned a friend for help, he would come round later and jump start it. In the meantime I went for a walk, everywhere was soggy again.
Did a bit of tidying in the house and in the garden, found that I had two large plastic pots that don't have holes in the bottom, one would fit inside one of my coloured pots and I can put the solar fountain inside. It'll stand on the patio at the side that gets most sun. A lot of people put them in the bird bath, I don't want to do that as although the birds would still be able to drink from it they wouldn't be able to bathe, that is after all what a birdbath is for.
When my friend arrived it didn't take long for him to get the car going. He pointed out that the tyres were down, they always look flat to me anyway. Drove round to the petrol station and pumped them up. By that time I couldn't be bothered going to the nurseries so just sorted out some things in the messy corner of the garden, it's looking a bit better.
In the evening I watched Finding Alice, I wasn't sure if it was the last episode, had to check online and apparently it was. There's speculation about whether there will be a second series, I don't think I'll be bothered watching it if there is, I'm not really interested what happens to any of them. It was quite entertaining at first but it didn't hold my attention later on, particularly as Keeley Hawes whispers half of her words and mumbles the other half. It's a shame as she's such a good actress in other ways.
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Oh dear Roobarb... you don’t think about the fact that the car won’t start! Good to hear you got it going again though... good to have friends who’ll pop round in an trice to help out...
Now have the answer to my question in yesterday’s post re your fountain.,
Glad to hear you had no aches and pains after your day in the garden yesterday...
I feel the same about Finding Alice... got really unbelievable and eminently missable...
Today was another grey start but thought I’d give the washing machine a go... at the same time I phoned the zanussi repair people and eventually spoke to a very helpful person who said it sounded like the drum bearings needed replacing... arranged a date and had to pay-in advance... £130 😱😱 for call out, labour & parts... whilst I was on the phone doing all this the machine was doing it’s spin... not a sound coming from it... 😤😤... have I wasted my money... of course if I cancel the call out it’ll probably stop working... so went ahead anyway..
Next on the list was arrange for usual breast scan as just got a letter through... last one.... appointment in late March at the usual place I’ve been to before... mobile unit in the Tesco car park in a nearby town!
After lunch I did some cooking ... still dull and not very pleasant to go out for a walk so had three games of scrabble instead... still ended up one ahead. 😀
Dinner was something from the freezer.. meatballs in sauce with rice... like to use up spares in rotation...
Watched Boris... pleased to hear children will be back school on 8th March... daughter will heave a sigh of relief!
OH up in arms about not being able to get out to play golf until 29th March hopefully....
Watched tv ...
That’s the sum total of my day today...
Caroline
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Glad you sorted your car out Roobarb. If the car is going to be unused for any length of time, it might be an idea to start it up every now and then, give it a bit of a rev, and leave it running for a few minutes.
Caroline, it’s always the same when I make appointments - things seem to “right themselves” when you’ve booked to get them fixed. There is obviously something not right with your machine so at least the service person can have a good look at it. I’ve never heard of paying in advance. I can see that they might want the call out fee paid upfront, but for parts and labour surely they won’t know for sure what the problem is until they look at the machine?
I quite enjoyed Finding Alice, though some parts were a bit too far fetched. I’m not sure how well received it was, but I think there is definitely plenty of scope for a new series. I’ve not noticed Kelley Hawes being a mumbler, but OH probably had subtitles on, (he often does). I don’t like them and find them distracting.
Very hot and steamy weather wise here on Monday. A few minutes spent pegging some washing on the line and I was dripping with sweat - most unpleasant. Holed up in air conditioning as much as possible. Watched a couple of episodes of Scott and Bailey - possibly a bit dated, but still watchable. We had some rain at about 9pm, then a late storm with thunder and lightning at about 11pm. It passed quickly and cleared the air somewhat although it was still very warm.
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Glad you didn't have any ill effects after your garden labours Roobarb, and how lovely you have a friend who can pop round to rescue your car. I agree with Ruskie about running it sometimes, to avoid a repeat of that.
3 games of Scrabble back to back would drive me nuts Caroline! Fingers crossed for the washing machine. Everything comes at once doesn't it?
Was the thunder storm spectacular Riskier, and has it topped up water supplies at all?
What a lovely day here. Flat calm sea,almost no wind, even a glimmer of early sun.
Walked to the bank mid morning, in bright sunshine, immediately spotted 8 magpies on a neighbouring roof. (Eight is a wish, so I better use it wisely!)
Further along my normal route saw a pair of Jays. (I wonder how many times they have silently watched me stroll by?)
No queue in the bank, and decided as the sun was beaming down, to take a long circular route back.
The park has some glorious areas of crocus in flower, and saw a lovely little bird, in a fairly marshy area. He was about the size of a robin, and he looked like he should have been a doorman for a very posh hotel.... shining black cap, gleaming brilliant white collar all around, and a rosy red waistcoat. I have been advised he might have been a Stonechat. I shall look out for him again.
3 cruise ships at anchor.
After lunch I tried to read on the balcony for a while, but it was too cold so I had to go inside again.
Suddenly a flurry of phone activity talking about the easing of lockdown announcements..... except that the announcements were to be made in a TV broadcast at 19:00, so how come everyone was talking about it during the afternoon? Clearly I am missing something!!
Uk still has in excess of 10,000 new cases daily, but it sounds like we might be allowed to get out and about again from the end of March.
And that was about as exciting as it got yesterday.
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Lovely to hear about the nature you see when out and about MH. Our storm wasn’t too severe - luckily (our kitchen leaks when the rain is heavy .... long story ::) ). Our rain gauge didn’t register any rain so I think it is broken. The storm passed too quickly to have dropped any rain in the catchment areas.
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That's a very large bill for your washing machine Caroline, hope they've diagnosed correctly and get it fixed quickly. Poor OH, must admit I thought the golf courses might open earlier than that with restricted numbers.
Weather there sounds exhausting Ruskie, hope it's more pleasant today. I like Scott and Bailey, the only thing that annoyed me about that was all the fag ends they would leave on the ground!
Good to hear you finally had some decent weather MH, lovely to see the different birds on your walks. I believe the lockdown easing measures were discussed in Parliament during the afternoon, hence the flurry of activity.
Thanks for advice re running the car, will try to remember to do that. During the first lockdown I didn't run it for absolutely ages and it started okay but of course we didn't have the freezing cold weather then, don't know if that affected it. I was so surprised, it's never let me down before, just as well I wasn't going for my vaccination!
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Have to say l am a bit worried about starting mine.... hasn't been out for a while, but l daren't risk the garage door in winds of over 50mph.
As l understand it, a car battery needs to be run, to be able to charge, but lights and music etc. drain it, so around 20 miles in dry daylight, no music should be a big help. (Windscreen wipers are a big drain too.) Preferably about once each week. :)
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Roobarb, glad to hear you got help with your car. Have had a few battery issues myself. OH has made sure both cars have been run every week since lockdown, but our Mazda has been outside buried in snow for a few weeks, battery probably dead, we can boost it with the other vehicle.
Warming up a bit here, getting over freezing, but we had a couple of inches of snow each night the last two, so we are not really ahead! Supposed to go up to 4 today and tomorrow.
Did not get enough sleep last night, so today won’t be very productive, though I will try. Yesterday we planned to go out, did a little online work, made apple crisp, and then a truck pulled into the driveway. Pleasant man asked to get into the backyard, a surveyor, trying to find the property marker. Another surveyor was in the back neighbour’s yard, leaning over the fence. He dug away, first had to clear the snow (he was able to get to the back via the dog’s trails) and the ground must be very hard. I noticed he was digging very close to my Korean dwarf lilac bush, hope it survives! They didn’t find the marker
So our property probably goes beyond the fence. Possibly the neighbours are thinking of selling.
They left just before we were planning to, thankfully.
We went out to visit a charity store that has just reopened and to pick up some takeout lunch. Looking for books and puzzles, but their stock is very low, and we found nothing. This is part of a North American chain of charity stores and they are quite big. The stores reopened here last Tuesday and I think people just haven’t been donating things since they closed at Christmas. Our Covid cases have dropped drastically and they are talking about moving up into another zone. Still no signs of any vaccines for most of us, though.
Once we got out of our village/suburb we drove a couple of kilometres but had to turn around and go back as the police had blocked one of the main roads in our area, we went back through our village and round another way. Frustrating, but we have time on our hands!
The rest of the day was humdrum, did do my stretches after a few days off. Watched the Canadian Bake-Off, we were happy with the star baker, but wanted someone else sent home.
Must catch up on my emails today.
The excitement, I can hardly stand it :).
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Hope the surveyor dug some useful paths through the snow Diana. :D Our charity shops haven't been taking bric a brac since the start of the pandemic, unfortunately that means that a lot of people have been binning things instead when they have a clearout. Perhaps the stocks will improve for you soon. I've been buying my paperbacks online, not as cheap as the charity shops or the withdrawn ones at the library, they library ones are the cheapest.
Hope you sleep better tonight.
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The little bird does sound like a Stonechat,except their white collar does not go all round , but otherwise exactly the same .
Did not go a walk today, felt a bit tired and then phoned son who is like Charles Dickens, why say in two words what you can say in a hundred!
He was a chatterbox from a baby,someone said when he was 18 months old” “You can have a conversation with him”.
Started off quite a bright and pleasant day but dark now at 4-15.
Remains of cold chicken for tea, Coronation chicken perhaps or with a rice and pepper salad.
Have to watch peppers,tomatoes and bananas ,they make my gout flare up.
I do like them though.It istheir high Potassium content.
Hope the washing machine is alright, I have a Service contract ,for most of my appliances,it often seems a waste of money but no worries about big bills.
How useful to have your property boundary marked ,there is often dispute here re who owns which fence etc.
Hope the car is OK, Roobarb, they don’t like standing for any length of time.
Two daffodils fully open now and more almost ready , fat buds in those silvery skins ready to open.
The Muscari bought for me at Christmas can come into the light in two more weeks.I marked it on the calendar.
Phoned friend in Shropshire ,no reply so either the carers are there or she is in hospital ,although her son keeps me updated usually.
Well a nice cup of tea and put some clean laundry away, and the I like to watch Pointless.
Cheerio folks.
Look after yourselves .
Viktoria.
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Well it’s a good job I made the appointment for the washing machine as it made the most horrendous noise today... I feel vindicated...
It does seem a great deal to pay but includes everything..... 🤞🤞
Good to have a storm to clear the air Ruskie....
MH - pleased to hear you had a calm sunny day and were able to get out without being drenched or blown away!
Diana - hope your dwarf Korean lilac survives the digging! Strange time to come round looking at boundaries in the snow... can’t make it easy!
Viktoria - love the idea of your son sounding like Charles Dickens! ... does he tell a good tale?
Caroline