Diary > Sunday 8th November

[Roobarb]

Slept very late this morning, think I must be going further into hibernation mode. Just spent most of the rest of the morning reading and drinking tea. No fog this morning, it was raining instead.
Read in the news shortly before eleven that people would be standing on their doorsteps for the two minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday. Looked outside, no-one was out so I stayed in the house for some quiet contemplation. I didn't watch the march past at the Cenotaph but it was repeated in the early evening, I felt very emotional when I saw how few people were able to take part.

The weather cleared late morning, waited till after lunch to go for a walk. It was pretty muddy in a number of places but was quite mild, nice to be outside.
Tried on my new jumpers and hoodies, later on I tried to remove the labels, they're always in the back of the neck and they scratch me to bits. Couldn't get the stitching out, had to just cut along the edges which isn't ideal.

Did some more painting, the preparation and tidying up takes longer than the painting itself. Was having a cuppa before my grocery delivery, saw a van go past, it turned in the cul de sac, it was my delivery twenty minutes early. That was fine for me. Usual palaver followed.

Phoned my friend L as I'd been wondering if she was okay, things have been very hard for her. She was fine,  I referred to something I used to do in normal times, she said "In the olden days!"  We laughed, that's just how it seems now.

Did a Sunday dinner with some chicken and roast potatoes that I'd previously frozen, cooked newly arrived cauli and broccoli and Yorkshires to go with it. Telly, bath and bed.

Hope everyone has had as good a day as possible in the current situation.

[Viktoria]

Well, I told you I thought there was a rat in my shed, moved a lot of stuff and yes evidence !
I can’t understand how it got to the bird seed stored there.
I have an old set of drawers there,the seed was in plastic bags and all gnawed open and fouled .
The drawers are tight fitting , no space for something rat sized but the size  of
what it left behind shows it is big.
Set a trap the other day but no result ,now all the bird food has gone it might take the bait from thr trap.
Ugh!
Disposed of fouled food in the bin, don’t want to harm the birds ,you never know what rats carry disease wise.
Had a nice pork chop with onion and apple gravy, jacket potato, carrots, broccoli and green beans.Yoghurt for pud then later two tangerines.
A very dull dark  overcast day, not achieved much really,but it is - was Sunday.
Daughter phones tomorrow for a couple of hours ,she is very good.
Spoke with Flash Harry on the phone ,his best friend now is someone else, they are the two smallest boys in the class, his other friend was a big for his age boy and almost five ,and “ he was always taking other people’s playdough!”
Was also a bit rough, meaning boisterous play , our tiddler is tiny and doesn’t like that, and so too his new best friend.
Well folks it is almost 12-45 ,I need to tidy up a bit ,magazines etc lying about I will put the electric  blanket on and tidy up whilst it warms the bed then retire .
Goodnight ,hope everyone is well  and  sleeps soundly .
Cheerio.Viktoria.

[Caw1]

I didn’t stand on my doorstep either at 11am... we have a flagpole in the grounds of our village hall and my next door neighbour ... the elderly chap... always puts a flag up and I watched him from the upstairs window as he tottered across to do it. I stood for a few minutes looking at it as it hung lifeless in the mist of the morning and thought about all those poor lost souls  including my gtuncle Fred... I bought one of the Poppy’s that was part of the big display at the Tower of London in his memory... I was going to put it in the garden but apparently they’re not frost resistant so it sits in a big glass vase filled with pebbles... to represent the ground.. he was in the RE”s as a tunneller .... I have grasses from the garden in with the poppy so it looks like it’s growing in a field.... i never met him but for some reason have a great affinity with him, he was my grandfathers favourite brother..visiting his war grave in a small cemetery in Normandy brought him closer to me such a peaceful beautiful spot...
 It’s hard to be motivated these days but good that you went out for your usual walk Roobarb...

The weather of the day reflected my mood really... it was quite foggy when I got up and remained Misty for most of the day only breaking slightly late in the afternoon before darkness returned...
 Sunday is the only day we have a paper delivered... magazine had a couple of interesting articles in... the main paper was full of the US elections of which I’ve heard quite enough for now... the crossword we finished between us this week..
Did a bit of sewing in the afternoon...
Dinner today was roast chicken, pots, parsnip, carrots, cauliflower., Savoy cabbage...
Watched tv... Roadkill with Hugh Laurie... Escape to the Chateau...
A day of feeling melancholic really.... thought about my parents and my grandfather... only ever knew one ....
hope tomorrow will be a better day....

Caroline

Added - oh Viktoria I do feel for you finding evidence of rats.... my neighbour the elderly chap will insist on putting bird seed outside his front door in late afternoon and we’ve seen some whoppers .... called in environmental health they told him not to put food out... he ignores it! Hope you manage to get rid of them..
Glad to hear FH is doing well with his new friend too!

[River Tyne Lass]

I spent some time on internet in the morning including RC.  I found I have had a message from my highest match - person A.  A little while back this person kindly sent me her tree and we both could not see any connection whatsoever.  However, this person has obviously been looking into things and has now let me know that she has found that she is also matching and has been in touch with a person B.  Person B (also one of my highest matches) is known to me as a descendant of my Great Grandfather's brother.  Now I am thinking that my highest match may have descended from someone who was the result of an affair with one of my ancestors and the baby passed off as someone else's.  That is the thing about DNA .. the truth comes out.  I think that might be a tough job for her to figure out things there.  This person A has her photo up and I do think I see a resemblance to a historic photo I have seen to my Great Grandfather's nephew (son of his younger brother).  Not that I am suggesting this nephew was the father of her ancestor but I now do think she may be descended from this line somewhere.
Some people have been sending me more info for memorials I have been adding on Find A Grave.  One person has even added a lovely Victorian looking photo for one woman's memorial.  I wish that type of thing might come through for one of my own ancestors one day.  I live in hope!
I stood in my doorstep at 11 am.  Only one other neighbour out.  He was in a short dressing gown with bare chest and legs showing.  He must have been freezing or then again perhaps he might be the type to not feel the cold as much.
I walked to the town to get some shopping at one point.  On the way, I saw a very dapper elderly gentleman out walking with a cane.  He was wearing a smart suit and military style Scottish hat and was bedecked with medals.  In the town, I saw some windows at 'Veterans at Ease' charity shop and at a bank had been decked out with lovely knitted poppy displays in red, black, white and purple - all made by a local WI.  I do like the idea that people are now remembering the animals that served and lost their lives too. 
I felt so tired Sunday.  Decided to go to bed early to have a short 'nap' and then to look at some of my new books.  However, I fell asleep properly.  I live in hope that I might  get around to reading these new books eventually one of these days.

[radstockjeff]

We joined a Zoom Remembrance service from one of our local Methodist churches. Very moving and we had one of the members playing the Last Post on his trumpet.

I then prepped and cooked lunch before going into snooze mode!

Enjoyed the evening TV programmes on offer  - Country Life, then a very interesting programme by Simon Reeve(s) on Cornwall, followed by the BBC4 offering of Vera Lynn.  It all made a pleasant change from Midsomer Murders, Poirot , Lewis, Vera and Morse !!!!

[Mowsehowse]

Yes, a very grey and melancholic day yesterday.
H and I walked down to the front as we had heard that the cruise ships in the Bay would sound their horns to mark the start and finish of the 2 minutes.
We were shocked to find the whole sea front absolutely packed.  Then at the end of the 2 minutes a crazy traffic jam of people trying to get away again.
Aside from that, not much worth reporting.

Viktoria; awful you found evidence of rats of course.  They must have a fantastic sense of smell I suppose.  Years ago I put some rabbit food in my understairs cupboard. I lived in a terrace of 4 houses.  Within 24 hours the mice had found it and ransacked it.  Had to go out and find a large plastic ice cream box to keep the food in after that.  It is incredible what tiny gaps rodents can get through!

[louisa maud]

I heard the ships on the Thames yesterday and I don't live in London, can only assume they were passing, it was nice to hear to be honest, might have made people wonder

LM

[Roobarb]

Viktoria, how awful to have a rat in your shed, it makes me shudder just thinking about it. Rodents are able to make themselves almost flat and so can get in unimaginably small places. Do you have an electrical socket in your shed? If so, your best option would be to buy a plug in  ultrasonic pest repeller, there are loads available on Amazon for under £15 (other retailers are available!). They do work, my neighbours had mice in their loft and when one of these was used they beat a hasty retreat.

Caroline, I've just realised I didn't respond to any of Saturday's posts, your experience with the dogs sounds awful, no wonder you were shaken up. I hope the problem is resolved and you can have a peaceful walk that way without any more of that. Sorry to hear you were feeling down yesterday, hope today is better.

RTL, how fascinating to be investigating the DNA connections. What would have been viewed as disgraceful at the time makes it so interesting for us, nothing better than finding a skeleton in the cupboard! How lovely to see the local poppy displays.

Jeff, it's such a great thing that technology allows us to partake in services like yours. I hope you also ate lunch before going into snooze mode! I watched the Cornwall programme too, it was good to hear at the end how well the Taco Boys had done.

MH, so frustrating to be caught up in crowds like that.

LM, it's been so still here for a few days, if it's the same there then perhaps that's why the sound carried so well.

[Annette7]

Forecast was cloudy all day but was sunny, blue sky and not a cloud to be seen!

Two more deliveries - one from Hermes, one from Amazon.  Both well packed.  However, last week my sister had a delivery and it was an empty box!! 

Did some general cleaning/tidying and settled down to knitting in the afternoon and watched some Midsomer Murders, both of which I hadn't seen before.

So much quieter in roads around me since this second lockdown and it was well after 11am when I remembered it was Remembrance Sunday (shame on me).   Whether any of my neighbours appeared at their doors I have no idea.

From the cars in our car park none of my immediate neighbours ventured out yesterday, all, like me, esconced in their flats.

With the Christmas presents for family/friends that I've been ordering lately starting to feel a bit Christmassy.   Will definitely still put my tree up next month as usual even though the only person likely to see it is me!  Presents to my nephew/niece and their families will be delivered before Christmas Day and we will have a Zoom meeting with them so we can see the children opening the presents.   I will, as usual, be spending a couple of days staying with my sister/b-in-law over Christmas so at least one part of 'normality' this year.

It's certainly going to be a 'different' Christmas for all of us this year but up to us to make it the best that we can in the current circumstances.

Annette