Diary > Sunday 15th November

[Roobarb]

Woke to a lovely sunny day. Was thinking about going for a walk when suddenly it was teeming down so carried on with my reading. It soon brightened up then once again a heavy shower. The forecast was better for the afternoon, the walk could wait.

Practised a different technique suggested by my art teacher for further work on my Christmas card painting. It wasn't working too well on paper but was more successful on canvas, either that or I was just getting better at it.

 Was getting hungry so had lunch then went for a walk. It was windy and quite cold despite the sunshine. I didn't stay out long as the combination of cold air and wind was making me breathless.

Was looking for a new paperback for my bathtime reading as I'm getting to the end of the current one. Ended up ordering two, one of them being Lockdown by Peter May, I like his books and thought this would be interesting. Apparently no-one would publish it when he wrote it fifteen years ago.

 Spent a while browsing the Tesco aisles online looking for something different. Changed my order for next week.
Reluctantly got up to hoover and dust the lounge, a job I hate, it's such a faff pulling the sofas out. Had had enough when I finished that so I'm afraid upstairs got a lick and a promise.

Put chicken breast with chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, potatoes, paprika etc in the oven to cook. A couple of glasses of wine tonight, not so strong. Nothing inspiring on TV and the things I've recorded are mostly documentaries. I could do with a good series to watch. Any recommendations gratefully accepted (I don't have Netflix).

[Caw1]

Roobarb - Good to hear you’re cracking on with your Christmas card painting... mines still inside my head... mostly white clouds floating about.... it’ll come just hope it’s soon!
Cleaning on a Sunday ..😱😱my Auntie would have apoplexy... day of rest according to her... these days they’re all the same so what the heck!


Woke up in the middle of the night... well it was still dark anyway ... to the rain thundering on the windows... I managed to get back to sleep and woke later than normal...
After breakfast read the papers ... not much in them ... couldn’t face the main paper apart from the crossword which we haven’t finished yet...
OH chatted on the phone for a while so I went for a shower...
Messaged our friends to see if they’d heard anything from the police... no but they were off for a walk so would let me know how things were... their walk was fine no dogs around just a couple of chickens.... at least they can’t cause too much harm!..
After lunch we decided to go out for a walk... it was quite windy and the  rain was threatening so we walked quite quickly.... no dogs around all very quiet... we did wonder if they’d gone away... breaking COVID regs... but OH saw chap in the garden as we walked past...
Felt good to get out for some fresh air and exercise...
OH watched more golf I retreated to my work room to do some sewing...
yes I should have been thinking about Christmas cards... I’ve written my list out..

Had a message early evening from our friends, they’d heard back from the police..
Apparently he’d called to see the people late yesterday evening... the owner was apparently taken aback that the dogs were viewed as anything other than ‘their pets’ ( really whose he kidding) police explained things and the chap was very amenable and appears to understand the situation...he was told remedial work needs to be done to the fence and outlined their responsibilities for keeping the dogs supervised/ more secure.. the officer will be checking on them in the coming week to make sure they do whatever has been requested and if they don’t it will be escalated to the  next level... it’s been logged formally as an incident and if we’re concerned again in the future we can call them without having to go through the rigmarole of reporting it all again... so hopefully that’s an end to it and we can walk that way without fearing any more aggressive behaviour...
Dinner was herb crusted pork filet cooked in the oven with mash, cabbage, cauliflower, carrots and onion gravy...
OH did some of his new jigsaw and I watched three episodes on Netflix of the  new series The Crown... it’s addictive... the actress who plays Diana is very good and look so like her... Gillian Anderson as Thatcher seemed an odd choice but she’s pretty good too...
Sorry Roobarb can’t think of a good series on normal tv... try Netflix it’s not expensive.. £7-99 a month I think... our daughter has it and she’s included us on their subs and set it up in our tv’s.... although OH has paid her a token amount as he doesn’t like to take something for nothing despite her protests!

Another week bites the dust and soon we’ll be out if this lockdown and what’s next I wonder.....
I hear that we’re not getting all these millions of vaccine before Christmas as they’d first intimated ... no surprise there then...

Oh well let’s see what excitement next week brings....

Caroline

[Annette7]

Sunny first thing but by lunchtime decidedly murky.   As I left to drive over to my sisters it was really windy and started to rain.   Absolutely fell down while I drove there but had just about stopped by the time I arrived.

Dinner cooked by b-in-l was scrumptious - roast beef, yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes with brussel sprouts/cauliflower/carrots and peas.   Dessert rhubarb crumble and custard.  Glass of white wine (chilean which my sister prefers and named 'laughing llamas').   At 7pm had a zoom meet up with 3 of b-in-l's siblings and their spouses for a quiz.  We won to our amazement. Then watched Strictly to see who was 'out' this week and Jane and I both correctly predicted the outcome.   B-in-law not a fan and kept making silly comments.

Got home just before 10pm and not much of interest to watch on TV.   Watched second half of a 'Vera' and then an Escape to the County (Norfolk).   Just thought. wonder if the Christmas Movie channel is operating yet?   Will have to check.   Made a coffee, caught up with emails on PC, checked FB and now here I am on RC.

Now time for bed and a read methinks.   

Annette 

[Mowsehowse]

Another successful day Roobarb, you achieved a lot..... when I found hoovering really tough in a house with too many stairs, I used to start with vigour on the level where I had left the cleaner, and then become increasingly cursory. The trick is to leave it where you give up, and then everything gets a good going over regularly.
Very glad to hear the dog situation is being treated with gravitas Caroline.
Sounds like you had a lovely day Annette, which is nice.
We had high gale force winds, torrential rain, lightning and even hail at one point, but we must have had strong sunshine too, as my fairy lights lasted 4 hours.
No luck contacting Oz again.
Managed to get a walk to town, mainly between downpours, although it was lucky we had umbrellas with us. We didn't get wet enough to have to change our clothes on returning. (5 ships at anchor.)
Very lazy day with reading and knitting to keep occupied.
Watched a very old Morse, with a very young Holly Airde.
Baby blanket at 38cm, which seems to be nearly 2/3rds done.

[Roobarb]

Caroline, good to hear you got out for a walk with being terrified by the local canine thugs! Thank goodness it's been sorted out with the owner. Their response makes me think of those dog owners whose enormous beast comes bounding towards you and they say 'He won't hurt you'.

I can usually find plenty to watch on TV and am quite opposed to paying for it! Having said that, I do have a subscription to Now TV, I took it out originally so that I could watch Sky Arts. I cancelled it when the series I wanted had finished then they would send me an offer I couldn't refuse! I'm currently paying the princely sum of £2.99 a month and although Sky Arts in now on Freeview I haven't cancelled because I might find something on there that I want to watch during these dark evenings and the price is so low.

Annette, dinner sounds lovely and always so much better when you don't have to cook it.

MH, glad to hear you managed to get out for a walk despite the weather. The baby blanket will soon be finished at the rate you're going.

[Viktoria]

Yes ,good news re dogs.
Hope you get some good reading Roobarb,There have been a couple of Catherine Cooksons on Saturday,full length .I must say I enjoyed them,but so starved of good reading .
MUST send off for some.
My stairs are like a shop sometimes ,I put things in them,for when I do go up but walk right past them!
I too heard about the vaccine ,but another lab has developed one so perhaps
some hope there.
Weather here like yoursRoobarb very changeable ,terrific rain and short very sunny spells.
Finished the work re Belgian tax ,but as I said our tax year and theirs are different.We do April to end of March ,they January to end of December.Much more sensible!
Daughter phoned as she always does on Mondays, other times too but Monday is an absolute .
I told her we had a bit of a laugh about their friends’ house smothered in lights ,and me asking them had they seen it ,not realising it was their house.
Flash  Harry has a different friend ,his other one had two big brothers and he is used to rough play not so FH.
Also that friend took all the play dough ,and ‘ Do you know Nanny ,he spoilt it for everybody!”
He will  have  heard the teacher.
His favourite phrase at the moment is:- “ N ever mind it is not the end of the world!”
He’s been here before!

Well a tidy up if all the paper work ,last drink and bed ,still plodding through Martin Chuzzlewit.
Goodnight all, sleep well and “ see you tomorrow”.
Viktoria.