Diary > Friday 4th December

[Mowsehowse]

Congratulations Viktoria.  How lovely of your granddaughter to do that.
I know what you mean about sugar intake.....
I am sure there is no problem with you giving away unopened items, but if you want to share items that will be at your friend's discretion of course.
Or if there is a lot you can't use perhaps the local Age Concern or Church might distribute some of it for you?
Personally I would just put it in a cupboard and enjoy it for as long as it lasts.
I am very unhappy about you fixing a loft hatch at midnight, and about turning off the the alarm, but I do see you had to do something. At least it all turned out ok.
Ref your brave g,g, grandma....
"But the other side of the world!  I think of my great great grandmother whose sons all went to N.S.W.  In 1853. Gold rush. She would never see them again." 
So right.... you wouldn't even know if your letters were arriving!
I count my blessings daily that I can sometimes see and speak to mine by the wonders of modern technology.
It means the children do know me, even though they refer to their Australian grandma as their REAL Nan!!

[oldfashionedgirl]

I’m in Edinburgh. We woke to snow on Thursday morning, it was delightful.
That night in the early hours around 4.30am we had lightning and two elongated, extremely long, deep, very loud rumbles. Sadly I slept through it but it was the only topic of conversation yesterday. People were describing it more like an earthquake than thunder. Many people said it was like their house was falling down.
We had it again last night and I did hear it. We also had what I can only describe as violent hail stones. It was if someone was forcibly throwing handfuls of pebbles at the bedroom window at 5am. I was seriously wondering if they would cope as they are single glaze large Victorian panes, thankfully all OK.
All calm today but very wet and gloomy. Apparently The Water of Leith river has burst it’s banks in several places.
If you want to see pictures Victoria google ‘Edinburgh Live ‘ an online news site. Also I have sent you a PM on another matter.

I wish the snow would come back, I had a lovely afternoon on Thursday writing Christmas cards, listening to carols and looking at the snowy garden 

[Mowsehowse]

We heard about Edinburgh's Big Bang on the national news.... it must have been quite something. Glad you enjoyed the snow OFG.

Caroline I should apologise for being horrid. It is lovely that your family is still so close regardless of distance involved. And as I said, I am truly grateful for what contact I do get. The bad choices I made when I was 21 still reverberate in this life for me. I intend to make better choices next time around. 

[radstockjeff]

A resume of the week's activities seems a much easier task at the moment. One day seems to link with the next with no appreciable difference, except the weather, and not a lot of great import happening. However we have achieved some objectives.

Christmas Cards all written and posted.

Wednesday dawned bright and cheerful and with the end of lockdown we decided to go to Wells for some essential Christmas pressie shopping. Not too many people about, in fact it was a comfortable exercise, but surprising the number of folks who were not masked. We complerted our tasks and returned home....just two hours there and back.

Although we are pretty much equidistant from Bath and Wells we find Wells a much easier place to do our shopping, with a reasonable range of shopping outlets and a good number of parking spaces in and around the city centre and not too much walking between the various shops.
Sadly we avoid Bath like the plague for such ventures. If we do need the little extras it is much easier to go to Clarks Village in Street, a town just few miles beyond Wells.
Having done the essentials we then had to set to and do the parcels for Australia. Because of weight and cost! we send the grandchildren a small parcel each and follow up with a money transfer so that Andrew can get them something extra locally. It is also DiL birthday on 16th and grand-daughter's 7th birthday at the end of December, so there were other parcels to make up.
Last posting date was 4th but we managed to get the parcels off by 3rd....job done.

It was really too wet and miserable this week to spend any time in the garden so my spare time was profitably spent in a tidying exercise in the office and OH had a new jigsaw to start working on.

Any other spare moments I spent on music. I have the "Sibelius" music programme which enables me to fiddle around trying my hand at simple arrangements, mostly hymn tunes, for our small brass group to try out. Sadly because of Covid we have not met since March and I fear that we may not meet again for a while yet. But we live in hope.

We have also spent some time this week with our friend Mary giving support in the recent loss of her husband.

It is still a strange situation without Nick but we are coping and finding plenty of things to do to keep us both occupied and both Mark in London and Andrew (Oz) keep in touch regularly.
TTFN

[Caw1]

Viktoria - what a lovely thing for your grand daughter to do and how kind of you to want to share with your neighbours....
Like MH I was alarmed to read about you sorting out loft hatches any time of the day let alone midnight! Glad you sorted out what the noise was too.
Having family living anywhere that’s not relatively near these days is a challenge... I hope you’ll be able to decide who to spend your Christmas with... I’m sure you’ll come to the right decision...

OFG - I have a lovely picture of you sitting looking at the snow, listening to carols and writing your Christmas cards... just need a mince pie and a glass of mulled wine and the pictures complete...

MH - sent you a pm!

Jeff - pleased to hear you’re getting on with life and you’re certainly up to speed with your Christmas cards!
I tend to agree with you that Wells is a pretty place to visit whereas Bath, like many cities, more bustle and more awkward to get round.
Having spent my former years around that area I’ve often had a hankering to move back that way.... to far from my grandchildren though!
Good to know your Sons are keeping in touch regularly even from a distance...

Stay safe and let’s hope the weather stays kind to enabling us to get out if the four walls!

Caroline

[Viktoria]

It is a low ceiling there, giving the hatch to the loft ,enclosed in the narrowest part of the landing ,so I could lean against the wall and sort the catch out.
I know now what made some of the noise,yes the washer but this morning the stupid stupid “ Rain Forest “ shower responded with a sound when there iwas a water surge and that is when the washer is rinsing etc.
If the control is a fraction out of alignment, the valve must be slightly open.
I only use the normal shower as the other daft thing is fixed ,you have to be under it to turn it on ,it has a fixed glass screen.
So drenched with icy cold water first.
I had cleaned the Chrome in the bathroom inc the shower etc.
Phew  I was thinking I would have to let my Pit Bull Terrier loose!
Pizza and salad and maybe a jacket potato ,in which case half a Pizza and a quick lunch tomorrow.
Prize hamper just arrived.
Huge box of Scottish shortbread
Six strawberry meringues.
A Christmas pudding .
Lemon cake .
Double chocolate cookies
Six mince pies.
Whew, how lovely.
I must phone GrandDaughter ( how do you do that— granddaughter -grand daughter - grandaughter ?)
The lady who delivered the huge tartan bag wanted a photograph,well I look
like Tutankhamen !
All shrivelled up , and of course had just put drops in my eyes which were smarting .
However it would have been ungracious not to do it.

After a rotten start it is sunny ,washing  on the line .
All bins ( inside ones ) washed and bleached ,got lots of liners for different
ones.
Well I must get on,contact my little girl ,gosh she was funny .soooooo determined ,has gone far .





So nice to hear of your families who are so far away.
Those who have had a very sad year will be in my and I am sure all your thoughts too.
It is difficult at any time but when there is such a family  orientated time doubly so.
Cheerio folks , off to phone Grand daughter
Viktoria.

[Roobarb]

So many posts since I last looked in!

MH, hope you soon manage to get in touch with your son.
Jeff, good to hear you're keeping busy.
Viktoria, congratulations on all the goodies!