Diary > Saturday > 12th June.

[Mowsehowse]

Managed to contact my DiL in Oz very briefly. The connection was awful, and I had to call back 3 times before giving up, but they have had no power for a few days, and a threat of imminent flooding after massive rainfall. 
Now I have information which looks dire, and photos show their garden under water, although I am praying that as the house is raised, that may have escaped. 
No reply as yet, if they have had to evacuate and whether power is restored.
We had a lovely balmy sunny Saturday, and visited an NGS garden called Haldon Grange. Very beautiful and restful.
Enjoyed a cup of tea on a wooden swing seat watching the birds on feeders, including robin, nuthatch, chaffinches and a tiny siskin. An opportunist pheasant was cleaning up the scattered grain below, and a blackbird singing away on a nearby branch.

[Caw1]

MH - so sorry to hear of your families plight in Oz and hope you get connected with them soon to make sure all is ok.... worrying when you’re so far away to!
Your NGS visit sounds delightful along with your balmy weather...

My day
OH went of to play golf which was a relief as he’s not played for over a week and was getting cabin fever I think! So peace and quiet and the house to myself... sat in the sunshine having breakfast and a read...
Cleaned the downstairs of the house....  very exciting but needs must!
Sat with a coffee and chatted to a friend, lovely to have a catch-up and try to put the worlds to right... whilst we chatted I watched the spotted woodpecker having a go at one of the trees in the garden!
After lunch I decided to do some gardening... edges of the lawn, dead headed the rose bush and picked up all the leaves underneath it, cut down some of the large overhanging leaves of the cardoon, my they grow quickly and overshadow the plants beside it...our variegated holly seems to have shed many leaves too so scrabbled around under it clearing them out... quite hot and bothered by now!
OH arrived home also hot and bothered... game of two halves! But mood improved thankfully... he needs to get out more... I need him to get out more 😃
Tesco arrived with my delivery... so much easier than actually shopping... few items not quite right... my fault got large squeezy bottle of golden syrup when I thought I’d ordered honey!
Sat outside on the bench in the sunshine with a cuppa and read... oH mowed the lawns!
We had bbq for dinner and sat outside, the sky was clear blue no clouds at all... very pleasant...
Neighbours are back from a week away and already bins banging about! We certainly noticed how quiet it was when they were away...
Eventually came indoors and watched a film on Netflix....

Caroline

[River Tyne Lass]

Added: Whoops, two posts below were meant to be responses to Thursday posts.

Good to hear from you too Mowsehowse!  I hope it won't be long before you will be able to 'gad' about on those skates of yours.  Just think what fun you will have as well as keeping fit.  Please do keep us updated on your progress.  I feel a vicarious sense of excitement about your bravery in taking this up. 
I would be surprised if Harrison Ford comes back.  I have been reading that he has been asking people not to ask for selfies.  Poor man!  I do feel sorry for him being so plagued by people but I hope that he will understand and make allowances about people getting a bit giddy about him turning up.  I hope all this unwanted attention hasn't spoilt his visit to Tyneside. 
All my siblings got piano lessons.  I was the baby of the family and there is a big gap between the others and myself.  I think it was a neighbour who was piano teacher and my parents just sent them all along and parents had a piano at home, (like a lot of families did back then).  The piano had gone by the time I came along.  I do regret that I never got lessons when young and I don't have the drive to start learning now.  If I could play I probably would have volunteered to play in our Church band.  Instead today I will be sitting at the back today singing my heart out.  That is if I have got my proper singing voice back, after lack of practise over the last year.  I really meant to follow Roobarb's advice to practise through the week but then never got around to it - my fault.
I totally agree with what you say about nurses and jugs of water.  I think it is inequality that there seems to be a lack of care for these carers.  They should not be treated as if their needs are inferior.
Well, I had better get a wriggle on as otherwise I will be late for Church.  Just one more quick post to Pharma then I'm off.  Keep us updated on the skating progress, Mowsehowse!

[River Tyne Lass]

PharmaT, after reading what Mark has written and attached I sincerely hope you will follow his advice and get things checked out properly and not just try to self treat with isotonic drinks. I agree that prevention is better than cure with this type of thing.

I must say I feel as "disappointed" as Mark does about the conditions you seem to have to work under and can only hope this is not representative of hospital work everywhere.
Okay, I can accept that you are all very busy and might be expected to hydrate during your three designated breaks.  However, I think going to the toilet is a very basic need and they have no right to 'frown' upon this.  Going to the toilet is not something that is a matter of preference.

When I was a much younger woman and worked somewhere else to where I am now I remember that we were all expected to fill out a little pink form if we left our work to go to the toilet.  We had to record exactly when we left and when we returned.  Probaby an initiative of some "jobsworth" . I was young in those days and just accepted things but my goodness, if anyone tried that with me these days, I would certainly be taking up a fight against what I believe to be such an affront to human dignity!

[Roobarb]

A worrying situation in Oz, hope all turns out well MH. Lovely to watch the birds feeding, they're all so different in the way they approach things. I was laughing yesterday at a pigeon sitting patiently on the side of my birdbath while a starling had a quite lengthy bath.

Pleased to hear your OH  was in a better mood Caroline, hope he can get some more golf games in to do you both good. Hope you can make use of the golden syrup, I'm sure you'll have some wonderful cake recipe up your sleeve. A friend and I were talking about the merits of having grocery deliveries and how often on a trip to the supermarket you'd be putting the shopping into your trolley and taking it out again. I'm a convert to home deliveries!

RTL, I suppose Harrison Ford will be used to people pestering him for selfies and how could he not warm to the lovely Geordies? Prior to his visit to Tyneside he was apparently filming on the North Yorkshire moors railway.
I hope you manage the singing this week in church.

I very much agree that our carers should themselves be cared for and hope that PharmaT is feeling better.

My day:

An uneventful day. Late morning walk, the wind had changed and it was a bit cooler. Had a long chat to a friend on the phone, our conversations vary widely, always good to talk whatever the subject.
Did a couple of things online then spent the rest of the day in the garden, the clouds that were around cleared and it was quite hot. I'd put the tulip bulbs in pots out of the way, now that the foliage has died back I was able to tidy them up. Did some weeding and spent a little while reading my book.
Watched some programmes about the royal family in the evening. The Queen's official birthday today, nice to see her smiling at the Trooping of the Colour and the flypast by the Red Arrows.

[Mowsehowse]

RTL QUOTE: I totally agree with what you say about nurses and jugs of water.  I think it is inequality that there seems to be a lack of care for these carers.  They should not be treated as if their needs are inferior.

Suspect you might have meant to type INIQUITY ??

[Annette7]

After the 'usual' uneventful week I spent the afternoon at my sisters, cutting the front and back lawns.  My sister always has to cut the grass as hubbie is an asthmatic and highly allergic to grass.  However, it's been more difficult for her of late because waiting for a hip operation.   Two weeks ago she woke up to a bad back (they think a trapped nerve) and she can hardly walk and in a lot of pain.  Arrived mid-day and after a quick lunch I made a start.  Front lawn first at b-in-law's behest (in case I'd had enough after that - at least the front would be tidy!)  Unfortunately the sun was blazing at the front and I had to have a number of 'rests'.   Although back lawn is bigger it was fortunately mainly in shade so after a sit down and drink I made a start.   Half of it is sloped (they live on a hill) so started there as knew that would be the hardest part.  I should add that it wasn't the usual regular cut of the lawns - was 3 weeks since last cut and they'd been lots of rain initially and grass was really long.   Again, I did it in stages.   All in all, took me 3 hours to do both.  Felt somewhat weary by the time I finished - since classed as 70+ vulnerable during this pandemic this 'exercise' was a bit of a shock to the system having spent most of the last year esconced in my flat.  I then left around 5.30 and drove to B & M which is their side of town.   All customers were wearing masks but no-one appeared to sanitize their hands on entering as I did.  Got most of what I wanted and made my way home.   My downstairs neighbour who is so good to me had bought a new garden chair online during the winter but it broke the first time he used it.  Had a similar one in B & M at a good price so decided to buy it for him as a present.   Hopefully this one will be okay but if not at least it will be easy to return.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur to be honest.   I know I kept nodding off during the evening and didn't see a single TV programme from beginning to end!  Thought I might have trouble sleeping when I went to bed but went out like a light!  Was thankfully a bit cooler.  However, not a lot of 'get up and go' today I must admit.

Sister is now trying to find a gardener - she's certainly not going to be able to cut the grass for a while after her scheduled hip operation on 19th July.   Had one quote so far - £80 to cut both lawns!!!   

Annette

 

[Stanwix England]

I can relate to that Annette! I am trying to sort out the front of our house because I feel bad that it looks bad and that we are letting down our neighbours. Our back garden is terrible! Doesn't really matter as it's mostly for the dog to biff about in. So I wage war on the weeds in the front and ignore the back. I hope your sister can find a Gardner who can help her.

I went to visit relatives yesterday. Was nice to be able to share a little bit of my family history work.

While there, saw the disgraceful coverage on the BBC of that poor Danish football player. Couldn't believe what I was seeing and that they allowed it to air.

Is anyone else having difficulties getting back to 'normal'? I was a bit introverted and antisocial before lock-down, but having not been much of anywhere or really spoken to anyone, I'm finding it very difficult now. I find myself feeling exhausted at the thought of speaking to people and doing small talk, or even just being around people.

[pharmaT]

it was terrible what they did to that footballer.  His team mates were brilliant but shouldn't have to have done that.  Good news that he is stable though.

I feel very reluctant to go out and about, I have learned over the past year you can't trust anyone.  When I do go out I'm desperate to get home.

My older daughter got her provisional exam results today, straight As .  she deserves them she has worked so hard.