General Chat

A small China dog (one of a pair, but no one knows the other one went )
My nan (whom I never knew died before I was born ) and grampa had it , or the 2 as a wedding present in 1908. Grampa died when I was 5, but i was always dog mad and he used to let me ' play ' with it and always said I could have it. I have the left hand one of a larger pair of theirs, again no one knows or admits to where the other one is !!
They are treasured and I wouldn't let anyone 'play ' with them.lol
I have my other grans wedding ring1911 mum's engagement ring 1940 and dad's wedding ring 1941, wouldn't part with any of them for any amount of money:)

What is your ring size, wedding finger ..? Mine is a J and can wear mum's ring and mil first wedding ring:)

Mine is also a J which I remember easily because my dad's name started with J [Jack]

Apart from rings I only wear a gold necklace with a small stone most of the time. What is your favourite piece of jewellery discounting wedding & engagement rings.

Hi Anne
I remember my ring size cos it's small, and they are children's sizes below that.. however my dad was also called Jack:))

Fav piece of jewellery is my grandmother's red gold ring, it's a signet ring which looks as if it has a cluster of roses on it. ( it is a K so can wear it on my right hand :)) close 2nd is a 22 ct bracelet hubby bought me in Turkey, very modern style. I wore it constantly for 4 yrs, then a jeweller fancied it when I was having dad's wedding repaired, and asked where I had bought it, he advised me not to wear it daily as although it has very large links they are joined by finer ones, which he said would wear with time.
So my next Xmas pressie was a heavy solid pretty link gold bracelet which I now wear every day instead ::) Crafty move lol

Do you feel more comfortable in trousers or skirts / kilt..?

I LIVE in trousers, I used to wear dresses and skirts if I was going somewhere I wanted to dress up, but I've always felt so much more comfortable in trousers. I have some lovely dressy pairs now with gorgeous tops so until my two get married I reckon my legs won't get cracked out. They do get an airing in summer, though when I wear shorts.

What's the weather like your way? It was a deluge yesterday and today it is dull, cold and windy here.

Started off dull, but dry and have dried a line full of washing.
Hubby's sat on the patio with his shirt off, I'm in short skirt and vest top !
Its glorious:)) has been since about 3pm.

Do you have a traditional Sunday lunch ..?

We usually do. It's one of those things I like to do as part of the rhythm of the week and although it takes time to actually cook it's so easy to do as part of a slow relaxing day. Especially now we have an aga, the heat's there all the time so might as well use it. Also it's something that can be kept really simple or dressed up to the nines for a special meal like when I cooked my daughter and her boyfriend their last roast beef before going off on their 6 month travels.

Today I didn't cook though as we won our pub quiz this week and Sunday lunch is the prize. It's just at the top of the road so a short wobble home before falling into a chair for the requisite afternoon snooze.

We do go off piste sometimes though, but even if the alternative is really good it still makes us feel that we appreciate our trad roast all the more somehow.

I've always enjoyed cooking, but love it even more now I have the aga and the time to play with it. My husband and both kids (adults now) love it too and are all very good so I get plenty of breaks from it.

Are you the main cook in your house or does everyone pitch in?

I do all the evening meals and prep the Sunday lunch.
Hubby looks after cooking the Sunday veg,( he enjoys it as it is usually home grown by himself .Mmmm) and he does most lunches ,if anyone is home during the week, he always does Sat lunch.( With a little help from me..not to feel guilty )
Everyone fends for themselves on Sunday evenings !!

Are you fair skinned or do you tan easily..?

( I think I'm just 'weathered' now I don't work 9 to 5 altho my moisturiser is SP15)

I had dark hair in my youth so my skin is not fair. I'd go so far as to say it was quite sallow and fairly oily so I was lucky in that I rarely got close to burning. (On the other hand it was always pretty troubled with acne and never really properly cleared up from that until a few years before menopause started.) It could still take me some time to tan and look healthy in the summer. Now my skin is drier and tans pretty quickly but I now have to take care not to burn which has become more likely and at the beginning of summer I tend to forget about that. Luckily it's usually only a little bit of redness and it starts to irritate which reminds me before it goes too far.

Nearly the end of Woman's Hour - I like to try to listen every day. Do you have any little rituals like that?

I like to listen to 'Talk' radio while I am ironing which is usually twice a week, I also like a glass (or two) of red wine when cooking Sunday Lunch. I work every other weekend so hubby cooks on those weekends

When you have grandchildren, would you be willing/available to look after them several times a week?

I have two granddaughters but I work full time so I can't baby sit during the week but they visit us every Sunday for Sunday lunch with their mum & dad.
They are lovely little girls aged 8 & 10 and after having three sons and no daughters it was lovely to have them.

Abbie & Becky love our pets, a boxer and two cats,
Do you have any pets?

No, unfortunately.
Had to have my dog put to sleep about 4 yrs ago, he was a rescue dog we had for about 16 yrs( he must have been 18 and bless him he started fitting and I couldn't see him suffer) and haven't been able to persuade hubby to have another ...yet..still working on him.

Do you play any musical instruments ?

I started off with the ubiquitous recorder, but since Mum and Dad insisted I had a wooden one (it was rosewood) rather than the horrid plastic variety the sound was much more rounded. I taught myself to play and to read music and having mastered the Z cars theme with all my friends I went on to get pretty good if I say so myself. I ended up playing lots of renaissance and folk music which I think are styles that suit it best. I later took up the flute and clarinet and have played the fife and piccolo too. I could turn my hand to the oboe aswell if required.

At one stage I wanted to be a music teacher as I was always helping others in the choir or orchestra to improve their parts and my theory was good too. I did a series of exams outside school and got full marks in all of them. I'd had never had the requisite piano lessons so rather late I started those but was disappointed to discover I just could not manage it and you needed piano at least as a second instrument to get into any worthwhile university - not sure if that's still the case so that was that career scuppered. I became disheartened and slowly stopped playing my other instruments. Some got sold but I kept the flute, the recorder got given away by my parents thinking I didn't want it any more but I was very upset when that went. By the time they did that it was harder to find a wooden recorder without spending silly money, but I hunted one out and now have a pearwood one. From time to time I've had flashes of picking them up again (not lately) so with a lot of practice I'd be able to sound reasonable again. Mind you I've tried a clarinet on occasion and now can't work out the technique to even get a sound out of it. My son and daughter both had flute lessons at primary school, my son passing a few exams, though my daughter changed to the guitar fairly early on, so my flute still gets pulled out by them occasionally too. Daughter now has 2 spanish guitars, her own three quarter size, her grandfather's, a Fender acoustic she saw broken and dumped by someone's bin and knocked the door to ask for it which she had fixed and a Fender bass which she acquired from her guitar teacher. She doesn't play those often now either but she occasionally joins in with friends and can still play a particular tune she learned on her original one behind her head which she learned to do after OH told her about Jimi Hendrix. She did this in a school concert, taking the stage and sitting down all primly, then quietly lifting the instrument over her head. Brought the house down, but other parents knew it was all hubby's fault.

Do you have proud memories of your children's performances?

I've always been the artistic performer, hubby the sportsman.
I found a newspaper cutting ( after they died ) that my dad / mam had kept ( bless them ) saying ' Postmaster's 5 yr old dau steals the show ' lol. I carried on singing thro my school yrs and won school Eisteddfods singularly and also with a group in the 5th & 6th forms, Then I lost my bottle.lol Couldn't do Karaoke if you paid me .Lol
But sing in a choir or in chapel, you hear me above everyone else:)
Dau isn't a confident singer but she took the lead part of the Angel in a Junior school production and had a standing ovation. I was in tears.lol...
Son is like his father, wouldn't have any thing to do with school drama etc, but excelled in sport. He always won the races in junior school, one yr he lost his shoe went back to pick it up and still won, every was screaming to him to leave it but he didn't .lol. Continued into senior school and represented the school in the county sports in the sprint and relay, came 2nd in the individual and their relay came first.

How good is your eyesight.? Do you wear glasses and or contact lenses ?

I wear glasses when at home watching TV/computer, I should wear them all the time but am far too vain, Glasses really really do not suit me, am thinking about laser surgery, my son had it done earlier this year and truly recommends it.

Would you ever consider laser surgery?

Not now definitely, altho I thought of it in the past.
Eyesight is so precious. I now wear varifocals, for yrs my prescription was for short sighted only, when I hit 40 my near sightedness became an issue. Altho i still take my glasses off for computer work and to read the newspaper I cannot see very very small print e.g Hallmark on a ring or something very close. I have also been told I have a small cataract on my right eye ( I have no blurred vision) and was quite surprised when I was told that ; but apparently it is not unusual for someone with a family history of them, to develop them over the age of 40.
My son 21 who has never worn glasses only contact lenses is quite keen on it, but I'd look very hard into the cons before I agreed for him to have it.
I know he's an adult, but a young adult and he wouldn't think of the cons just the pros, and would probably want a bit of financial help towards it .lol
If I was convinced there would be no probs at his age I would pay for it outright !
I'm fine with glasses, there are so many fashionable ones about now, I've just bought 2 designer pairs ( just about covers the bags under my eyes,lol ) I now have 4 pairs which I alternate to suit my mood or clothing:)

Have you ever been on a camping holiday ?

Yes. but we used to go Eurocamping when the children were young. When we first went it was because we'd never camped before and everything is provided for you when you get there and the beds are more like real beds than camp beds. You only have to take your linen though you could hire that too I think. It was such a relaxing way to take a self-catering holiday, the campsites are a safe environment to give the children some independence and there wwere generally plenty of friends around to go off together with.

Later on we became scout leaders as our son's group was going to fold unless some parents stepped in. So of course we learnt about camping in a number of different styles depending on the purpose of the camp, backwoods, survival camps, group summer camps, and lightweight for hiking etc. Although we were leaders and you discovered you were exhausted by the time you got home, while we were there it was so relaxing, especially by the camp fire at night after the youngsters had turned in and you had time to just chat with the other leaders and helpers. We've moved away now and haven't got involved in our immediate locality but still go back to our old groups occasionally to help out on bigger camps. It's a nice way to keep up and slow down at the same time.

Have you ever been involved with any voluntary youth work?

Not exactly,
But I was a Sec,Treasurer and Chairperson on our PTA for 12 yrs.
Always helped out in any school activities ,including the childrens outdoor ciriculum when I could.
I am going on a course next week for a Guide Walker for children and adults in our local Wildlife Park.

What do you do for exercise..?

I have a brisk walk to work every morning and back home afterwards, We also walk our boxer dog in the Swinley Forest, part of which is very close to home.
When I arrive at work its then up 2 flights of stairs as the office is on the top floor of a grade 2 listed mansion house built in the 1700's and we are in what was the servant's quarters.
The house is haunted and there have been many sightings, the most haunted part is the area around the studio theatre where not very long ago they were performing an adults only play when one of the actors spotted 2 children in old fashioned clothes sitting in the back row, he stopped acting until someone went over to ask them to leave but they had then disapeared and no one in sight on the landing or stairs. They seem to be attracted to the theatre and have been recorded in the large modern WildeTheatre that is attached. Having worked there for 26 years there are so many mysterious happenings and there is a booklet published on them.

Have you had any unexplained or ghostly experiences ?

No, but I have very weird vivid dreams :)

Do you have dreams that you can recall the next morning .?

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