General Chat

It's a lovely sunny May-like day here, although there is a gusty breeze blowing the trees and shrubs around!

Today is a Federal Holiday, celebrated in most of the provinces and territories ......... commonly called Victoria Day :-D

It's the modern static Monday version of what used to be celebrated on May 24th, celebrated on the last Monday before May 24th ......... Queen Victoria's Birthday :-D :-D

When we first came here, I was convinced it was named for the city of Victoria, the capital of BC, but couldn't understand why everywhere in Canada also celebrated it!

Thee is also a serious aspect to this date ............ it's seen as the beginning of spring, and it has long been the date when it has been considered that planting seeds across the country can begin, because there are usually no more frosts occurring over night.

Here we live in what could be called the Banana Belt of Canada, and OH would often sow at least some of his seeds in late February or in March, but other areas are much colder. There are still forecast of snow in some areas today!

Florence , won’t you need a proper membrane under the gravel. The carpet will smother weeds until it rots away, as will Lino, but Lino won’t let any water drain away.

Membrane would definitely be better Florence. We used to use old carpet to smother the weeds in the huge fruit cage we had when we had the allotment . It went very slimy after a while, so membrane would be a much better investment

It is dry here thank goodness as the men have arrived to put in the new patio doors instead of the old aluminium sliding ones. It wasn’t supposed to be until Friday, but they asked to bring it forward. It is supposed to be raining hard tomorrow, so I wouldn’t want a large hole in the wall then

I still feel awful, I have a dreadful cold, I think that I need to take out shares in the tissue making company as I am getting through so many.

The spring bank holiday is next Monday Sylvia, it is half term as well, so I hope that I will be better as no doubt I will be taking the girls out

Morning all.

The company put all of that stuff down, its all included in the price. I only meant using a mat maybe to stand on as the gravel stuff they put on top to finish off will probably make a mess of our shoes.

The company near me that has loads, do not have any weeds in their tunnels and I'm using the same company so they must put a tarp or something down first and then the gravel.

Linda, with my sinus problem I have to order 12 boxes of super soft Kleenex tissues as I get through a box a day sometimes. So if anyone should have shares in Kleenex its me! Its really asthma of the nose, that's what the last consultant told me and I had 3 operations which of course didn't help at all. The sinuses get inflamed and shut down just like veins do when you have a headache and then my nose is blocked. I also sneeze hundreds of times a day but especially first thing when i get up.

It eases as I become more mobile during the day, then in the evening once I sit, its much worse and the heat makes it worse still. Sadly the steroid injection which relieves pain in my knee also got rid of the sinus problem but now the jag has worn off and I cant get any more. It was good whilst it lasted so now will have to live with it as there is no cure.

Its a beautiful sunny & warm day and thankfully after the thick fog last night it has cleared. Bin lorry has just been and daughter now hosing and cleaning out the bins with disinfectant liquid as they were starting to smell!

I had better get on as quite a lot of stuff to deal with today.

Hope everyone looking in is having a good day

Florence in the hebrides

My family has a funny nose Florence, inherited from my father :-(. Externally we look fine, but we all have extra bone inside. My brother and sister have both had bone removed from inside their noses. I am not bad in compared to them, so haven’t needed the op, but I do get lots of sinus problems.

The patio door is coming on well, they are almost finished. The previous owners had new double glazing installed about three years ago, but for some reason, they kept the original sliding patio door. When we bought the house, replacing it was high on the list if things to do, so we ordered it straight away. It has taken time to come, in the mean, it is odd because I got used to the old door and didn’t notice how bad it looked. In taking the old one out, we could see that the old frame was really rotting at the bottom. The new doors look really good and the double glazing is obviously of a much higher standard than the old stuff, so should keep the house much warmer

How exciting, Florence! A big thing to look forward to and plan for.


I hope your cold goes soon, Linda. It sounds like a really bad one.

It's amazing what a difference new double glazing makes. When I moved here nearly 20 years ago, although the windows were double glazed and the loft insulated, the house used to get very hot in hot weather, and I was always very aware of the sound of wind and rain in stormy weather.
Now that all the windows (except two small ones) have been replaced, and the loft insulation increased, the house stays cool - so long as I don't open windows in hot weather, which would let the hot air in.
I don't hear storms at all now, which is less worrying in the middle of a stormy night!

AG - did you put in triple glazed windows?

No, just double glazed.
But modern ones have a wider space between the panes than the old ones had, and therefore keep sound/heat/cold out much better.

I exaggerated slightly re storms. I do hear a bad storm to some extent if the wind is really howling round the roof - but not nearly as much as before.

Hello everyone.

I typed out a quite long post (for me) a couple of days ago and just as I was about to submit my internet went off, Very annoying. It came back on later but I was doing other stuff so didn't get round to typing it out again.

Linda it's good that the doors are being changed on a dry day, there always a worry when having work like that done that it will be a rainy or windy day .
Hope you and OH get over your colds quickly.

Florence the polytunnel sounds great ,it would take up almost all of my garden lol. although my OH would love it. I wonder if my neighbour would give me her garden Hahaha.

Very dull here today and not very warm really Been out doing a bit of dead heading but that is all.

Take care all

I wondered.
Our double glazing is less than 20 years old.. But since we had insulation put behind our outside wall boards it now gets very hot in the summer. But it is quite cosy in the winter since we did that and updated our heating thermostat system.

How odd, Names!
Extra wall insulation ought to mean less heat coming in, as well as less going out.

Have you plenty of insulation in the roof space?
My loft is like an oven in hot weather, but the heat doesn't come down through the insulation layer into the house, which stays cool.

I know heat rises - but without the insulation, the house would be hot as well as the loft.

When ‘my energy adviser’ asks me that question I never tell them ;-) ;-)

I have no idea what the loft insulation is as it is boarded ( and fairly full).We often open the loft hatch when it is really hot as some of the heat goes up into the loft rather than out of it. ( there is an escape vent from an old heating system)

Many years ago a colleague of OH had to race down to his mother’s in Wales as she was about to get the then free loft insulation and they were going to put it on top of the boards. So a sleepness night for him getting the boards up.

Good morning from rainy Yorkshire. The rain is just coming down steadily, but it isn’t torrential yet which was forecast.
Eve was supposed to be going to Malham Cove on a Geography field trip today, but thankfully, it has been postponed.

The plumber was supposed to be coming at 9 am to give us a quote for the en-suite, but there is no sign of him yet. That is annoying OH is now ill and he is waiting to go back to bed. He usually takes to his bed when he doesn’t feel well, whereas I keep going during the day and go to bed after dinner .Whats the betting the plumber won’t turn up as it was a week since he made the appointment.

Morning all. Wind is now howling and rain will follow. What a change in the weather and typical as i'm away tomorrow to the mainland for the day for me scans and the forecast there isn't that great.

My mobile phone is taking ages to charge and I really hope, I don't need a new one as i loathe changing phones. This model I have is no longer available grr. i know newer models come out nearly every week but I don't want an I Phone or one on a contract etc. Mine costs me £10 a month for a bundle and I have unlimited calls, texts and messages which is perfect. I get 7gb a month and hardly use it so nearly always 6 is rolled over which means I always have around 13 GB of mobile data available. This is handy when Im away from the house..

Sorry my landline rang re the poly tunnel and i'm now waiting on a call back from someone.

Might need planning permission according to one person because of the size but now waiting on another call who think not :-S :-S :-S

Fingers crossed I get it all agreed.

Phone is charging via the PC and although slower than a normal socket, it is charging. Normally a lightening symbol shows when its charging and its that which isn't there so maybe its just that.

My PC is driving me mad as the internet here has been up and down like a yo-yo and is so slow.

Right I haven't eaten today so better make a sandwich before i keel over lol.

Hope you plumber turns up Linda!

The plumber turned up just after twelve, at least he came. He is going to send a quote, but probably not this week as he is so busy. It will be extortionate whatever it is :-(
OH was just resting on top of the bed until the plumber had been, then he got in properly. He hasn’t wanted anything, so I bet he doesn’t want much for dinner. I am sure there will be something in the freezer for me.
It is still raining , it hasn’t stopped all day., so I haven’t been out. I will have to go down to the greenhouse at some stage as I didn’t water it yesterday

I remember that my sister had to get planning permission for her poly tunnel Florence, but that is a huge one and they live in a listed house.

I don't think you will need planning permission, unless it's huge! Following is from the mygov.scot website.

***********************************************************************************************

Build a shed, garage, greenhouse or other building at your house
Last updated 14 Aug 2023

You may want to add a shed, garage, greenhouse or other similar building to your house.

This guidance only applies if your home is a dwellinghouse. This means it's a house you live in and is not used as a business premise to any significant degree.

Permitted development
Before you do this you should first check if you need to apply for planning permission.

Most sheds, garages, greenhouses or other similar buildings do not need a planning permission application, because most meet a set of rules called 'permitted development'.

The permitted development rules for sheds, garages, greenhouses or other similar buildings are:

it's located at the back of the house

it's not used as a separate home to live in

it, and any other development, does not take up half or more of the ' rear curtilage' – this means half or more of the grounds behind your home

it's not higher than 4 metres at the highest point

any part that's a metre or less from the boundary is no higher than 2.5 metres

the eaves (the part where the wall meets the roof) is no higher than 3 metres

if the land is in a conservation area or in the grounds of a listed building, the building has a footprint of less than 4 square metres

[Oops - several posts on here while I was typing this, so it's a bit out of date - but I'll leave it! ]

I'm sorry to tell you it's already raining here, Florence. It's been threatening since yesterday, and finally began this afternoon. Not windy, though.
However, the garden certainly needs it after several dry sunny days, so I don't mind.
The rain's forecast to be heavy until tomorrow midday.

Changing your phone needn't affect the tariff you're on. Just transfer the SIM card.

I hope your plumber finally turned up, Linda. It's so annoying when people don't come when they say they will, and you have to hang around and wait for them when you could be doing something else.

Joan -
You will be having the rain at the moment too, I think.
I hope you can find indoor things to do. Have you got back to your cross-stitch, I wonder?

I got a call back from the council and she said no I don't need planning permission but will send the details in an email and then I can forward that to my housing manager.

Think she was being being picky and quoting me for one that would be on croft land.'

This is big at 2.2 metres tall, 6m long and 4 m wide but my garden is double that at least and is out of site at the back. Still waiting for the email from planning but nothing has been sent yet!

ArgyllGran, when I have changed my phone, it takes ages to get used to how it works etc. Guess i really don't like change at my age lol. Its fully charged now anyway so think its ok but shall keep an eye.

Quick tea of pizza and chips. Up at around 5.30am tom, taxi coming at 6.30 and judging by the howling gale we have at the moment, i don't see it improving.

Last time I went in mar, it was horrendous and there's me thinking oh well, its May we fly so should be lovely :-( :-( :-(

One can always live in hope it wont stop us from getting away and back home later

I know how you feel about phones, Florence!

For many years I've used (and still use) an ancient little basic Nokia, and I love it.
I'll be in mourning when 2G is eventually done away with, and I have to stop using that phone.

I do have a smart phone but only use it I'm away from home, for the sake of having internet access.
It feels so big and heavy to carry around, compared with the lovely wee lightweight Nokia!

I hope you get away OK in the morning. And then home again!