General Chat

Phew! Thats it, ironed all except the duvet cover and am not doing anything else today but its good to get ahead with things.

Had some heavy showers here but the sun peeked through and so brightened up the sky.

Anyone watch Corrie last night? Thought it was hilarious the campervan breaking down and getting stuck in a field. Typical Corrie even though the storyline line is hard just now.

Not decided what to make for tea tonight as feeling too tired to make a dinner so something quick will do me, beans on toast with grated cheese is inviting.

Hope everyone keeping safe.

Well the sun is shining :-D

Its still very windy but the day is getting better as it goes on.

Glad you are ok Joan. You were brave to venture outside but good you secured the wire so your tv will still work and it wont be banging on the glass.

AG, glad you are ok too and your power wasnt off for long. Fences never stay up. Even my mums fence came down many times even though it was put back up but its a nuisance. Hope your daughter gets its fixed quickly.

No thunder here thank goodness, thats one thing that scares me!!

Well beds stripped, 2 loads washed, one dried, hoovered all through and tidied the kitchen units etc so am now sitting a bit as quite tired and my legs are sore.

Off to make some lunch now

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon to all.
I can't believe I am able to use the computer, another serious storm & the power has stayed on, so far at least.
Some really strong winds again BUT they didn't start until early this morning.

I went to bed very early around 7-30 pm whilst it was soo quiet & calm, I slept until around 11-30pm & it was still very quiet, I went back to sleep quite quickly, woke again at around 2-00ish is & still calm, couldn't believe it after what the weather forcasts had bee saying.

I was a while getting back to sleep but I was woken just before 6-00am by the wind banging against the corner of the house/bedroom, Jocelyn had arrived, so that was my cue to get up.
I have been sat in the L room all morning listening to & worrying about the wind, I could hear something hitting the window but couldn't see what it was as it was still dark, eventually I could see it was the cable from the SKY dish, it had come away fom the wall & the wind kept slapping it against the glass.

The wind is slowly dying down but still gusting, & about 1/2 an hour ago whilst there was a bit of a lull I managed to tie it back to the drainpipe, I was glad to get back inside.

Joan.

Blue sky and sunshine (well, in between showers!) here today, after a very wild night, with some thunder, and extremely strong gusts - don't know what speed it actually was.
No damage to house or garden.

We lost power just after 8pm, but fortunately it came on again about 9.30pm.
Off again for just a few seconds at 1am, but it's been OK since then, thank goodness.

Storm Isha blew my daughter's neighbour's fence down on Monday night.

I hope you've managed to catch up on sleep now, Joan.
Storms always sound worse at night, when you can't see what's happening.

I'm glad to see you have some definite progress on your house/flat sales, Florence and Linda.

Morning all
Just popped on to say we are safe up here but really, the wind they predicted for here didnt happen!! They said 75+ mph but in all honesty, was only about 50-60. Not that I am complaining but....as Joan said awhile ago, they do seem to scaremonger sometimes!

Its still very windy but this is the January gales, we have them every year and this year is no different. I have experienced 100 mph winds here at xmas, new year etc and once had no power for 4 days and I had a baby of 4 months old!

I hope everyone else is safe as there seems to be a lot of flooding too which i think is worse in a way.

Anyway, I have a lot of chores to do today as will be out next few days with appointments so need to get laundry all sorted and ironed plus beds need stripping as well.

Shall look in later on

Florence in the hebrides

Well that was a noisy night, the wind was incredibly loud. We are staying at our daughter’s house as she is away for a couple of days. I think that I was more aware of the noise because it was a different house, you get used to your own surroundings. I woke up quite a few times during the night, so I am very tired today. At least the girls have gone off to school, so it is quiet in the house.
I hope everyone survived with no damage to fences etc.

Paddling doesn’t sound like it will have done your shoes any good Andy’s mum, but at least you got your groceries.
You will have to sleep at some stage Joan, so hopefully you can manage that tonight.
It has never stopped raining all day here. My daughter is away for two nights, so we are having to stay to help son in law with the girls. We arrived mid afternoon, because she had arranged for a Morrisons delivery and I knew he would never put things away when it arrived. Esme’s school bus dropped her off at 3.40pm, so I have been playing non stop since then and cooking dinner at the same time. She is now in bed, but still awake, but daddy is in charge now. She could do with her light putting out and her sleep routine starting, but he is too busy on his computer, so no doubt she will be awake very late.

Our house sale seems to be progressing quickly. My estate agent phoned during the day to say that our buyers had received the survey and searches from our previous buyers and everything was fine. They had asked a couple of questions. We had actually answered everything on Friday, so I chivied our.conveyancer and she admittedthat she hadn’t sent them the replies yet, but she will do in the morning. All of the legal work for us buying our new house is complete, so as soon as our new buyers complete their side, we can all agree a date and move.
We have arranged to visit the new house on Friday morning to measure up. Our buyers wanted to come to us again during the week, but as we are away, they will have to wait until the weekend

We have survived storm Isha without any major damage and were lucky that we didn't lose power, or the phone line, which has a habit of blowing down! The waves were crashing over the top of the bus shelter opposite which was quite impressive.

The wind is mostly on the front of the house and as our bedrooms are at the back, they are usually pretty quiet.

This morning I drove into the local town for my weekly shop. On the way I pass the nuclear submarine base, which has a 15' fence round it. The top section is electric, so the general public are OK, but people (like the local CND) who try to break in will have an unpleasant shock - literally! This morning there were traffic lights along a section of road and a large police presence, as a tree had fallen on to the top of the fence. I imagine the power had to be turned off while it was removed. When I drove home, a couple of hours later, only the trunk remained.

Shopping was largely spent paddling and I was wishing I had put my wellies on. Now I am home and don't intend to go anywhere until the weather improves. The torrential rain has eased, but the wind is picking up again.

Stay safe, everyone. :-)

Morning.
Floence I tried every room but the noise was just horrendous where ever i went, the lannding though still noisy was the quietest place to be.
Our house is situated at the top of a hill (hence our address!) it is all on it's own with just the open fields all around us, so when we have gales/storms the house gets full force.

I thought I would be fine last night & went to bed only to hear the wind catching the corner of the roof, scary, the bedrooms at the front are situated in the roof space ( not a dormer) the bedroom windows are bays that jut out, I managed to stay in the bedroom but couldn't sleep, the wind didn't last long thank goodness, just the last throws of ISHA.

Not looking forward to the next lot that's coming, I just wish it wasn't through the night in the dark. & if we lose power it's even worse, no telly !!
It's a bit windy here just now & now it's raining, a little "warmer" but dismal & dark.

Joan.

Morning all looking in.

Well I slept last night as I really was so tired after being awake the night before.
The wind is howling here and rain lashing on my windows. Thank goodness I haven't any of my appointments today.

We are on an Amber warning for stronger winds later eeeek so we shall wait & see how bad Storm Jocelyn is.

Linda, my daughter has to put all her pills like you into these boxes as she has so many, its better this way and then she wont forget to take some.

Joan if you are looking in, hope you are ok and that you slept better last night. There are still people without power but we are still ok thankfully.

I have got the washing machine on a quick wash as want to get the load dried asap as to have wet washing lying around would be dreadful.

Got an email from sol yesterday saying that the Freeholder of mums property charges for completing their questionnaire to the tune of £180 which we have to pay the Freeholder direct!!Not to the solicitor. Considering its almost identical to the one I completed its outrageous. However I paid straightaway as don't want any delays.

Right I'm off now to finish my chores and refill the flask plus the house needs a good vacuum.

Take care all

Florence in the hebrides

I hope everyone up in Scotland had a more restful night, although it sounds as if Joycelyn is on its way. The wind has died down here, it is just raining and very dark.

I sat down this morning and filled up my monthly pill box, that is a very fiddly thing to do. I have a separate little box for each day with an am and pm section. I have two tiny pills to take first thing at least half an hour before I have anything to eat or drink. They are too fiddly to get out of the packets when I am still half asleep and J end up dropping them, so it is far better to decant them into the pill box. I have another tablet to take on an evening and I also take a multivitamin and a lutein tablet for my eyes . Again it is better to sit down for half an hour every month and put them into the pill box.
I know that the chemist can make up bubble packs, but they wouldn’t include my non prescription vitamins and lutein, so as long as I am capable, it is easier for me to do it myself. As the individual boxes have the date on them, it stops me wondering if I have taken them that day.

Well we managed to get our evening meal all cooked although at times the gusts were so bad, thought we would lose power.

Storm Jocelyn is now heading our way and its looking worse for us on the west coast :-( :-(

Joan, wrap yourself under the duvet as sitting on a stool all night is not comfy and will give you backache! What about sleeping in your sitting room? maybe quieter than upstairs. Take your duvet downstairs, get comfy on the sofa with tv on and stay there all night. i have done that before and slept quite well and was warmer too.

I boiled cauliflower florets, baton carrots and sliced onion. Placed in a rectangular dish. Then melted 2 pots of cream cheese with peppercorns. Poured over the entire dish and covered in breadcrumbs. Popped in the oven for about 30 minutes, By golly it was tasty and enough left for tomorrow. :-D

Off for a coffee before settling infront of tv as a few programmes to watch tonight.

Take care everyone

Florence in the hebrides

Oops, sorry Florence, I will look at a map of Scotland to get my bearings. I am pleased that you managed to keep the electricity on.
My neighbour said that both ours and their recycling bins had blown over in the night, but only a few bits had come out, so he picked them up first thing. OH had tried to jam ours in the hedge, so maybe that stopped it all from spilling out.
The wind is really picking up again now and it is raining hard.

Oh dear Joan, how on earth did you manage to sit in a stool all night? I would have snuggled down in bed with the quilt over my ears I hope you manage to sleep tonight, although the next storm is on its way.

Good to see you posting Joan and you didn't lose power but yes its frightening at night just hearing the wind gust. I'm amazed we never lost power although it did flicker around 6pm.

I have just looked at the SSE power track map and can see hundreds without power including further south from here!
I just got my prescription delivered and when i opened the door.....oh my the wind, it is still storm force!

I am going to fill another flask as I feel, its just as bad now as it was at teatime yesterday.

Glad everyone on here is safe and ok but just take care.

Florence in the hebrides

Afternoon to you all.
Well what a night that was, I went to bed around 10-00 pm after watching Vera only to have to get up again within an hour as the wind was starting to pick up & I couldn't get to sleep.
I sat up in bed for the next 1/2 an hour but was starting to worry as the noise of the wind was scaring me.

Went to the bathroom which is at the back of the house & the noise of the wind banging against the window was really bad, by now it was about 11-30 & the wind was really serious & I was by now absolutely terrified.
I ened up sitting on a stool on the landing & even though the noise was terrible it was the "quietist" place in the house. I sat there until just before 6-00AM, covering my ears when the gusting wind rolled in.

I was praying that the power wouldn't go off as it had been flickering, it did go off at one point but only for a moment, I couldn't believe it when it came back on so quickly & actually stayed on for the rest of the night.

By this time the wind had died down a lot & I returned to my bed, slept for an hour then I had to get up again as I could hear the wind again, it's still windy today & so I'm hoping it won't get any worse, I couldn't stand another night like last night so soon.

I can't see anything amiss when looking out of the windows, I just hope all is well with the house itself, as it's still windy I am not going outside to check.

I hope everyone is ok & all is well where you are.

Joan.

Afternoon all

Well we are ok and no loss of power. The wind fairly picked up mid evening but by 11pm seemed to have abated. However around 3am, the wind was howling stronger than before and lashing rain so I never slept a wink for the rest of the night.

Linda, I'm not in Shetland, that is over in the East, I'm in the west of Scotland in the outer Hebrides but Joan is in the East somewhere. Not sure if she lost power but think they had it more severe than us as many areas are without power in her area.

We are set to have this wild stormy weather all week and just typical as i have a Tesco delivery for Thursday!! Fingers crossed but no ferries for now.

Not up to much today as im really tired so gentle pottering and some paperwork followed by family tree work.

Its a real nuisance when a neighbours bin moves and spills and we have had that here several times. We have secure bungees around all 4 bins attached to the fence plus large stones on top and they rarely move but other people are not so "organised" and we end up with rubbish strewn over our garden too which we have to pick up!

Hope anyone else looking in is safe and ok. I think Ireland and wales lost power to thousands of homes.

Shall be back later

Florence in the hebrides

Here in northern Argyll we seem to have got off lightly compared with some other places.
It was certainly a very wild night, and some items were blown around in my garden, but nothing damaged, and all now retrieved. The wind is back to a more normal level now, though still with occasional strong gusts.
Our electricity stayed on, thank goodness.

Are you OK, Florence?
From Google, I can see that the wind is still about 50-60mph in your area, and there's a yellow warning for wind until Wednesday, because of the approach of Storm Jocelyn.

I hope everyone is OK, I read that lots of electricity is off on Shetland, so I hope Florence isn’t affected.
It was very windy last night and this morning, I saw that a recycling bin over the road had blown over and though they had picked it up, there was litter all down the road. So I have just been out and done a litter pick of the area and got a large bag full .. The wind seems to be picking up again after having died down, so I will stay in apart from popping next door for a coffee this afternoon

Good afternoon, the wind is starting to get up here, so the storm is on its way.
Someone came this afternoon and collected the dining table and chairs. I think she didn’t realise how big the table was, but that is her problem now, It is gone ,so that is good for us. I deleted the add and have made a new one with the dresser and corner cupboard on it. We don’t really want to take them, but it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we did as it will probably be a couple of months before the new kitchen and dining room cupboards will be ready. At least, I could use the current cabinets in the meantime.
We have a round metal patio table and chairs, so we have brought it into the dining room to use until we move and buy a new dining set. . The table has tubular metal legs and OH had to turn it on its side to carry it in. It has left a trail of black drops all over the floor which look like oil, bur will just be years worth of dirty water. Thankfully the downstairs flooring is wood not carpets, so I was able to just wipe it up.


We do have a selection of supermarkets to choose from here. There is a small Co- op just four or five minutes walk away in the town square, but that is expensive, so I only get the odd thing from there. Tesco and Lidl are just a ten minute walk away I sometimes walk there with my trolley, but usually I would be doing a bigger shop, so I take the car. We also have an Aldi a ten minute drive away.
The new house isn’t as convenient, it will probably take me about twenty five minutes to walk to the town centre, but there aren’t any supermarkets there. It will be a ten minute drive to an Aldi or fifteen minute drive to a large Morrisons . Twenty minutes would get me to an absolutely massive Sainsbury’s. I could get deliveries, but while I can drive, I prefer to go myself, or I could get a taxi easily

Linda, forgot to say, at least you have a choice of supermarkets!

Where you are moving to, are the shops as close as they are now and is there a lot of choice?I think as you get older, having a few shops within 5-10 mins walking distance is good as you can get a daily exercise and make a trip 2-3 times a week rather than drive for one big shop.

Home deliveries are good for me being immobile but if I could use the bus i would as it gets you out of the house and you see people. The downside of only getting home deliveries is that you are isolated if you live on your own and you dont get out to socialise.

For some doing a small shop in the supermarket is good for mental wellbeing .

Hope you get word soon from you solicitor