Chitchat thread #24

[Bren In Pots]

Morning

Cold and windy here as well Flo the rains just beginning and will be here for the day.

enjoy your day

[burnie]

5 degrees, windy and very overcast but dry at the moment, they keep threatening snow, but the hills are getting all of that. One road is still shut with floods, but the higher roads over hills are being kept open, even though they are getting more snow.

[Nicos]

Afternoon n’alln’all

And…we’re back home

I need the rest!!!!

Done part of the unpacking and the washing machine is on its 4 th of 6 washerloads already! ( lots of building diy clothing included in that)

Lovely to be home…and the ‘reset’ button has been activated due to touching base and achieving quite a lot whilst we were away.
I do however overdo my biscuit/ chocolate/ cake purchases …ooops

I think a siesta and soak in the tub is in order this afternoon and then finish off the unpacking tomorrow once we are back from an appointment, and grory hop in the afternoon.

Agreed about the milk…we find it really hard to find fresh milk here. If we do , it’s usually unpasteurised.
My granny used to buy gold top for Xmas Day custard. These days I tend to make it with semi skimmed milk and a rather large blob(s) of cream.
Funny how you get used to semi skimmed milk- there was never a choice when we were young( apart from that disgusting sterilised milk- great for people who didn’t have fridges, just cold larders with those stone shelves - Can you imagine not having a fridge?????.
I guess we were all a lot more active as children so full fat milk etc was never really an issue.

We had snow on our last night in the UK…near Hereford. Fortunately it had been washed away with rain overnight, but it was incredibly misty during the morning as we travelled to the ferry. And that too was a lovely calm crossing

Right , time to get a wiggle on. Enjoy your day peeps, and keep warm!

[burnie]

We didn't have a fridge in the 1950's, tin bowl full of cold water on the "slab" in the pantry, nowadays we are on "lactose free" due to one of my many ailments. Runny butter wasn't so good without a fridge though, I can remember the day we got a fridge(we had a telly before we had one lol), it had that little "ice box" at the top, I used to put a bowl of custard in there as it was just like home made ice cream(I think I was 10 at the time).

[Nicos]

Those iceboxes came with aluminium ice cube trays you had to run under a tap…fingers got stuck to it…and for those of us daft enough to try ( several times ) your lip would also stick to it

[greenishfing]

Those iceboxes came with aluminium ice cube trays you had to run under a tap…fingers got stuck to it…and for those of us daft enough to try ( several times ) your lip would also stick to it

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Yes, I was daft enough too!

[rary]

Good evening, it has been dry but with a very cold wind blowing all day, OH is slowly improving, but unfortunately she is now on a double dose of antibiotics hopefully this will clear up her chest infection which again hopefully will ease the pressure on her heart, as her heart rate is still quite high, possibly I should sit well away from her to save her getting too excited . Our daughter dropped in to sit with her mum as I had to go to give a blood sample as I am now getting tested for diabetes, this is due to the fact that my toe is not clearing up and is still infected, and am now on my third dose of antibiotics
Reading some of the posts above you have to wonder how they managed without fridges years ago, imagine having to live in such conditions possibly us younger folk have been spoiled
Well keep warm and safe if you are having bad weather but please pass on your smiles, as they can help warm folks up
.

[Bren In Pots]

Evening

As a kid we used the slab in the pantry it was usually filled with cooked and raw meats along with butter, cheese and milk.

[Florence Fennel]

Our cold slab was the "cellar head" (top of the coal cellar steps). Pretty much a larder of sorts. Our first fridge in 1972 was a gas one!

[burnie]

Those iceboxes came with aluminium ice cube trays you had to run under a tap…fingers got stuck to it…and for those of us daft enough to try ( several times ) your lip would also stick to it

We had some aluminium lolly mould, I tried licking the frost and did a "Dumb and Dumber", had to get my head under the sink tap to melt the ice to get my tongue back lol.

[greenishfing]

We had some aluminium lolly mould, I tried licking the frost and did a "Dumb and Dumber", had to get my head under the sink tap to melt the ice to get my tongue back lol.

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 Brilliant!

[Snoop Puss]

Morning all.

Sorry to hear about your OH and you too, rary. Fingers crossed they find antibiotics that will bring you both some relief.

Nothing quite like a lesson learned through experience, burnie...

Sunny here at the moment. But just another brief respite before we get another few days of drizzle. But down south they've had it much worse than us. There's at least one small town being evacuated because the aquifers are absolutely full and the ground is underwater and starting to sink. And in just the last two days they've had another 800 litres per square metre of rainfall. I can't begin to comprehend that much rain.

Anyway, a couple of outdoor jobs for me this morning, as I have time to make the most of the weather. Then on with the work.

Have a great day, everyone.

[greenishfing]

Good morning.

Another wild exaggeration by the meteorologists yesterday! I never saw so much as a solitary snowflake. I can hear it raining here now. It is forecast to continue all day/week.

I don't remember us getting a fridge but know that we couldn't have had one in the first house I lived in. It had neither electricity or gas. Tilley lamps for light (paraffin) and a solid fuel range. It had stone steps down to the cellar that I evidently fell all the way down as a toddler! My mother used to go back to her mother's for a bath. I suppose the lack of fridges was the main reason that housewives had to shop daily, and the milkman delivered daily too.

Rary, I hope both of you get your health problems sorted out soon.

Nicos, it sounds as if you've gone back home for a rest. Six wash loads of mainly work clothes! At least you didn't get snowed in. I hope that you enjoyed your hot soak and siesta yesterday. What delightful English foods did you stock up with?

One of the District Nurses came to see Mr GF again yesterday. They really are a helpful, caring, practical team who keep reminding me that they are there 24/7.

My first cup of coffee is preparing me to face the day. I think I'll sneak one of Mr GF's hearing aids into his ears next and turn the TV on low to encourage him to wake up soon.

Snoop, that amount of rainfall sounds unbelievable. Has it ever happened before, or is it a new phenomenon?

Keep warm and cosy everyone!

[Florence Fennel]

Good Morning All Raining again here, but it doesn't seem as cold. Have a good day

[Nicos]

Afternoon n’alln’all

Hopefully we are now settled in for the weekend!
Mostly unpacked but a few more things to do….like the porta loo…

Goodies GF?
well…all the Xmas stuff had gone, so some Easter chocolate and general biscuits( hobnobs, good ginger biscuits, Eccles cakes… ) , Toiletries and tinned things I can’t get here, (mandarins, mushy peas for eg) Persil, silver foil( thicker in the uk), decent scellotape, and a load of 0% Guinness at half the price of here! That sort of thing. Frustratingly, I can’t bring meat, dairy and veggies over

Snoop……that’s a scary amount of rain per metre …that’s over 3/4 of an IBC storage container

We’ve had a mixture of heavy rain and sun since we got back- I did notice today that our snowdrops are just opening!..plus there are gorse bushes on the side of the road coming into flower. Only one daffodil though…and that was a wild one on a south facing bank.
Loads of catkins around though!
Anyone got exciting plans for the weekend?…whatever you get up to, enjoy it as much as possible xx