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Today, I shall mostly be...
message 3401:
by
Collette
(new)
Mar 14, 2021 05:18AM
Don't push your luck, cheeky! ðŸ˜
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Today I shall mostly be working in the garden. 26 degrees forecast for the next few days so not too hot. My New Year's resolution was to spend at least an hour each day gardening. Well, you can guess how long that lasted! but I'm sure if I add up all the hours I have done, it probably does average out to about an hour a day. I'm still waiting on my order of bulbs - may have to message Tesselaars if they don't come soon. I've planted two trees in the last week - a Eucalyptus Caesia (Silver Princess) - I've always wanted one of these so I just hope I live long enough to see it flower. It's only about 4 feet tall at present but looks very healthy. 
The second one is a Crepe Myrtle - vaiety is Commanche
It's nearer 5 feet.
But today's job is digging out a rose geranium that must have been in the ground for over 20 years and has about three main stems about the diameter of my wrist. I'll keep some cuttings and plant it again. The job is dictated by the fact that tomorrow is green bin day and my Scots blood won't let me put out a bin that isn't full to overflowing. Youtube is the most wonderful source of information for gardeners. I was looking up to see if you can grow vinca from cuttings and there's this bloke somewhere in S.E. Asia poking holes in plastic jars, hanging them up and growing lovely vinca cuttings. That's my next project. After the bulbs I hope.
Val wrote: "Today I shall mostly be working in the garden. 26 degrees forecast for the next few days so not too hot. My New Year's resolution was to spend at least an hour each day gardening. Well, you can gue..."It's really interesting to hear about the difference climate makes. The idea of a geranium of that size and age is unimaginable here. Annual cuttings to be sure of keeping it over winter ... Which vinca is it? I've got vinca major which roots itself at the leaf nodes where it touches the ground and vinca minor which is a bit more reticent.
Youtube is great. I learnt how to revive orchid plants with tea from one video. Works a treat. :o)
Our geraniums will grow forever, but they do get very leggy. It's best to stick a new cutting in the ground every couple of years. I think it must be vinca minor. I think I bought a punnet of seedlings about four years ago, planted them in a lined trug and they have powered on through. They're a lovely cerise colour so I would like to try propagating some cuttings.
Today I've gotten to the bottom of why my WonderCore Smart has been squeaking like buggery for the past couple of months. The bolts needed tightening. Doh! What a difference. And the arms are rigid instead of flopping about the place.
Collette wrote: "Today I've gotten to the bottom of why my WonderCore Smart has been squeaking like buggery for the past couple of months. The bolts needed tightening. Doh! What a difference. And the arms are rigid..."So many questions ..... if I could only be arsed.
Today I shall mostly be ... filling out the 2021 Census online.Mum and me didn't know until just a few hours ago that my Dad (as Head of the Household) had already received a Letter about it several weeks ago - and he had just shoved it into a Drawer and then completely forgotten all about it.
It unfortunately took a lot longer to do than I had expected that it would because my Dad simply wasn't having it that I couldn't type in long lists detailing all of his many Qualifications - even though there was nowhere to type them in and none of them, except for his Degree, qualified as being answers to the questions asked.
He also wasn't at all happy that I had to put his last Occupation down as being a Secondary School Maths & Physics Teacher either - because he was only a Teacher for the last 9 years of his working life after he had had to retire through ill-health from working for 38 years in the NHS.
He wanted me to put the NHS part of his Life on record as being his main Occupation - and got really frustrated and annoyed with me that I couldn't do this - meaning that we had to go back over his answers again and again before he would finally agree to accept this and let me submit the Form.
At least, there were no surprises to be had from me filling it all out in my newly appointed role of Head of the Household. I did wonder though just how many people might possibly be doing this for elderly parents and unexpectedly discovering things that they had never known about them ... such as things like they had never been legally married, or maybe one of them has always identified as being Bisexual or Homosexual, or was registered as being a different sex at Birth?
It honestly wouldn't bother me in the slightest - but I can imagine that these things could come as quite a shock and potentially open up a rather large Can of Worms for some Adult Children who, like me, are filling out these kinds of Forms for the first time.
If you've kept aspects of your identity secret from your family for decades I'd have to question the likelihood of inadvertently coming out due to a Census question? They also only punish you for non-completion rather than lying - hence I'm a 105 year old, African-born, unqualified, transsexual, Jedi priest living in a 15 bedroom mansion.They also aren't fussed about when you fill it in - ours went in on Friday so good job we haven't been wiped out by disaster, pestilence or disease in the last couple of days.
Waiting for the police to come and arrest me like the nice HMRC man who left a message on my phone saying I had to pay them several thousand pounds immediately or I would be arrested within hours claimed.
welcome to the chain gang, derek, i'll save you some snout!
They'll never take me alive tech. In any case they can't get a European arrest warrant any more so I should be OK. If they send in the SAS, I'll just set the guard puppy on them. He's got teeth like a piranha and his claws are like razors!
Battered in at both bedrooms over yesterday and today, so tonight I'm gonna relax with a nice bottle of white and Halloween Resurrection.
You were "Battered in at both bedrooms"? Hmmm, I'll leave that one for Serial.
Collette wrote: "Battered in at both bedrooms over yesterday and today, so tonight I'm gonna relax with a nice bottle of white and Halloween Resurrection.""Battered in at both bedrooms"
No words.....none atall.
:0
Whoever thought to make sausages with small nuggets of black pudding in them is a fkn genius.Served with roasted butternut squash and sweet potato.... a truly delicious combo.
Thought today was gonna be spent looking for a new electricity supplier as Bulb are now hiking the prices for the 2nd time. But a half hour of searching and we seem to know who we'll be going to so that wasn't too hard. Then D went on to Ideal World and ordered me an H20 E3 Cleaning System so that's me got a new toy. Woo hoo. Just as long as he doesn't get me pots and pans for Christmas.
"Just as long as he doesn't get me pots and pans for Christmas" - he might enjoy being "Battered in at the kitchen"?
I meant battering in at my housework. Your mind's in the bloody gutter again! 😆
Aye. If he's owt like you he'll already have bought your Xmas pressie!
Probably. He planks perfume in his bit of the filing cabinet. I think it's even contained a Charlie Bear or 2 from time to time.
Had my first Covid vaccination (Pfizer) today over here in France. Second one scheduled for 23rd April which is slightly better than the dates I was offered in the UK just before we left in February.
Had mine yesterday Derek, the Oxford one. Felt like crap all day today but glad I've had it, second one booked for 13th June.
TheFoe wrote: "Had mine yesterday Derek, the Oxford one. Felt like crap all day today but glad I've had it, second one booked for 13th June."I had mine (AZ) last week; felt OK but crapped all day!
Brass Neck wrote: "TheFoe wrote: "Had mine yesterday Derek, the Oxford one. Felt like crap all day today but glad I've had it, second one booked for 13th June."I had mine (AZ) last week; felt OK but crapped all day!"
No change to your usual verbal flow rate then.
:o
yeah, gaun the pfizer boys! get intae thae oxford-astrazeneca bastids!
Today, it's Magni's turn. Off to the vet this afternoon for his second vaccinations so he can start to meet other dogs soon. He's going to his first puppy training class on Sunday, they'll probably expel him on his first visit!
Tech XXIII wrote: "yeah, gaun the pfizer boys! get intae thae oxford-astrazeneca bastids!"The French health system is good, better than the NHS in a lot of ways, but the Covid vaccination process is not good. As I understand it, in the UK it's pretty much a case of make your appointment, turn up, answer a few simple questions, they inject you and done.
Over here, made my appointments and answered the standard medical questions online, turned up waited five minutes before the lady on reception took my Carte Vitale, checked my driving licence to prove who I was, asked me some questions the system already has the answer to and then printed out a vaccine authorisation and passed me on to the Doctor, he asked me the same questions that I'd already answered in the online booking process, took my Carte Vitale and put it through the payment machine (it doesn't cost me anything) and then passed me on to the lady who vaccinated me. The whole process took about 15 minutes. One receptionist, one doctor, one person vaccinating. It's going to take them forever if it's like this all over France!
Derek wrote: "Tech XXIII wrote: "yeah, gaun the pfizer boys! get intae thae oxford-astrazeneca bastids!"The French health system is good, better than the NHS in a lot of ways, but the Covid vaccination proces..."
Massive queue when I turned up, but it was marshalled really well, (except for one over enthusiastic marshall who tried showing me the exit before I had my jab), and was done and dusted in about 10 minutes.
The vax centre in Grimsby, the only one intermittently showing appointments across several days of trying to book, is a small pharmacy in a rough area near the docks, not a place you feel confident leaving your car for long. There was no queue when I arrived (5.30pm) which was a good job because there wasn't much space inside, a woman with a clipboard took my name and sent me two paces to the girl on the till to whom I had to give my name again whereupon there was a smile behind the mask - turns out I taught her recently - who then sent me to one of a row of 3 undistanced but unoccupied seats by a small screened area. I just about managed to park my derriere when the vaxxer called me round into the tiny space. Once the deed was done he said I should wait in my car for 15 minutes in case of a reaction. Aye, right. I was back in the car and off like a shot after checking I still had 4 wheels. Very quick but a far cry from the two setups at a hospital and the arena in Sheffield I took the parents to in scale and officiousness. Like I said before, the only reaction was a bout of stomach ache and mild diarrhoea the following day.
I'm feeling left out! - as I've still not been offered one yet.
You're obviously a young whippersnapper Suzy. I had my first one on the 9th and the 2nd is booked in for 25th May.
Actually, I think that I might possibly have been forgotten?Our Surgery has several Answerphone Messages that put you on Hold for ages and they repeatedly state DO NOT ring them to ask about Covid Vac Appointments ... so I've just had to use their new Online Triage Service to Email them instead.
I have a feeling that it might be because they have not got around to sorting out any Appointments for the Housebound in our area yet?
That doesn't sound good. I got my invitation to book through the post.
Well, sadly, it's not like I'm ever going to be going off out anywhere these days - but, all the same, I really would like to get my Hair cut at some point this year without being SO worried about coming out of being stuck in Shielding to do so. And I never thought that I would ever be saying this - LOL!!! - but I would also like to get back to going to my Dentists for regular Appointments as well! ;o>
Heard our first cuckoo of 2021 this morning, something I rarely hear in the UK nowadays.
Derek wrote: "Heard our first cuckoo of 2021 this morning, something I rarely hear in the UK nowadays."Nice. Is that early, seems early, but maybe not.
We had one last year, just sat on a branch above the kids swing, sounding out its cuckoos....
Quite a weird looking bird, like an oversized wood pigeon almost.
Battling the bastard Mink here.He got a Hen last night, and 3 Ducks before that.
And seemingly has no interest in the 2 traps I set, baited with mackeral and sardines...
Apparently it's guts that work in the trap.
How nice.
So this afternoon I got the lovely task of removing the guts from last nights Mink victim, to try to catch him with tonight.
Oh the joys of it.
Sigh........
Life and Nature will always have it's sad and it's cruel side - it's just how it is, isn't it?Have you considered breaking the cycle though, Serial? Doing the 'woke' thing these days by maybe sitting down with the Mink and giving a Power Point or Audio Visual Presentation on why you would rather it didn't keep on with ripping the Guts out of the Animals on your Farm?
Maybe offering it incentives? ... like hosting an All-You-Can-Eat Mackerel Feast for it at least once a week? ... or offering it the chance to go on a One Way All Expenses Trip to somewhere else? ;o>
One Way All Expenses Trip to somewhere else?Hell?
Somewhere preferably without Pits of Fire or Pearly Gates - LOL!!! ;o>
Serial wrote: "Derek wrote: "Heard our first cuckoo of 2021 this morning, something I rarely hear in the UK nowadays."Nice. Is that early, seems early, but maybe not.
We had one last year, just sat on a branch..."
End of March is fairly normal, we're a lot further south down here in Catus.
suzysunshine7 wrote: "Life and Nature will always have it's sad and it's cruel side - it's just how it is, isn't it?Have you considered breaking the cycle though, Serial? Doing the 'woke' thing these days by maybe sit..."
Ha ha,,,,Suzy :)
I needed a laugh :)
.........raging against the machine! (again)first day back at work yesterday, after 2 months off, to arranged phased return - did i get in the door? did i ****! i was informed my shift (a half shift) had been moved to saturday - of course no-one thought it in any way professional to notify me of this! assistant manager reneged on his duty to speak with me, but sent worker out to give me a lift home - probably wise, as i was ******* raging by then. this a.m. have had very apologetic manager on phone - tell you, they couldnae organise a coupon day at a brothel.
Tech XXIII wrote: ".........raging against the machine! (again)first day back at work yesterday, after 2 months off, to arranged phased return - did i get in the door? did i ****! i was informed my shift (a half sh..."
Fks sake.
After all that excitement you must have felt to be finally back in the fray, only to be prematurely chopped down.
what i really feel is the need to find another job!
This morning, we are off to the Prefecture in Cahors to start the final bit of the process to become officially Resident in France. Once that's complete we should receive our Residency Cards and start the fun of completing tax returns in two countries.
when's the ceremony when you get presented with the beret, the bicycle and the strings of onions? disclaimer; the views contained in this post are not necessarily those of the poster!
Derek wrote: "This morning, we are off to the Prefecture in Cahors to start the final bit of the process to become officially Resident in France. Once that's complete we should receive our Residency Cards and st..."I've read many times that Brexit will be simple, so I'm guessing you face an easy future.
Tech XXIII wrote: "what i really feel is the need to find another job!"Do it!
Life's too short to not.
I had a job I hated once, brick paving driveways, work was ok, but the boss was a ****. I find it only takes one unpleasant individual to ruin a workplace.
So i quietly did an interview for another job, and only when it was all set up, did I hand in my notice.
What a relief it was, the day I left for good.
The unpleasant boss had, had around 20 labourers in the past year, who'd all left! Say's something about himself, I think.
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