Stavertongirl

After giving it a lot of thought I am invigilating the exams again this year. I did check with the school I go to about wearing a mask and they were quite happy for me to do this. Some of the kids are still wearing them as well. There is some sniffling and sneezing among those sitting the exams but it is hay fever season, I have had to use my spray, so hopefully it is nothing catching. It is good to get back to a bit of normality (is that a word) whilst still being careful. I wear a mask in shops (my choice - it’s up to you what you do which is no concern of mine), the cafe we go to we have

Noticed on that Manfred Mann clip of If You Gotta go that they faded out “stay all night” each time? I can remember my Dad wasn’t impressed with the Stones Lets Spend The Night Together when I first got the record.

Know the feeling Benjamin, can still smell someone smoking a ciggie from a long way away. They smell so good, I really miss it. Still on my vape but have cut down the nicotine content of the liquid now so I’m in the middle of the range. Will be starting to mix with the next lower one soon to get ready to drop again. Sometimes think will just get a pack and just have one, but I know it would start me off again, anyway they are so flipping expensive now don’t know how anyone can afford the habit.

As I have written on here before I had a lot of problems with the house I brought in Nottingham. The previous owner thought he was a DIYer but unfortunately he wasn’t. Everything looked good on the surface but as my nana would say it was all fur coat and no knickers. I am invigilating exams again (such joy) so was going to get my floorboards on the landing sorted, they are a bit like the Himalay, you could build a rollercoaster on them, and then hopefully get a bit of decorating done. But, isn’t there always a but, I had a leak under my sink which needed sorting so my handyman nipped in to

I have always gone to Bilborough Library, never been to the one in Nottingham city. My Dad used to take me there when he went and we were all encouraged to read. My dad had a lot of books, can remember reading Three Men & A Boat amongst others. We also had a lot of the classics like Black Beauty (which I didn’t like), Moby Dick and after a teacher at primary school (Miss Walton) read The Lion, Witch & The Wardrobe my Dad got us the full set. I go to the Bilborough Library now to borrow books, I have a kindle but it isn’t the same reading a book on that. I also attend a book club

We had solar panels on our house in Doncaster. We didn’t buy them, it was from a company who “leased” your roof for 25 years, can’t remember the name. We got to use the electric that came from them and the company got the money from the government. They did all the maintenance, etc and after the 25 years they either removed them or you could keep them. When we sold the house the lease was transferred to the new owner. After we had them I had to give the electric company a meter reading for my bill and noticed that the meter was going backwards, very fast I might add. Did a double take and i

Just heard from my friend in Doncaster. Her mum had to be rushed into hospital on Friday with a possible stroke. Tested negative when she went in, luckily it wasn’t a stroke as they had to wait 7 hours for an ambulance. Came out on Monday positive for covoid.

So got up this morning feeling like one of the walking dead. Did another test just to be sure it was a cold, it is. We have taken Jj out for a good long walk, taking a copious supply of hankies along with his ball, poo bags etc. Now ensconced on the settee, gas fire on, with my hankies, Vaseline for my nose, a library book and blanket for a quiet afternoon whilst Jj has a sleep. I had dark chocolate with almonds last nite and watched a Stephen King film, tonight it is fruit and nut and will listen to one of my podcasts. Hopefully by tomorrow I will be back in the land of the living.

After having done 2 (stressful) weeks of mock exam invigilating dishing out tissues to a few snotty sneezing pupils I can now confirm that I do not have covid (after a couple of very uncomfortable negatives) just their flipping cold! Just hope they are all recovered before we start again in May for the proper exams. Me? I am going to curl up on the settee, feel sorry for myself and eat chocolate

I applaud all those who are volunteering to help Ukrainians who have fled the war in their country. I am not in a position to help in that way but have donated what I can to help a bit. Whilst not insinuating this will happen, I can remember when Doncaster volunteered to take in Kossavan refugees from the fighting there, housing them in what was once the barracks for the former RAF Finningley. They were warmly welcomed and donations were made to help them. We were told as soon as the war there was over they would all return. However actually none of them did, and there were quite a few, a

Cakewalk was at Goose Fair the year before covoid started. We walked past it.

I applied to have a water meter fitted on prompting from a relative. When the Severn Trent man came out to have a look he found I couldn't have one fitted as the water pipe from the mains serves 4 properties and there wasn’t enough pipe in the house near the stop tap to fit one. I got a letter from Severn Trent about a week later saying as I was the only one living in the house and couldn’t have a water meter they were putting me on the “single occupancy tariff”. It has saved me around £200 a year (which no doubt the energy price rise will now eat up). The price is the estimate they provi

The new broadband is now up and running. Installation didn’t take too long nearly 2 hours rather than the 3 stated. Bit of a blip when it was first switched on to boot up (look at me being technical) and it was taking ages. Engineer switched it off and back on again, still nothing. Made a phone call about it and then realised he hadn’t plugged it into the wall socket! Of course it had a new password so everything had to be reset, don’t know why they can’t let you have the same password to connect with your network. You don’t realise how many “gadgets” you have until you have to do something

Today I am having my broadband changed to fibre (whatever that is - it is going to take a visit from Openreach to change line and the Sky engineer). So I have been moving furniture and rugs about. So far Jj has: 1. Kept dropping his ball on the rug whilst I was rolling it up so I had to keep throwing it to get him out the way. 2. Sat on the armchair whilst I was trying to move it. It is a recliner so it weighs a bit anyway. Made him get off and it then became a game of on and off. 3. Moved settee out a bit and then got a txt so stopped to see who it was from, went back to

I have a poodle mix, heard them aptly described as a “vortex of frantic joy” which describes mine exactly. Everything is exciting from morning to night, he has such a joy of living, wish I had half his energy. He certainly keeps us on our toes. They are classed as mixed breeds here, mongrels are more a “Heinz 57” mixture and yes they are very expensive here as well (lockdown pushed all dog prices through the roof) but worth every penny.

I’m the same with privet it really sets my hay fever off, hate the smell of the flowers. I have a privet hedge that grows above my 6’ fence at the bottom of my garden. Last year my neighbour cut it back so that it stopped overhanging my bird table and then those that owned the house cut it right back. Notice it is appearing over my fence again at the moment along with the ivy that is pushing through the fence panels, it is a constant battle with that as well.

Just taken Jj out for his morning walk on the park. The fog is quite thick in some places. I must say I always find it quite eerie when you can hear footsteps and not see who it is. Reminds me of an old film, think it was a Hitchcock one, where there was a thick fog and you could hear footsteps as someone was being followed perhaps someone will know the title? Or was it a Jack the Ripper one? Anyway didn’t go to the end of the field on the park, kept in site of the path and gate and kept Jj on his flexI lead so he could still have a run around, he had a bit of a limp yesterday after jumping

Squelchy dog walk

Exhausted yes - bored no time!

Our with a Jj this morning, temperature was -3. Takes ages to get to the park as every blade of grass, hedge, weed etc has to be well sniffed and we are doing more heel training, which slipped a bit whilst he was ill, which involves turning round when he pulls on the lead so sometimes we get nowhere fast. Finally made it to the park and there was no-one on there (if they had any sense they would still be tucked up in bed) so was able to let him off for a run. It was frosty so that had to be thoroughly investigated, by this time my fingers were starting to go dead and I couldn’t feel my face, b

Hope you feel better soon Colly0410. I was supposed to be invigilating exams at the school for the next 2 weeks, but under the present circumstances am not doing them. Shame as a I do enjoy doing it, just hope things will have settled down by March when the next lot are due.

Goodness this brought back some memories, remembered it as soon as a I heard the first few notes. Good times.

My mum was very good at giving a “clip around the ear hole”, never did us any harm. The worst thing was “You can tell your Dad what you have done when he comes home”, He very rarely shouted, spoke very quietly when he was angry, that was when you knew not to go any further. However if you wanted anything the best time to ask him was after he had had his tea and was sat in his armchair smoking his pipe. Never ask for anything before he had eaten!

Just seen a description of a spaniel on a twitter video of dogs at a Dogs Trust picking their Christmas toys (it is worth a watch) as a “vortex of frantic joy”. As an owner of a young spaniel cross I can concur that is an apt description of my boy

Glad to hear your husband had no ill effects from his fall NonnaB, apart from a thorough dog wash! Just had an email from my energy provider to say I have got the warm home grant so £140 has been credited to my account which will pay next months bill and some of the month after. A good day just got better.