January - no blues allowed! first Chatty thread of 2023

Post by **merry** » Sat Jan 21, 2023 9:59 am

Smarty sounds good! I have Lebara, which I thought was about the cheapest you could get - it was £2 for the first six months and £6 now, similar allowances. Been hassle-free and with no contract you know you can switch at any time, which is a fair bit easier to do than it used to be!

Well done for getting a Gutter Man, Furby. I need all sorts of Men at present but it's too cold to do any thinking.

Kids had a wonderful time in London for the Derren Brown Experience. After they found the right theatre that is. I suppose anyone could confuse the Hammersmith Apollo with the central Apollo...

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Sat Jan 21, 2023 10:34 am

I need all sorts of Men at present

(Eccs sniggers..)

Post by **merry** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 9:20 am

(I made a succession of naughty fnarr fnarr puns then - think chimney sweep, plumber, etc) but deleted them on grounds of tastefulness

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Sun Jan 22, 2023 9:36 am

That reminds me of a time when I was in either my late teens or early 20s when I went to see a very good Welsh friend who had been a leader at the youth club I attended; she was expecting me. I didn't have a car then so I walked from our house to her rather bigger house (her family needed it with her husband and 3 daughters to accommodate) about a mile or so away.

When I arrived she told me that she had embarrassed a gentleman neighbour a few minutes earlier. He had knocked at her door and she had called to him to come in, thinking it was me. As he closed the front door she called 'I'm upstairs Mike, come up!' The neighbour called back that he wasn't Mike, to which she replied 'That's all right, you'll do!'

She was a bit of a joker with a very strong personality.

It was Merry's hints of naughty puns that made me remember that.

Post by **merry** » Tue Jan 24, 2023 7:30 pm

'That's all right, you'll do!'

Lovely story!

I have just finished a stretch of free pony care while Juliet is away on an Elf-an-Safety course in Birmingham. She was quite resistant to go, having wanted a job where she 'just planted seeds'. But no, this sort of snake often comes into the garden of work. It was the worst time of year, except perhaps the Mud Season, to do horse duty, as the water to the field is frozen. Yes, frozen, and the nearest running pipe is half a mile's walk over roughish terrain away.

So water has to be transported in containers to the yard; knowing I wouldn't have a chance of hefting the 50l caddy over the 7-bar gate to the field on my own, I purchased 2 x 30l ones, only to find I couldn't heft that over the gate either, though I had a damn good try. So I took a bucket to Fizzy (on the other side of the gate), filled that, hefted THAT over the 7-bar gate (by now it was reminding me of that TV show It's a Knockout where people dressed up in huge inflatable suits and carried water for miles but their big inflatable feet meant they arrived at the measuring point with little left in their buckets).

Then the 30 litre caddy was light enough to lift over the gate and I carried both to the yard like a milkmaid (but less maidenly.)

Repeat that today (plus all the usual haynet hefting, poo-picking, etc) and I will be glad of a rest tomorrow when it's Sam's turn! Though I enjoyed feeling so fit again after the Christmas Lurgy.

I may not be asked again* as apparently I gave the HHs double feed rations on both days by mistake

They didn't seem to mind at all, but Juliet was horrified as apparently too much rich feed can give them colic. I told her if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

Signed, A monkey.

(PS they are OK. No emergency phone-calls.)

*I bet I will be

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 2:27 pm

I may not be asked again

Mess up often enough and you'll be permanently excused. Looks good to me, so long as the horses survive.

Post by **merry** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 3:25 pm

Drove past them this morning and yes! all 8 legs on the floor

Much warmer her, just my luck it's Sam's turn

I bet the water will be flowing beautifully through those hoses today!

What's everyone up to today?

Wildrover · Post by **Wildrover** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 4:29 pm

Booking a long weekend in Madeira over the first weekend in March for MYF and I off Travelzoo. You can tell the tourism industry is suffering - flights, 5 star hotel for 4 nights, breakfast and dinner for two of us every night, total cost £620. And we'll save around £150 on duty free purchases and the £100 we'd have spent on food and fuel which makes it a very cheap holiday indeed. Madeira is lovely, especially that time of year - the weather is similar to southern England in June and Funchal is a mass of cosy bars and restaurants, street music and flamenco. Looking forward to it.

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 7:45 pm

That Madeira break sounds great.

My day was uneventful, the usual 3 mile walk this morning followed by Asda online shopping delivery this afternoon. Mr Merry's favourite canned vindaloo curries are still out of stock. I managed to catch a short period when they were offered so I added them to the shop. On the day they were of course out of stock and Asda substituted Bombay potatoes (??). These odd supply problems keep popping up as often as the price rises.

The driver was naughty. Smoking in the van is strictly prohibited but there was a definite tobacco odour drifting from the groceries when I bagged them up and fetched them indoors. Fortunately it dissipated as I put it all away, and he was otherwise very helpful. He'll need to watch out though. I won't report him but some old busybody will.

Post by **merry** » Wed Jan 25, 2023 8:57 pm

Wow, that sounds amazing, WR! I'll have to tell Juliet and Jym to have a look!

Yes, there are some very odd random shortages around - but Bombay Potatoes subbed for tinned curry?!

Naughty driver. Good of you not to report him, Eccs.

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Thu Jan 26, 2023 8:03 pm

Today was my 6 monthly get-together with my friend Bob for us to catch up with what we had been up to since last time we had lunch together. So I duly collected him - slightly delayed because of road works - but we still arrived at Bella Vita at 12:00 so no harm done.

Bob kicked off with Pane & Olio, which was 3 slices of bruschetta with olive oil to dip them in; I had salmone affumicato which is small pieces of salmon fillet wrapped round Philadelphia cheese and shallots and dill, served with a small rocket salad and balsamic vinegar. Bob left one of his slices of bruschetta, but it did not escape to the kitchen.

Bob's main course was a vegetarian pizza; he forgot to ask for it to be prepared without the olives. I had Linguine con Gamberi e Zucchine which is shelled king prawns with chilli and courgette pieces and cherry tomatoes with linguine which is a bit like noodles. I had a side dish of oven-baked new potatoes with rosemary to go with it, and it was all delicious. I washed that down with a glass of white wine while Bob stuck with the Birra Moretti (Italian lager) he had ordered before our starters (I had my usual Britvic ginger beer). Bob couldn't finish his pizza and gave me the small remaining slice. However he ate all his ice cream while I had a very nice slice of warm chocolate fudge cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Then an Americano coffee for Bob and a cappuccino for me. And then a very reasonable bill which I rounded up to £80 but I adjusted the split so I paid a bit more than Bob because my meal had been more expensive.

When I got Bob home I saw his wife's new car and commented that it was a small Mercedes. Bob wryly replied that she had decided that she wanted something better than a Ford Fiesta this time.................

And that was our lunch. We shall try to arrange the next one for his birthday, unless he is having a family do, because if it is your birthday you get a free lunch at Bella Vita. I shall test it out on my birthday.

Post by **merry** » Thu Jan 26, 2023 9:13 pm

That sounds like a lovely meal!

but it did not escape to the kitchen.

CHAT tonight peeps!

asymphototropic · Post by **asymphototropic** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 2:57 pm

Yesterday was national chocolate cake day here [or so Thingummie major says....] :cuppa

OurCreature · Post by **OurCreature** » Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:12 pm

I thought I'd post this here because it isn't really a joke - but I like it.

Post by **merry** » Sun Jan 29, 2023 10:22 pm

Lovely chocolate cake, Asy!

Mr Merry would so love a slice of that!!

Wildrover · Post by **Wildrover** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:00 pm

My run of good luck came to an end today - my first visit to the dentist for 3 years produced a lot of tutting, 5 fillings, 2 crowns and a likely £1000+ bill. Considering I brush religiously this was a bit disappointing but the photos he showed me looked a bit grim. After this setback I picked up my car from being serviced and it needs a new intake manifold so that's another £500 (though the car is 15 years old and owes me nothing). And this after our quarterly Costco trip yesterday was £300 so I'm about 2 grand down in 2 days.

MYF is now back working in her Westmister office 2 days a week now and is really frustrated about it. It's 2 1/2 hour round trip so she gets less work done and by the time she's had a bacon sandwich for breakfast (£5 with a coffee) and a jacket potato for lunch (another £5) and added the £30 train fare (she gets a 33% discount as she gets a disabled rail card because of her very mild epilepsy). She reckons that both train fare and food are 30% more in 2019 when she used to go in 5 days a week. It's a good job she's not going in 5 days a week as the £200 a week to get to work and eat would be about a third of her take home income. I'm going to leave it a while before I suggest making coffee and lunch at home - I think it's a little too incendiary at the moment. London commuter train prices are outrageous though - a day return from Hitchin to Westminster peak time is £39.70; compare that to a return from Manchester to Leeds which is the same distance but costs £18 or Swindon-Bristol at £26.

eccles · Post by **eccles** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 6:58 pm

Ouch! Did you have all five fillings and crown in one go?
I've never heard of an intake manifold failing. Was it corroded?

Post by **merry** » Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:38 pm

Ouch WR! That's not nice to look forward to at all :( nor the bill! £1000 sounds actually quite cheap for all that! Crowns are about £800 each at my dentist!

Last day of Jan - who will make the new thread tomorrow morning? (HINT!)

Wildrover · Post by **Wildrover** » Wed Feb 01, 2023 9:44 am

merry wrote: ↑Tue Jan 31, 2023 10:38 pm Ouch WR! That's not nice to look forward to at all :( nor the bill! £1000 sounds actually quite cheap for all that! Crowns are about £800 each at my dentist!

Last day of Jan - who will make the new thread tomorrow morning? (HINT!)

You're right - I got his quote through and it was £2,100 and that was with a 20% discount