Hi all,

I'm back from a lovely walk with Jill and her two greyhounds at Painshill. In spite of it being the summer holidays we hardly saw a soul which was just lovely and so relaxing. I had my two on harnesses which certainly helped with them not eating the rabbit and goose poo The sun has just come out from behind the clouds so I guess it will warm up very quickly now. I'm popping in to M&S shortly as I've been given a voucher which can be used as many times as I like from the 15th to the 18th for 20% off everything

Pat - Before we bought the house on the Island 28 years ago we looked at a lovely pink thatched cottage in Wraysbury only to find that it was directly under the Heathrow flight path . You could always spray the front of your flat pink I hope you continue to feel better now that you are on the abs.
Lore - I'm sure it will have done you the world of good having a good laugh last night .... help to release some of that pent up emotion. ((hugs)). Good luck this afternoon.
Moyra - How very sad that your sister's family are all rowing now at a time when they should all be pulling together to support each other . I hope you results are nothing to worry about
Eileen - So you didn't get on to the rich-list this time I'm really pleased that feeling of doom has left you and that you enjoy your girlie day out .... even if you are just a driver and money provider
Helena - What a relief about those 2 week renters you hadn't been able to contact ... all's good now and you can stop worrying. Enjoy your afternoon up on the cliff tops watching the Red Arrows ... I too love them Exterior paint is so expensive ... but hopefully it's not something you have to do very often. Exterior paint is often on sale during the winter months but if you've started I guess you'd rather get it finished.

I just heard what sounded like a very loud human man-burp coming from our lounge and dear Rucksack had been sick .... I assume what little goose poo he ate was still a little rich for his palate
See you all later.

Youngest son been here most of the morning going through it all with me, so lots of tears from me again. We were working out just exactly how many episodes JK could get out of it, and agreed there is almost a week's worth of entertainment for the masses, we are just down to how much he would pay for the rights to it all, enough to pay of the credit card bill maybe
Have just had a phone call from one of my puppy owners, she has one of the sons from Lona and Storm's first litter, and she has sent me some piccies over of him by text, so have got a fair few things to download now, this particular lad is a complete stunner, one of the rough coats (long hair)the only male in that litter that was a rough coat, in fact the only rough coat male I had from either of the 2 litters I had from Lona.
So am going to ring her back in a few minutes.
I would get that knocking looked at Jenny, sounds scary and you don't want to end up in the middle of the motorway with half an engine, a pool of oil and black smoke. When was the cambelt last changed.
Moyra, hope things settle down a bit for you, its bad news when families fall out at funerals. One thing we didn't do was fall out with regards to my mother. I was totally infuriated by the fact that I had to do most things connected with her and my brother never visited her, but kept my mouth shut and smiled, and left him to sort probate out as that sort of thing is his forte, I am excellent at prevaricating, so we would still be waiting if it had been left to me. Hope your sister takes the opportunity of a visit to Canada, she needs a complete change of scenery and then when she has to come back she will be in a better shape to cope. Otherwise, she will have the funeral, and then everyone will leave, and she will be left on her own after 20 odd years of caring for him, there will be a very large void.
Lore, you will get through it, you are doing great, you have got the music sorted, you have got the funeral sorted, you are in there batting with your mother. Keep your head up girl.
Glad Zena's foot it doing well Helena, I would have thought
keeping the wound dry would be best. I still never got any wound powder, I need to get some myself to put on this carpal pad, life keeps getting in the way. I really need to get a visit to P@H in at some point, I pass it, but never have the time to call in there
Very lucky you managed to sort that money out as well, silly woman changing her email and not either having stuff forwarded or at least keep checking, she nearly lost her holiday and deposit, not to mention the stress of maybe arriving at the van to find you'd let it out to others because you never heard from her!!!
Red Arrows are amazing aren't they. I remember we used to holiday in Anglesey every year and they used to practice over that way.
Wonder what the verdict is on the pink cottage, we can only wait and see

Does anyone know what has happened to Malka, is she ok? rather worried as I have only just seen her postings on another thread.

June - I'm really pleased you've had the morning to talk everything through with your son, in spite of the tears a problem shared is a problem halved and all that. I'm sure he'll be a great support to you as he sounds a lovely lad.
I'm looking forward to seeing all the photos of the dog and the river since its been finished .... are there others I have forgotten about My OH took the wheel off and checked everything from suspension, wheel bearings, engine mountings, steering rack, exhaust etc etc and all seems absolutely fine. He says its definitely not something serious and possibly just a rubber being worn and it'll be the sort of thing that could take forever to find. Next time it goes into Honda I'll get them to check it out in case its a 'common-knocking' ..... but thanks for the concern. Famous last words I'll probably find myself on the way down to Helena's van and get stranded

Moyra - No news from Malka but I'll go and take a looksie on her other thread.

I went to M&S and managed to buy some more trousers for my son's suit (they weren't in stock a few weeks ago), a black casual top and some of those tight knee length gym leggings which I love in the summer when walking the dogs. But what an awful shock seeing 360 degree image myself Not a pretty sight

I'm looking forward to hearing how Lynn got on viewing the pink bungalow and whether Harvey's offer has been accepted on the house he is hoping to buy.

Hello all not caught up with anybody yet but thought I better update you all.

Cottage is remote it does have a neighbour attached though and a chap living in caravan on a piece of land over the road and about half mile up the lane there are other houses.
The bungalow is liveable but needs some work and rejigging especially the bathroom. May need a new roof on the scullery bit it is waterproof but is corrugated iron. The extension if you can call it that will come down the doors at the end open into the farmers field so a fence would go up and we would put up either a nice conservatory or pergola. Garden is brilliant Gorden reckons the whole plot including the bungalow is on 1/4 acre. it isn't on a flood plain, broadband and home shopping all doable.
He has put in an offer we have gone in really low due to work needing doing and the good position we are in. Just wait now we are prepared to go a bit higher but not much.

Lynn - Congratulations if its is what you want but being so remote would really worry me if this is your last house move Won't it be more difficult to make friends being in such a remote spot? Sorry I don't mean to put the mockers on your exciting news and I really, really hope that you get it

We may not get it yet jenny. It is remotish but the garden is just what we wanted. I suppose ideally if we could put that garden on the cottage at Upwell and Upwell was 10 miles closer to Harlow and Brentwood it would be ideal.
We shall see we are not getting into a bidding war we will go no higher than the price we have offered for Upwell and if its to be Upwell then so be it.
Both have their ups and their downs. I am still looking for that bargain in Essex.

OOO exciting times again for you Lynn...hope it is what you wanted..xx

Hope you feel better now you have managed to chat to your son TW, I am sure he must be almost as upset as you, with it being his brother.

Happy to see Zena's paw is coming along nicely and healing well.

Sorry mind gone blank now just been on the phone for half hour.... trying to sort eversuffering husbands car insurance out and you know how it is as soon as you look at websites, they blummin start to ring up saying we can bet that quote...why dont you do it on your flippin website then!!!!

Had a hospital appointment this afternoon with my dodgy knees... had a big op four years ago, very complicated and rare op it was.... anyhow went to see consultant and I have been discharged OK my knees will never be as they were, but I am very happy with how they are right now!!

Am off to get some tea and settle down with the TV, no vodka, so will make do with lemonade....

Evening everyone, and what on earth is going on Only three pages today Still it makes it a heck of a lot easier for me because I don't have to spend half an hour reading and trying to memorise!!

Lynn, I have to say that you still sound half hearted. Resigned to fate is more how I would describe you, rather than excited; so it seems that neither house really makes you think that you can become enthusiastic about the move.
Personally, I love remote - the remoter the better, as we had with our last house - but there does come a time in life when you have to be a little sensible and consider whether you actually want to be moving again in ten years time. If we had stayed where we were, we would still need two cars; would have to travel to doctor, shops, absolutely everything.....whereas now it is all more or less within walking distance (although we are lucky enough to also have the wide open countryside just three minutes walk away in the other direction). Be very careful if you do accept your low offer, because it may mean that there are hidden expenses which a surveyor will pick up, by which time you may have lost your first house. Oh why are things never easy, and only you and Gorden will know what is right when it comes down to it.

Jenny - we have had a Honda for many years now (just changed to a new one actually), and his lordship always waxes lyrical about how incredibly well built they are and how rare it is for anything serious to go wrong with them. If your more than knowledgeable OH has had a thorough look and found nothing dramatic, then you can probably safely assume that there is nowt serious wrong with it
How kind of Rucksack to make such a noise, so as to alert you to come running with the dettox and rubber gloves! Poor chap, if it's not one thing it's another.

TW I bet you felt heaps better after a morning with your proper son, and how lovely to have had the phone call from a puppy owner. Just what you needed I think.

H - glad to see that you had an injury-free day!!! Well, you didn't admit to anything anyway.

Did some much needed housework today after a lovely walk first thing with the Jimster. Apart from that, absolutely nothing to report at all.

GB, you snooked in there! That's great news about your knee, but terrible news about the lack of alcohol.