What are you all up to

What an exhausting  weekend! We went down to Southampton on Sunday and stayed overnight as we had a funeral of one of my cousins today in Romsey. On the way down yesterday we encountered some flooded roads which obviously I took very carefully! First main stop was to see my sister in law who has dementia and is in a care home. A better experience than we were expecting. She immediately recognised us and was very pleased to see us. (we weren't quite sure what to expect as we haven't seen her for a couple of years) She seemed to like the staff and they her which was good. Clearly as the conversation went on there was a lot of confusion and she doesn't really understand why she is there! Later in the evening we had a meal with Margaret's sister and brother so good to catch up. The funeral was at midday so we didn't have to rush this morning as we only had a few miles to go. Good to catch up with some other cousins. The cousin that died, Shirley was older than me and I remember her wedding, I was 13 at the time! Trouble is that when you move away from where the bulk of the family live you tend to be remote beyond Christmas cards and the odd letter. It wasn't that many years ago that we would nip down to Southampton, visit several people and make our way home the same day! Just shows we are getting old!

David

I'm actually feeling better. Improving hampered by tweaking my back 🤐. Not sure if it was flu, had the jab so might have helped. The cough doesn't help the back, which has recently started......

As Milliehull says Monday was very reasonable, by recent standards excellent!, weather 🙂. I was stir crazy, 6 days without a walk! An easier back - aren't wheat bags and long scarfs fantastic? I took Dora for an off-lead walk. I popped her in the car as I didn't want to risk an accidential tweak of the back 😱. Drove and parked. She was great and I managed  just under a mile all in, very slowly! She's been great and was so happy. I felt so much better for fresh air. I'm continuing to take it slowly but hoping for something similar today.

We certainly have had a wet  few months and I hope everyone is surviving with real issues. DEBSC hopefully the flood subsided before reaching in your caravan. Moulsley you are certainly going to spend as much time cleaning as walking 🤔. Will you finish the week alone or do the reading pair return?

DavidKlyne yes such journeys and trips are surprisingly tiring these days. I also think the traffic and roads play their part too. Glad your sister in law seems well cared for and recognised you. Horrible disease.  Sad as the ocassions are it's nice to catch up with family.

Congratulations on your wedding anniversary Milliehull, your lunch celebration sounds nice. Another busy weekend ahead.

KjellNN sounds like things are still keeping you on your toes! 

Sadly I'll loose this post if I flick back to read recent posts,  so accept I've read everyone's news!

Just heard the latest on Post Office Horizion issues. My mouth opens wider, if that's possible, with every new revelation. It just gets worse and worse. Will we ever get the truth?? Will proper responsibility be accepted?? 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 Those poor individuals and their family and friends. 😪😪😪😪😪. Nothing will give them back what they've lost in so many many ways.

Just a quick look this morning,  couldn't get past the server errors last night.

Glad you are feeling a bit  better Bakers2 and Happy Anniversary Millie 

We had a lovely afternoon on Sunday celebrating our Grand Daughters  2nd birthday 🎂 doesn't time fly?

Must dash, will try and catch up later.

We have also enjoyed an exhausting few days in Scotland with the family.  It was my BIL’s 80th birthday on Saturday and we had a lovely family get together to celebrate.  There were 17 of us in the house on Saturday and 2 dogs.  His sister and husband came up from Dover, his nephew and wife came up from Surrey, ourselves, with his children and grandchildren it was certainly a full house.  He enjoyed all the reminiscences and looking through all the old pictures family members had bought with them.  As lovely as these events are I’m sure my sister will gratefully accept a really quiet day today.  

Just a quick catch up for me as well this morning, best wishes to all around health issues, sad family occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, and fingers crossed re flooding🤞 It’s dried up a bit around here, been very (too) warm for February last few days, but we have some rain forecast. 

Sis and me busy, busy up at Mum’s, in between caring duties we are crafting and creating, but also getting me a wedding outfit sorted for end of March. I have been making a plain ish velvet dress look more special with some Guipure lace, got a hat to finish off, while Sis is hand making me a matching bag, something very unusual. Got some “in the green” snowdrops planted for next year, they have come out of gardens at Wentworth, so a bit special to me.

Today, fingers crossed🤞🤞🤞 might finally get my Etsy shop open🥳! 

Sorry to read about your exhausting weekend, David, and glad that you sister-in-law is well looked after.  I know exactly what you mean about getting tired these says....  I usually feel it particularly on a Friday night... after the usual busy Thursday and Friday.  Fortunately, I don't find driving too much of a chore, but the state of our roads really don't help.  The trouble is, we spend more time looking out for potholes than we do keeping out eyes on the traffic!!

I do find driving in bright sunlight a bit of a problem - the start of cataracts don't help.  They'll have to be done eventually, but the optician tells me they are not bad enough yet! 🙂

Hope to get out in the caravan again soon.  We've been out three times since the new year - only for short visits.  I fancy a trip down towards Exeter.  Our youngest daughter has just moved there from Devizes and has got herself a job as Sous Chef at The Ivy - we really must go and sample the menu! 😀

David

Glad you are feeling better Bakers2.  Happy anniversary Millie.  Good to read everyone's news...  Hope you had a good 'birthday party', HelenandTrevor., and that Heddlo enjoyed the Scotland trip. We'll do a trip up to the Outer Hebrides (without the caravan) hopefully sometime in the summer to visit our eldest daughter.... just wondering whether to book a cottage, or to risk sleeping in their newly aquired 'glamping horse box'!!  Enjoy the 'crafting and creating', Takethedogalong.  Carol is into making bits of jewellry etc at the moment and has taken part in a couple of local craft fayres.  She's not as far on as to open an Etsy store, but she did invest in one of those card reader devices.. 🙂

I'll pop back in to have a look a litle later on.... in the meantime, I think I need to go and hoover the car before the rain sets in again!

David

My some of you guys have been busy this weekend, hope that you all enjoyed yourselves, apart from the funeral attendance of course. To those who are poorly or are waiting for hospital procedures I wish you well. Caring for elderly relatives and daily visiting them in hospital can take its toll, I know from previous experience with my own Dad, so try to take time for yourselves as well, easier said than done I know.

Thank you for your concerns with our caravan and the floods, to be honest we don’t bother about it too much, we trust the floats will work. We are insured new for old should it be bad. Although if it’s damaged but repairable we would probably loose a season while the insurance sorted it. My worry is flooding while we are there and having to dash off. I did once, after a sleepless night, get up at 5am pack and then empty the fridge, then wade in and out in wellies to pack the car. Not so bad for those that live nearer and can just return after a few days but a long unexpected journey home for us. I have learnt that I could not live in a house that is near a river my stress levels would be too high, I feel so very sorry for people who’s homes flood.

We haven’t been far as we have difficulty getting anywhere at present as major roadwork disruption between us and almost anywhere. There have always been local traffic problems for 40 years in rush hours mostly caused by one roundabout. It would sometimes take me an hour or more to do 4 miles to work, Terry Wogan used to keep me company though. The Councils final answer is to put a pedestrian set of traffic lights on one road a short distance away from the roundabout to slow the traffic from one side. Locals considered maybe this may work. Then we were told as they started work that this would take 5months!!! First morning total and utter chaos! The whole area came to a complete standstill with 4 way traffic lights on the roundabout and one road partly closed. Uproar ensued from residents for miles around. The Highways Cllr suggesting, ‘take another route’ you can tell he is 70 miles away and has probably never been here as there are no other routes without getting caught in it! At present the traffic lights are now having to be manually controlled between 6.30am and 6.30pm. And it’s not much better. OH said never mind we’ll get off to the caravan soon, then we can get about. Last week we got a message to say that major roadworks were starting on the Warwick rd from now until August, right outside the site entrance. This will mean we can only turn left to drive into Stratford but will have to go round the sun and the moon to get back to the site! You couldn’t make it up.

We have a similar roundabout situation here at present, been going on since October and not due to finish until end of April.  

Normally it flows quite freely, but the council decided that the 5 shops on one side of the very big roundabout needed more parking spaces, so they are reducing it in size and extending the pavement and road space at the shops........2 estate agents, a computer repair place, a hairdresser and a nail boutique.

And as if that is not bad enough they decided we need pedestrian crossing lights on all 5 entrances/exits to the roundabout, so these have been closed off for ages at various times.  

You never see anyone trying to cross any of these roads, and most of the time this has been going on you rarely see any work actually being done!

Lengthy diversions have been signposted, but we locals know the back roads to use, so now the local householders are complaining about the increased traffic.

Traffic planners, particularly at local level, seem to inhabit a little World all of their own. Some appalling decisions been made in our town, that has resulted in utter chaos sometimes, and huge sums of money wasted when they have been forced to capitulate and alter things. We currently have millions being spent on putting in cycle lanes. Hurrah you might think, as a keen cyclist, but no, they haven’t consulted with any of the local cycling clubs, no public consultation with cycling commuters or indeed folks who it affects. So far, all I can see is that the Takeaways are using the cycling lane for extra parking, as of course, there are no traffic enforcement officers to stop them doing this 🤷‍♀️
Everyone driving has to be aware that visitors won’t have a clue how to get anywhere, as lanes on roads peter out, roads suddenly go from two to three lanes then back to two again suddenly. One particular right turn crossroads had 45 separate crashes within the first three months. And then we have the M1 smart sections that have resulted in deaths…..☹️