Today I shall be Mainly...

[Sue]

Did I miss something, what are you up to in keele

[Marilyn]

He is going to " have Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll and impart information regarding Industrial "stuff"", Sue.

( apparently)

How do you find the French after the Nice incident?.Our hearts go out to them. We have been so shocked...

[Sue]

It's too early to say yet, we only arrived yesterday lunchtime and In a tiny hamlet in rural Brittany we have seen few French to speak to yet. We are seeing one of our neighbors for aperitifs this lunchtime, he is good for judging the general feel of things. In rural France the French do tend to get on with life although they will spend hours discussing the same thing.

[Cathy]

Have a good time Stanley, keep those brain cells ticking over but remember to have fun as well.
Who is looking after Jack ?

[Sue]

30 degrees, 70% humidity, in the shade. It's only 11.00 am, time to stop gardening

[Stanley]

Cathy, Susan picks him up this morning. He's having a holiday with his girl friends in Earby......

[Sue]

Very very hot here, 35 degrees in the shade. We have retired to inside, no gardening possible.,Bob is making a kitchen base cupboard and worktop to give more space for cooking with the grandchildren when they come on two weeks, and I decided to clean including removing dead flies and spiders that have accumulated since our last visit...yuk!

[Wendyf]

Picking blackcurrants then retreating indoors....I can't cope with warm weather. Dennis has made a full recovery from whatever went wrong, the vet checked him out yesterday and apart from early signs of cataracts and a slight heart murmur he is in excellent condition!

[Sue]

So pleased about Dennis , Wendy. Yes far too hot here. It's due over 36 today, so I shall sew inside or perhaps visit a friend nearby. I may manage gardening at the side of the house for an hour until the sun comes round.

[LizG]

Great news Wendy.

[Wendyf]

I just noticed the predictive text thingy had changed heart murmur to murder!

[Sue]

I get some really weird ones when I type a French word. Gardening finished for the day, one flower border tidied but I am dripping . Will go and have a shower and put something cool on

[Tizer]

I read somebody in Derbyshire complaining that their horses are affected by a plague of horseflies at the moment and stressed out. Could Dennis have been affected by horseflies? Do the biting flies carry any infections?

[Wendyf]

Horseflies are awful bloodsucking things but I don't know if they carry infection. I haven't seen any where we live now, but the boys have certainly been pestered by flies these last couple of days...I have been bringing them into the barn during the heat of the day.
My vet was saying that they had been overwhelmed over the weekend with calls about horses coming down with a virus, some quite seriously affected, but they hadn't had chance to discover what it was or where it was coming from.
He decided that Dennis must have hurt his neck somehow, or that he is getting arthritic changes in his neck....it clicks loudly when flexed to the side and he can't roll right over at the moment, which you can see really irks him!

[Sue]

A little gardening to do, and the some cupboards to tidy out as Bob has built a new base unit in the kitchen for plastics and baking things. This will release another food cupboard, needed when we have visitors.

[Christian]

Tidying up the house. Coming towards the last week of time off for me and nearing the start of a new Job.

Tried my hand at bailing on Tuesday, damn that was hot and heavy work. Will happily help out for again. Felt 10x better after some graft

[Wendyf]

Archive room this morning then we are collecting a new vehicle this afternoon....that is exciting!

[Stanley]

Good luck with the job Christian!
Wendy, I know how Dennis feels! Glad to hear he is otherwise OK.
I did all my unpacking, washing and shopping yesterday as soon as I got back. By teatime Jack and I had everything shipshape! On Tuesday I was walking round the various attractions at Ironbridge Gorge.... Too hot to teach, we just let the students loose and advised them to find shade. I was getting seriously bothered by the heat at one point but slipped into an old replica pub and had a couple of halves of some wonderful bitter beer, I think it was Banks', beautiful and it revived me!
Today I shall be continuing re-immersion into normality.... When Susan saw me yesterday she commented on how well I looked......
I shall report on the trip later!

[Sue]

Busy day yesterday. In the 'cool' of the morning I tidied the strawberry patch, and one seriously overgrown veggie patch which we have watered every night. A) to soften the soil B) to revive any plants. Result I found thriving potatoes, courgette and butternut squash plants and some self seeded wild flowers from last year. In the 'HEAT' of the afternoon I painted one wall of the spare twin bedroom, getting rid of the miserable green that was there when we bought the house. Previously I had tried to cheer it up by converting three walls to cream. The one remaining green wall is now a deep fuschia pink...PINK JAZZ. The grandchildren will love it.


In the evening , we entertained our elderly French neighbour to aperitifs. I love talking to him , his French is so clear having spent most of his life in Paris. Later and I mean nearly 10.00 it was cool enough to plant out the chard I brought from home, into the newly tidied patches.

Bob managed to cut most of the field with his tractor and tidy up the lawn with the ride on. Today he plans to tidy up the railway track. I have one rockery and one veggie garden to sort.its cool this morning so should get some done early

Progress and still a week before family descend. We are off to La Rochelle tomorrow for a few days sightseeing and recovery!

[Stanley]

Sounds good Sue. I'll bet you are pleased you weren't travelling yesterday. Reports of delays of up to 12 hours at the crossing. Enjoy La Rochelle.....
I am still re-adjusting to East Hill Street rules.... One project I want to get tidied away in the hiatus between finishing Sarah and Debs engines and starting my next shed project is to get together with daughter Susan and a lady consultant she has found to get a Lasting Power of Attorney in place and registered. I'm not thinking of dying yet but want to smooth the path for the Kids when eventually they have to deal with my estate. I've done my research, all I need is a LPOA for care. I already have the finance sorted, all I need in that respect is to install Susan as a signatory on my bank account. I shall talk to the bank and find out what we have to do.....
By the way, I enquired about doing it all through my solicitor, no problem but it would cost a minimum of £700!

[David Whipp]

Making sure marquee guys get the Beach marquee in the right place...

[Sue]

We did it through the banki think for my dad

[Marilyn]

May sound weird, but I am POA for my son, aged 37, at his request.
He is not married and does not have children. He just wanted the reassurance that things will go as he wants if tragedy strikes, ( especially the care of his beloved dog). He can trust me. Everything would be dealt with in accordance with his wishes.
Of course, he can always change his mind between now and forever...that is the beauty of these things...and likely I shall get to the goal post before he does!

[Tizer]

That's sensible of your son, Maz - LPA isn't just for oldies, it can be needed for anyone who is more at risk of needing looking after. Spouses can have LPA for each other, which we have, but our next job is to appoint a relative(s) to have LPA for both of us. We learnt the need for that by experience with Mrs Tiz's parents. They planned ahead and got LPA (or EPA as it was then) for each other and also appointed Mrs Tiz to have it for both of them. As it turned out, both parents changed suddenly and simultaneously in about 2010 and therefore couldn't act for each other. Having appointed Mrs Tiz in advance made it much easier to sort out their affairs.

Stanley, are you sure the LPA for care is enough? The financial LPA is for more than just access to your bank account. I think Susan might need it for dealing with suppliers for power, water etc, anything involving money.

[Julie in Norfolk]

..... Taking part in the village Olympics, I did not take part in each event, however my family did (except the hula hoop). Mother did the 100 piece jigsaw in less than an hour, something she could not have aspired to before having her carpal tunnels done last year. Steve and I both took part in the egg throwing and catching competition, not first, however not last either. Steve was the hero however in the time trial triathlon: one bullseye in darts, followed by potting four pool balls and drinking a pint of abbot ale. Other events he had taken part in include the eating competition (hamburgers and bready buns), golf and rifle range with elastic bands. I had been practicing just the pinging an elastic band over distance, Steve however has rifle experience from the Army Cadets (50 years ago).

The village was divided into teams depending on where you lived: Scotgate, Harling Road, Shropham Road, Home Farm Park, Middle Earth (village centre) and the Rest of the World. I don't think we were in a medal position at the end, we were bronze winners last Olympic year.