Soop's warm and welcoming kitchen...

Good to know the cruises are funded for another year galen. I’m pleased that you’re pleased just don’t exhaust yourself.

Beautiful young women, soop: a definite resemblance, I hope that lurking bill will be much less than you fear.

Oh Lordy, n&g, if you need us to lie down and barricade the field just let us know. Remember at this point the plan is only a maybe, good luck with your campaign, I can understand how disappointed you would be. The t-shirts are fabulous, is there a matching one for Grampy?

I so wish that infrastructure came first, When will planners learn? We live on the edge of a town where huge developments have clogged the roads dreadfully and overwhelmed the GP Services. We’re lucky in that nothing can be built at the back of us as a small fortune has been spent turning it into a landscaped area to take flood water and is gradually turning into a wildlife haven. Good for you for voting kitty, it’s important that voices are heard. Hope you didn’t get too wet. The memory cafe session sounds both useful and fun.

I’m really sad that there is no space for flapjacks baggs. Been out for a very large. three course lunch courtesy of the refund coming from BT. No hope for my waistline. BT-wise things are still not as they should be but good enough for now.

Decorating is officially over, forever I hope. The electrified fence around the window ledge should keep it safe. . Carpet is cleaned, we can put some furniture back tomorrow, sit back and admire.

I have similar thoughts if one of ours, including the outlaws, asks to come greyd, hope there’s nothing major wrong.

I probably should stir myself and tidy a bit, why oh why does decorating one room wreck several others ? Stay warm and well everyone.

I have popped in while I am supposed to be watching the sausages don't burn,
If there is anything that ruins meals it's being on GN when cooking. Quick dash back to turn them over again. This is living dangerously.

Please bring the sausages with you next time nellie. I love sausages. ?

Lovely mum and baby photo Soop.
Kitty, that Memory café is a great idea.
Galen, congratulations on the powers that be realising that you`re indispensable.
N&G, love the t-shirts! Hope you don`t get too cold chained to that fence.

N&G I am being serious- surely the solicitor you appointed prior to moving should have checked whether 500 flats or whatever were to be built in that field? I cannot believe that somebody dreamed it up overnight.

I dread the thought of ending up in a care home where bingo is played and the sound of Vera Lynn "We'll Meet Again" is played daily.

n&g what a thing to be on the horizon, literally, for you. No wonder you’re ready to do battle, I would feel the same. There’s a gap between the houses opposite us, which back onto open land. I wasn’t amused when a local builder bought the house beside the gap and proceeded to hideously extend, every which way within inches of his boundary wall, blocking our view. Having run his business from there with constant skips and rubble from other jobs in the front garden, he’s now off to pastures new. I just wish the little family who really wanted to buy it 4 years ago had been successful. Sigh, rant over! Good luck with the campaigning, that’ll be one way to get to know all the neighbours! I have a picture of a fierce granny on a scooter blocking the path of a man with a hard hat and a clipboard, meanwhile rallying the rest of the neighbours who’re all wearing customised t-shirts!
corner the same is happening here, in 9 years there’s been so much new housing and more to come but absolutely no investment in schools, health provision, roads or public transport. It’s so shortsighted and causes such a lot of ill feeling in the community too.
What a beautiful photo soop, one you will treasure I’m sure. I’m glad your man was successfully zapped but I'm so sorry to hear you’ve got to have more poking about down there
Who mentioned sausages burning? I’m hoping my faulty smoke alarms will now only be operating when I do the same! The electrician has just been to replace them. But can I now leave the house, no! I’m waiting for the plumber to arrive. He came a couple of days ago to sort out our dodgy toilets but for reasons best known to himself my old boy forgot to give him the new shower caddy is asked him to wall in the shower. This is NOT something the old boy could be trusted to do, the electric drill along with the saw has been confiscated long ago! So here I am....while the old boy in question is enjoying a hike with his pal. But needs must, it will be good to have a shower thingy that doesn’t regularly fall off the wall usually when I’m in the shower. Can anyone else get those sucker things to adhere, or is it just me?
Ann, I’m glad you’ve enjoyed some outings, it must make hard stuff that wee bit easier to bear.
I can’t catch up with all the comings and goings here so apologies if I’ve ignored anyone. I need to go and do some jobs before packing a bag for a sleepover at dd4’s. Now she has her lovely man I don’t get to chat to her nearly as much, which is just as it should be. It makes me realise how much she depended on us for quick chats here and there in her week. She rang earlier this week but that was so dad could help her sort out a tax query.... the old boy is very good at some things! Have a good weekend kitchen folk.

N&G, sounds as if you're getting your retaliation in first! So far, the proposal is at the 'local plan' stage which means it's just open space which the planners have just noticed! Is is green belt land? That would be a useful string to your bow. What's there at the moment? Livestock? Anyway - good luck to you. Bombard local councillors, especially if you can find out which ones sit on the planning committee, and even better if they live in your ward. And keep the local press informed. A picture of you on your scooter would go down well! Boudicca on her chariot!

I was the potential sausage burner but they came out pefectly cooked for once. It's OH who tends to incinerate the sausages and onions .

nellie we’re the other way round, my old boy undercooks everything. I’m talking tepid pizza, lukewarm pies, good job he doesn’t do any real cooking we’d all have died years ago! I like to err on the other side of caution. Glad the sausages were good... mmm I just fancy some, those new smoke alarms should be be tested!

Hello! Can I come in please? It seems very warm and friendly in here. I've been making mince pies (OH likes them all year round!) & an apple tart. You're very welcome to help yourselves. Lovely blue sky outside today but very cold & windy....brrrrr!

Welcome carol- thankfully I am not one for mince pies but coffee I will never refuse.

It is supposedly warmer than yesterday- not sure about that one. I have decided that I will worry about the heating bill later.

[us lot] rarely appear to do much because we are always having learned discussions on here. We have to keep our brains active.

Thank you Charleygirl. Tablet's playing up so might end up getting more than one reply! How do you take your coffee? I'll get you one to warm you up & save on thee heating. Not done a lot myself today apart from baking. Been for a trot around the block in the freezing wind, flicked a duster around and cleaned the bathroom. Had a few nice minutes on GN of course. Might do a jigsaw next with my culpa...

A very warm welcome to carol58 together with your mince pies and apple tart.
You've been busier than I have today. I shall flick my duster around a little later. We've been visiting a good friend who is a resident in a care home.
He so wants to go home. Alas, he never will. We do our best to keep his spirits afloat. In fact, considering he's already been a resident for three years, he has a remarkably upbeat outlook on life.

grannyqueenie
The saga of the electrician and plumber reminds me of the Flanders and Swann song...'It was on a Monday morning when the gas man came to call...'
With luck, the GP may have forgotten to refer me for a further poke around down there. Somehow, I doubt it.

N&G On the subject of amenities, the public conveniences in Campbeltown are threatened with closure. Jeez! And...there are pot holes in the road between our home and Tarbert that recently wrecked SIX cars. Police and breakdown truck was called out. I call it shocking. The latest bill for the repair of our car is bound to be eye-wateringly hefty. The pot holes were not to blame on this occasion. However, we've had the suspension wrecked on three occasions. This is the only road into Tarbert and Campbeltown. The bloody wind turbines hurtle along it (on the back of gigantic carriers) and all the timber lorries use it to offload in Campbeltown. I get cross. Correction...I get livid. No one seems to care!

Good luck with any protests you get organised N&G but at the risk of being a female Jeremiah I would not build up your hopes.

I have been involved for the past three years in a similar situation where the beautiful farm land opposite our house, where deer could be seen and flocks of seabirds came to feed, was listed by the council for building. Despite forming a protest group and attending all the public meetings, lobbying our councillors and every public body we could think of, it all turned out to be a box tick exercise from the planners. "Have you consulted the local residents?" -Yes
"Have you amended your plans accordingly?" -No.
Quite simply we were wasting all our efforts. It was a forgone conclusion. We have since found out that farm land with planning permission goes for around £1,000,000 per acre. Too much temptation for the farmers?

The land here supposedly had a designation of a green gap "in perpetuity", which anyone would think meant for ever. It has turned out to mean until the council decides otherwise. I fully accept that legally no-one has a right to a view but this green gap was supposedly to stop urban sprawl.

So now the field has been torn up, great piles of earth are endlessly moved around, pile drivers have been thumping away installing drainage. It is a scene of devastation and the house building has not even started yet. 125 dwellings are to be built with a proportion of "affordable houses" - but it is impossible to get any idea of what "affordable" will mean in real terms. Certainly it will be as few in number as the developers can get away with as they obviously will want to maximise their profits. The existing infrastructure and public service provisions are already stretched to the limit so how will they cope with all the new residents?

I am a mixture of angry and sad but most of all disillusioned. I truly hope that you have a better outcome than we and our neighbours have been able to obtain.

Gaga We are very fortunate. Our home is almost (not quite) on the beach. The Sound of Jura is between us and the islands. As far as I'm aware, planners haven't yet mastered building on water.

Mind you...there is always scope for turbines that harness wave-power.

carol58 has pricked my conscience. I feel that it's my duty as a good housewife to flick a duster over the furniture. The washing machine is beeping. Time to empty it and place items neatly over the drying rack. Tomorrow I wish to begin a new watercolour of a fox. I'm looking forward to the challenge. It's true, I'm happiest when I'm being arty crafty. Keeps me out of mischief.

I shall log off and return again tomorrow. Please take good care of yourselves and stay warm. It's bitterly cold BUT we still haven't had snow. I believe that we've the Gulf Stream to thank.

Hello soop. Didn't mean to make you feel guilty about the housework and anyway, visiting your friend is much more important! If I lived as close to the beach as you do then I wouldn't be inside doing housework either! No snow down here today either but bitterly cold. Oh well, OH is in so time to think about what to have for dinner.....no idea lol!

welcome carol!

I have a wonderful vision of very tall wind turbines making a stately progress down you road soop, you spoiled it by saying they were on the backs of lorries!![ grin] I love wind turbines, they are so graceful.

On the subject of protesting against planned building, when we moved to this house there was a very over grown garden over the bottom wall. A short while later planning permission was granted for a terrace of 6 houses which was then altered to 2 detached houses. With my (extremely feisty!!) next door neighbour and a couple of other people we formed an action group. We didn't succeed but this turned out to be fortuitous as, had we succeeded, I'm sure someone else would have come along and tried to build about 20 houses on it by now.

I am a very happy bunny tonight. We were supposed to be going to Derby to a jazz concert but DH has decided it's too far and too cold and he can't be bothered!!!!! As a dutiful wife, I was going to go with him, uncomplainingly, despite not liking his sort of music at all. That's what I call a result!!

Now, I must go and make him a lovely paprika chicken in thanks for being spared the ordeal!!

Good eeevening (touch of the Alfred Hitchcocks there!) one and all, and hello and welcome carol58. I love mince pies at any time of the year. All this talk about planning battles is very depressing. At the end of the day, money speaks louder than environmental and aesthetic concerns and councils are greedy beyond measure. We have 200 houses being built at the bottom end of our estate on land that is supposed to be green belt. A legion of very sensible objections, about traffic management and overcrowded schools and medical facilities, were steamrollered by the planning department, the poor residents down the road will look out on the backs of other people’s houses instead of rolling fields, and we will all have to wait longer for a medical appointment.
Speaking of which, I managed to reinstate my medical appointment today and it seems I have a UTI which is why I have been feeling so rotten. DH has just popped off to pick up a course of antibiotics for me. I have to see the GP “call me Andy” again next Friday. He only looks about thirteen, but seems to know what he is about. He took my blood pressure. I told him it will probably be through the roof as I have been trying to get GS’s cake finished for tommorrow and have been thwarted at every turn today. I have managed to get a coat of fondant icing on it and then realised I had done something very silly. I seived some apricot jam to coat the cake and stick the icing down - and forgot to put it on ?. So when it is cut, all the icing will probably fall off. And do you know what? I don’t care!!
Gq those sucker things? Er, no! We have one that has to hold up only the shower scraper and even that won’t stay on the wall for long. We had a stainless steel soap rack fitted in the new bathroom to hold a couple of bottles of shower gel, and it has developed a bit of a forward cant. I suggested to DH that he might want to have a look at it. “I’ve fixed it - it’s level now”. This is DH speak for “I have stuck a bit of blue tac behind it”. I kid you not. When I feel a bit more human, I’ll look at it myself.
Soopthat must be very hard for your good friend and for you. I can’t think of anyone better to keep his spirits up than you and MacS.
My son is coming down shortly and will be staying the night. It will cheer me up, unless he is struggling with something at the moment, in which case I will wear his burdens like an old coat that mothers don’t ever seem destined to get rid of.
Have a pleasant evening Kitcheners.

Your girls look fabulous soop that’s a very alert looking baby you have there. Hope your feeling a tad better Greyduster I’m sure the cake will taste lovely n&g you fight the good fight and I hope for a good outcome. Hi carol I love mince pies. I used to make an apple and mince tart for Christmas ...lovely. I’m feeling a bit miserable I had a telephone call to ask me to come home my sick DiL is in hospital with a infection, some side effect from her ongoing cancer treatment I think anyway it’s half term and the children need looking after. I’ve just heard that my son’s injuries have put him back in hospital. He’s very low because he’d only just gone back a few weeks ago after 10 months in hedley. I know he’s worried about his career. Oh well I might have known the peace and quiet was too good to be true! I feel like such a whiny old goat(I should change my username) I'm in a ‘why me ‘ mode tonight sorry.

Don’t be sorry Morethan , that is what we are here for.
Welcome Carol58 - I LOVE mince pies at any time, particularly carb free virtual ones!

Evening All. Quite a day in the kitchen again. I’m running to try to keep up. Hello carol. Goo to see you here. I see the mince pies have all gone, nothing lasts long here, probably as well for the waistline. .

I’m so sorry to hear your news morethan, I’m not surprised you feel down. Who wouldn’t? You’re so strong for them all, don’t apologise for being honest here. Sending hugs.

Quite a day greyd. Hope the UTI clears soon, they do make anyone feel awful. Don’t worry about the cake, no one will notice and we certainly won’t tell them. The blue tack comment made me smile, that’s my favourite fix everything fixer. I seem to have put on another of those old coats you mention, several layers now, oh well, at least it’s warm. Hope you have no need to join me.

I’ve not challenged housing applications but I did succeed in stopping a mobile phone mast placement. Lots of research quoting regulations and law (can’t remember anything now), petitions, the local press, MP, local councillors and a visit from the planning officer combined seemed to change minds. I don’t think building objections are as simple sadly, an application has recently been refused in a village a few miles from here so it can happen. Good luck to all who are taking the challenge on.

Hope the chicken is good kitty: the evening sounds infinitely more comfortable with the change of plan.

I also should be emptying a washing machine soop, will get there soon. Maybe . Road surfaces, or lack of, are a major bugbear here ad well, So many vehicles are damaged and yes, no one cares.

Tell me, grannyq how do you manage to separate your husband from potentially dangerous tools? What’s the secret? Mr C seems determined to make holes where none should be. Sigh. Yes, we also get the quick chats when ours are on their own, it’s good to know they think they can. Enjoy your sleepover.

It’s been a weary day here today, little energy of any kind. I’m blaming the temperature outside, oh so cold. Did manage the food shop so we can eat. Always a bonus. Stay warm and well everyone.