🦞 The Lockdown Gang still chatting 🦞

Just saw this and thought of you Grammaretto
www.instagram.com/reel/Da0U6GeM9CP/?igsh=MXhtN2JjYncxYzUwbw==

Ha ha!
Hello friends.

Where are you Naughtyneine? I hope you are OK and are just too busy relaxing to drop in.
🏖

🤦‍♀️
If I'd read the posts, I'd have known it was.
Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Grammaretto is that right?🤞
💐
Have a lovely day!

We have my mother-in-law's house on the market at last.
Hooray.
I have to say the notice board is a lovely colour!
Ha ha!

I took flowers over on Wednesday afternoon for the first viewing on Thursday. They said "guaranteed fresh for one week" but I was sceptical in this weather so I asked the agent, who is doing the "showing-around" to check them before people came on the Saturday and she agreed to bin them if no good.

This is what I found yesterday lunchtime!

🎼 🎺 🎹 🎷 🎵 Happy Birthday to you 🎶 🥁 🎺 🪕

I may have to rent somewhere if the right place doesn't reveal itself 😕 . However the sale will take a while because their property isn't sold yet so there could be a chain.

My lodgers move out in less than a month and I don't want to let again. My helper will leave in the morning and I'm having lunch with my DS family and going to a show in the Festival. It's my birthday.

It's much cooler here - I had to put a cardigan on and the Australian helper has been wearing a coat indoors!
She's going further North so I hope she doesn't freeze.
I wish I could sleep 😕
I hope all Lobstars are able to .

Still very warm here. Although the day has been cooler tonight is really hot again.
I’m going for lunch with DS1 and family tomorrow. Hope the restaurant has air con.
Grammaretto I’ve got fingers crossed that the right place comes up for you soon. Will you still sell even if you don’t find somewhere to move to? I know the Scottish market is very different from down south.
Sleep well all

May you have some cool air! Soon.

Thanks for being so kind and understanding Lobstars. It's so appreciated.
I'm trying not to think about houses at the moment although it's hard when everyone I meet asks me about progress.

It's hyperactive Aussie s last day . She's been sorting through books and has washed her bedding already! She says she has a sleeping bag for her last night!

I shall have a coffee with her in the Town Hall and then make an excuse to get away somewhere.

Your bulby garden sounds delightful Ixion well done for keeping in touch with. Kaimoana

Your advice is wise Jan but just a bit too sensible for me to listen to.
😂🤣

Doodle's advice is a cautionary tale. I am glad you found your flat when you did. That worked out well.

Oh ixion me too. I’m really struggling with this heat. My fan is just blowing hot air around. Not known it like this before.
The fires raging around are awful. I feel so sorry for the poor farmers and the people who have lost their homes. Really frightening.
So glad you’ve got to chat with Kaimoana i have left her three messages but she says she can only hear one of them. Not sure what else I can do. So pleased you can communicate though.

I will be so relieved when the temperature drops properly.
25 degrees promised this morning was still too hot to do anything constructive so sitting around was the order of the day.

My landscaping materials arrived today, more tomorrow, but I decided it was too hot for navvy mode. Instead, I went down a literary rabbit hole with Sarah Raven's lovely book 'A Year Full Of Pots', perusing winter bulb planting.

Hope you manage to meet up with NfkD, Jan.
Kaimoana and I have finally managed to meet up over the airwaves.
And very nice it is too👥

I didn’t see the eclipse at all. It seemed something and nothing to me.
Grmmaretto I hope you’re not too disappointed. House moving is hard and if you find something you think you’d like your mind starts making plans of what you can do.
Is there a shortage of properties for sale in your area? Do you want to stay close to where you live now? I imagine you would as you will know people there. I really hope the right place comes along for you soon.
Unless you fancy a camper bubble? !

Grammaretto So sorry to hear that you have decided against your purchase but honestly at our age do we really want a big house to look after? Think of the upkeep, decorating the heating etc etc. Really hope you find the house of your dreams very soon. Moving is such an upheaval and so stressful as I am sure you are finding out. Fingers crossed for you in your search
Its so hot in Norfolk today Im sure I am going to spontaneously combust! Last night was so hot in bed I was tempted to get up and go downstairs and open the patio doors! Theo would have been very pleased!
The so called eclipse was uninspiring! Not sure whether it was just here or all over the country. Yes it went eerily dark for a bit but it was soon over. Certainly wont be here for the next one!
Hopefully it will turn cooler next week and please please some RAIN! We are off to the Norfolk Broads in a couple of weeks when it very probably will rain but never mind as we will meet up with Norfolk Dumpling and hopefully join her on a ride down the river.
Hope everyone has a good weekend

An architect in Ireland once told us that "doing up" is a bit like weddings.

If you can afford a £10,000 wedding you should be budgeting as though you can only spend £5,000 as you will then spend 10.

So basically double whatever you think it will cost.

😕 Sorry Grammaretto we really wanted that to work for you.

Thank you all for your birthday wishes. I’ve had a nice day at church and the hospice.
Grammaretto i think you should decide hat you want for yourself but from my experience having done a doer upper bungalow it eventually cost about twice as much as we were quoted and by the end Dh was so fed up with it we moved .
I would love you to find the perfect place for you. Hope it comes along soon. X

I'm sorry folks but I have chickened out and withdrawn the offer. My sensible friend had a serious talk to me about finances and doesn't think I can afford it. The project is just too big and fraught.
Also the DC are not supportive at all so it would be a lonely journey.

Not sure how I feel now but relief is one of the emotions.

Isn't it funny, NS, how we, as parents, are expected to endorse - or at least exhibit good grace to - ideas and crackpot plans our adult DC may have?

Yet, the older we all get, it doesn't seem to work in reverse, does it?

Go for it, Grammaretto!

BTW, are you OK, NN?❤️

Oh Grammaretto!
I am excited about your possible new home and in spite of your daughter 🤞

(...those of us with adult children have just got to accept that we may make decisions but know nothing!)
👯‍♂️👯‍♂️👯‍♀️

Yes.
Happy Birthday!
🛍💐❤️🌼🍷🎊🕺🏼🎖🍰🍥🧁🥮🥞🫖☕️

Happy birthday to you dear Doodle🎉🥳
🥰

Happy Birthday to our Doodle💃 xx

Oh Grammaretto.
Soooooo pleased!
🏡

That's so nice to hear her voice Doodle. Did she sound reasonably content?

Also nice to have your DS nearby. ❤️

Oh dear. I have made an offer for the do-er upper!
I think I may have estranged myself from DD as a result. She is so angry with me.
I think she's being a drama queen. It is my decision after all and it's not as though it will affect her will it?

Anyway it may fall through. I am going to try to find some financial advice.

I'm having a G&T , have made plum jam and have been knitting furiously.

My helper has dug the garden, mowed the lawn and set off to climb a hill.

Grammaretto yes Im lucky to have both sons nearby. We don’t see each other all the time. They have busy lives too but I know they’re there if I need them
Lovely to hear Kaimoanas voice. So gentle and soft,

Good crop of grapes Ixion mine are still tiny.
I had a call from the agent for the do-er upper today. They have had an offer but ofcourse won't share the amount with me.

The sweep who cleaned my chimneys this morning and has lived in this town since he was a lad, told me he's spoken to tradespeople who wouldn't touch it with a barge pole. So there's my answer.

Now I just need to find the perfect place for me......

That's good that you have heard from Kaimoana, Doodle. I hope she's ok and the future looks brighter.

Also good that you've had some time with your DS. They both live near to you don't they?
I'm a bit jealous but I don't think it would be wise for me to take up residence close to any of my 4. Unless maybe NZ 😂😅😍

My helper picked a lot of plums yesterday so I am making jam but I've given away most of my jam jars.

My Danish rescued chairs have gone to a very good Glasgow home and been painted.
They're looking wonderful now.