So....

[Onelife]

If I wait for the NHS I'll wait forever

that one went over my head

[oldbluefox]

Thankyou Foxy. I still haven't done Aurora passing Calshot. Currently I am doing Orontes on a fairly large canvas coming alongside the cruise terminal at circular quay circa 1960, with Shaw Savills 'Illyric' going out stern first.


Beemer? Beemer? What happened to Mercedes? I bought a new Merc two years ago 2.2 litre automatic, lovely smooth ride.

Well that's my second home in the Bahamas gone then!!! I was counting on Aurora.
I wanted something bigger than the A Class so it was a toss up between the C Class and a BMW Series 3. After a test drive in the Beemer and the great deal that was on offer, plus all the reviews I had read it was the Beemer for me. It seems to do everything you ask of it apart from steering although a degree in engineering would help with all the features. Very pleased with it - pacey, nice smooth ride, quiet and comfortable.
Trying to get a decent deal from Mercedes was like getting blood out of a stone so they missed out!!!

[oldbluefox]

Just to rub salt into the wound we should have been going up to Tigh Mor in the Trossachs next week and had a cruise booked for April 11th. Both have had to be cancelled, my little social club is shut down, no footie and to cap it all no baked beans or loo rolls in the supermarket because some greedy so-and-so's have hoarded more than they will ever need!!!

[Ranchi]

I post below, a letter by Peter Humphreys from today’s Guardian. I was a touch confused by the term Moocs but realised that I have actually done two Futurelearn courses. The ones I did were run by University of Edinburgh (The Jacobites) and Glasgow University (Robert Burns). The courses were free( there is a option to pay for courses and this gives greater flexibility over the time the course is available to you.) but the free versions are fine. There is no pressure to finish the course if you find it unsuitable. There is a wide range of courses available in most disciplines. I don’t know about the other providers but Futurelearn courses and their resources were very good.
Given the government pronouncement on self-isolation for the over-70s, might it not be an ideal opportunity to look into the potential of Moocs – massive open online courses? These are free and open to all, and cover a myriad of topics to cater for all interests. Two platforms I have used are Futurelearn and Coursera, but these are not the only ones. In addition, might I suggest the Open University, which makes some of its courses available at more flexible enrolment dates and at reduced prices. This would make a very positive contribution to the wellbeing of many over-70s at this difficult and stressful time.

Hope this may be useful to while away a few hours whilst not cruising.
Steve

[Gill W]

I saw that Morrison’s are launching a delivery service on Monday, where you order a box with a set list of items.

I thought this was a good idea, as you’d know exactly what you were getting and it would be simple to order. They are also setting up a telephone ordering service for the box, to help people who don’t use the internet.

At the moment, if you do an online order for delivery ( if you can get a slot) or Click and Collect, you don’t know for sure what will be available on the day

[johnds]

Two days into self isolation

No meetings for us until September at the earliest.
I expect that we will just start this year again.

Ditto barney. We should have had a meeting on Tuesday and resorted to our Whatsapp page for the 10 o'clock toast. I suppose it was what may be termed a virtual meeting. As WM I had put my phone on charge upstairs and forgot!!! I am hoping it is just for four months but anything could happen.

We experimented with a Zoom session last night. Worked quite well

[Jan Rosser]

I'm using Zoom this morning to participate in a Nia class - the teacher is streaming it to us - Monday night 10 of us danced together online - it was a bit of fun and obviously exercise too. After reading about Frank and his painting I am going to dig out my paints and have a go again - cannot just sit around it's driving me crazy

[Stephen]

Your never alone with us lot around Jan

[CaroleF]

A lot of my time has been spent taking John to various hospital appointments as his Vasculitis is still not under control after he reacted badly to a new drug meditation he started a couple of weeks ago. Our local NHS hospital has been marvellous. There is a helpline attached to the department he deals with and when two weeks ago Sunday he left a message on their helpline telling of the reaction to the drug. He was phoned back within an hour by a Nurse and then a Doctor called back within two hours - amazing.
He was advised to cut the dose which he did but then come Monday he was no better so another call to the Helpline resulted in an appointment on the Tuesday with his Consultant. We had another appointment yesterday to see one of the Registrars and the difference in the hospital from a week previously was amazing. Usually we have to allow at least an extra half hour to park but yesterday there were lots of spaces, no problem. John had to have a blood test which was done within 5 minutes and then when we went into the Department it was practically empty and we saw the Registrar about 15 minutes later. The hospital has transferred a lot of their appointments to telephone ones which has really cut back on the number of people using the place. Lots of anti-viral foam around, no longer gel.
The hospital really couldn't have done more and now we wait for him to get an appointment re starting the new drug which hopefully will suit him.

So apart from that what have we done, not a lot. John very irritated that he can't do active things as he used to and is finding it difficult to accept the fact. We were going to one of our daughters on Sunday for Mothers' Day lunch but that's off. As we live next door to the family business which one of our daughters and our son-in-law now run we see people around and our daughter goes to collect prescriptions for John which is so good. We intend to do the same as others have mentioned and go out in the car and take some lunch with us on sunny days. We're not far from the New Forest and near the coast so there's lots of places to go within easy reach.
My other occupation which some people, find odd, is furnishing a dolls house. I had a smallish one about 15 years ago which my grandaughter now has and I treated myself to a much larger one last Autumn, made by an amazing man in Norfolk. It's a Georgian one which is incredible with proper Georgian features, flickering fires, dado rails in some rooms and has two openings, one at the front and another at the side which reveals all the staircases. I'm afraid I haven't the talent to make furniture for it so the furnishing of the rooms is progressing slowly according to what I can afford. I've done a lot of reading about houses of the time and I gradually realised that it was going to be difficult - and expensive to furnish it keeping to the Georgian period so I decided that it was going to be for a Victorian family living in the Georgian house! One thing that I have found different from 15 or so years ago when I was furnishing my smaller house was that then there were a lot of Dolls House shops, now there are hardly any, it's all on line. I used to go to shops in Winchester and Salisbury, Port Solent and Bosham near Chichester, all gone. Such a pity as it's much nicer to be able to go and look rather than just on a computer screen, not that I would be visiting shops at the moment of course. Still researching and searching websites keeps me out of mischief!

[Jan Rosser]

Your never alone with us lot around Jan

Thanks Stephen I do appreciate the banter on this forum although I am quite self sufficient I am a “people” person and enjoy company which now is the online kind. Oh well have to make the best of it

I attend an over 50’s dance class and this has been suspended but the lovely girl who runs it is posting dances on YouTube for us - bit of fun and who cares how silly we look jiving or yesterday cha cha cha-ing in the lounge - as Brucie used to say ”keep dancing”

[Stephen]

Is she young and fit ..

[Jan Rosser]

Is she young and fit ..

Yes - very

[Onelife]

How about this for a quick turnaround.......recived my long awaited hip appointment 10am yesterday asking me to confirm my appointment by email (25th March) which l did straight away. By 10.15am l recived a phone call to say my appointment was cancelled until further notice.

Understandable considering the circumstances but frustrating nevertheless.....l've been suffering with back and hip pain for 18 months now

I think the only thing that would cheer me up is if you were all to club together and buy me a ride on mower

Thanks in anticipation

[Onelife]

Is she young and fit ..

Don't be so cheeky Stephen, you've only got to look at Jan's avatar to see she is young and fit

[GillD46]

How about this for a quick turnaround.......recived my long awaited hip appointment 10am yesterday asking me to confirm my appointment by email (25th March) which l did straight away. By 10.15am l recived a phone call to say my appointment was cancelled until further notice.

Understandable considering the circumstances but frustrating nevertheless.....l've been suffering with back and hip pain for 18 months now

I think the only thing that would cheer me up is if you were all to club together and buy me a ride on mower

Thanks in anticipation

My sympathies. But take heart, apparently in Ireland the waiting list is in excess of 4 years!

[Onelife]

How about this for a quick turnaround.......recived my long awaited hip appointment 10am yesterday asking me to confirm my appointment by email (25th March) which l did straight away. By 10.15am l recived a phone call to say my appointment was cancelled until further notice.

Understandable considering the circumstances but frustrating nevertheless.....l've been suffering with back and hip pain for 18 months now

I think the only thing that would cheer me up is if you were all to club together and buy me a ride on mower

Thanks in anticipation

My sympathies. But take heart, apparently in Ireland the waiting list is in excess of 4 years!

To be fair Gill l've had several investigations during the past 18 months which are now pointing towards my sacral joint as being the problem.

I don't know the reasons why Ireland NHS is in such a mess as my undrstanding is that they get the same amount of money (per capita) as what we get?

[Stephen]

How about this for a quick turnaround.......recived my long awaited hip appointment 10am yesterday asking me to confirm my appointment by email (25th March) which l did straight away. By 10.15am l recived a phone call to say my appointment was cancelled until further notice.

Understandable considering the circumstances but frustrating nevertheless.....l've been suffering with back and hip pain for 18 months now

I think the only thing that would cheer me up is if you were all to club together and buy me a ride on mower

Thanks in anticipation

Join the club. I've got another appointment on 6th April at a private hospital but as a NHS patient for my left hip area. But I'm just waiting for a letter to drop through the post saying it's been cancelled.

[Stephen]

Is she young and fit ..

Don't be so cheeky Stephen, you've only got to look at Jan's avatar to see she is young and fit

No one likes a crawler

[barney]

How about this for a quick turnaround.......recived my long awaited hip appointment 10am yesterday asking me to confirm my appointment by email (25th March) which l did straight away. By 10.15am l recived a phone call to say my appointment was cancelled until further notice.

Understandable considering the circumstances but frustrating nevertheless.....l've been suffering with back and hip pain for 18 months now

I think the only thing that would cheer me up is if you were all to club together and buy me a ride on mower

Thanks in anticipation

Join the club. I've got another appointment on 6th April at a private hospital but as a NHS patient for my left hip area. But I'm just waiting for a letter to drop through the post saying it's been cancelled.

Ditto
Mine’s April 1st for my ‘good’ knee but I fully expect it to be cancelled.
Put in proportion, my issues are minimal

[Happydays]

CaroleF, I hope your husband is on the mend soon.

I envy you your dolls house never had one but always wanted one, used to play with a girl across the road when possible as she had a dolls house and a silvercross dolls pram. She was an only child so I expect that explains a lot enjoy your research

[Jan Rosser]

Best wishes to your husband Carole - understandable he is frustrated at not being able to do things he used to.

I love the idea of having a dolls house to play with and refurbish. My father was a carpenter and made me a dolls house when I was a child which I loved. In later years he made several bungalows which were gifts and he left the decorating to my mother. We used to buy miniature patterned paper/carpets etc. I remember it was quite tricky to “paper” a room. My niece (aged 45) has a dolls house which my sister has ended up decorating etc.- I think she secretly enjoys it

[Onelife]

Is she young and fit ..

Don't be so cheeky Stephen, you've only got to look at Jan's avatar to see she is young and fit

No one likes a crawler

Maybe so, but Jan loves me and that's all that matters

[Jan Rosser]

Don't be so cheeky Stephen, you've only got to look at Jan's avatar to see she is young and fit

No one likes a crawler

Maybe so, but Jan loves me and that's all that matters

Of course I do - you must be suffering like my mother with the racecourses closed - she will really miss the racing

[Frank Manning]

I'm using Zoom this morning to participate in a Nia class - the teacher is streaming it to us - Monday night 10 of us danced together online - it was a bit of fun and obviously exercise too. After reading about Frank and his painting I am going to dig out my paints and have a go again - cannot just sit around it's driving me crazy

Jan, Get those paints out. Always begin with a 3B pencil sketch, and observe the rule of thirds. Keep the colours subtle. It's a fabulous hobby. I admire anyone who can dance. I am 6ft 4in, with size 14 feet. I have the musicality but definitely not the physical grace. Add to the fact that Sue is only 5ft 2in and you can see that we have a problem.

[oldbluefox]

Making heavy weather of this self isolation. I don't know how I am going to cope!!! If you're going to self isolate there cannot be many better places...........if the weather is good!!!

DSC02058.JPG

Contrast this with Morrison's at 7.00 this morning. I had the bright idea that the supermarket shelves would be re-stocked overnight and it would be quiet at that time of the morning. We therefore arrived (with many others) only to find the shelves had not beed re-stocked but they were in the process of doing it. There were crates and boxes all over everywhere, no meat, no bakery goods just empty shelves from the night before. We did manage to get some things which were missing earlier in the week but I think we will have to re-think our strategy. I wonder if it will be any better when they open for the pensioner hour next week. I'm not holding my breath.
Crummockwater above was a haven of peace and tranquility by contrast and hardly another soul in sight.