Good morning Thursday

[meriad]

Up bright and early; been tossing and turning since 3am so at 5.30 figured I may as well get up...

Some more non-specific pootling to be done today. I also want to dig out my bicycle, pump the tyres, oil the chain and then use that and head to the allotment every day. I drove there yesterday as I had quite a bit of stuff for the compost etc and it was so lovely just to be out and about. I planted my potatoes and cleared up some weeds. Got a big patch of grass that now needs sorting - that'll keep me busy for a while.

Have a lovely day all xxx

[JanB]

Morning Ria, morning everyone

Misty over the hills and in the valleys and we have showers forecast. Roll on the week-end



General pootling all day. Will make some meatballs for dinner - a Rick Stein recipe, one of his few non fish ones - and will then look at that jigsaw again Also need to pick some of the larger broad beans and some of the onions who survived will need tying up too.

We have also sold our solar stuff. Won't be going until all this stuff is over, but 700 euros is something to look forward to I'll take himself out for dinner The Adega do Monte Velho sounds good

Have as good a day as you can everyone xx

[meriad]

Yay Jan, glad you managed to sell the solar stuff - that's excellent news.

[Kaz]

Morning you two, and everyone

Jan, that's good news about selling your solar stuff, a nice sum to look forward to

Ria, having an allotment to go to will be a godsend in the coming weeks, I'm sure, and using a bike to get there an excellent idea I've seen a lot more bikes being used around here

No particular plans here today, no Zumba tonight, but I've done three this week already. I will do as long a walk as possible on the field Becky is off again, the gym is closed of course, but she's found a lot of exercise stuff to do online. More cleaning, I expect, and my usual calls to Doreen.

Take care everyone xxx

[cromwell]

Enjoy the allotment Ria. Jan, well done on the 700 euros. I hope Doreen is keeping well Kaz.
Waiting for the fish man and his van here. Sainsbury's fish counter is closed down for the duration so we're giving him a try. Hopefully he will turn up, unlike the wine which is still AWOL!
A friend wants to download the Houseparty app and have an online party tomorrow night. There are scare stories about it's security though. We'll see.
Changeable here, sunny one minute, cloudy the next.
Have a good day all.

ETA - Thinking of Jan's windfall, I had one too recently via Marriage Allowance. If you are married or in a civil partnership you could benefit too. It is an arrangement whereby one partner can transfer part of their tax allowance to the other partner, eneabling them to pay less tax. Plus you can also backdate the claim for four years.
It worked for me and MrsC anyway. We are both living on vocational pensions. I pay tax on mine, she doesn't on hers. So transferring part of her £12,500 tax allowance to me means I pay less tax on my income plus I got a £900 cheque for the backdated claim. It is worth having.
Details are on the gov.uk website
https://www.gov.uk/marriage-allowance

[TheOstrich]

Good morning folks. Prertty overcast here, but not such a chill breeze.

Got up early to shop for fresh fruit and veg, milk and bread, so on, at Waitrose, 8:00 to 9:00 being their Oldies Hour. Arrived at 07:50 to find a queue of at least 50 people in a crocodile around the car park. Good natured and everyone keeping their distance. Once the store opened, folk were being ushered inside at a reasonable rate, but social distancing inside it was difficult to maintain. Still, I got what we were after with a few on-the-hoof variations - there were a few gaps on the shelves, flour was sold out, cheese nearly so, and the overall bill came in at £42.28, so I was able to use contactless under the new limit. Back home now, completely disinfected , and able to wind down a bit. Not the most relaxing of experiences ....

Good luck with the allotment, Ria. Hope you got your haddock, Crommers! Keep safe, everyone.

[Kaz]

Morning Crommers Doreen is fine thanks, if a bit fed up, I hope all of your extended family is too We looked into that tax allowance, but don't qualify.

Ossie, glad you got what you needed Everyone here is being pretty calm and good-natured shopping, but it is a bit stressful still, I agree

[jenniren]

Morning all

Lovely and sunny here

Have fun planning what to spend the €700 on Jan.
Interesting about the tax Crommers, I'll take a look later.

Yesterday finally managed to get E out, we drove to the cliff top and had a lovely stroll, not too many people so easy to keep our distance. The weather was glorious, I do so love the smell of the sea. Glad we went, he really struggled to get going. I've been worried he will stiffen up too much and by the time he finally gets his operation his mobility could be as compromised as mine was, makes recovery so much more difficult. Intend to try getting him out more often.

We're expecting our Sainsbury shopping between 12-1pm. So far only 4 things on the list of 'not available' so fingers crossed. If the weather holds up I expect we'll have another stroll later this afternoon.

Hope you all have a good day, stay safe xx

[Kaz]

Oh how lovely Jen, I would love a walk by the sea right now

[Osc]

Morning all, it’s quite a bright day here with occasional spits and spots of rain. I also love walking by the sea and miss it terribly, but at least we can see it out our window and from our terrace. We have been putting together our shopping list to do online, for our first delivery on Saturday. We also watched Elevenses with Anton, Anton du Beke’s daily online dance lesson. I rang the consultant's secretary this morning, I am apparently listed for discussion tomorrow so hopefully will get some info after that. I also have to give credit where it is due - we kept getting emails from Ryanair about a change of schedule for our flight at the end of the month, so I rang customer service this morning. She first said I could rebook at no charge, but I said that obviously we have no idea of when we will be travelling again. Then she said that Ryanair are gradually cancelling all their flights so I should wait until I get an email, which will then offer a refund. Good solid advice with no time waiting to speak to someone, I was impressed and I never thought I would say that about Ryanair!

This might amuse you, it’s what Michael and Kellie are doing to keep the nation fit The thing about not doing it again is an April Fool

https://youtu.be/NhSiygyg8Po