2020 Has Arrived

I have been gone so long that I have forgotten how to programme (code) the innards of this board.  It's all new to me again.  But what I have discovered is that the price of having no ads has gone up tremendously.  Therefore as much as I hate seeing ads on the pages unfortunately I can't afford to renew the package.

I wont go into the why's and wherefore's of why I have been missing for so long but will be starting anew from now.

I had a really good Christmas with my girls and I hope your Christmas was great too.  I'm sure that this new year will be a good one.

My immediate news is that I am losing all my girls in one swoop.  They are all moving way up North in a fortnight to Colby in Cumbria.  I say all of them, but I am unsure yet if Aimee is going with them.  She isn't even sure yet herself.

I am very sad about this, as it's not somewhere I want to live so I wont (I doubt) be following them at any point.  Although who knows what could happen in the future.

I am a Southern Gal, through and through, and it's far too cold and wet up there for me to bear.  Plus I have taken over 2 years to make a life for myself since moving into this new flat and the thought of having to start all over again I am not at all keen on.

Sarah and her fella Martyn got married just before Christmas and Jess has a permanent chap Adam who will be buying their own house shortly up there.  Aimee is still fancy free.

Both Jess and Adam have jobs already sorted to walk into after they move.  In fact Jess starts her new job on the 17th of his month having moved up there on the 15th, she will also be starting up her own business at the same time on the same premises of where she will have her paid job.  Adam has yet to get his start date sorted.

Sarah isn't planning on finding a job directly but Martyn will be temping as a Chef.  More money than getting a full time permanent job.

I am pleased for them to start their new venture, but I wont be seeing much of them because it's an 8 hour journey by train and train fares don't come cheap so I am feeling quite sad.

I hope all of you are keeping well and look forward to catching up with you.

Happy New Year all.

Happy New Year, Sandy.

I can imagine how torn you are
with your girls moving away, yet you have made a life for yourself.
And have a lovely little apartment of your own near the sea.

My best wishes for you
whatever you decide to do. 

Kerri

It is sad Sandy but I can appreciate why you've chosen to stay put. The climate is definitely a bit kinder where you are than up here and the deal with your flat is a great one too.

Good to hear jobs are waiting for most of them and congratulations to Sarah and Martyn. They'll soon learn how to talk funny. :D I know you'll miss them a lot but hopefully you can Skype often and keep up with their lives that way. A long journey but have you checked out coaches rather than trains. They're often much cheaper and sometimes get you closer to your destination too.

Nice to "see" you Kerri. I hope your little man is still charming the pants off you. Metaphorically speaking that is.

Hello both.  So very nice to see that you both still pop in here.

I had lunch with Jess yesterday and I actually said to her then Wendy that her children will be speaking with that northern accent.

Aimee skyped me last night and it seems she has finally decided what she is doing.  Her and her friend Jess are going to continue with the tenancy of Sarah's and Martyns house that they have at the moment.  There is 5 months on the lease left.  It will give them time to see if they can live together as well as work together before they either find another place or separate.  I get the impression that friend Jess isn't of the reliable type.  It also gives Aimee 5 more months to decide if she wants to follow the others up north or stay down south.

Coaches for me are out, although I do enjoy travelling by coach, because they don't take dogs.  But Jess text me last night to say that when I go up if I make my way to Preston her and Adam can pick me from there.  They can nip across to Blackpool, visit Adams family, and pick me up on the way back.  That means the train part of the journey will be a lot shorter as I wont have to go through London, changing stations via the underground, along with making it a lot cheaper for me.  As she said, kill two birds with one stone.

I was going to go to the Range today to see what they had left in their sales, but once I was up and dressed I didn't fancy it.  It's so blasted cold out there.  So it's a dog walk.  A quick trip to the top of the road to put my script in the chemist and back home again in the warm.

Nice that someone will be around for a few more months. It will give you time to adapt as well as time for Aimee to decide on her future. Her friend being Jess too threw me for a while.

I never thought about coaches not taking dogs. Very uncivilized of them! Preston is often a good choice. Lots of routes going from there but even better if they can pick you up from there. I didn't know Adam's family were from Blackpool. Their kids will definitely learn how to talk proper like what we do.

The weather here has been damp and dreary for a couple of weeks now. Nothing weather I call it. No heavy rain, no gales, no sunshine or frosts. It's struggling to come light. Depressing after a while.

Hi everyone.

Sandy, 
Sounds like it would make the journey shorter
if Jess and Adam can pick you up at a stop on the way.
It is cold here, too.
I went out today for a bit
but was glad to be home again.

Wendy, 
Yes, Elijah James is still charming
the metaphorical pants off me.
I watched him for my daughter today
so she could go grocery shopping and run errands.
He is crawling now and I have to watch him closely.

He is less interested in all the toys he has
and more interested in everything
I try to keep out of his reach.
(Or any piece of lint or tiny thing my vacuum has missed.)

A cold but sunny day here.

Hope everyone has a peaceful rest of the day.

The crawling stage is exhausting.  They have just discovered a brand new world and are out to conquer it.  lol.

They certainly will end up talking funny just like you northern foreigners do Wendy, lol. Well the great grandkids will anyway. 

Well, I did say friend Jess is not of the reliable type in the previous post, and I have been proved right.  I've just found out that she has decided that she doesn't want to flat share.  Aimee was too upset on the phone to discuss it so I have no idea why yet.  At this point I'm assuming that the girls wants to continue living with her parents.  I'm sure I will find out why soon.

In the meantime, Aimee hasn't a clue what to decide to do. She does have the opportunity to have a room at the hotel she works in and when the other manager leaves in a couple of months she has been told she can take the management flat on upstairs rent free.  Or of course she may decide to go up north with the others.

I'm having a lazy day, although I am pottering a bit with some housework.  Not a lot, but some.

Wendy : Weather  is dark and dreary here too  * nothing weather *, good name for it . But ... just think of Australia, so blazing hot, all is on Fire , pretty drastic over there, so I am counting my blessing right now . Come to think of it , wonder if any one has heard from Martha ?  wonder if she lives near the fires ??Do hope she is safe. 

Sandy :   nice to see you back here , we have missed you .  I have read all the post's but surely can't keep up with all the news about them . But I do hope they will be happy  in their new  area up north .
You seem all settled in your place and your life Sandy , you have made new friends too. so a trip ever so often to visit them will be a nice break for you, you can then decide......... maybe , yes or no to the move up there . My family has moved away too , back up north , and I don't like that new location  at all, so Here I stay . Ps.  sounds like the Hotel wants to keep Aimee , free rent offers don't come often 

Kerri:   That new Grandson sounds like lots of fun for you , the terrible two's are coming up down the road,get ready ..... lol . but I guess you remember only to well  I bet .

 I  have taken down my tree and all the decorations , things are getting back to normal . Got lots of appointments coming up next week etc etc , hair cut time soon too .

Back to normal here too whatever that is. lol Yes Australia is having it tough right now. They're used to bush fires but these are pretty extreme even for there. Sad how many homes have been lost not to mention lives too including some volunteer firefighters.

Disappointing for Aimee Sandy but maybe better to find out now than after they'd got a flat together. I hope things work out for her whatever she decides. The hotel offer does sound like a good one unless she particularly wants to move north.

I'll be off out for our usual Monday lunchtime get together later but before that I need to work up the enthusiasm to clean upstairs. It's not particularly grotty but those cat hairs get everywhere including my keyboard.

It's raining here today, and more coming up as the forecast says . OH well , better then snow ice or fire .
Nothing much new here today, good day for some cooking and cleaning  , appointment keeping later on, hope it clears up a bit .

Wendy: enjoy your Monday get together lunch.   I am sneezing just reading about that cat hair 
, I love cats , but have bad allergies , not allowed to have any here anyways . 

Seems over the last weeks they have arrested over 100 people for starting the fires in Australia.  There is an unconfirmed rumour that many of them are climate change activists setting them to prove that they is climate change.

I agree with the "Aimee finding out now rather than later".  I still don't know the whole story.

She is now moving up north with the others.  Her furniture is going up with the van on Tuesday and being as how she put her notice in late, due to her not knowing she was going, she will be following up on the 4th of February.  In the meantime she will be staying in a room at her work place.

It's going to be very strange knowing that they are not around the corner so to speak.  But I will just have to get used to it.

In that case I wish her luck. It's great that she has a room at work available to her until then. It's a big change for all of them including you but people tend to be very adaptable. I'm sure they'll settle in soon enough. Much easier when you're still relatively young than it would be for us oldies.

I'm planning a quiet and very lazy weekend. It's my daughter's birthday today so her partner has taken her to London for the weekend. They'll be up here next weekend so I'm told.

We are expecting some cold weather soon  , and snow so   it says , yuk, don't like the sound of that at all , I hate shovelling .

Nothing much new here ....I am out every day running errands ,getting my exercise.   Need to  walk lots , putting wait on , and eat less .... lol .

Sandy:  wow , that seems drastic   acting  of the climate change  people, but just likely true to some extent ..... the fires are just way out of line for Australia  . 
I hope that Aimee will like it up north now that she has decided to go with the others . You will soon find new friends , but I know that is not like family close by . 

Wendy: enjoy the company when it arrives . 

I am off to make supper ,

I hope your Daughter had a great day yesterday Wendy. Although I'm sure she did.

Oh my!  I hate the weight fighting that it seems that most of us women have to go through all of our lives.  Good luck with it Geru.  

The fires are also worse each year now in Aussie due to the Green party over there forcing them to stop making fire breaks ahead of fire season.  They no longer can dig ditches and cut back brush to prevent fires spreading. Those so called environmentalists have a lot to answer for.

As for Aimee.  I think this is the best thing for her.  Personally I think she needs a new start somewhere fresh. 

It's a cold but bright sunny day here.  I just have to pop to the top of the road for a couple of bits.  Pearl (friend) and I are not going to church today.  We might spend a couple of hours later together on Bible study instead.

Send some of that sunshine here please Sandy. We haven't seen any for weeks. Yesterday was showers and very strong winds. Today the wind has eased a lot but it's been raining heavily since early last night. Hardly seems to come light recently.

I'm sure my daughter made sure she got very spoiled yesterday. She's very good at spending other people's money for them. lol Not so keen on parting with her own.

Not much happening today so I might make a concerted effort to find new flights for my holiday in August. Not impressed so far. Either very long stopovers or stopovers at airports I'd rather avoid or just very inconvenient departure or arrival times. Not to mention extortionate prices. Come back Thomas Cook please! I had booked great flights and direct from Manchester to San Francisco so I'm a bit more than peeved.

Good morning Ladies.

Weather absolutely awful here today.  High winds and lots of rain.  No fun at all.

I'm pleased your Daughter had a lovely birthday Wendy.

Sarah and Martyn came for lunch yesterday and for us to say our last goodbye's before they move today.  I have to admit to getting a bit tearful as we had our last hug.

Tonight I am going out for dinner with Jess, Aimee and Adam as Jess and Adam are off tomorrow.

Aimee will be staying on and off with me for the next 3 weeks while she works her notice with her job and then she too will be disappearing up north.  It's on and off because the nights she stays to have a drink after work she will be sleeping there but spending her other free time and nights with me.

I love snow. I just prefer to watch it from indoors these days. lol

It's bound to be emotional Sandy. It's going to be a big adjustment for you. Skype will be burning red hot I bet.

I've been putting off replacing my desktop for over two years now. I hate taming new ones. With support for Win 7 ending yesterday I'm going to have to get more serious about it though. I know some stuff I like won't work with Win 10 because I've already tried it on my laptop. Eventually I'll appreciate the improved speed etc. but right now I'm not looking forward to the wrestling match that always comes with a new one. When mum died she left us all a small amount of money and I put it aside for when this computer died because it was getting old and temperamental back then. I managed to sort it out though and now I'm reluctant to replace something that works fine. Time to bite the bullet though I think.

The rain brought some relief to areas of Australia but now they have flooding instead. Arsonists and climate activists were initially blamed for the fires but that proved false. They were caused by lightning strikes and then the fires caused their own lightning strikes.

My new computer is up and running. Still a lot to do but the basics I use every day are done. I love the speed it boots up and shuts down. My only annoyance so far is the terrible audio quality. Way too quiet through my monitor speakers. I think I'll have to invest in either external speakers or more likely a soundbar. It's great through a headset so I'll just use that until I decide. A few frustrations with Win 10 but nothing I wasn't expecting having helped my brother out with his so much.

No snow here but we have gone from very wet and windy and mild to frosty nights.

Hi everyone.

Sandy, 
I hope you are enjoying spending some time with Aimee
before she moves up north.
So, the accent up north is very different from where you live?

Wendy, 
I'm glad you have your new computer up and running.
You can have my share of snow if you like. 

Geru, 
I do not like driving or walking when it is icy 
on the streets and sidewalks. 
If I can avoid some of that this winter, I will be grateful.

Several doctor appointments for my husband next week.
I feel guilty when I begin to feel overwhelmed sometimes.

Take care, everyone.