Apologies for being absent without permission.

You do sound Exhausted OO..... Don't over do it! Good on you getting a couple of new sofas!

We are in a similar position with our son in London. House hunting by the Internet at the moment. :0))

Rest up Olive....:>)

I agree...... R&R needed!

Have you thought of units for your daughter....chairs you hook together to make sofas?
Thats if they are still made, I,m sitting on one now.......

thanks everyone, yes will be certainly resting after I have sorted out my living room now I have two new sofas lol. I am ok, had a good couple of nights rest and up and running again now. Going to sort out second youngest daughters garden next week, I shall find that more relaxing than hard work. lol.

Pamg yes we have looked at the modular sofas, it is one of the options, but she did ring yesterday and say that she had found a smaller sofa which will go in or should I say go up the stairs. lol. I have not been able to stop singing that song, 'Right said Fred' it was so funny when we got it stuck going around the bend in the staircase. lol.

In the old days they took the window out and hauled it up that way!

We did look at that option it would go through the windows but none of us strong enough to haul it up it was a long way up. lol.

Oh - that brings back memories. What we do ...

Kids eh!!!! they have us running around like headless chickens even when they have left??? home. LOL

Yes a mum is always kept busy....

Oliveoil, kids when small they hurt your arms and when they grow up they hurt your heart. I hope in your case they still hurt your arms only and not your heart. In my case they hurt both. My eldest daughter who is still single decided to follow the British way of life and bought her own flat in order to live an independent life. Although she has a very good job, she cannot afford it, she is broke and wants me to deal with all her flat problems. Right or wrong in our culture children stay with their parents untill they marry and most buy houses and flats, which they rent and by the time they marry they save a lot of money for an easier life later.

You are not wrong there Linclass, suppose that is what being a mum is all about. I love it really not a problem just wish my old body didn't ache quite as much. lol.

I know mine love me Costas, they also hurt my arms and my back and my legs and my feet and my bank balance, this last few weeks, but my heart is still in one piece lol. As long as they are all happy that makes me happy. :O)

It's what we mums and dads do isn't it Oliveoil? But as you say, as long as they are happy.
Nevertheless, don't over do it...the garden will still be there when you've finished helping your daughter.

I have only one more trip to take things up there on Sunday and then she will be sorted. I have had to wait for the rain to stop, so managed to get lots done in the house before I went outside to cut the grass this afternoon, but it is so hot out there now. It was lovely to be able to get out though, I have missed pottering around.

Aww...thanks for letting us know, thought it was a bit too quiet on here. A mummy's job is never finished, good on you though for helping. Take good care of yourself, look forward to seeing you soon. xxx

Just take it nice and easy for a bit longer yet! I too have been absent for a week or two and have missed so much. I am just getting over a big family visit which I loved but was very tired when everyone left,just as you are.
They are already talking about coming again for Christmas!!! I hope that your daughter enjoys her new home and that you can relax there when you next visit! Time for you to be waited on I think!

Ha ha! Two new sofas? nice work Oliveoil!! Hope you are recovering now, it's not an easy task. I'm so glad Rachel's cottage is furnished. It was bad enough shifting all of her boxes of 'stuff'! You take care.....your legs....you know what I mean!

The morning never arrives when we wake up and say "Today is the day that I stop worrying about/caring for/helping my child". At least, it doesn't in my experience (despite the fact that they are no longer children!)

Thanks Michaella, I am hoping to get back and into photograph looking again soon.

Wildrose I hope you are recovering from your visitors and are able to get out in your garden. It was great to be able to get out there today, I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Hi Karen, hope you got Rachel settled in and ready for her year in school. I am ok, got some good sleep and am up and running again. Sammies house has been sold subject to contract signing. Not getting too excited though after what happened last time. Fingers and toes are crossed for her. She is trying not to get too hopeful but think this one is more positive. :O)

Melchi, you are right but hopefully less stressed than we all have been moving her things and big bonus I can get in her room now to clean up. If you had seen it before - all her boxes and all her clothes and furniture was in the one room. It looked like one of those places where the people hoard things stacked nearly from floor to ceiling. lol she could just manage to climb into bed on a night. lol. We had three cars full and two trips over with them but we managed without hiring a van. A friend took the big stuff up for her on the trailer and eh presto we have almost finished. lol. She says she is not moving again for at least 12 months, me I am saying never again lol.

Lol! There's still a fair amount of "stuff" here, although it is gradually being removed - just as well it's a big house! We do know someone who downsized after their youngest left and then had to shove up in order to accommodate him again!

Melchi my daughter (next youngest) tells me, this room has to be changed into a nursery as she wants me to look after her babies, when they arrive. She is going to go back to work as a teacher. Only part time so it will not be too much for me. Bless her she is so wanting a baby, she has had two miscarriages and is now hoping that the hospital will be able to sort her out she is living in hope. As are we all for her. Hoping for a very good 2014 oh well we shall see.

Looking after grand children can be VERY tiring as we know only too well, but VERY rewarding. So let's us hope you'll be joining us in the ranks of Grandparents who are 'baby sitting', fingers crossed for you Olive and your daughter.

I do hope all works out well for your daughter, Barbara. (And for you if it does...)

Thank you Waddy and Melchi. Time will tell lol :O)

Crikey, Olive, you scared old Mouldy there.
I thought it was YOU moving.
First thing I thought was - What'll happen to Narnia, 'cause the Ice Queen will bring winter back!
Then Karen will scream, as we move through that weird wardrobe of your's & make my ears bleed again.
KAREN!!!
Tell Olive she's not allowed to move or...er...yeah, I'll turn out the lights & push you in the wardrobe.
Right, that's two to one, Olive...you're out-voted...you can't move...ever! Lol.
Glad you got your girl moved okay.
Even gladder you profitted by new sofas.
Welcome back!!!

Lol! I think they'll be carrying her out of the garden in a box Mouldy....she'll be buried with the trowel in one hand and the secateurs in the other! ;)

Oh, and can you PLEASE step away from that wardrobe.....it really makes me nervous!

Makes YOU nervous?
It positively gives me the squits!
The things people hide in their wardrobes...and I'm not talking fashion disasters. ;-)

Hmmm...know what you mean!

'Fess up, Karen.
Unburden yourself to Mouldy. I won't tell a soul. Lol.

lol :O) have you checked under the bed lately?

No need....only buy ones with drawers under....solved! I know of no monsters that can fit in those drawers....definitely not the Cybermen....way too large!

What do you think of the new Dr?

I think he will be great! it has to be somebody quirky for me!

Oh, young Capaldi's that alright.
He has a ruthless, dare I say, slightly psychotic air about some of his work, which, oddly, reminds me of William Hartnell.
An air of the alien, which he is. The Dr, I mean. Lol.

Yes, well put Mouldy! :)))

I never put anythin' anywhere, M'lud. Karen's fibbin', honest.
See, no dabs anywhere!
Sorry...bad dreams. Lol.

Mouldy, it's only 7pm and you've been on the sauce already haven't you? ;)

No, but maybe I ought to rectify that oversight. ;-)

:)

Was sat in a pub, three days ago, with my cronies & left after two pints.
Missing my plants & garden! Lol.
I prefer to potter about with the odd can, titivating, deadheading, labelling, etc, to getting stocious.
Funny old thing, life, innit? ;-)

is that another way of saying that as you've grown wiser, you've become more thoughtful and in tune with the natural world and miracles of the wondrous universe Mouldy? ;)

Nah, probably just a bad pint. ;-)

Lol! :)))

I've been tuned in since year dot, but was born too late to be a hippie.
Maybe I should stop shaving my head. Lol.

It's never too late to be a hippie is it? :))

Far out, man!

Way far dude!

Like beyond the universe and entering the multiverse from the 4th dimension.
WOW, that's blown my mind!
Still, shaving my head saves me losing combs all the time. :-)

If it were me, I would be finding all the lost combs as soon as I shaved the head!

They'll be in the same time continuium (rotn spelr, see?) as all those single socks that disappear from washing machines, I guess.

Oh yes! Where on earth do they go to? and the biros pens too!

My friend, Margaret, has a habit of filching biros.
I'll have a word with her...see if she's been in your neck of the woods. ;-)
As for the rest, it's not 'where' on earth they go, rather 'when'.
Lol.

Lol! That time machine again eh? Well whenever they are, I hope people are not too freaked by them!

Oh, there's no people there.
Just lost odds & ends, bits & bobs.
An entire cosmos full of them.
Every so often, who or whatever runs the show has a clearout & things re-appear, where you know for a fact they weren't there five mins/hrs/mths ago.
I thought everyone knew that. Lol.
Talking of which, are we the only two people left on the planet.
It's gone awfully quiet.
Hullo!
HULLO!
(ECHO-EchO-echo).
Flippin' 'eck, Karen!
1st Narnia.
NOW what have you gotten us into? ;-)

I know...I think we've frightened them all off Mouldy!

I'm telling Olive, just you see if I don't!
You're always getting me in trouble. ;-)

Oh Blimey......Karen legs it.....oh, wait I'm already 350 miles away....phew! Just as well, as I can't run for toffee (as they used to say)

Does Olive drive, I wonder? Lol.
Toffee?
I haven't had that for years.
Falsies, y'see.

Oh...no you don't want to be eating toffee with falsies....very embarrassing I should imagine.

She does drive Mouldy.....but only as far as Barnsley to the North, and the Garden Centre in any other direction....we're quite safe. That's where she'll have been today....buying up the national collection of Crocosmia! ;)

Barnsley.
Bitter.
Aged seventeen.
Who stole the decades? Lol.

Probably about the age I was last time I was there too....no, I will have been about 16 I think. We used to go to Wentworth on Boxing Day for the Hunt. There were Morris Dancers, and packs of hounds etc...we used to walk a couple of fields and then go home. lovely village. my sister, the wee baby one, is now teaching in Barnsley itself....she's very brave though, not a woos like me! ;)

My friend, Jan, had some friends, who'd squatted an abandoned village about 12 miles from Barnsley.
They were in the process of renovating the entire village, about 20 buildings, if memory serves me.
Visitors paid for their board by working, which suited me.
Jan, a pint of guiness gal, decided on our day off that we had to hitchhike into Barnsley to sample their world famous bitter, which we did.
Sadly, we didn't see much of the place. Too busy sampling the bitter.
That girl was a caution.
Happy days!

I've been to Wentworth - one of my sons lived nearby in Chapeltown for a while. It is beautiful.

I think lots of people have been on holiday this last week or so. We have - I've just spent ages trying to catch up on everything. I won't manage it all, but never mind! I'm going to start a blog when I've finished sorting out my photos. It's great - I can relive all the memories :-)))

That's half the fun, but takes ages, as we re-live the experiences, photo by photo.
Then the 'downer', as we come back to the 'present' Lol.

Now then you lot what have you been up to while I have been on my travels, lol. Very funny, yes I drive Mouldy -everybody crazy too. Glad you sampled the delights of my home stomping grounds.

Karen went back to Wentworth in the summer to the g.c. with Sarah, Sammie, Kate and baby Aaron, we had a lovely day walking, talking, eating and playing in the gardens there. Went through Harley where Aunty Rita used to live too. Sarah only just recalled it all. bless we had a lovely day out. Sammie said she looked to see if there were any houses to rent in the village but no only a big one for sale if you have any spare cash, will need lots of work doing on it. lol

Melchi - my son was born at Chapeltown, we lived up at High Green then. I worked at the Izal factory as a typist in their offices when Karen was a baby. lol all a long time ago.

It is always good to go back and see what things are like now and it has not changed a bit. lol. :O)

I never knew you worked at the Izal factory! That explains it! Lol!

Small world, innit? Lol.

small world and certainly not big enough for Izal! I mean....can you imagine Izal on Dragon's Den? Who do you think would invest? Perhaps that blonde wife....she looks like she's got something hard and scratchy up her posterior all the time! :)

Haven't watched telly for years, Karen, unless it's on in the pub & even then I'm inclined to shout abuse at it, sober or not! Lol.

Oh that paper was scratchy, lol. Do they still make it? I wonder. It was a part of Newton Chambers in those days wonder if they are still in business. lol. you were only a babe Karen. Thank goodness for softer toilet tissue and thank goodness the News of the World no longer exists. lol. I hope no one else is reading this or we could get flagged as this is definitely not a gardening issue. OR maybe it is - the bog used to be down the garden in those days. lol. I am not kidding it was a little brick shed at the bottom of the garden/yard. Everyone in the block knew when you were off to the karzy. and there were no locks so you had to whistle while you worked. lol. oh no I am stopping now it is going on far too much. lol.

We shared two loos between ten families, Olive, in the tenements.
I was seven, before we moved to a flat with it's own toilet!
Even then, more often than not, it was newspaper torn into wee squares with izal for luxury.
It's a wonder we all never ended up haemorrhaging to death, right? Lol.

those were the days, thank goodness long gone. :O) lol

Lol! That's quite enough you two! I wish I'd never started this! Eh, some of our blogs are getting very long, and most of it's absolute craziness! I think we might need to do some gardening soon! I've been out all afternoon rescuing more of my treasures from the oncoming doom! I say that, I don't really know what the new owner will do with the garden, and I shan't ask! I doubt I shall ever see this house again once we go...it's not on a route to anywhere.

Oh, what a wonderful thread! Reminds me of schooldays. It isn't the discomfort that strikes me now, it's the sheer inefficiency... All part of life's rich tapestry when you're a Goyer! (well - for everyone, I suppose!)

Places change so quickly. Karen. If you don't visit regularly they can become unrecognizable frighteningly soon. OH is from Jarrow, and so many old streets have changed forever - some obliterated. (And a good thing, too, in some cases)

I read yesterday about an old lady who has just been helped to apply for a grant to have an indoor toilet fitted in her home. In 2013. In the NE of England, and not way out in the country, either. Oh dear...

I returned to Glasgow in late '92, having spent 28 yrs in England.
Everything had changed!
Even now, things change on what seems like a daily basis.
When did I devolve into a creature of habit? Lol.

Melchi...very true! I lived for two years in Manchester before the bomb and hated it. Now it's been given a completely new character....not that I've been back in 27 years, and probably never will. But people go there now for a city break which I find incredible!

....and come to think of it...that is why I don't love Glasgow...it reminds me very much of Manchester 27 years ago. But most of the people I know adore Glasgow....they have completely different impressions...it's different if you've lived in a place, or studied there etc.

Very true, everything changes, but sometimes it is not for the better. Our town centre used to be a bustling little market square but they decided to block pave the market square and stop people parking in the centre, it used to be brilliant when all you wanted was a bank, 20 minutes was plenty of time to do the banking and then go home. Now it has lost its heart. They built a new shopping complex in Marshalls Yard and it is lovely to go there but it is not the centre of town and it has more or less killed off the town centre for shopping. More Charity shops than proper shops now in town. Lots of empty shops and pizza and cafes and that is all our town centre is like now. Think also the supermarkets have not helped as they are convenient to do the shopping in. We go and get most things from them and have no need to go into town, well not much at all for me now.

Remember when we used to go to the coop with the green stamps!? And boots, and get toffee from the market hall...banana toffee...yum!

Certainly do, definitely could do with some banana toffee right now, carpet fitters done, room looks great even without the sofas in. Only another week and they will be here. Hope you are having a good day Karen, thinking of you buying houses and planting plants and redesigning gardens etc. Hope you sleep well tonight.

I go to Manchester rarely - usually just for the Christmas market, but I do enjoy it when I go. I didn't care much for Liverpool until I got to know it when my daughter was travelling there daily to college and I would occasionally meet her. Now I love it and often go on the train for a couple of hours' shopping. But Glasgow I loved from the start and always enjoy going there. I know people rave about Edinburgh, but...!

Our town centre is ok, but is gradually being leached out by the out-of-town retail parks. Everything changes...

I've been to Liverpool a few times, many years ago. I've been to the Cathedral, and to see the Scottish Opera somewhere in city centre.

Tanks Mum, we have started the process...it will take time...we are fine. it's very stressful though.

You probably saw SO at the Empire. Good theatre, though you can sometimes hear the trains in and out of Lime Street station. You certainly could when they were steam! (so I'm told lol!)

I'm not sure Melchi...but I think it was more of a big concert hall than a theatre...might be the Empire though, I can't recall.

I expect it was the Philharmonic Hall, then. It is a wonderful concert hall - the acoustics are superb.

:)) Like the Caird Hall in Dundee then...I have sung in there and it is amazing!

Gave it lalldy, I expect. ;-)

Apparently some Americans took the spec and all the measurements and recreated the Phil somewhere in the States. It didn't work, because the acoustic apparently has something to do with the bedrock. No matter where you sit, you can hear the slightest sound from the platform. It's also a very comfortable place with excellent sightlines. I prefer it to the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, although that's very impressive. My son and I sat in the very back row upstairs there for a Bryn Terfel concert (late tickets!) and although Bryn was a long way away, we were quite content!

Wi' a salmon, Mouldy?

:))

Mel, you're as crazy as a bedbug, I swear!
Welcome to MY world. Lol.

Bryn Terfel is a hero! :))

Amen to that! I met him after that concert, queued up for his autograph. He spent almost an hour seeing everyone who waited and he looked absolutely shattered. And I was totally speechless. All I could say was "Thank you"! My son got someone to take a photo of them shaking hands, and I just looked on like a lemon! Afterwards, I thought of a couple of things I really wanted to say. Oh well...

he would have seen the awe in your face Melchi...he will have known. anyway, if he was shattered, why say any more....only takes up time! :)) Lucky you...I've never met him, or heard him live. one of the most incredible voices of our generation. his Don Giovanni is as good as the incredible Thomas Allen....and He is the definitive Don for me! Tom is better looking I think, so he is still my favourite because he is more believe able in the role. Oh, I'm sorry, I've started banging on.....:)))) typical! Lol

My son worked with Thomas Allen - he was in the "Figaro" he directed at Scottish Opera. He is an extermely nice man, apparently, and one of my son's all time heroes.

That's wonderful Melchi! :))))) Is your son a singer too?...sorry, I've forgotten!

Yes - a bass-baritone. It's a rum life!

brilliant! :)) I hope he is enjoying his career!

Thanks. I believe he is!