😂

😂

Very good. Made me chuckle.

:-) :-)

🤣🤣

😂😂

😄

Funny. Other brands are available.

:-)

😂

🤣🤣

🐕‍🦺👮‍♂️🚔You should get news of what they're doing, but probably not see them again, but I suppose even dogs get a holiday back home once in a while.

https://youtu.be/ojULkWEUsPs

I hope Shadow's leg is better soon. Do you know what Storm will be doing yet?

Hold the front page! It may be on hold now. As I wondered, the lady hadn’t realised what I said about his age, and now has to check whether they can go through with it. Oh my nerves!

On the other hand, I did have Thames Valley contact me just after it had all been agreed and I had to tell him he was too late - maybe I will get back to him, as the lady said they may not pay as much for an older puppy. I think they should pay more - I’ve done a lot of training already for them.

Will help when they need to Storm a house! . (Sorry couldn't resist!)

🧙‍♂️🧑‍🦯🤣

Such wonderful news about Storm, he'll have the best home (except yours of course) with the police and he will be doing such a worthwhile job, you will be so proud of him. Hope Shadow recovers over the weekend. It will be a sad time saying goodbye to him on Monday, can you visit him when he joins the police force?

That's great news Beth, though I'm sure it is mixed feelings for you since you have had him for so long now. Good luck to Storm in his new life and I hope Shadow's leg starts to improve.

Good, scary 48 hours. Hopefully, you have been able to enjoy Trooping of the Colour today.

Another who's glad to hear about the improvement.

I'm so happy it's sorted,.. at least I won't have to type "boo" in capitals.

Glad you're feeling better now CS.

Feeling better and everything sorted now. Thanks everyone for their concern.

Hope it all goes well.

Me too CS

Ditto.

I do hope it all resolves.

C.S Hope your seen quicker today, and no problems collecting meds.

🤞🏻🤞🏻

Heading back to the hospital for a hearing test shortly. Picking up meds after.

Congrats, at first I thought you said a flash dance..!!!

Congratulations and well spotted, Pepi..👍!

LLAP 🖖!

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼🎉🎉🎉

👏👏👏

Yes - well done indeed.

Well done for spotting one, Pepi! 🎉

Hurray! I won one when they first started, but had no luck since then

Congratulations ! 🥂

Congrats!

Nice spot Pepi....

Congratulations on your win! 🎉

Congratulations! 🥳

Congratulations!

Well done! It seems to be quite rare for people here to see a flash draw so well spotted. Fingers crossed for an even bigger win too! :-)

🎉 Congrats 🎉 not many find them.

I'm laughing but imagine the row if it had really happened.

Very funny.

:-)

Somebody missed their calling!

That's terrible, Rosy. I hope at least that the appointment brings some help for you after waiting for it for so long.

Well after 15 month wait, I recieved an appointment this morning for the pain management programme. The appointment is 3rd August. By that time I will have waited 18 months. This programme is for people diagnosed with chronic pain syndrome, how does this help ????

I can understand the frustration with the NHS - I'm one of the low band employees and believe me, it's like we're banging our heads on a collective brick wall.

So sorry to hear you've had such a rotten day day CS. Hope things get better for you.

And they wonder why so many people turn up at A&E.

Hope your health improves soon CS

Sorry to read about all this choc spaniel

When are they going to let us readers on PMP run the NHS? It doesn’t take rocket science, or a massive budget - just a sensible, organised housewife who can run a household, budget, delegate to efficient staff and enforce good standards. There are too many chiefs and not enough indians (not a racist comment!) , too much waste, too many ‘We can’t…’ and not enough ‘Yes we can’ attitudes.

Oh no, CS, that's awful! To be honest, I'm not surprised about the communication breakdown between healthcare agencies. We've had, and know of, several examples like that recently. I'm afraid the NHS is in complete meltdown - at least it seems to be round here.

:-( I hope you're doing OK. That must have been really scary for you.

Just got home. Got steroids, but now added to the list is medication for diabetes!! (Pancreas doesn't work anyway) Oh the trials of age! 🙄🙄🙄

Hope you’re home and sorted now. What a fiasco! It doesn’t give you any faith or trust in the system does it?

I hope it is something which can be treated with antibiotics, Chocolate Spaniel. Best Wishes.

Pinkies crossed for you.

I hope they sort you out soon Miss Spaniel.

Choc Spaniel, sorry to hear about this and I'm glad the symptoms are improving. It may be that you need steroids to try and stop it being irreversible, but they need to be started as soon as possible after first experiencing the problem. I think it's up to 72 hours and they should still be effective, but the sooner they are started, the better.

Oh dear.

I had an MRI scan today at 0800. When I arrived home I was passed the appointment letter. Typed on 4th, it was posted on 10th: even by first class it wasn't likely to get here before I left at 6am. Good thing I knew the details in advance. Not urgent in my case, but if missed...

Now in A&E, waiting ........

@A Nick Name - It's known in the industry as enshittification.

Think about it, You've got one receptionist, if she's busy, the customers get an engaged tone. But by installing a loop of button presses managed by a machine, the customers get through, and you can give them something to do while they go through the procedure.

THEN you give them the engaged tone.

As a colleague once said to a group of managers, "It doesn't matter how long you make the call queue, at the end of the day you've still got to have some bums on seats to answer the calls."

They didn't like it, but it was true.

I like the way they are supposed to be giving information when you call a company as to what you want and which buttons to press, but it's so fast that there's just a jumble in your head. Or the doctors surgery where they give you all the different options but whatever you press the girl at the reception desk picks up, keeping all the patients waiting, and repeating your symptoms to them all.

Talking of 'posh' accents, I found when I moved up to Yorkshire from the South that locals here used to say I spoke 'posh'! :-D

@ Lol 63, ahhh, that reminds me .... the Campari ad! 😂😂😂

https://youtu.be/BuGUrUqHcSA?is=ix81fWbcjTSj6BXU

All together now, the Cockney exercise from the old Heineken ad...

The wa'er

In Maj-or-ker

Don't taste like

Wot it ought-ah.

Funnily enough Tudiefair, I do have a question about accents on the list to be Question of the Day, so I have added these to it. Thanks for the suggestions.

That would be a good question of the day…have you got a local accent…has it changed over the years…is it local to where you live now? I suppose a lot of people don’t realise that they’ve got an accent though 🤔😀

When I worked in a state school I was quite often labelled 'posh' which I am not. I now work part-time for a private school; whilst I do speak correctly, there seems little risk of being called 'posh'.

One does know how to speak.

Makes you think they just pull a passing stranger off the street sometimes.

After I had started my new job, the Chairman told me he had quizzed the member of staff who had spoken to me to arrange the interview on my speaking voice. She told him I was 'posh', apparently this was a big plus in my favour. I have to say that I don't 'speak posh', I just don't have a northeast accent. Sometime later one of the company's clients asked me to record the out of office/unavailable message on his phone. I did wonder if I could charge him.

Innit!?

When most companies had telephonists/receptionists it was important that they had good diction. Some of the people on TV would fail basic interviews in the real world.

Thought it was just me wondering how on earth people who cannot speak clearly manage to secure broadcasting roles. The BBC obviously don't want to offend inadequate applicants by suggesting they can't speak correctly.

England won 3 - 0 against Costa Rica in Orlando, it was delayed an hour cos of thunderstorms. . An Irish-American commentator with a trash can vocab. LOL

I expect many players, officials & spectators with games tickets will be turned away from even entering the USA.

I blame autocorrect 🤪🤪

@Chris - In our house we always refer to TV dinners as "Spanish Style" because it's On Those Trays.

p.s. Kenny - 🤣

😂

Fond memories of Manuel correcting Basil Fawlty:

Basil: [seeing Manual with three trays] Manuel.

Manuel: ¿Si?

Basil: [speaking slowly] There is too much butter on those trays.

Manuel: ¿Que?

Basil: There is too much butter... on... those... trays.

Manuel: No. No, no, senor. Not... not "on... those... trays"... No, sir.

Manuel: [counting the trays instructively] "Uno, dos, tres".

(at https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0578584/characters/nm0755133/ )

*** pedantry alert ***

Spanish for three is tres

Treize is French for thirteen

Both pronounced somewhere between trays and trez.

😂

Like that one.

:-) :-)

Another good one

😊

🤣🤣

I used to work on a shift of around 45 people - three of us shared a birthday.

Akin to this is the question: How many children do you need in a class before there is a 50% chance that two have the same birthday?

The answer is 23. I won't go through the maths on here as it's difficult to show equations and formulae, but there is a fuller explanation at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birthday_problem - it does help if you did algebra at school!

So clusters do occur frequently, simply because you run out of new data that are not matches for existing ones.

A truly random sequence will throw up clusters 'surprisingly' often.

Any 'patterns' in the the results are completely random. The system completes the draws from a database of active account ID numbers using a random number generator and the parameters of the smallest ID number to the largest. It then displays the postcode on the chosen account number as the winner of the draw. All it ‘sees’ is the account numbers of active members, it is not influenced by any other data or outside factors and is as random as a computer can be.

There is no geographical bias in the selection procedure. The computer doesn't know (or care) where anyone lives!

Can't say I've noticed that but it's irrelevant really as it's unique membership numbers that are in the draws, not actual postcodes. (KA,KT,KW,KY) Explained in the FAQ ...

https://help.pickmypostcode.com/article/14-how-are-winning-postcode-selected

ANN, presumably for counting (but not in order to sleep t' day long)

That sounds like a Yorkshire man's birthday. Same day, different sheep.

I think it means SSDD.

Same "Sheet", Different Day!

How can we help you?

Yes, I have had experience of both. TMI perhaps, but KY seemed to lack viscosity. Other brands are available.

Malc_H !!! ;-)

Any connection that you see with KY may reveal..............

And now it's KY.

Any connection that you see with snip may reveal something about your thought process or experience of surgical procedures.

:-)

I think you need to go and sit on the naughty step.

But I did smile.

😂

😀

Your poor wife! 🤣

Ah woman, thy name is misery!🤣

I can't see what you're supposed to have done wrong, Kenny.

Hope everything goes well and you have a speedy recovery, Grumpy grandad. One less thing to worry about.

You are lucky GG. The time between my daughter’s appointment for measuring and having the first lens done was 4 months and a week. The second one 4 months later. I had mine done in December 2011 and January 2012. Once they had decided what my problem was, hardly any wait at all.

Hope all goes well GG.

You were very lucky to get seen so soon. I had to wait 2 years and 4 months for my first cataract lens replacement to be done and another 4 months for the second. Luckily they sent me to the same private clinic in Gloucester so the new lenses were a perfect match. The result is brilliant. After having to wear glasses all day every day for 57 years I can now manage without. I had forgotten how clear colours were.

Good luck GG

My dad had both his done (about 12 weeks apart) last year and it has made so much difference. He was happy both times when I collected him from the centre but was glad of my dark glasses on the drive home to stop the light hurting his eyes.

Took a few weeks to settle to get new lenses for his glasses but each time we just took the old lens out on one side. He doesn’t regret it at all

Great news. Here’s hoping it all goes to plan and wishing you a speedy recovery

Good luck GG.

Poor Gg, Everyone is wishing you well and hoping it all goes well on Thursday, even you I guess. I hope it does too, but in my vast experience it's not always that easy to have an appointment arranged and for them to stick to it. We've had appointments moved so many times, or cancelled and rearranged later. Always "unexpected circumstances". In my book the consultant playing golf is rarely unexpected. We've even had letters rearranging an appointment to the same day but 15 mins difference in the appointment time. Do they really think you'll be seen on time???

All that Damsel has just said, no high speed driving for a while then Gg ;-)

Hope your op goes well GG. Sorry to hear that your eye still isn't right Kat, hope it gets better soon so you can thread those needles easily. Lol, your laser surgery sounds horrible!

GG, the op is painless & straightforward. You can see the lens being washed away & the worst part is worrying if the water will run into your ear.

I'm still not right after my op but that's unusual, eventually all will be well. I'm a slow mender is all. Worst part now is not being able to thread my over locker needles! Still making clothes but can't wait to get this eye sorted out so the second one can be done. Oh, & so I can read a book rather than audiobooks! Good luck, be patient, patient!🤞

Wishing you well, Grumpy G.

About 20 years ago I had laser eyesight correction.

(Alert for the squeamish, don't read the rest of this.)

I didn't have the lens replaced, but the process was to first numb the eye with loads and loads and loads of drops - the surgeon was almost pouring them in - then with a special tool, he sliced off the very top layer of the lens just a few microns thick. Then I had to stare at a red dot inside a machine while a computer guided laser went click click click and I smelled burnt flesh. The flap of skin was then put back over the lens, and then with a soft plastic brush he smoothed the flap of skin back into place, making sure to get any tiny air bubbles out from underneath. All the time I could see what was happening because I was fully concious and my eyelid was held open by some contraption so that I wasn't able to blink.

Immediately, the whole procedure was repeated on the other eye.

Now you'd think that with all those anaesthetic drops that it wouldn't be painful. But by the time it was all finished, I had cramp in the backs of both calves, and my toes had all but ripped the soles off my shoes.

Just how our NHS should work. 😍

Hope all goes well Gg. 🤞

Good stuff GG hope it goes alright 👍

I was on the way to the optician the other day and bumped into my mate. "What you doing after getting your new glasses?" He asked.

"I'll see" I said!!😜😜

Great news. Hope everything goes smoothly and you recover quickly.

That's wonderful. Hope the op goes well.

That's awful Cakey, when my mother was dying they were still trying to take blood in hospital and she was screaming out in pain. Eventually they sent for the expert from the blood department and he filled a surgical glove with hot water and rested it on her arm - that worked, but it was still very stressful and I don't know why they needed to take blood anyway. The image is still in my memory.

Hope your arm recovers soon.

One visit to have bloods taken the nurse had trouble finding somewhere to get blood from my arm. She then said "this will hurt" and tried between my thumb and forefinger. She wasn't wrong about the pain. Next she tried between my forefinger and middle finger saying this would really hurt. She wasn't wrong again.

My next door neighbour was a haematologist at Southampton General Hospital, but they decided to move him to Bournemouth and close his department at Southampton. He refused to do the much longer, more stressful drive every day and either took early retirement or was made redundant. What a waste of a senior consultant. As far as I know there is a department still running at Southampton General Hospital - definitely the blood samples go there, not to Bournemouth.

When I worked in a hospital in Romford I used to run bloods to the pathology lab & bring back the result slips, there was just one wee pink top bottle with a label on it & a form request.

Nowadays they take several unmarked bottles, each twice that size (8x the amount of blood), green, yellow, lilac, & blue top, one for each test.

When I was in hospital in Dublin, Plebs took blood twice daily, & every patients arms were black & blue after a week.

Phlebotomists! My wife was one and often goes on about the incompetence. She went recently for some bloods but due to two different problems they actually arranged two separate appointments for bloods. The nurse was pretty unwilling to do the second lot as she'd have to write or print out a second form. Fortunately she was persuaded to do so. My wife was such a nice person when we first met but being together so long I'm guessing a good slap and the nurse agreed to do both lots together. In fact two lots shouldn't really be needed as it can be passed on for the further tests but the lab would need half a brain to do that.

An exciting day for you then Cakey ;-)

Hope your bruising goes down soon Cakey.

Well, I hope the troublemaker was pleased with himself!🤣🤣🤣, putting you out like that! Humph! Seriously though, what a blooming day. Hope your war wounds are soon gone! 🤞

@ Anonymous, good tip!

What a day, Cakey! I hope the bruising goes down soon.

Make sure you drink lots of water before having your blood taken it help the vein inflate and blood letting easier

Happy, it's good that they still like you after being in charge for a few days. Enjoy the rest!

Back home since yesterday evening and worn out after looking after those two. Had message from youngest grandchild this morning, we miss you lots xx. Which was nice to recieve.

Oh blimey, that’s just like husband’s dormitory when he was at Royal Navy school, Holbrook. It was a boarding school where the main focus was training the boys to go in the Navy, so morning drill, PT, rope handling etc… They had a parade ground, and one boy in their dorm used to snore like a steam train in an echo chamber - kept everyone awake . Eventually, after chucking pillows at him, yelling to wake him up, to no avail, they pushed his bed out of the door, dumped him in the middle of the parade ground and went back to a good night’s sleep. The next morning the lad woke up in the middle of lines of sniggering troops lined up in uniform, finding the senior NCO poking him with his cane. Husband said the whole dorm got extra duties for a week as punishment, but the lad was moved.

At boarding school if we didn't get up & wash when told it was stripped bed, then a cup of cold water, but if you were really unlucky your dorm-mates used to carry you to the bathroom & dump you in a cold water bath, as the dorm had to be inspected & bedmaking passed before we could go downstairs to clean our shoes.

Oh yes. No messing. His mum was my best friend from school, aged 11, and she always said to me that if her kids needed discipline in my house, I was to feel free to tell them - so I always have, and they are devoted to me!😊

It might have been "normal" when he was at home, but you'd think he'd at least be more considerate in somebody else's home! At least you told him, Beth.

When my friend invited herself, husband, son and dog to stay for a few days (had come from Scotland to see other son and his partner’s new baby, then wondered why the partner didn’t feel up to having them all stay in the small flat with them!) I had to put their son (aged 20) on a Z-bed in the dining end of the kitchen. He asked to have a shower, so I said yes, of course, but he was in there 2 hrs! I banged on the door in the end, said Come on, other people want the bathroom, but it was still nearly an hour for him to come out. His mother just shrugged and said Yes, it was quite normal. Not here, I said, we won’t have any hot water now if he’s had it running all that time. What the blue blazes can you do in a shower for 2 hrs? He also stayed in bed till lunchtime every day, despite me asking him to get up, as I wanted to use the dining table, but I was just ignored - his mother said he stayed up playing online games with his mates until about 3am most nights. Eventually I had enough, marched in, said, I’ve asked you three times now, I’m not asking any more. I ripped back the duvet, threw it on the floor and said, You have 10 minutes or you get a jug of cold water over you. He got up. I told my friend that if she came again, he could stay home, or stay at his mate’s house.

@Happy. Hope you son's eye problem is soon resolved.

I hope you aren't on a water meter at that rate. If it's a combi boiler the gas bill won't be helped either! My ex DIL only got out of the shower when she'd used the whole systern of hot water. Gone & unlamented! 👋

Happy, an hour in the shower !!!!!!!!!!, Good grief, I hope they are on a water meter!

Peonies and daffodils never stand a chance - they always seem to get flattened. Hope your son’s eyes go on OK Happy.

Happy, have they tried pressure-reducing drops for your son? That's what I've been on for some time - Monoprost in my case. My husband has Latanoprost/Timolol eye drops for his glaucoma. We both had tests earlier this week. My eye pressure is increasing a bit again in one eye and the opthalmologist recommended eating oily fish regularly (as well as continuing with the drops of course). So we're both going to try to eat more sardines, etc. Hope your son can get his eyes sorted without having to have an op.

Ditto. 🙏🏻

Hope your boy gets sorted out, eye sight is precious...

Shyboy, they had done exactly the same to my peonies last weekend.

In Havant this morning, raining on and off. Gol had just got back into the car and it was an absolute deluge. Waited a while then set off, still chucking it down. Over the bridge to Hayling and the sun was out and everywhere dry. Happy, you can share your forecast storms with us, the garden still needs lots of water. The strong winds have blown the petals off all the peony flowers.

I agree with Marie , they should have contacted you to let you know that the menu was limited . Glad you found somewhere else to go . Good luck to your son 🤞x

Hopefully you are over the bad things and from now on will get better.

Let’s hope your curry makes up for yesterday.Dont work too hard!

How frustrating, Happy. They should have at least contacted you to let you know that options were limited before you arrived.

Sorry to hear about your son's health issues. I hope his appointment goes well tomorrow.

Nor mine Beth8it!!

Not in my house!

I plough on thoroughly through the rough although I cough and hiccough.

Seven different pronunciations of '...ough'. At least we've already killed 'hiccough' and replaced it with 'hiccup', and the sooner we all start spelling through 'thru' as the accepted version the better. Then we can assassinate the rest.

Kum the revolooshun ...

Semper fidelis.

& to think some kids are school struggled with Latin! At least it's consistent!

GHOTI spells fish.

Don't believe me?

Take the word Enough. GH makes the F sound.

Women. The letter o sounds like "i"

Station, The ti sounds like "sh"

So GHOTI spells fish.

Saphicat, your reply made me laugh 😃

WE have a local shop called City Cobbler.

Why isn't it pronounced Kitty Sobler?

@ Fusby - it always has been in our house 😂😂

I bet you're fun at parties Anonymous 😂

English isn't my first language, so I often struggle with these sayings

You all made me laugh.

No wonder they say English is a hard language to learn.

Or Sloo, or Slow...

And shouldn't Slough be pronounced Sluff?

Agreed Kenny b

Should "room" really be "romb" too?

Domb? Lomb?

Don'tcha love English!

That was very good 👍

It definitely should !

Congratulations..👍!

LLAP 🖖!

What an angel you are spending your winnings to help others. 😘

Ditto that!

A win well deserved in that case.👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

🥳🥳🥳

Congratz Flossy on both achievements.

Congratulations Flossy , and well done with what you do for your local maternity 😊

Well done flossy on all counts.

Well done flossy...

Congratulations flossy and well done knitting for a lovely cause

We crochet bedspreads using wool and have from time to time put requests on Freegle and done reasonably well from it. You need to check it as the last time it smelled really bad of smoking and had moths in it. Every other time had been great.

Congratulations 🧶🧶 🧶

FORGIVE CAPS PMP.

FLOSSY,

DEFI’KNIT’ELY A WELL DESERVED WIN FOR A GREAT CAUSE 🎉

🎉 Congrats 🎉

Well done. Keep knitting xx

Well done Flossy, both on your win & your generous knitting 😃 I'm sure the babies, parents & nurses appreciate your kindness 🤱🏼🩷🩵

You're very welcome. I'm glad the money is going towards something for such a worthy cause.

Or, of course, as memorably written and sung by the Wolfe Tones regarding the British forces in Ireland:

"Come out ye black and tans, come out and fight me like a man

Show your wife how you won medals down in Flanders

Tell her how the *** made you run like hell away

From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra

Come tell us how you slew them old Arabs two by two

Like the Zulus they had spears, bows and arrows

How brave you faced one with your 16-pounder gun

And you frightened them damn natives to their marrow"

I'll leave you to guess what the *** stand for!

Doesn’t anyone tell these morons that having a knife means they must be cowards because they need a weapon to force their will on someone. I compare it to the old Victorian explorers who shot a tiger while safely seated ten feet above it on an elephant, and holding a rifle. Not exactly brave, were they.

I can think of a million other ways I would want my name to become famous.

Where on earth do they get all these weapons from?

Agreed ANN. Back in the day we wanted a job but now they want to be famous & carry a knife because it will get them a name.

I haven't won, but I've lost numerous times. I'm old school where I don't see everyone as a winner even though they didn't win. Doesn't set kids up well for later life. No wonder so many kids don't want to work and expect it all on a plate.

We've had many members win multiple times. Having won previously has no impact on your chances of winning again. The system completes the draws from a database of active account ID numbers using a random number generator and the parameters of the smallest ID number to the largest. It then displays the postcode on the chosen account number as the winner of the draw. All it ‘sees’ is the account numbers of active members, it is not influenced by any other data or outside factors and is as random as a computer can be.

Quite a few have won twice, a few three times. The biggest winner on here, just once, won on the Stackpot.

https://pickmypostcode.com/blog/definitely-worth-the-wait-our-biggest-ever-winner/

Definitely no more smart lanes being built. I don’t know if they will keep them as additional lanes and just put in safety lay-bys or go back to using them as hard shoulder lanes. I know which I would want if I was trapped in a car in an accident.

Hi Beth, not heard anything about doing away with smart lanes although I think there's been a slow down in the rush to create more. Hope so. I always think of my late BIL & his wife & what could have been their fate if they had to 'Go left!' how could two severely mobility challenged old folk get over the barrier to safety as expected! OK, maybe there has to be a way of reducing pensioner numbers but squished on a smart lane seems a bit .....🤬

They’re already doing away with smart lanes on motorways, so it may not be long before smart meters go the same way. Maybe appliances will be sold with a reading that ‘max setting uses x amount electricity’

They always say they are smets2 smart meters but they are not, they have to use up the old smets1 meters first.

My smart meters never connect to my new suppliers, so each time I switch the engineer has to change both for some other smart meters, & I have to give manual readings till it is done..

We found out that power bills for one of the many staircases in another block in our estate was never billed (for 15yrs) since built. We were submitting all the communal meter readings in each block monthly, & our factoring Co was recieving & paying the bills & charging owners accordingly. We changed Factoring Co, & someone queried the "extra" readings.

Lol 63. I agree. "Smart Aleck"

Recently had a new smart meter (there was one when we moved in last December) it shows on the website that daily amounts are being notified yet we haven't had a bill since it was installed. Puzzles me, but now under investigation.

Pretty much anything with "Smart" in the title has got major design flaws. Smart motorways with no emergency hard shoulders come immediately to mind.

I had that survey - I avoided putting Smart Meter as long as possible, just to be bloody-minded, but had to say at the end why I won't request one. It was a coincidence that I had a recording of Martin Lewis on TV at the time, saying that our electricity bills are all higher than they need to be, to cover the cost of rolling out all the SMs, so effectively we are paying more in order to get a reduction.

It would! 😈

The idea of sellotaping a cat to the widow tickled me! 🤣🤣🤣

We often get unconscious birds on the conservatory roof after they've flown into into our bedroom window which is the only one in the room, luckily not many dead ones.

It’s not me with the problem - we do get lots of birds hitting the window when they fly up from the bird table, but only one fatality in 47 years - we must have soft glass!, 😊

Try sellotaping a cat to your window.

FORGIVE CAPS PMP.

I WONDER WHAT PLANS, IF ANY, HE HAS FOR THE GARDEN - OR SHOULD I SAY ACRE PLUS? ❤️ 🪴 🌺 🌳

Beth, you could put the outline of a sparrowhawk or similar on the window. Saves the bother of cleaning off pigeon residue.

@Beth8It, my house was built with a through lounge/dining area with a window front and back, and the back one (which is one large pane with no designs or fake lead frames on it) nearly always has the outline of a pigeon on it where they crash into it. The pigeon always leaves an outline because they're such filthy creatures, rats with wings.

Still, it only ever seems to be pigeons, so never mind eh?

I can understand the majority of Omaze house winners choosing to sell up. The upkeep must be horrendous - swimming pools, pool houses, outside kitchens, games rooms to name but a few. The council tax, property tax, fuel bills, insurances, and general household bills must be eye watering.

However, do I feel a smidgin of jealousy of these winners shown happily toasting their good fortune on their win....too right I do!

When you see the photos with all the light streaming out of the huge glass windows, you realise what it will cost to put up curtains or blinds, get the windows cleaned inside and out... there is a new house just being built near us, and he has lots of very big windows, including one as an angle where two panes meet at right-angles. This is high up, with trees all round. I was speaking to him recently and asked how many bird-strikes he had already had, as I can see them trying to fly straight across the corner through the glass. Has anyone noticed how there seems to be a trend for people to put windows directly opposite each other, at the end of say a lounge/dining room, or kitchen/diner? Kirsty Allsopp is a great one for advocating this, and architects keep saying that it will let the light in, you will be able to see right down the room etc - they don't realise that everyone outside will have a perfect view into your room, too, whereas offset windows prevent this.

Don't mind me - not much sleep last night, so having a grouch day today.

It worked out very well for one couple and their three kids - they won a 4-bed house that was only minutes from their rented property, along with £100k cash: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/apr/04/too-good-to-be-true-what-it-is-really-like-to-win-a-3m-dream-home

But the competition has never attracted me. Looking after an absurdly huge house - even via a property management company - would be just too much hassle! And the odds of winning are high - at least one in a million.

I know one family who kept for 2 years, using as a holiday home for friends and family. Then sold it.

I also heard about a family who’ve decided to let the house via Sykes holiday rentals.

With the £250,000 cash that winners also get, you do have several choices. 😊

Don't think that many winners actually occupy their winning properties, just sell them.

Thanks for this info Happy. Perhaps we'll get down there again one day to re-live some very happy memories.

Titchy... Bernard's in Denmead is still going strong, as just looked it up.

My nan and Pop had a general store at Purbrook, near Waterlooville.

Happy, I hope your anniversary meal together was all you wished for. Congratulations.

You've brought back some lovely memories for me by mentioning Waterlooville. It's where my dearly loved (and missed) Godmother moved to, after living next door to us in Shropshire. We always took her to Barnards in Denmead when visiting her. I wonder if it's still open?

Happy Anniversary to you all

Not bored at all, that was lovely. Happy anniversary!

🥂Happy Anniversary to you both🥂

Not even half that time for me.

Happy anniversary from someone who hasn't been married as long as you.

Happy anniversary to you both. 🎊

Happy anniversary and enjoy your meal.

HA 2 U both, he might be annoying at times but you know you love him. Stay Happy...

Happy anniversary to you both

Happy anniversary!

🎉🎊 Happy Anniversary, Mr and Mrs Happy 🎊🎉

Happy Anniversary from me too , enjoy your meal . How lovely that you miss each other even after one day 🥰 x

Happy Anniversary, enjoy your celebratory lunch. I liked your post on the ups and downs of family life and how sweet you both feel the same after 52 years.

Yes, happy anniversary to you both and to daughter and SIL. It’s nice to be missed, but at least you will be back together soon.

Happy Anniversary.🍾🥂

Happy Anniversary, Mr and Mrs Happy! Enjoy your meal together. How lovely that he is already missing you and it's only been a day.

Yes, it’s just on now - too late to send any in.

Beth. Yes, I used to be middle-aged but that's a long time ago.😄 If it wasn't for the Government changing the goalposts I'd now be retired.

Nick, by all means buy a bike but ride it sensibly. No need 'for high-volume endurance exercise'

A friend at work became ill when cycling and died - it was tragic - he was only in his 40s and the kind of person who would do anything for you. A Nick Name, a friend has an electric bike and they do take a bit of strength to get on them. Don't think they are the answer.

Cycle with your eyes shut, Nick, so you can’t read the report, and your eyes can persuade your heart that you’re asleep. By the way - middle-aged?