Diary summary weekending 4th January 2026

[Caw1]

Morning everyone..

Where are you all??
Hope I’m not stepping on your toes LM…
I’m sure everyone’s busy gearing up for New Years Eve ready to party 🎉🎉🥳🥂.
Looks like we’re in for some wintery weather 🥶🥶 so wrap up warm and stay safe!
Wishing everyone a very Happy, healthy New Year.

Caroline

[Gillg]

Just returned from a Big Shop to take us over the New Year and found lots of customers buying bulk packs of beer, etc.  There were large piles of Q S Choc tubs, so others may well have decided that the reduced size of the chocolates and the large amount of paper wrapping around them made it not worth while to buy them this year.  Actually it makes more sense to buy the "Refill Packs" instead, then you don't have to ask yourself what to do with those oddly shaped tubs when they are empty.

Wishing you all a very happy and healthy New Year.   Can we hope that 2026 will bring peace around the world?

[Caw1]

Gillg - I agree re QS.. my daughter bought a box.. tubs so much smaller and what have they done to the wrappers they look like glorified coloured grease proof paper!
My OH loves a chocolate orange..😳😳 the size has reduced dramatically and I notice from the ingredients it’s now called flavoured chocolate!

Let’s hope 2026 is a more peaceful one.

Caroline

[Roobarb]

We can but hope Gillg, sadly there's always trouble somewhere.

It's been quite a bright morning although we had a short shower that I suspect had some little white pellets in it. Anyway, I've been out gardening after that. Yes, sounds mad but I wanted to rescue my geraniums from the garden and the big pots so I could put them somewhere they might stand a chance of surviving. It's forecast to get really cold from tomorrow so it was now or never. Wrapped up in several layers, I wasn't feeling cold, came in when it started raining.

[Caw1]

My goodness Roobarb you are brave going out in this weather!

The furthest we get is fetching logs from the back shed up the garden and chucking things on the compost heap!

The only geraniums I have are in a big pot outside the front door, they’re sheltered there as they’re under the overhand that runs along the front of the house.. it hard to believe but there are still flowering! I’m sure though after this coming cold snap they won’t be!

I was surprised to see that some of the spring bulbs are already about 3-4inches above ground..
my cyclamen in the little brick surround where the wisteria is have been flowering since I put them in around late Oct time…
The blue tits have been examining the two boxes we’ve got but not seen any established in them yet.

Caroline

[Roobarb]

I had some lunch then as the rain was short lived I went out again, geraniums all rescued now. 
Yes, some of mine were still in flower, I had to prune them down which was a shame but I suspect that the weather would have seen them off anyway. My garden waste bin is nearly half full, it's a long time till they'll be emptying it again.
It's looking a bit grey out now but I don't know whether that's just the light fading, it still gets dark so early despite it apparently being a minute later a day.

[louisa maud]

Hello folks,  no toes trodden on, please don't worry, had a busy day yesterday.

Because I only drive locally I took my husband by bus to hospital to have  both cataracts  done, it took us 2.5 hours  and we were so cold,  he was supposed to gave a general anesthetic,  not his idea at all, then got talked into having  a sedative, I wasn't allowed to stay with him so left at 2pm to get the bus back so that I was home when his transport  arrived, he arrived slightly unsteady but had a good night's sleep and is better today, he is concerned that one eye is misty but it is early days.

On the 4 bedded ward the radiators were not on, really didn't understand that when it was so cold a day, he was given the flimsiest  of blankets, so he covered himself with his jacket he travelled  in but the radiator  still stayed cold,  fortunately he didn't go into one of his spasms when he gets cold, even I was cold and I had my coat on.


Take care, keep warm

LM

.

[Jebber]

Happy New Year everyone.

 Was surprised to see some of my Daffodils are already in bud, the first sign of Spring, it can’t come soon enough, just hope it is not such a wet one as this year.🤞

[River Tyne Lass]

Happy New Year to everyone from me too.

LM, I'm glad to hear your husband got through his cataracts op.  Like you say, it is early days so hopefully the misty eye will clear soon.  Sorry to hear the ward was so cold .. not what you would hope for when going into hospital.

I can see outside in my street that my neighbours' cars are frosted over.  Oh, I really dislike this cold weather.