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User

Posted 17 Aug 2024 at 01:37

Hi Chaps,

It’s late Friday night, the missus has a friend around, they are on their 6th bottle and putting the world to rights. Well, I mean I don’t want to be sexist or anything but I do my best to try not to over hear. Conversation goes from Climate change in one breath to high heals the next, Who am I? ( just the mug who pays for the bottles 😬),

Anywsy, hope all is well with all you chaps. The footy season now underway, yippee! Also, just to mention, so to blot out the nosey neighbour as the missus keeps moaning about, (trouble is when you’re having breakfast and glance out the patio door, you look right across at the neighbours front door and she is always there.) So I have built two massive planters. I’m going to put these by the fence and attach a 7ft screen to them which will blot out the nosey neighbour once and for all 😀. Nearly ready, they will be in place and fully functional before kickoff tomorrow afternoon 😬.

Goodnight Zebedee, goodnight Florence, night night Johnboy 😴😴😴

User

Posted 19 Aug 2024 at 09:19

Hi Spongebob.

Perhaps the ladies high heels/climate change conversation were linked. Maybe they find that the air quality was slightly better when they are that little bit taller.🙂

Unfortunately I've had another visit from the Grim Reaper. ⚰️ Like buses. None for ages, the two come along together.

My best mate has just passed away. He had a mild form of a rare disease, mucopolysaccharidosis, which had affected him all his life. (74 years).

The disease had very debilitating side effects, but he managed to work most of his life, and coped well.

For the last 15 years he was confined to a wheelchair and needed carers to help him go to the toilet and bathing.

Despite these difficulties he had a fantastic sense of humour and a very cheerful dispostion. I used to visit him every week and always took a couple of bottles of real ale. Whilst my wife went shopping, me and him would sup our ale and put the world to rights.

I don't know if it was wrong of me, but during my cancer scare, I found visiting him helped me. I used to see the extreme difficulties he was dealing with daily and it put my problems into perspective.

I'll miss him very much.

Sorry for turning this conversation into a obituary column.🙂

Life goes on. It's great that the footy season has started. Can anyone other than Man City or Arsenal win the Premier League this year?

Edited by member 19 Aug 2024 at 10:36 | Reason: Additional text

User

Posted 19 Aug 2024 at 10:25

Hi Guys,

Adrian, very sorry to hear about your best mate. That must be a blow. I can imagine you visiting helped you both through difficult times. Sometimes you just need to ramble on to someone , you dont need any feedback you just need to let it out.

SpongeBob did you manage to get the planters done before Kickoff?

We managed to wash the wife’s car yesterday although i think she did most of the work. I did the wheels and all the trim bits. Knocked me out so needed a little sleep in the afternoon.

Got as few little jobs today so hopefully i can stay awake..!

Suffering a bit after the last chemo. Metal mouth is absolutely disgusting and I didn’t even have any dinner yesterday as I couldn’t face it. Hoping it starts to ease off today. Even wine and beer taste awful….🤢

Hoping Spurs can give me a lift tonight against Leicester. Shame it’s on Sky as i’ve only got BT sport. Saw some good new recruits the other Saturday at Spurs vs Bayern. Young Bergvall (18) looks the business and i can see him getting a few starts in the Prem.

Right better get on with my jobs now before i nod off …

Take care guys,

Phil

Edited by member 19 Aug 2024 at 10:26 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 19 Aug 2024 at 17:05

Sorry to hear about the passing of your best mate Adrian, it must be a huge loss. I don't think it was wrong that you sought support from him with your cancer, I think it's what friendship is all about. I'm sure he found great strength in your friendship too.

Spongebob, I think your neighbour is probably a bit envious of the six bottles of wine your wife and her friend had to themselves.

Phil, yet more chemo! Not being able to enjoy food and drink must be a real kicker. At least you've got the footie to enjoy.

We were busy yesterday attacking the inlaw's overgrown garden. Believe it or not, Harlow recycling centre has an appointments only system! We ended up having to take a car load of green waste over the border to Hertfordshire, it's bonkers! Rant over.

And today, I've just got back from the dentist where I had my first root canal. Almost an hour in the chair and I can't feel half my face now. I have to go back in three weeks to finish the job with a crown. It's costing me the price of a holiday for two, ouch!

Cheers everyone.

Kev.

User

Posted 19 Aug 2024 at 17:17

Hi Chaps,

Very sorry to hear about more grief for you Adrian, the dealer has a habit of dealing out crap cards at times - chin up, here's hoping for some good times to come 🤞.

Yes, Phil, the planters have turned out fine and I did manage to complete the build before kick off 😬. They are two super heavy boxes (90x60x60cm) made out of decking timber and fence posts. Too heavy to lift but means (hopefully) that the wind won't blow the screen over, which I've put on top of the planters. I'm planning to grow some veggies, in fact garlic, onions, herbs and stuff. The planters are too high for the dogs to be able to pee in. The nosey neighbours are not impressed though, the daughter came out to tell me what she thinks about it 😂. Seems to be annoyed, that they no longer have a view of my patio.

Sounds like you are coping well with the chemo, keeping busy (fatigue allowing), a good tactic 👍. Sounds like you have the metal mouth bad, it got me more towards the end of my sessions. There is some advice in the chats, such as eating pineapples but I just lived with it. You'll be glad to know that the taste buds do return to normal after it is all over.

I'll be watching the footy tonight, expecting big things from the Spurs this season, and even more I hope for some entertainment from 'Postecoglou ball'. It'll be interesting to see how Leicester City get on.

All the best

Spongebob

User

Posted 19 Aug 2024 at 17:28

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Believe it or not, Harlow recycling centre has an appointments only system! We ended up having to take a car load of green waste over the border to Hertfordshire, it's bonkers! Rant over.

Hi Kev,

Wowee! - APPOINTMENTS ONLY!!!!! Just to get rid of rubbish, what is going on? Barmy 😠. In my neck of the woods the Council have this year seen fit to close our local tip (Recycling Centre), so we now have 20-30 minute drive to the next place which not surprisingly has half hour long queues to get in. As result there's now abundant fly tipping all over the shop. Who are these idiots making these decisions, I doubt that many people voted them in with a manifesto of closing rubbish tips.

I could rant away all night on this one! 😁

User

Posted 19 Aug 2024 at 19:15

Hi Spongebob,

Apparently you don't have to book if you have a disabled badge though. So one of us would have had to take the mother in law to the tip and unload a full car load single handed, she can't help as she's had a stroke.

Weird that there's a proliferation of fly tipping. Coincidence eh 🤷🏻‍♂️

They'll probably spend a fortune installing cctv everywhere to try and catch the fly-tippers now.

Cheers,

Kev.

User

Posted 20 Aug 2024 at 09:58

Hi guys. Our local recycling centres are all booking only. Seems to work ok here as there’s never a queue. Occasionally you can even book for the same day.

We have 2 I can go to, one is close but doesn’t take everything. The other one is only 10 mins away .

I know they also charge quite a lot for ‘trade’ recycling so we always try to separate our waste like metal etc.

I do love a clear out . 😁…

Cheers

Phil

User

Posted 20 Aug 2024 at 11:16

Sorry to hear your sad news Adrian. Sounds a great friendship you had.

Take care everyone

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 09:32

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

Hi guys. Our local recycling centres are all booking only.

We're very lucky here. I live in a village in North Lincs. The recycling tip is only 2 miles away. You can go as many times as you want without booking.

Talking of recycling. Two years ago, I bought two big compost bins. Since then I've never used our brown bin, and every single bit of garden waste including hedge trimming have all been composted. Composting has now become an obsession. 🙂

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 17:05

Hang on Adrian..

Where I live, the brown bin is for landfill. Green bin is for garden waste (and have to pay a fee for collection). Except when I lived in Stevenage, where it was brown.

I reckon councils flip a coin when choosing bin colours.

P.S. tonight's tipple is "Old Midnight Hen" a stout apparently.

Cheers all.

Kev.

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 17:46

Here, it's brown bin - garden waste. Black bin - general waste. Burgundy bin - plastic and cardboard. Then crates for tins and glass.

A stout old midnight hen sounds nice. I married one. 😁

PS: Is your vine producing grapes yet?

Edited by member 21 Aug 2024 at 17:48 | Reason: Not specified

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 18:11

Four bunches on one vine which is white. Plenty of foliage but no grapes on the pink one. I'm training them up the south facing garage wall and they're doing well so far. Fingers crossed for next year 🤞🏻

At my old place, I used to get enough grapes to make around a gallon and a half of white wine. Quality was a bit hit and miss though, usually a bit so so but occasionally I'd open a bottle that tasted quite nice.

Cheers.

Kev.

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 19:18

I used to dabble with homemade wine. Cherry was my favourite. Trouble is the blackbirds discovered the cherry tree in the garden after a couple of years and they haven’t left me one cherry in all the years since.

The best non grape wine I made was blackberry but that’s a pfaff, and takes about 2-3 years before it’s ready. BlackBerry is the nearest you can get to grapes for wine making.

I also have gooseberries and I tried making gooseberry wine some years ago. Trouble is the wine taste unsurprisingly like gooseberries, very tarte. I have some bottles of it still in the garage, they’ll be about 25 years old - not sure if I’d risk drinking them now.

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 20:04

I'm going to have to throw down the virtual gauntlet Spongebob, and challenge you to crack open a bottle of your gooseberry wine. Maybe try it out on your neighbour 😁

I made apple wine years ago from a neighbour's apples which had a weird texture so no one ever ate them, it was like eating cotton wool, the wine wasn't bad though.

Cheers.

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 22:27

Evening gents

Sorry I've been AWOL from this pub for a while, but I've not been feeling tippety top or very sociable. I'm sorry to hear about your mate Adrian, as that's rubbish. I lost my best mate a few years ago to a heart attack, and it knocked me for six.

I can't really comment on the football as I don't follow it. I'm a rugby man, so am eagerly awaiting the start of the season, to see if Saints can do well again this year!

Keep smiling guys.

Ian.

User

Posted 21 Aug 2024 at 23:09

Hi Ian.

I'm sorry to hear you feel a bit rough.

I was going to pm you but didn't like to bother you.

I presume incontinence is still a problem?

As for my best mate, he actually passed away 3 weeks ago. It was his funeral today at the local crem. It was a lovely celebration of his life. I must admit I did start blubbering.

His brother had organised a bit of a do at a local club after the service. It was well attended and he'd got a lovely buffet done by a local supermarket. The only problem was he'd forgotten to order plates. The club doesn't do food, and had no plates, so people were having to use tea cup saucers to put their food on. They only held half a sarnie and a mini pork pie. I was starving, used my initiative, and used a beer tray. My wife cringed. 🙂

Edited by member 22 Aug 2024 at 00:00 | Reason: Typo

User

Posted 22 Aug 2024 at 08:39

Hi Ian,

Sorry to hear that you're not feeling great. I think that even though you've had the operation to remove your cancerous prostate, the battle isn't over by a long way, but I'm sure you're making progress.

A couple of months after my operation when the euphoria had died down, it all felt like a huge anticlimax. I started to feel flat and even a little crap. Eventually I had some counselling which helped me.

Counselling isn't everyone's cup of tea, and I know you lost your best mate, but is there someone you can talk to?

I'm a rugby man too. One of the kids lives over the road from Franklin's Gardens, can see the top of the tower from her window. I'm not a Northampton fan though.

Come on you Sarries! 😁👍🏼

Cheers,

Kev.

Edited by member 22 Aug 2024 at 08:43 | Reason: Typo

User

Posted 22 Aug 2024 at 09:16

Originally Posted by: Online Community Member

A couple of months after my operation when the euphoria had died down, it all felt like a huge anticlimax. I started to feel flat and even a little crap.

I felt exactly the same Kev. On the run up to surgery I was completely focused on the procedure itself. After it, I spent a couple of months trying to convince myself that it wouldn't effect my life. Then I hit a wall, realising it had. That period of despondency lasted for a few months.

Since then, I've gradually adapted to a slightly new way of life. I do think it's changed me. My wife says I'm more grumpy than I used to be, and I definitely feel more fatigued. I don't think the tiredness can be related to the prostatectomy, that was 18 months ago. Perhaps it's because I'm still not sleeping as well as I used to, or maybe it's due to other medical conditions.

Every afternoon about 3pm, I feel completely knackered and usually doze off. Sometimes I even go to bed for an hour or two. Apparently you can combat this by going for a brisk walk, but I just don't feel I have the energy to do this. Plus my legs are knackered, caused by doing too much exercise when I was younger. They make walking unpleasurable.

Gardening gets me plenty of fresh air and a bit of exercise, but even that is becoming more difficult than it was.

I know I'm much more fortunate than many on here, who are having to battle with very unpleasant side effects of their continuing treatments. I keep telling myself how lucky I am, even when I feel that I'm ready for the scrap yard.

This afternoon I meeting up with three old colleagues. You can guarantee we'll all end up moaning about how ill we are, but it'll pass an hour or two. 😁

Edited by member 22 Aug 2024 at 12:50 | Reason: Additional text

User

Posted 22 Aug 2024 at 14:59

Good afternoon chaps. Just checking in👍

Love hearing all the banter about wine and getting old and crotchety… I’m actually trying to go alcohol free at the moment. Especially as my taste buds are still a bit deranged. Getting better slowly but not had a dinner for 3 days until last night when I had a bout a half portion. Another couple of days and I’ll be gone again I expect. Then it all starts again next Chemo 🤦‍♀️.

I’ve been to Franklin Gardens a few times as our good friends lived nearby . Very friendly clubhouse where I’ve eaten a few times . Our friends now live in Exmoor so no more Rugby.

Just done some painting on the landing. Well cutting in actually , which is worse than rolling, especially the skirting as my knees aren’t so good nowadays. Doing the rolling with help from the missus at the weekend. Feeling a bit guilty as I’m sat on my arse thinking about watching an episode of ‘Shed and buried’…

Watched a Car SOS episode the other day where they did an RS2000 Mk 2 . I had a new one in 1980 and I loved that car. Be worth a fortune now.

Right, onwards and upwards . I think a cup of coffee is necessary - not sure how the chocolate biscuits will taste 😬…

Take care guys,

Phil

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