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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 24, 2021 11:59:44 GMT
Woke up this morning to the news that our heating was declining to work. Fortunately the heating company were able to send an engineer within a couple of hours who has patched it up, pending a new part which will have to be ordered & probably won't arrive until the new year. So we get to spend the next week or two praying that the heating keeps working.
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Post by peggs on Dec 24, 2021 18:49:14 GMT
eek, fingers crossed for you Dawnstar, been there and it's always there that ours might go again at any moment. Let's hope we all keep nice and warm.
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3,926 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 24, 2021 20:14:23 GMT
peggs It's the second time in just over a year that our boiler has broken so probably time to start thinking about a replacement (before gas boilers are banned!).
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Post by The Matthew on Dec 24, 2021 20:56:43 GMT
I had my boiler replaced a few years ago. It was an old and inefficient back boiler; scrapping it cut my heating bill in half.
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Post by Marwood on Dec 24, 2021 22:20:01 GMT
Now I’m off until the New Year, I went to see The Matrix: Resurrections this afternoon in the far less than packed surroundings of the Vue in Leicester Square. Goodness, why did they bother, I don’t want to read a load of baloney about how meta this is and how it’s real theme is the trans struggle: we’ve now had about eight hours of films since the first Matrix film and the storyline has not progressed one inch, there was no reason to make this beyond coining it in a little bit more.
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Dec 25, 2021 17:02:56 GMT
Now I’m off until the New Year, I went to see The Matrix: Resurrections this afternoon in the far less than packed surroundings of the Vue in Leicester Square. Goodness, why did they bother, I don’t want to read a load of baloney about how meta this is and how it’s real theme is the trans struggle: we’ve now had about eight hours of films since the first Matrix film and the storyline has not progressed one inch, there was no reason to make this beyond coining it in a little bit more. Imagine how good a world it is when you have only seen the first Matrix film
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Post by poster J on Dec 25, 2021 17:32:34 GMT
Now I’m off until the New Year, I went to see The Matrix: Resurrections this afternoon in the far less than packed surroundings of the Vue in Leicester Square. Goodness, why did they bother, I don’t want to read a load of baloney about how meta this is and how it’s real theme is the trans struggle: we’ve now had about eight hours of films since the first Matrix film and the storyline has not progressed one inch, there was no reason to make this beyond coining it in a little bit more. Imagine how good a world it is when you have only seen the first Matrix film It's even better when you haven't seen any of them!
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3,926 posts
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 25, 2021 20:35:39 GMT
This afternoon my mother nipped out to the garden as it was getting dark & managed to walk into the remains of a box hedge she's recently cut down. Result: a 3 inch cut down one shin & having to keep her leg up to try to reduce swelling. The chicken was already in the oven so I got landed with having to cook Christmas dinner at no notice (bearing in mind my cooking rarely rises above boil-pasta-and-veg variety). The result was edible but not Instagramable. Well, mostly edible: I had to throw out a sausage that I only remembered was still tucked under some tinfoil after it had been marinading in washing up liquid for 10 minutes!
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Post by Deleted on Dec 25, 2021 23:30:06 GMT
peggs It's the second time in just over a year that our boiler has broken so probably time to start thinking about a replacement (before gas boilers are banned!). I feel for you. Ours gave up on the 22nd and now lights intermittently, inspite Of four hours coaxing and cajoling from the engineer. We bought a couple of gas radiators on Christmas Eve and are lucky we have plenty of seasoned wood. Hope it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to get it replaced.
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Post by Forrest on Dec 26, 2021 11:09:12 GMT
This afternoon my mother nipped out to the garden as it was getting dark & managed to walk into the remains of a box hedge she's recently cut down. Result: a 3 inch cut down one shin & having to keep her leg up to try to reduce swelling. The chicken was already in the oven so I got landed with having to cook Christmas dinner at no notice (bearing in mind my cooking rarely rises above boil-pasta-and-veg variety). The result was edible but not Instagramable. Well, mostly edible: I had to throw out a sausage that I only remembered was still tucked under some tinfoil after it had been marinading in washing up liquid for 10 minutes!The bold bit made me laugh aloud! :) I hope your mum feels fine and it's not a deep cut. My life has been a sort of a whirlwind of unusual but absolutely magical events for the past 3 weeks, and I still cannot fully grasp how I found myself here. It may just be the best Holiday season I've ever had. I hope everyone else's is just as great! :)
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Post by Marwood on Dec 26, 2021 13:16:33 GMT
Boxing Day sales have been a bit hmmm so far but I got the blu-rays of A Star Is Born (the Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper version) and Hair (I’m blaming watching the 40 Year Old Virgin while we were in lockdown for getting that) for £11 in Fopp: I’m about to see The Kings Man in Leicester Square then I’m going to see what Regent and Oxford Streets have to offer…
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Post by Dawnstar on Dec 26, 2021 13:31:41 GMT
I feel for you. Ours gave up on the 22nd and now lights intermittently, inspite Of four hours coaxing and cajoling from the engineer. We bought a couple of gas radiators on Christmas Eve and are lucky we have plenty of seasoned wood. Hope it doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg to get it replaced. Oh dear. Hope you're staying warm enough. At least the weather isn't perishing at the moment. The bold bit made me laugh aloud! I hope your mum feels fine and it's not a deep cut. It made me laugh out loud when I suddenly realised what I'd done! It seems to be better this morning, thanks. We were worried about bleeding, because she's been on blood-thinning medication since her health problems earlier this year, but it seems to be okay.
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Post by daisy24601 on Dec 26, 2021 15:05:25 GMT
Every Christmas my dad recounts a proverb his uncle got in a cracker, that no one understood to this day. Maybe someone here has heard of it?
"It's an ill will that blows from the soap factory."
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Post by lynette on Dec 26, 2021 19:55:34 GMT
Every Christmas my dad recounts a proverb his uncle got in a cracker, that no one understood to this day. Maybe someone here has heard of it? "It's an ill will that blows from the soap factory." In the olden days ( before my time stop sniggering ) they used to make soap from animal fats so there would be a bit of a whiff, no? That might explain it but as a proverb it doesn’t explain it. The proverb is “it’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good’ so this is a version..
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Post by david on Dec 27, 2021 13:08:05 GMT
Having a belated Christmas with my mum, sister and niece who have come up to visit for the day. Just found out that sticking the kids bbc programme Superworm on the tv is a great way to keep a kid quiet! The programme is a really good watch with great animation).
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Post by peggs on Dec 27, 2021 14:04:55 GMT
I watched Superworm on my own just to cheer me up the other day.
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 27, 2021 14:12:06 GMT
Despite eating almost non-stop for two whole days, I was absolutely starving by early afternoon, so I've just been to Boots for a smoked ham and emmental sandwich. Was £2.75, now 50p. 🥪🙂
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Post by david on Dec 31, 2021 16:07:02 GMT
I'm currently house sitting and looking after 2 guinea pigs and 2 cats for her. First night went off to a great start when one of the cats wanders in with a mouse it had caught. So, after a spending the evening trying to capture the rodent which ended successfully, tonight with all the fireworks likely to go off, the cats are staying in despite all their vocal protests. At least the guinea pigs are much easier to deal with. Just feed 'em and provide water and they are good to go.
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Post by TallPaul on Dec 31, 2021 18:08:56 GMT
I see your two pair, our david, and I raise you a fox. Oh to be young again! I was heading home; it was heading out for the night.
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Post by peggs on Dec 31, 2021 21:59:40 GMT
Played hide and seek with the small ones. The 4 year old took me over to the hedge and we just stood by it and he assured me that would work. Credit to his younger sister who pretended to not see us for some time.
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Post by lynette on Jan 1, 2022 0:44:38 GMT
Played hide and seek with the small ones. The 4 year old took me over to the hedge and we just stood by it and he assured me that would work. Credit to his younger sister who pretended to not see us for some time. Lots of hiding in full sight. It is funny. I don't know when they twig. 😁
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Post by peggs on Jan 1, 2022 15:04:21 GMT
If they do hide so it's less obvious they generate sound effects so clearly have no faith you'll find them unaided but then I guess if you can't see a child standing in front of you, you clearly need assistance
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Post by Dawnstar on Jan 1, 2022 19:35:53 GMT
Yesterday my mother went for a walk with a friend & found afterwards that she'd lost her new glasses. So today we did the same walk, slowly & looking at the ground the entire time, in search of them. Unfortunately no results apart from neck ache for two!
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Post by The Matthew on Jan 1, 2022 21:12:05 GMT
Played hide and seek with the small ones. The 4 year old took me over to the hedge and we just stood by it and he assured me that would work. Credit to his younger sister who pretended to not see us for some time. Lots of hiding in full sight. It is funny. I don't know when they twig. 😁 Reminds me of when I was at school...
There were two entrances to the school: the main entrance, for the use of adults and seniors (14+), and a side entrance used by juniors (11–14). As juniors we hated the fact that we couldn't use the main entrance, even though the other route added no more than 40 seconds to the walk. So when nobody was around we'd always try to sneak through the main entrance. And we were good at it; we were almost never caught.
As seniors we'd approach the drive to the main gate and see a bunch of juniors hanging around at the end of the drive with that determined and furious innocence only shown by children who are up to no good. So we'd walk through the gate and wait. A minute or so later we'd hear frantic footsteps running up the drive followed by muffled voices from under the arch of the gatehouse, and then a head would briefly appear to look around. More whispering, and then the group of juniors would stroll out making loud comments about how they'd just ducked out of the way to tie a shoelace or something and they absolutely hadn't come from the street at all.
And most of the time anyone who saw them let it go without comment, because we all knew the penny would drop in the end.
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Post by peggs on Jan 1, 2022 21:44:06 GMT
Watching the downtown first movie, had no idea it was meant to be a comedy! Even for downton it's a bonkers storyline and has everyone got a bit more posh or is my sound just a bit off?
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Post by sfsusan on Jan 2, 2022 15:02:03 GMT
had no idea it was meant to be a comedy! Do you mean the Downton Abbey movie? I also watched it yesterday and would be very surprised if it were meant to be a comedy. Is that how it was described by someone? Or did you find it so ridiculous that it struck you that way? I thought they all sounded the same as in the tv series... posh. Although come to think of it, some of the downstairs characters might have sounded a bit more polished, particularly Mr. Barrow. Although given his career path, someone like him might have consciously been trying to sound more 'upstairs'. I did think the {Spoiler - click to view}assassination and the gay bar subplots were a little unrealistic, but Downton has never focused on realism. This is the cinematic equivalent of candy floss/cotton candy (pretty and sweet, full of nothing, but good fun for those who enjoy it).
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Post by peggs on Jan 2, 2022 16:06:46 GMT
Yes. No. Yes.
I suppose it's been quite some years since I watched an episode so I'd forgotten just how daft it is. I don't really mean this in a snooty way, it is as you say what it is and I've watched all the tv series whilst increasingly rolling my eyes so it has a definite hook. I'm not entirely convinced it's author views it as fluff, in the interviews I've read he has given the slight impression that he thinks he has some great insight into the world of past posh people that no one else can rival. But as a vehicle for the Maggie Smith, Penelope Wilton double act it's hard to fault and once you add in Imelda Staunton even better.
Yes that would make sense with Thomas wanted to sound more polished.
The sub plots you could see coming from the start off but then I'm guessing you're meant to, it's that sort of comforting show.
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Post by sfsusan on Jan 3, 2022 9:27:08 GMT
I'm not entirely convinced it's author views it as fluff Julian Fellowes? Without knowing him personally, I'm as sure as I can be that it (and much of his work) is an homage to what he considers a lost "golden age". He does pay lip service to the "is this still workable?" angst that Lady Mary briefly considers, but Lord Grantham's ringing defense that "this house will still be standing in 100 years" is the heart of the matter. Never mind that he would likely be appalled by the contortions necessary for those grand houses to remain standing (opening to the public, renting out as film sets, opening public spectacles like zoos on the property), and how constrained the lifestyle of the current family descendants would seem to him.
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Post by Latecomer on Jan 3, 2022 17:51:48 GMT
Mum tested negative on lateral flow tests yesterday and today, after catching Covid just before Christmas. Relax and breathe again! So a good day! Back to work tomorrow….those library books won’t send themselves out!
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Post by marob on Jan 3, 2022 19:13:13 GMT
peggs I remember a bit in the series where Carson whipped out a ruler to check the table settings. My sister and I both laughed, but I really don’t think it was supposed to be funny.
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