How are you all doing?

[Keith McMillan]

Thanks for the empathy everyday. Another use for the dettox spray.
Yeah milk runs all over the place. Good enough excuse to buy a new car in my opinion. 🙂

 

[Keith McMillan]

I’m having a difficult time. On the 15th it was six months since Dad wrote to me saying that he wanted no further contact with me. I haven’t heard from my brother since then and I have the distinct impression that my Dad really stirred things up between me and my brother.
The time before when Dad had stopped talking to me my brother phoned me with a not very nice phone call and I think he is strongly influenced by Dad.
I transferred some money to my brother’s bank account on Thursday for his 50th birthday. I also text him but I’ve heard nothing. It has hurt me a lot.
im careful what I say/don’t say on Facebook because of relationship with my niece, his daughter.

Sorry you went through some doldrums AJ. Maybe give the situation time to settle down - although I don't know the background. What I can say is keep up with dad. I lost mine suddenly when I was a teenager. I didn't see eye to eye with him at the time probably due to my hormones. I miss him very much 40 odd years later and older than he was then. AIso, I fell out with my sister over property recently and although I thought she acted badly at the time, one year plus later we are back talking. Keep the faith and pecker up.

 

[brisr949]

Feeling ok today, weather is nice so a bit of pottering in the garden.
I can't even remember now how long its been since i pretty much isolated myself and don't really want to count.
One strange thing and this is something i would never have dreamt of saying before is, i found myself missing the hospital yesterday, weird i know but for those 5 odd days i had lots of human contact and as most of the hospital is completely cut off from the covid wards it was in all essence quite normal in there and just found myself missing it.

Adam.

 

[Browser]

Being on my own for four years now, I haven’t really found lockdown too much of an ordeal. I really miss the physical hugs and cuddles with my son’s and daughter’s families but thank God for technology for visual contact. I have badly missed my regular golf and the social interaction that brings, but, happily, that is returning to Scottish courses, in limited fashion, fairly soon.
I get my shopping from the local Tesco store during the allotted time and I have a good neighbour who occasionally picks up things from further afield.
I’m not a gardener, but I have enjoyed taking a bit more care of it and have even dug over a couple of scruffy bits of my grass area ( a lawn, it is not ) and created areas for bushes and shrubs, scavenged from other parts of the garden. I’ve managed to pick up some plants from Tesco but the good news is that garden centres will soon be up and running.
My biggest delight of this crazy time is the wild life, thriving in the garden. Occasional visits from hedgehogs, which I haven’t seen for years and busier, more unusual activity of a bigger variety of garden birds. Somehow the birds seem bolder and oblivious to my presence and there is even a male blackbird who flits around picking up scraps and approaches me so closely that is is almost taking food from my hand. The highlight was finding a kestrel eating it’s breakfast of a small bird at 6am the other morning. That’s only the second time in forty years I have had the pleasure of a bird of prey’s company in my garden.
My BG has been fairly stable for the past while but I’ll soon know by how much as I have my postponed annual review in the next couple of weeks. Take care and stay safe, folks.

 

[AJLang]

Sorry you went through some doldrums AJ. Maybe give the situation time to settle down - although I don't know the background. What I can say is keep up with dad. I lost mine suddenly when I was a teenager. I didn't see eye to eye with him at the time probably due to my hormones. I miss him very much 40 odd years later and older than he was then. AIso, I fell out with my sister over property recently and although I thought she acted badly at the time, one year plus later we are back talking. Keep the faith and pecker up.

Thank you Keith. I won’t go into the details but Das decided to cut contact with me and made it clear in a letter that he wanted no further contact with me. over the years he has said that it was my fault that my ex physically and mentally abused me and that is just one example. He lost our family home at one point due to his gambling and left my mum to sort everything out. He even escaped over the back fence leaving my mum to deal with the bailiffs when they turned whilst us kids were in the house. He has always gambled, has no intention of giving up and is emotionally manipulative. I stood by him, as did my mum and brother. When he cut contact with me the last time everyone, including best friends who have known me since we were children have advised that I don’t contact him - his frequent calls prior to that were making me ill with what he said. Anyhow I’m trying to move on, but it’s often not easy, no-one wants their family to cut them off. I’m just so lucky that I had a fantastic Mum, we did great things together and have a massive amount of good memories - but Dad would hardly let me visit her the last 2-3 months when she was dying.
I'm so sorry I’ve said far more than I intended. I’m really sorry that your Dad passed away when you were so young. xx

 

[miguel81]

AJ - that was very brave. There will be a future of happiness for you I am sure, just as I am sure that you will encompass it. Good luck to you.

 

[AJLang]

AJ - that was very brave. There will be a future of happiness for you I am sure, just as I am sure that you will encompass it. Good luck to you.

Thank you very much Michael.

 

[eggyg]

Collected our Click and Collect, Dropped off the first two bags in the hall. Cream leakage all over the hall carpet and slippers. Went back to the car. Cream leakage all over the car boot. How they managed to put a pot of cream with the lid nearly pulled off in a customers shopping bag is one for the imagination.

We once inadvertently left a pack of butter in the boot. We couldn’t understand the smell every time we got in the car. We only realised a week later when went shopping next time. All that was left was the packet! 😱

 

[eggyg]

We haven’t left the house today even though it’s a calmer day. Reason being my recurring pelvis/ haematoma injury has reared it’s ugly head again. Probably due to the long walks we’ve had this week. I was in quite a bit of pain last night with it but haven’t really done anything today apart from a nice warm bath, so it does feel better. It’s almost 6 months since my fall and it’s still bruised, albeit nothing like it was, but still swollen somewhat. Very frustrating! Anyways, we’re having Greek night tonight, no smashing of plates or dancing will be partaken in, I’ve just made hummus and didn’t have any tahini in, I mean, come on, it’s standard store cupboard stuff isn’t it? 😉 So I added peanut butter to the chickpeas instead, lots of garlic, lemon juice and olive oil and it’s perfectly acceptable. Mr Eggy is making pitta breads, the dough is just proving and I’m just about to make some tzatziki. I just love squeezing cucumber pulp in a tea towel, NOT! But hey, you can’t have a Greek meal without it. Yamas!🙂

 

[Keith McMillan]

Thank you Keith. I won’t go into the details but Das decided to cut contact with me and made it clear in a letter that he wanted no further contact with me. over the years he has said that it was my fault that my ex physically and mentally abused me and that is just one example. He lost our family home at one point due to his gambling and left my mum to sort everything out. He even escaped over the back fence leaving my mum to deal with the bailiffs when they turned whilst us kids were in the house. He has always gambled, has no intention of giving up and is emotionally manipulative. I stood by him, as did my mum and brother. When he cut contact with me the last time everyone, including best friends who have known me since we were children have advised that I don’t contact him - his frequent calls prior to that were making me ill with what he said. Anyhow I’m trying to move on, but it’s often not easy, no-one wants their family to cut them off. I’m just so lucky that I had a fantastic Mum, we did great things together and have a massive amount of good memories - but Dad would hardly let me visit her the last 2-3 months when she was dying.
I'm so sorry I’ve said far more than I intended. I’m really sorry that your Dad passed away when you were so young. xx

Dear, oh dear AJ. I feel very sorry for you, and your Dad has been very horrible. I hope you managed to say goodbye to mum. Hopefully your ex will be off the scene for good now. I can only hope that dad will change as time goes by and I expect you will do well to stay clear of him for a good while. The last thing you need are horrid calls right now. Yes move on I agree. A bit of talking therapy might help you but I'm not someone that can prescribe. It helped me once.

 

[brisr949]

Reading some posts on here has really tugged on my heart strings as i absolutely hate bullies in any shape or form and cannot wrap my head around how being physically/ mentally abused in any way can be your fault..i do hope that you know its definitely NOT your fault.
It sounds like he not only manipulated you but your dad too but i think now you have cut contact with the bully as time passes everyone else will see the bigger picture and realise that you were indeed the victim in all this..sorry if ive rambled a bit and i hope you can find some support if you feel you need someone to talk too.

Adam.

 

[AJLang]

Thank you Keith and Bris. Apologies that I may have confused things but when I wrote Das it was meant to be Dad. I got the courage to leave my ex nearly 20 years ago but even last year Dad was saying what the ex did to me was my fault and it was my Dad who has done the numerous phone calls etc that hurt and upset me. The ex didn’t manipulate my Dad, my Dad just seems to hate me without saying it. My Mum said that I was to have her rings when she died - they weren’t worth a lot but had great sentimental value. I begged Dad to let me have them but my Dad refused to let me have them and sold them to a pawn shop despite having a good amount of money in his bank account..
You’re both right that I could benefit from talking therapy but I can’t afford the number of sessions that I would need and it’s not available on the NHS for me - I have asked.
But I count my blessings. As I said my Mum was great, my partner of 18 plus years is my wonderful rock and I have some extremely close friends as well as a wider range of wonderful friends. I was just feeling a bit low when I wrote my original post. Thank you for your support xx

 

[SB2015]

Keith - my Yorkshires are now very hit and miss, clueless why cos I used to have to detach them from the roof of my oven to get them out. BUT - you know 'Aunt Bessie's' ones, the sort where you are buying frozen batter in tinfoil 'cups and bake them yourself? - well they are only 5g carb apiece and IMHO, well worth that expenditure!

I wasn’t aware that there was another way of making Yorkshire puds!!
Aunt Bessie has sorted out a successful recipe and I am happy to bow to her expertise!

 

[SB2015]

Sorry to hear what an awful time you have had recently @AJLang and also in the past.
I hope that it has helped you to write about it, and as @brisr949 has said, being a victim of bullying is NOT your fault. It must be hard dealing with the attitude of your father and brother. However their behaviour is not your responsibility. You can only take responsibility for how you react. Take care.

 

[SB2015]

We have had another glorious day in the garden. We have finally accepted that there will be no more frost, and have taken some plants out of new tiny greenhouse and planted them out. We have some black sunflowers in as well as courgettes. We are not big gardeners but I think we have learnt a lot over the past few weeks, and as we are around a lot more we have been able to take out time.

Loving the birds. The road we live on is a usually a lot busier and I realise that it is because of the quiet that we are so much more aware of the bird song. We have a family of sparrows and the young ones really are like a bunch of teenagers, following each other around.

 

[Stitch147]

Weekend off work. Potted some plants
in the garden that my mother in law have me, hopefully I won't kill them in a week!!! Back to work tomorrow.

 

[SB2015]

Weekend off work. Potted some plants
in the garden that my mother in law have me, hopefully I won't kill them in a week!!! Back to work tomorrow.

The good weather and gardens are an absolute bonus at present.
Your plants will no doubt survive.

 

[Carlos]

Morning ride today, 36 miles with an incursion into Gloucestershire this time. Lots of cyclists about, as the wind finally eased a bit. Second ride in the afternoon, with our two daughters, who are becoming more and more confidence on their bikes.

BBQ tomorrow, looks like it is going to be a great day.

 

[AJLang]

Than

Sorry to hear what an awful time you have had recently @AJLang and also in the past.
I hope that it has helped you to write about it, and as @brisr949 has said, being a victim of bullying is NOT your fault. It must be hard dealing with the attitude of your father and brother. However their behaviour is not your responsibility. You can only take responsibility for how you react. Take care.

Thank you SB2015

 

[grovesy]

Done a couple of hours gardening getting my front border ready to plant up my bedding plants. Very hot work as it is south facing , having lunch break before going back out do the plant out.