Good morning everyone. Weather is dry atm, with rain forecast for later. It's quite breezy, too.

I'm pleased you are feeling a bit better, El.

Skylark, Mr Yogi is always trawling charity shops for old cookery books and has managed to pick up a couple of Maeve Binch books for me.

Enjoy your adventures with your granddaughter today. When we were young, my late brother and I liked worms, but our babysitter didn't - guess what we did?.

Enjoy your day everyone, catch up later.

Good morning everyone, very drizzly here.  Skylark and EL I hope you are both feeling better this morning   Skylark I do have a sweet tooth but I am training myself to do without, it makes no sense for me to eat something which my body has trouble dealing with.  It was the same with a high fat diet years ago, I cannot deal with too much fat and so I followed Rosemary Conley's example and keep my fat intake right down.  I do sympathise with Mr Yogi I know it can be hard.

 

Sorry but not at all surprised to hear the result of the ATOS assessment Skylark.  Tell your friend that she must get help with her appeal, CAB provided an adviser with a lot of experience for my daughter.  The government are now withdrawing funding for these advisers so I hope she can do her research and make sure she does not walk into the appeal without the support she will need.  We went in fairly mob handed, with the adviser, a trainee who was learning from the adviser, me and my daughter.  As I said before a girl on her own was before us and she came out crying.

 

I love all Maeve Binchy's books and Nights of Rain and Stars is no exception, happy reading Summer.  I was thinking about Maeve the other day and I don't think there will ever be someone to replace her sadly, a real genius, and a lovely lovely person.

Good afternoon windy but dry here, I've been out Nordic walking with bramble Yogi, sorry I didn't answer your question last night, I think I was so tired that I wasn't reading properly! Yes bramble LOVED her walk, it turns out she had 2 because one of their pack has had a prolapse and has to be walked separately.. Bramble was so tired last night that I never got a peep out of her the whole evening lol Did you get your marmalade on toast? It's not often I eat toast, but if I do then marmalade is my first choice El I hope your cough is starting to clear up, I'm pleased you had a more restful night last night Squiggle, I've seen many maeve books in our local charity shop window, I always think of you when I see one

Yogi, I think my brother must have liked worms when we were very young because according to my mother I was found in the garden feeding my brother with earth

I had rather unusual tastes at that age - my mother always liked painting and I was discovered just about to sample some Prussian Blue paint. My mother was terrified as the paint contains ferric ferrocyanide which is connected with prussic acid, known for being a deadly poison. In reality she didn't need to worry as prussian blue is non-toxic (in small doses) and is used to treat people who have eaten thallium (one of the most notorious poisons).

 

The colour of prussian blue is like this:

If you've got one of those stamps, then it is worth a few quid (actually more like a million, there was a printing error as it should have been POST PAID, not POST OFFICE and the stamps were quickly withdrawn but some had been sold).

 

My cough seems to be less than yesterday

 I wonder why you were feeding earth to your brother, El?

 I don't have any Prussian Blue stamps -unfortunately!

Well I hope neither of you are planning on feeding the rest of us worms or dirt, I much prefer French fancies!

I only collect pre 1870 German States, Berlin, DDR, BRD, and post unification. Thus I also have no Prussian blue stamps as above. Though I do have Prussian stamps.

Show us a pic joe!

There's a new collection of stamps coming out soon, but I can't remember what they are I do know it made my ears prick up when I heard it on the radio a few weeks ago

A picture of my collection? It covers a wall of shelves!

Yep Or, google your best examples and show us those

You must wait while I'm on the PC!

I have inherited my hubby's stamp collection (I suppose) and he has a penny black, I don't think its worth much though   Prussian Blue is a prettier colour though but I am sure you wouldn't have liked the taste, nor would your brother have liked the mud or worms, I bet he likes the cake better.

So do I

 

There really was a Diet of Worms where Martin Luther was summoned:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diet_of_Worms

 

The value of your penny black depends mainly on whether it's used or mint - mint is definitely better. Also the condition of the stamp.

Some info on value:

http://www.pennyblackstamp.co....ack_price_guide.html

Me too!

Isn't that little pug dog that ITV show being washed in the sink at the start of their programmes cute?  I am not usually keen on pugs, those bulging eyes, but he looks so anxious, I just want to dry him with a towel and hug him.

I haven't seen the little pug (I'm always missing the first few minutes of programmes) but I'll look out for him.

Here he is Yogi, isn't he a cutie? He's called Pugwash. You can watch the clip here http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv...bath-watch-clip.html

 

Thank you for posting the clip, Squiggle. Judging by his expression, he isn't too keen on having a bath.

Aw that poor pup lol I hope he enjoyed it more than he appears to have I don't think I've ever seen a pug in real life, I know a couple who have one and they leave it home alone all day

That's bad. My eldest son and DiL both work, but Harvey always stays with me when their working hours mean he would be left on his own for a while.

He's here tonight on a sleepover.

Off for a bath, then a read. Leaving hugs for Summer and Squiggle, if you are both still around.

Sorry yogi, I was watching glee! It had me mesmerised, I'm really impressed with the new characters. They did some grease songs, which I just love Your son & DIL sound like lovely people, and I'm sure they wouldn't have a dog unless they knew they could give him a good life. I bet Harvey loves coming to see Keira I heard bramble stood her ground yesterday when SIL's youngest pup was biting her ears, she's always submitted to other dogs but I guess she wasn't going to put up with that naughty puppy!

Good morning everyone

 

A better night's sleep with no coughing but woke to find that I had had a very minor nosebleed - my mother used to get them when she had colds.

 

Overcast but dry here. Tomorrow looks to be snow but turning to rain later in the day.

Good morning everyone, that must have been a bit of a shock waking up to find you had had a nosebleed EL.  My hubby had them all his life, perfectly routine for loads of people but a bit unpleasant.

 

Dry but breezy here, but still quite a pleasant morning

Good morning everyone. Very blustery wind and heavy showers up here.

I had intended going to the garden centre this morning but I think I'll wait until the weather improves.

Good morning very windy here with sunny/showery intervals. Guaranteed messy hair by tea time Yogi & skylark, the forecast looked quite horrid for you, I hope you don't get caught out in it I bought some paint testers at the weekend and have splodged them all over our hallway-now we'll HAVE to paint it

Not quite as bad as one of my friends Summer.  Her husband was a painter and decorator and if his wife decided that she wanted him to re-do a room she used to start stripping the wallpaper off so that he would have to do it.  It used to drive him bonkers

Oh no lol your poor friends husband! I bet he didn't feel like decorating his own home after doing it all day

Just been out and saw this rather unusual car registration number:

0003 SSY. Probably should be OO03 SSY as that would have originally been registered in Oxford, but looked more like zero zero rather than the letter O.

Anyone know anything about the new BBC2 drama "Dancing on the Edge" starting tonight?

 

It's written and directed by Stephen Poliakoff and is about a group of jazz musicians in the 50s. Anything by Stephen Poliakoff is likely to be heavyweight drama and the cast is quite striking.

Among the cast which is very long includes:

Jane Asher and Jacqueline Bisset

John Goodman

Angel Coulby (Gwen in Merlin)

Jenna-Louise Coleman (the new Dr Who assistant)

Caroline Quentin

Mel Smith

 

Lots of other people but too many to list. I don't know if the drama is going to be the one which gets this year's BAFTA awards or will be dreadful.

I find number plates fascinating! We see some beauts whilst out on the bikes. The in thing round these parts is to have ones starting with A19. I used to be able to tell where most cars came from, and always assumed that it was common knowledge, but apparently not. However I must confess that I don't understand the new ones.

GJ, this link shows a list showing the regions for the first 2 letters of the current style registration plate:

http://nice-reg.co.uk/info/are...e-number-plates.html

My favourite car registration plate was "ODD 1". When I was working in Cheltenham in the 70s and 80s I often saw it. I'm fairly certain that the car belonged to Arthur Negus of Antiques Roadshow fame. He lived in Cheltenham until he died in 1985.

A quick word of thanks. I'll have a good look later, after I've washed up, put the bins out etc.

My favourite number plate sighting was 3 UP because it reminded me of the free lives in mario games! El, so glad you mentioned Dancing on the edge, I saw a trailer ages ago that just said "coming soon" and I thought it looked good. I'll write myself a reminder to record it tonight!

You'll need to keep a check on when it's being shown - tonight's is 9 to 10.30, second episode is tomorrow 9 to 10, third episode is next Monday 9 to 10. I don't know when the 4th and 5th episodes are.

Hi all x
Glad you feeling better El  I am feeling a lot better too, thank goodness. 
We had a nice day out yesterday, been laughing at the worm stories  Granddaughter has no fear at all of any creepy crawlies including spiders , she can pick up anything with no qualms at all. 
Re the ATOS appeal, thanks squiggle and all. I have been researching for the appeal and have it drafted as the CAB has a waiting time of 3-4 weeks, due to so many having the same thing. Luckily the Scottish Government has pledged them funding to help sort out the mess. Have started the ball rolling anyway .
Bitterly cold wind here today with rain, not pleasant at all 

Lol at granddaughter skylark good luck when she starts bringing stuff in the house I'm pleased you feel better El- thank you! Right, lets hope sky series link will pick it all up, if not I'll have to manually search for each episode I've written myself a note so I hopefully won't forget