Good Morning Mollie & Emptybox.

Some pics of the new BB11 house, well 12 really.
http://s221.photobucket.com/al...ent%3D11ak5q8.jpg%26

A BB11 link
Sign up here from Tuesday @ 7pm, 1st 1,000 free, the rest pay £14.99 for the whole season live.
Wow, that will do me.
http://www.channel4.com/bigbrother/

Hicky.

It is good to see you back,   we missed you. But we are glad to see you came back here bearing us gifts... those pics of the BB house are great.. it looks so smart, and how exciting is it, that we are to get livefeed.   Great value for 13 weeks imo. I will be signing up for sure.
Glad to hear you had a good holiday the villa sounds lovely. Looking forward to some piccies. Did your OH enjoy it?  And how about the kiddies? How hot was it? Did you spend your days by the pool, on the beach, shopping?  How about food, did you eat out or cook. HOpe you found some nice seafood to enjoy.

I am enjoying watching BGT right now, not such a good standard as in past years imo, but still entertaining. And a good mixture of variety. The doggie was cute.
Emptybox.. I see the poor old lady missed her cue, such a shame, I bet it is so hard for her cue wise,  for her with her hearing not being too good.  Is it your usual sphag bol tonight?  Hope your strimmer and mower are still making do today.

Had a busy day today, grocery for my mum, brekkie out, bit of clothes shopping, then a ride of my bike with family.
It was nice here today, not too hot but dry.

Hope you are having a good Saturday.

Hi Mollie.

Thanks for the lovely Welcome Back.

The new BB11 house looks super doesn't it?, wow, never seen anything like that before.

O/H loved it on Hol, got a bit too much sun in the first few days, had the right lotion on but it was so hot early on.
We had loads of Sun Loungers etc.

The Children had a fine time, did quite a lot of site seeing, mainly in the morning before it got too hot, great supermarkets, a Lidle (sp) they sold everything, but was all in Portuguese so had to see what it looked like mainly.
Massive Salt Fish, Tanks of big live crabs, whole Octopus, eels, Squid, every type of fish, we cooked in the Villa and also ate out.
We found it pretty cheap really, brought half of my Euro's back home, think we all did.
Bought a lot of food really, was surprised at how cheap most of the stuff was.

The Rented car was brill, a 9 seater Nissan, one of these.
http://www.autoebid.com/buy-ne...s-9-Seater/10569.asp

Picked it up and returned it to the Airport, worked out well.

Off to bed, catch you in the morrow.

Hi Mollie and Hicky. :0

It was hotter than ever here today, but I think it's to get cooler tomorrow?
You must have sweltered on your bike ride Mollie?

As I'm reasonably up to date with the grass cutting, i spent the day sprucing up my own house and garden ready for my Brother's visit tomorrow. Plus i had extra supplies to buy.
Yes, I had my spag bol as usual. Think we'll probably have lamb chops tomorrow, but I'll give them a choice.

I watched some of the BGT final. I think the best ones won, but some of those boys and girls looked a little young to be wearing the rubber-look underwear?

Thanks for the house pics Hicky. It does look smart.
I might just sign up for internet streaming as well. As it's the last series.

Yes, Bex is on 'Dirty Talk' (Sky 920) 3 nights a week.
I'm not an aficianado of the channel meself, you understand. i was alerted by a thread on DS.  
She doesn't show as much as some, but she does get her top off and writhe about. 
Not sure she's quite got the hang of the writhing yet?

You must have felt like you were in heaven.
Trust you to find salt fish in Portugal.
I've never seen one in me life.

I see the colours on here have had a bit of a re-vamp.

Hi Mollie & Emptybox.

I've been a bit busy today, O/H has been getting to stuff ready for the washing machine, but she was working early on.

Bought 2 Grape Vines, 2 massive tubs and all the stuff to fill them, and a few other plants.
Saw a lovely 50cm twin spool Strimmer in Gordale Nursery, a Flymo and only £35.
It looks better than my B&D one anyway.
Mine makes my back ache, not sure if the petrol one's are easier to carry/hold but they are pretty expensive and not sure if I could get it started.

Just watching the British Awards.

Work tomorrow, hope you all had a good weekend.

Good evening all

Hicky..
sounds like you did make the most of the seafood on your hols. Your hired car sounds ideal for all the family, very handy to have it to and from the airport too.
Yes in those pics the BB house looks fine indeed, looks like Channel 4 got the cheque book out for that one. Let's hope we are in for a good series this year.

Emptybox
I hope you enjoyed your brother's visit today. Did your young nephew's come too? I hope they enjoyed the meal you cooked them.
"Dirty Talk" channel   think I will pass on that one, and stick to channel 4.  

Hicky..
will you be growing the grapes in your greenhouse? I have had a busy day at the garden centre departments too. We bought some wooden tubs and marigolds from Homebase, and my OH has planted them and put them out. Have you decided whether or not to try the new strimmer?  The problem with them is that you can't try before you buy. My OH has replaced ours this year, the last one we had was rubbish.

I too am watching the awards tonight. I see Diversity have a new routine.

hope you have had an enjoyable weekend. At least we have had good weather, it was just right here today, not too hot, and not wet either.

Hi guys.

My visitors have gone now, but they seemed to enjoy their meal.
I did lamb chops with roasted sweet potatoes, mashed ordinary potatoes, brocolli and gravy, with strawberries and cream to follow.
Didn't get any complaints anyway.

We had smoked mackerel and salad for lunch.

Unfortunately it was raining all day, so we were stuck inside. My youngest nephew insisted on subjecting us to CBBC, but we also watched the Blu-ray of 'Up'.
I asked my eldest nephew how he was getting on with his guitar, but all he said was "fine", so I didn't get to demonstrate my prowess. .....Probably best.  

Grape vines Hicky? Very ambitious. Thinking of producing your own vintage?

The petrol strimmers are heavier, but you wear them with a harness, which makes them easier to handle, and they're not tiring to use for long periods.
The 2 stroke ones can be tricky to get started, but you can buy 4 stroke ones, if you prefer. 
Bit expensive for just a domestic garden though, as you say.

Good morning all
Hicky
hope you are back into work routine ok today.


Emptybox
What a good choice of meals you offered your visitors.    No wonder you had no complaints. I think sweet potatoes come up so well roasted. I bet you were glad to see the back of CBBC.
Don't think I would like the thought of carrying petrol round on my back. Does it now mean you breath in all the fumes as well as the weight of the petrol? But I guess if you are doing it for a job, and have no access to power, you would have to use them.

Have to take daughter to college for a maths exam soon. She is nervous. At least it is not too hot and stuffy today, because I think that makes it harder to concentrate.

Hi Mollie.

It's raining here again today, so I'm going to see if I can get some of my paper-work done.
Hope your daughter does well in her exam.

The petrol strimmers only have a small petrol tank - less than 1 litre usually, so the petrol isn't heavy, and the motor is behind you, so you don't get any fumes as such. They're noisier than electric ones though.

Petrol hedgetrimmers are a different story, because you sometimes have to hold them at an angle where the exhaust is coming out into your face. Makes the unpleasant job of cutting a hedge all the worse.
The ideal solution would be a heavy duty cordless electric one, but all the cordless ones I've seen haven't been up to the jobs that I need them for.

Hope Hicky is having a good day back at work.

Good Afternoon Mollie & Emptybox.


Am growing the Vines outside, going to get some trellis to go against the fence for support.

I tried to get some Marigolds the other week, you need them to stop certain bugs from eating your veg, you plant the flowers with the veg.

Will see how my strimmer manages befor I decide, but the big Flymo one looked supperb.

Not sure how easy it is to start the petrol ones, that could be a problem for me, but I fancy the freedom of np wires.

Sounds like your getting a dab hand at this catering Emptybox, maybe you should run your own restaurant, can be very lucrative.

Hope your Daughters maths exam goes well Mollie.

Haven't been too busy today, had brekkie ok, and been on twitter chatting away.

Have another vine to plant tonight, this is a black grape, they take years to get sorted though, well to train and prune correct.

Roll on Wednesday, lets see who gets in the house.

Here is the list of potential HM's 80 off.

http://www.channel4.com/bigbro...-revealed/display.c4

Nobody immediately jumps out Hicky.

I don't see the point in looking at the 80 potential HM's if only so many will be selected.
Might as well wait to see who gets in eh.

Good morning all

Hicky
didn't know marigolds helped with the veg growning. they do look very colourful though. We got ours from Homebase, because they seemed to be the best quality from there. Did you plant your vine ok?
thanks for the HM's list, will take a look later, after I get back from dropping daughter off for her English exam this morning.

Emptybox
yes Hicky is right, you are getting a dab hand at the catering now.
Sounds like hedge cutting is not an easy job then. I am glad we don't have any hedges.

I listen to radio 1, and Chris Moyles and his team are going into the BB house today for an hour, will listen in the morning to see what the think of it.

It has been raining in the night here, dry now, so I took dog out early. Looks like more rain to come though. Wonder if Emptybox gets out today in his gardens?

day off today Hicky?

Good Afternoon Mollie & Emptybox.

Day off, great, weather not so good, drizzle.

Yes Mollie, the Marigold flower helps to keep certain bugs away from the veg, have to get some though, will plant amongst the veg.

Vines planted, a lot of training to do, takes a couple of years, the garden centers don't train them, so it makes it harder to redo.
Have got to get some trellis to make life easy, vineyards just use strong thick wire.

Hope your Daughters exam goes OK, good luck to her.

Hi guys.

No Mollie. I didn't get any gardening done this morning. Very wet again.
The rain is slackening off now, so perhaps late afternoon?.....

Not sure I would say I was good at catering, but I was pleased I got the quantities right, and everything was ready at the right time.

I got all my invoicing done yesterday, so I'll see if I can get some of my accounts done today.

Unfortunately my printer seems to have gone a bit funny. It's an HP Deskjet 940c.
I put a logo at the top of my invoices with a bit of grey in it, but the grey is now coming out pale blue. That usually means that the yellow colour has run out, but I only bought the colour cartridge a few months ago, and it's saying it's 90% full? (it's a tri-colour cartridge)
Could well be a faulty cartridge, but I see the printer is saying the black cartridge is 90% full as well, whereas a couple of weeks ago it was saying it was only 20% full.
Perhaps there's something wrong with the management software?
Might try re-installing it to see if it makes a difference? 

I'm definitely not going to buy another colour cartridge, as the HP ones cost over £30.
I see you can buy a compatible one for £9. They are never as good, and would be no good for photos, but would probably allow me to do my invoices and greetings cards etc.
I might get a proper photo printer, with separate  colours cartridges for when I want to print out photos.

So, are you going to register for BB live feed at 7pm tonight? The first 1000 get it free.

Hi Emptybox.

Hoping to register for the series.

Bought a Bosch cordless grass cutter/strimmer from B&Q, it says it does 1,000 mtrs on a charge, heard some bloke saying they are great.
Bought some trellis for my vine as well.
Brb, must get to C4.

That sounds good Hicky.

I got my Free series pass for BB, so I'll be able to watch when I like.
Hope you were on time. I got mine at about 7.10pm, so you should be OK.

Didn't get Mine, couldn't see the link word to get in, got the code from the 'thisisdavina' thing but half way through it bombed out so had to pay in the end.
Not too bothered though.
But lost £70 converting some Euro's back to sterling this afternoon.
But got a load of lovely food from Sainsbury's anyway.
Getting to love Mangoes for some reason, will try and make some Mango Pickle another day as well, got some chillies as well.

Have got some Indian food left over from last night.

A new Indian Takeaway has opened up, it does a Buffet and you can have as much as you want for the same price.
Never seen such a great selection of starters and meals before.

That's a pity Hicky.
I think a lot had problems seeing the code word on Firefox.
Ah well! at least you got your feed.

How did you manage to lose £70? Has the pound gone up against the Euro in the meantime? That's not so good.

Had a strange request this evening. Someone I know rang and asked if they could hire the Jaguar for their friends wedding. I think they only want to pay expenses plus a bit more? Don't think they want to pay wedding car hire fees?
Another friend was originally going to do it for them, but his Mercedes has conked out seemingly.

I said Yes provisionally, but said I didn't really want to drive myself, so one of their party is going to drive, and I'll look into the cost of insuring him to drive for the day, and add on a bit for fuel, and my time in cleaning it up beforehand etc.
I suppose if it turns out to be expensive to insure, then I might drive it myself, but I'm not keen.
They aren't inviting me to the wedding or anything, so I would have to get dressed in a suit, and wait outside the place, and drive the Bride and Groom to the reception etc.

It's in July.
I did explain that it's just an X type, not a limousine or anything, but I think they were a bit desperate at this late stage.

Hi Emptybox.

Think it's just the exchange rate, going out it was 1.09 when you get back to convert it's 1.33, so on £275 I lost the £70 and picked up £205.

I suppose it's best to keep hold of it, but don't know when I would use it again and would probably have to swop them with someone going abroad.

Been trying the cordless strimmer, it's a Bosch 26LI, it has a little plastic blade instead of the cord, very easy to do/change and seems a lot better than the cord.
Think you'd love this one, adjustable height, base angle adjusted with your foot, an extra hand support which is adjustable, very light, about 2.4kg total, safety switch, if you let go of the trigger it locks it off till it's re-engaged again.
It can't be accidentally started, and a child couldn't start it, it needs more than 1 finger to start.

I would get them to drive the car themselves, get a named driver for a day, you wouldn't be insured to carry them for hire or reward or to use it as a taxi cab anyway, so you better check with the insurance, the insurance cover for the guests might be heavy.

The blades for the strimmer sound a good idea Hicky. Much easier than messing about with cord.

Yes, I see from my insurance policy that I'm not covered for any business use for the car at all, so it would have to be on the basis of lending it to a friend, as far as the insurance was concerned.

Good Morning Everyone.

Happy Wednesday, big BB11 Launch day as well.


This is the Bosch Strimmer Emptybox, see what you think?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/ART-26...rdless/dp/B003HSWZAA

There's some interesting reading here from a poster about BB, a good read, when you have time.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/fo...thread.php?t=1190228

Good morning Hicky
going by the timing of your first post, looks like it is a work day for you today. Hope you are not too busy. Did you get brekkie in the canteen?
thanks for the BB link, I will have a read in a minute.

Well done on getting your free pass Emptybox.  I was too busy last night, so didn't get on lappy till 8pm, so I missed out on one of them. But did buy the £14.99 one, not a bad price for 11 weeks of entertainment though.

I hope you are pleased with your new strimmer Hicky.
Have you had chance to try it yet?
It is raining on and off here today.
That is handy for you, having a new Indian take away opening near you. How does the Indian takeway work where you can take as much as you want? Do they just give you a certain sized take away dish, before you help yourself?

Emptybox,
Hope you got your accounts done ok, and hope you have a break in the rain, to do a bit of gardening today.
Sorry to hear about your printed problem, so annoying when things break down on us all the time, and cost a lot to replace.
Yes that is a strange (and a rather cheeky request imo),  bearing in mind you were not close enough to these people, to even be invited to the wedding in the first place.  When we got married, we paid for a taxi to and from the church, but used a friend's posh car to leave the reception, but he was a special friend who was invited to the wedding anyway, so we did not put him out. This however would mean a long boring day for you if you have to do it yourself. (plus loss of work time), and a chore to have to wear a suit for nothing. But, as Hicky says, you will have to be carefull with the insurance for something like this if they do drive it themselves. I hope they have not put you in a position that you feel you have to say "Yes" to something you would rather say "No" to. If you would rather say "No", I would tell them sorry, but you can't risk it for insurance purposes for them to drive, and you either can't afford a day off work, or you have something already arranged for that day, so can't do it yourself.

Listened to Chris Moyles this morning, as I normally do, and he said the BB house was nice, but the areas small, so it will be difficult for the HM's to get away from each other. He has piccies in the house on his website, so will look for it now. Davina was also on, and she said that the winner will not be evicted at the 11th week when it ends, but, unkown to them, they will get to  stay on in the house whilst past BB contestants enter to join them, and we will then vote for our fave HM of all the series. I hope the winner of this series doesn't lose out on own special winning night because of this. I wonder who the old HM's will be who go in? Hope it someone interesting.

Looking forward to liftoff tonight. Let's hope our livefeeds work ok.

Hi Mollie.


Yep, work today, have to show willing, my Government needs me.
Had Brekkie early as there was a fire drill at 10.15 and everyone has to report to various fire points outside, it lasts over half an hour.

I tried the strimmer, it seemed fine, if it's dry tonight I'll do some more, very pleased with it so far anyway.

Not sure how the Indian Buffet works, it's a restaurant as well as a take away, you have to eat in to get the Buffet of course, it's not available to take out. 

I've seen all the pics of the house, it looks lovely, but it's never as big as it looks on camera.
I think the HM's from the past that go in at the end are all the winners from previous shows.

It should be good tonight anyway.

Hi guys.

It's been another wet day here. Getting very behind, but not a lot I can do when the grass is soaking wet.

Looking forward to all the BB stuff tonight, including BBLB at 6pm.
A lot of ex-BBers have been filming for BB today, and also doing interviews for other channels. Ash did an interview for Sky News.
I don't think any ex-BBers are going in tonight though, but they'll probably be on BBLB, BBBM etc.

I think the idea of an All-Stars series at the end is great. Wonder who they'll ask to go in? Or will the public decide? 
Don't think it's just the winners Hicky?
Although that would make more sense, but wouldn't be as entertaining IMO.
Anyway, some of the winners wouldn't be available, Rachel will probably be teaching for example, so they'd need some others to make up the numbers.

That looks to be a good strimmer Hicky, as long as the battery lasts a reasonable time.
Thanks for the links to the DS threads. That's a great little sci-fi story based around BB.
I've seen those threads before, but never opened them to read. I've read through the whole story to date, and there's more to come..... 

Hi Mollie. I'm afraid I am a bit in that situation with the car. I feel it would be churlish to say no, but I can't see what I would get out of it, apart from bitten finger-nails, while I waited to see if the car came back scratched, or with cigarette burns, or something.
Not as if I could charge them enough to make it worth while.
Ah well. I've said yes now anyway.

I got on to my insurance, and it would only cost about £10 to put the driver on the policy for a week (a week costs the same as one day).
I know the driver, and I know he is an OK sort, and would be responsible, but if there was the need for a claim afterwards I'd have to be very careful how it was made. Also any claim would reduce my no-claims, and make the insurance dearer afterwards.
However, if they were driving it themselves, they might be more inclined to pay for any minor damage themselves, rather than go through insurance. But if I were driving, it would be more my own responsibility.
Anyway. It's done now, so I'm not going to have sleepless nights about it.  

Anyway, here's a picture of Ashy on Sky News this afternoon to cheer us all up.
(well it cheers me up anyway )

Well no ex-hms on BBLB anyway. 

Hi Emptybox.
As you say, I've read more about it and it's a selection of ex HM's that will go back after week 11, think it's going to be the public that vote, but they could have any type of selection process.

It says the battery lasts for 1,000 metres of cutting, if the grass is long it will be less of course.

As far as lending the car is concerned, you should really tell them that any damage caused to you vehicle or someone elses will have to be paid by themselves as you don't want to be making a claim off your insurance.
It would cost you a fortune in the end if you had to make a claim.

Just remembered, got to work for a while tomorrow, going in a bit later, was hoping to do some strimming, will have to wait now.

Good evening all
Aaaww poor you Emptybox, finding you are in such a situation that you are too kind to say no to these people. You are such a sweet softpot. 
(and they are taking advantage of your good nature imo).
Sorry to hear you were rained out workwise.

Hicky
That is good that you are pleased with your new strimmer.

I just watched the corrie siege. Very good special effects tv.

Davina said the ex hm's will go in after this winner is announced, and they will not necessary be ex winners. Should be interesting.

enjoy the show everyone.

Well, there's still no-one standing out for me.
I think Rachel is very attractive, and Josie seems a nice character.
Didn't think the show was very exciting. thought they could have done a bit more?

I've got the live feed on now. It's working OK, but would be better if you could watch it in it's own little player, rather than just as a normal tab?
I know you can put it full screen, but then you can't do anything else on the web at the same time.

I think that's what I'm going to do with the car Hicky. I'll let them have it for expenses, but only if they guarantee they will make good any financial loss that arises.
I don't think it's that I'm too soft Mollie. Just that I hate any bad feeling.
Mind you, that probably does make me too soft.  

I've heard a rumour that Nikki will be on BBBM, but so far I've only seen Bea?
ETA: Oh Nikki is on.

Good morning all
A bit cloudy here so far, but not too hot, at least.

Emtybox
Nothing wrong with being a bit soft, else we'd all be cold hearted and calculating. But Hicky's idea to cover yourself incase something goes wrong is a good one, you don't want anyone taking advantage of your good nature.
Hope you can catch up a bit with your gardens today.
Didn't see BBBM, because had to do a few jobs I had got behind with, because I watched so much tv last night, with there being 2 Corries as well. Will try and catch up on repeat as Nikki was on though.

I enjoyed the BB launch because it was a bit different,and  I liked the fairground music.   Too early to say if anyone stands out for me yet, because I can't say who I like yet, until I get to know their personalities.Don't care what they look like but  I do like to see HM's who  make me laugh, so have  a good sense of humour, and ones who are keen to do well on tasks. I also like a bit of eccentricity. What we do need though are good fun tasks to help make the show, and a bit of wit from BB. I did like the tree last year, so lets hope it works again this year.

Hicky
another work day today?
Did you get chance to strim last night?

Haven't tried shrinking the screen for livefeed yet. Can you not have it on shrinked whilst you look at something else?  I think that is what I used to do with livefeed before.

Not looking forward to this afternoon... I have dentist visit with my broken tooth, boys have a check up too, and we have to drop off daughter for English exam.

Have got a few loads of washing out, but think I will bring it in before I go out today.

Have a good day, enjoye livefeed if either of you get chance to watch it today.

Good Morning Mollie & Emptybox.

Enjoyed the Launch anyway, it's going to be good as far as I can see.


Some nice girls, that will do for me.

I have the live feed page on a Window of it's own, then close the page down to just show the video are, mines 9x4.5", I have that on the right of the screen, and on the left I have 3 windows of Tabs, some IE & some Firefox.
I can post and watch the show at the same time, mind you it's a 24" widescreen Monitor, I really need to buy a bett graphics card, might do just that, the built in one isn't good enough for the Monitor setting I want.

Didn't get a chance to do more strimming Mollie, but quite keen to as it's a pleasure to use with it being so light.

Been busy this morning, got here at 8.45 instead of 6.15, not sure how long I have to stay, had brekkie usual time though.

Pictures of the HM's are on the front of the D-Star, always like to keep that as a reminder when people are talking about an HM.

Good Late Afternoon Everyone.

Got away from work at 1.15, so was home by 2.00, did some more strimming, but it's a bit overgrown so the battery went, put it on charge again, needs 3 hours.

Put 1 of my trellis sections up for a vine, got another one to do.
Earthed up the spuds again.

Had a quick look at live feed at work, but need new Monitor, still haven't got the new one yet, they are too busy to go 10 miles to get it.
Might see if I can order it from 1 of our suppliers and they will deliver it to me.

Got Live feed on at home anyway.

Good Evening Everyone.

Made some Mango Pickle.
Will give some to my Lad, far too much for me, would last years.

Ordered a new graphics card, hope it will go in OK, it should match my Monitor better I think.

Hope it's a nice day tomorrow, could do with some Sun.

Good evening all
Happy days ... dentist visit out of way, tooth hopefully fixed now,  and a full 11 weeks of summer BB to look forward to, and all of us here with livefeed too And daughter finishes her exams tommorrow.
I woke up at 1am with my lappy and livefeed headphones still in my ears this morning.   Some time ago, OH bought one of those notepad lappys through the busines because he needs it when away, so I have nicked it for livefeed at night.

Hicky
Glad you got away from work early, so you could get some stuff done in your garden.
Yes, sounds like you need to quickly sort out that monitor at work, can't have you missing out on livefeed during working hours, can we?

Thanks for the hint on how to watch livefeed.  With daughter's help, I have managed to get the livefeed on one side of my screen, and I can do other things on the other side of the screen.

Hope you enjoy BB tonight. It is so good to have it back each night.

Hicky
I bet your mango pickle is nice.   And I bet your lad will be pleased with it.

What do you do with a graphics card?
I dont think I have one of those on my lappy.

Evening guys.

Well, it was grey and cold today, but at least it was dry, so I got some work done at last. 

Glad your tooth is fixed Mollie.
Awake at 1am? What is the world coming to?  

Which graphics card did you get Hicky?
Should give better results than an integrated one anyway.

Your laptop will likely have integrated graphics on the motherboard Mollie. It's what controls the picture that is shown on the screen. 

I see the housemates had a meal in the air this afternoon.
They all seem OK so far. The Dan one has an irritating voice though.