Saturday, 15 February 2025

Half of February Gone - Thank Goodness

 When did a Railway Station become a Train Station? When did Going Shopping become a Shopping Haul? Why is the tag line to TV adverts for Magnum ice creams "True to Pleasure" and what on earth does it mean?

These are questions that need answering........................or not!

But while you are pondering..........................

It's been such a cold and grey ol' week in Mid Suffolk, everyone I've spoken to - which was really only the people  at the Keep Moving Group -have been saying how dismal it is. 18 ladies there this week - which is really good - means we cover our costs (hall hire, coffee and biscuits) with our £1.50s, and build up enough to have more free weeks. One lady who hadn't been for a few weeks wondered where all the new people had suddenly come from - she didn't know that I'd put the info on Facebook Village groups.

The February jigsaw is almost done, I'm at the point of thinking there must be pieces missing - but hoping there aren't.




I finished one more book for my Reading-the-Seasons-not-really-a-challenge thing. It was by a new to me author. The story was OK but I thought some of the writing, especially dialogue, was a bit odd and clunky. 

Christmas has arrived in Cumbria, and wedding bells are ringing. As the clock strikes midnight on New Year's Eve, DI James Walker receives a phone call that puts paid to his Christmas break. During the wedding of the year at a lakeside hotel, the bride's sister has vanished. When Rachel left the wedding breakfast before her speech, newly-wed Libby was furious. But as the night went on with no sign of her maid-of-honour, Libby started to realise something was very, very wrong. Before the wedding night is out, the lake is being searched for a body. One guest is a killer. 



I hope these two weather sayings for yesterday are correct............


                                           St Valentine Breaks the Back of Winter

                                         To Saint Valentine the spring is a neighbour

Last piece of news for the week is that BiL came over yesterday afternoon with his motor mower and cut the grass for me. It was still a bit wet and clogged up now and again but it's done....... thankfully. I should be able to keep on top of it now. With the last of the Buddliea and now the grass cuttings the garden waste bin is full again, so I can't do any more clearing for while. I've had to stop using my dalek compost bins - Rats!

I'm hoping a lady gardener who advertised on the local facebook group is going to come sometime and get the two big borders back to some sort of tidy too, then I'll be able to cope with them again. She likes to be paid in cash for one-off jobs like this, so I must organise that. It sounds as if she is very busy locally. The person who volunteered to help me last autumn lost his driving licence before Christmas, for being over the alcohol limit -twice- and hasn't been heard of since!


Back Next week
Sue

27 comments:

  1. You've reminded me to sort out my Buddleias. One is definitely looking peaky - doesn't help anything planted in old house rubble, which the entire bank is! I will give it some FYM to help it along.

    What a lovely jigsaw that is.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen Buddleias growing out of cracks in concrete so yours might recover in spring. Those here are just too big

      Delete
  2. I would like to know when curtains became drapes, wardrobes became robes, cushions became pillows and going to see a film became a trip to the movies. No need to state where all of those came from! Train station is a particular bugbear of mine too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's a railway station to me but train station to children who are 40ish - so somewhere in the 80's/90's it must have changed

      Delete
    2. To me it's just a station, (name of town in front.)
      We went to the Pictures to see a film.
      Two of my other annoyances are adverts that say "two times " instead of twice, and the recent use of the word "Gifted."
      A child can be Gifted in a certain academic or artistic way, but other than that Gift is a noun not a verb! A gift is a present that you are given. It's not a verb, and before anyone says language evolves, yes, new words like computer, and e-bike, together with urban slang do. Gifted is just WRONG, it makes me shout at the tv when it's now used there. it's a NOUN!
      Next it'll be the Specific Ocean!
      Jean.

      Delete
  3. When you look at some of the trolleys stuffed and piled high with all manner of massive multi packs and processed foods, then I think shopping haul is quite apt... ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's true, I've been noticing being called a Haul on all vlogs

      Delete
  4. I think brits should fight back and insist on the old words. The new ones are largely from tv, I'm guessing. Resist!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You're right, I had never really noticed that most folk do say Train Station instead of Railway Station, our traditional English is being diluted ... and don't get me started on punctuation!

    Fingers crossed that all your pieces are there, I bet they are. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hope the pieces are all there - would be frustrating if not.
      There are lots of things younger people say that sound wrong but that's just me sounding old!

      Delete
  6. I think that language evolves with every generation. Call it what you want, Sue.
    I was out shoveling this morning so my yard is covered with snow. No thoughts of gardens here yet.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes language really does change, the lexicographer Susie Dent on TV explains it all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susie_Dent

      Delete
  7. I see what you mean about the jigsaw pieces vs size of empty space but hopefully all will be there. I can’t understand where these odd phrases have come from but they annoy the heck out of me! In Scotland we tend to “go for the messages” or as we did yesterday, “the big shop”. Catriona

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Going for messages is very Scottish - is it anywhere else I wonder?

      Delete
    2. In Ireland - or at least in Dublin - we say "going for the messages" too, and train station!

      Delete
  8. I'm guilty of saying train station, but the two annoy me immensely.
    Your jigsaw is looking lovely. Xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Getting the lawn mowed and having the gardens trimmed up sounds wonderful. Given 6 inches of snow cover, mowing the lawn is still many months away for me.
    The puzzle looks great. Hopefully all the pieces are there.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We had snow here last night - Saturday - it's melting this morning

      Delete
  10. The puzzle is coming along nicely. I sure hope there are no missing pieces.
    Still moving snow here so no gardening or lawn mowing until probably April at the earliest.

    God bless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The grass didn't stop growing earlier in the winter but doesn't dry enough for my small battery mower.
      We had snow yesterday evening - quite a surprise

      Delete
  11. Oh there does seem a lot of space for the small number of pieces you seem to have left!
    It's still snowing here. No mowing, just snow removal. I'm not sure which husband dislikes more, cutting the grass or getting rid of the snow! I must admit that I'm getting a little tired of winter. Must be the winter blues. Sigh

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's been continuously grey and cold here for what seems like weeks. We even had snow here yesterday. I wonder if your sister in Ipswich had snow?

      Delete
  12. It really has been miserably cold and damp in recent weeks. The Friday sunshine was so good the have but didn't last get long..
    Your puzzle looks lovely - fingers crossed . . . xx

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've tried bits of puzzle in some spaces and getting cross when they don't fit

      Delete
  13. Our ten day forecast shows day after day of miserably cold temperatures. However, my husband found something this morning that made us both happy...the first week of March is supposed to be a stretch of 40 degree weather. All we have to do is get through this month. Roll on, spring!

    ReplyDelete