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**Thread of little facts & things**....3

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TBH I've only recently used up last year's frozen one to clear the freezer out for the new ones! Our pear tree has gone a bit mad so I'm planning pear and blackberry crumble - using granola with the crumble mixture for added crunch and fibre (as if extra fibre is needed ;)) I think it's going to be a fab year for blackberries.

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Yes, good year for pears.  Loads of crab apples too.  But best yet are Figs!  I moved one from a pot to a south facing wall 18 months ago.  Even followed RHS advice and put 5 paving slabs round it, with small gaps between them, to discourage too much green growth and encourage figs.  It seems to have worked!  

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1 hour ago, soapdragon said:

Just noticed that our swifts/swallows/house martins (never quite worked out what they are as they fly too fast!) have gone. There on Monday and gone today. Now all I have to do is clean up all the poo down the front of the house :o

It's sad when they leave.

One October, a couple of years ago, I saw hundreds flying in the sky all heading in the same direction. It was amazing.

These days I don't see many in the sky at all, leaving or not.

Even over all the fields in Cornwall last week, I still didn't see the amount I used to.

As a child we used to pick a flock and try and count them all, but you never could, because there were too many.

Where have they all gone ? 

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I couldn't see the fitness thread but anyway I was going to say that I've been using my crosstrainer for a while now and I have noticed that it's getting much harder to get the aerobic and anaerobic zones on my tracker to light up. I'm having to work much harder. I'm hoping that means that I'm getting more fit and that my heart and lungs are stronger. I used to struggle going up any uphill but I don't now. What I used to consider uphill I now realise were really just slopes. 

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Wow!  Never knew it was there!  I suppose we've spent so long inside that we never ventured outside to the picnic area even.  Loved the rock collection along the upstairs corridor.  Lovely photos.

I've seen figs growing somewhere locally - but all looked green.  

House martins are still here, not seen the swifts or swallows lately.  Swifts are in our little town about 20 minutes away but not here.  I liken swifts to longbows with arrows - and they are dark while swallows do have the white tum.  Here they fly alongside the housemartins and it's sometimes quite difficult to spot the tails when they are doing some of  their manoeuvres!

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I agree there used to be so many swifts around here, I hadn’t really noticed until you said that there are much less now!

we’ve had a good year generally for birds and butterflies and we have a resident hedgehog which we haven’t had for a while either. Our sparrows are cross with us though because we’ve taken the top off our beech hedge and reduced its height by about 2 feet.

no plums this year, one tree fell over in a storm with a big setting which was obviously too much for it! and the other didn’t really set many and those that did just went mouldy. We have apples in the garden but they are poor quality, the ones at the allotment are ok though.

We’ve spent the afternoon planting late lettuce, spring cabbage and wallflowers along with a lot of tidying up. I love September 😊

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Gumble, moan! Just got back from mad dash - hour round trip -  to Sports Direct (my total all time favourite shop - NOT! EVER!) as YS announced yesterday when he got home from school that he will be doing hockey next Monday and so needs shin guards and long black socks! Nothing like a bit of notice; and that wasn't. 

Now brings the total of uniform/kit for YS to just over £280.00 for secondary school. Although ES is two years ahead of him the quality of the uniform (mostly Trutex but all nasty polyester, even sports kit) is so bad that it just doesn't last to be passed on. They cannot even wear plain black joggers for winter sport (available from Matalan etc for a few pounds) but have to have polyester ones with teeny tiny school logo on for £18.99 >:(. ES is good friends with twins in his year and I feel for the poor parents (who aren't actually poor literally but not rolling in it!)

I imagine that schools get a 'kick back' from uniform sales but really strongly feel that parents should be able to buy plain black trousers, skirts etc. Our school trousers are £16.99 per pair (teeny tiny logo again!) whilst Sainsbury's have 2 pairs for £9.99. If children don't wear correct uniform they get put into detention....hardly their fault! 

Sorry, feeling a tad hacked off with the whole thing (in case you hadn't guessed!)

 

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If it's a tiny school logo would it be possible to embroider one that would pass at a glance? It's not about saving the money, rather more about not being 'ripped off'.

We've had the supply to the house re-routed and it now comes in on the opposite side of the house. Two new pylons put in and one taken out (4 months later which is very quick for here) leaving a very large hole in a lawn. All supplies are overhead cables here, unless you pay a small fortune to get the cables buried. The cables taken down were 4 bare conductors with glass insulators. The new ones are 4 twisted black insulated cables, which is a lot better for the swallows to perch on, to the extent that we had around 200 on them yesterday. They kept flying up because they were being buzzed by a sparrow hawk (I think). Today they have all gone; migrated perhaps?

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I feel your pain Soapy - that brought back memories.  DD couldn't wear the regulation polyester trousers - they fit her legs but the waistband looked like a clown's outfit that needed braces - the gap was about 3 inches too large!  So the nearest we could get was one of the retail shops in Basingstoke - she wore them from the September start and continued until after the half term holiday after Easter!  Last few weeks of school ever and she gets a complaint to change her jeans!  They weren't even jeans, the fabric looked similar thread to her school ones - we took ages to find the perfect match in colour, they even had similar pockets - but they fitted around her waist and lasted a whole year - and yet much better quality we did pay more though but it wasn't much - about £5.  Suffice to say I told them they weren't jeans and I wasn't going to purchase any more uniform at this late stage, when she'd been wearing the same thing all year round without any complaint whatsoever!  I got quite bolshy in the end - especially as that was the last child at school.

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Long time no see! :D 

I’ve been really busy with work, loving it and have a great team. Took Céline to London last weekend and we walked past a dog show in aid of Street Vet charity, we entered and won Prettiest *****!

She got some treats and a £60 dog bed!

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Oops, Prettiest B itch :lol: 

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She is such a pretty dog. She reminds me of our guide dog puppy. She had the same perfect little face. 

I'm in a very happy mood at the moment. Rugby World Cup 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇯🇵 starts tomorrow. My daughter is going to stay, my husband is working and so we are just going to lounge and watch rugby all weekend. We have similar plans all through October too. Plus, it's in Japan so I've been enjoying all the build up videos. England's opening game against Tonga is in Sapporo where I've been so I find that pleasing plus my son is going with his wife and baby so I will be watching the crowd shots carefully. But best of all they're coming to visit in November! We're all very excited, especially my daughter who hasn't been able to see the baby yet. She's been busy buying him toys and clothes and can't wait to play with him. He's almost a year old now. 

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