Marks Grans Blog

I don't want to moan but I'm going to moan. I'm fed up. I got through lockdown no problem at all.  I think what made the difference was the weather.  It was fabulous almost all through the severe lockdown.   The whole month of July has been abysmal.  It's been wet and cold.  I've actually had to put the fire on on more than one occasion and I put an extra blanket on the bed on a few occasions when the summer weight duvet wasn't enough.  The good weather of April, May and June have all but been forgotten and I'm missing it. I'm not looking for big heatwaves but some dry and settled mild warmth would be good. I've got plenty to be doing.  I have things in the house to clean; cupboards to rearrange and organise; books to read; films on Netflix; sewing to do; photos to sort; cards to make; the garden to tame back from being a jungle; you get the picture, there is endless stuff I could and should be doing but I cannot for the life of me be bothere...

I was perusing Facebook one morning a few weeks ago as is my wont.  Most of the stuff I have on Facebook is small businesses, so its basically mostly advertising.  I get some news from various sources and I have about 20 friends on there too.  All of whom I know personally.  They do not post pictures of their dinner or Snapchat images!  I have absolutely no idea what Snapchat is but I know lots of people seem to use it to make themselves look like cute animals!  I've no idea why!  I get the local weather and I get the local news and I like it.   Anyway, the bit about Facebook I don't like is that they put sponsored posts on there too,  advertisers who have paid for an ad to be placed in among your newsfeed unsolicited.  Mostly I skip merrily by them without a glance however one of them caught my attention recently.  It was an advert for 'the most comfy bra ever' with donations to breast cancer charity and because they are not w...

I'm finding myself thinking about change.  Life itself has changed dramatically for now.  Who thought when we used to see Chinese people wearing masks all the time we'd be doing the same.  I used to see lots of Chinese students at the university when I did my art class and to a person they wore masks.  I wondered how they coped with that.  Now I know! My own changes, apart from mask wearing, are more a change of habits than anything else. I've put on weight.  I can tell I've put weight on when most of the clothes in my wardrobe are passed over for leggings or joggies.  I'm not really a leggings or joggie person normally.  I'm more a jeans sort of person.  Fortunately I can still squash into my jeans on occasion when I want to look less scruffy - yes, I do look scruffy in leggings or joggies - especially the ones with holes in the knees - gardening anybody?!  However today I decided this is ridiculous and unhealthy and I need to get mys...

My daughter says I need to learn to be more empathetic rather than sympathetic.   When she did training to be a counsellor she was told that to be empathetic was to find someone stuck in a hole and make suggestions from the top to aid them to get out of the hole.  It is to understand their dilemma but not get too involved with how they feel and be more intent on helping them find their own solution with your help. To be sympathetic is to get into the hole and feel very sorry for their dilemma but have no ongoing stragegy for getting out of the hole, therefore you get totally involved and become stuck in the hole with them. As I've said here before a good friend of mine has terminal lung cancer.  I am doing all I can in these restricted times to support her.  We've had a facetime call every week since lockdown began and I'm now beginning to see her deterioration.  I cannot visit her and give her a cuddle just now but I can allow her to be 'herself' with me...

I've not been on the computer as much as I normally am lately.  Usually in the summer months I'm not on the computer as much for various reasons.  It's very hot upstairs in summer where my laptop lives; I'm usually to be found pottering about in the garden in the summer months; I'm very busy reading a book or magazine (hopefully in the sun in the garden) - you get the picture. Now, I'm not complaining, but the weather so far in July has been pretty abysmal here in central Scotland.  My vegetables thought we'd moved to the Mediterranean in April, May and parts of June.  It was almost wall to wall sunshine during lockdown (and thank goodness for it!)  but now its gone all normal on us and we're taking it badly, as are my vegetables!  My poor sweet corn is sitting glaring at me, refusing to produce any stalks of corn.  Not to mention the giant snails are thoroughly enjoying eating all my lettuce as they march around on these wet nights!   ...

I had a Zoom chat with my ex colleague friend that I used to meet for lunch once in a while.  We've always met near his office and although we talk about personal stuff it was often mostly work stuff.  Obviously we've not been able to meet since February and during a text message recently I mentioned I had learned the new skill of 'hosting' a Zoom meeting.  I knew he would be using Zoom for work but probably not for personal stuff and I was right so he at least knew the basics of joining a meeting.  We arranged the meeting and it was lovely to see him at home.  He was in his kitchen and he'd been telling me about his new kitchen at our last lunch together so it was lovely to see it 'in real life' so to speak.   His lovely 89 year old mum also came in to say hello.  She lives with him since she had a stroke a few years ago and he takes very good care of her.  She'd heard him talking to someone and thought (hoped) they had a visitor! It was onl...

I'm in a quandary as to what to do with my hair. I loved it being short. It was very low maintenance - at home. However it was more high maintenance in that I had to go to a hairdresser every 6 weeks to get it cut to keep it looking nice.  I hate going to the hairdresser. I also loved having longer hair as I had very well behaved hair which if I dried properly, turning it under with a brush, when I washed it, I could get away with only washing it twice a week and it kept in style - manys a morning I got up and went to work and forgot to brush my hair, but you wouldn't really have noticed it was so well behaved.  Not to mention I had it coloured too, so perhaps it wouldn't be so nice longer as grey hair.  I didn't need to go to the hairdresser very often except when it got coloured (sometimes I did it at home).  Did I mention a hatred of going to the hairdresser? One decision I definitely don't need to make is colour.  I'm staying firmly grey.  I ha...

Today hubby and I have been married for 44 years!  We 'went out' for 4 years before we married so we've been together for 48 years!  How can we possibly be old enough for that! The photo was taken at our grandsons 18th party last September.  My hair is quite a bit longer now since it's not been cut since January this year!  Hubby's hair looks much the same as I've been cutting his hair.  You Tube is a wonderful thing! We're having a quiet day (no change there then!).   I bought some nice treats for lunch/dinner and I'm going to bake a cake today.  We don't do anniversary presents and I'll be interested to see if hubby gets me a card!  He's not out and about just now so although he'll remember our anniversary, I'll be surprised if there is a card.  It doesn't bother me but gives me a lot of ammunition to kid him on!  xx  ** Updated to say, he did indeed get me a card! Not only that he got me a present too!  He go...

This time it's definitely my computer at fault!  The browser I use was running very slow.  I could read two chapters of a book waiting for it to open up.  I remember the old days when that was indeed the case and it was frustrating then, now with superspeed broadband it's just not acceptable! Today I decided it was time to take the matter in hand and when I spotted a tiny prompt at the bottom of the still loading page saying 'I see Firefox is running slow why not do a refresh and speed it up again'.  I clicked it.  One thing hubby has always said to me is be careful what you click on when its offering 'free' help, but he was still sound asleep in bed at the time and I was sure (!!!) it would be ok.  It was ...... eventually! It took a very long time to do all its stuff and I was convinced I'd broken it.  Then while I was trying to figure my way through the other browser hubby had downloaded for me ages ago and I'd never even glanced at, up popped F...

Something has changed either with my computer or my phone.  I used to be able to attach my phone to the laptop with a usb cable, the laptop would recognise there was a phone attached to it and ask me if I wanted to download my photos.  Simple.  Then, one day recently, after I updated the software on my phone, I attached the phone to the laptop, the message asked me if I wanted to download the photos, then it stopped.  It refused point blank to go any further.  I tried every which way but it would not play.  I called in the big guns - hubby.  In the past hubby was a computer engineer with IBM so it doesn't get more appropriate than that to fix a computer.  Nope.  Not even he who speaks computer could get it to work.  The laptop and the phone have had a fallout and they refuse to play now. I can still move photos onto the laptop, but its much more laborious as I have to pick which ones I want and move them into the appropriate folders....

What would you do differently?  A question posed by another blogger with regard to child rearing.  I would perhaps do one or two things differently if I went back in time, not all to do with child rearing though. I would take 'keep money' or 'housekeeping money' from my teenagers when they started work.  We never did and I wish we had and put it away in an account for them to use as a deposit for a house, or a car or whatever else they needed further down the line. I would make sure no-one told my eldest he had to 'look after' his siblings.  I think that sat heavily on his shoulders as a wee boy when his grandmothers told him it was his job. I would pay closer attention to what the children were telling me with regards to school and teachers.  I was told of a teacher who favoured girls and was much more strict with boys.  Turned out she was an out and out bully and it was only when my youngest fell foul of her I sat up and paid attention and 'dealt'...

A lovely blogger, Lettice over at http://lettice14.blogspot.com/, did a recent post about some of her amazing, very exotic life.  She's led a very interesting life and done lots of different things.  It made me think!  It made me realise I've lived a very conventional life, but I'm not complaining! I met my husband at school when I was 16.  We went out with each other after a school trip to Inveralligan in Wester Ross. This used to be the schoolhouse which was owned and run by our school as an outdoor centre.  It was more rustic then! We got engaged two years later and married a year and a half after that.  We bought our first house a year before we got married and spent the time 'doing it up'.  We never once stayed over in it before we got married!  We had two children there, a boy then a girl and when my husband's aunt died we bought her house and moved into the house we are still in.  There we had another child and I worked part t...

... 21 and over one hour later I was caller number 2 and then it went silent!  Are you kidding me??  I held my nerve and didnt hang up as was my wont! Thankfully the plinky plink song came back.   I got 'you are caller number 1 and it was creeping towards 4pm when they finish for the day!  Fortunately 4.05pm it was answered and then 'I'm sorry I can't hear you, I'll call you back'.   I was sceptical to say the least and about ready to jump in the phone screaming. I waited and two minutes seemed like 10 however he did indeed phone me back.  Nothing is settled though.  Covid 19 is as good an excuse as any for bad service.   'Its the supplier we're having difficulty with'  'Why didn't you email me to tell me that then?'  'We did send you an email' 'Yes you did, but it said I would receive my goods that week and would get a call to give me a two hour slot, that was two weeks ago, I still don't have the stuff'  'It...