I reckon Philip will have a look-in, as Prince George doesn't have that among his three (he's George Alexander Louis).
As it's unlikely that he'll ever be king, there may be less pressure to avoid any unfortunate connotations (such as giving him the name of the bloke who sent the Spanish Armada).
They've already honoured his grandfather via Princess Charlotte - also avoiding the name of an unfortunate king ...
Pity they've used up the name George, as it's St. George's Day...
I thought the same - I bet they're kicking themselves for shortsightedness.
If you google "what will..." the first thing it currently offers is "...the royal baby be called". Arthur, Albert and Philip are the top three favourites.
Among the top popular boys' names generally are Liam and Logan but apparently these are considered unlikely.
Spoke to my daughter's consultant yesterday (she was finding speaking around her swollen tongue difficult), mostly trying to avoid the next appointment to see him in Sheffield next week now she has an appointment down here in June. Didn't manage to escape the trip oop north(ish), but did get told to up the Prednisolone slightly, back to where her symptoms are better under control, until we see him next week. So this morning brought a daughter bouncing out of bed and cutting patterns. She's making herself a princess line block to fit and making up a shirt in polycotton to try it out.
I understand that neither Donald nor Trump are likely.
And thank the Lord for that!
Spring is definitely springing here: according to Environment Canada it's 20° today. Socks have been (possibly temporarily) discarded, and I might just go and have an amble.
I am not a happy bunny tonight. Left work and was ready to drive home when I discovered my car was clamped. With a big notice on it to say it was untaxed. I had no idea. So walked home (took me an hour) and now trying to figure out how I never got a reminder when the tax was due last June.... Apparently once I have worked out how to tax it, if I do it within 24 hours it will 'only' cost me £100 to get the clamp removed. If its over 2 days it will be £200. Bring back Tax discs - at least that way you knew where you were!
Yay! Baby en rouge has clothes on like a civilised being
He's suddenly taken to the non-pressurised ventilation so he's now allowed to wear a onesie. He also might be coming out of intensive care if this goes well. All fingers and toes crossed.
The electronic tax thing came in long after we left the UK, but I'd have thought you'd get a reminder before they'd take drastic action like clamping - an e-mail or text message or something. Even a note on your windscreen like a parking-ticket giving you a bit of notice so that you can do something about it would be better than going right in with the big yellow shoes!
I did go for the first amble of the year and very nice it was too. I'd forgotten just how warm 20° feels: I put on a fleecy waistcoat, but I really didn't need it.
ooh, brilliant news la vie en rouge - is it a red onesie?
What a pain Gracious Rebel.
We're back down to single figures, highs of 13°C, which feels cool after last week, but nice not to look like Lurch as one of my work colleagues helpfully said, not, as the SPF50 sunblock I am not allergic to looks like the white stripes the cricketers wear, but all over my face! It is also not cheap.
Gracious Rebel, I managed to drive round without an MOT for 9 months (shock! horror!) because no-one reminds you of that these days either. The miracle is that that I never got caught by ANPR.
Tax discs weren't infallible, though - Master S once went out to his car on New Year's Day, clutching a brand new tax disc, to discover a £100 fine from the landlords of the gated community where he lived - for not displaying a valid tax disc.
I had to break it to him that it was all about Money, not keeping within the law or anything sensible...
Mrs. S, taxing her car in monthly instalments online
Yay! Baby en rouge has clothes on like a civilised being
He's suddenly taken to the non-pressurised ventilation so he's now allowed to wear a onesie. He also might be coming out of intensive care if this goes well. All fingers and toes crossed.
It looks like the dealer who sold me the car back in June 2016 maybe didn't register me as the new owner with DVLA. If they had done, I should have a V5C document (which I don't appear to have) and I should have received a tax reminder last June (when the years tax that the dealer supplied it with, came to an end). Gonna call the dealer tomorrow to see what they have to say. In the meantime have managed to tax the car online using the number on the V5C/2 stub from the previous owners registration document which I was given on purchase. Tomorrow I will have an hours walk back to work, phone the clamping people and arrange payment for them to release my car. Thankfully I don't start work until 1pm on a wednesday so will give me time to make enquiries at the dealer first. If its their fault I wonder if they will pay the release fee for me.
Best of luck, Gracious Rebel - these things are worrying and annoying, to say the least.
Sionisais' advice is good.
I made a 'court claim' against an uninsured bozo who crashed into my first car (about 40 years ago now - the vehicle was a Ford Cortina Mark I), and won. Very satisfying - and I got the car repaired, and back on the road (not so many insurance write-offs in those far off days). It did take a few weeks to sort - perhaps it's quicker now, what with the internet, and all.
I managed to drive around for 6 months without an mot last year. I have a usual friendly car mechanic who does the mot and any servicing that needs doing. He’d swapped admin systems and lost a load of stuff - initially didn’t turn up, we rebooked for the service, and only discovered the lack of mot when I went to renew my road tax and wasn’t able to! The lack of road tax sticker to put in the window is a pain, but the ability to pay on line is one of the little things that has made my life enormously better - no more scrabbling around for documents and then trying to get to the post office.
... It's got a little colder again .- we've actually put the heating back on ☹️
It's a wee bit cooler here today too - 17° and cloudy - but I'm still gradually turning down the thermostats.
When D. had moved to Newfoundland and I was still in Belfast waiting to sell the house, I suddenly discovered that the tax disc on the car was out of date. As this was one of the things D. always looked after (and I didn't even know where the testing place* was) I went into a bit of a tail-spin. Fortunately a friend who had recently retired from the DVLA (and had always reminded us when it was due when he was working) came to my rescue, took the car in and got it all sorted.
* In NI, the MOT is done at a central testing place, not at garages. IMHO it's a better way of doing it, as there's no incentive for them to find petty (sometimes non-existent) faults and charge you for repairing them.
The car dealership looked into their records and apparently everything their end indicates that they posted the document off to DVLA in June 2016. I have asked them to send me a copy of whatever proof they have. Meanwhile DVLA are telling me they never received it, as the registered keeper still indicates motor trade. They also pointed out that the reminders they send out are merely courtesy and should not be relied upon - basically I am responsible for taxing the vehicle: - when I didn't receive the V5C certificate within a few weeks of purchasing the car I should have chased it up.
So realistically I don't think I have much of a leg to stand on in recouping the £100 I had to pay to get the clamp removed today. DVLA did say that if I wrote a covering letter to explain the circumstances I ought to be allowed to have the £25 fee waived for a 'replacement' V5C. I will wait to receive whatever 'evidence of posting' that the dealer sends me before applying to DVLA for my long lost V5C document. Let this be a lesson to people - always check if your vehicle is taxed! What annoys me is that this would never have happened with the paper tax disc system.
The other thing that I find a little concerning is that I renewed my car insurance about a month ago ... and they never informed me it was untaxed .... surely they must check?!
Yay for rain and greyness! Today I am not auditioning for Lurch or The Mask with white gunk all over my face, neck, chest (and still burning where I miss or it rubs off), a scarf and hat will do. Well, this early in the morning. Later, not so much.
Guides on Wednesday were trying to rearrange my hat to be more stylish and stop me wearing my hat as low over my nose as I can get it, for maximum protection, which amused me. It is a nice rain hat, it will look better worn further back on my head, but not just now.
Today I’m off to a Pilates session. My friend, who is a retired nurse, has just qualified as an instructor and started teaching classes, so I’m going to support her. Should be interesting to find out how bendy I am!
I do Pilates and I'm not very bendy and don't appear to have any abs to speak of , but I enjoy it and I think it is slowly making a difference. I hope you enjoyed it
I do Pilates and I'm not very bendy and don't appear to have any abs to speak of , but I enjoy it and I think it is slowly making a difference. I hope you enjoyed it
Thank you - I did! She said I was very flexible! I must say, I now feel like I’ve had a good massage, every joint oiled. I’ll go again next week.
Yes, except that I had promised to help in a community litter pick (I've missed the last few). Actually about 15 turned up and we managed to retrieve a remarkable amount of stuff, so we felt very virtuous and not too chilly. However I came home with Damp Socks.
Yes, except that I had promised to help in a community litter pick (I've missed the last few). Actually about 15 turned up and we managed to retrieve a remarkable amount of stuff, so we felt very virtuous and not too chilly. However I came home with Damp Socks.
Waterproof socks are the answer. I buy them for my son as he refuses to own more than one pair of shoes :rolleyes: Sealskins make an excellent version.
Still on the subject of socks - Pilates socks have toes in them!
Yes, except that I had promised to help in a community litter pick (I've missed the last few). Actually about 15 turned up and we managed to retrieve a remarkable amount of stuff, so we felt very virtuous and not too chilly. However I came home with Damp Socks.
Perhaps you should have left the Damp Socks where they were, or picked them up and put them in the bin-bag.
BTW, the rain which is cheering up CK is actually of that gentle, refreshing nature which one expects at this time of year (despite the leaks in the Palace roof).
Nature, it is said, is beautiful even in her tears.
I shall now go and debauch myself on tomato-and-basil SOUP.
Having finished the litter pick, I betook myself to the supermarket nearby in search of some good cheap soup for lunch.
Being W++tr+s+e, they had good soup and they had (relatively) cheap soup ... so I came home empty-handed. I should have gone to +sd+ who often have good deals on soup.
(This is getting suspiciously like "Only Connect").
We've got rather more H2O around these parts than we'd like: a combination of melting sn*w and a heavy fall of rain have raised the river (which is part of what makes the view from the château so spectacular) to flood levels. Although we're high enough up to be out of danger, we had to take a bit of a detour when we were coming in for D's recital this morning, as there were roads closed in the city centre, even away from the riverside, because of overflowing drains. And they're expecting it to get worse over the weekend - there's more rain in the forecast, and the snow-melt from further north isn't going to be stopping any time soon.
At least the rain yesterday got rid of the last square foot of sn*w round our place.
Not entirely surprised to hear the frost alarm go off in the car this morning on the way to Hereford - you know, the alarm that scares the living daylights out of you when all that has happened is that the outside temperature has dropped below 4 degrees C? Granted, when it went off, we were on the most exposed part of the Heads of the Valleys Road (A465 if you want to look it up) at about 1350 feet above sea level. By the time we reached Hereford, temperature had climbed to a more acceptable 8 degrees C.
Hereford was grey but mostly dry all day. No real rain, more what I would describe as "water in the wind". On the other hand, we were greeted by sunshine as we surmounted the same 1350 summit on the return journey - generally the Valleys is where you find the rain.
Spent the day in 2 different music shops in the city centre. Came out of both without buying anything - something of a miracle for me. Priscilla was very surprised to find I wasn't clutching a bag or a box of something when we met by the bronze bull on High Town. Given that I had admitted that I was looking for a suitable pick-up / microphone for my flutes, small wonder that she was surprised. The one shop had a couple of potentially interesting systems for me to try, but both had snags. Ideally, I am looking for something head-worn because I usually have 3 different flutes on stands beside me, a Concert, an Alto and a Bass, and having to buy 3 separate devices will be expensive. Unfortunately, wearing something on your head seems to be a prescription for getting a microphone up your nose ...
That sounds like an unfortunate occupational hazard!
It looks like quite a nice day here - it's 15° and mostly cloudy, but the rain seems to have eased off for now (it was absolutely chucking it down in the wee small hours of this morning). I may contemplate an amble later on ...
I've decided that a nicely-cooked steak, with a salad of avocado and tomato and a glass of red wine (which I had for lunch), is proof that God loves us. So now you know.
Piglet, I am envious of your lunch. Having said that, ours was not so bad; in my case, a bacon, brie and cranberry sandwich on granary bread (the slices were at least 1 inch thick) with half a pint of Doom Bar bitter and a shared bowl of freshly cooked chips, eaten in the Lichfield Vaults pub in Hereford city centre - a pub I will recommend with no hesitation. The bacon was crisp, the brie was ripe, the chips were splendid - what's not to like?!
Ambling was accomplished: D. and I went into town in the early evening to have a look at the river levels, and had a stroll along the walking bridge, sussing out the possibilities for Poohsticks by watching the flotsam coming down in the flood, and following the example of other Frederictonians, posting photos on Facebook.
Then we had another little amble along the street where some of the nice restaurants are, and were rather alarmed to discover that one of our favourites has been taken over by a small Atlantic chain of pubs. Their web-site calls them "gastropubs", but judging from the menu outside, it's more pub than gastro - it looked like very standard Canadian fare to me. I expect we'll give it a go, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
We did, however, pass a few places we hadn't noticed or thought about before, so I think some research may be in order.
We're still having to take a few detours to get to and from the Cathedral, as the river isn't showing any signs of calming down. Between tonight and tomorrow there's about another inch of rain forecast, but what's really driving it is melting snow from up-river, and even if the weather was dry that would have to go somewhere.
No, it's water aerobics (to music) with an instructor. Most of the class are "women of a certain age".
I go swimming in the deeper water at the same time ... not that I'm very good at it.
If someone, a year ago, had said we'd be going to the swimming bath before 9am twice a week, I'd have said they were bonkers! But (for over 60s such as us) it's all free (at least for now).
I visit my local leisure centre for various classes, the gym and swimming a few times a week. It's not free, but they do a Black Friday deal that gets you a third off, plus an extra 10% off for being an OAP so it works out at about a fiver a week.
I've just spent a lovely weekend away with a load of my Quaker friends. Lots of food, walks and a mean game of Trivial Pursuit. Despite the walks I'm feeling very fat as the food was served in large quantaties and there was rather a lot of CAKE. Its the gym for me tomorrow morning.
I do similar 'Aqua aerobics' classes at the pool at my gym - great fun (its the only class I've been to there that I can actually do everything that I am supposed to, unlike the Pilates, Zumba, Body Balance, Spin etc etc classes where I struggle) and we even have a couple of (older) men who sometimes join us. Haven't seen anyone wearing socks in the pool, but at Christmas a lot of the ladies came in reindeer antlers etc, and the instructor wore a Santa suit.
I do Pilates in bare feet, our instructor says it is better than wearing socks.
I lived in bare feet as a child. I was brought up in South Africa and, the minute we were out of school, we slung our shoes round our necks with the laces tied together - that was it until the next day, bare feet all the way.
Now I hate wearing bare feet - I really hate the mucky gritty feel of it.
I do Pilates in bare feet, our instructor says it is better than wearing socks.
I lived in bare feet as a child. I was brought up in South Africa and, the minute we were out of school, we slung our shoes round our necks with the laces tied together - that was it until the next day, bare feet all the way.
Now I hate wearing bare feet - I really hate the mucky gritty feel of it.
As a diabetic I have been told off for going bare footed by the team that look after your feet...
Comments
I reckon Philip will have a look-in, as Prince George doesn't have that among his three (he's George Alexander Louis).
As it's unlikely that he'll ever be king, there may be less pressure to avoid any unfortunate connotations (such as giving him the name of the bloke who sent the Spanish Armada).
They've already honoured his grandfather via Princess Charlotte - also avoiding the name of an unfortunate king ...
I thought the same - I bet they're kicking themselves for shortsightedness.
If you google "what will..." the first thing it currently offers is "...the royal baby be called". Arthur, Albert and Philip are the top three favourites.
Among the top popular boys' names generally are Liam and Logan but apparently these are considered unlikely.
Spoke to my daughter's consultant yesterday (she was finding speaking around her swollen tongue difficult), mostly trying to avoid the next appointment to see him in Sheffield next week now she has an appointment down here in June. Didn't manage to escape the trip oop north(ish), but did get told to up the Prednisolone slightly, back to where her symptoms are better under control, until we see him next week. So this morning brought a daughter bouncing out of bed and cutting patterns. She's making herself a princess line block to fit and making up a shirt in polycotton to try it out.
Spring is definitely springing here: according to Environment Canada it's 20° today. Socks have been (possibly temporarily) discarded, and I might just go and have an amble.
He's suddenly taken to the non-pressurised ventilation so he's now allowed to wear a onesie. He also might be coming out of intensive care if this goes well. All fingers and toes crossed.
I did go for the first amble of the year and very nice it was too. I'd forgotten just how warm 20° feels: I put on a fleecy waistcoat, but I really didn't need it.
What a pain Gracious Rebel.
We're back down to single figures, highs of 13°C, which feels cool after last week, but nice not to look like Lurch as one of my work colleagues helpfully said, not, as the SPF50 sunblock I am not allergic to looks like the white stripes the cricketers wear, but all over my face! It is also not cheap.
Tax discs weren't infallible, though - Master S once went out to his car on New Year's Day, clutching a brand new tax disc, to discover a £100 fine from the landlords of the gated community where he lived - for not displaying a valid tax disc.
I had to break it to him that it was all about Money, not keeping within the law or anything sensible...
Mrs. S, taxing her car in monthly instalments online
Ps. yay for bebe en rouge
The cuddles are obviously working!
IJ
What wonderful news for you all.
2) Gracious Rebel: Try this if a polite letter gets you nowhere.
It's got a little t colder again .- we've actually put the heating back on ☹️
Sionisais' advice is good.
I made a 'court claim' against an uninsured bozo who crashed into my first car (about 40 years ago now - the vehicle was a Ford Cortina Mark I), and won. Very satisfying - and I got the car repaired, and back on the road (not so many insurance write-offs in those far off days). It did take a few weeks to sort - perhaps it's quicker now, what with the internet, and all.
IJ
I managed to drive around for 6 months without an mot last year. I have a usual friendly car mechanic who does the mot and any servicing that needs doing. He’d swapped admin systems and lost a load of stuff - initially didn’t turn up, we rebooked for the service, and only discovered the lack of mot when I went to renew my road tax and wasn’t able to! The lack of road tax sticker to put in the window is a pain, but the ability to pay on line is one of the little things that has made my life enormously better - no more scrabbling around for documents and then trying to get to the post office.
When D. had moved to Newfoundland and I was still in Belfast waiting to sell the house, I suddenly discovered that the tax disc on the car was out of date. As this was one of the things D. always looked after (and I didn't even know where the testing place* was) I went into a bit of a tail-spin. Fortunately a friend who had recently retired from the DVLA (and had always reminded us when it was due when he was working) came to my rescue, took the car in and got it all sorted.
* In NI, the MOT is done at a central testing place, not at garages. IMHO it's a better way of doing it, as there's no incentive for them to find petty (sometimes non-existent) faults and charge you for repairing them.
So realistically I don't think I have much of a leg to stand on in recouping the £100 I had to pay to get the clamp removed today. DVLA did say that if I wrote a covering letter to explain the circumstances I ought to be allowed to have the £25 fee waived for a 'replacement' V5C. I will wait to receive whatever 'evidence of posting' that the dealer sends me before applying to DVLA for my long lost V5C document. Let this be a lesson to people - always check if your vehicle is taxed! What annoys me is that this would never have happened with the paper tax disc system.
The other thing that I find a little concerning is that I renewed my car insurance about a month ago ... and they never informed me it was untaxed .... surely they must check?!
Guides on Wednesday were trying to rearrange my hat to be more stylish and stop me wearing my hat as low over my nose as I can get it, for maximum protection, which amused me. It is a nice rain hat, it will look better worn further back on my head, but not just now.
Today I’m off to a Pilates session. My friend, who is a retired nurse, has just qualified as an instructor and started teaching classes, so I’m going to support her. Should be interesting to find out how bendy I am!
Thank you - I did! She said I was very flexible! I must say, I now feel like I’ve had a good massage, every joint oiled. I’ll go again next week.
Waterproof socks are the answer. I buy them for my son as he refuses to own more than one pair of shoes :rolleyes: Sealskins make an excellent version.
Still on the subject of socks - Pilates socks have toes in them!
Perhaps you should have left the Damp Socks where they were, or picked them up and put them in the bin-bag.
O, wait a minute.....
IJ
Nature, it is said, is beautiful even in her tears.
I shall now go and debauch myself on tomato-and-basil SOUP.
IJ
Being W++tr+s+e, they had good soup and they had (relatively) cheap soup ... so I came home empty-handed. I should have gone to +sd+ who often have good deals on soup.
(This is getting suspiciously like "Only Connect").
[fetches coat]
We've got rather more H2O around these parts than we'd like: a combination of melting sn*w and a heavy fall of rain have raised the river (which is part of what makes the view from the château so spectacular) to flood levels. Although we're high enough up to be out of danger, we had to take a bit of a detour when we were coming in for D's recital this morning, as there were roads closed in the city centre, even away from the riverside, because of overflowing drains. And they're expecting it to get worse over the weekend - there's more rain in the forecast, and the snow-melt from further north isn't going to be stopping any time soon.
At least the rain yesterday got rid of the last square foot of sn*w round our place.
I thought it was supposed to get warmer as the year progressed?
IJ
Hereford was grey but mostly dry all day. No real rain, more what I would describe as "water in the wind". On the other hand, we were greeted by sunshine as we surmounted the same 1350 summit on the return journey - generally the Valleys is where you find the rain.
Spent the day in 2 different music shops in the city centre. Came out of both without buying anything - something of a miracle for me. Priscilla was very surprised to find I wasn't clutching a bag or a box of something when we met by the bronze bull on High Town. Given that I had admitted that I was looking for a suitable pick-up / microphone for my flutes, small wonder that she was surprised. The one shop had a couple of potentially interesting systems for me to try, but both had snags. Ideally, I am looking for something head-worn because I usually have 3 different flutes on stands beside me, a Concert, an Alto and a Bass, and having to buy 3 separate devices will be expensive. Unfortunately, wearing something on your head seems to be a prescription for getting a microphone up your nose ...
It looks like quite a nice day here - it's 15° and mostly cloudy, but the rain seems to have eased off for now (it was absolutely chucking it down in the wee small hours of this morning). I may contemplate an amble later on ...
I've decided that a nicely-cooked steak, with a salad of avocado and tomato and a glass of red wine (which I had for lunch), is proof that God loves us. So now you know.
I do Pilates in bare feet, our instructor says it is better than wearing socks.
Ambling was accomplished: D. and I went into town in the early evening to have a look at the river levels, and had a stroll along the walking bridge, sussing out the possibilities for Poohsticks by watching the flotsam coming down in the flood, and following the example of other Frederictonians, posting photos on Facebook.
Then we had another little amble along the street where some of the nice restaurants are, and were rather alarmed to discover that one of our favourites has been taken over by a small Atlantic chain of pubs. Their web-site calls them "gastropubs", but judging from the menu outside, it's more pub than gastro - it looked like very standard Canadian fare to me. I expect we'll give it a go, but I'm not getting my hopes up.
We did, however, pass a few places we hadn't noticed or thought about before, so I think some research may be in order.
We're still having to take a few detours to get to and from the Cathedral, as the river isn't showing any signs of calming down. Between tonight and tomorrow there's about another inch of rain forecast, but what's really driving it is melting snow from up-river, and even if the weather was dry that would have to go somewhere.
I go swimming in the deeper water at the same time ... not that I'm very good at it.
If someone, a year ago, had said we'd be going to the swimming bath before 9am twice a week, I'd have said they were bonkers! But (for over 60s such as us) it's all free (at least for now).
I've just spent a lovely weekend away with a load of my Quaker friends. Lots of food, walks and a mean game of Trivial Pursuit. Despite the walks I'm feeling very fat as the food was served in large quantaties and there was rather a lot of CAKE. Its the gym for me tomorrow morning.
Hurrah! My toed socks are also rainbow coloured.
I lived in bare feet as a child. I was brought up in South Africa and, the minute we were out of school, we slung our shoes round our necks with the laces tied together - that was it until the next day, bare feet all the way.
Now I hate wearing bare feet - I really hate the mucky gritty feel of it.
As a diabetic I have been told off for going bare footed by the team that look after your feet...