Spring has sprung...let's Countdown to Christmas 2024 (Thread 2)

[NoWordForFluffy]

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For the forgetful of thinking AKA me tomorrow, repeating the countdown!

Morning!

I'm back from the wild beyonds of the East Mids! Challenging old journey with the kids as it was a collection of shortish train journeys. I think I prefer the longer trip which has a 2.5 hour train journey in it, as you can get settled on it better. That one wasn't running this weekend though, probably due to engineering works.

It was lovely seeing Why. We laughed so much it hurt! 🤣

I'm off for the next two days now, thankfully.

Honestly your face Fluffy 😂 absolutely priceless. I haven't laughed that much for ages.

Hello from France 👋 we're literally on the France/Belgian border and I was not prepared for the heat. 27° today, 29/30° tomorrow 🥵

We're travelling to Bruges either tomorrow or Thursday and I have 2 objectives - but a decoration from a Christmas shop and buy some chocolate (for me and my fiend who is a chocoholic).

Jealous of the fun some of you have with your sisters. I get on very well with mine but she's generally a ball of stress and chaos and we've very different do we don't generally have fun together.

Thanks for the help on the laundry baskets. It seems I may have to give in and get a foldable one, I just hate the wasted plastic because there's nothing wrong with mine.
Will have to see if I can donate it somewhere.

Aside from that my Christmas prep has been using my cross stitch card as a distraction while I felt sick on the ferry.
Am hoping to have it done soon though

If your head was caving in, you'd be perturbed! #longstory 😬🤣

Hello from France 👋 we're literally on the France/Belgian border and I was not prepared for the heat. 27° today, 29/30° tomorrow 🥵 ....we had 34 in Rome it was intense !

We're travelling to Bruges either tomorrow or Thursday and I have 2 objectives - but a decoration from a Christmas shop and buy some chocolate (for me and my fiend who is a chocoholic)

Dumon Chocolate is the place ( I did loads of searches before I went , there's loads of chocolate shops )

I would be perturbed to be fair!!! I saw C today and she suggests you were dehydrated not caving in. I like that explanation better than yours Fluffy 😂

You cannot get away with putting 'long story'

You need to spill y'know

I drink loads. It can't be that! 😭😭😭

70, I've got a weird dent down the middle of my head, that neither Why nor I have noticed before (and she shaved my head as a youth, so has had close contact!). We have no reasonable explanation for it. 🤷‍♀️

Oh that's a good idea scuppered Fluffy. Seemed reasonable as you had been travelling but depends when you noticed it. It is definitely very denty.

I noticed it a couple of weeks ago. I could've done without so doing. 🤣

119 It is warm here today. 29° - I'm aware that's nothing for some people but for me it may as well be 100°, plus we were eaten by mozzie bastards last night.
Despite that, I'd like to come back. We went to Bruges today and it was lovely - can only imagine how cosy and festive it would feel at Christmas.

Thank you for the recommendation 70. We visited Dumon Chocolate and the lovely lady there helped us fill a box with a variety of chocs to try 😋
Also went to a Christmas shop and bought a decoration obviously

Fluffy should we be worried about you falling to pieces?

I'm hoping Bruges will be cold and crisp when we go there Meeces not rainy and meh

DH and I went there last year in June ( day trip from Brussels ) and it was a lovely town which I was imagining with my Christmas Eyes how it would look decorated .

DH went to Bruges (beer festival) a few years ago and brought back delicious chocolate coins , really thick , lovely chocolate , so that;s what I'll be searching for

Meeces, yes, I definitely do appear to be falling apart. I have cervical radiculopathy, an arthritic right shoulder, my left knee hasn't recovered from a meniscus twinge yet, my right ankle is sore from a slight turn in a hole while dog-walking. My right knee is getting sore (probably from altered gait due to the ankle), and I have bilateral carpal tunnel. 🙈🤣 I'm otherwise in one piece, other than my head caving in. 🤣🤣🤣🤣

I really want to go to Bruges. It sounds lovely!

We are off to the Bruges Christmas market too. Maybe we should have a Countdowners meet-up.

I've no idea why that changed my name automatically but 'tis I Woolly

We went to Brussels and Bruges for the Christmas Markets back in 2012 - very beautiful 🎄

Today DC3 has been singing the “Run Run Rudolph” song a few times. Makes me smile 💗

I'm in. When am I needed?!

See you on the Eurostar at the end of November Fluffy. Get the beers in and I'll sort the waffles

Morning all. We are back home now and enjoying the cooler weather! I have had a horrible sore throat but this morning it finally seems to be abating.

I am totally in for Christmas Bruges! I went when I was 16 in the summer and it is so lovely.

I have the blue IKEA wash basket that so many others seem to have @NoCheesesForUsMeeces

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Bruges is beautiful and I'm sure the Christmas markets will be amazing.

Ive got my first tomato!! Its nearly September and its the first one 🙄I don't think I'm going to be dishing out the excesses as in previous years.

the lone tomato

I have many teeny tomatoes. None are red! One day, maybe!

I had at least 80kg of tomatoes last year. I certainly won't replicate anywhere near that (I had 20 plants, not 5, on my allotment).

Ooh, Bruges is only up the train tracks for me, count me in!!

I've been preserving tomatoes as semi-dried in the oven and jarred up in olive oil. I've been so surprised how many I got from my 5 plants and just can't eat them all. Wish I had more courgettes though.

Off to Amsterdam tomorrow with supplies for DD (she moved on Tuesday and sent a few things over to me over summer, and I got her a coffee machine as a present). I believe Ikea, a large supermarket, and a big dinner, are on my agenda for my 30 hours in the city 🤣

I won't be doing the Holiday Grand Plan as usual - I don't need to do the major spring cleaning. But I need to start thinking about it properly as I will have to send things early. And there are a couple of big family birthdays before then.

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It rained overnight here which has taken the heat down a little (it's only 23 degrees). But I'm up and on train 1 to get to the Eurostar to Amsterdam. And will have time to hydrate (caffeine) between trains.

The reality of needing to send parcels home dawned on me last night. So I will need to be organised earlier than normal.

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Morning!

Rattling towards 100 at a rate of knots! And the kids are back at school next week.

Could be the last blast of summer this week. The forecast seems nice!