aehall

I honestly only own 5 pairs of tatty Crocs, and 3 pairs of old trainers. I have very wide size 8 feet and cannot remember when I last owned proper ladylike smart shoes. I need a pair for a job interview.

So Silversurfers sends me an invite to enter their draw, but when I reach the page to enter it already gives the name of the winner. Looks like the winner was pre-decided............ Hope this was not the case.

Thank you Wilf. I only have a small courtyard garden with lots of pots, tubs, baskets, and troughs. I am fascinated with the intricate centres of flowers, and have some more close-ups which I will post on here of other flowers I have grown this summer.

What a lovely wildlife gardening book you are offering as prize. The closing date 11th September 2016 would have been my dear Mother's 99th birthday, had she not passed away in 1973 just after my 18th birthday. My Mum was a botanist, and my late Dad a nurseryman. Gardening is my hobby, I think I have inherited my love of plants and wildlife from both my parents. Where I live I have only a small courtyard, but I have well over 40 troughs, pots, tubs and hanging baskets. Last year I received a 'Highly Commended' certificate in our local villages' best gardens competition. This year the results are not yet published, but I hope this year I actually win a prize. Green fingers crossed!!

Good morning. Am I correct I'm believing the female MP who managed to get this topic debated in Parliament recently is no longer to continue? I understand, (although the reason she is now unable to continue this line of debate is as yet, unknown to me), that it is unlikely another person will be found to 'fight our cause'. I was born in 1955, and therefore will not get a state pension until the beginning of 2021. What has been reached in the bid to pay all women in a similar situation compensation?

It's the parents who should apply their own duty of 'parental responsibility' upon their offspring by imposing a 'digital detox' by way of limiting usage of all associated technology. Too many parents, with the best intentions initially, provide games consoles, and PCs, ostensibly to 'be good parents' providing technology so their youngsters fit comfortably within their existing peer group. Those same parents want their children to 'fit in with society', 'to go with the flow', and to have a sense of belonging and avoid being seen as outcasts, or, worse still, become the victims of bullying. Unwittingly, the fact many children often become unable to survive comfortably in social interactions is because they have never experienced non verbal communication with another human. They have never learnt how to recognise visual, and auditory feedback, and, therefore, are unable to comprehend how these natural signs fit into everyday situations in 'REAL LIFE'. I opine that way before adults provide their 'developing children' with a pile of games, a games console, a PC, and a personal television (often doubling as a monitor) - in nearly every child's bedroom in the developed World - with the intention of keeping them quiet and occupied, they should spend much more physical time with their children. Input and guidance needs to be there right from birth to teach them how to pick up on the existence of the signs and signals used in human interaction both within and between each other. Parents must, themselves, step in to seriously limit the amount of time children are exposed to attempting to interact with fictional gaming characters. There are 'false' signals in online games, insomuch as they are responses only given out to to the extent the software program stipulates a particular action will be performed. There wouldn't be the need for any digital detoxation IF people had been taught from an early age NOT to become heavily reliant on the belief that all necessary 'life' communication skills exist electronically.

I retired at 59 for health reasons. I moved 250 miles away to live by the coast, leaving 3 adult children and 7 grandchildren down south. They say it's too far to visit, and it was MY decision to move away, and THEY didn't force me. I have no social life, no partner, no siblings, and both parents are dead. I want a group of friends to go out shopping, for coffee, cinema, museums, etc. I don't know where l can go to meet like minded people. I don't want to spend the rest of my life alone, with only my pets