what you doing at the moment??

[matt]

sore looser!


off to exeter today with all my pills and potions incase i have stay overnight. friends dad died at the weekend so going to give moral support. ho hum. so you might have a day without me if i don't come home tonight! but i prob will as i like my little habits.....

[cnc]

Matt, I hope you manage to provide some support, best wishes.


Don't worry I'm not joining Matt as an insomniac, but I've got an erg at 6.30 and I'm now living about 30 minutes away from the Boathouse so have to get up at silly times!!

[Copper]

A student getting up early now that is true dedication to the sport. I guess it is quite nice that early in the summer, not sure I could it in the winter though.


Matt, hope you manage to provide a shoulder to cry on. There is not a lot one can do really is there?

[paranoidangel]

A student getting up early now that is true dedication to the sport.

We used to do it for fencing. Although that was usually because competitions started at 9am and you had to get there. Most people slept on the way, everyone slept on the way back.

I did, at one point, have a term where I saw 6am Saturday for about four straight weeks, although only one was for fencing, and therefore from the wrong end :)

[Lan]

Hi Matt,

Hope you were able to offer support. That is the worst situation to deal with. When my step sister Kim died I had to be there for my stepdad and was watching what I said incase I upset him. I am closer to my stepdad than my real dad and it was hard for all concerned.

I hope if you stayed overnight everything went well with the allergies. Just hope it wasn't a Holiday Inn as they made alot of mistakes when I stayed there!!!

Take care,


Lan.

[cnc]

I did, at one point, have a term where I saw 6am Saturday for about four straight weeks, although only one was for fencing, and therefore from the wrong end :)

I'm jealous!! Got in from my evening outing about 2 hours ago, and have my next one at 6.40 tomorrow morning :unsure:. I think it could be 5.30 wake ups every day for a month. Zzzzzzz
I also have no internet connection in my room currently, so I've just invaded someone elses to do this!

[matt]

didn't stay down as he was coping ok and needed to get some sleep, last thing he would have needed was me kipping on the floor. going back at end of week to take him out for the day to do other stuff to tkae his mind off stuff then funeral next week....

can't say i did much, blokes don't do the crying on shoulder bit, so i just went and kept the conversations going really about nothing much....

as best as you can do in the circumstances.

[cnc]

Matt you were there for him and thats whats important....

[Lan]

Hi Matt,

Good on you. Just being there showed him he had a good friend, who was willing to take the time out to help.

Lan.

[rebecca c]

3 and a half minute slot about my garden to be shown on BBC2 on Friday week between 9 and 10pm. I think thats right. Its going really well at Hampton Court but I'm just starting to get really tired so I may not have remembered that right. Charlie Dimmock or Joe Swift will interview us on Monday too.

[cnc]

I hope it goes well, I'm afraid I don't have a telly here so I can't watch it.

Sorry I haven't been very active on the forum recently, I'm quite exhausted, being trained very hard, but loving it!!

[Lan]

Hi Rebecca,

Nice to have someone famous on the website. An autograph would be well received.

Lan

[Copper]

I will try and remember to watch the prog :)

[cnc]

I should be able to see your Garden online instead though, whats it called? As when the show is on apparently all the gardens can be viewed online.

[matt]

memory like a seive remind me on sunday then i can see the programme.;)

[rebecca c]

Its called the Epicurean Garden. The web page has a few mistakes and doesnt mention my name at the moment. I probably won't be visiting this site next week as I'm staying up in London during the show. Chance to catch up with an old friend so that will be good.

Claire - I'm glad your training is going well. Are you self catering in your new digs?

[matt]

all the best hope you get a good result.

off to dorset today to go rockpooling with seven year old as an excuse! i love it really but at 36 people look at you in a funny way! well ok they do to me anyway.

[cnc]

Yeah I'm self catering/ eating takeways/ eating out, but thats only because people who are graduating today are still around so I'm socialising still, but the next few weeks are all self-catering. I'd forgotten how cheap it was to cook for yourself :)

[cnc]

Has everyone given up doing anything?!? I liked hearing what people had been getting up to... especially as I have very little communication with the outside world apart from rowers (and we're all doing the same thing!!)

[zoefruitcake]

I've just got kittens! We have 2 cats (Phoebe and Jasper) who are 7 and we just collected 2 kittens on Saturday, called Quincy and Maddison - with names like this it is a blessing we can't have kids, I hear you cry!
Only been mauled a little, and I'm sure it will heal soon ;)
Um, what else? Off to Oxford to see Suzanne Vega play tomorrow night. Looking forward to that, my friend Mark is her roadie, so we are on the guest list :D

[Broxine]

Ahh! Kittens are so cute! (Just a shame they grow up!)
My sister has just got a kitten - it was the runt of the litter so is teeny!

Sorry Claire - my life is boring at the moment as I'm saving to buy my first house so not getting up to much fun stuff. Just found out the chimney needs to have supports put in before I move in so am bargaining with the vendors to get the cost of the work deducted from my offer price. What an exciting life I lead! :hysterica

[Copper]

I think kittens are so sweet. We had one once who ran up and down the net curtains! Our last kitten (my daughter's really) is now 7 and a bit laid back. He does a fair amount of sleeping especailly on beds. He has his moments though and when he is in the garden he will come to the back door - he doesn't want to come in he wants you to go out and play! My daughter used to play with him a lot in the garden. I am sure he thinks he is a dog sometimes.

I like Suzanne Vega's songs. You must tell us about your evening in Oxford.

[Pam]

Claire, you're an outside/active sort of person, have you ever been to Xscape at Castleford? My middle child has been invited to a birthday party there on Saturday to do the skyride (aerial assault course) and I just wondered if you knew anything about it?

Not much else to report here, we've all got the dentist on Saturday morning. The car is having its MOT and costing a fortune (needs 2 anti-roll bar linkages replacing) plus major service so I don't think we'll have much change out of £300! Thank goodness for our flexible friends.

[cnc]

Claire, you're an outside/active sort of person, have you ever been to Xscape at Castleford? My middle child has been invited to a birthday party there on Saturday to do the skyride (aerial assault course) and I just wondered if you knew anything about it?

Yeah I've been there (I learnt to snowboard there!!) I've never been on the skyride but it looks good fun, they're all harnessed in etc... so its safe (If they are scared of heights they won't enjoy it all, as its very high up in the ceilling 20 metres off the atrium floor according to the website, which I assume is the second floor of the centre) They've got to be over 6, but if they like rope walking, and climbing about and things like that then they should have great fun!!Let me know if they like it, because I've always been tempted to give it ago myself. Hope this helps

[Pam]

He's 9 and a bit hesitant at heights but not really frightened (he goes up and down the loft ladder ok) so I'm sure he will be ok. I was wondering if the rest of the family would have to pay to go in and watch - and if there was anything to see if we did go in. It would be a bit of a trek to drop him off and then need to return to fetch him back again as we are nearer Huddersfield. I quite fancy having a go myself having done the tree top challenge at an outdoor pursuits centre on a corporate away day a couple of years ago.

[cnc]

He's 9 and a bit hesitant at heights but not really frightened (he goes up and down the loft ladder ok) so I'm sure he will be ok.

If all his friends are up there doing it, then he won't have a problem, can't not do what all their mates are doing surely!

I was wondering if the rest of the family would have to pay to go in and watch - and if there was anything to see if we did go in.
No, its free to go in, its kind of like a shopping centre thing, theres restaurants, shops, cinema, bowling alley, climbing wall, ski/snowboarding, skate park, tobagonning, etc but you can just wander around and have a look at things, with no obligation. Theres also Freeport on the opposite side of the road, which is full of discount shops.

I quite fancy having a go myself having done the tree top challenge at an outdoor pursuits centre on a corporate away day a couple of years ago. Go for it!! Website is http://www.xscape.co.uk/castleford/Default.asp?f=1& Might help explain what I was saying...

[matt]

so busy all of you, just domestically orientated stuf for me and so on. maybe kew on friday, third time lucky though i've done too much driving so far as i had to do almost 6 hours yesterday to and from exeter.

we shall see.

[Mac]

we've had 2 birthdays within 5 days of each other so I've been doing parties, presents, making cakes and buffet (one dairyfree) feeding and watering guests. Also moving house in 3 weeks, so slowly packing also inbetween sorting out advocates, signing stuff, (conveyancing is rapidly approacing £3000.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) looking after the two baba's...... I'm very busy, I should spend a little time on me doing things I enjoy such as this.

[Copper]

Phew sounds like a busy and stressful time. Good luck with the house moving.

[cnc]

I've spent most of my day in college helping out at the open day, in between doing various things such as visiting the doctors (antibiotic syrup!!) and I still need to unpack...

[Lan]

Hi all,

Not really up to much at the minute. I am still looking into going on a working holiday, but am unsure where to go. Am also trying to sort out homes for my two cats. Dexter is now going to my Auntie so can see him regulalrly. Still working on a nice home for Cammie.

Went for a meal today for somebodies birthday and that was ok. Nice to socialise outside of work.

That's my life really. Not that good, is it? :bleh:

Lan.

[cnc]

I'm sat in my room feeling rather unwell- the doctor couldn't decide if it was a viral or bacterial infection on my chest so is treating it as both, so that I can be fit to row- which I still am doing, but I'm exhausted. I hate being unwell! :( The doctor however took the information that I was lactose intolerant really well, he didn't question it- I had to explain to him why my peak flow had gone up loads, even though I was meant to be ill (a plus side of being dairy free) and I managed to persuade him that I should have liquid not tablet antibiotics- he seemed to accept that I knew what I was talking about and did as requested :)

[paranoidangel]

I've mostly been ill as well. Monday night I had the same symptoms as I get when I've eaten something with lactose in. But had had a chinesey stir fry for dinner, so it seemed odd. But then it got worse and I was so close to going and sitting in the bathroom next to the toilet just in case. I'm still a bit tired from it, even though I've had three nights of 8-9 hours sleep.

I took myself to the doctors and she was really good about the lactose intolerance - was quite happy about it. And said that what I'd described was probably an intolerance - and given that I already have one another one is quite likely. No idea what it could possibly be though because one of the other times I've had it was after breakfast of grapefruit and cornflakes.

So now I'm keeping a food diary and dreading both finding out what it is because it could make eating more of a nightmare than it already is, and getting ill again because it is so unpleasant.

[matt]

food diaries...aren't they fun? quite shocking seeing how much or little in my case you eat.

pain trying to find out what it is though, i was always convince it would be some hard to spot e number. nothing major and easy to spot.

[Copper]

Hmm as PA has been very ill three times in as many months I am guessing that it is something she doesn't eat every day. Her doctor did say tests would not help at the moment but if it got worse ie was more often they could do some tests!

[cnc]

I'm still trying to train whilst feeling absolutely exhausted :( Am hoping I start to improve very very soon as I'm meant to be going to London on Saturday (if situation permits) and I want to enjoy my day.
Hope you start to feel better soon PA and find out whats causing your problems.

[Broxine]

There are a lot of bugs going round at the moment - have to say I was quite relieved to find out other people in my office / family were getting ill too as its so hard to tell if its just a bug or if its another allergy or yet another reaction to one of the many medications I'm on at the moment!

[cnc]

My problem is that being asthmatic, doctors get quite worried about asthmatics and chest infections, so it has to be treated quite rapidly and knocks me out even more as my lungs are really sensitive to things, so I'm feeling rather sorry for myself.

The concert has been postponed until next Saturday so I don't think I'll be able to make it as I've got to race in London on the same day, so think it may be beyond me to make it to both....

[matt]

wash your mouth out, find a way, rem really worth it. move heaven and earth to get there.


pa...see you're being selfish by not getting ill enough to make it easier for the doctors. hope omething turns up so that you can spot it and avoid in future, but don't go nuts trying. life's too short and if you're only getting ill every few months.....well balance of risk and reward isn't it.:(

[cnc]

I've been having a look, the race is about 45 minutes away from Hyde Park depending on the tube situation by then, so I might have to miss the start, but should be there in time to see REM play, which is good although its sad I won't get to see the supporting acts as I'd pay to see one of them play themselves, so its a bit annoying. The races hopefully will be early ones and I can be away to see the whole thing, if im lucky...

[Copper]

Ooo REM you lucky thing. I am hoping that it will be on Radio 2 so I can listen. It was going to be broadcast this Saturday so I hope they can schedule it for next week, after all REM have managed to reschedule.

[cnc]

I must admit, I am quite happy its been rescheduled as there was no way I was well enough to go today, so hopefully I can still make it next week, when I should have fully recovered and be fit again...
Am trying to build up the energy to walk to the co-op to get some food for dinner- its at the end of the road, but I can't actually face it at the moment..

[Copper]

Oh dear you must be in a bad way. If it is a bacterial infection then the antibiotics should kick in soon. If it is a viral infection then you just have to wait for your body to fight it, this will be hampered by your training. I hope that yu feel better soon. You must be well enough to go to the concert as I want a full report :)

[cnc]

My coach refused to let me row earlier today, which gives some indication of how concerned he was as most coaches will tell you to keep rowing no matter what!! He even went to the head coach and told him that we weren't going to do what he wanted our crew to do as I wasn't well enough. He seemed quite worried that I was on antibiotics as doctors don't readily prescribe them anymore. Have mostly slept this afternoon. I made it to the co-op (comfort eating- fish fingers, chips and beans!!)
Am going to try my hardest to get to the concert (I hope to be well enough by then, am not due to train until Monday morning and have been told not to go unless I'm well), and it all depends on how fast I can get across London next Saturday. So fingers crossed people :)

[linny]

So sorry to hear you're not feeling well:( . We were supposed to go to a BBQ this evening but my 2 nieces have a sickness bug:( and so it was cancelled.

Tomorrow Megan is dancing with her stage school at The Orchard Theatre in Dartford. She is doing an Indian dance (with Grade II ballet class!). She's also in the Finale which is 'Shrek'!! They do 2 performances and so it is quite wearing for the little ones. I'm looking forward to it, but of course I'm a bit worried too. :unsure: It'll be her 3rd show there, and she's so excited about it. It's so amazing to see how they start as 2 1/2 year olds and then end up as the 18 year olds who really look professional.

We're off on holiday on Friday for 2 weeks, if I ever get packed!! We're going to stay at my parents' caravan in Herne Bay. We go every year and really enjoy it.:D No doorbell, no phone and no work!!B)

[Copper]

Sounds like the perfect holiday to me Linny - have a great time.


Claire - sleep is the best thing for you. You must get lots of rest this weekend and I am sure that you will feel the benefit on Monday.

[cnc]

I have slept lots, I didn't realise it was possible to sleep quite so much!! I've been to sleep for about 14/15 hours so I returned home yesterday afternoon. Am feeling quite a lot better, but am going to take it easy today as I really want to be fit enough to start rowing again on Monday, that way I won't have missed any training and will hopefully be healthy again as well!

[paranoidangel]

I must remember to watch that REM thing. I hope you're feeling better soon, Claire.

I could do with more sleep as well. I went out on a cocktail crawl round Oxford Friday night, so didn't sleep very well, then got up early to go to London, with a hangover. On the plus side, I stopped at Shakeaway in Reading and had a very nice bourbon biscuit milkshake which only tasted of hint of soya. A combination of tiredness, potato peeling and playing frisbee a lot yesterday now means I only have four nails left.

[cnc]

Well, I'm still bored- have been told to rest, but its quite dull, have done a lot of reading, but having returned from training at 8.30 (Yes I know I shouldn't train if I'm not fully recovered, but I'm getting a lot better), theres only so much lazing around I can do.

PA- why does potato peeling remove your nails, its the potatoes you're meant to peel, nothing else (having said that, I cut my finger on a safety peeler once!)

[paranoidangel]

I do peel the potatoes as well, I'm just not so good at stopping. On the plus side, at leastt it's my nails, I don't peel my skin quite so often.

[rebecca c]

Off to the doctors this morning - chest consultant. To explain the only way for me to stay well is to maintain a very restrictive diet and keep my medication to a minimum. And ask for some support in getting a proper assessment of my allergies and intolerences- two hopes of that.

[cnc]

Good luck Rebecca, hope you get somewhere. Just keep at them until they provide what you want, surely doctors are meant to do things that are in your best interests, (within reason) and should help you....

I think I'm slowly getting better, only a couple more doses of this horrible antibiotic liquid to go, am still recovering though, its made me very tired, but I'm feeling more awake than usual at this time, which is hopefully a good sign!!
Am having pyschological tests today!!I agreed to be a participant in a friends PhD study, so that should be fun?! (at least I get paid for it :) )

[Broxine]

Sounds interesting! do you know what sorts of things she's going to do to you?

[cnc]

Hes working in the hearing lab, and I had to listen to different bleeps last week, apparently its more of the same again today!!Its a way to pass a couple of hours at least :)

[rebecca c]

hope your fully recovered soon Claire. I've had some pretty nasty chest infections in the past - glad you are on the mend.

Consultant was supportive and helpful. He says he thinks I take a very sensible approach to my problems and has agreed to refer me to the allergy clinic at Guys hospital.:)

[Copper]

Good result Rebecca :dance:

[matt]

a doc with a brain, whatever next!

[cnc]

I actually found a useful doctor at my local surgery, I bet hes not there next time I want to go.

Got a regatta race tomorrow, before rushing across London to see REM, it starts at 5.30, and the latest I should be there is about 7.30, so I should get to see all of REM play :dance: I believe its on Radio 2 the following Saturday evening for anyone whos interested. Another hectic day involving rowing, taking apart the boat and getting ready for tomorrow.

[Broxine]

Sounds like an excellent weekend ahead! Enjoy REM!!!

I'm off to my annual work BBQ this evening (always fun to see manager drunk!) then I'm sure I'm meant to be doing something tomorrow but I can't remember what....

[Broxine]

Oh - just remembered I have my hospital appointment this afternoon! I have a jelly brain at the moment!

[cnc]

Am going to the health spa on Sunday hopefully, as long as there were still some spare places.... Get food and can spend as long in the health centre as you want :) Why I want to do extra exercise after racing is beyond me!!

Good luck with the hospital appointment...Make sure you ask everything you want to

[Copper]

Watch the food there - you don't want to get ill.

[cnc]

No that would be quite ironic- I will ask lots of questions about the food, they're a fitness centre, so they should know whats going into their food (not sure about this logic really, but they should!!)

[matt]

off to see madagascar today with daughter i hasten to add.

then an after noon caching in southampton with her. all her choice not that i'm complaining.

enjoying the weather while it's here!:lol2:

[cnc]

Yeah yeah Matt, I'm sure you're the one who wanted to go see Madagascar really :P

Well this is the start of my hectic day, got to meet people at the other side of the city at 6 and if I'm lucky I should be home for about 1am!So don't expect to hear much from me till Sunday afternoon. :)

[rebecca c]

I'd like to take the kids to see Madagascar - and Charlie and choc factory when it comes out.

Bit stressed out at the moment as we have to choose my sons secondary in september and it is hard to get any good schools in our area and we have just been to a public meeting which spelled out just how bad our situation is ( I already knew really). But we should of moved house and we really didnt want to and now weve probably left it too late so i have a very stressful year ahead of me.

[cnc]

Just out of interest, how bad results wise are the local schools??

[Pam]

We are fortunate with secondary schools as the two in our town are both very good, one is a technology college, the other a language college. My eldest was offered a place at both but had made his mind up that he wanted to go the the technology college and it was definitely the right choice.

The youngest two are at what used to be a very good primary school but Ofsted put it in Special Measures last year which we are not very happy about but at least now they are being forced to improve things and within 2 years it should become better than average with extra funding and new blood in terms of staff.

[cnc]

My old school had technology status and still wasn't that good. It is quite a way under the national average for GCSE results, however, I feel you can still do well wherever you go to school. Its about your own personal attitude to work as much as anything. (I ended up teaching myself extra information, because I wasn't happy with what I was being taught in certain subjects). They only aimed to teach to a C at GCSE and a D at A-level, but just because thats all they teach, doesn't mean you can't do much better than that.
Pam, its not that hard for a school to go into special measures apparently, and there are several levels of seriousness- some of the other schools in the city have been closed and are going to be 'Academies'- interesting idea, but there are others that are not in such a bad state that are still in special measures....
Rebecca, Try not to worry too much about finding the best school, (easier said than done), just provide plenty of support and make sure that they learn as much as they can- either through teachers or individually. When you settle on a school, you can ask to see the curriculum and then check that they are being taught the things they should know at each level.

[Broxine]

I'm off to see Wedding Crashers tonight :D

My hospital appointment went really well - they said my GP had misdiagnosed my results and although I have inflamation in my joints it isn't arthritis yet but may develop into it at a later stage (which I've been warned of all my life) so the great news is I can go back on dairy!! :cheers:

Although I think I will still try to limit my consumption of it I shall not worry too much about the odd treat here or there. They have also refered me to a physio who specialised in fitness training so he can find the right sort of excercises for me to do as I'm finding it hard to lose weight on just diet and pilates or swimming alone - I need to get more excercise but have to find something that isn't going to irritate my joints even more.

[Copper]

Now that you know that you can have dairy again, I hope that doesn't mean that you will be leaving us.

It is good news for you though.

[cnc]

Thats really good news for you. I agree with Copper, I hope you're going to stick around here anyway.

[Broxine]

Well I still want to keep my dairy intake to a minimum so I'll still be coming on here for recipe ideas etc. Also my nephew is lactose intolerant so I can keep up to date on dairy free news on his behalf ^_^

[rebecca c]

Good news Broxine and glad to hear you are going to stay on site.

The schools in brighton I would like my son to go to get 60-70% A-C's. The school people are being forced into (and refusing to go to) gets 21% and has actually gone down the last few years. Its probable that we could get him into a school that gets 40%.

I know some people manage whatever school they go to but not many people are that bright and self motivated. My son is quite bright and incredibly hard working but if the class environment is not right he will be fighting a losing battle. He is not really a regular kid (on the sensitive side of normal and quite deep thinking - ever so slighly feminine) and will be badly picked on probably physically abused in the worst school I mentioned above. Its five years of his life and I cant bear the thought of not getting it right. We are going to sit down and consider our options tonight - maybe moving even though none of us want to.

[cnc]

I hope you make the decision that is best for the whole of your family. I know its not easy to work in an unsupportive class environment, but I was just trying to reassure you that people can still suceed even in those situations....I have the greatest sympathy for kids that get bullied throughout high school, (unfortunatley its a problem that occurs in almost every school, no matter what the staff will tell you).
Best of luck

[rebecca c]

Thanks claire, my head is so stressed i dont think any decision is possible but i have to pull it together because we have been dithering too long.

Just made my favourite wheat free, dairy free, soya free low salicylate lemon cake - I have to work hard for my illness free treats.:)

Also on the plus side I havent used any inhalers for a week and I've been fine.:)

[ellsie]

Great news Broxine!

Rebecca your son sounds similar to my eldest daughter. She is sensitive and easily led so I was very worried about her going to a secondary school. She is also very bright but doesn't want to work, and I was worried she would do as little as poss if she could. I t was a hard decision but we are scraping the money together at the moment to send her to private school. It has been worth it as she has to work and try and now is much more motivated than she was before.
The other option would have been to send her locally and get extra tuition to help motivate her.
Trouble is you never know if you made the right decision until you are already on the path! Good luck!

[rebecca c]

He is well motivated but I think he would find it impossible to concentrate in a noisy environment, he really has to and wants to work hard. It is not much reward for all his hard work so far to send him to a failing school. A private school is out of our budget (except for a short while) but a state school with additional tuition is a really good idea.

Its good you found the best solution for you. We will have to make finacial sacrifices for our son too - its explaining that to the hubbie that is tough.

[Copper]

I guess that we are lucky here in that we still have Grammar schools. Both of my daughters passed the 12+. The youngest daughter always seemed to be in line for any new silly ideas about teaching in her first and middle schools. Maths was a particular issue so we paid for private tuition about a year before the 12+ and she improved hugely. Once she got to Grammar school she had a physics teacher who was worse than useless - a year before her GCSEs. A number of parents were unhappy but just moaned outside school - me being me made an appointment. At the end of year exams I had another appointment and was told that the exam results were different to those of the other groups! Her class then had a brilliant teacher the following year and my daughter did very well in her GCSE. Oddly enough she went on to do "A" level physics and then did a degree at Reading gaining a first class honours in Physics and the Universe. Physics involves a lot of maths.

All schools have problems but the bottom line is that as a parent you always want the best for your children. I could not send my children to private school as it is against our principles.

[cnc]

I taught myself GCSE physics and Chemistry, (Had huge problems with the teaching) and topped up my geography and numerous others as well, because I just wasn't getting the information that I needed. I went to a school where last year the GCSE pass rate was about 37% in my year I think it was about 44%. You may find that the situation will improve as he goes through school as they will be put into sets and then the standard of education should improve.
If you do go for extra home tution ask around for other peoples recommendations, some of the teachers are appalling, and charge high rates for the rubbish they teach.... Theres also a lot to be said about revision guides. At GCSE they combined with some teaching should be enough to get a kid at C, its not the way to do these things, but if thats your only option. As I said before make sure you ask for a copy of the curriculum and most core subjects will have a set textbook and it may be worth getting a copy of that to make sure that they are being taught everything in it.
I did consider applying to our local grammar, but decided the travel wasn't worth it.
Many kids are surprisingly resiliant when it comes to these things- I was bullied from junior school until pretty much the day I left sixth form, and I knew although it was hard that the best way to get out of the area was to do well, and its affected me obviously, but I've got to be somewhere where I'm happy and it makes it all seem worth while.


I hope that all makes sense, I'm not fully with it at the moment, I'm evidently suffering from the end of the chest infection and so being coherent is slightly beyond me at the moment :(

[rebecca c]

I am impressed by what you have acheived Claire. I think many of us have had bad experiences of secondary school ourselves and that is why it is a difficult issue for us and our own kids.

My main problems at secondary were social - being a teachers kid and not having any like minded friends. But I realise now when I see good teaching at work that I was badly taught in many areas and often not even helped with the basics.

Some people who have stuck by the principles to send their kids to the local state schools have later said they regreted it - Bernie Grant the MP whose kids went to school in Tottenham, to what was our local secondary when we lived there, for example.

[cnc]

All I was trying to do is reassure you that although you want the best for your kids, they can still achieve good results if they desire.

(I was also a teachers kid, which only seemed to cause a problem when I was doing well- A lot of my problems stemmed from me actually wanting to work and do well, apparently this was something to be ashamed of in my school!!!)
Some of the staff at the college may be willing to help provide extra tution or at least advice you of people to contact.
I hope you managed to come to some sort of decision last night.

[cnc]

Sorry forgot to mention: Matt is feeling rather abandoned!!He can't get anywhere near the site....But hes not done a runner :)

[Pam]

I'm surprised we're all still here this morning. I expected not to be able to get in at all for a couple of days. No problems today though (fingers crossed). If Steve has managed to move us it has been very quick, if not, things are going fine for now. I wonder if I can put enough posts in to beat Matt's top poster score?

[Broxine]

I've had a couple of 'page not found' links today, but not as bad as it has been. And also no virus warnings today as yet which is a huge improvement!

[cnc]

Urghhh I'm apparently still unwell, I've moved onto throwing up now, decided to take myself back to the doctor (actually got to see the same one twice, which is a miracle) and he doesn't think the infection has gone so I've got some more antibiotics (these ones taste nicer at least), but I'm rather grumpy now :(

[rebecca c]

thats too much...must be quite some infection. my brother just had to go to hospital with a kidney infection. Pehaps you should take some time off claire and rest.. I know you hate it but it is probably false economy to keep going to training.

[cnc]

Apparently I've got some crackles on my lungs, but the doctor did seem a bit concerned about the sickness (which only seems to be an issue when rowing, think its the extra strain on my body). I am missing tomorrows training and resting/ packing in the hope that I'll be ok for a short lunchtime outing on Friday and my race on Saturday, before going home for a few days, and then leaving home again for a week....

The good news is the antibiotics taste like foam bananas, so its not too bad, except I have to take them four times a day :unsure:
Sorry about the details, but I'm stuck in the middle of nowhere by myself so I'm trying to get sympathy from wherever I can!!
I hope your brother is alright Rebecca.

[rebecca c]

He is out of hospital now. I'm glad you are going to take it easy. Maybe you should take a longer break from training and rowing? Hope you get some TLC when you go home.:) :) :)

Just went to my sons recorder lesson, his teacher is amazing - she got the boys to play together recorder and violin. It was one of those great parenting moments when you realise how right you must be getting it. On saturday morning she is getting a whole group of boys from our community together to play. I think she could teach a few teachers a thing or two about keeping boys interested in learning.

[Pam]

My middle child came home from school today upset because a teacher had got cross with him for not working fast enough. I am currently trying to get him assessed for dyspraxia, which could be the route of all his reading and writing problems. He's also had some minor bullying so I'm not particularly happy with that school at the moment. They keep telling us that they are doing well to come out of special measures next year but I think they are just point scoring and don't really seem to be doing much to improve the overall situation. And his teacher is off sick...yet again!!!

[cnc]

I can't take a longer break really.... We are racing on Saturday so I really should be in the outing on Friday so at least we have some sort of training before the race.
I'm going home on Sunday and then am going to Ians on Wednesday, so I should be well looked after there- I'm having medical tests done whilst I'm there so they can make sure I'm well on top of that!!

Getting out of special measures means basically that the school has carried out some half decent lessons when the inspectors are in..... (sorry I'm quite cyncial about these things, Ofsted inspections are a joke to be honest- many teachers prepare a set of decent lessons for the time the inspectors are in, and then it goes back to how it was before). Having said that, good teachers do not get the respect they deserve. I had some really good teachers who made sure I actually had appropriate work to do, but its not these ones that get remembered in most instances which is a shame.

[Pam]

Yes, I am becoming more and more cynical about the special measures thing. We were fortunate that our problems were mainly due to the head being off on long term sick and a few other teachers left/went on maternity leave. They now have a new super-head in who apparently did great things at his last school and with the exception of the teachers that my 2 children have, the staffing problems seem to have been sorted out. (If a child had the amount of sickness that either of these two teachers have had since christmas they would be sending the school inspector round to our home!) I can see that a lot of the things that are being done are cosmetic and for point scoring rather than actually improving the school. eg. they are going to start an out of school club but it is only likely to have around 12 places (for a school of 300+ children) and won't run during the school holidays - so who will that benefit? certainly not the working parents who need it. But it will score points with Ofsted.

I was fortunate that I was relatively bright, was in good classes with excellent teachers and got 7 O-levels without doing an ounce of homework/revision. The same did not go for my A-levels my best grade was E in general studies with a O in German and U in French and Sociology but by that time I had discovered pubs and men - so who needs an education at 18 when you've got the world at your feet? My eldest now goes to the same school, 25 years later and although he struggles with reading and writing he has already achieved the year 9 target grade in Science at the end of year 7 and is doing very well in maths too.

Hope you're feeling better soon Claire.

PS the arcade title is swapping between the two of us at the moment, it can't make up its mind who is the Mili & Tary champion so it keep changing. I think it must be mine really though, I had it first. I need you to take some more titles off Broxine.

[matt]

my god , i can't get into the site for a couple of days and look what happens....


hello everyone, my firewall kept me out until this morning.

teachers, some good some hiding from the real world "thse that can do, those that can't ,teach"

my news??? well i bent the car last night, drat or words to that effect. no one injured just pride. wait to see how much it'll cost.

so what have i missed?

[Pam]

Shhhhh! stop talking about him now, he's back!

Welcome back Matt, sorry to hear about the car, I hope it doesn't work out too expensive. Unfortunately it is easily done, at least nobody was hurt.

[cnc]

my god , i can't get into the site for a couple of days and look what happens.... Well the world doesn't wait for you Matt :P Just because you decided to be anti-social, doesn't mean the rest of us couldn't enjoy a higher class of discussion online without you :D :P

Hopefully the car will not be too expensive to repair.

Target grades are fun!!My school apparently failed me because they didn't actually improve my education (Value added scores or some such rubbish), because I should have got straight A's at GCSE, but didn't I got 1B and some A*s to balance it out, but apparently the school failed me!! I agree with this to some extent, I turned up in year 7, with the reading age of a 16 year old, which I'd had since about year 4/5 in junior school, and they didn't do much to help me.....
A-levels I didn't have those distractions (the bullying meant that I had very few friends so we didn't go to the pub much, and the men in my local town well, the less said about a lot of those the better!!!)

I haven't visited the arcade for a long time, so I don't know whats going on, I'll investigate at some point don't worry.
Have been told to rest lots today. So will be packing (slowly) and eating quite a lot (theres food in my freezer to be eaten before I go home, so there could be some odd combinations turning up!)

[Broxine]

I need you to take some more titles off Broxine.

I beat your tetris score but it's only registered in the new scores list and not in the top ten! So unfair!

Oh and on the whole teachers topic - I actually work for a company that makes teaching admin software and subsequently get to know quite a lot of problems that teachers face. Primarily they are all just over worked and under paid (like most of us I guess!) but new schemes have been brought in by the government where each school should allow a set amount of admin time for teachers each week where they can plan their lessons instead of being dragged in to cover other lessons they weren't scheduled for and also more admin staff are being called in to take administration tasks that aren't pupil based away from the teachers so they can get their focus back. Whether the funding for these promises is then actually supplied is another matter...

[cnc]

Oh I know the problems teachers face- I live with one after all!The problem with putting in admin sessions means a school has to employ more teachers- teachers quite rightly shouldn't be giving up their 'free periods' to do form filling, that time is meant to be used for lesson plans, marking work and putting up displays and stuff (which although it doesn't sound like much is quite time consuming, I spent several days last summer helping my Mum put up displays and stuff). The government are obsessed with paper work and won't let teachers do anything unless they have all the paperwork (it may be safer, but theres no time to do it!). My mum actually does get an extra lesson a week off just to do admin as she manages an area that has an immense amount of paperwork due to it being a specialist unit, but to do this for every member of staff would be far too expensive.
They also get treated quite badly by the children as well on the whole. Abuse both physical and verbal occurs, and the government wonder why people don't want to teach!?!

[Copper]

Ah yes everything comes down to money in the end. When our Tony first became PM his pals realised the dire state the country was in which included FE colleges. These had been underfunded for decades. Colleges do not get the same funding as schools and lecturers are actually paid less than teachers. Colleges were promised more money - we are still waiting. In fact all that seems to be happening is a cut in funding.

Another gripe I see in the local newpaper is the adult education classes. Funding has been badly cut for those so unless you need the basic skills it will cost a lot more. The local FE college has cut all adult classes just like that! The classes will run if they are fully costed ie each student pays enough so the course costs nothing for the college to run. For some courses you could be talking about a few hundred pounds. As somebody said in the paper what happened to life long learning?

When I go back to work in September it will be chaos as we have classes cut and yet another reorganisation going on - they are sorting out support staff between July and October!! I feel a few redundancies coming on. The governors wonder why staff morale is so low.

[matt]

car damage superficial, should be up and running in a week or so.

low morale is cheaper than redundancy payments......standard technique to reduce staff on the cheap. they don't think past the initial prob of the fact that the remaining staff are going to be really hard to motivate.

now what's this about being unsociable? if steve wanted me to not visit for a week all he had to do was ask not make it look like there was a virus, i couldn't even get onto the home page. atleast i know my firewall works.:)

and away for a week and still the top poster! you're slipping pam.

any good plans for the weekend? i've a caching meeting to go to. suits me fine as it'll be outside and so not too many people too close...

[Pam]

My 2 boys are going on a 4 day camp on Saturday, so I will have to spoil my daughter whilst they are away. Don't know what we are doing yet but hubby would like to go to Whitby on Sunday as there are 15 tall ships coming in this weekend.

[cnc]

Well I'm going home over the weekend, so will be suitably looked after on my return- I've not been home for about 13/14 weeks :)
Got a race in St Neots on Saturday afternoon- We're straight through to the final, which means I've only got to cope with one race!
Then a quick visit to various friends on Monday and Tuesday, before I leave home again (gives my mum just enough time to do my washing :D )

[Copper]

Well Matt I will be thinking of you this weekend - rain is forecast for the south :(

I am busy washing curtains and about to start on the carpets. My rationale for this is that I really want to spend lots of time on my family history but the domestic chores have to be done - so if I rush around in July with the chores then I can spend all of August on my hobbies :)

It will be raining this weekend if you believe the weatherman so I can't do the chores - need fine weather - so I will be able to catch up on family history.

[matt]

yeah if it does rain later it'll ruin my plans as i'll not cope with the crowd if indoors. plus walking over forest looking for tupperware boxes no fun in the rain...well a bit of a fib as i've gone caching loads of times in the rain.

but no fun for my daughter. if really bad i'll just go somewhere else and say sorry later.

chores. i folow the oscar wilde appraoch. once dust has reached a certain level it does not get any worse!:bleh:

[cnc]

I don't want it to rain today. I've got to race, and its no fun- especially marshalling in the rain (sitting in a boat in the middle of a river with the rain pouring down, is not good for anyone, and especially not good for my chest!!)

If the dust gets thick enough, use it as memo pads- just write what you need to remember on the top of the tv or something (saves paper and time!!)
Well my parents are coming to collect me today, involves ferrying me about a lot, as they're coming to see my race as well.

[Pam]

My boys are going camping today until Tuesday. The weather forecast is fairly good up here for the weekend at least, let's hope they get lucky. Claire, you should be ok when you get home, the weather is better up here for once.

[cnc]

It'll probably get worse just for me!! I'm only going home for a couple of days so if theres terrible weather there hopefully it won't follow me anywhere else!
Well its still looking ok here, not too warm, which is very good for racing, but dry and not windy- very good racing conditions by the look of things.

Pam, camping without it pouring it down, just isn't true camping :D

[Lan]

Hi there.

Having more of a quiet weekend, especially from what I done last week. (Poledancing etc). Went to a carnival today and really enjoyed it. I had a fish won for me and have called him Harry (after Harry Houdini). There was a stuntman there and loads of things to do.

Went out last night and had a good drink. Had a bit of a hangover today, but was worth it as had a great night. Feeling very tired at the minute, so will just sit here and watch Harry.

Kind Regards,


Lan.:D

[rebecca c]

Got some design work done this morning and slept a lot this afternoon instead of gardening which I should of been doing.

Just sat down with my husband and decided we shall move house and rent or buy so we can sort the secondary school problem out. I didnt want to move but now we have made the decision I'm ready to get on with it.:) We were saving money for them to go to college which seems a bit pointless if they dont even get a decent time at secondary.

[Copper]

I think you have made the right decision. I am sure that I would do the same if I were you. Only the very bright children can teach themselves. My youngest is not stupid but she could not teach herself physics. If learning was that simple there would be no need for schools. Before you do anything drastic have you checked that a decent school has room for your son?

Good luck with the house hunting.

[matt]

well weather held for me and was lovely and sunny. pouring down now but at 4am who cares. so good sat all in all. even if i had to pop away from bbq to get something i could eat, but then went back,

so you can now stare at a fish all day. meant to be very relaxing....for who though? you or the fish!

good idea with the house move as copper said make sure they'll be able to take you when you move or you could end up worse school. there's always the home tutor option. ie school but extra lessons at home aswell, really make the kids hate you until they get old enough to realise that it was worth it. ie 60!!:lol2:

as was said camping without rain? does such a thing exist? though it can in the same case as the tent. easy way to solve water shortage prob go camping.:bleh:

[Pam]

Well, it is still dry here in West Yorkshire so the boys will at least have had one dry night. It is very quiet without them but our 6 year old daughter is making the most of having mum and dad to herself. Hubby would like to go to Whitby today to see the tall ships but at 90 ish miles each way it will cost us around £40 in diesel, an expense we could do without at the moment.

[rebecca c]

Its a lot of money but tall ships will be brilliant. Is it part of the sea festival?

[Pam]

It is part of the Tall Ships Race http://www.whitbytoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=983&ArticleID=1091237

It sounds like Whitby is going to be extremely busy today so I don't know if I want to be stuck in traffic queues for hours on end. Hubby is still in bed - I've been up for a couple of hours.

[cnc]

Well the good news is I won my race, so now have a nice little tankard as my prize!! The bad news is I brought the rain- Sorry Pam. It was lovely on Saturday when I was racing so at least I didn't bring it with me.

Hope you get things sorted Rebecca, good luck with the move.

Home for a couple of days- so unpack as much as possible, then need to repack some of it to go away with and then unpack it all again, then home for a little while, re-pack to go away again, home unpack, and then pack to go back to uni!! Anyone see a reoccuring pattern here?!! Its nice to be back home- think I've missed my own room the most (and not having to be responsible for keys and things, I worry about locking myself out of the house I was in before!)

[Pam]

The boys will be getting nicely wet tonight - this wasn't in the forecast! I'm told that they have some huts they can move into if things get too bad, lets hope they manage to keep their clean clothes dry. They are at Woolley Edge, Claire, just down the road from you.

I've just been making jam. The blackcurrant stuff seems to have set a little too well and I burned the raspberry jam because I was too busy reading the messages on here!! I am so cross with myself - 3lb of raspberries wasted, and I'd gone to the effort of straining them too.

[matt]

and the moral of the story is you never walk away from a pot of boiling sugar because that'll be the exact minute it gets to setting point then rapidly goes onto either burnt level or hard ball.

never made any jam but have made some chutney using loads of greengages my mum had one year. went down very well.

went shopping yesterday and found out my little camera is still covered under warranty so thats a result. have to live without one for three weeks. then see about an upgrade....but how far? how much cash to spend.

[Copper]

Have I missed something here? Why is your camera still under warranty a result? Why have you got to live without it for 3 weeks? Have you broken it? How is the car? :)

[rebecca c]

I love greengages so much - but cant have them or jam come to that cause of salicylates. but who knows that may change after seeing allergy people in a few months time. Maybe I'll have just one while they are in season.:drool:

[matt]

camera; developed a black smudge in the middle of the picture. didn't hink was covered by warranty as over a year old but got it from john lewis, two year guarentee! three weeks or so for olympus to look at it. then the temptations going to be try for an upgrade if i can. that digital slr's looking very tempting!


car in garage. when spoke to them last week they were hope full to get it done by this friday. no point callin them until atleast wed, don't want to hassle them too much.

went to discount shop yesterday and found leather jacket that fits and is quite tidy/smart. used to be 200 now 50. so result as normally impossible to get one that fits. high and mighty end of line shop!

spending money as a way to combat depression. short term fun long term....

[Copper]

Ok I understand that now :) Retail therapy is good isn't it? The important thing is not to go mad with the plastic. I only spend what I can afford so the credit card company make no money out of me.

My car is in for a big service, MOT, new ABS unit (Ihope) and front struts (something to do with the suspension I understand) - so himself will have a big bill :(

[cnc]

Am having a hectic few days at the moment. Had some success in getting some shopping done for my holiday to America, got some sale stuff from Long Tall Sally, it's quite useful!!
Am still not unpacked, nor am I packed, and I'm leaving home tomorrow morning, and have plans for this evening and spent the afternoon visiting a friend....
BUT, I have made a chocolate cake- so its all ok :D

[matt]

it's amazing how life's problems disappear with a cup of coffee and a thick slice of choc cake. that'll be my problem.... i can't eat choc at moment so i can't get this simple stress relief! the stickier and fudgier the better pref so sticky that you start to think about needed a fork to eat it.. i di say start not actually.:lol2:

[zoefruitcake]

Mmm chocolate cake...

sorry, where was I? Thinking of cake we went to visit Penshurt Place near Tunbridge Wells on Monday. We went for a drink in their little cafe and saw a sign saying to ask for diary free cakes. Well it seemed rude not to ;) and I was rewarded with a choice from the Free From range in Tesco. Plumped for a choc chip muffin.

I'm hoping that after 3 months off the road my husbands Renault Scenic will be back on the road soon, I am so sick of driving everywhere and trying to do the shopping and recycling in my little smart car.

Oh and I'm off to Germany for a couple of days on Friday morning, I'll be armed with my translation cards to help me find food :)

[cnc]

Hope you have fun in Germany. Chocolate cake survived its journey, just need to eat it now....:D I managed to get packed in time as well, so it all worked. I'm having a nice break from home (was only home for a couple of days!!), but I get well looked after here, so its nice :)

Whats wrong with the scenic??

[Fozzybear]

I'm on holiday at the moment. Not doing anything major just going on a few day trips around the region. Spent Monday shopping and building a CD rack (and cutting open my knee in the process), and Tuesday I had a headache all day but managed to get out to take a few photos (see my root photo in the photography thread).

Yesterday I got the train to Saxmundham to meet my brother and a mate who have gone camping at Dunwich (I could have gone but I'm no camper!). We wandered around Saxmundham for a bit and then drove up to Southwold. Had a great time there looking around the pier and the town. Took a tour up the lighthouse and I got a bit jittery because I get vertigo but it was worth doing as the views were brilliant and the tour was interesting. Walked down the beach to Walberswick (very tiring!) and sat there for a bit before walking back along the sand dunes and driving back to Saxmundham for me to get the train home. Took about 130 photos so may have one or two to post up when I've sorted through them.

Tomorrow I'm either going to go to Walton-On-The-Naze and walk the footpath along the Twizzle river or go to Southend-On-Sea and try and photograph the boats at Gt. Leighs. Will check the weather and try and work out where to go - if it's bad weather I might put that off until Saturday and go to Colchester tomorrow instead.

I left in the morning at 7.30am and got home at 7.30pm, so a long day. Going to have a slow day today and then tomorrow I might go to

[zoefruitcake]

The Scenic had an oil and water mixing problem at the start of May that made the engine bay look like the car had been sick after chocolate cake! Friend of my stepfather's had only just fixed it so we had to wait for him to come back from holiday and take it all apart etc etc so 3 months it's been off the road. No news on MOT yet, I was hoping my husband might get it back before I go to Germany in the morning (so I can drive him to get it)

Have fun today everyone, despite the rain :)

[matt]

i used to have a scenic and it to had an oil water prob! design fault??

cramming in all the time i can with my daughter for next couple of days before the ex takes her to spain for a week. what to do today... depends on the damn weather.

don't want to do charlie and choc factory until they come back. let the crowds die down. looks like going geocaching again. if madam says she fancies it. nice walk in the countryside.

made some bread and rolls for parents yestrday. intend to try to reintroduce wheat next week... watch this space. going to be very hard to convince myself.

[Broxine]

Soz to change the subject - but just wanted to say I finally have a completion date for getting my house! :cheers:

I know you all probably don't really care - but I'm so excited I want to tell the world!!!!

So have to apologise if i'm not online much over the next couple of weeks but I have loads to get sorted... I'll still check in when I can!

[Copper]

Congratulations :bounce:

I hope that the move goes well.

[rebecca c]

Thats really great Broxine, Hope you enjoy your new house.

Matt good luck with the wheat introduction. If I were you I would go and but the nicest loaf of bread I could possibly find and eat the lot.

We just had an offer on our house, so watch this space....:)

[cnc]

Good luck to you all!!

I'm having a nice time lazing around, and had my allergy tests finally done today- (will post information on a more relevant thread)
Going bowling this evening, spent yesterday evening in the casino which was quite a lot of fun, although two youngish girls in a casino got some quite interesting looks :)

[Pam]

I wish I was moving house but we can't until hubby finds a decent job and they don't seem to be coming along at the moment.

Good luck Broxine with the move and I hope it all goes smoothly for you , rebecca too.

[rebecca c]

Thanks Pam - lets hope your hubby gets a job he enjoys soon. Mine seems to spend his whole time at work and not much here but I guess we are able to move as a result of it so I shouldn't complain.

Mind you all the work I've done on the house has meant we accepted an offer 3 days after putting it on the market.
My son did a drama workshop this week and I went to see the final show. He was amazing, I was so impressed and his confidence has been really boosted by the experience of doing it and making new friends. Feels like we have had a good week, keep it coming...:) :) ;)

[Pam]

My eldest (12) is doing a University of the First Age course at Huddersfield Uni next week, they are doing science, maths and DT related subjects which are right up his street and it is fun based rather than classroom study. Only problem is that I have to have him at the bus station for 8am to catch the coach to take him there, he can catch the bus home from the bus station but it isn't reliable enough to make sure he gets there on time. I could take him straight to the Uni which is only three miles away (opposite direction to coach pick up point) but I need to be at work when he needs to get there. So early mornings next week, don't think I'll be on here quite as much.

Both boys enjoyed their camp last weekend but were upset at having to do their own washing up (what, no dishwasher?!), youngest will go again next year, eldest is too old. Toilet bags completely unopened, clean socks/undies still neatly folded - little mingers that they are!

[rebecca c]

Oh well less laundry for you - I have tried to explain to mine that less personal hygeine means less friends but do they care....

[Pam]

Give the eldest another year or so and we won't be able to get him out of the bathroom. We really must get a house with at least a 2nd toilet by then, if not an en-suite to the master bedroom.

[matt]

of coursee we're interested to know about the house moves that's what the threads for, gossip and chat that has nowt to do with the normal stuff.


reintro wheat. however temptin the loaf of bread is i'm not going to go daft. start little with biscuits, then work upwards. if eat too much then the body will go into shock! so cakes will have to wait just a little longer!:(

ah teenagers nd their little unhygenic habits! as you say i year or two he'll be impossible ot get out of the bathroom. then off to uni when the laundry fairy will suddenly desert him! what will he do?

:lol2:

[rebecca c]

Ming - until the girls turn up and then they'll have to find the laundrette!!!

[Copper]

An alternative answer is to get a girlfriend and get her to do it for you!

[cnc]

Copper do not encourage that type of behaviour!!!!
I think I should defend teenage girls at least and boys at uni all tend to be clean (my brother used to bring his washing home for my Mum to do, but at least he was clean!!)
Most of my friends male and female at uni are all very clean and do their own laundry mostly!! The guys do tend to spend longer getting ready than the girls which is quite infuriating, but at least they're clean!!

[Pam]

Yes Claire, but now they are at Uni they are more interested in being clean for the opposite sex (or same sex in some cases), my lad is just too lazy to care what anyone thinks of him at the moment and he has to be forced into the shower or to change his socks most days. I think the change in boys comes at around age 14 ish so we have another couple of years to go yet.

[cnc]

I know but Copper still shouldn't be encouraging them to find girlfriends to do their washing for them!!I don't have a problem with them being clean, it means that we don't have to make them wash, its great!!
I think they eventually hit a time when they realise that smelly is not a good thing to be, but it takes a while- I remember that there were some rather 'fragrant' kids at school!!

[Copper]

Oh no I wasn't encouraging them, I just know that it happens. What appears to happen far more often is that they get the girlfriends to cook!

[cnc]

Ah the joys of catered accomodation, no excuse for them to make girls cook!!

Have just enjoyed a rather nice dairy free milkshake, although I feel the slightest bit sick now!!
Going back on the dairy tomorrow according to the Doctor :unsure:

[Copper]

I know that Cambridge and Oxford operate in a slightly different way to other unis but most second years have to live out. That is the year when reality kicks in for them. It was always amusing to see the parents (including us) buy a whole trolley load of shopping for their treasures at the start of each term.

[Lan]

Hi all.

Never been away to college, so unable to comment on the hygiene. I was very clear went I went part time at college, but just not the same.

Good luck with the re-introduction Matt, but be careful. I went mad on dairy products and now I'm the size of a house.

Take care all,


Lan.

P.S. If alcohol contained dairy I would be so much thinner. :bleh::bleh::bleh::bleh::bleh:

[matt]

well i was always very good with the washing and cooking etc. helped that i was latch key kid and if i didn't then no one had tea when they came home. so always cooked. never been one to like cleaning but necessary evil!

mind i have met some manky girls in my time! so it's not always one sided. nearly always i grant you....:lol2:

[cnc]

I'm living in a house with 3 guys next year, thankfully I've got my own bathroom otherwise I don't think I'd ever be able to get in the bathroom. The other good news is that at least one of them is a good cook, so thats always useful :)

[rebecca c]

Just cleared out my cellar - very therapeutic. All I have to do know is find a decent solicitor (impossible me thinks) and persuade the estate agents they really do want to let me look at the houses I want to see - stress city.

[Copper]

That is why house moving is so stressful - the actual moving of furniture etc is not too bad it is the paperwork and having to deal with err men :)

[matt]

now now lets not get too sexist! there's plenty of bad female solicitors and estate agents. not exclusively men in those erstwhile professions. may there be apox on them all.

[Broxine]

I agree with Matt - all solicitors (and their useless 'think they know it all but know nothing' secretaries!) are actually related to satan! I was meant to have a straight forward house purchase that could of easily gone through within 8 weeks of the offer being accepted, but because of my USELESS solicitor (and his secretary!) Its taken nearly 4 months! At least I get the keys Friday :D but I'm sure his bill for his stupidly small input that had to be dragged out of him over a number of weeks is going to be shocking! :rant:

[Broxine]

Sorry I went on a bit of a rant there!!!!

[Copper]

Sorry must admit that we have not moved for 28 years and then we only dealt with the male of the species.

Having said that about two years ago we made a Will and that was ok with a female solicitor. Now we have been advised to add an enduring power of attorney to the Will. This will be a two minute job and will cost more than £150 for two minutes of work!!!! Why didn't the solicitor mention this two years ago.

[rebecca c]

I agree, never had a good exprience moving house so hoping this will be an exception. But because they can never do their jobs we are resigned to renting so we can get in the catchment area. Its not just there exhorbitant fees but the extra expense they put you to. Its impossible to get a recommendation because nobody rates the solictitors they have used.

Copper we had our wills done by a service that came to the house and they told us about power of attorney (which my parents have just had done). We need to change our wills too.

[cnc]

My parents had their wills drawn up in their own homes, and it was reasonably priced. You can make alterations to your own will quite easily, you need a couple of impartial witnesses as far as I understand....

[paranoidangel]

I've not been on here much recently as I've been busy. The town I live in has been celebrating the 850th anniversary of the charter being granted. So I've been in the raft race and helping out with a jousting game, which involved lots of hard work pushing a pretend horse up a steep ramp, pushing kids down said ramp on the horse, and picking up hoops. Added to that I set off the RSI in my knee at the beginning of last week and now I don't have any muscles left in my body that don't ache.

On the plus side I found some Strawberry Swedish Glace, some chocolate orange Monster Cracking sauce and some organic wheat-free gluten-free lactose-free chocolate chip cookies that are so moreish I can't stop eating them. I'd tell you that brand but I've left them at work to stop me eating them.

[cnc]

I hope you feel better soon PA.

some chocolate orange Monster Cracking sauce

This goes very well with chocolate swedish glace ice cream (am polishing a bowl off of them as I type :D )

I'm having quite a lazy week at the moment, not enough exercise done, which is very bad of me and lots of food being eaten (just had a rather nice meal out :P ) But we went to the zoo today, and I walked quite a lot around there so at least thats something.

Repeat of my allergy tests tomorrow. I managed to cope with Sundays reintroduction of dairy, although I had stomach problems in the evening, so I think I'd rather avoid dairy!!

[matt]

good luck with the tests.


are you sure you can't get power of attorney done by the clerks at the court? they can do lots of stuff that solicitors claim they are the only people capable of. blood sucking gits.
too many experiences of defence solicitors getting people off from stuff...and don't start on divorce ones....have managed to avoid them so far but for how long?

pa hopefully the aches and pains will go away soon.:bleh:

[Copper]

We need to see the same solicitor really as she has our Will in storage. This is why it is costing money I think - to get the thing out of storage. If we had known about this a bit earlier then the Will would still have been on the premises.

I have had enough stress with the stupid garage, I don't need anymore - I sent a 4 page letter of complaint on Friday and received a we are looking into it reply today. I will hear form them again when they have finished their investigation - I can't wait :)

[cnc]

Have fun with that Copper!!

Well I've been having a nice few days- went to Dudley zoo yesterday (has an amazing lemur forest you can walk through and the lemurs get really close to you, its great fun) and then I went to Bristol zoo today, its penguins are better, and its got gorillas, but its lemurs aren't a patch on those at Dudley, but is probably a better zoo overall...
Took pictures with my phone, so need to experiment with those when I get back to Leeds eventually!!Hopefully there will be something decent produced, but I'd not used it before so I don't know :unsure:

[rebecca c]

Well saw a couple of nice houses today. The one I prefer my husband doesnt - I swear he just does it becuase he doesnt want me to get my way all the time. Anyway I liked the other one so we put in an offer and they pushed us up to our top limit so now we are waiting to hear if that is enough money for them. I am meant to be working tonight on a planting plan but i am really not sure I will be able to concentrate.

None of the houses are as big as ours they all cost more money but the one we are waiting to hear about is a nice house (quite posh actually) which doesnt need hardly anything doing to it. It just feels awful to be moving to a smaller house and garden!!!!

[Copper]

It is sad that you have to move to something smaller but then we have to make sacrifices in able to do the best for our children. It should not be like that but it is especially where schools are concerned. Treatment on the NHS is a bit of a lottery too :(

[matt]

the sacrifice is worth it in the end. kids having better education etc. you could always get an allotment!:lol2:

so why the two zoos? the zooligical tour of the uk.

[Pam]

Don't mock allotments, Matt, I've got one! This weekend we have been eating all our home grown salad, courgettes, potatoes, cabbage, onions, garlic, spaghetti squash as well as raspberries, blackcurrants and gooseberries.

[cnc]

so why the two zoos? the zooligical tour of the uk.

Why not?! :P I don't think it was quite a zoological tour, but we had a nice couple of days so took the opportunity to go out and do something outdoorsey, I know we could have gone for a walk around a wood or something, but we both liked seeing the animals, so sounded like a good excursion.
We went to see two zoos because on the Monday we wanted to go out somewhere, but it took us a while to decide on a zoo visit, and then decided that it wasn't practical to get to Bristol in the time, so went to Dudley instead. Yesterday we had to be up early for my tests, so had more of the day so decided we would go and compare zoos and headed off to Bristol zoo for the day!
It was two nice days out (makes up for the last time I went to a zoo, last summer, and my dad attempted to push me round Edinburgh zoo in a wheelchair- wasn't particularly successful!!)

Rebecca, I hope you get a house sorted, its a shame its come to that, but it'll be worth it in the end.

[rebecca c]

They have accepted our offer. I have already decided on a design for the garden to incorporate storage for our bikes!!;)

Matt yes I have already started to think about that allotment, Better move house first though.

Exciting, its a posh house so I'm going to have to practice my lah di dahing. At least we have a posh dog (black lab) to match the house just a shame we will never quite make posh ourselves really! If you are nosey I will attempt to sort out a link but I'm not very good at them.:) :) :)

[rebecca c]

On second thoughts I wont show it in case someone visiting the site decides they like it and tries to gazump me....me paranoid ?

[Copper]

You can show us when everything is signed sealed and settled :)

[matt]

yes send the photo etc once you move in.


so you're going to lower the tone of the neighbourhood then?:lol2:

who's mocking allotments? yeah ok i put a laugh after but was a real suggestion.
easier than having large garden i'd imagine. somewhere to escape to, no prob with the kids running through and playing football over. small shed camping stove. nice seat and a pipe....heaven here i come!:lol2: ok maybe not the pipe homemade wine instead.

now you could do a good life and see if the nieghbours are margo or not!:o

yep i'm just a trouble maker.

want to sort out my garden but need to try and stop the brats next door kicking their footballs over first.

[Broxine]

SO FRUSTRATING!!!!

I'm just sat here waiting to hear when the money has gone through so I can pick up the keys!!!!

[rebecca c]

so exiting for you Broxine - good luck with the move and decorating.


Did you find you were constantly chasing the solicitors, I feel like ours are already going too slowly and its only week one. If I chase them too much will they get pissed off and not do such a good job? - its such a difficult balance:rant:

[matt]

no point chasing too much fine balancing act but they do need to be kept on at!

well done with the new house keep us up to date. try to not get too stressed. just remember that all the jobs don't need doing straight away open a bottle of wine sit down and relax. enjoy the new location.:)

[cnc]

Good luck to both of you. I agree with Matt, take time to appreciate your new homes.

[cnc]

Well I've had a minor set back regarding trialling (I think I spoke about this previously), but basically I've been told that I shouldn't trial because I have to go on a field trip just before the main race so am rather frustrated about it, but my degree has to come first!! But all is not lost yet....I'm learning to scull and am going to have a talk with the performance coach at my local club, to make some plans for my future, and hopefully we'll be able to get me trained to a similar standard.

But I'm not letting it get me down, too much, after all I've got a holiday to look forward to so I don't really care anymore (more worried about flying etc, than anything else at the moment!)

[Steve]

(more worried about flying etc, than anything else at the moment!)

I wouldn't worry about the flying too much, you will probably enjoy it once you get going :)

[cnc]

Nah, I've never much liked flying. Last time I flew I think I picked up an illness on the plane and was being sick for about 10 days!
I'll sleep for most of it and hopefully wont get too stressed :unsure:

[linny]

Hi,

We're off to St Thomas' with our daughter tomorrow. The appointment isn't until 3 ish so we'll go up after 9.30, so we can get cheaper tickets, and hopefully visit the London Aquarium that is very near to the hospital.

:angry: Not very happy today as the thugs tried to steal a wheel off hubby's (company) car this morning. Not much fun trying to find wheel nuts at 6.15am. They were obviously disturbed or couldn't quite manage as the car had fallen off the jack and was sitting on a milk crate.:rant:

Everyone now checks their wheels are attached properly before setting out.

[Copper]

Great - what is happening to the country these days. The youth of today are always complaining that they have nothing to do. We managed to find things to do that did not break any laws or wind people up.

[Broxine]

At least they didn't manage to finish the job.

I am in my house!!!! Whoo Hoo!!! :bounce: It was worth the stress after all! Except I can't live there properly at the moment as the boiler isn't working properly so i don't have any hot water :( at least mum is only 5 mins drive away so I can pop back for showers!

[Copper]

Ah where would we be without our mums :) I hope you enjoy your new home (I am sure that you will once the boiler has been fixed)

[cnc]

Hope you enjoy your new home :)
Not all the youth of today are bad honestly!! Its a shame that a small minority of teenagers, provide the rest of us with a bad name, when most of us are law abiding citizens that are just trying to get on with life.

[linny]

Hate to say this but the villains around here are no longer teenagers more like 20s!


Good luck in your new home Broxine, I hope you'll be really happy there.:cheers:

[ellsie]

Good luck with settling in Broxine;)

[matt]

enjoy the new place. boiler'll be easy to fix hope fully!

youth of today....we're getting old if we start that one!:lol2:

[Broxine]

I'm 24 and feel really old because I keep catching myself saying 'when I was young....'

But it is amazing how much of a difference there is between teens today and just a few years back! Now they all think they're living in some American slum with gangs being the norm!

[cnc]

Matt, some of us are still the youth of today,- we are the future, which coming from me is quite worrying (my ultimate plan is of course to rule the world!!) :)

Lots of rowing being done at the moment, I'm a bit worried- I was told last night if the mens senior crew don't have 8 men I'm going to have to row for them :unsure:

[Broxine]

Surely that's a great compliment that they want you to row with them?! (I was always the only girl on the cricket team at school!)

[cnc]

I don't think the men actually know that I might be subbing for them, but one of my coaches last night, didn't know what time he would be able to be there tomorrow so said if the men are short of people I'd have to go in there. I don't mind too much as I miss rowing in an 8, but they're quite scary!! (The men that is!)

[Broxine]

Just go in (if you have to!) and give it your best - surely they will be grateful of having someone to sub rather than either being a man down or having to forfit (I'm not that familiar with rowing - can they carry on being a man down or doesn't that make them go wonky!?)

[cnc]

Yeah they will struggle with only 7 people, although it has been done before, but its not particularly conducive for training. I will see what happens when I get there!
Am leaving at 4.30, for training at 6.30, for a 30 minute journey :D But yesterday the traffic was really bad, as I have to go through some very busy areas, so I'm going to beat the traffic, would rather sit around at the other end than be stuck in traffic!

[matt]

youth of today!

don't know they're born, in my day...........cue monty python sketch

[cnc]

Matt, you're getting bitter in your old age its not good! :D

Am going to spend the weekend unpacking I think (I still haven't fully unpacked from returning home from uni!!)

[matt]

trust me i've had a bit of a week so was allowed to sound a little bitter.

but you know me tongue firmly in cheek!


what to do today.....second attempt at puzzle geocahce when my little horror drags herself out of bed this morning! wouldn't have it any other way.:D

[cnc]

Yeah I know, thats why I sent a :D at the end of my sentance!

I've spent my weekend so far down the gym and tidying up :unsure: I made flapjack as well, so its not been to bad :eat:

[matt]

lovely simple day, two geocaches then daughter had fun hour catching fish in her net in the forest. timed the day to perfection as got home 5 mins before it hammered down.

weather looking good for a few days. hurrah:D

[Pam]

It chucked it down most of the day here. Just when you thought it had come fine and you started doing something it started again and absolutely tipped it down. It was fairly warm in between downpours though.

[Nic]

It was torrential here, but I was feeling smug because I'd looked at the weather forecast and timed our expedition to go mountain biking *before* the large black cloud was due to come and sit over South London. So we got back to the flat just as drops started falling.

It did mean that instead of having a walk in the afternoon we had to sit inside and eat tea and cake (thanks to whoever said that Tesco's marble cake is non-dairy - it was yummy) - tough life.:)

Nic

[cnc]

I'd like to claim the information about the cake!!
Went sculling for what felt like days this morning :) Am in the process of sorting out my rowing future, with the performance coach, which is a bit scary because hes the one that decides whether I have any hope of being a decent sculler :unsure:

[matt]

well if the weather holds and i manage to overcome my fear of the curse i'm under i might venture to kew this thursday. last four times i've thought about it something has happened. so what will go on this week?:o

[Pam]

Claire, are you doing your sculling near to home now? I keep losing track of where in the UK you are. How many people are in the boat in sculling?

[Copper]

I rely on Claire changing her location in her user cp. I see she is in Leeds at the mo.

[cnc]

Matt, overcome your fear from what you've said about Kew, its too good to miss.

Went to see Charlie and the chocolate factory today, was quite enjoyable, not as fun as the other version, but felt more like the book, as far as I rememeber- it was a fair time since I read the book, but was an OK film, definatly one to be seen on the cinema, will lose the experience otherwise.

[cnc]

Sorry didn't notice the two messages after Matts, I thought his was the last!
Yeah I'm back home now. I scull in Bradford, (Shipley), if you know Braford at all. Its not too far from home, is just rather busy to travel at the moment, but I don't mind.

I'm doing single sculling at the moment, so thats me in a boat by myself with two blades, you can also scull in doubles or quads. The basic difference between rowing and sculling is that in rowing you have 1 blade each, and in sculling you have 2 (which is why you can do single sculling, but not singles rowing!!)

[Copper]

You could do single rowing but you would just go round in a circle :D

[rebecca c]

I just got back from a few days at my parents, followed by a couple of days in Derbyshire and today a day on the beach with my sisters new puppy (soo gorgeous!!!) The boys have had huge doses of fresh air and fun and good fresh food - so cant be bad.

I loved charlie and the chocalate factory and was crying with laughter in many places... in my opinion one of those films with many levels. Especially like the parallels between Michael Jackson and Willy Wonka both Physical and emotional - I recommend it. Some really clever little bits which really appealed to me.:)

We went to Beth Chattos garden which was good with an excellent nursery and Colchester zoo which was impressive.
Now I'm exhausted.

Matt go to Kew it will be worth challenging your demons once you get there.

[cnc]

Copper you might also fall in, as you need the other blade to balance!! :D Think we've explored why its not done!

Rebecca, I agree with you. I think for the film to be appreciated fully, you need to be a bit older, a lot of the parallels would have gone over younger childrens heads. (A lot of the funnier bits in my opinion, were only laughed at by the adults) It is worth seeing, as it quite different to the other version.

[matt]

yeah and if you're a kid like me you love all of the film! same for madagascar.


i'm gearing up for the trip to kew, just want to see what's going to happen to stop me this time!!!:lol2:

[Pam]

We'll probably go to see Charlie on Orange Wednesday next week. We have 3 orange mobiles so we should get two of us in for free. I'm off work all week so we should be able to fit it in.

Thanks for explaining sculling v rowing Claire. What about coracles though, they must be really difficult to manoeuvre as they only have one oar/paddle and they are round too. I know bits of Shipley but I don't go out that way very often.

[cnc]

Pam, I had to look up what a coracle was, as I'd never heard of them before, but apparently they are manovered by making a figure of 8 shape at the bow, which would then create the idea of there being a blade on two sides. I also don't think they're used for racing in the same sense as rowers try and race, there more used for fishing than anything, as far as I could work out.

[matt]

yeah but aren't they used by those weird welsh types!:lol2:


it's getting in and out of them that must be funny to watch.

[Pam]

You'd have no chance racing a coracle, it's a wonder they ever get to move forward as being almost round you would think that paddling to one side would just make them spin around. I've seen them on programmes like Countryfile where they look at old skills that are used in some parts of the country.

[cnc]

Nah, coracle racing is probably something only done in Wales, or these other bizarre areas of the country :P

Spent a couple of hours this morning working in someones garden, I was quite brutal and just chopped at things- It needed it, well in my ever so knowledgable experience of gardening I think it need a good chopping!! They may regret employing me as a gardener soon :D

Yet more sculling to do today, got told yesterday, that I have potential as a sculler :)
Got some rather strange exercises to do on the water today- one called a postbox- I'm yet to work out why its called that as it doesn't resemble a letterbox!

[rebecca c]

Claire your gardening technique sounds interesting, but in my experience lots of gardens do just need a number one all over.

:) I am feeling quite cheery, which is quite some acheivement given that I have PMT at the moment. I visited an asian supermarket when I did the Waitroise treat shop and found it stuffed full of goodies with a really wide variety of dairy free and gluten free stuff. Didnt buy too much but got a few nice things including popadoms and am looking forward to going back. The boys were intrigued by all the unusual fruit and veg-so some more for them to try too.

In the new house there is a much bigger kitchen so pehaps I will get into cooking again. :)

[cnc]

Glad to hear you're feeling quite happy Rebecca.

If you had seen the garden, you would probably have prescribed the grade one treatment to it- I've rediscovered the path that was under the garden, and am aiming to save some poor little plants that have been over ruled :)

[Lan]

Hi all,

Wierd Welsh Types Matt, what are those? We all sane and wonderful in Wales. Apart from myself of course, as have to admit, I am a bit of a fruitcake.

Lan.
:bleh::bleh::bleh:

[matt]

http://img.groundspeak.com/cache/log/93dfd263-dc58-492d-bdaf-0dc589751771.jpgwelsh harem!!!

oops could have started a flame fest here but no insult really intended!!!

garden technique a la matt. cut grass, cover with membrane then cover with gravel. jus got to order the gravel now! then all plants into ground.
grass is much overrated. as is sitting in the sun when you have noisy neighbours. could be worse though.:lol2: i could be welsh!!!!:bleh:

[rebecca c]

I'm coming to Wales for 2 weeks holidays from Saturday, one week in Pembrokeshire then 1 in Gower. So reserve some sunshine Lan.:)

Last time we were in Wales (Brecon) we ate fresh sea trout (strewin I think) fished from the river from coracles. It was absolutely delicous!!

[Copper]

When we have had holidays in Wales it always rained. We used to stay with friends in Monmouth and always teased them that when we crossed the border on our excursions the weather was fine.

[cnc]

I've never been to Wales!

Have just been out for lunch, and went to Frankie and Bennys- was quite impressed with the service, the manager came out to speak to me, saying that they couldn't guarantee that any of the food was totally dairy free, and when I enquired about the bread they used, he brought me out a loaf of bread!! Unfortunatly this didn't have the ingredients on them?! so he went off to phone the company. As you can imagine I was quite pleased with this service, it took a while for the food to come but I had been quite a while checking things.

[Lan]

Hi all,

I have nothing to say to you Matt. :bleh::bleh: :bleh::bleh::bleh:

Wales is a lovely place to stay/live, but I must admit suffers from a lot of rain. I hope anyone who comes here enjoys their holidays. Come on Matt, I dare you.:bleh::bleh::bleh::bleh:

Lan. :naughty::naughty::naughty:

[matt]

i've been camping to st davids a few years back/ ok it was bout 15 years back.


we were in brilliant sunshine going over the bridge but went under the clouds about cardiff. next saw the sun a wwek later when driving....past cardiff! i wish i was exagerating.

lovely and green country though can't think why.

[Pen]

I visited Wales with my family at the end of March/early April 1990. We arrived at our cottage in the dark of night. The following morning we woke up to see the sun shining over a beautiful misty Lake Bala--breathtaking! On April 1st it was like a hot summer's day, and we spent time in our swimwear on the beach (beautiful Black Rock Sands) with our two daughters (who were 1 and 3 at the time). Two days later, we woke up to several inches of snow, so it was back to coats from then on. (My memory isn't really that good that I remember the dates--I have my scanned photo file open for reference.)

When I was about 12, I stayed with my family in Chwilog and we had hot sunshine every day for the week! But another time in Tremadoc, we had rain all week (well, we didn't even stay the week as we went home early). I agree, Wales is a beautiful place, but it requires sunshine (or snow) to enjoy it at its best.

[Nic]

I drive to Devon from London quite a lot, and our standing joke is that the moment we reach the outskirts of Bristol the sky turns grey and it starts raining. Then it'll stop once we get over the bridge and into Somerset. Same applies to the way back. Though that's not to say Devon is precisely dry...

Nicola

[matt]

devon and coenwall are lovely and green for a damn good reason!

love them both. went down for the eclipse, the clouds went dark then light again!!

been down loads more ofcourse.:lol2:

so many lovely places in this country, bring on the global warming. all the sights and warmth too.

[cnc]

Matt, don't get me started on global warming!!

Am feeling rather grumpy at the moment, I tried the lactase ensyme tablets today, and am not not sure they've worked... On a happier note, only a week until I go away so at least thats something, should be nice and warm and hopefully lots of fun!

[Copper]

I have answered your question on the other thread. I am very lactose intolerant and the tablets work for me BUT they should be used for small doses of dairy in my opinion. Just using the wrong marg on a slice of bread puts me over my lactose limit so a tablet sorts that out. I wouldn't like to try a tablet or two with a hefty amount of lactose. I have spent years feeling very sick so I don't want to go there again.

[matt]

global warming this decade biggest myth brought ot you from the green party! just part of the normal cycle from the sun. heading for another iceage anyway so burn away!!!

[cnc]

The world is actually colder at the moment, than it should be at this time in its periodical cycle!!
But as I said previously, I'm not getting into an argument about global warming, its just too frustrating, as the answer is not known for definate.

Feeling much better today :)

[matt]

go on you know you want a rant! all the hype but in roman times they grew grapes all the way to york.but doesn't suit the greens argument does it. all acedemic anyway as within a few years we'll have run out of oil anyway.

[cnc]

No I am refraining from a rant :)
But oil supplies are going to last longer than it says in the media. It follows along the lines of water supplies, which were last predicted to run out in 2000. Also according to some of the most popular research done, there is no hope for the future of the planet and we will destroy it anyway, even if we reduce pollution, overpopulation will kill us all.....This has generally been labelled as a bit extreme and not very accurate :) These things have to be taken with a pinch of salt, although at the same time, we should be doing things to conserve the environment, because it's not ours to destroy.

[Amanda]

I have been busy chasing the solicitor today for an exchange date, originally we were told it would be back in July, and its now approaching September very fast.

Do any members live near Biggleswade, as I am moving 120 miles north and do not really know the area.

[PinkyPrincess]

Does anyone know of any restaurants around Lampeter who might not recoil in horror at having to find me some food?

We're going for a two day break and would love to eat out if I could...

(PS gotta love Wales!)

[Steve]

Just remember before posting any more comments about wales or the the welsh that i am welsh :master::poke:

The weather has been quite good here recently, but i have to say that what matt mentioned about sun until he crossed the severn bridge and clowds after that had happended to me many times :D

[Copper]

I do like the parts of Wales I have visited, oh except Wrexham :)

[Bet]

I went to Wales 2 years ago now for our summer hols and thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact this was our 2nd holiday there as we had enjoyed the 1st so much. Stayed near to St Davids the first time and Solva the last. Beautiful countryside, long unspoilt beaches and believe it or not the weather for our 2 week holiday was brilliant. Spent most of our time on the beach as so warm didnt need to do anything else to amuse the kids. I think the parts of Wales i've been to in the past are lovely - would love to walk some of the Pembrokeshire coastline but think will have to wait until the kids are a bit older.

[matt]

wales where men are men and sheep are nervous!!!:lol2:


end of the world due to oil burning? what about the long overdue supervolcano of yellowstone park, or the tsumnami from the canary island collapse, or the next damn big lump of rock from the sky.or or or......

i went o st davis way back 1989 or so i think they were complaining about a propsed wind farm at he time. lovely place. just damp.:bleh:

[Broxine]

I have been busy chasing the solicitor today for an exchange date, originally we were told it would be back in July, and its now approaching September very fast.

Do any members live near Biggleswade, as I am moving 120 miles north and do not really know the area.

Hi!

I'm in Bedford and used to work in Biggleswade - but it was a long time ago so the shops have probably changed since then. There is a great little health food shop by the main bus station in bedford - but Sainsburys actually sells most of their products cheaper.

As to the area as a whole if you want to know what it is like - Biggleswade is a really pretty little town, a very nice place to move to as far as I'm aware. Bedford is also a nice Victorian town but tends to be ruined by the 'Chav' teenagers who think they are living somewhere in downtown New York!

[cnc]

end of the world due to oil burning? what about the long overdue supervolcano of yellowstone park, or the tsumnami from the canary island collapse, or the next damn big lump of rock from the sky.or or or......

Matt, stop trying to get me to rant!! I'm stronger than that :D
Canary Island collapse? personally for those in the South I'd be more concerned about the fact that the South East is sinking :P

[matt]

south east sinking yes....but there is a damn great big crack on the canary island tht will one day break and send half the island into the sea!!!!:o

heck the bird flu pandemic'll get us all before then. good job the aliens will save us just before it all goes pear shaped!:bleh:

[cnc]

Canary Islands are supposedly quite stable, apparently they're not that much of a danger (having siad that, the land will probably break off tonight or something!!)
Matt never fear, you'll be the first one the aliens come for, (return you to your homeland :P )

[matt]

i wish, just call me ford.

though i suppose i'm more of an arthur i suppose.! hell i feel more marvin most of the time.

ah that lovely jacket that does up at the back in the nice soft room.

[cnc]

I think I should really start packing soon, seeing as though I'm leaving in about 30 hours, and have got as far as putting clothes in a pile and putting the bag on the floor. But I'm going rowing in about 1 and half, so probably should get it started as I won't want to do it when I'm back this evening....
Didn't realise that I was actually leaving so soon, thought I had a few more days!!

Matt at least you wouldn't be able to cause so much trouble that way :P

[matt]

don't you believe it. it just requires more imagination that's all and i've loads of that on tap!

now don't you forget our postcard and pressies.

[Copper]

Have a great time on holiday - hope you got the packing done.

[cnc]

Nah, packing not done yet, will be done shortly!! Not leaving till about 7.30 this evening, so I've still got ages. Got most of the stuff sorted, but just not in bags yet....
Will get there shortly though, never fear!

Copper, I hope you appreciate the change I made in my CP as well for you!!

[Copper]

Very good. So we will have peace and quiet :) oops I mean you will be out of touch for a while I guess. Don't forget to pack the lactase.

[cnc]

Thanks for that!!
I'm very upset at that Coppper :D Might not come back and speak to you all again now :P

[Copper]

Oh no you have to tell us what Orlando is like - hot and steamy perhaps?

[matt]

we're all just envious that's all! that's two people i know in florida right now! somethings not right here, just isn't fair.

well i like the south coast, especailly from next thursday when all the grockles have to be home for school. suddenly it becomes possible to drive without huge tailbacks behind people who have never seen a tree or pony before!