March 2010 MMMM Unauthorised Southern Edition

[ValiumtheConqueror]

Tell me what you want, what you really, really want......

I propose:

1. a central location (ie: London, unless anyone has a better suggestion)
2. a school day (ideally Tues, Weds, Thurs)
3. somewhere that has sofas and coffee.

Thoughts?

Can I come to both? Or is that greedy?

Excellent idea, Valium.

London great for me but pleeeeease not a Monday (don't fancy bringing my toddler along with me) or a Tuesday (have to do nursery drop off and pick up, which would severely curtail my getting into London ability). Weds, Thurs or Fri all good.

Venue with sofas and coffee sounds good.

London works well for me - short train into central london.

And... any day really!

Issy - of course you can do both!

Any suggestions for a Weds/Thursday in Central London would be very welcome ;-)

me too me too me toooooooo [greedy emoticon]

1. yes. london is fine with me. bristol is, obviously - better but i can't see it working for everyone, so yes, london
2. THURS/FRI - pls....i can do tues/weds but we'd miss waterbabies in termtime and it's too flipping expensive apart from the 26/7th october...
3. London people can sort the location re sofas?? But ideally near a decent train line, FYI I'd come into Paddington

Ooh, excellent idea. How about the mamas & papas coffee shop at oxford circus?

That's a good idea, Dizzi. And, afterwards, if it's a nice day we could go for a walk along the South Bank. Or for lunch at Giraffe, which is very child-friendly, especially for anyone bringing toddlers.

Oxford Circus is relatively easy to get to from Paddington, Melk - direct tube line, I think. Or you could do what I might and get a taxi.

The only problem I have at the moment is that my toddler DS is doing mornings at school so I have to pick her up at noon. Once we have decided on a date i can try and arrange for her to be picked up though... Any date preferences?

Oh, me me me! Pref Tues, Wed or Thurs for me (no DD) and pretty much anytime before 1 November. Although if it's after I can always play hookey take holiday from work and come and meet you, but I'll be sans Alex.

So, sounds like Thursdays are good for everyone? How about... 30th Sep or 7th Oct? Just throwing dates out there really. M&P cafe sounds good, I think it's usually pretty quiet. And has baby changing facilities :)

Either of those dates work for me.

Either work for me too as does location.

See, now isn't this easy? It was obviously all the bloody Northerners causing problems with the other one

Can I put in a plea for the 7th October as am in the States until the 3rd from next week?

Yes, why don't we say the 7th? It's almost a month away so more chance of people like IWCAS being able to get cheap train tickets than if we arrange it for sooner.

Now I'm about taking over the planning!

Oh well. 7th sounds good. As do cupcakes

Count me in [claps hands excitedly]

7th sounds perfect - Mamas and Papas cafe (which I've never been to) also sounds perfect.

I'd get into London about 11am (don't want to be on a commuter train) so lunchtimeish would suit me very well.

And by lunchtimeish, I guess I mean baby lunchtime, which for my DD is about 11.30 at the moment.

How does that work for trains from Brum?

Trains from Brum seem to be silly prices
9.30 from Bham New Street to Euston is £18. There are return trains at 14.43 or 15.03 for about £20, but that would barely give you a couple of hours in London. Also 15.23 or 16.57 for about £29. That's nearly £50 though ! The rest are even more expensive (does anyone actually pay £120 for a standard class train from London to Birmingham??). This is all on virgintrains.co.uk.

I'm so tempted to say 'count me in' right now but dd get's out of school at noon and then we would have an hour on the train... So we could be ther for 1-ish. Too late do you think?