Come and tell us your dull and unexciting news 32: Calmly through the day

[MissConductUS]

I've started a new one. Please join us and share the boring and mundane things happening in your world. It will be calming for all.

Here is a link to the prior thread:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5148913-come-and-tell-me-your-dull-and-unexciting-news-31-calmly-through-the-day

Welcome to all regulars, lurkers, and new contributors! Everyone is welcome to join.

Note there is one minor change to the thread title. "tell me your dull news" has been changed to "tell us...". I thought it was more in keeping with the spirit of the thread.

Dandy, I've seen news about the storm. Good plan to stay in. 💨
Ducky, I've been and had a great time. It's been a long time now, but I have lovely memories. Was it very difficult to adjust and learn Dutch?

I have been looking into French immersion school for Havoc. It is a complicated process.

We are unscathed by the storm bar a little wind this morning. (Classic British understatement - next door's bamboo was swaying violently and we're so pleased we had the tree's height and spread reduced earlier this week as it barely moved.)

that was lucky timing @MyrtleStrumpet !

@Mumtobabyhavoc tbh I still struggle with Dutch and Ive been here a long time, but that's because 1) just about everyone hears the English/American accent and replies to you in English. Even if you ask them to speak Dutch and 2) sadly my memory is poor and taking in a new language is hard.

The kids are almost bilingual though, which is a great gift to give I think. Baby Havoc can only benefit from French ..... though most Canadians are pretty well bilingual aren't they?

Ducky, it's a misconception we are bilingual here. To work in the federal gov't you typically need to be (and a must for the PM and MP's); I believe Ontario has French in school more than other provinces because our capital is there in Ottawa; Quebec is largely French and there is a lot of French in our eastern provinces.
Many people speak other languages overall because we are multicultural as a country with an emphasis on keeping one's culture and language to add to our country's mosaic. We have a large asian population here in southern BC and it is easy to find language classes privately and schools also offer Mandarin, for example. People are generally open to learning languages, or a few words to facilitate communication and general good will. I've taken classes in 6 languages: two formally in university, one seriously through a cultural centre for 3 years and three through non-credit extension programs (a semester each) to help me for travel/out of interest. I'm a bit of an oddball that way, though. 😂🤓

6 languages plus your native English!

tbh I find that awesome.

I think it’s great for dc to learn another language, especially if they have a parent who can converse at home. I know a few families where each parent speaks a different language at home to their children.
I am having a very quiet day at home as laid low with a cold. It’s a beautiful clear day today so might try to see the planets tonight which are apparently visable at the moment.

My grandsons are bilingual, speaking Portuguese and English. I’ve tried to learn and I can read much more than I speak. I actually only speak and understand ‘menu’ fluently. 😆 The boys switch from one language to another very quickly and do so when their other granny is there, although she speaks excellent English too. I learned French and used to get a weekly French magazine and love watching French films and TV series, but still need subtitles. I love Scandi TV and film noir as well, again with subtitles, although I’m picking up quite a bit of the Nordic languages.

@DandyDandylion It’s been a lovely clear day here as well. I’ve had a quiet afternoon reading Little Women for the umpteenth time. I got a gorgeous edition, along with a journal for Christmas, so I’m going to try and read a couple of chapters a day
I also got some pampering beauty items for when my sister in law comes again. I thought she was coming today but she can’t make it this week. She lives about 4 hours drive away, but we are a bit wary of the weather atm. We are planning another trip to RHS Bridgewater when she comes up, as she is a very keen gardener.
DD has just landed in Lisbon for a week’s break. She has taken some of the belated Christmas presents for the family, along with a huge amount of tea bags 😂

Dandy, I'd love to have a look at the planets tonight too, but it's been so cold at nights here I'm not sure if it's worth it. I do have an app on my phone that will help me locate them quickly.

We went to the worktop vendor's shop yesterday and they took out our slabs and we marked how we want them cut with blue painter's tape. This is to make sure that they veins flow the way we want them to. They're going to need a third slab for the backsplash, but that won't be cut until the worktops are installed.

We get to start unpacking boxes into the cabinets today.

Uman,I struggle with Portuguese! I just can't wrap my head around it and I've got Spanish and Italian! It's bizarre to me. 🤷‍♀️
Dandy, I agree. It's a great way to open the mind to learning about another culture as well.
Ducky, I've lost so much because I don't keep up with it. Interestingly, if I am around French I start thinking in French. I'm slow, though... and I find it much easier to speak it, to say what I want to say, but struggle when someone speaks quickly to me. Luckily, I love learning languages and it will be fairly easy to pick them back up. I'm teaching Havoc Italian. Each day now we are watching YouTube videos for kids' to learn Italian and I use short easy phrases and words, ie colours, body parts, things when we're walking like tree, grass, squirrel, bird, etc and numbers/colours. Just slow introduction. I try to make it fun and natural. I'll start with French, too. It's so helpful for me, though! And I use the Google translate app daily. There are so many free apps for languages now it makes it so accessible.

@Mumtobabyhavoc When my DDiL speaks with her mum in Portuguese it sounds almost like Russian, whereas I would have thought that it would be similar to Spanish. I started with Duolingo but didn’t get very far, even after a couple of years.my youngest grandson was letting me read one of his schoolbooks in Portuguese and correcting my pronunciation and helping me translate it. I did get a “That was very good, Granny”. So happy 😀

My youngest won't let me speak Dutch! I do have some dutch, having lived here all these years. But if I try when he's around he hates it - I think because he's quite precise and my Dutch ... isn't.

It's actually something of a problem speaking English as people hear you're English and switch to that, meaning to be helpful. But you end up in a conversation where they are speaking English and I'm trying womanfully to struggle along in my not-great Dutch, and it all gets a bit ridiculous. I do have a couple of friends who firmly speak Dutch to me and I'm grateful for it !

British weather is never dull! Yesterday morning I was swimming in the (very cold) Irish sea with the sun on my face. Today we drove home through rain which turned to snow as we got nearer home. Its gone back to rain now.

@IWanderedLonely
Gosh! I could never do that (I don't think) although my showers are nearly lukewarm (not the same thing, I know!) My weather (West London) has not been as interesting. Just bloody rain and plenty of it Every time I passed a shop awning I had to get out of the way of a man with a brolly so had to put up with drips on my head! Also our hospital grounds are not well lit and it was already getting dark at lunchtime when I came to work so I did not manage to avoid any puddles! Grrr!

All this talk of other languages. I wish I had learnt some. I know a tiny bit of French but not enough to string a sentence together. If you want to know what is dry and oily, night and day etc (I learnt that at the back of my face creams!!!)

Ducky, kids can be weird. 🤷‍♀️ Are they in the stage of being mortified by everything you do? A friend used to purposely embarrass her kids when they acted that way.
Iwandered, good for you for getting into the sea!

Sunny day here and 2c. Baby didn't go to sleep until after 11pm. So I ended up watching tv and scrolling after that. Good thing I was, though. I checked on Havoc who had a fever of 39.5c, so we were up for a couple hours while I monitored/gave meds. Havoc was still feverish a few hours ago, although fine otherwise. I'm just 😫 with the constant colds.

Sounds absolutely lovely! Seaswimming - the water is so alive. Must have felt good afterwards? :)

Havoc, I think my youngest was embarassed by me from the first moment he opened his eyes. My autistic 16yo, who veers between thinking I'm the origin of all that's dreadful and being quite loving, actually took my hand in public the other day. That left me feeling a bit odd!

I hope Baby Havoc gets better soon. 39.5 is no fun at all.

Hope Havoc is ok Havoc, seems never ending when they’re little ☹️.

I grew up bilingual (English and Welsh, Welsh medium education to 16) but also did languages for A levels and degree. So French and German to degree level. But I’ve found that unless you practice it disappears very quickly!

DucklingSwimmingInstructress
It was amazing! We have a campervan and regularly go to North Wales and I try to swim every day (gave it a miss on Friday due to Storm Eouwan). I no longer drive, and there's nowhere in walking distance of home, but I love my sea swims.

Ducky, I'll have to try and prepare myself! Havoc has already rejected affection at times, usually if tv is on with cartoons. 😵‍💫
Shoes, I used to listen to our French CBC here and it helped. I really need to do that again.

Just reading news online while baby is asleep. I should nap while I have the chance, though.

North Wales is so very, very beautiful. Are there a lot of places you can park the campervan, or do you have to go to official parks?

There's a lovely Twitter lady called Sarah Parry who posts photos of N Wales which are so evocative https://x.com/SarahWoods66

Shoes, you prompted me to listen to a "learn Welsh" podcast. Wow! It's like nothing I've ever heard.

eta: I think someone else on our thread is Welsh... trying to remember who.

Having a lovely, lazy weekend here. Our weather has improved, and we'll see temperatures above freezing all week, more or less. I'm currently watching American football. The winner of this game will play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Superbowl.

DD has strep, her second bout in the last month. She spotted it early both times and went to immediate care. Currently on her second round of antibiotics. I got her a new toothbrush and we've sprayed light switches, doorknobs, the back door key, and all over her room with Lysol spray. I hope she won't get it again and also that I won't get it. She's fed up with medicine and feeling under the weather.

Havoc - hope havoc will shake it off soon.

Math, ugh strep! Awful. Had it twice as a teen. Hope your dd is better soon and you don't catch it, but you sound very pro-active.
Havoc and baby have just fallen askeep at 6:30pm. Much too early, so hoping they'll sleep well all night as I expect both will be awake in a few hours and I really need to sleep tonight, too. Getting some kitchen work done tomorrow through Wednesday and it will be best to keep dc out for the day as it will be loud and dusty.
Hoping Havoc doesn't get worse though.

Math hope DD feels better soon, we enjoy watching NFL in our house. DH has followed it for years (Steelers fan) and he’s dragged me in to it. Chiefs v Eagles for Super Bowl then.

Havoc it’s a very unique language though as a Celtic language shares a lot of similarities with Cornish and Breton. I don’t notice it as I never really learned it iyswim, it was just there being absorbed 😁. Sprouts is Welsh and so is Lemons (hope she’s ok). Or they at least live here anyway.