Thread 17 - TalkLair: "Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge."

[RasaSayangEh]

(Previous thread 16).

Spring is springing, daffodils blooming all over our LairGarden, which have not all been picked by a neighbour's kid...

In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, cosy rugs are down on the floors looking a bit stained by cat hairball regurgitation. The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics. We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

The 20€ was for the meds but I got them from a pharmacy. I tried to pay when I checked out but they said I would get a bill by email and could pay it online. If it really is as low as another 20€ my American friends will die of jealousy.

A&E costs nothing here, even for Damned Foreigners! ... very likely because they'd have to hire people at every hospital to deal with the payments, and that would cost more than the income. Or am I overestimating their power of thinking?

I seem to remember a very modest prescription charge when I took a student to hospital in Italy. I think the whole cost was about €10. The hospital was very new looking and an extraordinary space (it was a field trip to Venice but we were staying in Mestre so it was the hospital there rather than the one in Venice which would have been an interesting experience in a very different way). I was all set to get an Italian speaking student on the phone if necessary but the triage nurse and doctor both spoke fluent English.

Edit: that was, of course, pre Brexit. It might, not unreasonably, be rather more expensive now.

For UK citizens, don't we get some level of reciprocal EU cover with our GHIC card? I have got one and understand that I'm supposed to take it abroad it with me, but have no idea what it is actually for!

I think it works pretty much like the old EHIC, though I haven't left this benighted country since in came in <sob>.

Yes, the GHIC covers the EEA, my daughter's arrived last week, she's off to France with the school, on Friday.

Therese was my saint of choice for my confirmation.

Therese was my grandmother's chosen name when she converted to Catholicism.

DDs school prom last night, they went in somewhat unconventional non-prom-dresses and trainers, there's my girls! Great weather for it - many of the prommers* spent most of the evening outside on the terrace, apparently the poor DJ was bopping away by himself to a near-empty dance floor

They were quite emotional when they got home as it sank in that it was probably the last time they'd see many of their year group, a mixture of sadness and relief I think. They only have a small circle of good friends, most of whom are staying on at the same school for sixth form - there's no reason why they can't keep in touch with those friends but I suppose it'll be very different when not seeing each other in person every day.

*ᶦ ᵐᵃᵈᵉ ᵘᵖ ᵗʰᶦˢ ʷᵒʳᵈ

What are DDs doing in September then, @RasaSayangEh? You may have mentioned it already but I don’t recall.

They’re moving to sixth form colleges nearer to where we live.

My DD changed schools at 6th form because we lost the travel discount on the Tube and the other school was nearer and also had a better track record in her chosen subjects than her original school at A level. It took her a while to settle in but she made friends and did well. I’m sure the Cells will be fine too.

Mine has another year in Middle School, but she wants to move to a High, she's fixated on it. The one she wants to attend is small.

Along with that, a 900 place school is closing, they only have 500 pupils. There are 3 other schools - also a Catholic one, which is over subscribed, so I think she'll have to stay on for a year.

The school which is closing has a new estate being built, right against the fence. 2,500 homes, I think. Presumably, that's more kids needing a school...

The school which is closing has a new estate being built, right against the fence. 2,500 homes, I think. Presumably, that's more kids needing a school...

Sounds like a lack of joined-up thinking there!

I'm sure DDs will thrive at their new college(s) once they've settled in. And they definitely won't miss the long bus ride and long day that they've had at their current school.

Interesting piece on sleeping habits:

www.bbc.co.uk/future/article/20220107-the-lost-medieval-habit-of-biphasic-sleep

Ever since I first heard of 'two sleeps' it's made perfect sense and I actually sleep far better for knowing about it and no am longer at all concerned at waking in the night. That quiet waking time in the night is cosy and comforting.

I can't think of an evolutionary advantage to everyone sleeping an unbroken eight hours every night. That I know of, no other mammal sleeps that way. I put it down to industrialists wanting to keep noses to the grindstone.

Surprise dark red hollyhock at home.

Angry!

I can't grow hollyhocks or anything slugs like. I have a salvia 'Amistad' recovering on my balcony from having been eaten almost down to the stalks while in a watering tray.
Any tips, @Vegemiteandhoneyontoast ? Either for slug genocide or for vigorous cottagey plants that they HATE?

I often have the “two sleeps” thing, and stopped worrying about it when I learned it was a common thing historically.

Finding out about two sleeps thing really made sense to me when I heard about it. Definitely changed the way I think about my sleep patterns.

I've long been aware of it in the historical sense. Sadly, I never remember it when I wake, enraged, at 4 almost every morning. I rarely get back to sleep, don't nap during the day and am basically a nightmare of an over-tired child-woman!

I'd make more peace with the 2 sleeps if I didn't have to wake at 615am every day.

It's slug central, here, and we do very well with foxgloves.

And when I say 'very well', this is a 6 foot fence not including the trellis. It just keeps growing, and is now putting out side spikes.

I don't really get on with the 2-sleeps thing. Once I'm awake, if it's past 4 am, I'm awake. On the other hand, I can quite happily not start a first sleep until 2 or 3 am - so I'm permanently on the protect-the-group-from-lions shift.