So when the UK sleeps, we know you other MNers are out there part II

[tadjennyp]

I was looking for thumbwitch's recipe for that cake and found the old thread has disappeared so Linzer and I thought we'd resurrect it!

I haven't been able to think about Jools Holland in the same way ever since I read on a thread here about him vomiting whole olives. But then I am an emetophobe (apologies if you're reading this thumb, but I seem to remember you're OK "just" reading about it).

That's grim, Linzer! All back from the in-laws now?

yep, am ok just reading about it if I'm not eating or about to. I've heard a lot worse than whole olives as well!

I remember Petra (just), I remember watching Neighbours afterwards, and I certainly remember not being allowed to use the phone pre-6pm. We weren't allowed to watch Top of the Pops for years because Dad couldn't stand it. But somewhere around the age of 14 I prevailed and Thursday eves were TOTP night.

Yes, sorry - I did wonder whether to mention it at all!

We only spent just over a day (one night) at my ILs; we'd been planning to stay two nights but decided that we really wanted a day at home before the DC went back to school and kindergarten (and DH back to work). I don't think we could have stayed any longer anyway though, as both DS and I are affected by the dust there - DS very badly, and his cough/wheeziness lingered for a few days afterwards.

Am I right in thinking your DH is away at the moment, jenny? I remember being very nervous when DH had to go back to Europe about a month before my due date; we had friends on standby to accompany me to the hospital, but I suspect they were only in it for the helicopter ride! (IIRC you had to be transferred by helicopter to another hospital if you went into labour before about 36 weeks). DH is in Turkey at the moment, so I'm enjoying the rare opportunity of being able to MN in the evening.

Linzer - that's bad about the dust - do they know you're affected? Do they try and clean up before you get there? I'm paranoid about having someone come to my house who has a dust allergy (cos I'm such a poor housekeeper) but I would bust a gut to get rid of it all, just in case!

Yes, iirc, Jenny's DH is away at the mo. Hope he is back soon!

when i was a student i didn't really do housework much. one time, my boyfriend was staying over, and he woke up in the middle of the night having an asthma attack. i had to do cleaning around 3 am!!

after that, i got a little better, or at least when he was due to visit.

i remember mil being quite adamant that it would be perfectly possible for me to travel to NI for a family 'do' when i was 37 weeks. i was hugely sick & couldn't go in cars, she thought i'd be able to just 'hop over' in a plane!

Yes, dh is in Minnesota at the moment, but back tomorrow night so quite pleased about that! I'm not the best at dusting, but obviously if one of the dcs had an allergy I would pull my socks up! I do want to get everything cleaned by this weekend but my German course starts again next week and I want to get a few lessons planned in advance!

Yes, my ILs do know about the allergy and said they dusted everywhere before we arrived but I'm not sure how thoroughly they did so. They live in a very old house and I don't think that helps. We used to sleep in my PIL's bedroom so that we could be next door to the DC, who slept in the lounge, but it was thick with dust and I would spend hours coughing and wheezing before I could get to sleep. (That was before my allergy had been diagnosed and before DS's developed.) So I suggested we all move into DH's old room and we bought bunk beds so that we would all fit in. It was much better to start with but I think I need to give the room a thorough dust again.

Glad to hear your DH will be back tomorrow jenny; I'm sure you'll be relieved to have him home again. I also need to do some lesson planning as I'm going to be teaching DD2's class English too. In some ways I think I would find it easier to teach German, as at least I could give the lesson in English then!

Congratulations, Linzer on the new job teaching DD2's class! I'm sure you could teach the class mostly in English - won't it be mainly rhymes and numbers, colours at her age? I don't know how quickly they advance with English in Austria.

(Was thinking of you earlier when I was singing 'an Austrian went a-yodelling' to the dcs in the bath. )

I teach even beginners/children completely in English! It's only in my more advanced translation classes I speak any French with them.

Plus there's so much incidental learning that goes on by repeating 'hello', 'how are you today?', 'we're going to [insert activity here], 'sit down', 'be quiet' etc. Good luck!

Let's all lesson plan together although on second thoughts I'd probably rather clean than actually exercise my brain to write 8 weeks of lessons for adult beginner ESP with no curriculum...

I was originally planning on teaching more or less completely in English, but started off being more of a classroom assistant with DD1's first teacher. She used mainly German with them, apart from simple commands like "Stand up" and "sit down", and now that I've taken over the teaching (DD1's new teacher isn't really involved in the lessons) I've carried on in the same way. I obviously use as much English as I can, but sometimes need to explain things to them where it's just easier to use German.

One of my friends here also teaches in a primary school, so I must ask her how much German she uses. Her lessons always sound much more fun than mine; OTOH teaching English is her job (and, unlike me, she's getting paid for it). I should probably think about shifting the teaching more to English, anyway, as children (or any learners, in fact) do pick up so much when they hear certain words and phrases regularly.

linzer - dh's parents used to live in an old house & he found his allergies were much worse there than in modern buildings. even if given a really good clean (and his parents keep a v clean & tidy house) the decades/centuries of dust built up in the walls, under the floors etc - sorry to gross you out!

That's really interesting to hear, kickass. My ILs' house is about 100 years old and so has had plenty of time for dust to accumulate everywhere. OTOH my parents bought a new build about a year ago and DS was OK there - a few coughing fits in the night, but fine during the day (DH was quite worried about how DS would be affected at my parents', as they have carpets everywhere, which is very unusual in Austria).

i don't know about austria, but in the uk older building materials are a problem too, something in the plaster dust.

both dh & my niece suffer, so as a family, we're quite good at knowing what to do. dh is definitely a lot better in this house, which is modern, compared with older houses we've lived in. my niece also found that having the carpet taken out of her bedroom made a huge difference at night, and pillows etc. - we always have to say feather free when we stay anywhere. one hotel we went to in chicago prided itself on the feather covers & pillows, but provided a 'defeathering' service for guests.

it's a great excuse not to make the beds as well - don't want to be encouraging those dust mites!

I think in older houses, it's not just dust - there's more propensity for mould spores as well, even if you can't smell them, and I'm sure they would affect your breathing too(they do most people, even those without asthma in the first place)

Make your ILs move! Or buy a caravan that you can sleep in when you stay. Actually, that's not a bad idea - a campervan would probably be better, then you could take it around with you as well and go more places. :)

Am suffering a little from flood-weariness here - which is pathetic really as I am nowhere near them and I'm sure the people suffering the effects are waaaaay more weary of it than I am - as are the news teams, apparently. I can't say I can blame them - it's difficult to maintain trauma levels of suspense for more than a few days unless new things happen which are even worse than what has just happened - and at the moment things are in a bit of a come-down state. But thank God it wasn't any worse, and that the rain stopped a couple of days ago (well at least in Queensland, it's still going in other states).
Mould is on my mind a lot - the houses in Brisbane and surrounds are mostly going to go mouldy as they won't get their electricity reconnected until the houses have been safety checked, which means they won't be able to use heaters to dry them out, or fans to air them, or the air con to reduce the humidity. Perfect growing conditions for mould --> lots of chest complaints, I'm sure. As well as the expected rise in Dengue fever and Russell River fever from the mozzie bites.

i do feel sorry for people whose houses were flooded.

i got quite angry one day when i saw a trailer for a 'documentary' 'exposing' how people in MI were being conned by the insurance co.s as they have to have flood protection when they buy a house, but many of them don't live in flood areas. so, that money is being used to subsidise people who 'choose' to live in 'flood areas'. there was a slight hint that it was mainly those selfish people down south who chose to do this, and were benefitting from the good people of MI.

there are so many things wrong with that attitude, but i was nearly yelling at the screen 'what if your water tank bursts, you'll be wanting that flood protection then, won't ya?'

good thing i didn't shout - i was at the gym, plugged in by headphones, no-one would have known what i was on about. i'd have looked like crazy woman.

It's good to hear that the rain has stopped in Queensland now, even though the effects will be more long-lasting, of course. The flooding has been on the news here fairly regularly too - we've been hearing a lot about Brisbayne recently. It reminds me of DH's niece going on a school exchange to Green Witch last year. DH was quite smug about the fact that his English is now better than his sister's (she was always better than him at English and German at school, and she's now an English teacher) and that he was able to correct her pronunciation.

If only we could persuade my ILs to move! But Austrians NEVER move (only a slight exaggeration), often not even out of their parental home (as is the case with my SIL, who lives on the top floor with her DH and two DC). My PIL signed the house over to her a few years ago - the source of a great deal of tension as neither my PIL nor SIL and could see it was unfair that she should get the house (where she had been living rent-free for the previous 10 years, no bills to pay, free childcare, much of their shopping done and meals cooked for them, etc.) and DH absolutely nothing. But "that's the way that things are done in Austria", according to them. I was so worked up about it, I would probably have started a thread in AIBU if I'd been on MN at the time!

It's interesting what you said about mould spores thumb, as I've noticed that I react differently to what I assumed was the dust (I'm also allergic to it) at my ILs - dust normally makes me sneeze and my eyes water, but I get quite wheezy there.

Oh, and I didn't realise that feather-free pillows were the way to go, kickass - although ours are only cheap ones from Ikea, so I doubt they have feathers in them!

linzer - check. obviously it depends on each person, but we have to be farther free - dh can't use feather at all. and i know that austria is v keen on feathers (we've struggled there on holiday with quilts & pillows). ikea do make feather pillows, so go & check.

though you'd prob know - as you lay down at night, you'd start reacting.

you'd have been livid at the way the insurance companies are aiming to get out of paying out now then, Kickass - several poor people did have flood insurance, or so they thought, but apparently not the right kind. Theirs was for flood from storms and from flash floods, but not from riverine floods. So the fact that the river rose excessively due to the rain and the flashflooding, is neither here nor there as far as the insurance companies are concerned. :(
here is an article on it.

Insurance companies are evil at times. PILs garage roof collapsed under the weight of snow and squashed their brand new car. The assessor came out and said they wouldn't pay for it as the roof was not up to standard. They had of course been accepting premiums for more than 20 years.

Don't you hate it when dps treat each child differently? And they can't see it?

yes - my mum always favoured my brother over me and my sis - she never really accepted that she did, though.

Sorry thumb. I always thought my Mum favoured my brother over me when I was growing up. Mind he was easy going and sunny and I was not! (Not negating your experience in any way there).

i think there's a bit of difference between some favouritism & huge financial inequality.

my mum has a thing about the eldest child being 'special', and i'm the younger one - but she does do everything to keep finances equal.

talk of flooding - having got a minor slow drip fixed this morning, i went into the basement & the MAINS pipe, where they'd repaired, had sprung a leak & was chucking out water. i rang the co., who do 24 hr, and the guy i spoke to couldn't understand my accent. bear in mind, I was wet, the walls & floor of the basement were wet, the buckets were overflowing & i couldn't get the mains stop cock to stop (it's still leaking now, even turned off), i SHOUTED when he asked me to spell the street name for the fourth time

i did apologise after, but i was stressed. our street name is a flower name, so he should have been able to work it out - grrr.

now waiting for the call out guy & emptying buckets as they fill

Yes you are right, kickass, my parents would never do that to us. Hope you get your pipes sorted out soon.