Can we make our own 'from our own correspondent'

[teafortwo]

I love love love this radio show...

news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/default.stm

Can we please please please have a thread that has a vibe a bit like this?

We can have a bunch of parents who live all over the World in all kinds of countries (including Blighty), with all kinds of neighbours and themselves living in all kinds of situations (rural, city, suburbs and anything inbetween) explaining what is happening where they live. Day to day things (what is on sale at your local market, what you ate for lunch), portraits of figures in your community (e.g a lovely old village character), big news stories (e.g student riots), little news stories (a much loved dog has died that used to wander around the town centre), arguements in the cafe (sport, politics, religion), music and dance (e.g I notice all Parisian teenagers like to do this weird wiggling dance and they even have lessons for how to do it on national telly), observations on things that are different from where you come from (I don't know...e.g a New Yorker's take on living in the Lake District), interesting discussions on languages spoken... etc etc... I think it could be fun!!!

So tell me...

Am I making sense?

and..

What do you think? Shall we give it a go?

Effie Perine - I think I must know the area of North London you mean, we often drove through on the way up to see in-laws in Suffolk. The ringlets and sometime tough-sibling love you see are very incongruous, I agree!

I didn't know Sarkozy was already legacy-building, Tea for Two. That's quite a whopper of a building. Do you think he's got Dubai-envy?

After last week's trip to the Islands, DD and I ventured further east along the shore of Lake Ontario yesterday. There is a neighbourhood known as The Beach or The Beaches, yes terribly imaginative. The amazing thing is that there was a huge civic dispute about whether to call it The Beach or The Beaches - involving erection and removal of signage, which was partially settled by an online poll with a marginal victory for 'The Beach'. That's the trouble with semi-Utopias, they get awfully wound up about very trivial things.

Anyhoo, while not as peaceful as the islands, it's certainly a pleasant place to spend the afternoon. The local high street has lots of quirky specialty shops and the big chains have been kept at bay. We parked up at Woodbine Beach and strolled West along the boardwalk to the lakeside park. There are over 100 (I kid you not) beach volleyball courts which are packed at the weekends, but yesterday there were just a few fringe groups of teenagers hanging out.

We carried on round the bay and settled a while in a quiet grassy shady spot on the rocky shore of the lake with a book and took some photos. A little further up an extended Indian family were having a riotous picnic and a very vigorous and competitive game of Kabaddi, with all apart from aged grandma joining in. It was lovely, but had reached the point in the afternoon when the bugs come out to play/bite and I am #1 Victim when it comes to biting beasties, so we retraced our steps and settled on a bench on the other side of the bay to enjoy the view, have a snack and generally people-watch. DD was very taken with a gorgeous pair of dachsunds.

We continued the watery theme today and spent the morning at our local outdoor swimming pool, which is also a lovely spot and completely free of charge. Sadly it closes for renovation next week, so we'll have to figure out yet another way to laze through the last days of Summer.

nothing wrong with Essex in fact I even have my own Essex girl - dd1 was born in Southend Hospital. We then moved to Chelmsford where dd2 was conceived

wants to sign up to moondog's excursion.

we are currently having a debate here as the big supermarket chains want to open longer hours. At present they are open weekdays from 8 - 9pm and then weekends 8 - 5 and 8 - 6pm Sat and Sun.

The smaller convenience stores are fighting it - however the rationale is that the smaller stores charge a fortune for products which is not helpful for tourists!!! ( so this is being driven more from touristy areas like Gold Coast.) shall see what happens.

SOmething I saw but forgot to mention. Here in Qld you cannot buy alcohol in the supermarket like you can in the UK> However in states like ACT where I was when in Canberra and NSW you can. It was strange walking into the supermarket and see people buying their sat night alcohol after not having seen it for so long.

However our pubs/hotels have drive through - drive in - place your order, they put it in the car/boot and you pay. Without having to leave the comfort of your car. They are open pretty much pub hours too.

icod - how funny!

Suedomin - My parent's house is surrounded by set-aside land in Suffolk. Every Spring one of the meadows becomes full of little aggressive birds that dive bomb humans.

In Paris, specifically in La Defense, we don't have these birds we have Zara instead!!!

OH as to reading - I have just finished reading a book about the youngest Anzac who fought at gallipoli - he was 14! he died a few months before my great great uncle on the same hospital ship. IT was amazing to read his story and to remember he was just 14!!! He managed to convince his parents to let him go - he said if they did not give him permission he would run away change his name and they would never hear from him again BUT if they let him go - he would write faithfully every week. So with heavy heart - they did and he did write faithfully. It did not emerge for many years later about his true age.

This book was written more for young adult teen readers BUT i loved it. Bought it whilst in Canberra and it was the author who was selling his books at this market. So I have a signed copy. He also wrote about a young french orphan who wandered into an australian army camp at the end of ww1 and was adopted as their mascot. One of the men then managed to smuggle him back to Australia. Have just started reading this.

this is one

the other one

the young anzac died of illness - he refused to leave his post until he was almost dead. He kept being told to report to the hospital ship and he refused - continuing to fight until his body was so ravaged with disease that he could no longer stand.

OH MY LIFE!!!!!

Eidsvld thank you thank you thank you!!!!

I always have to spend an unbelievable amount of money on p&p to send book presents to one of my dearest friends who has decided to shack up with a beautiful Australian lady in Taz either by buying them here or buying them on mafia.com amazon.com!!! From now on I will use www.bookworm.com.au thank you thank you thank you - brilliant stuff!!!

Talking about my friend, themadhouse, his sister is a paramedic in South Africa - I have some memory of him claiming the rules are no insurance no hospital. But I also remember this story being very early in the morning at the 'only a few people left at the party' moment where how true this is is anyones guess. But knowing the kind of guy he is I really think it is true.

and p.s the books look very high quality - but I wonder if I could read the words - most WW1 stories make me really cry - it was such a very very cruel and terribly wasteful war! When I was young I imagined the faces to be boys in my class. Now I am a Mum I also think of their Mothers.

Ah, they sound like tear-jerkers, Eisdvold.

Did I mention it before, Cali? I have brain like a sieve so I don't remember!

This is fascinating. I love coming onto this thread every night. And reading about London is just as interesting as anywhere else.

The Phare Tower is bizarre. Is it meant to look like it is pregnant? Our latest offering is a Trump Tower which will become the 2nd tallest building in the US after the Sears Tower (so Chicago will have the 4 tallest buildings in the country). In 2010, the Freedom Tower in NYC will take it's place but the following year, the Spire will open and reclaim Chicago's Tallest Building claims. Given that Chicago used to be a swamp, it takes some engineering to build such tall architecture. And really, there is no need for it.

We drove out to the burbs today and spent the morning at a Pioneer Village. It was fabulous- if any of you know Blists Hill in Shropshire, it is like a tiny version of that. DS milked a 'cow' (plastic but life-size with udders that you could squeeze and water squirted out), watched a blacksmith, played in a full-size covered wagon, learnt how you get wool from the sheep (from shearing to spinning the fleece and turning into yarn) and had a marvelous time in the school house. He dutifully sat down at his own desk, began 'writing' on the chalk board while the school mistress told us all about how everyone had to sit still, no talking etc. Then she said, "Does anyone have any questions?" and DS responded, "Yes. Can you draw Spongebob?"

There are funny rules about alcohol in the US. I'm in Illinois and you can buy most booze (but not hard liquro) anywhere, more or less anytime. In Connecticut, you could go to the drive-thru Paki (package store) to purchase alcohol but NEVER on a Sunday or a bank holiday. Throwback to the Puritans, I think. Booze in the car is ok, just not on a holy day

As for what happens when you get sick and have no health insurance - you either go untreated, or you go bankrupt.

FOOC in Tamil Nadu.
This thread is moving so fast I can?t keep up? but its addictive!

Here in southern India I?m becoming obsessed with power and power cuts. Normally we get a power cut of about 2 hours in the middle of the day? sometimes 4 hours. But the last two days we?ve had pretty much 2 hours on and 2 hours off. In the day it is irritating (fans stop working, computer battery runs out, and all the generators in the factories that surround us start up ? pumping out diesel fumes in the process). In the night it is much worse ? our (just fitted) AC unit stops working, we have to strip off our dd, rig up the mossie nets, spray ds with repellent, etc etc. We sat last night trying to work out whether we should open all the doors and windows to let in the breeze, but also the mossies. Then the power comes back? and the AC is on, but have the mossies got in?

For the factory owners this must mean a big rise in costs ? they all have generators which go on the minute the power goes off. Rising costs, falling profit margins? it can?t do anyone any good.

In answer to the questions about child labour. Here in the factory opposite there are certainly no children employed, and indeed that is the case in most of the factories in this town. The question really is about work that is outsourced to the home ? things like embroidery. Much harder to monitor.

More to follow, but now I must get on with some work!

4Go,herei n Dhaka, prob. 4 power cuts a day of an hour each. Bloody tedious. Our block of flats has agenerator but only enough power for a couple of lights and a fan.

We have days of power 'outages' here, agreed in advance and published in the paper, imagine that happening in West Africa Sue

Our house comes with a generator so it swings into action automatically the power goes off and eats up the diesel like nobody's business.

Everyone in East Africa is trying to convert to inversion batteries which store up the energy and then can be used when the power goes out. More ecologically effective and reduces costs too. Naturally you can't run the whole house from them, but enough to keep some lights on, the TV and the cooker We also have an electric fence which if the power goes off it has a 48 hour back up.

4goetoindia, tell us more about the textile industries in your area. Should we feel bad buying our cheap clothes from Tesco?

the one about the youngest anzac was sad - especially when you think of it from the mother's perspective. It is about his story but it is also very much his family and his mother's story.

I have just started young digger.

I must admit I shed a tear or two reading the youngest anzac one - on the plane back from Canberra.

The power shortages sound very annoying. What about solar energy?

I am off to Geneva for 3 days, house hunting. I will have to reserve a day to catch up on this thread when Í return.

Ha ha ha - I am laughing so much at 'And really, there is no need for it.' superbunny!!! I now have this excellent image in my head of a great comic strip....

scene - the supermarket. Chicago is a bit niggly and needs a nap. Superbunny is in let's get on with this mode

Chicago: (reaching for shelf) Mummy look TOWER!!! Oooooh!!! Mummy... I wanna big tower pleaaaaaase I wanna big tower I waaaaaant a big tower!!!

Superbunny: mmmm.... sh...what do we need.... milk, orange juice.... got those...

Chicago: I waaaant a big taaawwww ooooowww eeeer!

Superbunny: (looks sternly at Chicago)Really^ there is no need for it!

Chicago pouts then quietens down, cuddles upto raggy and peacefully falls asleep!.

And as for all other posts posted while we foocs in Europe slept... thanks - very interesting indeed!

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/9/594506

Hey, foocs - have a look here - very cute!!!

ROFL at Teafortwo's comic strip

So... foocs this is my new update... I have found a new fooc on another thread!!!

Her name is litchick and insists she doesn't live anywhere exotic - but... I think we will find her and her life experiences very exotic because she is a professional writer !!!

I hope she will pop in and make her first fooc post today.

Organised power cuts sound rather marvie, TM&M! Our present abode is pretty well organised wrt to generators (and sending out the bills for the diesel) but we've recently been plagued by mini-outages lasting just seconds but enough to b*gger up the electrical equipment. We now have some USP's to avoid the worst of the cuts. Should one be caught in the lift, there's absolutely no point in pressing the alarm bell because no one ever responds. Dd and I were stuck for some time a while ago. When we were finally released we discovered we'd been marooned all of two inches above the ground floor, lol.

Have you read Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo, Eids? (Prob not as your dc are still wee!) I cried buckets over that story and I'm not sure if it's even based on fact. One of dh's relatives ran away to sea when he was 14/15-ish, round about the Boer War. His mother went and got him back - can you imagine the humiliation of having your mum turn up and giving you a flea in your ear!!

Dare I say, I rather like that Chicago Spire thingy. Not so keen on Trump Towers though. Aberdeenshire has been having its own Trump moment lately.

Suedonim, I take it you or DH do something oily given the places you live. I've done some work in the industry and find it really fascinating. I recently read this which seems like a fairly good insight of what it's like for a single man, but it's probably quite a different proposition 'en famille', well you'd hope so! Have you lived anywhere else?

Nothing to report but I wanted to be post no. 600.

Regarding living somewhere non-English-speaking, my DH speaks fluent Mandarin and Cantonese. I speak very very basic Mandarin and Cantonese. I can follow more than I can say.

When we move back to Australia, we will get a Chinese nanny for DD. We definitely want her to grow up speaking Mandarin and ideally Shanghainese as well.

The Shanghainese dialect is basically used as a private language by natives. They will use it to say something rude or secret in front of you. They know that quite a few laowais (white people) speak Mandarin but no foreigners speak Shanghainese. DD will have a glittering future in corporate espionage if she doesn't let on that she understands everything that is being said.

This thread has so many levels it is easy to miss things. And I am ashamed at missing some big news.

Longwayfromhome - I never said congratulations and really want to. A new life is so wonderful! Treasure the next few weeks and months and enjoy every tiny moment.

Love from Teafortwo