from our own correspondent

[teafortwo]

Old thread...
www.mumsnet.com/Talk/2423/576865?ts=1222265998268&msgid=12499051

New thread...

to be created below!

Enjoy!

FOOC Nigeria

Weather - Hot (it's either hot or hot & wet. )

TMH, kites are big birds of prey that fly around searching for lunch. They are arriving in ever-increasing numbers atm. When they go past our apartment and peer in with their freaky yellow eyes and beaks it sends a shiver through me! And yesterday I saw one fold up its wings in mid-flight and drop like a stone to catch some unfortunate critter that was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Although if it was a cockroach, I'm not really complaining.

Following up my school meeting report, on the previous thread, we had a more peaceable and democratic meeting today, where a PTA constitution has been formulated and we are to get elections before Xmas. The new head has hit the ground running and seems to have done an awful lot in just half a term.

However, I was rather startled to discover that my daughter is being taught "bad morals" by the school, according to another parent. His dd is in the same class as mine so I wondered how I could have missed such an exciting development since my school days!

It transpired that he was talking about a PSE class which discussed conflict between children and parents. There was a hand-out on the subject, with a poem 'Childish Parents' and examples of conflict topics such as make-up, clothes and boy/girlfriends. The father felt these were a bad influence on his child, which rather made me chortle, because of course Nigeria, a country which embezzles its citizens' out of their money, executes people, beats its children and sentences women to be stoned to death has such good morals and sets a wonderful example to its young people.

The head did a wonderfully diplomatic job on defusing the situation, I must say, though he did say to me later it was a sticky subject to negotiate, given cultural differences. But some things I think can hardly be excused as cultural. Dd told me everyone in her class was very shocked when she told them she's never smacked. Even at 12yo her classmates are smacked, hit with a belt and in one case beaten black and blue. How can anyone think that's right??

FOOC Langley, BC, Canada

Weather: rainy. Cold. Generally pissy. See Jacksmama's last god-knows-how-many posts. Fall in BC - SOGGY!!!!! MrsSprat I would be delighted to send you some pressed maple leaves and a can of Tim Horton's coffee (I really mean that, not just a virtual offer) if you're homesick for Canadian content. When I was away in the States for college my mum sent me regular Canadian Content Care Packages. Timmies and Miss Vickie's chips, amongst other things!!
So let me know.

On another note, apparently the U.S. election did not sit well with everyone. I got an email from a friend in Texas who said "I may have to call you to see how things are run in a socialist country now that they've elected you-know-who". I didn't know whether to be offended or PMSL!! Canada is NOT a socialist country!! I think she has us confused with communists, LOL. If I'd been feeling snippy I could have replied "well, I wouldn't expect anything else from a card-carrying Republican member of the NRA"... but I'm not willing to ruin a good friendship over politics. She was so clearly close to blowing a gasket over the election though - I almost felt bad for her. I did refrain from mentioning that the rest of the world was clearly delighted by Obama's election... was v. proud of myself.

Oh, and has anybody else heard lots of people say "I hope Obama doesn't get assassinated"???? What a horrible thought!!!

No offense, but she's from TEXAS. Home of W., and state where almost 30% believe Obama is Muslim. Ask her how she would have felt if we would have elected a Vice-President that didn't know Africa was a continent?

It has been a mild buzz around here for several months, and is now a loud roar after the 2 white supremacists got arrested for plotting to assassinate him.

There was a thread on here last week along those lines, Jacksmama. I hadn't really considered the matter then but now I'm wondering. Did you see that when he appeared at that rally on tuesday night there was a 3 inch thick screen of bullet-proof glass in front of the stage?

And DH said you could see once when he was waving and the angle caught just right that he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. I guess that on college and high-school campuses, that is a big theory that they're floating around.

I couldn't live like that. Mind you, half the folks in our compound wear BP vests and have armed security but that's because they've right royally p*ssed off a lot of people climbing to these heady heights.

I wonder if TheMasteretc is around? Only I've read that the Kenyans who live in the village where BO's father came from are now expecting that BO will look after them financially. I am at the thought of him going to the village and being accosted by people asking for 'something for my lunch/dinner/weekend/holiday, Mr President'!

FOOC Sydney and Southern Highlands

Much excitement this morning when an enormous armed motorcade suddenly roared down our narrow local high street. At least 8 motorbikes, several police cars, large cars and a bus with fluttering red flags. It's a rarely seen sight in Sydney, so there was much speculation on the pavement as to who was speeding through our midst, and where. It turns out they were heading to the Water Police headquarters. Who they were we didn't manage to solve.

The US election has been a major topic of conversation and a cause for celebration with everyone I've spoken to this week. I think the productivity of the city must have ground to a halt on Wednesday as the bulk of the workforce tuned in to live feeds and interactive maps (and Mumsnet in some cases...). I gave up all pretense of even trying to work mid-morning and just watched the voting unfold and then celebrated through the evening with various neighbours.

The media here has, of course, turned to what the result means for Australia (not that we're generally parochial ). The consensus is that the new US administration will be in step with our new government, much to the consternation of some of our loudest commentators.

Anyway, it's sunny again, which means everything everywhere is all right, isn't it? Bugger the global financial crisis, the looming meltdown in commodity prices and massive hole in the budget surplus - beach weather is here again.

Nice to see MrsS still reporting. Hope you get over the culture shock soon/

to read about Suedonim's cultural differences.

Nothing to report from ChiTown other than a sea of Obama t-shirts. I suspect we will no longer be seeing the man himself in the local diner or at the park with his kids. Next big thing in the city is to try to get the Olympics here in 2016. There are lots of plans and construction has begun. If they did come here, it would be brilliant for my neighbourhood and surrounding areas which, at the moment, are very deprived and not the sort of places you want to get lost in.

Suedonim, you are so right about the levels of acceptable physical violence in Nigeria. At first I was shocked by it, but now realise it is a part of life in what is overall, a very brutal society. My in laws have trouble accepting that we do not hit or smack our children, and in fact are openly critical of it. You see police officers hitting citizens in the street, parents hitting or thumping children so hard to the head that they often knock them over, and school teachers standing outside the schools with big sticks waiting to hit late arriving pupils. It is only in the international schools that teachers are not permitted to use physical punishment on the pupils. Fights break out at the drop of a hat in the streets, and the fact that everyone passing by feels the need to stick their tuppence worth in to any dispute does not help. I do believe that there is something like social services for children here, but it is so deeply ingrained and universally accepted to hit your children that even they would probably not find it a problem. By the way, is Shoprite always so madly crowded on a Saturday?! What is it with the mile long queues of locals at the bakery section? Speaking of fights breaking out.....one did in there last Saturday - over a loaf of bread!!??

FOOC North Devon.

Waether: after an unseasonably dry spell, we are back to N. Devon's default setting: Raining, with an undercurrent of cold dankness accompanied by excessive moisture.

Well, the autumn colours are out in full force now, and the hobbit's pathway is positively gleaming. This area of Devon is known for its high hesgebanks and they are all bright orange & gold except for one section that is still green. As far as I can tell it has the same plants, but no sign of a colour change. I guess there must be some scientific reason, but it's most odd.

Culturally, we're off here: www.hatherleigh.net/carnival_index.asp on Saturday. Never been before, but looks....interesting

jacksmama - thanks for the very kind offer, I didn't want it to go unacknowledged, let's see how the holiday cheers me up (lots I hope!)... but I might come back to you.

London

Had a somewhat mizzley walk in the park today, clogging the pushchair wheels with grotty brown leaves, with a backdrop of ominous black clouds over the crest of the hill. Anyway, what with all these great Autumn descriptions of late, I started paying attention to try and work out why British city autumns are a bit less picturesque.

Part of it is probably own-backyard syndrome (and my rampant disloyalty, of course ), but the colours just don't cut it. The sequence round here goes:

1. Green
2. Yellow (OK, actually quite pretty in a certain light)
3. Bronze (maybe a bit ginger-ous)

then very quickly:

1. Brown
2. Filth

...and of course the miserable weather doesn't help. 'Mists and mellow fruitfulness'? I wish.

DiddyBobster Hi!! Hope you're keeping well. Your description of violence is Nigeria to a T. I mean, this is a country where you can buy a cat o' nine tails on the street. I bet you'd need to go to a seedy S&M site in the UK to get one.

We never go to Shoprite on a Saturday. But the queues at the bakery are de rigeur, they exist every day of the week. In fact, it may well be the same folks in the queue every day....

If you want to try other shops, Goodies on VI is better than SR, imo. It's at 237 Kofo Abayomi St. It has non-food stuffs inc pharmacy upstairs and a cafe plus a restaurant next door.

Park N Shop (AKA as Park n Rob ) has a lot of nice groceries too. It's a department store, with lots of non-food things upstairs. 47b Adeola Odeku St, VI.

Thanks for that Sue, have tried Goodies which is very well stocked and also does delicious pastries in the cafe. I was so pleased to find Walkers crisps that were still fresh! Will try the others next time we venture to Lagos. Not likely to be for a while as I am due at the end of the month and scared to go too far from my obstetrician!
Next trip will probably be to the British High Commission to register the birth and apply for a passport.

FOOC Auckland

Weather - sun sun sun at last hip hip hip hooray

Well the election here came and went. We have a new ruling party - the National Party. After 9 years in office Labour have gone. There has been much controversy about the leader of a minor party WInston Peters of NZ First on the run up to the election that I have spared the FOOC'ers of. Various allegations about party monies that resulted in parliamentary and police investigations. Winston and his party failed to reach a 5% threshold so no longer have a seat in parliament. I will actually miss him. He is quite colourful. The country now waits to see if Key can come up with the goods in light of the worldwide recession.

On another note yesterday was the local A&P show. Where do I start, the usual side shows, bouncy castles, a array of fine tractors, sheep shearing competitions and displays, chain saw competitions and dislays (these guys carve things using chainsaws and have relay hacking things up competitions), equestrian displays and more competitions, best calf competitions............local food and wine tents, dixy band, pan pipes. You name it it is there.

There was an additional display to the programme yesterday - jousting. HOrses thundering around an arena while their mediaval clad riders brandished swords hacking tops of cabbages, spearing various things etc. The audience seperated from the display by a piece of string.

And the usual highlight and local favourite - mower polo. A bunch of highly competitive local dads hurtling around the arena on ride on mowers (think small tractors) brandishing polo sticks and a football. Over the years the competition between the two teams fueled I believe by one or two bevvies in the beer tents before hand has become intense and means rivalry is fierce. To the point yesterday that one of them lost control of his mower, hurtled through the rope 'safety' barrier, sent the audience running for cover and clipped a small child who seemed to be OK but was stretchered off by St Johns just in case!!!!! The game was halted as the crowd boo'ed and hissed.

At that point we left as the sheep shearer was coming to shear our sheep.

Another marvelous sunny day south of Auckland

Diddybobster again. If you come to Lagos fairly often it might be worth investing in a copy of Lagos Easy Access. It's a guide to just about everything about Lagos, published by the American Women's Group. The bookshop at The Palms is shut atm but you can also get it from Quintessence, at Falamo Shopping Centre which is right next to Falamo Bridge joining Ikoyi to VI. It's a v useful book.

Good luck with the baby!

FOOC Langley, BC, Canada, current FOOC visiting Seattle, about two hours south of us.
Weather is strangely varied - 'twas pissing down with rain as we drove down yesterday and the wind was strong enough to buffet us from side to side on the highway. This morning we woke up to rain streaming down the hotel window and now, suddenly, it's sunny. Wait a few minutes, it will likely change again.
We are taking a well-deserved break away for a few days, staying in Seattle this weekend and then three more days in Bellingham, on the water. Fall colours are gorgeous, both here and at home. No shortage of red maple leaves for MrsSprat!
It's interesting to read American newspapers and coverage of the election. Surely there has rarely been a president-elect who's been made so much of. Coverage here is very favourable, as the state of Washington went solidly to Obama. Have had several more ranting emails from girlfriends in TX and Utah... both of which went to McCain. Am biting tongue to keep from entering the argument because there is nothing to be gained from it.
On a funnier note, DS slept with us in the super-king-sized hotel bed last night and ended up horizontal between us - we must have looked like a giant H in the bed as his feet were resting on DH's arm and his head was pushed into my side. Very sweet. I'm very happy he travels so well!
Bye for now, will try to pop in later.

FOOCing bump so that I can find the thread tomorrow

FOOC Langley, BC, Canada - currently FOOC visiting Seattle

We went to a college football game this afternoon, University of Washington Huskies Vs Arizona State University. The Huskies (our favourite team) lost miserably. They haven't won a single game this season - very disheartening. I'd like to report that the entire stadium caught me breastfeeding on the giant TV!!! I'm pretty sure few people realized that's what I was doing though, we were both well wrapped up and discreet!

at being able to buy a cat o'nine tails on the street

I was very interested to read about NZ election. A&P show sounds great!

My first (and only) football game was Yale v Cornell. It was the most tedious 4 hours ever. I think you get points for BF on a giant TV screen!

FOOC in Chicago

Cold and wet here, temperatures hovering just above freezing but feeling much colder.

I went to Wisconsin today. Dodgeville to be precise (I had to include the name of the place since it sounds so American to me) - home of the Mustard Museum , Tyrol ski area and lots of hills and cows. For someone who lives in Chicago, the city that is technically flatter than a pancake, gently rolling hills and a few livestock is a very comforting sight!

jacksmama I took a group of students on a cultural exchange to the US over 10 years ago now and we stayed in Spokane in WA. The children got to go to an american school which was such an eye opener for them. I got to go and see it as a teacher which was an even bigger eye opener. I loved Couer d'ALene which we also visited. We went skiing at Kellog Silver Mtn which was great BUT I am so not a skier.

I have yet to get out of the airport at Seattle BUT it is somewhere I would love to see.

i love hearing from Suedonim - it sounds scary and fascinating all at the same time.

Fooc - N Yorkshire

Weather - arg wet, wet, wet. I dont remeber Autumn being this wet when I was a child.

I remember rolling in piles of crunchy brown leaves, not soggy slimey mushy ones.

It is hard to think of things to do with two toddlers, when the weather is like it is today. Yesterday we wrapped up well and went for a walk on a local beach. We had fun looking in the rock pools (till DS2's fingers went blue) and watching the fishing boats bob madly in the water. I have to say that although there are lots of litter bins around, there was litter blowing everywhere, which is somewhat disheatening. We got so cold that we popped into a local cafe for steaming hot chocolates.

Today it is even wetter - so I am off to Aldi and DH will be going to FIL's Farm with the boys to collect a bag of potatoes for me and then the boys can see the cows.

Due to all the wet FIL has brough the lady's in to the barn, which they are not happy about and his milk supply has dropped considerably. Its funny that they hate the wet as much as we do.

A thoroughly depressing and upsetting link about Child-witches in Nigeria. It's on a C4 programme in the UK this week.