from our own correspondent

[teafortwo]

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

New thread...

to be created below!

Enjoy!

Welcome macintosh. I am a bit envious of the 30 degrees but not of the firecrackers. How are you enjoying Malaysia so far?

Hello Macintosh.

I am that so many of you have been burgaled, how awful. I'm kind of shocked that somewhere like Geneva and NZ have such crime rates. I think I have idealistic Heidi-type visions for Geneva and Neighbours-across-the-water visions for NZ. The blame game goes on in Nigeria, too. There is a horrendous crime rate, partly due to high unemployment (75%, I believe), but everyone blames someone else. 'It's the Igbos/Hausa/Muslims/Ghanaians/Christians.' and so on.

Lol at TeaforTwo thinking I'm mad. It's like those office signs 'You don't have to be mad to live here but it helps.' Nigeria itself is mad at times, no doubt about it. Many of you will probably have read about the robber goat but here's a link, in case you missed it. Goat Ever since the story broke I'll admit to giving all goats a wide berth - can't trust 'em any further than you can see 'em!

Today's traffic was even more chaotic than usual, due to a fallen tree which had come down over both sides of a dual carriageway. When dd and dh went to school/work traffic was travelling in both directions on both sides of the road. Later on, the tree was being cut up by some men armed only with machetes. After school, about half had been removed but the men seemed to have clocked off for the day so presumably the rest of the tree will be taken away tomorrow. Or not. That's Nigeria for you!

FOOC in Paris

MmeLindt - how are you feeling today? A break in is nasty business. When I was a student someone broke into my student house, trashed the place, and took nothing. It took a few days for me to feel completely well again - it is the feeling of someone you don't know going through your things. Hey - Look after yourself and the Lindts for the next few days. Lots of tea and Mumsnet

Hi Macintosh,

I can't wait for more reports fro Malaysia and good luck with the continuation of the Chinese New Year festivities!

We have also been celebrating Chinese New Year. On Sunday we met up with some friends in Paris's China Town. I naively thought the parade was going to be beautiful, magical and everything in late January/early February that our hearts desire. I believed we would all be full of awe and wonder - but in reality we ended up being very cold and got completely scared to death by the firecrackers! They really turn your heart upside down and in Paris were being set off left right and centre! At one stage a tree had been literally dressed with them and when lit the noise was so powerful it sounded like a bomb!

Luckily we had planned to take refuge with a musician friend of ours who lives in the area. Munching on cake he explained that he is currently working for Carla Bruni! He excitedly informed us that he has spent quite a lot of time hanging out with the other musicans, her and Nicolas Sarkozy.

And so, we eagerly asked, What's the goss? What is he like? What is she like? What are they like together?

He smiled "Well, just how you'd expect, really. He is very charming and she is really so beautiful as well as being a very nice and kind woman. And the two of them, when they are together, are obviously so completely and utterly in love they are like teenager sweethearts!"

• aaaaawwwww!!!!

am I allowed to read without posting?

Greyskull
If you are in UK then please post about UK to make us homesick tell us how wet the rain is today.

MmeLindt - I hope that you are feeling OK today, I am sure that I would be so upset that someone had been inside where I lived. You must be so glad your neightbours disturbed them.

Alas, the farm was also burgled this weekend, they took all the red diesel from the tank that they use to fill the tractors and also the heating oil . The police still havent been to see FIL (4 days later)

My BIL is busy renovating the farm house, DH's gran lived there and died last year. In order to make it suitable for a family again there is lots of work to do. They have dug out the floors, knocked down two walls, having installed damp proofing and just finnished replastering the ground floor. The still need to put in an upstairs bathroom and replace the upstairs windows.

The sandstone farmhouse stands remote on the top of the highest cliff in England and looks out for miles over the rolling countryside. It can be very windy and taking the bins out is a bit off a bugger (1 mile trip, as the bin wagon doesnt go down the lane). It's remotness and the fact that it is virtually atop of the hill means that it is very windswept (NE coast for you). You really feel the weather there - The views are superb and when the wind is blowing and the rain pounding against the windows, it makes you glad to be inside.

The Farm has been in my husbands family for 4 generations, Gran was born there, gave birth and brought up her 5 children there and died there (which was her wish). She remembered life before tractors and there is still remnants of horse drawn equipment in the barns. PIL live in a bungalow FIL built on the edge of the farm. We decided that we didnt want to live in the farm house, as have no intention of farming, but BIL would like too once day (It can not support him yet) - so will be moving in as soon as bathroom is completed. It will be nice for it to be lived in by a family again, as Gran only really used two rooms, the sitting room and kitchen.

Anyway - I am sure I will tell you more about the family dairy farm as time goes on

ByThePowerOfGreyskull - NO NO and NO!!!

You may not read and not post for two reasons....

1. I looked on your profile page and your life is too darn exciting to be happening without us knowing more about it!!!

2. You live in.... EAST ANGLIA - a place several foocs were born in/have lived/have family or friends in - or like me... all of the above and we want to know what you see day to day and your thoughts and feelings about that little bump of eroding land, which to me and some others here will always be... home!

thanks
Fooc - As a starter - I live in a little village near Cambridge. We have a Pub, Post office, fantastic little shop, Church, Primary School, Senior School, Sports Center, Doctors and Dentists, Indian takeaway, Chinese takeaway.

We have quite alot of facilities as we are a hub for smaller villages in the area.

We walk out into the fields with the boys at least once a day, and I love seeing what they have planted each season. This season we have Sheep - which was a bit of a shock as previously it was magelworzels

The skies are my favorite thing about living here, beautiful big wide sunsets and sunrises. It is so flat I can see for miles.

So - Yesterday it snowed all day it was beautiful must have been 10 inches in our back garden, it was a flurry at the bird feeder, they were all fighting to get on there as they couldn't find food elsewhere.
We get alot of goldfinches green finches robins great tits and blue tits and last year we had a nesting pair of wrens in our hanging basket.

Will find more interesting things to say next time

fooc FGreater Manchester

Welcom BythePowerOfGreyskull, Did you make all these beautiful cakes? I was very proud of myself when I made a "combined harvester shaped" birthday cake for DS2, but looking at yours I feel pretty mediocre! You are all very lucky that I have actually no clue on how to post a picture in my profile!

Welcome Boccadellaverita and ByThePowerofGreyskull .
Hello everyone from the Yvelines, from a little town SW of Paris. I haven't posted for AGES, but then real life has been getting in the way a bit, but I've been following all the FOOCs with great interest. I, too, fancy one of Wellies' safaris in some future time when I can afford to go on holiday. Having said that, holidays get complicated when your parents live in the US, your in-laws live in the UK and your sister is planning to emigrate to Sydney. She rang me up a couple of days ago complaining about how hard it was to emigrate and I had to point out that she is in fact the only member of my immediate family that hasn't already emigrated!
ByThePowerOG I used to live in Cambridge and always loved the skies. It was what I really missed when I moved to London. Where I live now we are surrounded by trees, but as soon as you drive about five minutes out we, too, have vast fields and skies and it sometimes reminds me of East Anglia. At the moment the forest behind my appartment is beautifully atmospheric. The trees are all stark and bare but as a result you can see all the birds that live in them. This week I have seen both grey wagtails and green woodpeckers. Crested tits are common (don't think you get them in England, they are very pretty little spotty brown birds with a stripey crest). I usually put out peanuts and "fat balls" for the birds on our loggia. DD is always fascinated by this and talks about going to the garden centre to get food for the birds. DS is just starting to walk holding my hand and has been fascinated by the snow, but then he tried to pick some up and cried because it was cold and hurt his hand! Tried to explain to DD about throwing snowballs but she can't throw so didn't really get the hang of it!

Oh, and welcome macintosh, and anybody else I've missed off

FOOC in MAlaysia

First time since last May that my DD has slept right through and is still sleeping!! Horrah! It is really horrid the feeling when someone has been through your belongings - have been there before.

This weekend the city celebrates thaipusam. This is a hindu festival for the Tamil population. I think there is some kind of rite of passage ( a bit like a trip to Mecca for the muslims) where they are speared through their bodies eg in one cheek and out the other or through the tongue. I have just had a look for some images but they always make me feel so ill. I spectated last year but it can get pretty manic - they are all in a wierd trance and many are fainting (not surprising really) so we will give it a miss this year.

Malaysia is constantly celebrating festivals due to the many religions and ethnic groups here. The malaysian people are made up mainly of Chinese, Indian and Malay. The former 2 have been here for about 3 generations. The later have sadly got a reputaion for being a bit lazy. The is partly due to the government giving them extra allowances. eg. indians have to pay for school books but malay don't. Malays can get up to 15% off real estate. These privaledges were set up by the British before independace in 1957 to protect the Malay but many people feel that they are now out of date. The debate is continous. Sadly as mentioned before it just gives them a bad name.

On another tangent we are off here next weekend. It is an old hill station in the cameron highlands which is much cooler and very very English. It is the nearest that we get to feeling like we are back home. There are lots of strawberry farms thewre too. mmmmm Counting down the days now till I can wear socks and my fav jumper!

Hi Macintosh
my friend sent me a beautiful letter from that place in the cameron highlands when she was backpacking. She had been away for 9 out of 12 months and was starting to feel very homesick, she wrote it with a cup of earl grey in hand and s freshly baked scone and she sounded like she was in heaven. hope you have a fabulous time.

Hi there. Can I join in? Have been lurking for a while.

I'm in Gran Canaria with DH, DS1 & DS2. We moved out here 9 years ago, got married here & both boys were born here. DH & I work at the British School of Gran Canaria & DS1 is in Year 2. DS2 goes to a Guarderia in the village where we live as (unfortunately) we couldn't afford for me to stay at home with him. DH is Senior Teacher & teaches Geography & I'm the Library Co-ordinator. The school is creating the post of Head of Secondary, which is basically what DH does now, but they've had to advertise it externally so we are waiting to see if DH is in the running. Panic is beginning to set in a little!

The weather this winter is really weird & I'm very of all of you who get snow. It is an extremely rare occurrence here and only happens at the highest points of the island. When it does the Canarians get in their cars, race up to where the snow is, pile it on their cars then drive back to show everyone! Barking mad, especially as by the time they get back to wherever it's all melted.

I'm sure there's more but can't think what at the moment. I have a brain like a sieve btw.

Welcome Soph73 - a fellow expat in Spain, albeit in totally different parts of the country.

One question I've always wanted to ask - do you get annoyed by having the time one hour behind the rest of Spain? When listening to the radio they always say "It's 3 o´clock, 2 o´clock in the Canary Isles". Does it make it hard to catch a TV programme for instance, or do you just get used to it?

Oh in a couple of weeks you MUST tell us all about Carnival in the Canaries. I love watching the floats and parades on TV.

THat looks lovely Macintosh, wouldn't have expected to find a place like that in Malaysia. Hope you have a great time.

Welcome Soph73

I love your snow on the car bonnet, really makes me .

Here in greater Manchester the snow has pretty much melted as well which ennoies me because I love it. But... I love the sun too in the summer and for the past two years here, we were closer to build a replica of Noah's ark than installing parasols...

If you remember, a while go we were talking about death and funerals and the way things are approached in different cultures or religions. Saddly, a few days ago a friend of DS2 (8yo) lost her mum. Me and another mum were talking about the wonderful way the children have dealt with it as the little girl was back to school. They could teach us a few things about how to handle sensitive issues. They just naturally told her they were sad for her and then went on playing all together. I know quite a few adults who would avoid a person who has lost someone dear for fear of not knowing what to say or saying the wrong thing.

FOOC Galicia

In the depths of winter, with the rain lashing down outside, DH and I seem to get into a routine of watching TV in the evenings (in between mumsnetting of course ).

Now, in UK this would be straightforward. You look at the TV guide in the newspaper or online. It says that your programme (e.g. House) starts at 10.00 p.m. Fantastic. You make yourself a cup of tea (or pour yourself a glass of wine), and settle down on the sofa at two minutes to ten. You switch on the correct channel. You make sure everything (remote, tea, blanket) is within reach. You catch the tail end of the adverts and at ten on the dot the theme tune sounds and your programme begins. During the programme you may have a couple of advert breaks, lasting maybe five minutes, just long enough to run to the loo or make yourself another cup of tea. Your programme then finishes at a reasonable time, and you go to bed.

Now in Spain, this straightforward procedure is somewhat different.

The first part is similar: you look at the TV guide and you see that House begins at 10.15. OK. So, at 10.13 you get everything ready, switch on the TV and find yourself watching the end of a satirical/comedy show. And not just two minutes. Oh no. It carries on for 15 minutes.

Then, at 10.27 the presenter announces "And now, House!". Cue one advert. Then the first bit of House, the bit where they show the patient doing something that will cause him a seizure and will bring him to the hospital; (for those of you who don't watch House, this bit lasts maybe 2 minutes).

Then the opening credits. And then AN ADVERT BREAK. GRRRRRR. And not just 5 minutes. Oh no. It can be up to TWENTY MINUTES LONG. So you sit there, simmering with frustration. Already you are thinking about how early you have to get up the next morning, and calculating the time you will get to bed.

The adverts stop at last. Back to the series. If you're lucky you'll only have one more advert break to endure, probably five minutes before the end of the programme. If you have pmt are in a particularly bad mood you might even find yourself throwing something at the TV when they leave you on a cliff hanger and you are trying to keep your eyes open (it's now 11.45 p.m.) and you sat down to watch a 50 minute programme an hour and a half ago.

Of course, we now know their tricks, and so turn the TV on but carry on mumsnetting doing something else until we hear the end of the previous programme. But you have to be at the ready. It's sod's law that the one week you don't tune in on time, they will start on time .

There are some things that Blighty just does right.

Cies - hi there. Your last post just made me laugh re telly programmes it can be very frustrating at times. Have never really been bothered by the hours difference tbh. We've got used to the simple fact that if something is advertised on the telly you know that they really mean 9.30pm for us not 10.30pm. In the beginning we used to miss programmes that we really wanted to see because of this.

I have to say that I'm really not into carnival . We used to live in the capital, Las Palmas, but bought our own house further south in Playa de Arinaga. The apartment in Las Palmas was smack-bang in the middle of everything and excrutiatingly noisey. For the first couple of years it was a novelty but the excitement sort of wore off after then. Where we are now you wouldn't even know it's carnival and it's bliss. The theme is Pirates this year & DS1 will be involved in the Carnival parade at school on the 20th Feb. I'll post a couple of piccies after.

Well we've had some wind and some rain &, funnily enough, some snow & that part of the island has been cordoned off!!! Apparently we have gone from orange alert to "nearly" red alert. Not quite sure how that works but one never gets to fully understand the Canarians. So basically the Canarians will batten down the hatches & refuse to go anywhere, shaking their heads at the strange foreign people who (shock, horror) will take their 6 yr old & 9 month old baby out for a walk in this dreadful weather.

fooc Auckland

LOL at tv programmes. I hated NZ tv when I first arrived, although loathed to upset any true NZ'ers on this thread it is dire.... 5 mins programme then 10 mins ads, settle down for 3 hours for an 1 1/2 movie etc... I have over time however become immune to it and do chores, mumsnet, email and all number of other things during the ads. I have UK friends here who still after many years video or dvd movies and watch all tv one day behind!!!

On another note yesterday was Waitangi Day - a public holiday here. Always held on 6th Feb (the day after ds1's birthday so up until this year he had always had his birthday off school from before christmas). The treaty gave maori rights to lands and rights as British Citizens, all bit of a land mark compared to other colonized countries......

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waitangi_Day

The day is variously celebrated. There is the official celebration in the Bay of Islands attended by MP's sometimes the PM. and others. I say sometimes as they don't always receive a good reception and have in recent years been pelted with mud, reduced to tears and this year surprising to all as the new govt and the maori party seem to be getting along fine jostled and harrased. I don't want to get too political but in short some maori feel they are 'owed' and others feel the government has paid over the odds in land rights settlements over the years and enough is enough. As an immigrant I tend to agree that the maori have had an extra-ordinary amount of money given over the years and it is not a bottomless pit but can also see the effects of years of being the underdog, discriminated against and being a second class citizen.

In other areas marae hold their own celebrations, but on teh whole pakeha (non maori and maori head to the beach which is exactly what we did. We left home at 8am with picnic and overnight bag to avoid the traffic spent the whole day surfing, crabbing, beach walking, eating and drinking with friends before we headed home with two very exhausted boys in tow as the sun set on the horizon. The surf competition provided the entertainment, background fantastic music and party atmosphere. All in all a most enjoyable day and rather glad to wake in my own bed this morning. Our friends were trying to convince us to stay as they were plowing through the wine and we had planned to but as tempting as it usually would have been ( I am rather partial to good wine and good company) the sensible sibble kicked in as ds1 is at the moment having a sleep over party with 6 of his 8-9 year old friends and a muzzy head would not have been good.

So far the temperature has been about 30 degrees, hot hot hot, they have swum, eaten, played pool, run around like maniacs, played on the trampolines, swings and slide and are now tearing around in the trees. Movie on in about an hour then bed at 11.....Rater late but hopefully they will sleep in and tomorrow morning bye bye

I need my energy the heatwave from Melbourne is meant to be heading over and we can look forward to 40 degree heat between now and Monday. I might need to go and buy some fans.

Hello from Nairobi! Better late than never.

Sorry to be late back to the fold, I have no idea where the time goes.

We have all been laughing so much at the idea of snow in Europe. The dc were much amused at the thought of the kids having a day off school because of it. Dd announced incredulously 'what would they do instead?' These dc have no idea about snow. We have been having slightly cooler weather than we ought to so perhaps it is a little of the arctic breezes reaching us. Still I can't complain about a steady 26 degrees now can I? I hope those out in the bundu in Oz and NZ can manage to keep cool.

Kenya is recovering and settling into its post-Obama-election routine. Obama's half brother has already been arrested for some misdemenour, probably involving some kind of corrupt scam to blackmail the President of the USA.

Sadly Kenya has also suffered two tragic fires this month. The first being in downtown Nairobi where one of our big leading supermarkets caught fire. Because the 'health and safety' regulations were not adhered to, there were bottles of gas inside the building and people were prevented from going inside to rescue those overcome by the fire in case they exploded. Luckily they didn't but sadly some 45 people died. Just days later a petrol tanker overturned up country, and as Suedonim well knows, the local people rush to siphon off the fuel before they are stopped. Sadly the tanker exploded and some 120 people were killed, several are still suffering severe burns and specialist plastic surgeons are arriving in Nairobi next week, from India, to try to help those most at risk. Unfortunately these types of accidents happen over and over again, as greed outweighs common sense.

I'm away to read the rest of the thread and catch up with exciting tales from around the world.

FOOC Gran Canaria

Just a short post to say I've put pictures of our huge amounts of snow on my profile.

Sibble - I have a friend who emigrated to NZ a few years ago. She absolutely loves it and it is definitely a place that DH & I would consider moving to when we are older. I don't know how easy it is to emigrate when you're coming to the end of your career though.

Hello to themasterofmargaritas, great name btw

I'm impressed Soph...
We had 6 inches of snow fall in 3 hours on Saturday...it was quite spectacular. Fortunately I was on my way home at the time and was then completely snowed in for the rest of the day. There was quite a "blitz" mentality going on with everyone walking to the local shops and bakery because they could't get in their cars to go to the supermarket. Walked past the bus stop to see people stopping to chat to the driver who was stuck at the top of the hill on the unsalted road and was starting to get a bit cold!
We now have "orange alert" for the whole of N/Central France as we have "Storm Quentin" on it's way. I think they are being extra careful because the last windstorm down South actually killed several people in France and Spain so for this one they have gone completely overboard telling us all to stay home. Can't say I'm looking forward to walking the kids to school tomorrow in the forecast 120 Kph winds!

Hi Spoh73 - not sure how easy it is to get in, I was 'imported' by kiwi dh . I can tell you however that they love beaurocracy here so if you do decide prepare yourself for some serious form filing. I hope the application for Inland Revenue numbers saga will be over soon. On my 3rd attempt today (via the AA secret police) they accepted copies and sighted originals of the ds's birth certificates, our marriage certificate, mine and ds1's citizenship certificates, my driving license and our passports as proof that the ds's were mine, we were in the country legally and not trying to get a number under false pretenses. Takes a deep sigh and awaits the approval letter .

Well it seems the weather worldwide has gone crazy. The news this morning has been completely overtaken with the effects of the extreme heat and wind in Melbourne/Victoria (which I have had to stop watching as the ds's were getting upset at me being tearful), the heat and humidity here (100% humidity since yesterday, it's like sitting in a sauna, ds2 and I sat in the car with the aircon on earlier for a break), the snow in Europe and the forecast 120 km/h winds in France. Pure madness. Hope all are well everywhere.

You are right Sibble the weather worldwide has gone mad. Here it is raining, unheard of really for February. This should be hot and dry season with rain not expected til the end of March.

I too have been in tears watching the dreadful fires in Oz. What a tragedy. Good luck today for all those about to be blasted by strong gales. I hear certain French airports have been closed already.