Secret Garden

[BriansMum]

Hope this works, a shiny new thread girls - come on in .

Good to know - DH is a bit of a Jamie fan so hoping he likes it!

Brilliant news about the scan Gaston - another day ticked off . I know the worry won't stop until your little bundle is in your arms, so keep talking x

PP World is in Paultons Park which is in Romsey, near Southampton. However if you're coming to visit Legoland we're 20 mins drive away so come and stay!

Good time for job hunting cos of end of school year which is when most teachers move on to new jobs. However, bad bad times in education/public sector right now . Having said that I have a possible lead on a job and my head teacher friends know the HT of this particular school and are going to have words with the head on the qt re: what happened with current school. They all go way back apparently! Just shows it's not what you know it's who you know! However, I'm not sure I'm exactly right for the job so need to have a frank conversation with the HT before I apply .

Good news Gaston. Really pleased to hear that.

Brain a bit fried this evening. As mentioned on FB DS1 fell and cut his chin open at nursery this morning. They called me, and an ambulance as he had gone pale and was bleeding quite alot. By the time I arrived he was ok so I took him to A&E. He was very out of sorts and quiet for at least 20 mins before getting into the toys. Since having it glued he has bashed it and it has bled a few times so I think it may need looking at again. It was borderline whether it needed stitches which would require a GA for a 3 year old. I opted for the glue. We'll see what it looks like tomorrow. We are at the hospital anyway as DS1 has an eye appointment (more trauma for him)

Sorry, that was a bit self indulgent of me.

Oh LG, what a stressful day . Hope your hospital visit goes ok and DS1 doesn't need any stitches - could they just reglue it? I can't believe we've managed to make it to 3 without a trip to A&E - it must be so stressful. I'm bad enough when the boys fall over, let alone really hurt themselves .

Be thinking of both DSs today and hope neither of them are too traumatised by their hospital appts. Big hugs x

Thanks Moss. We got it looked at and cleaned up again today and all seems well. He has been incredibly well behaved today[ hmm]

Thanks also To you stitching and mudwiggle on your thoughts about Brighton and Haywards Heath. It has got me thinking about whether I ruled out Brighton too hastily and I have had a brief chat with Dh about it. Our last house was in the city centre of Nottingham (drug and crime hotspot like
Brighton), and we are in the town centre here too. We seem to like being townies! We both grew up in villages and I have always imagined ending up somewhere rural ish. However, that might be more fantasy than based on what would best suit us. I can see why Brighton is popular but when I have visited I have never thought "I'd love to live here". I also suspect that my aspirations are beyond what we could afford centrally (DH v anti suburbs). Mudwiggle - I liked your summary of Haywards Heath: I thought it might be a bit more quirky or at least Market townish whereas it was bland.

Glad things seem a bit better for p as all sounds stressful. Have nothing useful to add as always been a London girl . However fwiw have worked with a few people who live down that way (and dh grew up near brighton and worked there for few years after uni) . The commute can be tricky- where does your dh have to get to? Just that I know that line can be painful ESP if to have to factor in driving to station. Daft woman at work moved out and then spent all time moaning about logistics of dropping dc in nursery getting to station etc. You have probably been over all this and may not be relavant to dh but it might be something to consider as a nightmare potential commute would put me off.

Dd revving up for her birthday on sunday and we have various family dropping round. Work being a pain in the arse (theme here stitching? ) although oddly cos have been more focussed on pregnancy it's not annoying me as much as it might. On which note have to go to work ..

Thanks for all good wishes and moral support re scan etc - it really means a lot to have that support ESP as not many people know in rl.

Just to say that we are still opening presents here and got to Sitiching's present which turns out to be exactly the same as Gaston's! I'm a bit spooked. Normally I wouldnt tell people if we already had something but I thought you would like to know that you are on the same wavelength! DS very pleased with it though

Great minds

Hi everyone - just marking spot really. Am absolutely exhausted after a late night - I saw Take That at Hampden . It was AMAZING. Had a really long day today though - I stayed at my p's last night and door to door on public transport it takes 3 - 4 hours to get back to mine (but under an hour in the car).

After all that chat about birthday toys, the presents are all bought (duplo fire engine and a hobby horse) but now Octonauts toys have been released early... I've already bought and stashed some playmobil that was half price in the very likely event that DH's Auntie and Granny give us some money to get DS something (Granny not very well at the moment and DH's cousin had a procedure so they've both pretty distracted just now). Mudwiggle - keeping stuff aside for bribes is a good idea. Star charts for good behaviour and other stuff have been very successful here when there's a promise of some new treat upon completion!

LG and Stitching - sorry to hear about injuries via fb. Hope everyone is well. DS had his first (and only so far) trip to A&E with a nasty cut to his eye maybe a year or so ago. He had some steristrips in and I was very traumatised when they came off and I saw the scar. However, it calmed down and I religiously slathered it in bio-oil and you can't see it at all now without peering very closely.

Right, I really need to give myself a shake and do something productive before DH and DS come home. Will come back and post before I fly off to France on Tuesday.

Hahaha! That is really weird! When I opened Gaston's I did wonder whether she had bought the same for your DS too, but it was too late to do anything about it then!! DS2 loves the book - DS1 hardly gets a look in . He has now learnt to do a great panting dog impression .

Funnily enough it was very hard to find books for our age group on the emergency services, which is weird because 3 year olds seem quite obsessed generally with all things to do with the Blues & Twos - a gap in the market clearly!

LG, I'm a townie through and through and I'm afraid I think the rural life is highly over-rated especially with kids. Lovely when they're little but soooo boring when they're tweenies and beyond - you end up constantly ferrying them everywhere as there is no public transport to speak of and they are miles from anywhere. Dullsville. But then I grew up in Bristol then moved to London so what would I know about rural life .

Btw, I'm coming to Guildford on Wednesday to meet a fellow MN knitter (we're doing some charity knitting ). Can you recommend anywhere to park/meet for us? If you just have DS2 with you then you're welcome to come and join us for a coffee - suspect DS1 would think it was boring as hell!!

Stitching wins the prize for using 6 faces in one post - looks like you're feeling happy.

What do you need for Wednesday: a coffee shop to knit in without children? Or somewhere for lunch? Let me know and I will give pointers.

Trying to watch U2 on iplayer from last night: failure after the boys decided to join in with their toy keyboard.

Leo can you explain exactly how much sway unions have in labour party and is it disproportionate to support as a whole? Just been watching news and occurred to me you would know more than pants new reader.

Nice day here with my dad round- all gearing up to big day tomorrow.
Glad book is popular- popular here too (as are any kind of books).
Also my dad bought a duplo set which has been a huge hit.

Ooh, that's a big question. What was the news piece on. Is there anything in particular that you're asking about in terms of influence? Have a bit of a wine head on and will come back with a clear head to reply over next day or two.

Is it your DD's bday tomorrow? What was the duplicate book btw .

Am very excited about my holiday. Now if I could just start my packing...

They were talking about Ed m (iphone doesn't like full surname - who knew it was Tory ) and whether reforming the unions influence would win votes.

My question was exactly how do the unions get to vote on labour party matters (eg policy , leadership) . Also roughly how many paid up labour supporters are union types ? As If say union vote is for 40% on any matter (made up figure ) and roughly 40% of labour membership is union what is wrong with that. I suspect tho it's not as clear cut as prob hard to tell even If people are in a union they would necessarily agree with union line (eg my mum is in a union but know she hasnt over all Years agreed with all their policies but still wants benefit of union membership).

Book was ladybird noisy book on emergency - lots of siren noises.

Dd napping now before family visit (I have been cooking all morning - why do barbecues seem to take more work than a roast?). She is very happy - most pleased with her pirates water table (basically it squirts and splashes). Having gone on about wanting a scooter we got her a cheap one. She was pleased but novelty tempered by the fact she can't steer too well (clearly maternal genes there ) so think will like it more when can ride it.

Hi to everyone else-hope you are enjoying the sun

Ok, I think the union 'influence' is overstated by the predominantly right wing media. It's not like the unions are the 'big bad' bullying the poor defenceless labour party. The whole Trade Union and Labour Party movements are so intertwined it's quite hard to separate them out. I've no idea how many Labour Party members are members of Trade Unions, but I suspect it's quite high and certainly a majority (if not all) are pro-TU. In terms of influence over policy etc, Trade Unions that are affiliated to the Labour Party get to have a vote on policy matters at Conference and the National Policy Forum and also get a vote in the leadership. Much was made of Ed doing well in the TU section, however, it's not like Unite or whoever just came in with a block vote and said, we want Ed. Individual members of the affiliated Unions (who pay a political levy) got to vote individually.

The Labour Party itself has lots of different 'factions' (for want of a better word), people with different ideologies etc, and to be honest the trade union movement is much the same. People that are a bit more centrist, progressive etc are more likely to be members of progressive unions.

Of course, a good proportion of Labour Party funding comes from Trade Unions (but to be honest I'd rather that than people with dodgy residence status ), which again, right wing media outlets use to purport this idea that the trade unions wield all this power over the labour party. Again, I think this is pretty over-stated.

I'm a bit worried about all this forthcoming strike action - some teaching unions wanted to strike on 30th June specifically about pensions but all this talk of 'general strikes' etc is playing right into the Tories hands imo.

Does that help at all? Obviously all my own opinion etc etc.

BBQ's are LOADS of work imo - and that's even before the bbq goes on! Hope you all have a lovely afternoon!

No sunshine here sadly , but it's dry for a change and I really need to pack anyway!

Oh, one other point - Unions are democratic organisations, the suggestion that it's a couple of TU heavyweights in smoke filled rooms pulling the puppet strings is a bit outdated!

That is really helpful Leo - I also suspected it was a bit of right wing inspired hot air. As you say trade unionism and labour heavily linked.

Re general strike it is a misnomer - you can't actually have one. To be fair the BBC did have someone on explaining that. Oddly I have more sympathy with current rmt strike in London although I think they should have waited til tribunal heard. Re public sector cuts I am not so sure. Whilst it's likely a lot of lower paid workers wil be hit why is it any worse than for the average private sector worker who went through this change? Also it's unsustainable to think That something cant change (this is not a problem just in this country). So whilst I have some sympathy here I don't think my sympathy on this is as big as it is for other cuts ( eg dla).

What do you mean the unions are democratic ? Thats not what daily mail says

Absolutely agree re: 'general strike' though sadly it won't stop the media trying to portray any action as such. I was initially lacking in sympathy re: teachers pensions issues but DH explained it to me (he works for a teaching TU) in a way that certainly made me re-think. I can't think of all the figures etc now but some of the points were that the Govt are saying that the contributions will only increase by 3% when it is in fact 3 percentage points - which means something like a 50% increase in contributions - around £200 - £300 for many. Also, they aren't phasing it in - it'll come in in one fell swoop. There's also a concern that the increases will make it unaffordable for many teachers who might withdraw from the scheme therefore putting it in a perilous position overall (which would have huge implications for the Govt). Of slightly less concern to me is that the proposals mean that private school teachers wouldn't be in the scheme and many private schools wouldn't be able to afford packages to compete with a state sector pension leading to closures. I've always been a bit in the 'teachers have it cushy with their pensions and holidays' camp (sorry Stitching ), but a few things have changed my mind recently.

I work in the private sector and am happy to do so. I'll never get a defined benefit scheme pension now, but if I don't like what my employer has to offer I can look elsewhere for better pay, benefits, bonus etc etc. Teachers (in the state sector, which is where I want the best ones to be) don't have that luxury. Their wages are fixed years in advance and yes they have good holidays but zero flexibility. And we should want to attract great people to be teachers - we can't do that on good holidays alone.

For public sector cuts over all I think there is a general bitterness that they didn't cause the recession and that the public sector workers are facing a disproportionate share of the burden added to the belief that from an idealogical point of view the Tories aren't all that committed to the public sector.

Crumbs, I've been getting all wrong - clearly I need to start reading the Daily Mail

I killed the thread .

Shouldn't you be on strike?

Assume Leo on holiday now.
Tired and sicky (got to be good feeling) - how am I going to get out of parents race at e's nursery sports day? My natural inclination not to do it backed up by drs orders- so what excuse can I use?

Oh and re strike - can see why the sudden lump up a shocker. You would think it's not beyond wit of man to come up with some scaling up/voluntary contribution (thats what done in private sector). But that assumes politicians with sense and empathy

Awful news today- a little girl in e nursery class died yesterday had underlying health issues but still unexpected.

They are talking about it in class and I think getting bereavement counsellors in. Must admit cried when I heard and it's not a kid I knew well or e did but just awful .

The only thing is (and friend whose kid also in class agrees) is that e has never mentioned this girl (I think may be there one morning she is). Whilst it's tragic I worry how to bring it up in a way that is proportionate and appropriate. To e it's not only like she doesnt yet understand death but it's confusing if about someone she doesn't really know.

Also I worry about this anyway as part of my issue on telling re pregnancy (not that there isn't time for that) is god forbid I have to tell her baby died (I know I am mixing stories here but I had already been thinking about best way to broach it).

Sorry all very grim but wanted others thoughts (I know dh and friend share my concern about not being ott tragic though it is).