WEST LONDON MEET-UP THREAD - NOVEMBER 2006 - EALING, ACTON, CHISWICK, KEW, RICHMOND, ISLEWORTH, KINGSTON ETC

[MrsBonfire]

It's the 4th and I had forgotten to start the November thread. Shame on me!

Well here it is because the October one is getting way too long anyhow

baby balloon

cbeebies xmas

10 November evening meet at Brula

West London xmas do

SJ's babyshower

Mellow - I have been away from mumsnet for a while so have not checked the chinese mum thread and no we never got round to organising a meet up so never met any of them. For my sins, I returned to mumsnet as not many people in RL were as obsessed with strictly come dancing as me so needed to find others!!! Thank you mumsnet!!!!!!

Mrsb - don't leave Ealing, it won't be the same!

Uwila - hope you guys have a great time!

"OTOH, perhaps they will meet on the nanny threads one day and amuse us all."

Oops... wrong thread. Hate when that happens. Perhaps a sign I should be working not MNing.

Quokka, I haven't heard anything from Nanou. Sent her an e-mail, but perhaps she's not checking it if she's not well. Can you get confirmation from her if she is coming or not?

She said she'd let me know when she made her mind up. She's desperate to come but wants to see if she gets any worse. I haven't got your cat by the way?

normally talk to her on yahoo messenger but shes not looged on

if you email me at uwila at hotmail co uk, I'll send you my work address..

Quokka, I'll have to pass. Dd's not well atm and I've got a bad cold. But enjoy yourselves. I've CAT you this morning, btw.

t2bg, you mentioned that there's a local chinese school near you on the chinese thread. Where is that located? Is it in West London? Dd is only 6 months but I'm planning to send her to chinese class when she's a bit older. I know she'll hate me for it.

My mum used to make us do chinese lessons on weekends and school holidays and I used to hate it. But the smattering of chinese I picked up came in useful when I lived in HK.

Thanks for the offer quokka, but we're off away for the night tomorrow!

Quokka,

Need to settle plans for tomorrow. Medela and I are meeting at the hotel around 12:00... myabe 1:00. We'll finaalise the time in the morning. When are you free? We are going to meet-up and go off to do some shopping (Selfridges, shoe repair, etc.) and maybe get some coffee/tea/snack somewhere. Then, we are meeting COMEOVENEER for dinner at 6:30 -- I forget where, talk to Medela for info.

Do you have my mobile number? If not, cat me. I won't bopther cating you since you never got mine earlier.

Medela here - sorry can't be bothered to change my name for the moment! We're meeting at 6.00pm at Circus which is here - £19.95 for 3 courses and a glass of champagne. Looking forward to meeting you tomorrow.

thanks medela see you there!

Quokka, do you want to meet us early or wait until dinner to hook up?

Ooooh I can't wait to hear the report back from you four as to what the Big Christmas meet up is like . Make it juicy so I can enjoy it by proxy Reading abot it will be the nearest I get to going out on the razzle for a good while yet!

Uwila just emailed you, see you at the hotel at 4:30. Foxy I'll take a camera to catch any drunken moments for you

I feel slightly sorry for the staff at the venue -100 drunken mumsnetters! A bit like a hen party but much scarier

I bet they are all just having their first drinks of the evening right now (wistful look)....

the only wistful look I'm having is towards the next lot of daynurse topped with 600mg ibuprofen. Hmmm top it off with bottle of wine and I should feel nothing . Have to contact quokka's mate re sleep potion for ds. He's worse than ever!

Off to slurp some soup now and retire to bed

I'm off to the fridge for a non alcoholic beer...

dh was on self indulgent day got home with delicious walnut bread wine apple crumble and custard as well as just stick in the oven roast veg and fish.
so how is a girl supposed to resist?
surrenderimg to lovelu treats

raising a glass to MN

can't speell for toffee or use punctuation

Wonder what time our girls got to sleep last night after the night out?

Anyone see Sue's message on her yesterday? - she mentions the MN night out

sfx,

Off to library today to get Snow by Orhan Pamuk. I might get "The Half Brother" too.

foxie,
When you said Asian writers, did you mean Indian or did you mean writers from Asia? Have you read An Equal Music by Vikram Seth and/or The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy?

I thought An Equal Music a beautiful beautiful piece of prose. It made my heart sing (no pun intended) when I read it. The latter, I thought, was tragic and upset me for weeks after I read it (but I'm easily depressed).

Mellow - is your library open on Sndays? You lucky thing.

I have read Vikram Seth - he's fantastic isn't he? He's got a new book out based on his childhood which looks interesting.

Don't think I've read The God of Small Things, although I have kind of leafed through it.

I meant any writers from Asia and the middle east are of interest to me - have you read The Kite Runner, based in Afghanistan?

I think its my favourite book actually, it has everyhing: families, sex, religion, politics, class/race, friendship, betrayal: most importantly, its a brilliant story.

Also The Bookseller of Karbul and 101 days in Iraq are great, by Asne Seierstad, who was a journalist there during the US/UK bombing campaign. Both great reads and very insightful and unbiaised as she's Norwegan.

Would love to read some Lebanese or Syrian writers but don't actually know of any translated...

I just love the insight it gives into another culture when you read a foreign writer, don't you?

mellow hope you like them i loved both books very different but wonderful.

foxie i have the kite runner on a line up of books to read, some guy was reading the bookseller when i was on jury duty and i was interested but have not yet read. i also like V.Seth and a few japonese writers too.

my laptop misbehaved last night so i did not manage to catch up on my emails. but dh has been working on it ant it appears to be fixed now, i want to go to kingston for a spot of shopping lets see how long this lasts

dd slept through for the first time in about 3months, hope it lasts

headaches amongst our party girls?

No, I haven't read the kite runner. It's on my list now. I agree about how reading foreign literature gives you insight into the cultures and makes you interested enough to travel to different cultures.

I really want to travel to India (partly to do with the vast amounts of post-colonial Indian literature I read) and I really want to go to Kyoto in Japan because of Memoirs of a Geisha (not that I'm going to any geisha houses).

If you're interested in China, you should read Pearl S Buck. She's not Chinese but she grew up in China as a daughter of a missionary and her understanding and her portrayal of the Chinese family/culture is spot on. I love all her books but the one that resounded with me is East Wind: West Wind portraying the viewpoint of a young woman from a traditional family marrying a Chinese doctor who trained in the West in the early 1900s.