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

HoHo - I'm interested in a cheap night out!!!

Sounds really good fun actually. Will they hold signs up to tell us when to laugh?

PC - oh dear, that's the kind of thing I do . A couple of months back I executed a seriously dangerous manouveur round a guy who had just cut in front of me and then when I tooted my horn at him, kept slamming his foot on the breaks and making V signs at me. So I kind of dodged round him and sped off. I was PG with my two LOs in the car .

Next time though, don't get out, in case he thumps you or drives into you. My dad got deliberately hit by a bus last year after shouting at the bus driver to stop at the stop. The police were involved as the driver was clearly a nutter .

I think the stress you have been under recently just bubbled over and popped out at that stupid guy when he shouted at you. Next time try and take a deep breath and mutter something obseneunder your breath (well thats what I try and tell myself to do) but Oxo's right, don't feel bad about it - no harm done.

BTW let me know if you fancy coming over with DD one Saturday for a cuppa. I won't take the initiative myself as I have nil motivation at the moment, but would love a visit anyway

foxy - You probably have malware on your machine.

Install some anyt-spyware programs, e.g.

Spybot Search and Destroy

Lavasoft AdAware

CWSShredder

Hijack This!

SpywareBlaster

In fact, could be worth installing all of them as they all have strengths and weaknesses.

Then shut down Internet Explorer and run each of the anti-spyware things you installed, to remove nasties on your system.

With any luck that should solve your immediate problem. Keep up rerunning them on a fairly regular basis, though, as other stuff is likely to sneak onto your system.

And do you have a firewall installed other than the standard Windows one? If not, worth considering something like ZoneAlarm

Lemonaid, I think you're right as adverts keep popping up each time I click on a MN page too

I will try and download those devices. Cheers

Mrs Bojangles I, too, have met with Gemma of Harris Jones - they seem really good! Just haven't managed to find me any jobs yet that pay £50k for 3 days a week PC I sympathise with your roadrage incident, just try and forget about it. I, too, have reacted badly to intimidating behaviour - with dd in the car. It's difficult not to, there are plenty of t@ssers out there! Just pour yourself a stiff G&T and the worries of the world will soon fade! (Can anyone tell that I am already on my second G&T ...

Do any of you lovely West London lot have organic veg boxes delivered? Looking for recommendations - having suffered the hell that is Tesco Osterley today - and come home with broccoli that is going rotten !! - have decided that an organic veg box each week is the way forward with the rest of the bits coming from Asda. Am boycotting Tesco!!

festive, my dh went to Tesco Osterley today and gave up when he couldn't even get a parking space! I think because it's all new & bigger everyone's going there!

I haven't tried any delivery yet but was thinking about trying Abel & Cole . Not sure how their prices compare to the supermarkets. Think they also do fish & meat as well as fruit & veg

Oh puds thanks for the link! I nearly abandoned my trolley half way through the Tesco hell - never again! I mean it. Off now to visit your link

Just had a (v quick) peek. Can anyone tell me - what does one do with chard? (!) Sorry to be so totally thick!

There have been various threads on here about Abel & Cole having gone downhill recently.

I have had boxes from The Organic Delivery Company but I'm not at the moment because I found I didn't always use everything. I think I will go back to it but specify what I want in my box instead.

hi ladies

thanks for the advice and moral support. he was deff in the wrong but i most certainly shouldn't have risen to it either.

think you're right foxy, all the stress just bubbled over.

would love to come over one saturday, am away next weekend tho and am having a flurry of 1st birthday parties at the mo - my NCT crowd.

Hoxo, those freebies are good aren't they. Used to get them for the South Bank too.

Best organic box delivery I know of \link{http://www.rivernene.co.uk/River Nene} various friends use them. Keep meaning to sort it out myself too.

It's all seasonal stuff and they send cooking/serving tips etc as well.

HTH and am on my way to fridge for LARGE glass of wine!

hi
PC that sounds scary but like it was said it was probably the stress you have been under boiling over, really best not mull over it too much.
still i guess he wasn't expecting that

about boxes we used this

having an indulgent day really needed it

meant to say, these days we mostly use the organic shop in Kew. we find that we use more stuff in the summer, so the boxes are more worthwhile then.

as to what to do with them, riverford always send info leaflets and recipe cards. you could also try the river cottage family cookbook, really fab

sfx, i think river nene and riverford are one and the same!

and yeah, i don't think matie boy expected me to bite back quite as ferociously as I did LOL.

Agree -- I bought River Cottage Family Cookbook at the weekend and it's great!

Cheers & clink clink pc, I've got my glass of wine as well - my second in fact . I hope you're feeling a bit better about this morning.

Do you think that these box schemes are cheaper than the supermarkets for fruit & veg? I'd really like to try them but as we're on a tight budget at the minute its only worth it to us if they're cheaper.

Lemonaid - the cookbook you mentioned, is it actually everyday cooking or more fancy dishes?

Blimey, I'm inquisitive tonight, or is that nosy ?

pudding (cheers)it depends how much you cook and use it really it cuts back on waste and since you generally know what is in the box you can plan ahead.
have a go you can easily cancel it if it does not suit you.

the cookbook is simple cooking but quite wholesome lots to do with kids too like cakes, fudge and a good victoria sponge what else do you need?
i actually quite like the Nigella books too

Cheers sfxmum! I like the Nigella books as well, esp for cakes etc - just some books I've bought have been fancier meals which aren't really everyday cooking! I need quick & simple for weekdays - I think I'll have a look at the river cottage one.

chink chink back at ya!

dd has just gone off, i am pouring glass #2 and about to settle down on sofa.

am putting this morning behind me!

i think the organic boxes are excellent value, if you use everything as has already been said. you definately have to be organised tho.

another method is if there are several of us who wanted to club together we could group buy sacks of potatoes and carrots etc then split them.

this would provide basics then you could top up at the farmer's market or supermarket.

check out the website Pud, it tells you what this week's box contained and will give you an idea.

i think i'll check that cook book out too. altho i just got the Anabel Karmel favourite family recipes and there's some great stuff in there that's easy to do and plan for.

Oooh I love Anabel Karmel stuff - she always comes up with ideas and combinations I never would have thought of.

I get Tescos deliveries and just order our organic fruit and veg from there, as they're cheap. They always seem to bring better fruit and veg than I would have picked out myself. When I was young, a whole load of us used to go up to New Covent Garden once a week (at 5.30am) for our organics and buy them at wholesale prices - those were the days sigh...

Don't you find that organic tomatoes are so completely different to those horrible watery sprayed ones? And the cucumbers, as non-organic have a vile coating on the skin which stops them being really crunchy

Am 24 weeks today, so apparently baby-in-bump can now open his eyes and might jump a loud noises

Quokka - Thanks for all your tips recently - just been down at Toppstiles in Gunnersbury

I get my organic fruit and veg from As Nature Intended in Chiswick. I find it cheaper than an organic basket as I only buy what I use and they have a decent range.

sister just called she has a spare ticket for Springsteen tonight so i am going along, and why not? could do with a chat a drink and some live music

Oooh me too, you lucky thing sfx! Come on then, tell us what it was like!