WEST LONDON MEET-UP THREAD - DECEMBER 2006 - from Acton to Sunbury everybody welcome

[MrsBojangles]

The brand new general chit-chat thread

Quokka - but what about the biscuits?

ok, what are we pledging money for? I am a little confused (as always as I never read the threads properly). Will put in a tenner though as I am sure it is worthwhile.

ok you might not get the same biscuits as they were tim tams from Oz!

trying2 - Sue is stuck in Kaz until the second week of January at least and the idea is to try to get a parcel of books, DVDs, etc. couriered out to her. Courier rates seem to run at £90 and up, so the idea is that people can chip in books or DVDs they have to spare and/or money towards courier fees.

We just need someone to actually collect the stuff and ship it, preferably on Wednesday.

sorry guys trying to catch up. I'm happy to add a tenner. But crap at organising this week so sorry for that .
am also happy to add in whole of 24 season 5 (latest) and a few recent films (Da Vinci Code, Inside Man) as she will need distraction. Hardly cerebral but what the hey, can also do kiddie dvds but suggest adult ones (IYKWIM) are most needed.

Qoukka: Uwila will kill me - but GO FOR IT. I LOVE Singapore and was SO close to moving there when we first got married and was gutted when it fell apart. We've been about a dozen times and I love it. I'm no good at the expat stuff though as our friends there are chinese and thai. But there is a fantastic community there. Bloody expensive though: make sure salary is tiptop, or work provides house.

COV: crap, poo. sympathy. wish I could do something to help. Dognapping??

Guys: I'm not a tecky but, seeing as Sue has teh internet, is there not anyway we can set up a 'distract sue' website and downlaod films/ radio shows onto that?

Over to the techno geeks

Hi all,
I've been without Internet connection all day as we switched to a new broadband service. I had severe Internet withdrawal symptoms all day. . It was worth it in the end as we have super-fast 8 Mbps line now!!

Quokka,
It would be a real shame if you moved to S'pore. Who would I turn to for retail expertise? . I should probably come round to yours to take lots of notes before you go.
On a brigher note, I lived in S'pore for a year a few years back. I would be happy to share my insights with you.

Uwila,
Link to Brentford's top beautician nicky's beauty room

Hi all,
I've been without Internet connection all day as we switched to a new broadband service. I had severe Internet withdrawal symptoms all day. . It was worth it in the end as we have super-fast 8 Mbps line now!!

Quokka,
It would be a real shame if you moved to S'pore. Who would I turn to for retail expertise? . I should probably come round to yours to take lots of notes before you go.
On a brigher note, I lived in S'pore for a year a few years back. I would be happy to share my insights with you.

Uwila,
Link to Brentford's top beautician nicky's beauty room

She doesn't have the internet in general -- just fleeting connections for an hour or so a day if she's lucky in internet cafes. When she's in her hotel room (and flat if they do manage to rent one) and most in need of distraction she is completely internetless.

Hi oxo,
I'm not the resident techie but I think Sue has quite a slow Internet connection (does she still connect from an Internet cafe?) and it would be difficult to download the movies with a slow connection.

She could view them on a web site but then she needs to have the right software. I'd be happy to offer my server space but dh just told me a 20 min movie requires 100MB of space. That's my entire site capacity.

Over to you PC and MrsB

we have a terrabite on our server and hours on end of stuff on there. Will have to ask dh how SJ can access that. Problem there still being she either needs to stream it or download it and both not quite a great option with the on/off connections she's been having

and is anybody going to shoot me soon? PLEEAAASE. Ds just threw up all over the sofa and we hadn't put back the sofa cover yet from when he had his first bout of projectile body evacuation... shoot me NOW

Sorry to hear about the sofa MrsB.

Mrs B: great sympathy

also, what teh heck were you talking about on that last thread (told you I wasn't a tecky)

can't include anything for sue now I've deserted West London but would love to pledge a tenner towards the postage if it all goes ahead

uwila and paddle: I've emailed you two - nanny related.

For all others pls excuse me whilst I dance a little jig as I have found a lovely nanny to do 2 days a week.
(Now I just have to find a childcare solution to cover a third day from mid jan til April when dh drops down to 4 days a week to do his 21st century new man thing and take on a day of child care. THAT should be a laugh. I'm picturing 2 starving kids, google eyed from watching too much TV and becoming cricket/ football/ any crap sports bores )
Who cares as I'll be working: clean clothes, actual showers, coffee breaks, a real lunch time and adult conversation. Oh and a dabbling of job satisfaction in there somewhere. and a little bitty dribble of money.

Oh - I'm sorry if I am enthusing too much but I'm jumping tigger like here

oxo, have e-mailed you back.

I went to see the lovely Nicky last night. She was really good. But parking is a nightmare. And, the room was a bit too cold for my liking. But then I am always freezing so any normal person would probably have found it just right.

morning all

well done Hoxo, am very interested in many more details!

nicky is great but agree parking is a shocker. i go during the day and find parking easier. you could park up on the high street and walk thru the short cut if it were desperate. no probs with the room temp but it has got a bit chillier last few days.

Fed-Ex to Almaty Information:

just spoke to Fed-Ex. If we get a 2kg parcel collected Thursday it will arrive the following Friday.

The cost to us will be £100.79.

It cannot be treated as a gift therefore Sue will have to pay an import duty when she collects. This is normally approx 10% of the value of the parcel.

What do we think ladies?

is there anyway we can ask her? Have we got a number we can text her on. Are you sure duty has to be paid if the items aren't new????

I have 1800 Kazakh Tenge (about £7.50) we could stick in a dvd and that would cover some of her duty. Happy to donate it.

so - collected on Thursday, delivered the following Friday - does that include a break for CHristmas.

big question: deliver to where? presumably sj can let us know through the website.

I'm happy to pay it . and am sure that sj would happily pay the duty seeing as she sounds so desperate for diversions.

got my vote

Finally I'm back on! Lost the internet over the last couple of days so just been having a quick catchup. I'm happy to donate £10 to Sue's parcel - don't know if I've got any dvds but could probably give a couple of books if that's any use.

Comeon - any news yet? It's such a nightmare when one person's holding everything up!

collection would be from the fed-ex office. this would seem to be best option as we're not sure where SJ will be.

Almaty is a muslim country to no Xmas break but they do celebrate NY big apparently.

unfortunately the duty must be paid on all incoming items even if it is a gift and not new. but we could put something on the shipping docs and hope they waive the tax....

good idea Uwila, am sure a few kazak pennies will help.

i think we should restrict to DVDs as books are so heavy. if we discard the cases that will also help. Am sure SJ will be happy to return any dvds as well when she gets back if we wanted them.........

who's money counting? could we do a collection from your place on thursday pud as a few of us are visiting?

Hi there - I pledged a tenner too don't forget!!!

Mellow - which broadband suppliers have you switched from and to and why?? (thinking of switching myself)

Anyone else had probs with BT Broadband recently. Spent an hour on the phone to them last night and they won't help me, so thinking of switching.

Bum, bum, bum

Been up since 3am with razor blades in my throat and blocked nose. Nose is bleeding now

No internet connection at home and no nose - what's the world coming to?

Paddle have just purchased the basic PC from Dell in their sale - should arrive B4 Chritsmas, or 26th at latest hurrah. Does all we need except download photos, but can do that at work

MrsD - I entirely sympathise with you.

oxo,

lol at 21st century man. But I think it's great that your dh is moving to 4-day week to look after dc.

dh sez he'll quit job if i find job to support us but i'm not sure i want to commit permanent job. i'm not good with office politics, stresses me out 2 muchh.