WEST LONDON MEET-UP THREAD - JANUARY 2007 - from Acton to Sunbury everybody welcome

[MrsBigD]

Time for a new general chat thread

HAPPY NEW YEAR

I'm in Brentford. I live just off the High St on the canal.

You have just one child, right? Are you looking for a childminder, nanny, nursery? I would think a childminder is probably the most flexible. Have you looked at childcarelink.gov.uk?

If you want a childminder or nursery the Childrens Information Service can send you an up to date list of vacancies in your area. Your council will have their local number.

Mellow - don't feel guilty - I think about 85% of Mums work - we don't have much choice; specially in the south east with the cost of housing etc. You'll enjoy it and will treasure your time off with DD even more than you do now!

Good luck with the new contract Just make sure you find time when you're at work to pop in and say hello to us

foxie: fox news here

back to chat later.........

hello all

mellow congratulations on the job, regarding guilt, even though i only went back for 4months i found the first days difficult but by the end of the second week i was well into the swing of things and able to compartmentalize iyswim. best of luck and enjoy.

paddle hope find reliable childcare soon (and again sorry about yesterday)

hope everyone else ok

hi girls! just to let you know that i stood as a libdem candidate at the last local election in ealing and did a few years ago in acton .

confused with the link... got into a chat with a madamereynard? what is this?

I'm confused too.

(and gutted to learn about everyone's lib dem involvement!!)

i think the link is about a long running story on mn about someone fleeing an abusive relationship

and uwila worry not flat tax seems to be all the rage and will surely spread across the world

soz, was 4 foxy after a convo we had sat.

nanou, dd looking gorgeous in the stretch gap corduroy shift dress - will try to get a pic.

off to see womens' minister later so she's got to look cute! i just look shabby LOL!

i'm thinking of voting libdem next time.....

i was a paper candidate! which means that i had no chance in hell to win. we live in a democracy and people must be given a choice and i did get a few votes which proves something.

I'm lib dem as well

Uwila and foxie,
Thx for the childcare tips. . I've approached a couple of people about childminding already. I will be speaking to a nanny friend and see if she has any recommendations.

One of the Chinese mums posted a link for fox/mr on a chinese thread asking if anyone can offer help in the far east. But I wasn't really sure what her situation was so I couldn't offer help of friend in HK or sis in Malaysia.

PC, foxie,
You'll have to tell me fox's story when we meet. [nosy emoticon]

Lib dem here too although my votes have counted for nothing as I seem to live in Labour strong-holds.

Oh f'ing Hell. Is everyone a lib dem? Well, you'll all be glad to know that being full bred foreigner I can't vote. Might have to get citizenship.

i can vote for local but not national elections as i am not british either.

I don't have a British passport either. I have voting rights as Malaysia is an ex-colony and we're part of the Commonwealth.

Can you believe I'm British even before I married dh so was eligable to vote before I moved here!. If I ever travel back to Oz on my aussie passport I will get fined for everytime I haven't voted there, even for local elections!

bad spelling!!!!

Well I would have had to have an address here.

can't you vote by proxy to avoid penalties? bet everyone votes then eh and not have the low turn up as we have here!!!! maybe we should do that here then?!

I tink the practice in oz to force people to vote is not very democratic. The election may be swayed by vote that were cast simply to avoid fines. They may not be educated votes. I think people should be able to vote but not by threat of penalty.

Anyway, I'm not EU, not commonwealth, just a foreigner so I have no voting right... none nada zip zilch. Oh, except in America where I always vote for the Republicans.

Speaking of which, my mother busted for not voting in November. I was talking to her on the phone the night before last. And she said "you didn't vote last time" and I thought, now how the bloody Hell do youknow that? And I said, sorry, I forgot. I know I know I should vote, but I just had other things to do. Then I said, "But how do you know this?" and she said "Because I asked when I voted?" Aren't I bit old for this????? Actually, I thought it was kind of funny that I was busted. Better vote next time!

I agree with you Uwila, but with voting numbers dropping I don't think it will be long before it will be compulsory here!

Nanou I always forgot and when your backpacking around like I was you tend to forget about politics in your home country

Uwila totally agree, when I was 18 I had no idea who to vote for so usually picked the greenest one. Most people don't fill the form in correctly so it can't be usued!

last i heard where i come from it was not compulsory to vote but generally it is frown upon not to, most people feel it is their civic duty. but then again most adults still remember living under a dictatorship so the right to free vote is treasured