Tea Room the Eighteenth - the Cricket Pavilion

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Welcome one and all to our new abode - a lovely old-fashioned Cricket Pavilion, with decks outdoors and a rather lovely Members' Bar, complete with deep-seated leather comfy chairs and any drink you care to mention.

Our outdoor amenities include the well-tended cricket pitch, kept immaculate by Mellors, our multi-purpose man; a couple of tennis courts round the back for those who prefer the Wimbledon scene; and another multi-purpose pitch (can be used for hosting Fine Lad-style rugby matches, or Little Kickers' football, or the occasional All Comers' Lacrosse Tournament.

Bishops abound, mostly snoozing in the leather armchairs; there are sundry animals around - guineapigs and bison mostly - and of course the Naked Mohawk Babies, fetchingly attired in cricket whites (most unusual for them!)

The cricket pavilion tea room is open to all - those with only one child who need a safe haven predominate but having more than one child is fine - come in, have an egg'n'cress sandwich and a glass of Pimms!

*other fillings and beverages also available.

Hurrah for scouts bit of paper

Do you remember snoods? I had a red one.

On a serious note pssst - tell me more Scout! What is this award you are getting...???

wanted a snood, never had one, miffed face

Am I the only one who pictures UniS living in some kind of idyllic timewarp place? I know that she is in Jam & Jerusalem country, because we've had that discussion before and she said they filmed it right close to her, but it seems to have got stuck back in the 1950s as well...

Scout - yay! Like tea, I am clueless as to what it actually means but you're happy and that's good.

Amber - have a large urn of tea and a copy of 'how to build your own Stealth House'

Thumb, I sometimes have that vision too and its my life!!! very odd compared to London and the like.

Thumb, I sometimes have that vision too and its my life!!! very odd compared to London and the like.

Maybe its because teh village is at teh bottom of a valley and has lousy TV , radio and mobile phone reception...

Mind you, Pub prices! was a reminder of why we don't drink in one of locals. They charged over 10 quid for 5 half pints of bitter!! at the next pub 10 quid bought 6 drinks, 3 of them pints.

10 quid for 5 half pints! come to london, we may get blown up but we can get you a drink for less

hard re the threats. I have been "close" twice - once I was entering Victoria Station when the bomb went off in the early 1990s, which was an IRA bomb, and once I was due to fly Pan Am on the same flight route as the Lockerbie flight, I was a week later. And that was Libya

So there are threats, but not always from whence expected... no high alert visible in London, but they seen to have narrowed it to France and Germany today, who knows....

Thumb, I see your Inbox and raise you an answer
tell me, is Mr Thumb's condition a present illness or a lurking future problem? I am sorry either way, of course

Scout, delighted for you, Amber, sorry for your problems

Tea your account of day with Milk sounds heaven

Small hope you have had a good weekend perving with North and South

Chatty? Blimey, Oxboy doesn't draw breath. And talks in his sleep. He answers the phone, chats, hangs up and reports to me later, the whole deal, and he's 4. He also lies, but ineptly and when he is in a spot, which is my instinct too, so I feel for him....

Hugs to all

Just read back and am wondering how one is meant to pronounce yogurt?

yog-urt. :) yog like fog.

Oxeye - thank you! I have seen your answer and raised you another.

MrThumb's condition is already of concern as his ferritin (iron storage protein) is too high, indicating potentially toxic levels of iron are already present. So we need to get that down asap to prevent the involvement of other organs - but he is only at the start of the manifestation of the condition (we hope) - it appears in the 30s normally and that's where he is. He is going to have to reduce his red meat consumption dramatically - a bit of a PITA as I can't eat chicken or pork, they both make me sick and the pork gives me minging sick headaches. Turkey is the obvious alternative (we already eat fish/seafood at least twice a week) but hard to get hold of and what we can get usually is processed. I love and miss Tesco for this - their value range included chopped turkey legs - brilliant food! and of course you could get breast strips for stir fry etc.
He is going to have a test to see if he has the hereditary gene for the condition; and also a test to see whether diabetes is on the cards as he drinks too much water and the pancreas is one organ that could be affected by the iron. :(

Thumb, that does sound worrying, but you are unusually well placed to advise on diet help, I think, and of course concerning for MiniThumb....

(I raise you another reply!)

Sorry, internet went on the fritz again [grr emoticon].

All my thing means is that when I'm done I'll be "licensed" to take the Seniors camping on my own. I have the qualification already, for Guide age. So this time all I need to do is prove that I can provide an adequate Senior Section program at camp.

Yogurt = Yo-gert.

(((Hugs))) and supportive pats on the arm to the ThumbHouse.

And yay for Scout and her many licenses. I have none .

Oxeye - Please check your e-mail. And please let us be precise in our terminology here. I have been swooning over Mr Thornton in North and South, somewhat in the manner of my earlier fictional admiration for Mr Rochester (who probably was mad, bad and dangerous to know). I leave the perving to the ladies I have met on the RA thread who are in a lather of anticipation of Rudeness on tonight's Spooks. At my advanced age, I am easily shocked and swooning is as good as it gets, anything else being bad for my sciatica.

Well, must away. Selection of croissants, buns and hot buttered toast on the aga for those who haven't had breakfast.

Stealth house for Amber.

Still feeling ill. Can't remember if I said I was ill, been having stomach problems...

Mary - :(
What sort of stomach problems and have you seen a GP to get checked over? Did you eat something bad? If it's been going on for a while, go to the GP if you haven't already been.

Love the stealth house! Looks like a hobbit house too but tis fab! I wants one...

I went to the Dr last week, he is referring me for tests. Its triggered by eating certain foods, but it seems to be happening more and more often, and its getting harder to pinpoint the cause! I told him peppermint oil capsules seemed to help, so he's prescribed some of those, also an antacid for when I get heartburn/reflux.

Stomach keeps bloating up after I have eaten, and even the smell of food can get my stomach spasming at times! I'm not getting so much cramping as I was but only because I'm not eating a lot - just toast. But my stomach DOES feel tender, both inside and when I press on it.

I've had my gallbladder out, so its not that!

The stealth house is actually where the tellytubbies live

Hmmmmmmm. What foods have you noticed causing it so far?
just a thought - have you considered going onto brown rice and vegetables of a non-threatening nature (carrots, beans etc.) for a week or so to see if everything calms down? And then reintroducing foods one at a time to see if things hurt?
Tomatoes are one of my Red Flag foods - can't eat them at all now and I used to practically live on the things.

Its mainly cheese and pastry. But I ate a meal Saturday night which was fairly innocuous (beef, potatoes and broccoli) and it all kicked off again yesterday. Last week's attack was triggered by vinaigrette, I think... Even a SMALL amount of cider will upset my stomach, so I steer clear of that now!

I just can't BRING myself to eat brown rice (bad experience as a child), I guess I could try just veg.

no you have to have some grain and protein (hence the rice) - um, I'll try and think of an inocuous alternative then...

Pastry is a number one killer for me in terms of acid reflux. I am lucky that I can eat cheese no problems. Did you have gravy with the meal on Saturday? Sometimes the ingredients in gravy, especially if made with oxo or gravy granules, can trigger problems.

OK - up to you - you can try eliminating one by one instead. Obviously you have troubles with fatty foods because of no gallbladder, so limit cheese right down to almost nothing. Wheat is a prime contender for IBS/reflux/indigestion issues, so knock that out as your first potential candidate - that's all bread, cake, pastry, biscuits, most cereals etc. etc.
You need to do that for a minimum of 2 weeks to see if there is any change.

If there is no improvement, bring back the wheat and see whether things are still static and then take out something else (still keeping the fatty foods to an absolute minimum) - what other foods do you eat fairly regularly?

Cider could be due to apples, alcohol or fermented produce - the last of which would also apply to the vinaigrette. Maybe watch the vinegars for a while. Although it could have just been the oil level again...

HTH anyway :)

Sound advice and thanks, (I'm really not sure what that is going to leave me to eat). Its difficult enough trying to satisfy everyone's likes and dislikes as it is! Argh! :(

(please don't think I'm ungrateful)

Potatoes, meat, eggs, pasta, rice dishes are regularly on the menu.

potatoes - could be ok, might not be, depends (part of the nightshade family)
meat - could be ok - depends on whether or not you are processing meat proteins properly
eggs - could be ok - ditto to meat
pasta - almost certainly not ok but there are wheat-free pastas readily available in supermarkets - look for Orgran pastas (we use the Rice & Millet one cos I don't get on too well with maize either and it's great, DH even prefers it to wheat pasta now)
rice - should be ok

Check out the Free From ranges in the supermarkets - there are usually alternatives to most things, bread is the hardest but Tesco Genius bread is pretty good.

And no, I don't think you're ungrateful, it's a bugger of a thing to have to do.

Do dear, I hope all of the unwell people and their families are better soon. Blankets? Fluffy pillows? Cups of warm beverage of choice?

Seeing as I had them twice in the States (home council and new council when I moved), I'm on round three and four of them. Turns out the County Outdoor Advisor is also someone in the district whom I'm friendly with, and has her Senior Camping Cert, so she's going to "mentor" me on-line. Might not even need to meet in person at all! Have met my Senior Mentor for my leader license but when I emailed her in September she didn't seem bothered. Don't know what I'm meant to be doing.

Went to Snack-n-Chat with BabyScout this morning. Never been before. They actually give the babies/toddlers/children snack! BabyScout two rice cakes and three-quarters of his banana from home and then STILL went for the goodies on the table when they were put out and so had some toast. Piglet! LOL

snoods for Scout - I'm just trying to remember the film where some woman famously wears one - hang on - it's coming - Michael J Fox in The Secrets of My Success, actually not him of course but Helen Slater as Christy Wills, there is some kind of party thing going on and she has a black snood on. If you don't know the film (it's from 1987 so you might not) then this whole thing is meaningless to you but at least you have pics at the beginning! :)

Snood type outfit also in evidence in crocodile Dundee. Crikey I remeber thinking it was the epitome of cool!!

Small, you crack me up. Call it what you will lady. You've been perving and drooling