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.

I'm sure mellors would care for a scotch toffee apple, he cares for all of us.

DID you know mellors first name is Oliver?? and Oliver is teh most popular boys name in the last year.... does Mellors have a past?

Yes, indeed he does.

I did know his first name was Oliver (and in fact that knowledge recently helped TeamSmall win a quiz). When Mellors joined the staff of the tea room, he was rather vague about his employment record, but I understand that he had been a gamekeeper on an estate in the Midlands. His previous employer declined to provide a reference, which I found surprising as he is clearly such a skilled gardener. [hhmm]

I hadn't know he was an ex soldier till yesterday.

I think that explains a lot about him, UniS. But what are you reading? [hhmm]

A book about Demobilisation of armed forces after WW2. Mellors gets mention given his "history" after WW1 (during which he served ).

Amazing what catches the eye at the mobile library .

Tried watching "Madeline" with boy today. In teh hope that it would be a nice funny sweet non scary movie, Boy decided he was scared about 3 minutes in and then consented to watch another 10 mins only if sat on my knee. WHAT am I going to do about his aversion to music in a minor key.

Ah. I thought it might, ahem, have been something else. That's the sort of book which SmallBloke reads all the time, although more likely to be about WW1.

Nothing to suggest for Madeline aversion. All I can say is that there may well be a moment when everything changes. We had to leave so many films because Small Girl, at about Boy's age, found them too scary and she used to run out of the room rather than watch Doctor Who, but now she laps them all up. (She read her way through all the Harry Potter books but abandoned the Deathly Hallows halfway through as she was scared by it, but has this week changed her mind about that too).

Have you got recordings of music in a minor key which you could play at safe and non-threatening moments?

Just this minute sitting down after return from Southernmost France, after a journey which started at 7am. At least we train travellers really know how far away the Mediterannean is. DH has a cold terrible attack of flu and Wriggle and I spent approx 15 hours being in another part of various trains to allow him to sleep. Need to drink wine!

I did once upon a long ago read " ahem, something else" but It was rather dull and I didn't care what happened to any of them, so I abandoned book. ditto with the rainbow. came to conclusion I didn't like authors style and managed to convince A level english teacher that I would study an alternative poet of the 20th century and not that author.

really MUST go to bed soon. night all.

ohhh poor you and wiggle, does she LIKE trains. Hope DH comes around in a day or two.

Amd may I put in a vote for Very Southernmost France as our next location. Accordimg to FIL, or as he is called in French BeautifulFather, the sky stays the most extraordinary blue down there until March. Last night at sunset the sea was white and the sky was pink and it was still warm enough for paddling ... But there was heating on everywhere and I am at present enjoying a properly cold house.

What is PM? As in you are using it to communicate? Is Scoutshire anywhere near Dorsetshire? Those of you who have met up, do you still feel the same about each other in the Tea Room?

Holiday was amazingly wonderful, thank you to those who sent good wishes (have just been reading back), but got back to find Aged Parent had fallen and looks as if she has had a road accident.

Morning all! Plenty of coffee, tea and otherwise available.

UnSerpent, blimey re Aged Parent . Is she badly injured, or mostly very bruised? Either way it's a big worry for you.

Tea room in the South of France sounds good to me.

I feel a little more human than the last few days, which is a relief. (Why am I this easy to 'knock off course'? I think it's because I don't have any sense of 'who I am', compared to 'who anyone else is', so if someone says I'm a (whatever), that becomes the truth for me until I can reload nicer things people have said. Weird but true. Not the same thing as lacking self-confidence, as for that you'd need to have a built-in sense of self to start with.

Don't think about it, as it will probably make your brains hurt [hblush])

amber - I think perhaps you are not that different from people who do lack self-confidence - in that one person saying something negative can undo 100s of people saying positive things about you in a matter of seconds. But you can reload, as you put it, whereas people with no self-confidence can't - they suffer too much self-loathing and only ever really believe the negatives. So - in some ways you are better off than they are.

UnSerpent - Agh re AP - hope she is all right and it's just bruising? Apart from teh fall, did she cope relatively well?
PM = private messaging - see the envelope at the very top of the page, that is your inbox - if you have a red blob on it, you have a message. If you wish to send a PM, you click on the little envelope and then it takes you to your inbox and the facility to send messages. Tis very useful.

Am also happy to have the next tearoom in South of France. Would that be anywhere near the lavender fields in Provence? [shows woeful ignorance re. geography of France] And which wine region would we be nearest to?

UniS - I agree with your feelings re That Book - I found it, and other similar "classics" tedious - one very good reason for not doing English Lit.

Maybe so, but reloading the info is hugely hard... and I never get to feel secure about it because I know it can 'go' again at any moment. A bit like trying to climb a mountain when you know that random bits of rock fall off at any moment and you're going to plunge down 50ft and it's going to hurt a lot and be very scary. Very difficult to explain. [hblush]

I think you're doing a fine job of explaining it, amber!

When I was in Boston some years ago, I had fish chowder served in a large bread roll that had been hollowed out in the middle, rather like a large Yorkshire pud. It was very good - the soup-soaked bread was eaten afterwards of course and was yum. That was in the days before I realised how much wheat disagreed with me, of course...

Hello everyone.

Non-threatening hugs and pats on the arm for Amber and something soothing for the Aged P.

Shall we sit at the antique oak dining table? Mellors has donned his butler's uniform and is serving the Soup du Sunday avec Yorkshire Pudding Shaped Rolls. There also - oh joy - appear to be some crystal glasses filled with champagne.

Pumpkin soup?

and is it witches brew in those champange flutes.

My trick or treating virtula costume is under virtual constrution. ie I need to think about it a bit more before I can describe it to you.

Boy has just had a nap ( hurrah) so he will be allowed out this evening, I've been negotiating with other parents around the village which houses are welcoming Halloween visitors tonight. Don;t want to annoy people.

Amber, I understand, and yes it IS hard to explain. Its to do with only being able to focus on one thing at a time, and 1 person being nasty crowds out all the 100 people who are being nice. And it doesn't matter that its 100 people being nice, because you can only focus on 1 person being nice at a time, even if the nasty one hadn't crept in and ruined it.

The other thing is, if someone is nasty, often it comes completely out of the blue. Whereas people usually say something nice when you've done something "good", either for them or for a group etc.

Can now share why I am in the priest's hole - my vicar announced this morning (and told me on Fri) that he is leaving, and I am very sad about it :(

What wonderful pumpkin soup!

Wriggle very whiney this afternoon and DH very full of cold, so I took her to the first visit to the Christmas display at our local garden centre. In October . The display has won national awards for the last four years, (although maybe not quite as magical this year, or is that me getting blase about it?). If anyone happens to be around here sometime before Christmas, we could do a visit? With lunch or tea and cakes in the cafe afterwards? Not really very likely, is it.

AP is OK, thank you for asking. Very bruised in the face and feeling rather nauseous and unfocussed, but that, she says, is to be expected when one has so much bruising. Apart from that, she managed abosolutely fine, and that fall could just as easily happen when we were here.

Just eating a quick doughnut before going off to prepare for back to work. Giving halloween a miss this year, but have fun all who are out tonight.

Unis sashays in to teh tea room, she is clad in a volumptous creation in black and purple net, there are adorable little (stripy stocking clad) little legs dangling from the skirt , a fascination on a theme of cob-webs is perched on unis's head.

Oh Mary, that is sad. I hope the replacement will be good. Is it you that has had problems with vicar's in past (not you personally, but your parish)

Well I need 4 jugs of wine please. The in-laws have departed, and I am exhausted after 3 days. What with moaning about prices, casual racism etc. I love them, but 3 days is my limit!

Little man isn't sleeping properly either, so I knackered (was 4am, but what with clocks going back he is all mixed up)

And right as they were leaving...

We gave them to toys and baby stuff that BIL had given us when Little Man was born to return to them for us.
MIL "Ah but you'll need it for the next one" DH "There isn't going to be a next one"
MIL "Of course there is, don't be silly. (said to Little Man) you want a playmate don't you"

This obviously hit me right in the heart, it is all too raw for me. Although I am coming to terms with remarkably well I think.

I wonder how old Little Man will be before they get it.

Have brought coffee cake to pass around....

Wow, UniS. That is quite some creation. 10/10 for Halloween modishness. Dear sweet Mellors has been helping me with my bodypaint. Catita may recognise the design!

Here, Roslily. Have a very large jug of wine - do you prefer red or white? You do sound as if you're making huge strides in coming to terms with it. I doubt your MIL really appreciates what she's saying - although it's clearly not helpful that she's trying to prompt Little Man to ask for a sibling. Believe me, it does get a lot easier over time. SmallGirl is a lot older than Little Man and I have reached the stage where I watch friends dealing with sibling quarrels or sorting out four sets of school uniform and I think "phew! rather you than me".

Would you like one of Mellors' legendary back and shoulder rubs?

ooh yes a back rub would be lurvely! I have started noticing one child families. And noticing parents struggle when they all run off in different directions.

Now is anyone else managing to resist the trick or treat goodies? I have eaten too much chocolate already?

I'll be back later in my pumpkin costu,e

Roslily, we have occasionally had run-ins, but have generally managed to resolve our differences. I will miss him because he has the same quick wit and warped sense of humour as me, and there aren't many of us around :o

Roslily - Mellors is striding manfully towards you, bringing aromatherapy oils and fluffy white towels with him.

Would anyone like some hot chocolate to go with Roslily's yummy chocolate cake? I've already eaten too many sweets.

ohhhh chocolate cake... she says picking dropped mars bar toffee off her jumper.

So, to the treats bowl may I add: chocolate snails, jelly teeth, gobstopper eyeballs, candy bones and skelinton gummies.

welcome back " upstairs" Mary, hope your priest hole retreat was usefull. would you like to stash a cloned vicar down there?

Welllllll just as well I took boy out trick or treating he'd have been disappointed staying home tonight. Only one group of kids knocked on our door all evening and that was the group of boy and 3 other only children friends. We met up with them in middle of village and then cruised with them. Boy had a groaning loot bag! I won't need to buy him sweets till christmas . Our nearest neighbours to have a pumpkin out were very generous and probably also saw no other callers. Down in the village centre it was rather busier so we called at some and not at others depending on if we knew them or not.

Did get a few dirty looks from my friends tho as we waved them off ( ours was last house for us) having given the kids sweetie whistles...