Tea Room the Twentieth: The Greek Island

[asmallbunchofflowers]

Welcome to the twentieth (yes, really) Tea Room.

We find ourselves on a sun-kissed Greek island, where our whitewashed, blue-shuttered house nestles in the dappled shade of a gnarled old pine tree. In the olive grove, Mellors the gardener/handyman/factotum is tending the tea room menagerie of horses, camels, bison and guinea-pigs, recently joined by some recalcitrant old donkeys. The distressed chintz sofa, aga and cardboard cut-out of George Clooney have survived the relocation from the south of France and the aspidistra has pride of place on the mantelpiece.

Come in, put your feet up and join in the conversation. It may not make sense, but that's not important. What matters is the lovely people here and the chance simply to relax.

Aha!

UniS - am busy pinning my photos on the noticeboard in t'other place.

sssshhhhh - thumb peeerlease!!!! Beer keeps going on about how he craves space and thinks our "standard of living would be soooo much better in Australia"... but... I am quite sure I would never ever be able to function outside of Europe for more than a holiday!

And a question. Getting a bit fed up with CDs of nursery rhymes, so am downloading a collection of songs I remember liking when very young, such as Paddy McGinty's goat, The Ug;y Bugs' Ball, Slahertty's Mounted Fut, The Court of King Caractacus, etc . I'd love some easy beautiful ones too, and anything good to sing along to, Then I will make a car CD. Any ideas?

never smile at a crocodile.

not sure, boy is classic FM fan at present. which is nice change from story CDs.

Greetings and Felicitations!

I had a VERY cold trip to York this morning with DG (Donki's Godson). It went much as usual - trip to Lush, Boots, then hot chocolate, then the Fair in Parliament Street - varied by side trips into several shops to look at sprinklers (in case of fire). He showed me the Sprinklers in M&S, and then we went and looked in several other shops to see if they had sprinkler systems.

They didn't.

"Why not?" This question was asked of several bemused but tolerant shop assistants, none of whom knew the answer....

We also stopped to admire the ice which was forming on the Ouse again.

The YD is no better - and is now complaining of earache. He was dispatched to bed with paracetomol, and a Doctor's appointment is booked for the morrow.

Serpent - I look forward to seeing the photos.

Letters of inquiry to various shop managers may be needed!

CMOT - I remember breaking ice on water troughs... and trying to find ponies (and novice riders) in a field when a blizzard took us by surprise. It is the only time I have been in tears with the cold.

When I was a kid (in the 80s) I listened to 50s/60s music and the music of musicals. I am probably not the best person to ask.

However, a new favorite CD of ours mine is BNL's Snackbox -- children's songs with a twist.

I like these unserp...

www.putumayo.com/en/putumayo_kids_cd.php

Oops! - The letters of inquiry got detatched from the questions about sprinklers somehow! (What did you put in my Tea UniS?)

I like putomayo .. am researching Never smile at a crocodile. Was there once a song about an orquestra?

Serpent - Try . We have loads of his CDs - mainly American folk classics and world music - which have guest appearances by (amongst others) Debbie Harry singing Waltzing Matilda. When we saw him live, Philip Glass came on stage for a jam.

I asked dh Donki - he says that sprinklers only protect stock - and in a clothing or electricsl store, sprinklers destroy it all anyway, so they are pointless, and may cause more stock loss than the fire

DS likes singing to Glee and the Blues Brothers. We've never had a nursery rhyme cd actually

Should I mention that SmallGirl also likes Kylie and Kirsty McColl?

Talking about all things unbelievably cool - Milk LOVES listening to anything Rolf Harris does!

I really should introduce her to Annny Hossy she would be in heaven Rolf and needy mice all in one!!!

Oh yes - Milk, during her toddlerhood adored Mika and Amy Winehouse...

We changed the words of rehab to:

They say why don't you go in your pushchair
I say no no no
They say why don't you go in your pushchair
I say no no no

Then Mummy says why won't you just walk?
I say I'd explain if I could talk
but my legs, my legs they turn to jelly
and I have a problem with my welly

They say why don't you go in your pushchair
I say no no no
They say why don't you go in your pushchair
I say no no no

..because a two year old singing the real words seemed a bit on the wrong side!

Naturally, when mine was a SmallerGirl she thought the word bum in Fairy Tale of New York was the funniest thing ever.

I should add that she couldn't understand many more of the lyrics and we didn't enlighten her.

tea, that's brilliant!

YOu could tell Beer that everything clothes and food wise is desperately expensive here, even if fuel is cheaper; plane tickets out of Australia are viciously more expensive as well. Yes you get more space for your money but only if you are prepared to live outside city centres; in the centre of Sydney, you'd probably be in exactly the same sort of situation you're in now. Friends of my bf have been in Sydney for a year - and even though their apartment has lovely open plan space, it is tiny - they have no room to let my bf, her DH and DS stay with them.

It's not all sunshine and barbies here y'know!

And did you all see that we had SNOW here? SNOW! Some areas of Melbourne had 4"! Enough to build snowmen!

... and I think I mentioned before Milk's love of the Velvet Underground and how much she learnt from the lyrics!

DH is a bit of a weird slightly 'out there' classical music snob head now... so Milk likes to prance around trying to conduct his classical music and loves documentaries that show rehersals and processes involved in creating classical music.

Does Wriggle know about Hovhaness? Milk loves the cds Beer has.

Oooooh - and what about Pink Martini? Milk and I do like a good boogie to Pink Martini!!!

thumb - I have processed all that Oz info and will have it ready for the next "life in Australia..." rant!!! x x x

This is awesome.

small - That is my "having a bad day" song!!! I play it to get back on my horse to... LOVE IT!!! In the past I have e-mailed it to friends when they have failed exams, "he" says goodbye or when they just are having a bad time. It is a song to lighten and enlighten! FAB!!!

They are fab, fabbity fab! Why have I not heard of them before?

There is an mner who wanted to call her baby Clementine. I said she should on account of this song. Sooo cute and leeerfffly!!!

lovely - I have added it to the video jukebox I have created for myself on YT.