Tearoom 25 - Benvenute a Venezia!

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YOu find us this time in a glorious palazzo in Venice, near to St. Mark's square, and on the water. With gondolas and vaporetti in abundance to transport us around to the various sights etc.

The palazzo itself of course has marble floors and fabulous murano chandeliers but aside of that we have the usual distressed chintz comfy sofas, assorted animals, bishops in their corner, priesthole for emergencies and a single solitary aspidistra in a bomb-proof glass cage to protect it from the ravages of a certain Canadian.

All are welcome - drop by for a cuppa, a glass of something stronger and a chat and relax in the safe and kind surroundings here.

Cin cin!

Ooo, not that church that's right in the middle of the pathway, surrounded by large windows??

I don't think so, Mary - it was a couple of chocolate shops that had us a bit and and (in DH's case) - very anatomical chocolates, displayed at knee height (or thereabouts). DH actually bought some for his cousin... [vom]

It is Christ Church on the Groenburgwal and easy to miss. I wonder what church you may be thinking off?

DutchOma - If you have the time please DO pm me about where to go and where not to go. Good parks, restaurants, family friendly museums etc...

We are obviously going for the hash, porn and beer... or maybe not My TA wanted to take her 13 yr old son to Disneyland Paris... "Hmmm... Can't we go to Amsterdam instead? You see, I'd rather see some nudie ladies and try some illegal drugs than see Mickey Mouse anyday!" was his reply. She almost fainted!!!!

[cshock] - the yoof of today!!
Mind you, MrThumb was telling me that they did a survey on teenagers and porn in Australia - he reckoned that over 70% of 12yo boys have seen porn, 100% of under 16yo boys have seen porn and 94% of under 16 yo girls have seen porn. I was very at that.

Blimey, the power of FB. Just saw the news about bin Laden....

TW, I'm not in the least surprised by those stats. Part of the reason I'm so delighted with Channel 4's sex education roadshow with their 'stop pimping our kids' theme. The internet and smartphones means that almost every child over the age of 8 now has access to porn 24/7 if they can figure out the very simple ways to override stuff (and if they can't, their mates will know how it). It's like handing a loaded gun to every child in the country in a way with nothing more than a bit of string tied round the trigger to stop it going off... and we seem oblivious to the potential damage.

Anyway, today dear son is off with us and 400 supporters and teammates to see him and the team play in the national finals of rugby. Yippeee!!!

Can't wait to be there.

Morning.

The stats don't surprise me either.

Bin Laden is dead. I don't think this is a good thing.

Last day of MrTee's holiday. Think I'll finally clean the loos.

Agreed, Tee. I'm pooing a brick over here. Any plans have just been accelerated and new ones are being hatched (abiet quickly and possibly not very thorough) for quick impact. I think for the first time I'm a bit nervous about the thought of flying transatlantic. However, for my day-to-day life I'm not concerned.

I hope that the US are not hoist by their own petard!
'Twill surely act as a boost to recruitment....

The jubilation over the death is not pretty nor edifying - and Al Qaeda will not suddenly go away....

(DISCLAIMER Jubilation over death by anyone, terrorists or otherwise is not edifying)

The televised American response (yoof cheering in the streets etc.) is slightly distasteful and the more it is shown, I think, the more it will incite rapid and severe retribution. If only they would play it down more! It's very obvious that the death of bin Laden in such a way is only going to lead to more trouble.

Immediatetly I guess it will screw up my travel a bit - I should think they'll ramp up airport security again (which is a good thing in that there is less chance of plane hijack, it's just painful to go through)

Am not nervous of flying to the UK, not really, but it could be a problem at Heathrow. :(

I guess I'm nervous about flying since I am an American, we typically fly a (very) British airline, flying into the US (into the major city between NYC and Wash DC). Agree, the constant bombardment of images of the Americans going uber-patriotic isn't doing anything to help the cause.

I've been a crabby, miserable mess. I'm tired (so very tired!). And lots of other things as well but think a lot of my mood can be cured by a good, long, uninterrupted sleep.

evening all. am I tooo late to take a row boat out and join mellors on teh canal. Might be nice to glide peacefully in teh dusk.

Work is FINISHED, hurrah. Good to see Boy and DH again. BOy insisted we play "race 3000" this afternoon , I insisted we play it in the garden.

The plant haul from work went up. once I'd been given another tom and then found some plants that had been left behind I now have 4 toms of various types, 2 cucumbers, a tricolour sage, a curry plant and some more chives. Will palm the chives off to some one else as we have LOTS already. Spent part of eth afternoon potting on while DH dug the last of the veg bed. That finished him off.

Ummmm, re loud public rejoicing over the demise of Mr BL. Not tasteful but I have felt that before about some Americans public reactions to epic events. I had a long and loud argument with someone back in 2002 over their "tribute" to NYC firefighters. He saw it as a tribute , I saw it as trying to profit from peoples grief. Being generous,yesterday night, the timing of the report allowed some half drunk people to bounce about and flag wave and not think toooo much about what they were doing. Media then presenting those people as " Americas reaction" may not have been smart however.

::Staggers in and drops suitcases in the hall::

Evening all. Just back from a trip.

::Proffers rock, sugar mice and novelty sweets in the shape of false teeth::

Don't have time to comment on everything, but will just gaze in awe at Toby Buckland's tomato plant. Poor old Toby, booted off Gardeners' World.

::Realises this will mean nothing to non-gardeners and non-consumers of British gardening media::

Writing reports and lesson plans ....

Agree re tasteless jubilation at any death. I never fly.

Just spent a couple of hours sowing beans, courgettes, lettuce and basil in the polytunnels (but don't understand reference to Toby Buckland) Wish we still had chives; our huge double row of chive plants surcomed to dh's moonscaping landscaping.

Tea, the only thing I remember about a weekend in Amsterdam was staying in a little hotel near the zoo and listening to the lions roar all night. So, for me, Amerstdam = lions. Did Wriggle's Easter card ever arrive?

Scout, I hope a good night's sleep makes things look much better.

Good evening!

Hope you have all had a good holiday. Can't quite believe that it is back to the real world tomorrow, thought I might have a wee glass of vin santo and a cantucci biscuit to round off the weekend.

I'm really not very comfortable with any of the BL 'celebrations' - it just feels like an invitation to those who would want to make a statement in response.

On a lighter note Small Bean has had such a lovely holiday. He is fast asleep in a starfish pose looking as if he is dreaming of fire engines, trains and ice cream - his favourite things.

Hello you lovely lot, nice to see you all again. We got back from Acapulco on Saturday. All in one piece and with no left luggage. Hurrah!
Re OBL I agree with you all. I strangely unperturbed by possible reactions. I think just living here is dangerous enough and I have no time to worry about additional threats. There is a great piece in the New Yorker about Mexico if you are interested. There's a link on my wall.

morning all, todays jobs list is HUGE. lots to catch up on around teh house and garden and village.
Off to plant beans and peas next I think.
Then a tidy up, then cooking, then another tidy up.
Can I borrow mellors to help out?

Boy liked teh dinosaur cake sprinkles I bought for him at teh weekend.

Been up since 5 after not falling asleep until after 12. I feel rough.

Just plotted TS's (approx) height. I am . I know I have a big (tall) boy for his age but seeing it in black and white is just . He's now hovering around the 99th line. MrScout is tall but blimey! No wonder I get so many comments from strangers!

Very disappointed in our local Sainsbury. They had always done a wonderful range of mix-n-match boys clothes that weren't all skulls-n-bones as well as adjustable waist trousers/shorts. Went yesterday and their boy section shrunk to even less than it was before while they're girls section has grown (it had already been 2.5x the size of the boys section) and no decent clothes (packs of shirts, shorts) and nothing in TS's size. They did have some fun "I'm 1", "I'm 2" etc shirts which reminded me of the Tea Room 4 shirt.

Swimming day (yay!) and first Guides of new term. So not enthusiastic about tonight's meeting but loving swimming with TS.

X-post with UniS.

Brunch?

Brunch would be good...

Morning all.

Poor LCT threw up in his bed last night and has a fever this morning. He's a bit clingy but not too much not himself. Just another bug.

Scout Peacocks has a fantastic boys range, including great colours and adjustable waist bands. How tall is tall? LCT is already about 33 inches. That's about half my height!!

Welcome back to all who were away!!