The One and Only Tea Room - Now Hanging in Babylon

[ComeIntoTheGardenMaud]

Well folks, here we are, transported through time and space to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

Golden couches and the distressed chintz sofa are arranged on a terrace overlooking the Euphrates and, as we recline on the exquisitely-soft cushions eating peeled grapes, we can enjoy the warm fragrance of the gardens' many exotic blooms. The garden is tended by the indefatigable Mellors, with occasional help from the bishops, rabbis and any passing world leaders. Somewhere behind the terrace there is an aga and a priest's hole, with optional massage table.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink and conversation ranging from the profound to the profoundly silly.

(Just curious, anyone else watching The Hotel Inspector?)

Thanks everyone. TS fine now. Just took a bit to get to sleep after all of the excitement/distress. He just wasn't in a deep enough sleep when the ice cream truck went by. Think he may have slept through the dogs if it had only been the dogs.

It's only his fangs he's really struggling with. I caught him trying to eat a book this evening and he's never eaten a book.

How are you holding up, UnSerp?

amber, when's your next cocktail?

Oh cr@p -- just realized I didn't go to the Leaders' Meeting tonight!

nope.

but yes please to fudge. Do like good bit of fudge.

A band I wanted to see play again have a gig in london next month... on teh night I have tickets for a show and party in Lancaster. Ho HUm. I would have come up to London to see fat n frantic.. but equally I'm willing to travel to Lancaster to attend this party.. Can't do both.

Mistle

for a flavour of the Rutter Requiem DH is in a rather smaller choir- just 24 of them for this accompanied by piano and cello.

Um. Hello? Anyone home? I was invited to the tea room, jumped to the last page and am now very confused . . .

Good evening, RunningMinxie. Welcome!

Being confused is pretty normal here tbh Have a large glass of wine, some twiglets (the snack of choice here), and tell us what has brought you here ?

I have a 5 year old ds who is a bit mad at times, but very lovable. We also have an assortment of animals.

Hi Running. Jumping right ion will be fine, so long as you don;t mind a wee bit of confusion till you get teh hang of teh place.

Teh tea pot is over there with the Probadly some about if you prefer. The hay pil ein teh corner is Donki's she gets bit cross if people tidy it up. Those little tiny tiny chaps running about in stripey tops and back trews are teh naked Mohawk babies, not so naked or so baby anymore but still teeny tiny. And I can NOT type THE correctly, sorry, you will get used to teh .

My only Ds is 5, I like tea and cake and hanging out in an imagined tea room.

::wafts in, holding champagne aloft and air-kissing everyone::

Hello lovelies, I have been to the private view at the Royal Academy summer exhibition.

UnSerp - Tavi is one of the leaders in the field. One of my friends used to work there. I will ask her for advice/suggestions, with your permission. In return, can you advise me on whether it is safe/feasible to build a chicken run on a paved surface, if it's covered with earth and/or there are trays for scratching in?

Good to meet you, RunningMinxie. Would you like some ?

Welcome RunningMinxie

The galvanised bucket hanging in the corner is mine too - it is usually filled with tea.

Tonight however it is full of elderflower cordial that I have just finished making - help yourself.

Those little tiny chaps in stripey tops and trews have nicked my carrots again.

OI YOU NMBs - BRING THOSE CARROTS BACK HERE!

Scout - poor TS, it must have been a real shock for him, waking up like that.
UnSerpent That must be difficult to cope with - thinking of you, and your AP. I knew a survivor - they had a really rough time coping with life sometimes....

Welcome Running Minxie!!

I have a 4 year old Ds who is the apple of my eye and the peach of my cheek. I like wine and brew and George Clooney. I stay up too late working and due to my errant DH being on one of his lengthy overseas trips missed seeing Maud at the Summer Exhibition!!

My ticket is languishing on the sideboard!!

I did wonder whether you might be there, Oxeye. I took Girl with me.

::no fixed bedtimes in this house emoticon::

::tee staggers in waving a cup in the air::

Woke up at 415, me, not LCT. ::hates brain::

welcome Running Minxie! Just get stuck on in. Can be a bit confusing, but we just sort of meander around. I, myself, have LowerCaseTee or LCT who is 2 this Saturday!! EEEK!

I'm swamped with a to do list as long as my arm so I am not going to be around much the next week or 2. I'll try to check in periodically!!

Hi RunningMinxie, welcome! Confusion here is indeed absolutely normal. But the people are all lovely.

Yes, doing some resting here and there. Next chemistry lesson will be 14 June. Then only two more until we're done with chemicals (hurrah!).

Ooo, ! Excellent!

I am back from holidays! :)

Hi RunningMinxie; Welcome. am reading a book set in Ancient Rome at the momment. Quite tempted to say: Salve and show you the peristyle. (Actually, yes, how about Ancient Rome next? Or do we need to come back to earth and do a festival in Southern England with wellies and lots of mud?)

MaryBS: Bonjour et bienvenue!

Maud, yes, you could keep chickens on paving, as long as you clean them out quite frequently. The advantage of mine on earth is that I just turn the soil over anually occasionally and it stays fresh and reasonably sweet smelling. If I had them on paving I would throw in lots of stuff to scratch about in: dead leaves, garden weeds, wood shavings, straw, etc and change it frequently. If it doesn't get wet it doesn't really get smelly too fast, but look out in the winter. I am not sure what kind of stuff you urban dwellers can easily get, but mine love dead leaves, which should be in abundant supply in the autumn. If money is no object, people swear by various kinds of horse bedding. The advantage is that everything gets well fertilized and is a valuable addition to the compost heap. Shredded paper works well but blows round the garden and looks awful. I also use coarse sawdust/woodchips from friends when they cut up logs for the winter.

Any advice from anyone re PTSD would be wonderful. AP saw an acupuncturist yesterday and last night did not end up back in Austria once, so life a little easier at least for today.

Unserp sorry to hear about AP - my mother's godmother's husband was a PoW in Japan and never spoke to anyone about it ever - clearly scarred him for life though. My grandmother came over from Switzerland (german part) in the 30s and taught herself English and nursing at the same time - can't have been an easy time to have been German speaking in London...

Amber - why does the person think that Dh is your wife??? I do find it interesting though when people 'assume' that you're male simply because you're corresponding on a forum or similar... am fairly familiar with that myself! I hope next wild weekend away is somewhere nice.

at chickens... Just not sure we have sufficient time at the moment.

I hope we've not frightened minxie off already! Anyone here invite her? I wonder whether she was actually invited to 'the other' tearoom.... Perhaps the next person that sees her around on another thread can confirm that we don't actually bite?

MT, because they can't get their heads around the notion that not everyone with a brain wired for 'lesbian' ends up in a relationship with a woman. Thus, those of us wot married lovely men and are jolly happy with that situation may find some very confused individuals from time to time

Wild weekend will be in Warwickshire, which I don't know very well. DH went to Uni thereabouts so knows it fairly well but wanted to re-explore it.
Cuppa?

Unserp, PTSD - Cognitive behavioural therapy can help lots if you find a good practitioner who is patient, kind and sensible. Worth a thought. Worked for a lot of the DV survivors I worked with, for example.

PMM (Proud Mommy Moment) -- TS has just helped make his first cake. Very excited/proud he was, using Mommy's big bowl and spoon to mix the ingredients. He then spent ages using his own spoon/bowl.

I know in the grand scheme of things it's not a big deal but I keep hearing my SiL and neices say that nephew2, who's 2.6 years old, could "never" bake because he's "too little" and would "make a mess." TS loved it. Just like he enjoyed planting seeds and he loves watering them and "counting" his sprouts whenever we go outside (nephew doesn't get to do any of that sort of thing, either). Poor nephew -- never getting to try the fun, messy things of growing up/exploring.

That's now 4 posts lost.

Yes please to tea - will say about weekend we had there when server not playing silly fools...

Scout - try pizza too

Unserp I've pm'd you

Scout LCT is going to help me make his birthday cupcakes for nursery tomorrow! In between a house viewing and my in laws stopping by...

tee - can he help you decorate them too? mc loved (s) doing that!

Absolutely! That's the best part MT!

I'm going to selfishly ask for . Lots and lots of .

I've just had the ambulance here for TS. He's okay, playing with the landline (disconnected). But we're covered in blood. I want to let him play a few more minutes before bath & bed, just to be sure.

That was the scariest thing ever. Slow motion. MrScout is still an hour away. Have already called home (to Mom) and cried with TS on my lap.

Obviously not going to Guides tonight. Am going to ignore the "shouldn't drink" bit of my medical stuff and have a RL small glass of wine when MrScout gets home. I havern't had any since beefore I was pregnant and I think I deserve a few sips tonight.

Motherhood is scary!

evening all. may I interest you in a delightful fruit punch with fresh strawberries floating about in it.

And unfortunately , the odd NMB doing back stroke.

Someone fish them out please.