The moving castle tea room touches down for the 29th time

[UniS]

Welcome to the tea room. Open to those with one child and those with more and maybe some with none ( hi dave the trucker).

This time we are heading to the mists and mellow fruitfulness of Autumn in a moving castle with a mind of its own. The roaring fire is maintained by magic and Mellors the gardener handles wine and spirits along with massage duties.

The first rule of the tea room is this
No fisticuffs.
The second is this
Put the kettle on for and help yourself to a

I'll have a please. I see Mellors has put out breakfast and is inviting people to watch the jousting later.

Tee, all our experiences with removal companies have been eek rather than hooray, alas.

Scout, whenever you go out will be when it arrives. If you stay in, it won't arrive at all. There is no way to beat this strange yet true fact about deliveries

Jousting, you say? What fun! I saw some of that once at the Guildford County Show - twas rather good!

I love jousting - theres a place near Warwick Castle where you can learn to do it. DS is desperate to do so and uses his toy lance when on dpony

Pickfords have done our two big moves, and were great. Being packed by them was fabulous ! But I think it depends on the crew to a large extent

Amber has hit the nail on the head about the ineffable mysteries of parcel delivery. A further rule is that delivery companies will never check whether your neighbours are in and willing to take the parcel but they will (a) leave it behind a flower pot in the front garden during a storm, so that all the packaging material dissolves, (b) put it in your wheelie bin, in the hope that today isn't the day the dustmen come or (c) lob it over the side fence into the back garden, likewise hoping that it isn't a Ming vase. Gee, I love mail order.

::drinks and legs it::

Or, our favourite, fold it in half and ram it through the letterbox despite it being covered with stickers saying "please do not bend", thus ruining the item within.

How hard can it be to do deliveries?

Lobbing it over the side gate into the back yard was my delivery people's favourite MO in the UK - thankfully it was nearly always books

I've had a huge problem with the postman leaving parcels in the back (fine) without leaving a slip through the door to tell me (not fine). I've had foodie gifts from home and JM sit out there for days and melt. NOT impressed. I've also had things left there without a note that got completely soaked and then froze (this was during Dec/Jan when we had the snow). Now if I'm expecting something I try to be around if possible.

I will have a please.

Jousting sounds like great fun and rather lethal.

I hope your delivery arrives safely Scout.

Tee, maybe you could start a thread asking if anyone can recommend a good removal firm? I didn't realise they also packed for you, that sounds like a lifesaver!

Tee - we used Britannia for our big moves and they were excellent. One totally hideous wedding present was broken and they paid up, no questions asked.

Yes please to .

Small Bean had hand, foot and mouth a few months ago. I had never heard of it - tbh I thought nursery had made it up!

We used a local firm who were miracle workers - also packed for us which was a good thing as I was not really at all well at the time. In fact I just about flaked out at 9.30am and was moved to the new house from the bare front room of the old house.

used whites for one move and Redaways for 2. R are a local firm so not much help to you stick, Whites seem to be franchised around and about. Having them pac for you is a god send. would heartily recommend it to others. Rs even dismantled furniture and re assembled it at other end.

Not stick. Me! I'm looking.

I've got 2 quotes, one is by far cheaper, but I'd like at least 2 more!

My brother is a mover. Unfortunately he's in Pennsylvania.

One in-bed toddler. He was falling asleep during his nappy change/into pajamas, so no story tonight. He's suddenly getting the hang of bedtime story and let's us read to him unless he's really really tired.

anyone?

Thanks Scout, that's a lot of help.

I think I'll skip the tonight as I have a very sore throat. I think a of hit chocolate with whipped cream would be very soothing, however. Mellors? Would you be so kind? Thank you. Anyone else?

I sometimes forget how far away my family is.

Yes please to the hot chocolate with extra whipped cream.

sorry tee-
ummm a of hit chocolate. packs a punch doesn't it?

Tired excited boy by bedtime today. First Dance class with new teacher this afternoon. Only 2 children Showed up for it! so it was quite focused, but she said the two of them were very engaged and worked well. Boy had been throwing shapes in the changing room for 10 mins before the class started.

A third child had had a change of mind about doing that class ( the older one) and opted to stay in baby class with little bro. Ho Hum.

Oops! Writing on my phone while trying to get LCT down. Finally he's asleep. TODDLERS!

And I do have some hot chocolate. YUM!

Tee, what time is LCT waking up these days?

Between 6 and 7, Scout. This morning he didn't speak, but I heard rustling so MrTee went to investigate to find a cheeky money inside his closet trying to investigate the very interesting box he discovered yesterday! It has our wooden advent calendar in it! That was around 6, but who knows what time it was when he actually went in there!

How's ToddlerScout doing with sleep?

About 6-7 here, too. This morning it was around 7:30 but that's probably because I heard him chattering overnight but who knows what time it was and for how long. He's been going to bed easily, too.

I can't believe my boy will be two in just over a month!

Wow there were a lot of !s in that last post of mine.

A lot of my friends are extolling the wonder that is the Gro Clock so I am thinking about getting him one. Maybe I can at least get him to stay in his bed until 630.

!!! Need you ask? Yes please?

I still have a Small Bean who is awake and chattering away to himself. Bedtime has been getting progressively later as we have been going out for (a reasonably early) dinner and getting back about 8pm. He is sleeping for England though - all the fresh air and swimming is doing him a world of good and tbh the lie-ins are rather nice. I think I have just accepted that we will have a few nasty days back home trying to get him into a 7pm-7am routine again next week!

Tee - we have a gro-clock and it works really well most of the time (there are also two settings so a chance of getting a cheeky half hour extra sleep at the weekend).

I've thought about getting one of those for when TS is no longer in a cot. But he seems perfectly happy to stay with the bars on so I'm not rushing to remove them.

Hello to everyone. The YD went through a phase of waking up and wanting to play when he was about 2. Nowadays he usually wakes up between 7.00am and 8.00 am if left to himself - which means that I have to go and wake him up on school mornings when I am working....
Of course, on a weekend when he doesn't have to go to school, he wakes up earlier so that he can play....

Parcel delivery is currently a vexatious subject here. I have been trying to remember all the wonderful Arabic curses I used to know so that I could try them out on Yodel.....

Must get back to work - I am determined to stay on top of it better this year