30 up The tea room afloat

[UniS]

Welcome aboard.

The first rule of the tea room is - No fisticuffs.
The second rule is - Put the kettle on and lets have a or open a bottle of if its that time of day. Pull a sofa and relax. Parents of one, more (or less) children are welcome to hop on board and chat about anything and nothing. Introduce yourself if new and if you name change give us clue please.

I remember Bottersnikes. You see, fortunatly my mum had collected an awful lot of childrens books by the time I was born as she'd been teaching since she was 18 and was keen on reading. The library was the first place I ever walked on my own though !

at 'butter my buns' though JM. Thats a very interesting mental picture Hurrah for sleeping JB though.

I had to wake Tiddler up this morning which is rare. He does not like being woken, so I get into bed with him and pretend to be a puppy which reduces the trauma greatly

at JM - the Toronto in NSW was named after the Toronto in Canada - here's the gen if you have the time to read it! :)

Glad you got through your work day - at least you have, what, 3 days off now, right?

Pseudoephedrine keeps me awake too. Apparently, according to some doctor who looked it up in the BNP for me, it has that effect on about 5% of the population. Lucky ol' us, eh. Everyone else, it knocks out.

I remember Bottersnikes and Gumbles! Actually I remember it being a book that was read to the class - around the same time as Stig of the Dump IIRC. We also had a mobile library bus that came to the top of the road and visiting it was the highlight of the week.

I hadn't come across Olga da Polga before but it looks great and I think Small Bean would enjoy it. He still loves the big picture books at bedtime but is just beginning to enjoy listening to a slightly longer story.

and ginger cake for all of those that are still full of colds and worse.

It's an expression I picked up in Texas years ago when I went to chiro college there. :o
It's definitely expressive :o

I have heard of gutterwotsits and botterthingies.. but don;t think I read them more than once a long time ago.

The library was were Boy first walked. I went in with a crawling baby, came out with a walking toddler.

Query for the American contingent, are Duvets hard to find/ expensive in the states? Or maybe just in Missouri ? someone I know has been asked to take 2 from the UK as presents when she flys out to see family?

We have comforters. Not hard to find but I think they're mostly already covered -- not like here were you buy the duvet (blanket bit) then add/change the cover to match your decor/bedding. Though bed sizes are different between the two countries so maybe she has a UK/EU sized bed?

Who's up for a packing challenge?

Me, me, me, I love packing challenge. I once managed to over load a transit van by 100% weight wise, but could still have got LOADS more stuff in on space alone.

at UniS. I'm normally good at packing (I thank Girl Scout camps for that) but I'm so tired I don't feel like doing it.

JM -- incoming!

I am particularly talented at over-packing but that might not be quite what you need?

Would a help?

Ooooh, yes please. Don't take many clothes as we usually get some over there AND M&D have a washer & dryer so do laundry while we're there. I'm just bored of thinking about packing, and actually packing, and I just want to be there.

I wrote a really long, newsy post (while blissfully clasped to Maud's bosum) - where did it go????

Oh no, Serpent. I have been agog for news of Menton.

Was it Fry and Laurie who also had some variant of "butter my bottom and call me a biscuit?"

DH has packed for his week long state side trip tonight . He leaves at stupid O'clock. He is taking hand luggage only, including lap top, book and work papers ! he is actually better at packing than I am.

Scout - have replied and please don't worry about it, more to look forward to after Christmas!

As far as I know, you can get duvets anywhere in the US - perhaps not as easily in the steamy far south but I bought goose-down duvets in TX when I lived there, and it's not 10 years ago that I left. Missouri, as far as I know, can get pretty darn cold in the winter. Maybe they live in a podunk little nothing town without a good department store. Or have UK sized beds.

MrScout's having a laugh. He seems to think we can leave 3-3:30 Berks for a 4:55 flight with Toddler. I've never heard anything so funny in my life.... it's fine if it was just him going hand-luggage only but not with two suitcases, four carry-ons, one stroller/pushchair AND a toddler who's going to need running before getting on-board. He's funny, my MrScout!

Errrrrr - he needs a swift kick in the seat of the pants reality check there, Scout! I'm pretty sure there is still a preferred 2h before flight time check-in, even if you do it all on line etc., and you have to take account of traffic etc; I'd be going at least an hour earlier than he's suggesting, if not more.

Oh yes, I've put my foot down told him what time we're going. He thinks I get there too early and I think he cuts it too close. Besides, I like having five minutes to look around duty free and people watch.

Have a good flight Family Scout!

I'm with you on the timings though - you need to have contingency time and then added contingency time ime.

I will never forget the first time we flew with Small Bean and Mr Bean got on the plane and unpacked his book, newspaper, pen and iPod as if it was going to be a lovely relaxing experience!

My money is on "they live in a podunk little nothing town without a good department store",
combined with " they are kinda brasic"

Unis thus combines two nations impenetrable slang in one sentence. Prizes for all who understand it.

Bon voyage to the ScoutTroop!

UniS, what does "brasic" mean? Or was that a typo?

Brassic = boracic lint = skint = broke.

It's yer Cockey rhyming slang, innit, Guvnor?

::Channels Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins::

Cockney is a dialect I've never been able to follow. The leaps from word to word are too much for my little brain.