The Nordic Tearoom (Number 31)

[beanandspud]

We have moored the barge for the winter and have moved to a beautiful, cosy log cabin in deepest Scandinavia overlooking a frozen lake and surrounded by pine trees.

Mellors has lit the log fires and candles, it is snowing outside and there are comfortable seats for everyone and fleecy blankets to snuggle up in. For the more active tearoomers there are skis and sledges outside as well as a steaming hot tub for winding down after a busy day.

So pull up a chair. The kettle is on for and there is always plenty of depending on your mood and time zone. (Alternatively there is schnapps, smorgasbord and smoked fish).

Everybody is welcome ? share as much or as little as you like ? but no fisticuffs please!

Bean - nice room, thanks!

Yes, I would be better with another hour's sleep too. MC joined us at 5am - DH of course went back to sleep - then Ds was wondering what the 'eeeeee' noises were (dh exhaling) then my arm was apparently in the wrong place then he lost Nellie, then he turned over, then he farted and apologised (several times) and generally no sleep was had until getting up time. I do love the fact that he is so snuggly still though - and wants to be physically close still etc.

Went round 'junior' school last night and met some of the teachers - two out of the four class teachers for year 3 are male, including the one that's head of year, and the head of Junior school is too. Library is AMAZING. I laughed when I found out that the 'girls' get 'dance' as part of the curriculum, but the boys don't - sport is split from next year so the boys get to play rugby etc. Nothing like getting the gender stereotyping going early!

Happy Birthday to my little sister and to Toddler's friend, LittleMissSwimmingGirlfriend. I hope they both have a good day. And also today, it's the 48th anniversary of JFK's assisination (in case anyone wanted to know).

, did someone say? Yes please!

Having been Thoroughly Messed About in medical appointments today, I will be glad to get home and sulk there. Never been rejected by a linear accelerator before. It's a novelty.

Glittery willy! Bless!

I'm sorry to hear that you've been messed around today Amber

Slips in an places Philly Steaks on the side for all of those who might like to try some for dinner (or, like me, for lunch).

Ohhh, I'll have a Philly Steak - yum!

Could have done with an extra hour of sleep, too. Or more in fact. Howler of a wind storm last night, and rain - the gutters are clogged with leaves and so we had a nice waterfall over the edge of the gutter right by our bedroom window. Not conducive to a restful sleep.

Glitter was still on this morning. And - we forgot to put JB in a Pull-Up last night and he slept through the night in his underwear and stayed dry! So proud. He's completely toilet-trained in the daytime but we've been using up the rest of the Pull-Ups for nights, just in case... I'm not ready to stop that as we don't have a waterproof cover on our mattress and he migrates in almost every night, but I'm so please nonetheless.

MT, ah yes. The knack, it says, is to put the small one first and the big one behind, tandem-fashion

Drat re MC being tired and teary...hope bedtime resolves it.

JM congrats aplenty re dry boy!!!

Scout, yes please for me!

Hello everyone else. available.

I clearly take too many pictures of Toddler. He was with MrScout and when I got the camera out TS started grinning. I said to him "are you cheesing for me?" and he shouted "CHEESE" and gave me a HUGE toothy grin. Oh it did make everyone laugh.

MT - Your account of MT in bed this morning could have been us - our only addition was Small Bean's very noisy fake snoring as he copies his dad and then gets the giggles! It was an early bedtime for a grumpy Bean here too.

Thanks for Amber. Sorry that you've been messed around today. Have a cake as well?

Well done JB! I'm still too nervous to give up the Pull-ups for night just in case but I'm still smiling at the glitter!

Boy went to bed in tears tonight :( he had seen the bird watchers kit ( kiddy) that we plan on giving small niece and HE WANTED IT. oh dear. DH and I trying vrye hard not to laugh as our boy who has shown as much interestin birds as teh average house brick howled and sobbed for a few stickers, He doesn;t even crave stickers, doesn;t wear them or do anything with them when he has some... Mainly tiredness I think.

So, I'm up for a large and a salted fudge in dark choc from the box of requirement .

So, horses tandem style are the reverse of humans... humans you put the bigger one at the front.

Hey Scout. Rudolf at Brownies as a blaaaast!

YAY for fun times at Brownies, Maud!

Oh the glittery willy did make me laugh! That's just the sort of thing miniThumb would do as well

This is lovely, bean! Perfect. Rather keen on the outdoor hot tubs as well - just right for lounging in with a glass of fizz.

UniS, miniThumb is very like that as well - he sees things, sometimes that he's never seen before and hasn't a clue what they even are - and needs them so badly that he cries if we say no!

Amber - sorry about the linear accelerator rejection - one would have thought that they might have worked out the mismatch in sizes before now, no? Odd people.

MT's tears were at the thought of one day Truffle (the chinchilla) and mistledog dying - because other chinchilla died last christmas - and his friend's new (birthday present guinea pig) died yesterday. That and big school nerves (we did say that he's got nearly a year before he goes there though!)

I was at the glittery willy too - its the sort of thing that you really need to have taken a picture of to use for embarrasment purposes at a later date

Oh poor MC! And how sad that his friend's new guineapig died so quickly (if I've read that aright) - hope the parents go back to wherever they bought it from and have a word!

Yes, they took the other one back because that was also ill - the vet apparently said it was stress that was likely to have caused it - and from what she said it was ill when they picked it up. Just shows you how careful you need to be about the places where you get that sort of thing.

Oh that's terrible :(
I got a traumatised guineapig from the Cambridge Cavy Centre once - I actually got 2 pigs from them when my beloved Humphrey died - the traumatised one didn't like being held, she always showed the whites of her eyes and went rigid if you had to hold her (all the others settled into it eventually but not her). Bless her, she lasted a couple of years with me (no idea how old she was when I got her, she was an RSPCA removal from a farm) but I never really got the feeling that she recovered from her trauma. :(

Talking about guinea pigs, can I come back to the Olga-da-Polga (yes, I realise she is a hamster) books, please. I can buy (new and in hardback) the Tales of Olga-da-Polga with pictures by Catherine Rayner.
Or I can buy (from Amazon only as it is out of print) The complete Adventures of O-d-P with pictures by Hans Helweg. Also in hardback.
Anybody any ideas on what to do?
I must admit that I had never heard of O-d-P until it was mentioned on here.

Is Olga de polga a hamster? she looked like GP on cover of the book I saw in library?

I have Terry Pratchetts new novel "snuff" waiting for me, DH is reading it first while I finish off Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, a whopper of a book.

Went for a LONG walk yesterday afternoon, it was great to be up on teh moor in teh mist. especially when teh mist lifted and I had lovely view across a marshy valley to nearby town.

I think she's a guinea pig too. She lives outside in a hutch anyway, so pretty unlikely to be a hamster I think. I got one of the newly illustrated ones for ds - and its BEAUTIFULLY iillustrated. Each page is interesting to look at.

UniS - that accent of yours - up on teh moor! . Almost like that ones up here.. where it's 't moor (but the 't' is actually more glottlestop than any actual letter).

Talking of which, I wonder whether we'll be singing 'while shepherds' to the tune of 'On Ilkley Moor' (which is quite fun and leads to some interesting repeated sections - I can probably get hold of the music for anyone that's interested)

Thats my favourite carol tune MT, sound fab doesn;t it. particularly in echoy churches, all those repeats.

Olga da Polga is a guineapig. No doubt about it, sorry!

Get the Hans Helweg illustrated version if you can, DutchOma, I think they're the originals and they're lovely.

I also have Snuff waiting for me - it is one of my Christmas presents though, along with Nanny Ogg's cookbook and the 2012 Discworld calendar (bit of an extravagance, I don't need it really but fancied it this year for some reason)

While Shepherds watched their flocks by night, flocks by night
On Ilkley moor baht 'aaa-aatt
....

Yes, I can see it would be quite entertaining! Although I am being silly of course, you'd have
While Shepherds watched their flocks by night, flocks by night
All sea-eated o-o-on the grou-ound

What do you do for the chorus?

So glad that you haven't written t't moor, MT - obviously being from oop that way you know how it goes - my Dad is from Sheffield so I'm very familiar with the accent and get quite agitated when non-Yorkshire people say "Ah'm gowing to t't shop" and it's not - it's 't shop.

Ah yes, Snuff is awaiting me at home too. Can't wait until Christmas

ODP is def a gp.

I have already read Snuff - it arrived on my Kindle the day of release, Fabulous as ever

I sneaked out and went riding this morning on my friends horse. It went really, really well and it boosted my confidence no end

Woohoo to the riding CMot! Although very too

UniS - Wolf Hall is great - really enjoyed it.

Will have to look into Snuff.

While shepherds watched-their-flocks-by Niiiigggght
all se-ea -te-d o -on th-e groooooouuuunnd
The angel of the Lord came Dooooowwwn
The angle of the Lord came Down
And Glory shone around
and glory shone around
And Glo-ry shoooonnne aaaarroound

Sort of like that