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!

These days there are also Witte Pieten, which rather defeats the object of the exercise which is as Donki says.

administered

Yes, but what I'm still struggling with is why, if the character is meant to be of black appearance, it should be a white person blacked-up. I cannot think of any instance where it would be considered acceptable in the UK to have a white person blacked-up, rather than a black person in the role. It seemed rather retrograde to me. Anyway.

I understand what you mean Maud, but if (and I freely admit I am not sure) the imp is black because they have come from the fires of hell, and so are all over soot, why should they be naturally black of skin?

Or I could be completely wrong.

Morris dancing - perfectly acceptable for boarder morris teams to wear black facepaint ( and mirror shades and top hats) the tradition I believe is one of disguise &changing ones appearance to avoid notice and inhibitions. back in the day the blacking would have been soot, charcoal or coal dust. Nowadays its face paint.

I had read that Black peter started out as an imp/ devil but at some point gained curly hair...

Hello!

Welcome back Scout! Hope that you and TS get back to 'normal' quickly.

CMOT - please have a drink at the champagne bar at Schipol for me! I have many fond memories of starting long-haul trips there with DH (pre-Small Bean).

The thing about Black Peter - would it be worse to have a black person in the role being the imp/devil, possibly suggesting to the weak-minded that all black people are imps/devils, than to have a white person blacked up to signify the soot and it could happen to anyone? Interesting point.

JM - sorry, I missed the curt emails from your "dad" as well. If he wants to behave like a spoilt toddler over it as well as your half-sister, then please consign his opinion to the trashcan as well. It's where it belongs. You are a lovely person, you have done the right thing in pointing out the practicalities of her extremely selfish visit and if she wants to take umbrage over it, that's her problem, not yours!

MT - DH was born mid 1970s and in Australia; I somehow doubt that Ivor the Engine was a common feature of children's tv over here! He has a ridiculous attitude to it as well,saying it's "old technology" - yes, that's half its charm! But then he doesn't much like T&J either - never watched that, only Looney Tunes.

I thought black peter was sooty black rather than dark of skin hue. Dirty rather than black. But I'm not an expert. I would expect him more grubby a la chimney sweep than blacked up a la black & White minstrels.

Yes, yes, yes. That's exactly it, Oxeye. These people didn't look grubby a la chimney sweep. They were blacked-up in a way that I haven't seen since the Black and White Minstrels and actors blacking-up to play Othello. That's what I found so (to put it mildly) incongruous.

Ooo yes I can see why

Yes, that's the nub of the problem. Even if the intention was simply to convey grubbiness/singed by the fiery pit-ness, it looked like something else and I think that in the UK (at least, around here) that sort of ambiguity would have been avoided.

Sounds very different then Maud - I was thinking about a bit of black facepaint like the border Morris.

No chance of champagne Bean - accounts object to you expensing a chocolate bar these days (no joke), though I am currently sitting at Schipol with a nice gingerbread latte as my breakfast. The decorations are v pretty

A quick whine -- my camera bag is missing.

At first MrScout thought he left it on the plane or the bus from the plane to the terminal. But after thinking about it he remembers putting the bag on the trolley, in the little basket but doesn't remember it after that so we think someone nicked it at baggage collection (we separated because of passports I still don't have my British one though entitled, so I always take TS, who's too young for fast tracking through IRIS or the biometric queue, with me and meet MrScout at baggage claim). MrScout already had all of the luggage off the belt when TS and I got through. I never thought to question MrScout about it he was in charge of (most) of the carry-ons and I was in charge of Toddler and we're both anal retentive about our camera bags. I am gutted -- I hadn't downloaded the holiday pictures and was going to do it today (that's how I realized we didn't have it). MrScout has lots of pictures from Thanksgiving Day, but I had pictures of Toddler playing at the airport, having breakfast with his Grandmom, playing with his Grandad, etc. I could cry I'm so gutted.

I have been making calls and need to send an email. MrScout is going to see about getting CCTV footage to see if it was nicked and then report it. Then we're going to claim on the insurance for it -- there were two cameras in it plus a lens. But it's never going to get Thanksgiving holiday pictures back nor TS's National Trust passport stamp book (which lives in the bag so we always have it for spur-of-the-moment trips to a NT site) which needed less than 10 stamps to get his certificate.

I know it's not life and death, so trust me, I have perspective on it, but I really could cry. I was already emotional about leaving now this.

I need .

Oh, Scout, that's horrible. I'm not sure whether the airport authority will release the CCTV footage (and I assume there will be some) to passengers but if you report it to the police now as a theft - because all the evidence points to it being a theft - they may be able to obtain it.

Have some , and, if you want it, a soothing foot rub from Mellors.

Thanks Maud.

Like I said, I know it's not life and death an all, but it's getting me in the heart. I could cry.

Yes, I think MrScout's going to start the reporting process tonight when he gets home.

But at least he has pictures of TS playing with his (3rd) cousins, etc. Shame I don't have the other ones. Just remembered -- Toddler's first "CHEESE!" (grinning a the camera shouting "CHEESE!") picture is on there, too.

Poor you. I have a friend whose child deleted her favourute pictures. She described it as a period of mourning fir the memories.

for, obviously

When I've had stuff stolen, I think what has grieved me most in the end - even more than the loss of the things - is being on the receiving end of such horrible behaviour. You're entitled to be upset and angry, Scout, about the loss of the photos but where I would part company from Serpent's friend is that her child didn't delete her memories, s/he deleted the photos. They're not the same thing, although in our digital snap-happy culture we sometimes (me included) think they are.

That's a good way to describe it, Serpent, mourning for the memories.

Did I mention Toddler went to bed last night around 7:15ish and I had to wake him up at 11 a.m.? This was after a four-hour, "I don't want to wake up stop waking me up Mom!" nap when we to got to my ILs. He fell asleep in the car home and this evening he went to bed half an hour early (6:30 instead of 7). I'm blaming late flight out of PHL, not a brilliant sleep on the plane and jet-lag or should I be worried how much he's sleeping?

I think it's deleting the physical evidence of the memory. So while for now I remember the moment of "CHEESE!" in 20 years I might not unless looking at the photo.

There is part of me that thinks "You were in Terminal 5. Heathrow's Terminal 5! You clearly just got off an international flight which means you're probably working (just come from a business trip or on holiday, which was paid for by working) why the f*(^ did you need to steal a camera bag?!"

I'm just glad none of our passports were in the bag (where I might have been tempted to throw them in an effort not to lose them after meeting the Border Agency). I'm a fan of keeping my passport in my pocket while in the air but am always afraid cautious of being pickpocketed at the airport.

bummer scout.
glad you 3 got back safe tho. Let him sleep. it'll be all teh things you said re travel and funny hours.

More ??
Choc box of requirement?

Someone has hacked into my email account, which has consequently been closed for at least 24 hours, meaning I can't do lots of things I need to do for work.

on your behalf, Serp! More stupid people doing stupid things!