The One and Only Tea Room: Tea, muffins and champagne served at all hours

[BoccaDellaNativita]

Well folks, here we are!

We were on the brink of filling the old thread so I thought we'd better start a new one now. There was a rumour that we were going to be evicted from our old premises, but we managed right at the last minute to get an extension on the lease. So it's business as usual. We're still in our charming old tea room, overlooking our beautiful garden complete with ha-ha and duck pond. And Mellors the gardener.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink.

Oh, that's quite an old thread from before MadBad's accident. The poor old dear.

Rosamund Lehmann? That would be excellent. Will dust off my green Viragos. But then so would Jane Austen.

Oh Bocca, poor old MadBad I thought she had revived...

Yes, I think books are the better for being Green Viragos...

Did you ever go the whole hog and have black and white striped Women's Press?? [smug I was an 80s feminist emoticon]

By the way, T42 I bet the police wouldn't have been so apple pie if they'd known about your form my dear!

Poinsettia - were you reading the Women's Press in your pram? You are surely not old enough to have read them otherwise. Alternatively, please tell me what skincare you use, darling. (And what a reversal that you have gone from Virago to My Children Are Gifted Models. Please don't give me that old guff about how prancing about in skimpy clothing and excessive amounts of lipgloss is "empowering".)

Mellors has always been rather evasive about why his previous employment came to a sudden end. At his interview, he just muttered something about a breakdown in his relationship with his employer, who I gather was quite a well-to-do sort and possibly had a title.

I'd be interested to read the book he's donated, then.

Oh, Bocca, darling, I am just about to climb up off the floor laughing

You may remember some posts ago (oh, about a 1000 or so) my mum gave me Boots face serum for my 40th birthday - said I needed it - but I have taken the Georgia O'Keefe route - or "my faces looks like corrugated cardboard" route...

Don't worry, I'm not in the lipgloss mag - if I was I wouldn't be lurking here would I?

Stands to reason!

I must, however, confess that sometimes I find my breast implants get in the way of housework a little - but one can never do enough to ensure one is always on tip top form can one? [musing emoticon]

Why am I awake when in less than 3 hours I have to get up and take an invalid and a two-year old on holiday???

How wonderful to be given Boots face serum! I have had some in the bathroom for ages. Sadly it seems to make little difference. As soon as I have time I shall try rubbing it into my face to see whether that helps.

Love the idea of evenings wearing tweed and long scarves, sipping fine wine by candlelight and discussing literature. Have just realised that the only place I will ever get to read another book is the tea room, hence the relying on the favourites of my youth. Does anyone remember the episode of the Vicar of Dibley with the book group, where no-one had actually read the book and they ended up discussing the ony book they all knew? (Winnie The Pooh)

Am awestruck that I actually know the cover family in Don't You Feel Inferior.

On balance, I think I shall just think italic in the future and scatter a few ^^ over the sentence when I have finished. My time would be put to better use making non-plastic and ethically acceptable lego bricks from Fair Trade tea bags (See p16 of DYFI) or putting lip gloass on Racingpig for the photoshoot. Or sleeping.

There's a jug of bellini on the counter, and some smoked nuts.

We went to Waitrose in Cheltenham today. DH shopped whilst I took DS to listen to the Christian Aid choir outside, and then to have lunch (little darling scooped 90% of the rice, and 70% of the chicken korma off my plate into the poppadum bowl before I had even sorted the table out and troughed it down). My, it was stepping into the pages of Don't You Feel.. in there. Little Jocastas everywhere

I note that RacingPig is staying with us, rather than going to Brussels.

Great to see you, cmot! I've been sitting here in the firelight, having a very relaxing time reading the book that Mellors donated to our bookshelves.

I can quite understand why he has been so reticent about his career history. Ahem.

Anyway .... Cheltenham .... Waitrose .... Jocasta .... yes, it certainly does sound as if you stepped into the pages of Don't You Feel. (Has Cmottiddler got Lauren Child's Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Book, by the way, in which something very similar happens?)

I've got a jug of Poinsettia here, by the way, if you'd like to share.

Just don't flick through the DVD pile that he left though . We shall have to make those into tree decorations forthwith.

We do have that, but it is in the 'awaiting reading' pile as he hasn't been terribly impressed by the LC books at the moment. I think its the funny typefaces as he has decided to learn to read for reasons best known to himself, and isn't very happy about handwritten things either. I shall fish it out later though and read it.

Tonight we read 'Jesus' Birthday Party' and for some reason it made me feel quite snivelly. Very strange. Mum is bringing 'The Christmas Miracle of Jonathon Toomey' with her, and I now know I will sob over it.

I felt very nostalgic reading the discussion about Virago/Womens Press books from last night. The Paperback Bookshop in Oxford had a whole section for Virago, and as a teenager I read a lot of them, and acquired Womens Press ones from secondhand shops, or from mums shelves.

DH has gone to bed. In RL I have a large glass of grapefruit vodka and coke (I never drink on my own normally). I so hope we are all better very, very soon

I believe all tears shed over 'The Miracle of Jonathon Toomey' turn into angels! And when every page is turned on a Virago press book a bra suddenly burns itself! Long live the magic of Jonathon Toomey and long live Virago press books!!!

I have been -watching- -Juno- sitting in a cave all night waiting for someone to come read with me and drink wine...

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/adult_fiction/670150-The-secret-meeting-cave

What do you think mystic, weird and geeky enough to draw a few -looneys- fellow book lovers...?

--watching Juno

watching Juno

Remind me, cmot, how old is your son and heir? BabyBocca has always loved all LC books but I do remember that stage of not liking to read anything apart from very plain typefaces and definitely nothing hand-written.

And we went to the LC exhibition in Manchester in the summer, which itself was somewhat Don't You Feel Inferior-ish - lots of Jocastas and Peregrines. But, to be fair, it was rather poncey of us to drive all the way to Manchester for the sake of indulging BabyBocca's Charlie and Lola fetish.

I too am feeling nostalgic about Virago. I'm just starting to force myself to (gasp) throw away old books that I know I'll never re-read, as otherwise we too will have to relocate to somewhere where we can afford a house with a library. But the Virago books survive every purge, as they represent my student years in paperback form.

I really do have a jug of Poinsettia. Our Christmas party was more-than-decimated by winter vomiting and so I over-catered.

Hurray!!!!!!!!! Third time lucky with der whole cwossin' aut fin!!!!!!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBDbUVXXp-U

I shall pop over forthwith ! Although all my fiction books are in my office, which is too cold to venture into tonight to get exact phrases from

If it is a classic... google it !!!

DS is, um, 2 year and 6 months . Don't know why I'm embarrassed by this wish to read, and my brother and I were very early readers, and this is a very literary household. He has about 10 reliable sounds, a number of words, and can blend, but everything else is 'whats that say'

We are in the luxurious situation of currently having more shelf space than books, which is leading to serious spending at the fab charity bookshop. Based on the things written on the boxes of books during our previous moves, I'm worried about what the movers will say next time. And my mother is now insisting that some jointly owned series have to move here as she is triple stacked in places

Do you have a long straw to the jug Bocca ?

Tea - Watching Juno is very much to be encouraged. It was my 'date' with Signor Bocca last Valentine's Day and we play the soundtrack in the car constantly. BabyBocca loves the line about 'Fark Bush and fark the war'.

We are bad parents.

I watched it in alone!

Well - Because it is not in Russian, four hours long and a bit fuzzy with a shaking camera DH is not interested.

DD did walk in on birth scene and screamed "WOW - BAy-Beee!!!"

"Heeeeeeellllloooooo" anyone here tonight????

"Heeeeeeellllloooooo" anyone here tonight????

Have been wrapping a zillion presents and so didn't have a hand free for MNing. How are you?