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.

Nothing shame-inducing in my parenting methods, I assure you (well, only my own shame ). I too read Wouldn't You Like To Be One Of These Green Handknitted Virtuous Organic Parents and tried to live by its strictures. We too have fallen short in numerous ways - after all, we have taken our child to The Heart Of Darkness Disneyland Paris and BabyBocca has single-handedly doubled the average number of hours of television watched by the typical UK child - but I do remain quite puritanical about her food. Hence I 'lost' the Fruit Shoots which we won on a school tombola and had to wear a paper bag on my head as we ordered her happy meal.

'Twill all rebound on me when she is a teenager, snorting raw sugar from the packet.

Anyone ready yet for a glass of champagne and healthy dose of vitamin B (aka a handful of twiglets)?

Tea - But think of the food miles in that!

But all waitrose food is flown on the back of pure white doves washed in chanel and fed on manna and mineral water!

Very fraught evening, starting off with me allowing Racingpig to share some spagetti because it was so sweet (Greek chorus of MNers chant 'What was she thinking, thinking, thinking?'), moving on to WS sharing my plate because she was tired and at least that way she would eat something (chorus wags left index finger in unison, singing 'It'll all end in tears, ooh ooh ooh') and ending up with WS spitting a mouthful of carrot onto the floor, getting screamed at and sweeping everything onto the floor. And it ended in tears. Probably everyone except Pig.

So double fruit shoot large G&T please.

I wonder - if you mixed fruit shoot and gin, would you end up with something like a Bacardi Breezer or WKD? Could we market this, all royalties to the Bocca pension fund deserving charities?

Thanks for the reassurance about the air miles, Tea. Now I'm worrying whether we might be picketed by animal liberationists.

Oh dear, Racingsnake.

That does sound traumatic. Is WS now safely tucked up in her (your? can't for the moment remember who co-sleeps and who doesn't) little truckle bed? Here - have a very large gin and modest tonic and first choice of tonight's array of snacks.

I'm sticking with my trusty champagne. Let's have a toast to a better tomorrow.

Mamma Mia I's all Italian nowwow!!!!

Cheers! Pig - get back to the sofa and ponder on the error of your ways.

Splutter! Well this certainly puts the rough back into chianti ruffino!

Quiet here tonight! No doubt a pall is being cast on the atmosphere by Pig repenting leading WS astray.

Time for another one before you go?

I could do with a glass - just got back from a Committee meeting that lasted too long. We'v ehad a v. good day today (sorry RS) - ds back at school - and he's had a very good day!!!!

Digital frame - Comet - got a high definition one for £50ish.

Fruit shoots: ds has only ever had one at the birthday party of a new school friend. I couldn't really say I don't let my son drink that !!!! I don't believe that he has had a gregs sausage roll yet....

One glass of chilled champagne coming right up, Mistle. What was the committee - work or (this hardly seems the right word) pleasure?

Cin cin!

Just quickly popping in to drop off soup - Nigella's chestnut soup, unfortunately wtih almost all ingredients substituted due to store cupboard inadequacies. Still rather good, due to Nigella-ish halo around it.

Just went into the staff room to heat up left-over spagetti (for various reasons there was rather a lot left over) and heard teacher saying "-a bit odd, only having one." And I charged in with my statistics that 10% of children are onlies, probably more now, and much more common on the Continent. I presume Bocca will know the actual statistic, but 10% sounds good to me. Most minority groups are claimed to be 10% of the population at some point.

You do have to be endlessly vigilent against this only-ist tendancy, don't you.

Mistle, glad you had a good day. Sort of balances things out cosmically

Mmmm. What delicious soup. Thank you.

I'm flattered by your faith that I will know the percentage of children who are onlies. Sadly I don't and, although I like to think I'm a dab hand at Google, I haven't been able to find the relevant statistics for the UK. (I have found a magazine about only children, for which I've started another thread, and an only child website).

I did, though, also find these:

UK statistics on average family size: these show that (for example) 37% of families headed by a married couple have one child. This, apparently, is the lowest percentage for any family type.

Statistics from Norway which show that, in 2004, 4.6% of children in Norway had no siblings.

I'm intrigued now and will have another delve through the statistical sites tomorrow!

MJ has managed a 2nd day of being good at school in a row!!!!!

He also invited his teacher to his birthday party - not that we've arranged it, booked the hall or set the date yet...

Committee - to do with choir I'm in - fundraising mainly

I had a meeting that started at 10am this morning. I snuck out at 3.15 in order to pick ds up from school - rather late (3.20 is the time I normally arrive, although we are given leaway until 4pm...) Thankfully sandwiches were brought in, and we did switch topics after lunch, then change locations and add a couple of new people... Still, it could have been achieved in much less time if one of the people had a 'summarise' button that could be pressed before he started....

Woohoo for MJ !!!

It's -10 here. Unusually, we are staying in the city centre and actually had an hour to shop after work. And were sorely depressed at the prices of everything with the current exchange rate, so nothing bought in spite of some luuuuvvvvverly boots and even nicer coats being spotted.

We had reindeer for dinner (am here with colleague who is mum of three), but prob best not to tell the children

Its not that much warmer here!!!

dh recommends crocodile and kangaroo too. Ostrich has become commonplace - stall at local farmer's market. One of the other local ones has waterbuffaloo too.

You'll just have to do some window shopping and get some links to similar so that we can all drool. Hope it goes well

Way-hay to MJ from me too.

Although I very willingly eat meat, I am irrationally averse to eating reindeer (or rabbit or venison). I blame Walt Disney!

The exchange rate is svery dpressing, sin't it? The credit card bill from our Christmas shopping in France has sent me into deep gloom. I shall lok forward to the virtual window-shopping.

Shall we crack open the champagne? Or schnapps (or Finnish equivalent)?

very depressing isn't look

B- See me after class

I'm a staunch vege - dh (and MJ) are staunch omnivores - both are quite happy to eat rabbit, venison, ostrich, waterbufaloo...

MJ ed my mil by anouncing one day "I love animals. I love eating cow, sheep, pig, chicken, ducks, fishes...'. He has also been known to gaze at the carp in a NT pond and (when under 2 I might add) say 'fishy yum yum'

I admit that I always have reindeer here, and love it. We have some ostrich sausages in the freezer that I have yet to eat.

Having had a rather large glass of wine at dinner (and winced at the price as booze is v v expensive here, thus why all Finns drink v heavily when out of country), I'll have a decaff latte

at MJ

But that's great! Far too many children don't understand where their food comes from (not that I'm suggesting you supplement the family diet by fishing in NT ponds)!

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Good evening, all.

Intrigued and fascinated by Tea's message. Could it be in Finnish?

I remember having the absolutely lovely and charming son from the local abbatoir in my class who was desperate to show the class round the family business ... we didn't take him up on it.

Just spotted who has dropped in for a chat.

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to you, too, Milk. Sorry I didn't realise who was speaking - you were hidden behind the charmingly faded sofa.