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.

WS gets anything he wants from her father whatever language she asks in. She tends to try both languages and if she doesn't like the answer she gets in one language she tries in the other. She also seems to like to wind him up by repeating 'ank oo' when he wants 'merci' then saying 'merci' to me.

How does a bilingual school work? Do they do some things in each language, or all things in both? Or don;t you know yet?

I'll see your "tu et vous" stories and raise you a "Sie und Du" story - one of my mother's friends to her mother's dying day called her mother "Sie" in German. I nearly fell off my chair when I heard that. Wow.

Quickly - Christmas - 'twas fabulous!! Jackbaby started walking in time for Christmas!!!!! We had an enormous turkey dinner on the 25th and then did a literal presents free-for-all, the wrapping paper was flying all over the room and there were boxes everywhere for Jack to toddle over to and fall in face first crawl into. He had so much fun!!!!! He was completely exhausted by 6:30 pm and fell asleep on my lap, head back, mouth open, snoring. Slept until 9 am the next day!!! Wow!! We were actually snowed in over Christmas. Piles and piles and PILES of snow!!!! I have to update my profile and put some snow and Christmas pics on. Will do that later. I have to say we did not have any Gluehwein though, I hate that stuff. Mum and I managed to kill just about the entire contents of the wine rack, however... .

I've missed you all - must dash, just finished work and have to get home to my men, but I promise I will not disappear again for weeks. Can't wait to meet kickassangel (still laughing at tea caling her kissassangel - that was almost as good as someone on another thread calling cargirl callgirl. Since they were telling her off everyone assumed it was an intended insult but actually turned out to be unintentional (and thus even more insulting, LOL)!!!

Smooches all around!

I seem to have forgotten to eat since lunchtime (which admittedly concluded at 3pm) most unlike me. Perhaps a little medicinal champagne?

RS I'd rather you hugged me than rubbed my upper arm, it wobbles! Perhaps you could find somewhere more toned? Erm ... oh god, it's no good, the only way you could do that would be if you patted me on the head.

The glove solution here is to sew them onto a long ribbon and then thread through the sleeves of the coat. It works for BabyBocca and I am sorely tempted to do it for myself!

I've been at a conference for a night which explains my absence last night - otherwise I'd have definitely had a bit of champers... I'll have a glass this evening though to make up for it.

I think that Mellors seems to have been taking style notes from Mr Darcy - particularly with the riding up to the sea and diving in, then emerging with his shirt all wet..... [drool]

I see we have a stable - can anyone tell me what the horse is called, and can anyone borrow him?

Hello, Mistlethrush.

The horse is still unnamed. I'm still waiting for someone - tea, perhaps, as she introduced the horse to the tea room - to tell us what gender it is. Then I think we should decide on a name, although I liked the earlier suggestion of Earl Grey for a bloke horse stallion.

I'm sure anyone can take him/her for a canter.

Cin cin!

Earl Grey is a great name for our mighty stallion! Thank goodness Mellors gave him some food and took him in the barn for the night - we are so busy looking after the champagne and fire it never crossed any of our minds...

With your fascinators and new notion for group hugging you lot are really reminding me of something...

But I can't quite think what....

www.comcast.com/MediaLibrary/1/1/About/PressRoom/Images/LogoAndMediaLibrary/Photography/CableNetwork s/Teletubbies-Group2.jpg

Just thinking is this place for me? Will call back another time just a little shy? Could do with a little tea and cake but its late and I can see you've all had a bit too much.

Here, starbear. That should keep you warm and cosy on your walk home. Now you know the way to the tea room, will you promise to come back soon? We do our best to make everyone feel welcome and we're having a membership drive at the moment.

Tea - woke WS by laughing out loud!

Can't wait for daylight to see what colour our horse is.

I loved horse books when little. One of my favourites was 'Fly-by-night' by KM Peyton about a girl who bought a pony with pocket money and kept it in the garden. It was a non-descript sort of brown.

My favourite colour in horses is black and white like a fresian cow but I don;t think this one is.

Hey, a horse!! How did I miss that?? I haven't ridden in so long! Must get acquainted with Earl Grey.

Right the. When I say "I haven't ridden in so long" what I really mean is that horses graciously allow me to sit on them and usually ignore my attempts at guiding them with heel kicks and rein tugs.
(I just know that someone in the tearoom is going to be dreadfully disappointed by this confession, thinking that surely a girl from Western Canada should be able to gallop along in a Western style saddle, possibly twirling a lasso and boldly leaping cow pasture fences and splashing through streams... sadly, these are fantasies of mine, no more than that. I last went on a trail ride 15 weeks pregnant with Jackbaby, and had the worst case of the giggles thinking of him bouncing around in there, sort of bungee-jumping on his umbilical cord, shaking his tiny little fist and yelling, "Mama, stop shaking the house!!!")

We have had a trying evening because Jackbaby fell over backwards on one of his walking attempts and bit his tongue and bled for a few hours. Not huge gobs of blood, but steady leaking from his poor tongue. I phoned the BC Nurse Line to ask what, if anything, could be done about it and hung up fuming - the stupid twat bloody nincompoop on the phone could be heard turning the pages of a book in the background and came back on the line asking if we could put pressure on the bleeding area with a gauze pad!! The sarcasm in my voice was barely restrained when I asked her, "you did hear me say it was his tongue he bit??". Pause. Her: "I take it you can't?"

Grrrrr.

We eventually decided not to worry too much, as he seemed perfectly unconcerned, and in fact, was happier than we were! He kept toddling around, playing, and we occasionally cringed at the bloody drool running down his chin and smearing his lips and wiped it off. He eventually settled for a nap and I don't think it's bleeding any more... but his shirt, which I am not changing until he goes to bed in case it starts up again (why bloody another shirt?) makes him look like a prizefighter!!!

Could someone pass me some (more) champagne?

And by the way welcome starbear, please, do come back, we would love to meet you!

Oh, and a special (((HUG))) for RS, for hugging me first, without a cold, LOL! ((((Smooch))))

Minor mouth injurie bleed LOADS, and then it gets mixed with saliva and looks even worse. My friend's DD once tripped over my bag strap and went into a door frame, knocked her mouth - SO MUCH BLOOD, ARGH. When it finally stopped enough to see what was going on there was just nothing there.

On an entirely unrelated note JM your profile comments about CSI made me laugh - I do watch Miami, but only for the comedy/cringe value. Often to be found hiding under a cushion muttering 'oh no, Horatio is going to say something 'witty' ... argh!' I actually went into labour during an episode of CSI, though I don't remember which one (Vegas or Miami tho, DD is older than NY!), and DD was subjected to rather a lot of it as a newborn.

Thanks Don'tCallMeBaby, I think 9 am is a perfectly fine time to drink champagne... as is noon, early afternoon, evening, or, for that matter, the middle of the night!
Cheers!

I could have used some champagne in the middle of the night as Jackbaby's tongue started bleeding again. He sleeps cuddled into me so we were both streaked with gore when we got up this morning. He had a rough night, poor mite. It must have hurt to nurse - he'd latch on, pull off and whimper until my milk let down (at which point it jets into his mouth and he really doesn't have to work for it). And he did this every hour or so... yaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnn...

DCMS, have you heard that this week Grissom is leaving CSI? I have to watch that episode. I hated it when Sarah left the show, and now Grissom is going... I may as well stick to watching CSI NY then. LOL at cringing at Horatio - same here!!

May I share my theory of CSI with you all? It is - especially in the case of CSI Miami - essentially a pantomine. (Do you have pantomine in Canada, jacksmama? I'm assuming you do as one of the more benign side-effects of being in the Commonwealth!). That, I think, explains a lot: the stylised performances, the set-pieces (Horatio's mournful glances to camera), the bizarrely stilted dialogue, the absurd costumes (well, accessories). Signor Bocca would watch CSI 24/7 if he could. I'm rather tired of it but I shall be sorry to see Grissom leave, as he is one of the more interesting characters.

One thing I never tire of - deftly changes the subject - is champagne. Who'd like a glass?

www.amazon.co.uk/Francescos-Venice-Complete-Francesco-Mosto/dp/B000F3T918

Due to the unbearable weather and our colds refusing to budge we spent the best part of today learning about Venice - fab stuff!!!

Aaahhh. Francesco. The thinking woman's Italian pin-up.

Cheers, tea!

No champagne tonight, thanks. Feeling in need of comfort. A cup of tea, I think, and a plaid rug - if Earl Grey has finished with it.

What is CSI????

Evening all. JM I hope that tongue injury is now improved - cuts in mouths do bleed a lot, but at least they heal quickly too, so I hope that things are better now.

I've managed to take Earl Grey out for a good gallop along the edge of the surf - we both enjoyed it alot. Luckily he is one of those horses that is almost easier to ride bareback rather than with a saddle (built like a sofa) so we didn't get the saddle all wet and salty - although I have rubbed the bridle over so there is a nice sadlesoap smell which has come in from outside with me. I apparently missed Mellors swimming today though - perhaps the sea was too cold.

I must say that I've rather gone off CSI - I have, however, become rather caught up with NCIS - at least it doesn't take itself too seriously and sends itself up at times. I quite like Bones too - although its a bit confusing with the main male lead being played by 'Angel' from Buffy (not that I really watched much of that I hasten to add !)

Here's a nice cup of tea. Would you like a muffin to go with it? I think we all need a little extra comfort on a Sunday evening. Please don't worry about Earl Grey - he has his own very fine blanket. (Note to self: must go back to My Little Pony thread to learn some more horsey vocabulary.)

CSI is Crime Scene Investigation. It's been going for several years and there are now three variants: CSI Las Vegas (the original), CSI Miami and CSI New York. In each case, there is a forensic scientist who leads a team of investigators, all of whom are good-looking and could probably get work as models. Many of them have ishoos (one is an ex-Marine who wife was killed on 9/11, for example, and another has progressive hearing loss). Channel 5 seems to run several series concurrently, so it's possible to spend almost the entire evening watching CSI. A new series starts tonight, I think. I used to enjoy it - an early but later abandoned career ambition was to be a forensic scientist - but have lost interest now.

Anyone else for a drink?

Hi, mistlethrush. Sorry I didn't see you come in.

I've never watched NCIS and haven't even heard of Bones. What else is worth watching on the goggle box? I've been buying DVDs recently as an alternative.

I am watching Christianity A History (or something like that) on the TV which we have hidden behind the aspidistra. And dh is discussing it and he has just suggested that I should speak English to dd. (A bond has suddenly been forged between our two separate sofas, Bocca!)

Watching an episode of CSI with a very small portion of my brain right now - I really should be making a packed lunch, putting together a slow cooker casserole for tomorrow, and worst of all, ironing something to wear for work tomorrow.

Ooh! I had meant to watch that!

.

A bond? Entente cordiale in the Snake abode? Excellent!

Ironing! I knew there was something I ought to be doing.

Speaking of sofas - what does everyone else call it - sofa, settee or couch? Dh, being French, calls it a 'canape' even in English, as in 'dd is balancing on the canape again', giving rise to an image of a toddler balanced precariously on a vol-au-vont.