Tea room the Eighth - sun, sea, sangria, and perhaps a sandy Mellors

[DontCallMeBaby]

Greetings, welcome to the eighth incarnation of the tearoom.

The tearoom has been, and will be again, a virtual safe haven for anyone up for rather random chat and a comprehensive range of virtual snacks. Nothing in the tearoom will make you fat, or drunk (unless you want it to) or cause an allergic reaction.

The new tearoom location is a beautiful beachside cafe (no need for factor 50, the virtual sun will just lightly tan you, bring out your freckles or simply warm your skin, as you prefer) with a range of garden swings, hammocks, sunloungers, deckchairs etc (as well as a rather incongruous, but well-loved, chaise longue). For those in need of sanctuary, we have managed to fashion a new priesthole out of woven grasses.

Our fellow residents include Mellors the rugged gardener of few-but-well-chosen words, the naked mohawk babies, a coterie of bishops, various domestic pets, and a selection of others. On the human side, all are welcome - while we live in the One Child topic some regulars have more than one, and we are welcome all (except people who put their heads on one side and tell those of us with one child that it's just not fair to have only one child).

Please help yourself to a glass of Champagne and a canape on the way in ...

MadBad I think it's safe to say that JuanGa's biggest fans were once teeny-boppers but are now more likely to be eyeing up the grandkids...

He is immensely popular though and does transcend his original fanbase. This is what makes me want to compare him to Halliday, really.

Personally I find him quite monstrous. But I'm British, what do I know ?

Daisy, I love it when you drop in. You say the nicest things.

Wriggle slept till 9am, since her 'elliptical world view' led her to insist that it was 'a tiny bit morning' right up to 11pm last night, leading to a blazing row and door slamming by her sleep-deprived parents. All very sleep deprived and grumpy all day.

Not sure what to do about fantastic weather. My instinct is to let her stay up to enjoy the evenings, which are magical, and let her sleep in the day, but the rhythm of life around her is of England, not Spain, so that means that we none of us can lead our normal lives.

Agree w/ RS. I heart Daisy. And all the rest of you.

Did someone say sticky toffee pudding???

Oo meant to say, holiday was really good, we went to St Jean de Monts, in the Vendee. Apart from the first day when it tipped down, the weather was totally scorching, had to keep jumping into the pool to cool down! Which reminds me, I saw a dead ringer for Mellors when I was over there , staying at the same holiday place.

Oh yes MaryBS - that will be Mellor's French cousin. He also has Italian cousins.

This is because Mellors is half French, half Italian but grew up a very beautiful village in Scotland. Hense his unpredictable but always very pleasing to the ear and eye accent!

oh - update on the ENT.

We found the place - horray!!! Then were quickly called in - double horray!!!!

The dr had a charming and relaxed manner and said to Milk "Hey, come over here with me..." And took her into the audio room to use some of the equipment in there to look at her ears.

She walked out of he room infront of him rubbing her ear.

"Mummy, why man go into my ear?" She giggled.

So I don't know about you but immediately I imagined him shrinking himself to the size of say a small pea and walking into her ear - which made me giggle quite a lot!

Milk has to take lots of meds and then return on certain dates for observation of their success... nothing too scary.... phew!

I see Gerard has found the Bolly. There's a surprise but at least he's gentleman enough to offer it round....

What my mangoes?? its the veiw from our balcony. we look down the valley to the sea 10 miles away, with rolling hills covered in patchwork style feils and trees on the left hand horizon. On an evening like tonight we sit out there as teh sun goes down behind us and just enjoy it.

Daisy- its normally bouncy castles boy remembers, he doesn;t like them, but is fasinated by them at teh same time. most weeks on teh way into Mums & tots he comments " bouncy castle gone, S make it stop" There was bouncy castle ONCE, last August, for ONE afternoon, and yes S was in charge and turned it off at end of teh session.

Oh, custard- yes please. I deserve custard and sticky toffee pudding. Had a Smeer test today, and blood, and check for fibriods (neg) and any thing else teh Dr could think of while she was up there IYSWIM. Would rather have been at keep fit, but it was teh only appt I could get at a time when boys at preschool.

V hot in Devon, have managed to persuade boy NOT to wear long winter PJs, tonight, hope hes OK in pants and T-shirt and his 10 tog duvet. That kids coloured sun screen lotion seems to be turning him a gentle green colour.
I'm now on stand by to scoop up one of boys ( girl) friends for mum having her 2nd, she did have it all so
sorted but now 1st choice best friend has a daughter pickled in chicken pox. SO we are on stand by till friday night when granny returns to town. Could be fun if I have 3 kids to look after & take to mums & tots on friday as already having boys bestest (boy) mate while his mum is teaching.

T42 - glad yoru ENT thing was OK, LOL at incredible shrinking Dr.
Amber-- nice consise easter explanation. We ducked teh subject somewhat this year. Christmas story gets boy all upset about Baby J and his mummy and daddy not being able to go home to their house because of the soldiers in their town. I've avoided telling about the massacre ...

MaryBS - The Vendee? We have been there for the last five years. I heart the Vendee - it is so lovely isn't it? If you're there at the right time of year (end of the summer, so not viable once one is chained to the school year) there's a fabulous horse festival on the beach at St Jean de Monts. Have you ever been? MadBadBloke, whose French is, ahem, rudimentary, was interviewed there for French radio!

I'm enjoying the warm weather too. Which is a good thing, as I am mourning sending what began life as my single-girl-about-town car and was latterly an old banger to the scrap yard yesterday. May I propose a toast to Jean-Paul Peugeot? May he rest in peace (or, more likely, pieces). And may I add to the generally lovesome vibe tonight? Hugs, waves and supportive nods of the head all round.

Now I have balcony envy.

And sea view envy.

10 tog duvet I bought MJ a 4.5 tog duvet and he can't even use it mid-winter!!!! He has a cotton cellular blanket (bought at a great discout to my glee (only £4 for a standard single) - and its red!) with one of his old cot quilts on top - which is a lot thinner - normally these end up squashed at the side or over his head....

Do like the sound of the fields, sea view and sunshine

ye 10 tog. its his lighter weight one! He DOES have a north facing room, not sun at all after 10am, two outside walls and teh least well insulated bit of teh roof. Also on groud floor so no rising heat from other rooms. He likes to be hot in bed or so he says.

I've taken away the duvets altogether, just using the duvet covers. DS not entirely happy about it, as he likes the feel of the duvet (I do too, tbh), but he's not very good at regulating his heat, so I don't want him getting too hot!

Madbad, this is the second year we've been, we went last year about the same time too, so I've not been to see the horsey thing you mention... DD would love it, I'm sure!

Hello all, I am a bit at all the nice things being said, thank you lovely lovley loved up lovelies

I am now rather envious that DaisyBoy doesn't have an ear doctor. Maybe we need one

Oh, Duvet!! I have been peeling duvet off, finally hid it. Daisyboy resorting to putting a muslin over his face (do your DCs like to cover their faces) that plus tucking him up in his baby celullar blanket (not red sadly) made him look like a little mummy last night!

Racing I compromise on the up at night thing, we get Daisyboy to bed about 8:30 - 8:45 at the moment - hte best balance between light, sleep, natural rhytms, and still some time for drinking wine adult conversation! I agree I hate being chained to clocks, particularly when they are little and don't need to be!

Here's a nice pot of fresh ground coffee and some fresh muffins. They're bran so they're positivly good for you!

MadBad, sad to hear about the passing of your car. Will there be a new one, or are you going environmentally-friendly and taking to walking/riding/cycling/ballooning?

Still very tired after yesterday.

Amber - Thank you. I knew that you would understand! There won't be a new one, as there was a new one a few years ago, if you see what I mean. We kept the old one for ridiculous sentimental reasons because we occasionally need two cars so that we can each do our own vehicular thing, but we decided that that was a costly extravagance. So we have reduced our carbon footprint by downsizing from being a two car family. Now even our car is an only!

Now, would you like a rest on the deck chair on the verandah? Gerard seems to have dozed off and his snoring can't be heard above the lapping of the waves.

Lewd roll and increasingly ripe goats cheese for lunch, anyone?

An increasingly ripe goat? Blimey, yes please I'll have some cheese from that.

Stomach a little tender, so I will skip the ripe goat, if I may... now there's an image, a skipping ripe goat! Perhaps its ripe due to over exertion!

This fitness mania has even reached the goats, look at them all in their paddock with their skipping ropes. Do you think teh Bishops will jump on the bandwagon and become experts at double dutch?

Don't tempt them. I had enough difficulties with them and the trampoline

I heard on the radio earlier this week that the GB football team for the 2012 Olympics was likely to consist solely of English players. Do you think that, in the same way, the gymnastics and trampolining teams might comprise only bishops?

Talking about trampolining bishops...

Back home again, sore of foot, hoarse of voice, and suffering from a) drinking more than I am acustomed to and b) staying up late and getting up early.

Over the course of this trip, I set foot outside on two occasions only. This was not good, especially as the hotel overlooked the ferry to Toronto island, and I could see all the families going to do nice things there from the meeting rooms.

DH and DS survived without me, and DH is v v happy as is a finalist in an industry award