Tea Room the Ninth: I love rock and roll, put another dime in the juke box baby

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

Welome to the ninth incarnation of the tea room. It's been a long and eventful road, from a tea room overlooking a cathedral garden to a beachside cafe, with a diversion via a yurt. Now - voila - we are in a music lounge. We cater for all tastes and, as this is a tea room of requirement, it manages simultaneously to be many things at once. For some, it is a 70s glam rock disco with a cool boho edge - glitter balls, smoke machine and much wearing of platform shoes and eyeliner. For others, a jazz bar where mellow music is played as cocktails are served. For still others, it's a concert performance of Spem In Allium. We still have a garden, with shady parasols for the summer, and a menagerie of pets. Our membership is international.

The tea room has few rules. Everyone is welcome. But anyone visiting with the sole intention of causing hurt or shouting abuse will be ejected by Mellors, the multi-talented gardener-handyman who (it turns out) is also a guitar wizard and rock god.

Please come in.

OMG!! A thread I started has made it to Discussions Of The Day!!!
It's the one about the funnies/ dumbest thing your GP has ever said to you.

[proud emoticon]

Good to see you again, Jacksmama! Hugs to you and Racing, coping as she is with GumpyHusband.

Has anyone cracked open the Bolly yet? I feel we should toast the success of DaisyBloke's expedition as he paddles up the Orinoco and feasts on witchity grubs (in my overheated imagination, anyway).

I have! I felt the need earlier, I nearly opened the Piper Heidsieck I have lurkin in the fridge but decided to save it until I get my visa (if bloody ever!)

DC are funny aren't they - I can't even go upstairs without miniThumb having a meltdown and trying to follow me - he did actually scale the stairs all by himself yesterday to get to me, because Daddy wasn't paying enough attention . We have taught him to climb up and down the stairs but still, he isn't responsible enough to let him do it unattended!

JM - well done! [pats on the back]

Great work, Thumb!

Cheers!

Chhers all!

Yup, DaisyBoy says "wait for me" and "carry you" many times a day in the home. He likes to sit on my lap when I go to the loo

Actually, DaisyBloke is, I think, fording the Yangtze and eating termites tonight. Let me check the schedule

did you get the rain? I did. Right through the flaming flipping roof. Came home to house in darkness and water pouring through the ceiling. And my phone has died - I think it got too wet....
,

oh daisy, how miserating for you!

Well, you did expect something to go wrong as soon as Daisybloke left, didn't you!

We had some seriously heavyduty rain today - so heavy that mrThumb actually opened the door to show miniThumb

I hope you can get your roof fixed up ok - will insurance pay for any of it?

My crisis is minor in comparison - washing on the line that is wetter than it was when I hung it out on Monday.

Daisy - do you need any advice on dealing with the insurers ? Dh is rather good at it

Many comisserations - we had storm related water damage a few houses ago.

Ah MadBad - DH has that problem as well! He is refusing to bring it in on the grounds that it has to dry at some point!

daisy, hope things are ok this morning?

anyone seen catita recently? I assume Donk is still down under with her Dad..

Ah greetings earthlings!

we are remarkably ok actually. The water has stopped and we have mopped. Since it was only the rain it's not like it has kept coming as with flood or mains etc. No toys have been "got" (DaisyBoy has wipted them all assiduously) and the rug will soon dry. There are (says my lovely builder) two teeny tiny bits of gap/ render that have blown that were exposed in the Rain of Epic Proprtioons. He will patch them

Since all that part of the kitchen is already being redone due to Exploding Boiler there is little actual extra work (thank god he hadn't started to pain again!) so I shan't bother wiht insurance claim... (thanks CMOT)

I am using up all good will with insurers trying to get them to sort out the front of the kitchen - which is another matter... GRRRR

Fortunatly we have a dehumidifier to dry washing indoors - makes life much easier.

Glad to hear that you already have a builder to sort it out Daisy.

Do you want to tell us about the front of the kitchen, or is it too painful ?

Have packed a twitchy DH off on the train for his awards ceremony tonight. Have made him promise to text me if he wins or not, but if he does will probably be drinking too hard to make any sense

... so CMOT when you get the call "I lovesh you, I really really lovesh you" you know he's won

Is he going to be led astray by those naughty legal types again

Front of Kitchen - not painful just dull protracted and expensive...

All starts with lots and lots of water in the cupboard under the stairs. Finally get admission from next door that their washin gmachine leaked for about 3 days when they were away but (even though it's i nthe right place) it couldn't be that because "my son is an engineer and he says it's impossible and you're just a girl, can I speak to your husband please"

Insurance waste about 3 weeks and engineer comes in "can't stay, I am on a meter for 10 minutes, it doesn't look like next door, that wall looks damp"

Don't get a report, finally chase up and find he says it is in the wall. Get drying company out with instructions to hack up floor and hack up sides of wall. Lovely drying man says "that doesn't sound right" and phones for help. Cue lots more slow toing and froing. Then man aged about 100 turns up. "I have been told to lift a floor board" We don't have floorboards, we have plywood stuck to concrete. He says "o I am not allowed to do heavy work" then another bloke comes. Hacks up part of our carefully laid floor. "doesn't look damp there to me" gets engineer back "must be the wall" why? Well I can't stay I have a 3 minute parking meter. Back comes 100 year old man and knocks hole in wall
"why are you knocking hole in wall" "to see where the pipes go" "the pipes don't go through there it is a solid brick wall they run along the floor" "you are just a girl can I speak to your husband" knockes hole in wall. "Oh, this is a brick wall, no pipes here"

Oh heck, I am bored to tears by now. Are you still alive?

The bullet points are
(1) we have holes in floor, wall, side wall and ceiling
(2) the water has done now that the man next door has mended his washing machine
(3) we are waiting for the "10 minute engineer" to come and "confirm it is dry"
(4) then hopefully some poor sod who is younger than 100 man can come and put everything back

Luckily we are blessed with quite a big kitchen so there is a little patch in the middle behind the Wall Debacle and before the Great Flood where we can lurk

If he wins, I'll be lucky to be ranked 100 in the list of people to talk to !

None of those naughty legal types there tonight - just industry. However, he is apparently meeting one of his people tomorrow morning, so whether he'll be back on the 2pm train as promised, I doubt very much if a celebratory lunch is required. Although he has to take suit back, so that he can go to the Ashes on Friday - it's a hard life

Your experience is appalling, and the sort that narks DH no end. Hope you've complained.

Hello!
Well, as you probably can guess I have made it back from sunny Britain to even more sunny Mexico. We are all in one piece and reasonable sane, but rather knackered. The journey was 25 hours from pillar to post; DS was very good most of the way, and didn't manage to get ill this time, so that was a bonus.
I am procrastinating to avoid writing my to-do list, which is going to be 5 miles long. Most of the things to be done as yesterday. Joy oh rapture.
I hope you are all well and recovering from the mini-heatwave. I have to say that we found it all lovely and cool, much to everyone else's annoyance

Welcome back catita! Glad the journey home wasn't as bad as the journey there. How is Bumpita?
It's raining here as well which makes for a nice change from the heat. We're leaving for California on Saturday - loaded up with suncream, hats, etc.
(I should say, Dave The Hairy Trucker is leaving for CA... to meet the lovely CMOT and show off his tattoos... )

nice to see you again Catita - glad you didn't pick up any nasties while you were here!

daisy - I am at the level of appalling incompetence that you have had to deal with - dreadful! Sending you good vibes - and glad you have a nice builder.

CMOTD - hope DH does well!

JM - your thread is jinxed - I was writing a lovely long post about various bits of appallingness, went off to check an anatomical fact and something happened - IE needed to "recover" MN and LOST my lovely massively long post! Was too peed off to retype it.
(might go back to it later if I feel strong enough)

OOOoooo hello Catita and Bumpita, glad you are all well. Have you put "peeling off moustache and ditching Sherlock Holmes hat " on your to do list yet?

How did your lecture go and what did you wear in the end - did you get to go shopping?

Hello JM nice to see you back too

Insurers - you are making me think I should be a bit more proactive, the problem is there is so much else going on now we don't have water gushing it is just sort of there. We lived with a building site for so many years, this just seems sort of familiar.

Love some Kir, Thumb, thanks!

helloooooooo.
I was uncontactable yesterday by choice, and had informed various customers of this in advance. so when did people try and phone me about work - yesterday of course. and now they are out of office till tuesday- when I am in an all day meeting... oh joy. I wouldn't mind BUT I've been trying to sort out a site visit with her for about 3 weeks now and she ALWAYS out of office till flipping tuesday.
Looks like boy will have to come with me on teh site vist.

NOw then, lets have a small bowl of soup and a lewd roll and calm down shall I. ohhh spicy chicken noodle soup, my fav.

Morning:
I have just made a cuppa and am tucking in to some toast, anyone want any? (It's home -madeinabreadmaker-made, with lots of grains and stuff).

Daisy I hope you are coping with the absence of Mr. D and the building related problems. Mr. Catita is off to Austin, Texas next Sunday for a fortnight, so I share your pain. Or at least the thought of endless washing up etc for the time being. Still, he's on "study-leave" and the hope is that this fortnight plus the fortnight of university holidays which follows should be enough for him to finish the damned PhD once and for all. Fingers and toes crossed.

JM Good luck in sunny USA-land. I hope the great CMOT-JM meet up is a success. And have you realised that your thread has made it to the newletter I hope you are still going to speak to us after all this glory

oooo CMOT is your DH covered in glory?

and when is the Big Meet (can you tell us in code) I am vicariously very excited!

I did see that my thread made it to Discussions Of The Day!! V. proud. Am now hoping that someone will think it's funny enough to nominate for Classics [delusional emoticon] .

Good to see you again, Catita! Yay, the prodigal daughters are returning.

We seem not to have any fatted calf in the fridge and, besides, some here are vegetarians. Sooooo, has anyone opened the virtual Bolly yet?

oh MadBad, it's not like you to be shy with the cork popping!

Allow me
and here are some lovely nibbles and twiglets and look! Here is Racing Pig and RAcing Mrs Piggy putting in an all too rare appearance

Right, I am pulling up the chaise longue and a nice velvet throw

Any takers?

I'll join you if I may - am having a Tired and Emotional day today - just fed up with everything.

Never mind, all self-inflicted - nothing can be done about any of it except by me, and I have lost the will.

More bolly here, I feel - ta.

So it's Bolly all round then!

Cheers, Daisy and Thumb. Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow, Thumb.

Do either of you watch CBeebies with your boys, by the way? If so, check out the thread about Chris from Doodle Do doing his live web chat tomorrow. It's so funny I almost burst a lung laughing.

Bottoms up!