Tea Room the Tenth: Tea and cake and rock and roll

[MadBadandDangerousToKnow]

Welcome back to the tea room.

In the search for the perfect venue, we have now decamped to a rambling country estate. The once-decaying castle, now restored, is a boutique hotel, popular with rock and roll gentry and visiting bishops, and the tea room (which never closes) is located in a tastefully converted barn. The charming garden contains a duck pond and ends in a haha. We need the haha, of course, to stop the bison trampling the herbaceous borders. Mellors the gardener is, as ever, in charge of the grounds.

Please come and join us for a celebratory drink.

It appears my thread What was the strangest piece of correspondence you received today? is spectacularly unsuccessful. I was sure more people than just me got weird mail, email or phone calls.

[begging emoticon] Wouldn't you all like to contribute so I don't feel like a loser ?

Oooo haven't you found the jacuzzi? The one with the built-in bolly fridge? Come and join me!

Thanks Mary - apparently I needed a trail of Bolly corks breadcrumbs to lead me there .

Ahhhh, that's better!!

only having the one has ALLOWED ME TO enjoy MY LAD. oops, sorry for caps lock. but as he is demanding " puter games now" I may find it easier to come on line again later. Off to Cebeebies.

JM the reason nobody has responded to your odd post post is that we have terminal postal strike itis in UK - well London - I haven't had any post for weeks

In fact, it was my birthday at the weekend and not a single card in the post - so I blame it on the postman rather than my lack of popularity

Interesting post MadBad - I think we just do what we do as people and parents. I am quite sociable and so tend to organised playdates and things to do. DaisyBloke (as my not surprise you for one who spends months alone on his Expeditions) quite likes his own company so he sees nothing inherently wrong, sad or indeed odd about DaisyBoy being home alone and spending his time playing alone (as in sans sibs)

Also, I increasingly see friends and family with sibs and the amount of time they actually play together or spend together equitably is either outweighed or equally measured by the time spent being left out, longing to join in etc

But perhaps again that just reflects my weaknesses - being left out and left behind are my total bete noirs. The books that always make me cry are the "Kipper has a birthday party and nobody comes because he wrote the wrong date on the party and they all come the next day ha ha ha"

Not ha bloody ha in my book. I am howling by page 3 and the arrival of all his bloody friends a day late is no recompense

Now, budge up in that there jacuzzi

As if that last post wasn't long enough, I think one child versus lots of children is a bit like male/ female

Either you are the kind of person who notes this a lot or you're not. Since about the age of 17 I have never been in an environment when I am other than the only woman or possibly one of a handful and I can't say I have ever really noticed - it's the kind of thing that other people are very aware off

Now, I'm off to a few after school clubs

Hooray indeed for Amber's Fine Lad. Currently somewhere over the rainbow, lodged in the canopy of a large oak tree.

Hmm, Racingsnake. A French or German exchange, you say? Never did one myself, but a friend recently had to ship her daughter's German exchange partner home, as she was staying out all night engaging in smoking and other underage pleasures.

I'm sorry if my entrepreneurial endeavours were wildly inappropriate but am glad they brought a smile to your face. I'll keep any further hare-brained notions inspiration to myself.

Tea and one of Mellors' buns, anyone? ( again).

Aargh! Can't keep up with the surge of posts!

So, are the mums of one going to take over join the Winkers thread?

Do you mind if I join you guys on here?

I have a 6 yo DD and could do with spending time with some like minded people who could help me with those 'OH GOD!!! I've only got one child!!!' wobbles. Me and my DH have the fertility of 2 straight male pandas and DC2 has never appeared so am slowly accepting my DD being an only one and getting used to it and being happy about it. Its not by choice but I would like my life to continue as though it is- does that make sense?

Hope you dont mind me crashing in- your tea room sounds delish!!

ha ha littletortie welcome to you
come and nibble some bamboo leaves in the jacuzzi

Madbad not sure what "winkers thread" is - i had assumed it was Mellors bending over in his pinny

gotta run for bathtime will say hello properly later
but Littletortie most welcome you are and have some bolly
the sun is over the yardarm somewhere in the world

Dont mind if I do!!

Hello Littletortie, and welcome! There is always plenty of room for new faces in the tearoom. It's a bit like the tardis you see, small and compact looking from the outside but amazing huge inside.

Currently we have a jacuzzi bubbling away, if you feel the urge.

Bloody hell this thread moves fast! Back from gym, dinner cooking, enjoying a wispa gold.
Hi littletortie, I only jumped in yesterday and have a 6yo dd too.
The postal strike - we live in London and have been getting post every day but not in work which is 1/2 a mile away so not sure what that's about.

DD does a few after school activities but no more than her friends with siblings. Swimming, drama club at school and tap. Swimming is non-negotiable for me, Dh never learned to swim and I want her to be safe in a pool so I don't need to worry. Tap she likes (recently swapped from ballet) and it's good exercise but she's no great dancer , and drama she loves. But that's all. She has a busy day in school and likes having her evenings off to chill, play in her room or have friends to tea once every couple of weeks. It's more during the long summer holiday that I felt the lack of siblings, so made more of an effort to do things with other kids when we were home. But it's more to keep her fit and to develop an exercise/active habit (dh and I are both heavier than we should be) than to give her a sibling experience. TBH she's pretty busy in these clubs doing the activities that they don't have time for much chat. Although she is down to do brownies which is more about socialising I guess. But she's friendly and doesn't seem to have many friendship problems, thankfully.

As for drinking more or less, we both like a drink, moreso at the weekend, but dd sleeps til 8.30 most weekends so that's certainly my significant factor. Bedtime is quick and relatively easy and we probably do have more free money to spend on boxes of virgin wine . And one child seems to be more welcome at other people's houses, and is probably easier to get a babysitter for too.

hello littletortie!
have a margarita or something to go with the jacuzzi . I believe the sun is technically over the yardarm in the UK therefore drinkipoos is allowed.

Daisy - the winkers' thread (or w@nkers' might make it clearer) is here. Current topics of debate: punctuation and tv.

We keep trying to get DD into after school clubs but they get taken up really quickly!! DH thinks the 'yummy mummys' take the places up straight away. She doesnt miss it anyway- she got bored of dance classes dead quick.

One thing I've recently noticed in dd's school, is that the parents of Onlies seem to be far more relaxed about their kids abilities and accomplishments. In the midst of the 'we're going to have to do two ballet classes this term as she's been fast tracked for the exam' and 'she has a real flair for music so we're starting extra private violin tuition' and 'she's very imaginative and will write the most amazing stories', the mums of Onlies just smile serenely and don't get involved, don't pack their week too much and let them have time doing nothing at home for large chunks of the week. And are also the ones who will be saying 'she is hopeless at maths' or 'she not's the world's greatest dancer but she loves it'.

I wonder if that's common to our school?

I have noted that too bigfatbump (do you have a big fat bump??!!)- TBH my DD is the only only child in her class but amongst my friends this is very true. Me and my friend who also has an only, we are very confident about our daughters abilities. However friends who have more than one child are desperate to compare notes. They want to drag you into conversations about maths ability, social events, reading levels- its embarrassing!!

It's me - bigfatbump - finally namechanged .

I joined MN when pg with a ds that we lost in a mmc, so my name was from then, and have been meaning to namechange for ages. I have several bigfatbumps but am working on that at the gym and at slimming world .

good name, gymbunny. I shall have to call you that as notquite doesn't work for me.

fair enough thumbwitch, positive thinking and all that

Oh sorry- feel bad now. My big mouth finger

I am also on a health kick- have just had a second laparoscopy for endometriosis and my stomach has been stretched beyond recognition!! I'm going to start legs, bums and tums in 2 weeks when I am 5 weeks post-op. Wake up call was DD giving me a slimming world leaflet

Mini-thumb is still only (nearly) 22mo so not at school of course - I still have all that to come. Will be interesting to see what the Aussie mums are like, whether there is any level of competitiveness or not in our area. We are a bit out in the country, so probably not as much as in Sydney or other big cities.
Bet they're all really cliquey though!

Congrats on the new name gymbunny (although to my immense shame I read that first to be "notquiteaginbunny" and I did think that it was perhaps the most appropiate name for this thread )

My DS (aka Kittenito) has a bunny as his fave cuddly. It's quite sweet really as it is the knitted rabbit my grandma made for me when I was born, much treasured over 30 plus years and dug out for him.

It was a bit bit worn I admit, but not much. But... the poor thing has suffered greatly since Kittenito got hold of it. Hetreats it with not respect whatsoever and in the last 3 months has needed a new tail, darning to his paws and ears and is seriously in need of being restuffed....

oh no! Boys are so destructive, aren't they?! mini-THumb has been given Mr Thumb's old toy cars since we got here and they are bashed to bits! There's barely a whole one in the box. And by the time mini-Thumb has finished with them, there won't be any. He's a basher, my boy (doubtless takes after his Dad there then)

Luckily for me he never really took to the cuddlies for ages, and so doesn't have a favourite. The only "cuddly" he likes to sleep with is me, so we don't have any tears at bedtime because Rufus (or whoever) has gone missing. A relief.

Welcome littletortie - at Tea Room sounding delish - it does rather, doesn't it?

I like gymbunny's new name.

I have my friend's DD here while my friend is at her midwife app't. She and Jackbaby are entertaining each other, they're great friends. It's hilarious to see them chase each other and actually play together rather than parallel play which I've observed a lot of under-2's do.
(There, does that qualify me for the W@nkers' Thread?)

Budge up there in the jacuzzi and hand over the Bolly, the kiddoes are entertained so I have a moment to myself!